How to Easily and Cost Effectively Add Video to Your Marketing Arsenal, Part 2

This week I continue my primer on internet video and how it can benefit your company. Picking up where I left off, here are some more opportunities to use video on your website.

(To read part 1 of this series, click here.)

One of the reasons infomercials are so successful is their demonstration factor. People love to see things in action. If you have a product that lends itself to demonstration, put it online. For example, say you sell radio-controlled cars; show them in action. If yours is a multichannel clothing company, model your line via video. These are just two of countless examples. Think about your products and what you can shoot.

Video Options
With today’s high-quality video cameras that shoot in high definition at 1080i, you don’t need to spend a ton of money for quality video. You can go high definition for less than $1,000. Of course, depending on your capabilities and budgets, you may want to bring in professionals. You have many choices available to you at any budget.

The key is to have a solid strategy and script in place before any shoot takes place, even with your camcorder. As for postproduction and editing, again, you can choose to do it yourself or go to a professional editing company.

Video Promotions
Once your video’s shot and edited, create your own channel on YouTube, and promote your videos on your website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter and more. Create even more videos by asking your customers to video themselves using your products, and distribute those videos via the same channels. Better yet, as I said last week regarding testimonials, hold a video contest asking your customers to show themselves using your products. Remember, social media is about engagement.

The Search Engine Factor
Online video can also drive search engine results. Since I'm by no means a search expert, I reached out to Khrysti Nazzaro, director of optimized services at the search engine marketing firm MoreVisibility, for some advice. Here are her thoughts on online video:

Online video has many possible benefits for companies, she says. From informational content, demonstrations and testimonials to self-spoofs, general humor and link bait, adding video to your site can draw traffic and business. Videos can be powerful tools for ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs) if your site's pages are well-optimized for them.

Consider creating a custom-designed YouTube channel, uploading your videos there with keyword-rich titles and descriptive content, and embedding them on relevant pages of your site. YouTube videos appear with great frequency in Google's universal search results. Make sure your channel is well-branded and displays your domain prominently so those who find your video content via search can trace it back to your company's site.

You can also submit a “Video Sitemap” via Google Webmaster Tools for video content that lives on your website. This will assist Google in identifying all of the URLs on your site that have videos, and thus increase your potential for getting more video content listed in universal search results.

To demonstrate clear keyword relevance for video content, include targeted keywords in tags, file and page tittles, and any available descriptive or on-page content. Transcripts of videos featured on the page may also help the content rank in the SERPs.

So, are you using video online? Let us know by posting your comments below. And don't forget to include links to your videos. Speak to you next week.

Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing Inc., a full-service catalog, direct marketing and social media agency. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/jimwgilbert. You can email him at jimdirect@aol.com, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gilbertdirect or read his blog at gilbertdirectmarketing.wordpress.com/.