How Does Online Video Work For Business?

Written By Andy Woodruff
Friday 17th December 2008

If you, like me, are the kind of person who hides away when the video cameras come out, you might well ask, why on earth would you want video content on your company website?

The reason why I'm recommending that you think differently today is because I believe that 1. video content is the future for business websites and that 2. business websites with video content attract more customers and drive higher sales.

On what basis do I make such claims? On a simple level think about when you go into a shop see the queue and realise you have a long wait for any service. If you're like me you'll leave thinking you'll pop in on the way back - but of course that rarely happens.

Its exactly the same when customers visit your website. If they cant see what they want in the first few moments they can easily get distracted and leave never to return! Customers need the human touch and that's what video content allows you to add to your website.

Now lets look at the hard facts - here are the latest stats from the US which leads business website development.

In a recent study more than 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an online video during November 2007! We can conclude that when people are on the web, watching videos is a natural part of what they do - and we're not talking pornography anymore! Why is that? People respond best to different senses - visual, oral or a combination - and only rich content like video can provide this online.

In the same report online viewers were found to have watched on average 3.25 hours of video per person per month - growing 30% year on year. This may not sound like a lot but in fact that's around 25% of the time spent by the average punter watching TV.

We learn that 138 million Americans viewed 9.5 billion online videos in Nov07 alone, that the average online video duration was 2.8 minutes and the average viewer consumed 69 videos! That's 46% of the US population and shows that online videos are increasingly mainstream

Online video, which has only really been easily accessible in the last 2 years, is winning a significant share of people's attention vs the box in the corner. And don't forget that as an average this hides the fact that some age groups watch a lot more than this and others less - possibly because they haven't found video relevant to them.

However the mode of consumption is very different from TV. People at their computers lean forwards intensely focused on their screen. They are surfing the web, snacking on bite size chunks of content.

Business websites should reflect this and break down their content into easily digested chunks.

As for stats about the sales impact of video content, I have seen recent case studies showing up to 300% increases in enquiries and sales through using online videos to support the sales process.

Why does this work? The reason is simple: a video is more compelling, more immediate, and less demanding than traditional web pages. A video presents your key proposition in seconds, saving the user precious time. It stands to reason that this format gets better results. It's short. It's sharp. It's simple. As the Internet Advertising Bureau says "Web videos are... the catalyst for keeping customers online for longer."

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Help! My website looks dull - how can I bring it to life?

Written By Mark Griffin
Monday 19th January 2009

We have been discussing the surge in video content online and how that can be harnessed to drive more customers and sales to your website.

However, many of us have spent sizable sums building our existing websites, first in the ‘dot com' era and now again as we upgrade for broadband web. Unsurprisingly we're reluctant to change everything again to incorporate a load of video content.

You'll be relieved to hear that rebuilding your website is not necessary. The modern systems for playing videos in different parts of your website integrate easily to most existing website management systems. In fact in the best case all you need to do is paste some HTML code provided by your video supplier wherever you want the video to appear and the video immediately starts playing!

That allows you to focus on where could your website be improved by video content and how should that video content include. I believe most small to mid sized business websites can use video content highly effectively in several ways.

  • Add a human touch to your home page - the majority of traffic online bounces straight off your homepage - a video presenter there grabs and retains attention and immediately delivers compelling sales messages.
  • Support your customer services - people hate trawling through endless text FAQs struggling to understand the answers they're getting. Many companies find its much more effective to offer a video FAQ for the top questions (80% of consumers ask the same 20% of the questions) which also greatly reduces call centre load and costs.
  • Sales process videos - people bounce out of online transactions up to 60% of the time, so adding short videos along this process to reassure and support has to lead to higher sales and fewer dropped shopping carts - often its just a case of reassuring the buyer regarding things like returns policy which in fact rarely used afterwards.

The best systems today are based on what's called open source software that is free, so you don't need to pay license fees, which greatly reduces costs. What's more there are thousands of software developers throughout the world who work to improve this type of software so you get constant free upgrades and improvements.

The video management system then enables you to post your video content wherever you need it, using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor that will be familiar to anyone using Microsoft Word.

Because its so easy to use it means you get more time to focus on the content instead and can spend the time creating different sales videos to appeal to different consumers. This system then functions as effectively as a fully featured website system, comparable to those costing tens of thousands from the industry giants. And no more dull and dreary business websites!

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How can I find new customers using video content online?

Written By Andy Woodruff
Tuesday 3rd February 2009

In the paragraphs above we've been discussing why video is the future for business websites and how incorporating video into your website is remarkably easy and efficient at driving new sales.

Ok, so suppose you've bitten the bullet, quickly and effectively filmed some great new video content and easily added it to your website which looks fresh and dynamic.

But isn't there a problem? As a typical small to mid sized B2B website your website traffic figures probably aren't as high as you'd like - maybe hundreds per month for example and hardly the hundreds of thousands that flock to sites like youtube every day.

So how can you and your company cut yourself a piece of this action? Well let's think sensibly about it - when you want to meet a lot of people you don't go a desert island do you? No you go to the centre of the nearest big city because that's where everybody is! Well, we need to do exactly the same with our video website content i.e. take it beyond the website and into online communities where your consumers spending time surfing, chatting and buying.

So how is this done and how do you cut through the noise of everyone shouting for attention - especially without big budget advertising?

We call this seeding your content across the web and its all about planting links to your video content in high traffic relevant areas communities online where potential customers are likely to find it! Where are these places? Well think about your consumer's lifestyles and areas of interest and you'll find them in online communities around these topics - whether its youngsters chatting each other up on My Space or Global Grannies planning their next backpacking holiday on Trip Advisor. Also to maximise the power of your video content there are certain tactics you can use which are outlined below. Please note, all tactics MUST be ethical and follow the policy guidelines of the communities your are approaching ... so when you are posting links to your videos in online communities:

  • Use teaser videos of up to 30-60 seconds or less to draw people in i.e., less is more in this case as people's attention spans are extremely short!
  • Use every hook you can, e.g., catchy titles (NB also make sure the exact middle frame of your video is interesting as sites like YouTube use this as a thumbnail to grab attention!)
  • Get onto recommended pages e.g., with YouTube by getting mentions on blogs and in forums (e.g., Linkedin or Ecademy) and even formenting controversial debate which attracts attention!
  • Don't forget to share - send to all your contacts and incentivise them to pass on and recommend
  • Use Calls to Action to direct the viewer to what they need to do next
  • Always keep things simple. Unless we're reading a novel most of us like plain and simple English
  • Yse unique tag words to keep your videos together i.e., this way they appear all together on key sites like YouTube.

These are just a few initial suggestions that will get your video content going with a bang and attract lots of new traffic to your site - so tell you sales team to stand by.

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