All posts by Ron Harper

30 Days To Success With Website Videos

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I am very pleased when one of my clients tells me about something that’s happened as a direct result of putting videos on their website. Consistently, something positive always happens in the first 30 days.

I produced a video for an executive recruiting firm. They had recently doubled their staff, and wanted to share their unique point of view, as well as getting more quality leads. They were thrilled with their video, and it went up immediately on their website, blog, Facebook page, and about a half dozen other social sites.

Within two weeks, they were contacted by a local TV news crew who wanted to do a story on them. They were perceived as a leader in their field, which is exactly where they wanted to be.

I did another video for a company who was already showing well in the search engines for “expert” in their specialized niche. In the first month, their website traffic had increased by 60%. To top it off, not only were they showing up on the first page of results for their keywords, but so was their video. And the views on their YouTube channel skyrocketed.

I started working with a new company just three months after it had been founded. We began producing a series of video blog posts. I have just learned that as a direct result of the videos, they landed $8000 in new business within the first 30 days.

These stories are not extraordinary. Not only does video jumpstart search engine results, but it also gives your prospects a reason to remember you.

In the future having videos on your website will be as commonplace as having buttons for navigation. Right now is the perfect time to start. By jumping in with both feet and using compelling, engaging video messages, you can lead the way in your category. It will garner results now, and the equity you build as an innovator, will pay off in the future.

–That’s a wrap.

Give Your Website Visitors A Reason To Stay

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I’m sitting here looking at my latest stats from Google Analytics, and I found something very interesting: When a visitor comes to my site as the result of a Google organic search, they stay for almost SEVEN MINUTES! Even when I’m found through a Yahoo search, visitors hang around for just under four minutes.

There’s a video on almost every page of my site. Only two of them are about me or my work. The rest show my clients and how they are using video to enhance their brand, establish trust and credibility or take viewers on a behind the scenes look at their business.

Here’s another stat that’s hard to believe: one of my inbound links brings visitors who stay an average of NINE minutes.

If you buy advertising on radio or TV, you have only thirty seconds to present your message. And with both of those mediums, you’re competing with all the other stimuli that surrounds the user. Plus, it’s extremely costly.

Videos on your website are available 24/7. They’re one of the most cost effective strategies to get in front of a prospect and present yourself as an expert in your field.

If you know a small business with a website, invite them to take a look at their user statistics. Then, ask them to give me a call.

–That’s a wrap.

Behind The Scenes part one – WHAT IS POST PRODUCTION?

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Part of our core message is : “We write, shoot, edit, do post production, then deliver the files to you.” And while I try to keep that core message simple and as targeted as possible, I want to do some in depth blog posts to explain what makes Videos On Your Website a valuable resource.

Every video gets a little post-production. It may be as simple as adding a music track. Oh, wait – did I say simple?

Music should enhance without being obtrusive. All music tracks have to be edited themselves – so that they fit the same timing as the video. Sometimes, whole segments of a music track have to be moved to match scene changes.

Voiceover is part of post production. Being a voice artist for 20 years, I could go into fanatical detail about this. But I won’t. I have another blog for that at ronharper.com. Suffice to say the voice tells the story. Narration entails a lot more than reading.

Everyone likes nice graphics, whether it’s a logo, or a great still shot. But how about a little blip at the bottom of the screen that shows the speaker’s name? That is usually made up of two different video files: a background, called a “lower-third”, and the text file. How big should it be? Where do you want to place it on the screen? Want to match the color to the logo? Those are some of the decisions we make at that point. Still shots don’t always fill the screen, and they need a background. Or, maybe you’d like to start at the top of the still and pan down, or slowly zoom in.

Is the color right on all of the shots? If not, we can adjust it in post. Want a special filter, or other effect – it’s all done in post production.

Come back soon, and we’ll have another peak behind the scenes.

–That’s a wrap.

24 Things You Can Say In Your Next Video

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When small businesses begin to think about making a video to put on their website, they usually start writing things to say about the products or services they’re trying to sell. What else is this process called?
video subjects,
Commercials.

Since no one searches the web for commercials, there has to be another way to tell a small business’ story.

There is. And it’s the process that businesses and professionals are using to build their video library.

There are probably at least ten questions that every customer asks you.
There are ten more questions you WISH they would ask. That’s a total of twenty different videos so far. Are you following?

But in the title I said 24 things.

The other four videos are actual showcase pieces about your product or services. No, not commercials. That’s where we come in. We’ve been producing those kinds of messages, those UN-mercials since before there was an Internet. And we’re still having fun.

–That’s a wrap.

Put Cool Linkable Transcripts on Videos

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I have watched Search Engine Optimization experts try and explain what they do to a room full of non-technical folks.  Many small businesses who have websites can tell you why SEO is important, and maybe a handful can tell you a little bit about how it’s done.

Now that using videos on your website is exploding across all small business categories, I’m getting asked: “Is there such a thing as SEO for video?”  Yes, there most definitely is.

Although Video SEO is still in its infancy, here’s something that’s going to help a lot.

Take a look at this video of Cincinnati Internet Marketing Czar Rob Bunting.  Notice anything?

Pretty cool, huh? Transcribing text from video is just one of the new tools that are starting to pop up on the digital landscape.  There are tools for adding captions to YouTube videos and your OWN videos. That’s the good news.  The better news is that captions are searchable by Google.  That will give you an added dimension to your video library and one more thing to worry your competition.

–That’s A Wrap

6 Absolute Musts For Shooting Yourself On Video

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I have seen a handful of vanity channels, so-called business presentations, video blogs, and all the rest, and I gotta tell ya.. owning a video camera or a web cam no more makes you a talk show host than owning a guitar makes you Erc Clapton.

I was compelled to start watching these folks because they had a headline that drew me in, they said something interesting, or because I know them. Truthfully,  I didn’t last more than 3 minutes.

So I keep coming back to something I’ve said time and time again: Either you want to be known as an expert, or you want people to buy a product or service from you, so be as professional as you know how, or the next guy will.  Online video has no excuses for poor quality.  If you’re going to shoot yourself, here’s how to do it with a little class:

  1. Find an uncluttered spot. Look at your surroundings the way the camera is going to see it. Don’t let anything get in the way of the camera’s main focus.
  2. Back Away From The Camera.  Really. All this fisheyed e-trade baby video is making me nauseous.
  3. SMILE !!!!  And hold eye contact. Put a picture of someone you care a lot about beside that camera lens.  Then talk to them.  You will be more natural
  4. Take off the headphones.  You don’t have to hear yourself. It also looks really low tech. If there are music cues or an interview you have to respond to, get an earpiece, or just set the phones down out of camera range. You’ll still be able to hear it.
  5. Don’t take five minutes to get to the content.  I don’t really care that this is your fifth show, and you now have two thousand viewers.  Acknowledge what I came to see. At least Letterman and Leno start with a rundown of what the show’s going to be about.  It’s not a bad idea for you to do that, too.  Of course, it will mean actually planning, and not talking off the top of your head.
  6. That will directly affect your “um” quotient.  Take notes, and use those notes to prompt you for the next idea.  Planning and focusing keeps the “ums” to a mimimum.  A little silence is a lot more preferable to inane babble.
  7. Keep it short and to the point.  I’m not going to watch you for an hour. Especially if it’s just you on camera.  Sorry if it hurts your feelings.  Brevity is the soul of wit. You’ll get more viewers with a shorter piece. You’ll be more focused.  Did you know that all of the network evening news shows used to be 15 minutes long?

If you can do those simple things, you’ll be surprised how better you look, and how much more professional you come across.

–That’s A Wrap.

Bad Video ; Empty Promises

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I’ve probably blogged about this before, but everytime I see one of these sites, I just want to erect a barricade around it.  Crime Scene Tape if you will.

It’s those sites who tell you how important video is to your website (it is) and then proceed to tell you that they can put one together for you using stock photos and a voiceover. (they can, but it won’t do you any good)

To make matters worse, THEIR websites usually have the well-placed red text that screams “SIGN UP NOW!!” or “LIMITED TIME OFFER!!”  They do this for the same reason Cosmopolitan writes the kinds of headlines it does for its magazine: It’s An Impulse Item.

If you own a small business, since when is your marketing plan an impulse item?

Yes, you can find some very nice looking stock photos, then add text overlays and pretty music, and you have a nice BORING video.

Where does it connect with your customers, your prospects? Where does it engage that audience of people who are looking for exactly what you do?

There are companies that will promise you thousands of hits on your website if you will just buy their e-book or sign up for their monthly program.  Some of these same companies promise you thousands of Twitter followers if you will just pay them “x” number of dollars.

But listen to me: You don’t want thousands of hits to your website. The only ones you want are the ones that will BUY from you. Those are the ones who are already searching for you. They may know that they want the product that you sell, but maybe there are different features. Help them decide. Do THAT in a video that stars you.

Ask people to watch a video with only words spinning and scrolling, and to me, that’s tantamount to the web pages of old with their blinking text and spinning animated gifs.

And it doesn’t tell me who you are.

I want to buy from you. I want to do business with you. I want to feel like I already know you.  That’s what your prospects are saying.  How will you answer them?

A slide show doesn’t cut it.

–That’s a wrap.

6 Reasons Why You Need To Use Flash For Web Video, and 1 Reason Why You Don’t.

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If you’re putting video on your website, you want as many folks as possible to watch it, right?  No matter if your viewer is using Windows, or Apple, they should be able to watch it quickly and without hassle.

There are more than a handful of multimedia formats, and some players don’t play them all.

I’m a PC – always have been; always will be.  Here’s something I didn’t know – not all Windows systems have Windows Media Player pre-installed. On the other hand, not all Apple machines have Quicktime pre-installed.  Windows Media won’t play Quicktime files. Quicktime doesn’t like Windows. But there’s one format, and one player that works with both operating systems.

When it comes to putting videos on your website, Adobe Flash has a lot going for it.

  1. The small file size means it loads quickly
  2. You can pre-set the buffer size, so it starts playing immediately
  3. It embeds easily into webcode
  4. You can determine how you want the player to look.
  5. You can view it full screen if you want
  6. Mobile devices are using it.  (It’s true, Flash doesn’t play well with the Iphone.  That’s why you also need an MP4 version of all your videos.)

Your website visitors don’t want to have to wait while a video downloads. Give them the experience they want, and the information they need, and they will actually spend a longer time on your site.  My average viewer spends almost four minutes on each page.  And there are effective and affordable video players which will even generate the code for you.  All you do is plug and play!

Do it now.  The longer you wait the further behind the curve you will be.  Video is not a craze.  It will become as ubiquitous as text and images are on websites.

–That’s A Wrap.

How Video Helps Your Website SEO

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Everytime I talk with someone about using Videos On Your Website, the conversation invariably turns to Search Engine Optimization.  A lot of folks hear the term SEO, and they know it has something to do with keywords, but after that, they’re lost.

SEO is kind of like trying to put a bowtie on a fish.

The guys who do this for a living twist and pull and tweak their websites so they can in some measure figure out what the search engines are looking for.  Nobody’s supposed to know for sure.  But we do know that titles, headlines, and what you write on the page all get the attention of the search engine robots. We also know that a few of the right tweaks will get your ranking up, but with time, that ranking begins to fade as something newer takes its place.

There’s another fish analogy – if you turn your back and forget about it, it will start to smell.

That’s why constantly updating your website makes those search engine robots very happy.  Because a changing site is a fresh site.  And a fresh site must be more relevant. That means content.

If content is King, then having videos on your website should at least be Prime Minister. Videos can, and should be optimized with keywords.  They should not only be on your website, but distributed to as many of the video sharing sites as you can with a URL pointing back to your main page.  Everytime you do this, even if it’s the same video, it is fresh content in the hearts and minds of the search engines.

Ultimately, a visitor might share your video with a link, or a recommendation to a friend. That builds credibility, and that’s the other thing that feeds the search engine’s ranking machine.

To put it another way: having videos on your website can make you up to eight times more likely to land on the first page of Google results than if you just have text.

How are folks finding YOU?  What are they doing when they get to your site?  How long would you like to keep them there?

I’d be more than happy to talk to you about it.

–That’s A Wrap

Look Who’s Watching Now

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I recently had the pleasure of producing a video for a company that specializes in fitness for seniors. We had a blast, and the video is going to be used to bring the program to more people, which is always exciting.

“Are you kidding?!” one of my friends said, “Seniors don’t go online.  I don’t know of any who even own computers.”

Wrong, says Beulah Buzzer. (And you almost have to be over 50 to remember that phrase)

As a matter of fact, You Tube is the fourth most visited destination for folks 65 and older. That’s according to a new study by Neilsen. In 2009, there were almost 18 million senior surfers spending upwards of two hours a day online.

Want more proof of the trend?  Well, Google was the number one destination, followed by Windows Media Player at Number Two, Facebook was third, and You Tube fourth.

Windows Media Player AND You Tube.  I’d say there is an audience out there.

Let’s don’t write these folks off just yet.  Remember that when they were in their 20’s, they were the ones buying Rolling Stones and Beatles records. So while they may not be scooping up the latest i-toys, the online world definitely does not intimidate them.

And, by the way, Beulah was the name of the buzzer on the radio and TV show “Truth Or Consequences”.

–That’s A Wrap.