Category Archives: You Tube for Business

WHY THE TITLE AND DESCRIPTION CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEO

Should you put videos on YouTube? Yes. Because both Google and YouTube will show them to folks who are interested in what you do or what you have to offer. Both platforms will look at both the title and description of your video to decide if it’s relevant.

Write a title which will be compelling and will make viewers want to watch. Joe could have a video called “Customer Testimonial” , or he could call it “How Joe’s widgets saved Ralph’s company from going over budget.” Which would you rather watch? An author once told me: when you want a great title, look at magazine headlines. “The Secret To Great Earlobes”, “What Your Butcher Will Never Tell You”, “15 Delicious Recipes For Goat”. Get the idea? By the way, when you use a number like that, make it an odd number.

The description field is also important. Snippets from that will not only show up in YouTube search, but also in Google results. And here’s something most folks forget: make the very first thing a link to your website. Make it a link that directly relates to your video – a description or order page – maybe even your FAQs or blog.

After adding your link, you have about 120 characters to describe the video. Make the second line a Call To Action. Below that a brief overview of what your video is about, but don’t giveaway the whole lot. Then, a bit on what your channel is about. Throw in a few keywords, but don’t leave this step out. If your video were to show up on a results page with videos of similar titles, would someone want to watch it?

If you already have content on YouTube, go back and take a look at the titles and descriptions you’ve already written. You can change them from the YouTube studio page, and you can change them as often as you’d like.

Would you like to learn more about how YouTube works? Contact me and let’s do a one on one.

Ron Harper is the founder of Videos On Your Website, a Cincinnati digital marketing firm specializing in video web content for businesses. Read more at Videos ON Your Website.

Here Are 15 Proven Ideas For Your Next Business Video

15 proven video ideas
Business video ideas

Here are 15 proven subjects for a business video:
1. Product videos show your product or service in action and explain how it works.
2. Explainer videos explain complex concepts or products in a clear and concise way.
3. Onboarding videos help new employees learn the ropes and get up to speed quickly.
4. Testimonial videos feature customers or clients talking about how your product or service has helped them.
5. Employee spotlight videos introduce your team members and show off their skills and personalities.
6. Behind-the-scenes videos take viewers behind the scenes of your business and show them what it’s like to work there.
7. Company culture videos showcase your company’s unique culture and values.
8. Product launches announce new products or services to your customers and followers.
9. Customer success stories share how your product or service has helped customers achieve their goals.
10. How-to videos show viewers how to do something related to your business.
11. Interviews with industry experts or thought leaders can provide valuable insights and information.
12. Panel discussions can be a great way to get different perspectives on a topic.
13. Conference presentations can help you share your expertise with a wider audience.
14. Virtual summits can be a great way to connect with other professionals in your field.
15. Live streams can be used to answer questions, provide updates, or simply connect with your audience.
These are just a few ideas to get you started. The most important thing is to choose a subject that is relevant to your business and that you think your audience will find interesting. We can provide even more ideas custom targeted to YOUR business.
–that’s a wrap!

Ron Harper is the founder of Videos On Your Website, a Cincinnati digital marketing firm specializing in video web content for businesses. Get a FREE Video Buying Guide at Videos ON Your Website – Cincinnati and Dayton Video Production Guide.

CAN YOU OFFER COUPONS ON A VIDEO?


Frequent deals and special offers can entice customers to shop at your store instead of competitors’ sites. Coupons are effective at creating repeat customers when included in a customer loyalty program. Coupons bring a higher chance of conversions. A discount or freebie can inspire a person to try a new product or a brand other than the one they usually buy. The goal of any offer or coupon is to encourage the consumer to try the product or service. The truth is the consumer needs an incentive to depart from their current habits and try something new.
5 Benefits of Using Coupons
• Bring in new customers.
• Strengthens brand recognition.
• Customers will benefit from knowing when to buy.
• Offloads older goods with assistance.
• Minimize your marketing expenses.
But, if a company is using video marketing, can they offer coupons as well? The answer is YES
At some point during the video, mention that there is a coupon offer coming up. Then, either or at the end, simply show a QR code that takes the viewer to a printable, or downloadable coupon on your website. You could also require that an email address be entered before showing the coupon, but be careful of asking your prospect to jump thru too many hoops to get that reward.
Videos On Your Website can help businesses offering coupons. If you’d like to explore using coupons inside your video, just contact us. We will create the QR code and insert it into your video for you.

–That’s a wrap.

Ron Harper is the founder of Videos On Your Website, a Cincinnati digital marketing firm specializing in video web content for businesses. Get a FREE Video Buying Guide at Videos ON Your Website – Cincinnati and Dayton Video Production Guide.

Should You Embed Videos From Other Companies?

Embedding Videos
Problems with embedding videos from other companies

If you can’t produce your own videos for your website, why not just find some others and embed them? Simple, right? Well, not exactly.

Many businesses have a dedicated “Videos” tab on their site for relevant content. Often, someone will curate video content from other sources and believe this is a valuable practice. But just as often it is fraught with problems. The image above is taken from a company website that has many videos embedded from YouTube under their “Videos” tab.

Can you see what’s wrong?

Somewhere along the way, the original content creator has removed the video, leaving blank spots with no content on the page.
Here’s why it’s not a good idea to use other folks’ videos:

    1. You have no control over their content. And if their videos are monetized on YouTube, they could be showing an ad that is counter-productive to your business.
    2. The videos may have a call to action or a link that takes visitors away from your website.
    3. The practice really does nothing to help your Search Engine Optimization and get you found more often.
    4. The best course of optimizing with videos is to have relevant content on all of your pages, especially on your About Us page. Videos under a dedicated tab may be overlooked by your visitors.
    5. Google loves original content. That means videos specific to your business and your message with a few lines of text that compel the viewer to click and watch.

Business websites that use a “Videos” tab are often not updated frequently, so problems like the image above are missed for a long period of time.
Original, professionally produced video content is affordable and gives your business an advantage over the competition. Remember – if you use video, and they don’t: You Win!
–That’s a wrap.

Ron Harper is the founder of Videos On Your Website, a Cincinnati digital marketing firm specializing in video web content for businesses. Get a FREE Video Buying Guide at Videos ON Your Website – Cincinnati and Dayton Video Production Guide.

Want To Stand Out? Be A Purple Cow

I remember that poem from my childhood days. My parents owned a gift shop for a time, and the purple cow poem was emblazoned on a pair of cow-shaped salt shakers. Nowadays, being a purple cow is what you should be striving for. Here to explain, in the latest episode of Good Views, is Angie Thompson of Living In America, a business communications company in the Cincinnati area. After having lived and worked in several countries, and within various cultures, Angie learned the essential value of communicating clearly and effectively.

I see it so many times – that businesses struggle to explain themselves and what they do. You can’t be everything to everybody. You must pick one thing that you want to be known for. For me, it’s affordable video production. Whatever it is that makes YOUR purple cow come through, it starts with your “Why”. There are some great lessons in this Good Views. Thanks to Angie. You can learn more about what she does at her website.

7 Steps To YouTube Success


Four years ago, I wrote my free e-book “7 Steps To YouTube Success”. It’s been requested thousands of times. Now, there’s a new, updated version. YouTube is evolving and changing. Annotations are gone. The YouTube speech-to-text engine is improved. There’s more competition for views.

If you’re using YouTube to host videos for your business, you’ll want to read this compact, information-packed e-book. The seven steps are easy to follow, and includes tips that most businesses who use YouTube never do. That means you can be one step ahead of your competition. Did I mention the book is free? To get your copy, just click here: SEND ME THE E-BOOK Actually, I’ll send you TWO free books. The second one is called “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Customer Testimonials’, and tells you exactly how to produce your own customer testimonials from your raving fans.

This is part of our tenth anniversary celebration. There’s lots more to come, so be sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, or Follow me on Facebook.

–That’s a wrap.

IF YOU MADE VIDEOS IN 2018, FOLLOW THESE STEPS RIGHT NOW


Frankly, I hate resolutions. I resolve to be different. How’s that?

But the new year is a time of renewal, and if you have videos that you’re hosting on YouTube, there are some Start-Of-The-Year chores you should do to keep your content relevant.

1. Review and update the titles of your videos. Your video titles should be engaging, include keywords, and reflect your message and goals. If your marketing strategy has changed in the past 12 months, maybe you should reflect that in your video titles. Titles are easy to change from within your YouTube video manager. Try something to get visitors to click. Some of the words that show up big in search include: How To, Steps, Tutorial, Best and Funny. Can you include or re-write a title to include those?

2. Review and update your video descriptions. Start with your website in the description field. Make sure it’s a page that reflects the subject of your video. It may not be your home page. YouTube allows 5000 characters for a video description – that’s about 800 words. Be sure your keywords are towards the beginning of the description. And yes, you can add hashtags here.

3. Review and update any tags. Tags don’t show up when the video is being played, but it definitely helps in search. Use one word keywords. Use multiple word key phrases. And don’t leave out generic tags, like your city.

Time to get some fresh eyes on your content. These steps can engage more viewers, and make your videos show up in front of more of your prospects.

–that’s a wrap

Ron Harper is the founder of Videos On Your Website, a Cincinnati digital marketing firm specializing in video web content for businesses. Get a FREE Video Buying Guide at Videos ON Your Website – Cincinnati and Dayton Video Production Guide.