Search engine optimization (SEO) is a bit of a dark art. I get calls or emails almost weekly asking me if I want to employ the services of a company who will put me on page one of Google, Yahoo, Bing or other popular search engines. From a good friend and SEO expert, I already know some of the tricks that they will employ. A paid ad will generally get you on page one, but that isn’t always the best use of your advertising budget. Pay-per-click ads can run you thousand of dollars, and the savvy web surfer will most likely ignore them in search of ‘organic’ results. So how does one get exposure on the coveted organic (not paid) search results? I don’t have all the secrets, but I do have one easy and powerful one: video.
According to comScore, 178 million people watched 33.2 billion videos in December 2009. The average viewer watched 187 videos per month in the U.S alone! So what does this mean to you? That should be painfully obvious. If you’re still relying on text only websites, you’ve already fallen behind. You might think that your business; plumbing, heating, printing, babysitting or carpet cleaning, won’t benefit from a video. Let me pose a hypothetical question to you. When the phone book dominated advertising, could you afford not to be listed? Not convinced yet? What if I told you that households with broadband average 3.6 hours of recreational internet surfing per day, rapidly growing beyond the typical 2.5 hours of daily television viewing? As more networks port their content over to online sites, expect this difference to grow even more dramatically.
In the past, creating a professional television commercial would have cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Today, you can get a quality video made for less than the cost of a phone-book ad and it can be accessible to a worldwide audience. Imagine your service or product going worldwide. What would that kind of exposure cost you in the past? Yeah, I don’t have those kind of funds either.
An effective online video will introduce you and your services in a clear, concise and professional manner. Think of it as your visual business card. Granted, most of us aren’t actors, but don’t let that hold you back. The most important aspect in making a good impression is being sincere, honest and direct. You can also opt for customer testimonials, product demonstrations or money saving advice. Go ahead, be the expert in your field. Isn’t that what you would look for when shopping for a new contractor, repairman, chiropractor or mechanic?
Take a look at one of our recent introductory videos, which took only a few hours to shoot and was delivered within a week.
Meet Anna and Erin of Mixed Palette from Oren on Vimeo.