Before you think using videos online is not worth the trouble or expense, you may want to reconsider when you discover the many ways online videos can showcase your business in Monterey. Here are some tips to get you fast-tracked and in the know regarding videos.
Use YouTube. Sign up for a free account. Think YouTube is a hot mess? In a lot of ways it is, but…Google owns it. Google likes videos. On their path to continue domination of search engines, Google now discusses “Universal Search’, which is a mashup of relevant content in all media forms to include podcasts, photos, and videos.
We all know content is King, but photos and videos on a SERP (search engine results page) stand out in a big way. Competing against behemoths like Amazon and Wikipedia on keywords is an exercise in futiility using text only; but is there is a video with those keywords…Universal Search can make it happen. Wow, right?
Another important YouTube feature is their Insight Analytics. Yep, you can see how your videos are doing in different regions, compare your video to others in your market, and more.
YouTube also measures ‘hot spots’ which are areas of the video that get watched the most.
Are you thinking, isn’t video expensive? A quality video can bethe best money you spend if done properly. Your video will work for you all over the world, all hours, every day. Can you say that about a newpaper ad or yellow pages spot?
The important thing is to use the correct keywords for its’ distribution, and even a modest PPC campaign to drive traffic to your product offer. Tagging your video geographically works very well, especially against the Amazons of the online world.
As for bandwidth, you can easily skirt this issue with YouTube by uploading your video there, then embed your own video into your own site. Now you are using YouTube’s server, and people are not really bothered by the ubiquitous logo.
Distribute your video. There are several places to upload your video at no charge; one of my favorites is TubeMogul. They will also re-distribute your video to other services and moitor statistics for you. And don’t forget local directories, especially Google’s free business listing service, which lets you upload photos and your video.
There is a video distribution service named Traffic Geyser. Located in southern California, Traffic Geyser is enjoying steady growth and for a fee will upload your video to dozens of video-hungry websites.
The value of having video may give you the edge in other ways; all things being equal there is belief that if 2 web pages have about the same relevance, the page with a (relevant) video will likely be displayed first.
As a small business owner it can seem daunting to compete online, but in this case a small business can leverage video creatively in ways big companies may neglect.
If you are seriously on a budget, you can do it all at no cost. If this is of interest to you, email me @ kim@nikableu.com
