Imagine this…

You are tasked with overseeing the redesign of your company’s new website. You assemble a team, develop a timeline, and project manage like no one has ever project managed before. You create a wish list of design assets and functionalities and empower your content team to create copy far punchier than anything your competitors are writing. You A/B test with the best of them until you’ve got a responsive, search engine optimized, sleekly designed site that you’re ready to go to war with.

And then you launch.

And then you wait.

And then the data comes in.

Bounce rates are soaring, inbound leads have stagnated, and your call to actions just aren’t cutting it. You’ve invested a ton of time, resources, and money into your website, and it’s just not performing like it should be. You sift through the research and try to pinpoint where you went wrong and how you can salvage the project. You’ve dotted your i’s and crossed your t’s – what could possibly be missing?

And then it hits you: your site doesn’t have any video.

The Digital Video Revolution

To digital natives, video doesn’t seem like a new concept. But modern, high-definition, embeddable video has become popular only recently as internet speeds and bandwidth capabilities increase across devices. It’s a frequently overlooked website component that can turn your simple digital placeholder into a highly engaging lead-generation machine.

The proof is in the pudding.

According to a Forrester study, your company is 53 times more likely to end up on the first page of Google if you utilize video on your website. It enhances your SEO efforts so much that companies with video receive 41% more web traffic on average than sites without it. And it’s not just homepage videos. Unbounce found that including a video in a landing page can increase conversion rates by up to a whopping 80%.

That’s because video content, aside from being incredibly engaging, is so easily digestible. Only 20% of visitors will read your site’s text in its entirety, while 80% of visitors will watch a video.

Any good marketer will know that simply slapping a YouTube link on your hero section isn’t enough. If you’re going to make an investment in video, you’ve got to first do your due diligence to make sure your integration plan is clear and strategic. But where do you begin?

Audit for Impact

The first step towards establishing a video marketing game plan requires taking a peek at your Google Analytics. Auditing your website data can help you pinpoint the weak spots in your performance, marking a clear path for maximum impact. While you do this, consider how these weak spots intertwine with your overall business goals. Keep your target audience in mind as you scour through the data to find areas where video can take your online presence to the next level.

The analytics should paint a pretty clear picture of the metrics you’d like to enhance. Here’s how that might translate into video placement.

If you want to Increase Session Duration

If you’re looking to engage a website visitor quickly and entice them to spend some time on your page, your video has to make an impression quickly. In this case, you are going to want to pony up some valuable real estate above the fold on your homepage, as well as any other pages that frequently serve as landing pages. (You can find that out in your Google Analytics, too.)

There are two main ways to accomplish this:

Website Header Videos

Click Play Button to See Example

• Best practice dictates that these muted videos should be looped, picturesque, and visually engaging. Without a script or music to play with, header videos have to implement visual metaphors, so think critically about your company’s branding.

Homepage Videos

• If you’re a fan of white space and don’t want to opt for an end-to-end header, embedding a video front and center is a great built-in call to action. Unlike header videos, these can utilize sound and do not have much of an effect on your site’s load time.

If you want to Decrease Bounce Rates

Video is one of the most foolproof ways to keep people clicking. In an ideal world, the best way to do this would be to feature a video on every single page – explaining your products/services, demonstrating your values, showing previous work, or even featuring your company’s culture. But that’s not always practical. If complete saturation isn’t in your short-term budget, consider these options:

Click Play Button to See Example

Product/Service Demo Page

• The key to visual marketing is simple: show, don’t tell. Rather than having pages of copy to explain your offerings, streamline the process with a punchy demo video. Explaining by entertaining will keep users wanting more, making them more likely to click around for further info. These types of videos work well on dedicated “about” pages and landing pages – especially when paired with a lead capture form.

Blog posts

• Content is king! In a world of digital saturation, you’ve got to have killer content in order to get noticed. A great way to do this is to make custom branded videos that you can feature on your blog. If you host them through YouTube, they’ll pull double duty in 1. being sharable and 2. creating another traffic stream. For your featured images, pull a dynamic still image and Photoshop a play button over it to increase CTR – on your site, on social, and in your email marketing

If you want to Increase Conversions

Websites are a growth tactic. Whether you’re trying to bolster your customer base, increase your subscribers, or recruit new talent, your site is a critical component of generating conversions. If you’re looking to up the ante here (and let’s be real, who isn’t trying to do that?), consider putting a video on the pages below.

Landing Pages

• Let’s start with the obvious. Landing pages are all about driving conversions, and what better way to do that with a video? Engage them off the bat with sight, sound, and motion to pique their interest and surround it with effective copy that persuades them to take action.

Training platforms/portals

• If you’ve got product that needs ongoing support, videos are a great option. When done well, they can reduce customer support overhead and turn your clients into loyal brand ambassadors. Host them behind a gate to draw in leads, or host them on YouTube and work your SEO magic.

Testimonials

Click Play Button to See Example

• If customers love you so much that they’re willing to sit under some bright lights with powder on their faces to sing your praises, you’re probably doing a pretty good job delivering. Video testimonials add personality and interactivity to an otherwise flat and verbose section of your site. Place these nuggets of social proof on their own dedicated page, build them into your portfolio, or sprinkle them strategically throughout your site.

Product Pages

• If you’ve got an e-commerce site, there’s no better way to engage than with product videos. With all the knowledge in the world at their fingertips, people love researching options before they lock in on a purchase. Short, effective product videos can assist in cutting down the amount of research your customers will have to do, which entices them to continue shopping with you.

And that just scratches the surface. In this increasingly visual society, your customers are actively seeking out videos that entertain, educate, and inspire. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to capture the attention that’s looking for an outlet.

When you’re ready, give us a call.