Services







 

Resources





Leveraging the Power of Online Video

(January 2009) -- In November 2008:

  • 77 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
  • The average online video viewer watched 273 minutes of video.
  • 97 million viewers watched 5.1 billion videos on YouTube.com (52.3 videos per viewer).
  • 52.5 million viewers watched 371 million videos on MySpace.com (7.1 videos per viewer).
  • The duration of the average online video was 3.1 minutes.

Clearly, viewing online videos is a growing Internet trend -- a trend that you can use to your advantage to build a strong online presence and reach new audiences.

Recommended Guidelines for Online Video

  • Make sure your videos are current, relevant and informative. Never post a video just for the sake of doing so. Consider your audience and their needs. Entertainment and Educational/How-To videos often gain the most traffic. Posting videos that are interesting and provide some value to the viewer will encourage repeat traffic.

  • Keep videos under five minutes. If your video is longer, break it up into smaller sections and tag each accordingly; this will help keep the viewer's attention and have them looking for more. Be sure to title/describe each segment appropriately so viewers can choose to view the segments that interest them.

  • Brand your video. Add your logo and Web address to the end of each video to reinforce your brand and let viewers know where to find you. During production/editing of your video, keep in mind that sites like YouTube takes thumbnail snapshots of your video at the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 marks. Use this to your advantage by including your logo and/or Web address during these times.

How to Share Your Video

Hosting Videos on Your Web Site:

Make your Web site's videos search-engine friendly by:

  • Using a video sitemap (Tips on video sitemaps can be found here)
  • Adding descriptive metadata
  • Providing transcripts of your video on the video page
  • Allowing viewers to repost your video to their Web site or blog by providing the video's coding

Remember: You don't have to post video to your Web site to reap the benefits of online video. Simply adding links from your Web site to your video-sharing portals can do the trick. Be sure the links contain keywords that match those used on your videos and portal page.

YouTube

Get started by signing up for a YouTube account and creating a YouTube Channel. YouTube Channels allow you to:

  • Store all your videos in a single location
  • Maintain a profile
  • Link back to your Web site
  • Create playlists of your own or other user's videos

Added bonus of YouTube: Because YouTube is owned by Google, your videos are automatically entered into Google's search engine.

Controlled by the video owner as well as the viewing/sharing audience, the following factors determine the video's placement in both YouTube and Google search listings:

Tags

Tag your video with appropriate keywords. Be sure to choose your keywords/tags carefully, as this is how people will search for your videos. To get ideas of good keywords, check out videos similar to yours. By matching keywords to similar videos, you will increase your chances of having your video posted under the "related" videos sidebar next to other user's videos.

Description

Make the most of the first 27 characters of the video's description. This is the maximum amount of characters available for keyword placement before the description is cutoff with ellipsis. If possible, add a clickable URL in the first line of the description as well.

Title

Give your videos catchy titles that utilize a keyword or two.

Number of Views

Increase the number of views by grouping related videos together in niche-targeted playlists; playlists are especially useful if you have a video that is broken into segments. Promote your video with YouTube email and bulletins. Post comments or video responses to other user's videos with a link back to your Channel. Join topic-oriented groups or create one if none exists in your niche area. Keep content fresh and relevant to gain subscriptions to your Channel.

Ratings

Posting quality content and increasing views of that content is the best way to earn high ratings.

Facebook Video

Users can upload videos to both Profiles and Pages. There are also applications (such as YouTube Video Box) that allow you to post your favorite YouTube videos directly to your Profile or Page. If the video contains people or organizations that are on Facebook, be sure to tag them when uploading the video.

MySpace Video

Add videos to your Myspace page and promote the video by posting bulletins. Whenever you add a video to your Myspace page, it is automatically added to a personal channel, similar to YouTube. When uploading a video, use the same methods regarding title, description and tags as used with a YouTube Channel.

iTunes Podcasts

Apple defines a podcast as a video or audio series - similar to a TV or radio show - that is downloaded from iTunes and played on your computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.

  • Anyone with an iTunes account can submit podcasts (both audio and video) to iTunes
  • iTunes distributes podcasts; does not make or host podcasts
  • Submission process requires review and approval by iTunes
  • Once approved, iTunes users can download the podcast for free.
  • Host can request that iTunes create an Artist Page to house multiple podcasts
  • Users can subscribe to an Artist Page to receive new podcasts automatically
  • Good metadata and cover art are essential to podcasts success in iTunes
  • FAQs and tips on making a podcast/upload process can be found here

iTunes University

  • Provides podcasts (both audio and video) of lectures, commentaries and discussions from qualifying two- and four-year accredited, degree-granting, public or private non-profit colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and United Kingdom
  • iTunes users can download for free; can also subscribe to receive new podcasts by host automatically
  • Only available to qualifying universities and "Beyond Campus" organizations
  • Organizations can apply for acceptance into iTunes U here
Sources:

Born-On Date: This article was written on January 20, 2009, using the best information available at the time.