Videos offer a veritable smorgasbord of advantages for the discerning webmaster. With the ideal length slated at 2.7-5 minutes, videos are quick to make, cheap to produce and pack an unparalleled SEO punch. Given the choice, most visitors to your site would rather click on the video than read the blog. This encourages them to spend a little more time on your site and turns a dull text-based page into a dynamic and exciting multimedia extravaganza.
Engage a wider audience
You have about four to ten seconds to captivate the audience that reaches your landing page before they bounce off elsewhere. Of course your scintillating headlines and enthralling text will help to engage visitors, but the chances of them sticking around increase exponentially when there’s a video they can click on. Videos have the added attraction of putting you in the picture. They give you the opportunity to put yourself out there and encourage engagement and deeper connections with your audience.
SEO benefits up the wazoo
Since there are far fewer videos clambering for attention than there are written posts, you are more likely to come up on the first page of a Google search when you post a video. Studies show that websites containing videos increase conversion rates by up to 41%. A KISSmetrics poll showed that users were 64-85% more likely to make a purchase after watching a product video.
Google puts much cache in pages where users stay for longer periods as low bounce rates are an indication of quality content. Your users will stay on your page longer while they are watching a video, giving your SEO ranking a push up the charts.
Your chance of getting a first page ranking can increase by as much as 53% with the addition of video, depending on the saturation of videos in your particular genre.
Social media benefits
Not only are users more likely to stay and watch a video than they are to read a post, they are also more likely to share your videos on their own social media sites. Your videos are able to reach a wider audience than blog posts alone. Videos between 2.7 and 5 minutes are more likely to tickle your reader’s fancy and (if you are very creative or very lucky) your video may even go viral.
Videos are a great way to put a face to your company, to tell your story and to showcase your products. Avoid only doing product-related posts and try to be imaginative and offer value-added content such as DIY videos. Adding videos to your site will give your readers a choice, it will encourage them to stay on your page for longer periods, they will be more likely to share your posts and your SEO ranking will improve dramatically. So go ahead, and get some lights, camera, and action in your life!
