YouTube and Your Business
We've become a visual and visceral society. Look at the exploding use of cell phones with still and video cameras in them. They are all around us. There's also the growing popularity of 'shoot and share' portable camcorders like the Flip™, which now films in high definition and allows for easy uploading to video hosting sites such as YouTube and social media sites like Facebook.
We want somehow to be involved with others on some level. We have a wide range of television programs that have plugged in and taken advantage of this very need. Reality shows like, "Dancing With The Stars," and "The Biggest Loser," "Extreme Makeover," and "The Apprentice" continue to draw huge ratings numbers.
So what has this do with your business?
Everything.
No matter what your business is, no matter how big or small, your target audience is part of this trend and has come to expect some sort of a video presence on your website; even if it's just a brief personal welcome from you as the owner of a business.
The term 'video,' can also be used to take in video slide-shows (a video presentation composed of photographs with background music and text). The point is people want to connect (and do business) with other people, and video is the perfect medium for this.
Facts bear out that if you don't have video, potential customers are likely to spend less time on your text based site and go off in search of a similar site with video. MetaCafe, a video sharing site, reports that websites with video hold attention 10 times longer than sites with text only.
There are many uses for video on your website. Testimonials from satisfied clients generate a lot of trust and confidence from potential buyers. Video is also good for product demonstrations, product use training, new product roll out announcements, case studies, or a tour of your business. The list of things video on your website can effectively show instead of tell is almost endless.
Now here is where YouTube comes in. YouTube is a real golden opportunity for business owners - and better yet - it's free and simple to use. If you are currently using YouTube you can have one account for your personal use and simply create another one for your business. When you create an account with YouTube you automatically have what's known as a YouTube Channel.
Don't let the term 'channel,' throw you. A YouTube Channel is simply a holding area for your videos. Here potential clients can watch your videos and subscribe to your YouTube Channel and be alerted whenever you post a new video to your channel. You can also easily fill out the information in a Channel and give some background information about you and your company and put a link into your company's website. You can also select from different pre-made templates to give your Channel a personality or you can search online for additional templates, some for free, others specifically designed for your business for a fee.
After your video is uploaded to YouTube, YouTube will automatically generate an embed code which you can then copy into your website. This code will allow your YouTube video to be seen on your website. It's that simple.
You can also put the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) page link from your video to a Facebook Fan Page if your business has one thus giving your video more exposure.
There's another advantage of putting your video on Facebook. Remember that the search engine giant Google owns YouTube. You can take advantage of this fact by coming up with relevant titles for your videos. Also by properly tagging your videos in YouTube with keywords related to your business you can help boost your search engine rankings.
So that one video that you created for your website, when placed on YouTube, is now doing double duty and giving you and your business more exposure and creating more of an online presence for you.
Need more proof of the power of online video? ComScore, a marketing research company reports that, "Online video advertising continues to reach more U.S. (Internet) users with almost half viewing an ad during November (2010)".
What are you waiting for? Your new customers are waiting.
Jerry Bullard owns a web video production service in Apple Valley MN. He is a published writer on the topics of video production as well as social media. His website is at [http://www.yourwebproductions.com] He can be reached at jerry@yourwebproductions.com or at YourWebProductions Facebook Fan Page.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jerry_Bullard/112749
