Have you thought about adding videos to your website? They seem to be popping up everywhere across the Internet — personal videos, business videos, instructional videos and more. Video consumption has increased in recent years and is expected to continue in that vein. The video trend is clear in the increase in videos on social media sites such as YouTube and Twitter. Around 55 percent of people view online videos daily. Videos are an effective way to convert site visitors into customers. Video embedding tools are key if you wish to add video content to your site.
It’s no surprise that videos help drive traffic to your website and reach new leads. There are several factors to consider and specific video embedding tools that can make embedding easy.
1. Where to Embed a Video
Before you figure out what embedding tools to use, you should take the time to consider where you’d like to embed a video on your site and why. If you want to grab the reader’s attention the minute he or she lands on the page, you’ll want to place the video “above the fold” — e.g., at or near the top of the page. You may want to exercise caution in playing it automatically, as that practice could increase your bounce rate.
You also can include video to showcase a specific product or instructions on how to do something. For example, if you have a personal blog where you share recipes, you might want to include a video on the best way to get a cake out of the pan without it sticking.
Try placing the video in different locations to discover the best conversion rates. Make sure you do some A/B testing to see which location works best for your target audience. While one type of video might play best on your landing page, you may find another type of video gets more views on the blog portion of your website.
2. Sound or No Sound?
Keep in mind, many people surf the Internet while at work or in a public place and may not have the volume on. On Facebook, users watch around 85 percent of videos without sound. There are many reasons users might mute the sound for your videos. Therefore, a best practice for your website is to ensure your video speaks on its own without any sound.
Include text headlines to grab attention. You also might want to caption truly important taglines or dialogue your viewers might not hear. Ensure users can understand the video without any sound. By paying attention to this aspect of online videos, you’re sure to have more success reaching potential customers. Ensure your video makes sense and has the impact you want it to have, both with and without sound.
3. Tone of Video
The tone of your video needs to match the overall tone of your brand. If your company is young and hip, the video can be fresh and lighthearted. On the other hand, if you’ve developed an image of mature dependability, a funny video isn’t the best choice. You must understand the purpose of the video to reach people and get them to take an action.
To get a better idea of how your video needs to match your brand image, study the videos on other websites. You’ll also want to take the time to watch videos on competitors’ websites. What are they doing that you aren’t? How can you implement something even better to stand out from the competition?
4. Recording
Once you’ve decided on placement, sound aspects and the tone of your video, you’ll want to record it. Fortunately, better cameras in smartphones have made it possible to shoot video anywhere. While there is still a place for professionally produced videos, you can certainly create them on the fly. You can even live stream at a specific time, offering a lesson in something related to your site.
5. Video Embedding Tools
There are many ways to embed videos into your website. Probably the easiest way is to upload your video to YouTube, then use the embed code to plug the video into your webpage. Because Google owns YouTube, most people can view the videos on their computers and mobile devices. YouTube also boasts a massive audience, reaching more than 1.5 billion monthly users.
Other options include:
- Vimeo: Similar to YouTube, you can use a site such as Vimeo to upload a video and then use the embed code.
- Facebook: Even though Facebook doesn’t have an “embed” option the way YouTube and Vimeo do, you can still embed videos from the social media giant if you have a bit of coding knowledge. You can write a simple object script and add the link to your video on Facebook to embed it into your site.
- HTML5: Use the video tag <video> to embed a video into your HTML5 markup. You can also define the width, height and other controls via these commands.
You can also still use Flash Player on your site, but that may be the least desirable way to embed video these days. There are some cons to using Flash, the biggest being that users must install a Flash Player plugin to play the video.
Benefits of Video Embedding
As you can see, there are many options to embed video on your site. With the advantages of video and more people enjoying this information delivery method, implementing video into your site is well worth the effort. Fortunately, there are many simple ways to deliver video on your website. Whether you choose the most common way, or go with something a bit more complex, your site visitors are sure to gain a better understanding of your company and what you have to offer.
About The Author
Eleanor Hecks is the Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine, an online publication dedicated to providing in-depth content from the design and marketing industries. When she's not designing or writing code, you can find her exploring the outdoors with her husband and dog in their RV, burning calories at a local Zumba class, or curled up with a good book with her cats Gem and Cali.
You can find more of Eleanor's work at www.eleanorhecks.com.