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Launching Video on Your Website
Once you have your site up, you might be looking for ways to add some pizzazz. One option is to put some video up on your site. Only five years ago, video wasn’t very common online, but since then the spread of broadband internet (cable, DSL, and FIOS) and the rise of video-sharing sites such as YouTube have caused an explosion of video on websites.
Adding video to your site can be a good idea if you are looking for a way to make a personal connection to your site visitors or present material which is better delivered visually.
Some of the types of video you might want to put on your site:
- Brief advertising messages (commercials)
- Product demos and tutorials
- Full presentations or “seminars”
- Short content videos (v-blogging)
To determine what types of video content you should post, you should consider what your goals are for the videos on your site (education, opt-ins, sales, etc), what resources you have available, who will be doing the filming and post-production, and how many/how long those videos will be.
Once you have a clear idea of how you are going to use video on your site, you will need to get some sort of video camera, or find someone to do the filming for you. You will also need to get some rudimentary video editing software, or find someone to do the editing for you. Then you need to launch the video on your website.
There are a few different ways to put video on your site, all with pros and cons.
YouTube
YouTube
A free video-sharing service. If your video has the potential to “go viral” (meaning that it is so entertaining or interesting that people will pass it around to their friends and colleagues), having it available on YouTube is a good idea. YouTube also integrates well with many blogging platforms and social networking sites. The problem is that you don’t control your video – YouTube determines the visual quality and adds their own logo to the player. Also, you have a harder time controlling distribution – so if this is premium content that your visitors pay for, etc. Hosting it on YouTube isn’t a good idea.
Video Hosting Services
Instant Video Generator
Bits on the Run
A service with a monthly fee. Like YouTube, your videos are stored and streamed from their servers. Unlike YouTube, your videos don’t display the service’s branding and you have more control over how they appear on your website. Some services provide statistics on how many times your videos are viewed and other information.
Hosted on Your Website Server
Depending on how much space and bandwidth you have on your website hosting account, and how many videos you plan to put on your site, self-hosting the videos is a viable option – especially when you are just starting out. If you plan to self-host, you should be sure your video is optimized and in the correct format. A good program to use to prepare your video for uploading is Video Web Wizard.
However you plan to launch your first video, as your collection of available media grows, and your traffic increases, you can always upgrade your video hosting technology.
Web Action Steps
- Consider these issues:
What are your goals?
What resources do you have available for your online multimedia?
How many videos do you plan to post?
How long are the videos?
How much control do you want over the display and playback of the videos?
Will you be producing your videos in-house?
How much traffic will your videos be getting? (How much “bandwidth” will they be consuming each month?)
- Based on your answers, investigate how you will produce your videos
- Investigate the various hosting options
Having a hard time formulating your multimedia plan and deciding on the best course of action? I offer consulting services on these and many other online business concerns.