maine web development, web design, internet marketing

In two weeks’ time I’ll be presenting Show Don’t Tell, Using Video to Tell Your Story and I felt like warming up to the event by writing a few posts on web video principles that will help you out if you’re thinking of getting involved in the video production process.

The nice thing about web video compared to, say, recording for home television viewing, is that you’re working on much smaller screen. This is great because you don’t need to invest in zany amounts of equipment in order to get started (as cool as that Canon XH A1 is!). People aren’t viewing a video on the web in order to get blown away by your stellar cinematography. They’re looking to be amused, learn something, or get more engaged in your site. And so the technical scrutiny is much lower than on a Hollywood movie set.

On the other hand, on the web you are in an insanely competitive environment for the viewer’s attention. Unlike the viewer trapped in the theater, or even the television viewer (who has to take the initiative to pick up the remote if they’re bored), on the web your audience is actively multitasking and your video has mere seconds to capture their attention.   So while you don’t need a million-dollar sound stage to produce a video for the web, you need truly interesting ideas.

Now, that idea doesn’t have to be smashing a Ford Focus into bits but it should be something tangible and valuable. It can be as simple as having the president of your company talk about what you do, or getting a customer to talk about their experience with your company.

Getting more adventurous, can you reveal a tip or trick about what you do in video? Interview an expert in your field? Provide web-based training? Or maybe just have a staff member get attacked by flying monkeys?

The important thing is to get an idea, kick it around with a few people to make sure it’s not completely insane, and then make it happen. Unlike TV or movies, which necessitate a massive output of resources to get a finished product, web video can be produced with style for reasonable amounts of money and time.

There are three key things you need to produce decent looking video:

• A camera – Obviously.  You need something to capture the actual video, and today the possibilities are endless and affordable.  Many web videographers stop their search here, but I urge you to buy more gear!   I said you didn’t need a Hollywood sound stage, but I didn’t say that grainy videos with audio that sounds like it was recorded at the bottom of the well was good, either…
• An external microphone – Please, please, please do not record video with the built-it microphone on your camera.  It will never sound that good.  It’s hard to find budget camcorders with an external mic-in jack anymore (why oh why is good audio so neglected in budget videography?), but you can also look into recording audio separately with a device like the Zoom H2.
• Lights – Ever notice how in lots of web videos the participants look like they’ve been stricken with vampirism?  That’s because interior lighting is terrible for video (if you really want to understand this, here’s a good article on lighting for video).  Outside shots can be acceptable without extra lights, but if you’re shooting in your office, do your videos the kindness of investing in a decent set of daylight-balanced lights.

Got your gear?  Great!  Now your video’s just going to fall together in your lap, right? … Well, not quite.  Next week, I’ll talk more about taking an idea and making it a reality.  Following that, we’ll talk about how to get your video out there once it’s complete.  And if you just want to talk to someone about your great idea, drop us an email.

Video has evolved. No longer only associated with television, video has made its impact on the web in various forms. Whether it’s user-uploaded video clips (YouTube) or full episodes of TV shows (as most major TV networks have done), the online community is now up to speed, literally, to not only store long video clips, but also offer easy playback ability via the web. Updated technology such as Flash Video allows conversion of once very large AVI and MPEG clips to be compressed to a file format that can serve not only quickly and smoothly, but with a manageable file size to be viewed by anyone with an internet connection.

But how can you use video on your own website to enhance your product and branding?

To start, keeping it simple is always the way to go. Video is a way to push a lot of content and visuals directly to the user via a single source, so use that to your advantage. A simple greeting video from the president of the company, along with some strong statements about the services offered, is always an effective personal introduction to a potential client.

Using a video for presentation purposes is another effective use. Instead of having a PowerPoint file of a presentation posted to the site as a downloadable link and entrusting a user to download and play the file back locally, setting up the presentation in video format along with an insightful narration has many benefits. You can set up the visual presentation along with your specific narrative, noting key points to what the user is seeing on the screen, and pacing the video as you would when giving a face-to-face presentation. This allows a more personalized and targeted message that you want to convey to any site user interested in your product.

It’s all about enhancing the user experience. A website’s main purpose is to present information on your product/business to users who are interested in it, and to get them to contact you regarding your services. Most users quickly browse websites looking for specific content related to their needs, using a search engine or directory portal to guide them to the most relevant sites. But studies show that most users will watch a video if presented with one on a site.

In the end, the biggest goal is closing the sale of your product. Increasing the percentage of sales to the amount site visitors is what matters, and video can be a most effective tool in converting visitors to clients.

Well, Peter over at Quirk has definitely drunk the Flash koolaid, with a pretty evangelistic article this morning detailing the virtues of Flash over QuickTime.

Of course, we’re right with him.

Up until somewhere in the middle of 2005, we were stuck releasing videos in both Quicktime and Windows Media player to accommodate different operating systems.  Not only was this more of a hassle in the encoding/production end, but it was up to the user to figure out which of the platforms worked best for them (and often neither was natively installed on their computer).

Quicktime and Windows Media also have the problem of loading in their own player, which disrupts the browsing experience.  In contrast, Flash can be embedded seamlessly with a web page, themed to match a site’s look and feel, pull from a remote site, as well as accommodate a variety of tracking methodologies (such as all the ability to comment in the middle of a clip in Viddler or the emerging field of real-time video behavior/viewing analytics).

And of course, it’s the technology we use to encode our archived webinars and what you see  on YouTube.

In most cases, it’s great to have diversity.  But the world of DVD technology and online video, it’s important to have a king.

I for one was very excited at the launch of the MTV music video site this week. A full archive of MTV videos. Remember when MTV played videos? MTV Trivia will tell you that the first video that played on MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles. The Music Industry as the world knew it changed the day MTV hit the airwaves.

We may be at that place again, this time video is changing the internet as we know it. Video isn’t just for professionals or people with expensive cameras anymore. Anyone can be a part of this Video Internet revolution. The question is, should you?

Chances are you’re already thinking about adding video to your website, but like everything else on your site, don’t do it without thinking about your site’s web strategy. Here are some tips on getting the biggest bang out of your video effort (even without spending a fortune).

Say it and say it quick!

Your video would be one of hundreds of thousands of videos out there. Make your point quick. Attention spans online are not that long. Do not make a 7 minute video and have your key point at minute 4. Even if you think it’s too short, make it shorter.

Make your video a piece of value for the viewer (not you)

Mindless videos can be great time wasters but as Seth Godin points out , no one really cares about YOU on youtube, they care about themselves — being entertained, learning something, or finding a service that they need.

Make sure your video is something that benefits the viewer. The CEO of your company dancing ‘Risky Business’ style may be funny to you and your employees but will it generate business for you?

Your video should have a goal for you and your company

As with everything you do for your company set your goal first.

Make a video to humanize your company, share a new product, or leak information from your latest conference presentations.

Once you have that goal – how are you going to measure your success? Add a landing page URL at the end of the video and track web hits? How many times the phone rings?

Or is it a success if your mother says she saw it when she comes over for Thanksgiving?

That’s it. Just a couple suggestions to get your video marketing project off the ground. Did I leave anything major out? Let me know! If you do need help determining your marketing vision for your video project you can always contact your friends at Hall for help too!