Video is all over the web, we all know that.  But have you ever considered the value of having video on your website for promoting your business?   If you do it right, your visitors will appreciate the video and you will gain some SEO benefit as well.  Most Internet marketers are successful primarily because they use video in their marketing.

Your visitors love video.  It shows them you put some effort into your website.  It gives them more information without forcing them to read everything on your website.  Video also creates an energy around your products. Motivating a buying decision is much easier with video.  Of course your web page can also be designed to motivate a buying decision, but doing both is even better.  Want to see an example of that?  Check out the super pitchman Billy Mays on one of his websites. (note: I randomly picked one Billy Mays product, this is not an endorsement).  Billy Mays has made dozens of product sites and they all follow this format. http://www.zorbeez.com

Billy Mays uses a powerful marketing video.  It is not easy to produce something of that quality.  But you can produce something quite decent without spending “Billy Mays” money on his videos.  Just notice the impact of having that video there.  In addition to the video, notice everything on the page is an eye catching marketing graphic.  Billy Mays’ websites are marketing on every inch of the page.  Finally, Billy Mays always includes the form on the home page that asks for buyers to commit right up front.  Give me your credit card or go away!  Commit now! Strong marketing and it works.  Mainly I want you to notice how, with all the marketing designed into this website, it was still the video that makes this site sell.

Let’s briefly talk about production of the video.  The length and outline of the video will vary depending on what you are selling.  More expensive items require a longer presentation to get the buyer engaged.  Many products work well in the two minute video.  What is important is that you take the time to craft your message.  What problem are you solving?  What benefits are you delivering?  Have an solid offer.  Make sure it comes across as a truly amazing value.  Do you have special bonuses?  Have a call to action that creates urgency.  Create a script and plan your shots.  Mention the website and phone number.  Don’t forget the guarantee.  Take your time and do it right.  Make sure the video quality is good, the audio is good, the lighting is good.  Sure, you can do this yourself.  Just take the time to craft your message so that your brand, image, credibility, and product are all consistent.

What about the SEO value of video?  How does that work?  Do search engines somehow know what the video is about?  The surprising answer is a qualified “yes”.  I won’t go into details about all the technology here, but the easy and obvious parts are that you should host your video on video services and make sure you put keywords in the descriptions. Don’t forget to provide a link to your website in the description where you upload your video and also put your website address in the video itself.  You can embed the video in your website even though it is hosted elsewhere.

Where should you upload your video?  Which service is better?  Let’s take a look at a few choices.

YouTube.com – The obvious choice for most people is to upload videos to youtube.com.  The strengths are that YouTube.com is owned by Google.com and rumor has it that this can benefit you.  YouTube.com also has a large number of users and if you build up that social network, that community can be a lead source for you.

Revver.com – This service helps you monetize your video.  They add ads to your video and you get paid when people watch the video.  If other people include your video in their websites, you get a share of the revenue and so do they.  Everyone gets paid!  This is great except that if you are building a video for your website, you might not want commercials added to it.  It is a great option for bloggers, but not necessarily for businesses.

Viddler.com – This is an elegant and easy to work with service that offers a very nice interface, virtually unlimited storage space, and is growing in popularity with internet marketers and bloggers.

Vimeo.com is a very popular service that compares to Viddler.com.

There are also many other excellent video hosting sites and I want you to tell me about your favorites in the comments.  Frankly because I don’t know enough about each one to really do a comparison for all these video posting services.

The good news is that there are services that actually help you upload your video to multiple services.  I would really love to hear about which services you are using to do bulk uploading of videos.  The service I am familiar with is TubeMogul.com.  They have free and premium services.

Warning … if you are placing a video into these various communities, then make sure your video has a whole and complete message that includes your product, phone number, website, etc.  A video that says, “Welcome to my website, take a look around.” will not serve you well in the video communities.  Make your video work well as a stand alone piece and on your website.