Why We Do It
In case you've just missed the news (but we honestly can't see how you could have missed it) video for the Web is exploding! At least Google and Yahoo! have modified their search engine algorithms to give priority placement in organic search results to pages and sites which provide videos.
In addition, the Internet research and reporting organization ComScore reported in July of 2008 that for the first time since stats had been maintained, YouTube was the second overall most searched site on the Internet behind only Google. Pause for a moment and make sure you let the sink in. I didn't say that YouTube was the second most visited site to search for video. Their findings reported that among all sites searched on the Internet, YouTube was second ahead of familiar search sites like Yahoo!, MSN (and Bing), Ask Jeeves, and so forth. That's HUGE!
28% of small business owners plan to invest more in online video in 2010; a 75% increase over 2009. In fact, while most businesses in 2009 decreased their traditional advertising expenditure, beginning to recognize the power of video on the Internet, those same owners actually invested more during in 2009 for video. (ReelSEO)
And here are some research results recently published by an online marketing specialist* which help us understand the value of having video present on your business website:
- 52 percent of viewers take action after watching
- 30 percent of viewers visit a store
- Clicks for more information increase by 30-40 percent
- Phone calls to your business increase 16-20 percent
According to Joe Robinson, Director of Product Marketing from Brightcove and Jennifer Taylor, Director of Product Management at Adobe, online video can be used at every stage of the customer lifecycle to acquire, engage and convert site visitors. In a recent online seminar they outlined six results online video can bring to your website:
- Grab people’s attention instantly
- Tell your story in less time
- Bring your ideas to life
- Make your site stickier
- Create a buzz with viral video
- Bring your website into the 21st century
Until recently, the cost of having a video spot produced exclusively for your business made it financially impossible for the average business owner, much less having that video spot placed where people could see it.
Running a business is a full time job. Likely you don't have time to keep up with all the emerging trends and technologies much less implement them.
That's why we're here. COVIDCO can help you implement video for your business and all it takes is a contact to get us started. Next thing you know, you have a shiny new video working for you across the Internet.
*Internet marketing research results published by TurnHere
We're going to be monitoring trends and topics related to the proliferation of video across the Internet so you may want to bookmark this page and come back to see the latest links we've added. Here' some recent stuff we've seen come across the Web:
Mar 15, 2010 - The State of Newspapers? Think of Sand Falling in an Hourglass, Pew Report Says Newspaper advertising revenue plunged an astounding 45% over the last three years forcing publishers to make drastic reductions to the actual size of the print edition, to the space devoted to news to the ranks of employees. (Editor & Publisher)
Feb 9, 2010 - It's worth noticing that an item in ComScore's 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review is "Six out of seven U.S. Internet users now view online video content in a month, with YouTube and Hulu continuing to experience rapid increase in viewership."
Feb 9, 2010 - Rep. Mark Ferrandino of the Colorado legislature introduces legislation to make receiving phone books an "opt in" only service. But short of that, Ferrandino says he will settle for a "robust opt-out" option in which Colorado residents can call a central phone number and ask to be dropped off the drop-off list.
Jan 20, 2010 - Research Shows Websites Influence 97% of Clients' Purchasing Decisions. The survey, conducted by RainToday.com, included more than 200 buyers responsible for more than $1.7 billion in professional services purchased and concluded that 74% of buyers report the service provider's website holds at least "some influence" over their ultimate decision to buy services from the provider. This is 23 percentage points higher than in 2005 and represents a significant increase in the importance of websites. (HubSpot Blog)
Jan 18, 2010 - YouTube Search Accounts for Nearly 28% of all Google Searches
According to comScore’s December 2009 US Search Rankings Report published last week, YouTube searches grew 35% year over year to more than 3.9 billion search queries.
In fact, YouTube not only had 50% more searches than Yahoo web search (3.918B vs 2.629B) and 180% more searches than Bing (3.918B vs 1.399B), but the number of searches at the online video giant made up almost 28% (27.95) of the total searches on Google sites for Dec. 2009. (REELSEO)
Jan 5, 2010 - November Sees Number of U.S. Videos Viewed Online Surpass 30 Billion for First Time on Record ComScore
Dec 18, 2009 - Your competitors are planning to spend money for online video this year according to REELSEO - 1 in 4 SMBs to Spend More for Online Video in 2010
Jun 19, 2009 - Overall, 80% of all video viewers have watched a video ad online, and 52% have taken some sort of action, whether it's checking out a website (31%), searching for more info (22%), going into a store (15%), or making a purchase (16%). (Online Publishers Association)
May 13, 2009 - In Online Video and Small Business Go Hand in Hand the folks at Small Biz Trends emphasize the importance of small businesses beginning to recognize and use online video to connect with and engage their customers as well as increase their search engine rankings:
At yesterday’s Google Searchology event in Mountain View, Google’s VP of Search Products & User Experience Marissa Mayer informed everyone that Universal Search results are present in 1 out of 4 Google searches. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, Universal Search was a change to Google’s algorithm that put media content like blogs, video, images, news, etc, right in with the regular Web search.
That statistic is important because it means if someone does a search for [how to winterize my pool], the video that you created and uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo may begin to rank very competitively, gaining your business a considerable amount of traffic and links that will help you rank in local search. And if the searcher lives in your area, then you can be pretty sure they’re going to contact you for services. Because now they know you.
Jan 30, 2009 - REELSEO - Local Search & Online Video – Why SMBs Need a Video Searchmercial emphasizes why representing your business to a shopping public with sound and motion is important.