Your website is your company’s digital storefront. It shows visitors who you are, what you do/sell, and who’s on your team, and it offers an opportunity for people to connect with you to learn more or buy. It probably includes photos of your products or your work, your team, and possibly your building (if not, it should!).
But photos don’t tell the whole story, and unlike a physical storefront, your website probably isn’t all that interactive (beyond visitors being able to click a few buttons).
Video can change that.
Video gives you the chance to bring your website to life. You can use it to show off your people, products or services, mission, values, and personality. Plus, it can give your SEO one heck of a boost. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the biggest reasons you should use video on your website, along with a few video ideas to get you started.
As I said, video can improve your website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you’re not familiar, SEO is, as MOZ puts it, “the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic, as well as exposure to your brand, through non-paid (also known as ‘organic’) search engine results.” (You can learn more about SEO in this blog.)
Optimizing your website for SEO helps improve your chances of showing up in search engine results. There are a LOT of factors that influence SEO, such as keyword optimization, content quality, website speed…and so on.
Video can help improve your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs) in a few ways:
Here’s an example of one of our blogs where we included a video intro. Not only does it help improve SEO for this page, it also makes the blog much more interesting!
Video also makes visitors more likely to stick around once they get to your website.
Google loves web pages that have higher average dwell times (the time someone spends on your site) and is likely to rank them higher than ones with lower dwell times. When visitors hang out on your site longer, it increases your dwell time, reduces your bounce rate, and signals to Google and other search engines that your content is high quality and relevant.
But Google isn’t the only one who likes to see videos on a website. Visitors love it too! In fact, one survey found that 73% of website visitors preferred to learn about a product or service via a short video vs only 11% who said they’d prefer to read text.
If the goal of your website is to create a positive experience for visitors, video is a nonnegotiable.
Finally, the longer a person stays on your website, the more likely they’ll be to buy. But we’ll talk about conversions in the next point.
As I mentioned, users prefer video to text, and the longer they stay on your site, the more likely they’ll be to convert.
In addition, video is much more memorable than written content. When someone watches a video, they’re much more likely to retain the information than when they read it in text form. If you want someone to buy, you need them to remember who you are and what you can do for them!
Simply put, compelling videos drive conversions. One study found that video directly increased sales for 84% of marketers using video! It’s clear that today’s consumer wants to see a product in action or the tangible results of a service before they decide to buy.
Here’s an example of one of our web pages where we use video to explain one of our lead generation offerings. We think it’s much more captivating and informative with the video than it would be without, don’t you?
When people choose to share something on their social media platforms, they are more likely to share entertaining, emotionally engaging content, and video hits those marks. To put it simply, videos are way more exciting to share on social media than a page full of text.
Video gives your site visitors an opportunity to engage with your brand more, not only on your website, but also across their social media platforms. And social shares, in turn, can bring more traffic back to your site, giving you a chance to engage (and possibly convert) new visitors.
Video is the perfect way to humanize your brand and connect with your website’s visitors. This is a vital part of building trust, and people are more likely to do business with companies they trust.
Videos present your products, services, and people in a conversational format, helping to form an emotional bond, show your company as trustworthy, quickly articulate value, and motivate visitors to take action.
You can create videos to showcase product demos, tangible results of your services, customer testimonials, or even your team, like we did in the “meet the Figgy team” video above that we made a while back.
Finally, when you use video on your website, it helps you stand out from the crowd…and what brand doesn’t want that??
Video is the perfect solution to broaden your reach, enabling you to attract new audiences and create a lasting impression with website visitors. It engages people’s senses and emotions, encouraging them to connect with your brand on a deeper level. This deeper connection can, in turn, lead to more sales and better customer loyalty.
Okay, now that you’re convinced of the benefits of using video on your website, here are a few great ways to use it:
If you have an e-commerce website, video content can help you highlight and tell a compelling story about your products. Consider using video for new product sneak-peeks, product demos, and “how it’s made”-style videos showing your manufacturing process.
Not e-commerce? Do the same thing for your services!
Create a tutorial or host a webinar showing the difference between service levels, giving a sneak peek into what your service looks like (footage of your team on the job, etc), or even one of your team members explaining how your service works.
Video is a great opportunity to showcase your expertise and communicate your value.
Nothing shows social proof better than seeing and hearing from happy customers.
Ask a few of your best customers to record video testimonials, telling their story of how your product or service improved their life. Or create a graphic video showcasing some of your best written testimonials or reviews.
Video is a fantastic way to announce new products, service offerings, new staff, or changes to your branding or website. For example, check out this video we made introducing our new Figgy logo!
These are just a few ideas, and the tip of the iceberg — there are so many ways you can use video to promote your brand on your website! Think about your brand, its unique story, and how you can create authentic videos to make your website more interactive so you can connect with your ideal audience.
So…how will you use video on your website? Tell us in the comments below!