Online video is essentially for any local business looking to drive free traffic to their website. You need every advantage you can get over your competitors, and video marketing is the new frontier for local businesses. Video not only makes you rank higher in search engine results, but your business can also be promoted on services like YouTube and Google Video, which is essentially free advertising.
People search for videos when searching for products or services. 52% of all web traffic is video (according to industry watchdog eMarketer). More than 70% of all web visitors watch video online (according to the NY Times). These alone are very compelling reasons to use video on your site. While your competitors are fighting for ad space on the right side of the screen in Google AdWords, you can dominate the entire page for free by concentrating your efforts on video marketing and search engine optimization. What do you think someone is more likely to click on first: a text ad on the right or a video advertising your business in the middle of the screen?
Online video also allows you to get your message across in a visual format. Many people don’t like to read online content due to eyestrain or simply have shorter attention spans thanks to the fast-paced, hyperactive advertising that most people have become accustomed to through TV and radio. .
Contrary to popular belief, online video is not difficult or expensive to produce and upload to the Internet. An inexpensive webcam and much of the software that comes with your operating system is all you need. If you’re still intimidated or don’t want to use your own voice, there are service providers that will create videos for you and send them to video-sharing sites like YouTube for less than $200.
Video marketing is the future, and it’s happening now. You need to put your business at the forefront of this revolution so that you can reap all the profits before your competitors notice.