Youtube recently announced that an impressive one hour of video is uploaded every second. By that statistic alone, just goes to show how important Search Engine Optimisation for video is if you want to stand out.

I previously wrote a blog post with some Video Optimisation tips, a year on and things haven’t changed much and the strategy still works. In this post I want to share a breakdown of how we got a video to sustain itself and generate daily views.

You may remember us posting our little Lego Stop Motion film for Christmas. The first few weeks we saw the views of the video match accordingly to whenever we shared the video on various social networks. But without us actively sharing the video, the views would decline.

I knew we had to increase the chances of it being discovered on YouTube, so I put the video through the SEO check-list that I mentioned in my last post.

SEO Check-List

• Descriptive title. Say what the video is about, making sure to incorporate appropriate keywords. This will not only aid search engines but will also encourage more people to view your video over a video that has a vague title.
• Appropriate keywords and Informative description. When adding tags and keywords to the title and description of the video, make sure they are relevant to the content and your brand. Also make sure to include ‘video’ as a keyword, as people will search for “something something video” as a query.
• Attractive thumbnail. Some video sites let you upload a thumbnail of the video whereas others like Youtube will select 3 from your video to choose. Try to choose the most interesting image that will give a feel for what your video is about, while encouraging people to view it.
• Enabled comments and ratings. This gives the opportunity for communication between users and yourself. This may need to be monitored to filter out any spam or inappropriate comments, but generally those who leave any feedback are more likely to take further action; be it sharing the video or purchasing your product or service, at the very least they are improving your search rankings.
• Implement a linking strategy. Link to your video from other sites: embed it on your website or blog, share it on social networks, embed it on other relevant sites for your business. The more links back to your video, the better its search engine ranking. Search engines depend on the number and quality of the links to determine the credibility of the video.
• Use multiple video sites. Depending on your objectives, it might prove wise to distribute your video to multiple sites other than YouTube to increase your online visibility. By using TubeMogul for example, you can upload just one video and it will distribute it to mulitple video sites all at once.

Apart from a linking strategy and using multiple video sites, I was positive I met all the criteria. For this video I wanted to focus traffic to YouTube rather than manage it on multiple video platforms (vimeo, dailymotion etc), and also because we had adsense enabled which allows us to earn some money from the popup ads on the video, so according to the check list, I was left to work on a linking strategy.

I searched for ideal places to embed and link the video without spamming, with the potential for it to be easily shared. I joined Lego fan sites such as Brickfilms; a site for amateur Lego animations where I was sure the video would be most welcome. I also added it to tumblr, submitting the video to various Lego dedicated tumblr pages. Both these methods earned us a few new subscribers, some more YouTube likes and the views I wanted. But after a few days of posting on these sites, the video views declined again. At this time the video had earned an approximate total of 800 views.

I re-evaluated the situation and checked the SEO check-list again to see what I may have missed.

 Judge a book by its title

I realised the problem could be in the video title. The keywords and description were fine, but the title wasn’t telling people anything.

Originally the title was “A Merry Christmas You Must Have – Lego Star Wars”. This was in line with our mini-campaign of goodwill during the festive season, but it was not the most enticing or sustainable of titles…especially after Christmas had passed. The title of the film is not directly relevant to the SEO performance, but it did need to be changed to something people would likely search for.

After losing the name and testing alternatives, we settled on “Lego Star Wars: Santa versus Christmas Yoda“. As a result, the video now appears high up in YouTube’s suggested videos and search results, as well as being far more descriptive and appealing to the casual viewer browsing YouTube.

To add to that, and something that we can include in the SEO check list above is the use of the YouTube Video Response feature. When choosing the right title for the video, I researched many keywords to see the results. Whenever I found a similar themed video that had a high view count and was still actively being viewed, instead of leaving a comment on the video I would instead add a video response for the viewers who might also enjoy seeing our video.

Since adding those changes, we have already reached over 4600 views, getting anything from 30-100+ views a day, with most of our traffic coming from YouTube’s Suggested Videos. The image above is a screenshot of YouTube’s analytics showing the increase in views during the optimisation process.

Conclusion

Just to reiterate, one hour of video is uploaded to Youtube every second and every uploader wants their content to be seen.

Even though ‘A Merry Christmas You Must Have’ featured both Lego and Star Wars, with both already having massive and established audiences, it was invisible to search engines until the meta content was optimised. Now, because we followed the SEO Check-list and researched our audience and ‘competition’, the video is able to sustain itself and generate views daily.

Generating sales

In a business sense, you would now have a video that not only engages with your audience and converts them into sales/sign-ups, but a video that attracts substantial daily views with very little ‘ongoing’ effort. Of course trends change and the SEO would need to be monitored and tweaked to match your industry, but this little lesson in video SEO proves that having effectively optimised content will substantially increase your visibility, and ultimately create more sales.

I remember briefly exploring it when it was first announced but nothing stuck out to keep me interested. Fast forward about nearly 2 years and the site has developed and built up its members. I joined Pinterest due to seeing Pinterest short urls and mentions of the site flooding my Twitter feed. So I caved in, followed the crowd and signed up to see what it was all about.

You first have to request an invite or be invited by a friend already signed up. It took me 24 hours to received my invite. The sign up process is fairly simple. You choose to log in using your Facebook or Twitter account, then you select some categories of things you may be interested in such as: Art, fashion, geek, technology etc, then once you have made your selection, Pinterest automatically follows you to 10 strangers.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about being assigned 10 people to follow automatically, but it’s actually rather brilliant. Normally when you join a new network you are presented with an empty timeline with the task ahead of finding people to follow before you can see any benefit of the service. Pinterest is not like other networks. The connections you make are not personal like Facebook and less so like Twitter. So by having 10 people to start with, it fills up your feed with content that you’re interested in (judging on categories you selected, I was easily able to readjust this in the settings) so you can straight away see how the site works.

After being on the site for over a week now, the best way I can describe it is that it’s like Tumblr without the blogging aspect. It focuses on the exploring and sharing of images and videos. It’s so easy to share. You can add a ‘Pin it’ button to your Internet Browsers bookmarks tab, so that any web page you’re looking at that has an image you want to share. Click the ‘Pin it’ button and you can immediately pin it to your Pinterest board for others to see, share and like.

That’s all this site is, a place to share content. I’m often browsing through different categories (mostly Geek) to see what items are out there for me to lust after, or just get inspiration.

I have seen other sites talk about how businesses can use Pinterest. At the moment I wouldn’t recommend it for business use, there is no viable benefit or obvious ROI at this time. But I do recommend signing up to get your daily fix of inspiration, creativity and share alike without the hassle of trawling through blog posts.

I’d be interested to find out what others think of Pinterest and how they go about using it. However If you’re interested in Lego, Star Wars and various other geeky and sometimes arty things, then you might enjoy following me on Pinterest.

Recently I have noticed an increase in the number of websites allowing to edit videos online. Below is an overview of some of the applications I have found to see what they offer in the hope to discover any positive potential.

Youtube video editor

I first took notice when Youtube launched their video editor where you can create a new video based on exisiting videos in your channel or from a creative commons list. Later Youtube released a more advanced editor where you can colour correct, trim, rotate, stablise and add new audio to existing content from your channel. Pretty nifty idea as it gives those who lack any form of decent NLE (non linear editor) software to adjust and improve their footage.

Magisto

I then recently discovered Magisto. A website that claims to do all the hard work for you. All you have to do is upload a video or two, it will then scan the footage and select the best moments from it for you. Before you upload and hand over your footage to the Magisto wizards, you get the privilege of selecting from a list of inappropriate and gimmicky music to accompany your new masterpiece.

And that’s about as much control as you get. Your video is edited to Magistos liking with some random transitions you didn’t know where going to be included. The video is then nicely rounded off with a Magisto branded outro.

Credit where its due, I uploaded a test video of a bird I filmed that was perched on a tree that eventually flew away. Magisto scanned my footage and took the close up of the bird flying away as an interesting moment to use. Well done Magisto. But I can’t help but wonder, why be so automated, why not present a few clips to the author that Magisto thinks could be suitable to use. This will keep the process fast and hassle free, but gives the author a chance to have some say over what is shown in the final video.

Youtube Video Creator

This got me to research further where I explored the Create Video option on Youtube. I have seen the link so many times but never needed to visit it. I was surprised to see what was available. Below is a quick run down of each of the apps.

• GoAnimate - You’re presented with a series of options to make a video in about 10mins. You first choose your skit, the background scenery, choice of 2 characters, then you type in the dialogue and you’re done. But if you want to have a wider selection of characters and scenery, or want to have more than 10 lines of dialogue, then you have to upgrade to GoPlus.
• Xtranormal Movie Maker - Exactly the same as GoAnimate, except its CG instead of 2D animation. Again if you want more options you have to pay.
• Stupeflix - I personally think this is the most useful option from this list. It offers a timeline for you to upload images, videos, maps and audio, complete with control on adding titles and transitions. The Scrapbook template is ideal for those who may want to share and present some holiday snaps.
• One True Media – In it’s simplest form it’s a pretty good video editor with a simple timeline to control the order of clips. On top of that you can spice up your videos by adding some stock effects, transitions and music. You can then have the pleasure of adding the video to your Youtube channel as well as ordering a copy to have on DVD
• Vlix - Purely used for effects, there’s no video editing here. You can add a variety of colour filters, and then you have a selection of effects such as slow motion, stop motion, reverse, fast forward and of course the ability to add stars and sparkles. The colour filters are pretty good when watching the demos. But you can’t preview the effect on your footage until you publish it.

Discuss

I’m interested to learn more and find out what other people think. I have left some points of discussion below for starters.

• What are the pros and cons?
• Are there people that actually use any of these online editors?
• Will some of these online editors spawn a new kind of templated/cookie cutter type videos that we will instantly recognise?
• Will this destroy creativity or inspire people to invest in more powerful software to achieve their vision?
• Are there any other online editors that I am unaware of that are better?

Crowd funding is a means to get funding from people pooling together to support your project. Typically you would be familiar with this collaboration when donating to a disaster relief for example. But in the past few years, online crowd funding platforms have risen and are starting to gain popularity specifically for the creative industry.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is an online crowd funding platform, where people from all around the world can pledge to donate and fund your project, usually with some kind of incentive for them to contribute.

Each project is essentially a pitch which will generally include videos, images and as much information as possible to sell the project. Then there is the goal amount with a deadline, followed by a list of incentives for each person who contributes x amount.

Kickstarter examples

Below are two projects that have succeeded in gaining funding.

Molly Crabapple’s Week in Hell

Molly Crabapple is an artist who wants to undergo a project to celebrate her 28th birthday. She wants to lock herself away for 5 days in a rented room, covering the walls with paper and then spending the time to fill every inch of that paper with art.

There will be a live feed of this ‘performance’, and those who pledge to support her project can in return own a piece of the finish artwork.

Pogo: Remixing the world

Nick Bertke aka Pogo, is a musician of sorts who dissects sounds from films and TV shows and remixes them into a musical composition. Nick has used Kickstarter to help him embark on a quest to remix the world. He has already tested the water by doing remixes of sounds in his mothers garden, and self funding trips to New York and Johannesburg. But for him to carry on this journey he has approached Kickstarter for help.

Kickstarter paves the way for anyone with an interesting idea to be able to get the support they need directly from the target market to achieve.

Unfortunately Kickstarter is only open to US residents at the moment, but they say they are working hard to open it to more countries. So for us in the UK, we may still need to find other alternatives to fund our creative projects.

There are other alternatives to Kickstarter, they all follow the same system and tender towards the creative industry, but It does seem though that although some of these sites are open for international use, they are primarily populated by people from the US.

• Rockethub - Open to International 
• Indiegogo - Open to International 
• Pozible - Open to International – Mostly Australian users
• Pledgemusic - Open to International  - Aimed at musicians
• Sponsume - Open to International  - Mostly UK users
• Invested in- Open to International

Kickstarter seems to be more successful and popular out of the lot. It took me quite some time to find a similar site that was more open to people from the UK. The only one I found is Sponsume, but due to it not being as recognisable and as popular as Kickstarter, it would likely take longer to get the funding you need due to its comparably smaller user base, you can see this just by browsing the site and seeing projects failing and not achieving its target funding. It’s unfortunate that Kickstarter is limited to US residents, but should do very well once it opens up to International use.

Crowd funding is a new concept that the UK hasn’t seem to have grasped just yet, but if you’re having trouble finding support for your new creative project it might be worth giving crowd funding a go.

• http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/04/using-kickstarter-for-business_pagen_2.html
• http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/kickstarter-week-in-hell/
• http://mashable.com/2011/06/18/kickstarter-versus-grants-for-artists/
• http://www.pogomix.net/

Ok Go

Who are Ok Go?

Ok Go are a US rock band who released their debut album in 2002 along with the  single ‘”Get Over It” which debuted at no 21 in the UK singles chart. But it wasn’t until they released the video for ‘A Million Ways’ from their second album ‘Oh No’ that the band gained in popularity. The video for ‘A Million Ways’ featured the band doing a choreographed dance in their backyard. The video was released in August 2005, just 7 months after the birth of Youtube. A year later the video had been downloaded over 9 million times making it the most downloaded music video ever.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

in July 2006 they released the video for ‘Here it goes again’ – another choreographed dance but on treadmills (now probably the video people first think of when they heard Ok Go). Within 6 days the video was viewed over 1 million times.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

All is not lost

For the new single ‘All is not lost‘ they teamed up with Google and made an interactive video using HTML 5 (Just in the same way Arcade Fire did recently for ‘We Used To Wait‘).

The video is like a kaliedescope of limbs as the camera is placed under a transparent floor looking up at the band and other dancers. The HTML5 version of the video lets you write in a message that the band spell out with their feet (see image on the right) There is a Youtube version as well but it doesn’t have the interactivity.

Their secret to success?

Since the success of these videos, Ok Go have continued a tradition of releasing creative videos each generating an enormous amount of views, each video going a step further than the previous. So what’s their secret? Anyone can (and have done so) film themselves dancing about and making rube goldberg machines, so why does it work for Ok Go? If you look at all their videos, they show that you don’t need a big budget to make something entertaining. Each video is done so that anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort can recreate them – granted you may need to a big room to spare and to call in some favours from friends, but if you’re willing to find a bunch of household items and visit the scrapyard, you too can create their video for ‘This Too Shall Pass’.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The key factors of all this is the human element, the innovation, the long shots, the single takes and the belief that you can also create a similar video. Also when was the last time you saw a band dedicated to making sure each video is as creative and entertaining as the last? All these attributes combined have become part of Ok Go’s brand identity, they don’t repeat ideas, they push and twist them into something new.

Their secret to success is them as a band/a group of friends/a bunch of people with a passion to be creative, innovative and have as much fun as possible.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at this playlist of their music videos and you will see that what they do is surely a labour of love.

References

• http://goo.gl/YC32f – All is not lost – JC version
• http://www.okgo.net/
• http://mashable.com/2010/11/28/viral-music-video-how-to/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Go
• http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ok-go-explain-viral-video-woes-in-new-york-times-op-ed-20100222
• http://socialtimes.com/ok-go-videos_b27807
• http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/10/22/okgo.viral.video/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29
• http://blog.videoagency.com/uncategorized/ok-go-as-a-master-class-in-viral-marketing/
• http://www.myrppl.com/ok-go-have-some-fun

What is a QR Code?

It’s a barcode that originated from Japan, but has since been growing in popularity in the US and UK. A quick visit to Wikipedia says: “A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data.”

How are they being used?

If you have a QR barcode reader (I use RedLaser), try scanning the QR code above and see what happens. If all worked well, you should have been taken to our Showreel on Youtube.

I recently saw a QR code being used like this at the recent CSAD Degree Show, where a students work was on display with a QR code to scan which linked you to a product demonstration. Unfortunately this was immediately flawed as no password was provided for me to access the University WIFI, and my 3G connection just didn’t want to know. But I still loved the idea of the interactivity and my QR reader remembered the link, so I was able to view the video later when I found a connection.

QR codes are seemingly getting popular usage on business cards, linking to relevant services or portfolio page.  Below are some other innovative uses:

Ralph Lauren have used QR codes to make shopping with them more accessible. They added codes to magazine articles next to products as well as in their shop window displays. So if you’re ever window shopping when the shop is closed, you just need to scan the code next to the product on display and you can be whisked away to the product on the website where you can place an order.

First Great Western have started using codes on posters in train stations so you can download a pocket timetable to your phone. This is a great example of a more practical use of QR codes. This only requires quick internet access to download the small file. Then you can view the timetable at your own leisure.

This QR Code Resume (see video below) was made by Victor Petit who was looking for an internship. He commented on why he went for the QR code approach  “I realized during my previous job search that getting an interview at a communication agency is the hardest part of the process,” says Petit. “I tried to create a CV that would enable me to express myself vocally as soon as they read the paper version. The combination of a sheet of paper and a QR code felt like the best way to reach that goal.”

AXA Insurance seemed to be enjoying the QR technology as they use it as a fun and interactive method to promote their App and insurance. Like the QR Resume, they use the same idea and use it to bring a picture of street scene to life.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The I-mercial below is a TV advert for Home Insurance that pauses to let the viewer scan the QR code which lets them continue on and explore the house that featured in the advert.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The Future?

So what does the future hold for QR Codes? As smartphones become more commonplace, we can probably expect QR codes to be used more often in our daily lives to seek out more information. The image on the right is a photo I took which includes a QR code and social media links for the Welsh Proms. This is only the start.

Have you seen any interesting uses of QR codes? Please leave a comment below and let us know, we’d love to know more.

References

• http://2d-code.co.uk/qr-code-coin/
• http://searchengineland.com/what-is-a-qr-code-and-why-do-you-need-one-27588
• http://www.fastcompany.com/1585822/business-card-just-scan-my-qr-code
• http://www.qrstuff.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code
• http://2d-code.co.uk/
• http://www.simplyzesty.com/mobile/innovative-uses-of-qr-codes/
• http://sparksheet.com/qr-codes-connecting-the-online-and-offline-worlds/
• http://www.psfk.com/2010/05/interview-psfk-explores-the-future-of-qr-codes-with-jmango.html
• http://dzineblog.com/2010/08/20-qr-code-business-cards-design-inspiration.html
• http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/15557/tesco-virtual-supermarket-in-a-subway-station.html
• http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/TTs%20Apr%20’11/GW110329%20QR%20Poster%20V7.pdf
• http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/07/30-creative-qr-code-business-cards/

Ceri Dz uses video to teach and share his royal icing techniques.

One of the benefits of using online video is being able to build trust and rapport with your customers. This is done by communicating with customers on a new, interactive level.

This is just as powerful as being recommended by word of mouth – someone who has had first hand experience of your product or service trusts you enough to recommend you to others, knowing that you will provide a good service for them. So by using video online effectively, you can demonstrate and talk about your product or service, generating that first hand experience to a wider audience.

Interaction

Online videos are generally hosted on a video distribution site like Youtube, Vimeo, metacafe, dailymotion etc. Each of these have social engagement facilities that allow viewers to leave feedback, by leaving a comment, rating the video or by using buttons to automatically share the video on their chosen social network.

This gives the chance to interact with the audience. You can reply back to any feedback within the comments, and your next video could even be a response to that feedback, thus shaping and moulding yourself into something that people want to see and involving them in your online marketing.

Case Study: Ceri. Dz

We worked with Ceri.Dz to help him produce a series of online video tutorials. Not only are these videos sharing his expertise for free, but they are also serving as an advertisement for his business. Viewers are able to get a taster of his classes from the quality of the video tutorial, as well as getting a feel for his personality and teaching style.

By doing these videos, Ceri.Dz immediately appears as an expert in his field, from the confidence in his delivery and the quality of his demonstrations. People are able to look upon these videos with trust in his knowledge and expertise.

Related links

• Ceri.Dz
• Ceri.Dz Youtube Channel
• Video: A marketing tool

Listen to your audience

So why not pick up a camera (or talk to us!), start talking to your audience about your product or service, and let them see who’s behind the brand. Look at feedback and comments from your followers and include it in your next video.  By listening to your target market, they will shape you and help you evolve into a business that they can trust and be a part of.

References

• http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/04/15/adage-cmo-video/
• http://www.theuniversitykid.com/why-you-suck-youre-not-using-video-for-affiliate-marketing/
• http://dealervideoads.com/landing/?page_id=464
• http://ezinearticles.com/?Practical-Online-Marketing-Tips:-Build-Your-List-Fast-Using-Online-Video&id=5353227
• http://www.johnchow.com/7-ways-to-build-trust-with-your-blog-readers/
• http://resources.mediatrust.org/events/digital-revolution/youtube-using-video-to-enhance-your-campaigns/
• http://www.tacticalexecution.com/2008/06/using-video-to-grow-your-business/
• http://www.fairfaxvideostudio.com/blog/why-is-online-video-so-powerful-for-marketing-your-business.cfm
• http://glenhopkins.name/articles/how_to_use_video_to_generate_more_sales.html

Rebecca Black became an online sensation for her music video about 'Friday'.

What is a viral video?

The term ‘viral video’ is the name given to a video that has become popular on the Internet, after being shared across many websites and social networks. You will have come across it many times, probably without realising, as someone posts a new youtube video onto your Facebook wall.  One of the first videos I remember pre-Youtube that became viral was the Numa Numa guy, followed by the Star Wars Kid. Now in the Youtube generation, videos are easier to find and share. Lately the most popular videos that have gone viral have been Rebecca Black – Friday, a variety of wedding dance videos and anything related to Justin Beiber.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The Old Spice guy

But how and why have they gone viral?

Most of the people featured in these videos have become Youtube celebrities, some even managing to make a career out of making videos on this social platform. So how can business’ tap into this potential for worldwide exposure?

There have been studies to determine whether there is a formula to achieve a viral video. Upon researching this, some studies claim there are similarities between the top performers, and believe that by including certain elements a video will achieve success, such as:

• Originality. Does what it says on the tin. Create original videos that could end up spawning copycats. See OldSpice who created a one take moving shot, with fantastic dialogue and execution.
• Natural: People being themselves. One of the most popular trends involve babies laughing or young children being themselves: See Charlie Bit my Finger – again!
• Fun: A fun video, that looked like it was also fun to make, really pays off in the finished product: See FreddieW: Flower Warfare
• Shocking: Surprising the viewer by having something unexpectedly amazing happen. See Robot Dancer
• Bad: A video so bad that you want to show others how bad it is. See Rebecca Black who became a Youtube sensation by having a music video made with the most terrible lyrics.
• Cats: Cats are popular on the Internet. See Funny Cats

As much as we may agree with some of this, it still doesn’t guarantee viral success. Some videos are picked up from the start, but thousands of new videos go unnoticed daily.

What are your favourite viral videos? Leave a comment below.

Plan for viral, but don’t expect it.

No one can predict or set out to succeed in making a viral video. There have been studies to work out a formula, but truth be told, there isn’t one. Just a series of coincidences in similarity. What we do believe in, is thoroughly preparing your video to aid in its exposure and online visibility, by making sure we do the following:

• Ensuring content is engaging and entertaining
• Making it accessible for a wide range of platforms; smartphones, tv, website embedding
• Encouraging user interaction with comments, ratings and sharing
• Optimising metadata; titles, descriptions, tags
• Relating with currents trends/memes – If relevant

It’s a race to the top, with so many videos competing to be seen. By following a procedure to ensure that the final video is of a high quality, with engaging and entertaining content that effectively represents a clients brand, and then optimising it to increase its online visibility, can a video get a chance of going viral?

We can’t guarantee a viral campaign, but we can produce a high quality video that reflects your brand and helps with your SEO.

Related posts

Video: A Marketing Tool.

Improve SEO and your online presence using web video.

References

• http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1715544/what-makes-video-viral
• http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-many-viral-videos/
• http://videoproductiontips.com/online-videos/what-makes-a-video-go-viral/
• http://www.pr2020.com/page/what-makes-a-video-go-viral
• http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Makes-a-Video-Go-Viral?-The-Tips-and-Tricks-You-Need-to-Know&id=5282942
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_YouTube_personalities

Use Youtube Insights to monitor your video's SEO

You probably already know what SEO is, if not, here is a quick definition from Wikipedia:

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. [Wikipedia definition]

Now we’ve cleared that up, adding video to your web page is an extension to using traditional SEO. Like images, video appears in search engine results, but unlike images, video can be optimised to improve its ranking.

How video optimisation works

Just like you would on a web page, it’s about getting as many keywords in without spamming. Search engines are clever and can pick up when content is being spammed. So when it comes to optimising video, it’s down to writing good copy that utilises the keywords you want the search engines to use.

Search engines are unable to extract any keywords from the video itself, but they do crawl the data from the video title, description, tags, geo-location, user rating and comments. It’s also worth noting that a highly rated video also improves its search engine rankings ahead of any of other videos that might also fit the search query.

Video Optimisation tips

• Be as descriptive as possible in the video title. Say what the video is about, making sure to incorporate appropriate keywords. This will not only aid search engines but will also encourage more people to view your video over a video that has a vague title.
• Enable user comments and ratings. This gives the opportunity for communication between users and yourself. This may need to be monitored to filter out any spam or inappropriate comments, but generally those who leave any feedback are more likely to take further action; be it sharing the video or purchasing your product or service, at the very least they are improving your search rankings.
• Add a transcript of the video. As search engines can’t read the content of the video itself, by adding a transcript into the description field you give search engines a better understanding of your video’s content.
• Thumbnails. Some video sites let you upload a thumbnail of the video whereas others like Youtube will select 3 from your video to choose. Try to choose the most interesting image that will give a feel for what your video is about, while encouraging people to view it.
• Use appropriate keywords. When adding tags and keywords to the title and description of the video, make sure they are relevant to the content and your brand. Also make sure to include ‘video’ as a keyword, as people will search for “something something video” as a query.
• Implement a linking strategy. Link to your video from other sites: embed it on your website or blog, share it on social networks, embed it on other relevant sites for your business. The more links back to your video, the better its search engine ranking. Search engines depend on the number and quality of the links to determine the credibility of the video.
• Use multiple video sites. Don’t rely on just Youtube to host your video; there are many more that you can use on to increase your online visibility. By using TubeMogul, you can upload just one video and it distribute it to mulitple video sites all at once.
• Produce content worth watching. After all your SEO and hard work, it will all go to waste if the content is not worth watching. Encourage people to action on your video by making an engaging video that will strengthen and do your brand justice.

Benefits of Web Video SEO

Just to reiterate; a successfully optimised video will:

• Increase conversion rates
• Increase traffic from search engines with an engaging thumbnail image
• Positive user ratings can improve search engine results
• Geo-location increases the chance of being shown in a local search query
• Improve online visibility with high ranking results in search engines and video sites
• Highly rated videos are more likely to be shared across social networks, improving visibility
• Engaging and entertaining content will encourage users to take an action.

References

• http://www.webvideomarketing.org/video_marketing_news.html?cat=Video%20SEO%20and%20SEM&atitle=Video%20SEO%20and%20SEM
• http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Producing-Web-Video-Optimised-For-Seo/2162123
• http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/video-search-optimization.shtml
• http://ezinearticles.com/?50-Benefits-of-Web-Video-and-Video-Email-Marketing&id=3450010
• http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Benefits-Of-Web-Video-Marketing&id=683929
• http://dailyseotip.com/youtube-seo-%E2%80%93-how-to-optimize-youtube-videos-for-seo/786/
• http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/24745.asp
• http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/10/video-seo-basic-tips/
• http://theplatform.com/blog/entry/what_is_good_video_seo_strategy/
• http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/05/search-engine-optimization-for-video.html
• http://www.webseoanalytics.com/blog/the-10-commandments-of-video-marketing/
• http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/10/video-seo-top-google-search/
• http://www.webvidpro.com/our-services/video-seo/

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Benefits of video

Since Youtube started in 2005, it has made accessing and sharing content easier than ever. Youtube revolutionised the way we watch video on the Internet, creating a social experience where users can comment on, rate and best of all share content across other networks.

“Our goal is to allow every person on the planet to participate by making the upload process as simple as placing a phone call. This new video content will be available on any screen – in your your living room, or on your device in your pocket. YouTube and other sites will bring together all the diverse media which matters to you, from videos of family and friends to news, music, sports, cooking and much, much more.” – Chad Hurley Co-founder of Youtube [1]

So what can video do for you? Have you ever considered how easy it is to convey a message using video? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so when you consider that a video runs at 25 frames a second, well … you do the math! Using video can be a powerful way to promote your brand, product or service. Here are some of the benefits:

Your video is available 24/7, and given the choice, visitors are more likely to choose watching a video over reading a page of text. You can engage and capture a viewers attention easier than presenting a block of text. Video is more entertaining and when comprised of audio, graphics and text all at once, more information can be digested. Think of it like doing a Powerpoint presentation; you use the presentation to drive home and put emphasis on key points, while the visual cues help the viewer remember what is being said. Video also adds to SEO (search engine optimisation). By hosting video on Youtube or Vimeo (or any other video site), you’re increasing your online presence by having more keywords and more ways for people to interact, view and share your video.

Further reading

• Improve SEO and your online presence using web video.
• Reach out to a worldwide audience | What makes a viral video?
• Using video to build trust in your brand. (24th June)

How video can be used

There are so many possibilities for what video can be used for. Below is a list of examples along with some video work we have done.

Video Portfolio

• Signable animated promo
• XLHR animated promo | see also XLHR: Case Study
• Davy Cartwright Music Video
• Ceri Dz Tutorials
• Funhouse live concert
• Rumney Folk Festival social media ident & Live Footage

Talk to us

Video is a relatively new and popular medium that is growing quickly. We can help you break in and utilise it for your business, or even for personal use. So if you think video can benefit you and you want to get started, or you’re just not sure how you can get it to suit your business, please contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss  some ideas and solutions with you.

References and further reading

• The future of youtube will conquer every screen [1]
• 12 benefits of web video and video email marketing
• Benefits of using video on the web
• 27 benefits of online video
• Mashable: We might all be watching online videos by 2015
• Google: The future of online video
• Social media statistics: Youtube
• Youtube Facts and figures (History and statistics)