PROMO VIDEO UK is a London video production company producing Promotional Video and Event Filming for corporate video, music video and performance.

This article deals with ways of achieving a high ranking in the youtube, the second largest search engine next to google, and as a result, a high ranking in google itself. Google bought youtube in 2008 and ranks youtube videos highly in it’s own search results.

Universal (blended) search refers to the idea that search engines include not only written material, but other media types such as images, videos, maps and books. Video has dominated universal search since 2008 and it is frequently much easier to place a youtube video on the first page of google than place an identically titled website.

Youtube optimization and factors involved in ranking

As in any other media optimization, the title is of paramount importance. All the usual rules apply and you can use a keyword rich title of 30 characters or less at present. (The maximum title length was reduced to 30 characters in 2009).

The description field

There are 5000 characters available for this and although common sense would suggest focusing to the keywords most relevant, google actually states about the description field ‘the more detail you can supply, the better’.

They also state ‘Providing keywords that might not be in the description gives us more knowledge of what the video is about.” And mention that proper nouns, names, places etc may be particularly useful.

Links can also be included here provided you use the full url including the http://  at the beginning. This is however, a ‘no-follow’ link and doesn’t count as a baclink in search engine optimization

Tagging in youtube

This is also important though should probably be focused on a small selection of keywords

User ratings and comments

These also have some effect and google seems to be learning how to determine sentiment within these comments (either pro or con)

3^rd party embeds

This is particularly important and is often seen as analogous to an inbound backlink in regular SEO. (In SEO, a one way link to your website from a high ranking website is seen as an indication of popularity and thus helps you achieve better google rankings. Google relies heavily on this factor and naturally weighs heavily on popularity signs in youtube search, this time denoted by where the video is embedded.

Completion score in youtube

This is how far a video runs before a viewer switches off and is also a measure of popularity. There is evidence that this is a factor as common sense would suggest. A longer video reaching completion would probably have better ranking than a shorter one but I have no evidence to back this up.

Quality of the youtube channel

This seems to be very important and it may be worth uploading a video from an established channel with a high page rank (a measure of a web page’s search rankability). I have one high ranking channel and several newer low ranking ones. In my own tests, a video uploaded from the high ranking channel substantially outperforms the same video uploaded from the lower ranking ones. The ranking of a channel is based on many factors such as age (much as an aged domain carries more weight in regular SEO), and the number of subscribers and youtube friends.

Number of views/age

The more views a video has had the higher it seems to rank though this is offset against the fact that google also gives some relevance to the newness of the video.

Youtube has 3.5 billion queries a month according to comScore though less than 20% achieve over 500 views and only 4% exceed 10000. Few people think in terms of optimization , a process that must carried out for a video to achieve the widespread viewership hoped for in video marketing. In my experience the video really takes off when it is embedded in relevant high profile websites and blogs and then begins to spread virally.

Online video advertising is usually of two main types

1. ‘in-stream video ads’ are short adverts placed within the content of another video, usually at the beginning. This is similar to the TV advertising model. This is a paid placement and the revenue usually goes to the hosting site with a percentage maybe to the content provider. Some video sharing sites such as ‘Daily motion’ use this type of advertising.
2. In-banner video ads are embedded within a banner on a website or online advertising space and usually have to be launched by the viewer.

These differ from videos destined for a successful youtube campaign which are at best, content rich with only subtle branding or advertising (branded videos)

The best length of in-stream ads seems to be about the same as tried and tested tv advertising, 15-30 seconds. In-banner and branded videos seem to be optimum around 90 seconds according to some recent data from Tubemogul analytics based on completion data (how far a viewer gets through the video before clicking away). This data is based on 100 top video campaigns with a total of nearly 20 million views. The completion rate for 90 second ads is 32.2%, 23.4% for longer ads and 17% for ads under 30 seconds. One would have thought that the videos less than 30 seconds would achieve higher completion though this is not the case. This data suggests according to David Burch at tubemogul that the public ‘don’t like 15-second TV-style spots or longer branded content, but rather short, interesting viral clips’

This adds weight to the argument that video advertising is moving away from the hard sell to more useful branded content.

The 30% completion rate though not sounding high is actually about the same as non advertising content such as TV shows and music videos. This does emphasize the need for creating compelling content at the beginning of the video. As well as a brief mention of the brand, the intro needs some outline of what the video will contain so as to maximize the chances of viewer completion.

How to best upload video to the internet

The 2 main options for uploading a video onto the internet are
1/ uploading directly to a website in one of the several common video formats, (flv,h264,wmv, etc..)

2/ uploading to youtube and/or the other video sharing sites. (the video can be subsequently embedded in a website, blog advert, listing or any form of social media)

The advantages of the first approach are more control over the quality and format, no third party branding and complete control over how the video and player look on the page.

The advantages of the second are ease of use, no bandwidth considerations and they can be easily embedded in a multitude of other online locations, a must if you’re intending to spread the video widely. The seo (search engine optimization) benefits of each approach will be discussed later in another article.

With the increase in quality of video encoded by the video sharing sites over the last couple of years, most notably youtube, and the customizable embeddable players offered, I’ve changed from direct upload to my website to using an embed from youtube or similar. If security is an issue, video sharing sites provide options for restricted or password protected viewing.

Where to put video on a webpage

A video can be either embedded directly on a page or accessed via a link on the page. The direct embed will usually generate more views as exemplified by a survey by Treepodia, a leading vendor in ecommerce videos.

A 5-15% view rate can be expected from a simple link to a video while a 10-35% view rate from an embedded video on the same page. The view rate is increased when the video is embedded above the page fold compared to below. The embedded video though clearly more effective does require more page real estate and a judgement needs to be made on the video’s importance.

Upload to video sharing sites

Youtube is by far the most popular site though the others all have their advantages and are well worth uploading to for maximum distribution. Facebook can be particularly useful especially if the video can be tagged. Tubemogul is a free service allowing simultaneous upload to many of the sites and Traffic Geyser is a paid service allowing upload to even more. Tubemogul restricts upload to certain sites if the video is of a certain type such as an overt advertising video. Tubemogul also provides some in depth analytics for the viewership and demographics of your videos. Some video sharing sites allow backlinks to your website (some no-follow and some do-follow) and most allow the video to be embedded. Recent reports via tubemogul suggest that video is a favourite share among Twitter users. Take a look at my article ‘video sharing sites’ for more detailed information.

Add video to your business listings

Google local listings is free and allows video upload which may be a dealbreaker when listed alongside a series of other businesses without video. Connecting with customers via video at the exact time they are ready to buy is extremely powerful. Adding a video to google local and other listings is as easy as copy and pasting the embed code from youtube (or other video sharing platform) to the video section of the listing.

Posting video on relevant blogs and forums

I often find that my videos can get to a few thousands youtube hits with some optimization, but it’s not until the video finds it’s way into other blogs and websites that the number of views really soar. A genuinely useful or newsworthy video may get embedded elsewhere naturally by interested people  or you can help the process along by sourcing relevant sites and posting the video yourself.

The page rank of a youtube channel has a big effect on how the video performs in the search engines. In my own tests, videos posted on my established youtube channel (page rank 4) easily out perform videos posted on new channels that I’ve recently set up (page rank 0). This and other factors regarding youtube optimization are discussed in my article ‘youtube optimization’

There used to be concern among some businesses about whether youtube is a suitably professional platform for business video and are worried about their video being shown next to the proverbial ‘monkey on a surfboard’ video. However, youtube has grown in the last few years from a site with largely amateur videos to one with a wide selection of professional content and the most viewed channels now are professionally produced educational, entertainment and music videos.

A good online video can be broken into 3 components
1/ Video production values
2/ Content, performance, storytelling
3/ Marketing considerations such as call to action and linking

The first 2 are applicable to all online video including information and training video while the third is more relevant to advertising and promotional videos.

Video production values

Most people are familiar with TV and cinema and can easily differentiate a quality and professional production from an amateur one. Apart from conveying  professionalism for a brand, business or product, a well produced video helps to make the viewer more engaged and connected. The main components of production values are lighting, sound and editing and without due care given to these, even the highest quality cameras will look amateur.
For a more detailed look at lighting, microphone placement and editing techniques read my post on video production tips.

Until recently there were some essential differences between online video and traditional video production based on bandwidth limitations and the small screen used to display online video. Web video works best with close-ups as wide shots are harder to see on a small screen. Also, video compression used for internet delivery often made a mess of motion in a video. Now, with increasing broadband speeds, better video compression and the ability to watch video in full screen, I tend to place less importance on these considerations and employ more traditional production techniques.

Video content and performance

Obviously, the content in information and training videos is provided by the matter in hand but it is always worth remembering that video’s big forte is in conveying personality, emotion and motivation. Getting bogged down in too much detail and statistics can adversely affect the viewers’ engagement. Often the detail is best left to supplementary written material although the video can provide the key points and motivation to find out more.

People relate to people not numbers and stories are often best told through the eyes of one or several people rather than a large number or statistics. Usually people come across best on video with a healthy mix of professional, informal, authentic, natural, relaxed and personal. It’s usually best to avoid trying to perform or be funny unless you’re a comic actor. Humour often works best inadvertently or through spontaneous situations. The great thing about video is that you can have as many takes as you wish which hopefully will alleviate nerves and pressure though I often find the first take to be the best and most spontaneous. Client testimonials and vox pops at an event are often more effective at relaying the company message than a member of staff.

The content of advertising and promotional videos needs some attention. A 2-3 minute advert, promo video or product demonstration can be highly effective when the viewer already has some knowledge of the brand, company, product or act. If the goal is to spread the brand more widely through the highly effective video marketing methods now available, then the content is best concentrated on more universal appeal. Probably the most obvious type are ‘how to’ videos. There are 35 million youtube searches each month on ‘how to’ videos and a genuinely useful information video loosely related to the brand can be far more appealing to the online audience than a direct sell. I’m currently working on videos for the launch of a restaurant chain involving ‘how to’ videos for a variety of recipes by a celebrity chef. Action, extreme sports and humour are other popular subjects for online viral videos and these can sometimes be incorporated into corporate videos to create a blend of entertainment and promotion.

Video marketing considerations

If the goal is simply to raise brand awareness then a simple ‘how to’ video with a logo or company name at the beginning and end may be sufficient. If the goal is more specific then an effective and quantifiable call to action will be needed. In video sharing sites such as youtube, the call to action needs to be compelling enough to rise above the inherent youtube calls to action such as watch related videos, comment, subscribe, like, share. If you can’t beat the youtube background noise with something like a compelling discount or promotion then simply join them with a call to action such as ‘subscribe to our youtube channel’. This at least gets your foot in the door of your viewers attention and they’ll effectively join your video mailing list and be notified next time you upload a video.

Whatever the call to action, it’s usually most effective when displayed visually and spoken at the same time. URL’s need to be kept simple so people can remember them easily and pass them on in conversation. It may be a good idea to provide a URL specific to the video to be able to track the video’s effectiveness. Eg/ visit www.—– for a %10 discount. The ability to click on part of the video and be taken directly to a given website is provided by some third party companies and will certainly be more so in the coming years.

Finally some thoughts on the optimum length for online videos. For spreading virally, I’d recommend an upper limit of 2 minutes and less if possible. Too short however, and the viewer may be left with no lasting impact.TV news channels often have a maximum lime limit of 90 seconds or so for news stories. For many performance acts and promo videos for businesses I find a length of 3-4 minutes a good balance between watchability  and containing a substantial amount of material. For videos with a high entertainment value or compelling story the running time can go much higher and still remain highly engageable. The statistics that youtube has recently included on all videos enable you to see if viewers make it to the end of a video and if not, how far they get before switching off.

Other important considerations include where a video is placed on a web page, whether played directly via an online player or via a link and whether to embed a youtube video or upload it directly on a website. These issues and more are covered in my article ‘how to effectively distribute an online video’.

Creating high visibility in youtube’s search engine is covered in ‘youtube optimization tips.

The pros and cons of the main video sharing sites such as youtube, vimeo, metacafe,daily motion etc are covered in the ‘top ten video sharing sites’

For an overview on the use of video read my article ‘why use promotional and corporate video’

Corporate video is a collective term to describe a video production used as a business tool rather than for entertainment purposes. There are many uses and benefits of video and they usually fall into 2 camps.

1. Training and information videos which are usually distributed within an organization either by DVD, online or an internal intranet system.

2. Promotional, advertising and marketing videos which are mostly distributed online by the many avenues now available through websites, video sharing sites and social networking.

Whatever the intended audience, video has a number of huge benefits as a communication medium. One of the most obvious is that it can convey personality. People respond to people, whether for marketing, brand engagement or for training and spreading information throughout an organization.

Video can also be extremely useful on a practical level when you may need to demonstrate products or procedures which may be inaccessible to clients or trainees. These video presentations are consistent compared to the unpredictability of live demonstrations.

The value of one off situations and events such as conferences, seminars and training days can be greatly enhanced and used again and again whether for training or promotion.
Video can also be used to create more effective and dynamic live presentations and interactive productions.

Even if advertising is not the business goal, inclusion of video on the company website can create a better user experience and add a touch of class. A recent study by treepodia, an authority in video use in eCommerce found that the retailers surveyed were selling substantially more products when a video of the product was included. Further statistics also showed this to often be the case even if the video wasn’t watched! This was assumed to be because video creates customer confidence and trust. The brand using video is considered more reliable as they produce a quality user experience. Also by showing the product in a multidimensional format the company exhibits trust and confidence in the product which filters through to the consumer. This is an interesting finding and I think it has relevance to the use of video in websites in general and not just ecommerce. As more and more companies include video on their websites this is likely to graduate to customers distrusting a website that doesn’t have a video presence.

For companies wishing to create a powerful search engine presence and high google ranking, online video is incredibly powerful. Search engine optimization (SEO) through video is the latest and potentially one of the most powerful means available. It is at the cutting edge of internet marketing and with youtube being the second largest search engine behind google, it is almost certainly here to stay.

For more information on this read my posts on ‘youtube optimization’ (creating search visibility in youtube and google)

‘how to effectively distribute online video’ (where to post video and the most effective positioning of video in individual websites)

‘the top ten video sharing sites’ (for the pros and cons of the most popular video sharing sites such as youtube, vimeo, daily motion, revver etc…)

The growing benefits of video, especially online video are clear, but how to start? Corporate video, even as recently as the 1990’s was prohibitively expensive for many small to medium businesses and the costs could easily be £20000-£100000. This has all changed in the last decade with the technology advances and a quality corporate video can now be produced for as low as £500. In some cases, a company with some technical savvy may be able to produce video themselves and I have included a post on Video Production tips for this this purpose.

Video production company or DIY?

As a video production company I am obviously biased toward the former though a small startup business may want to consider a DIY approach. There are pros and cons and the main pro for DIY is the cost though a member of staff will probably spend a substantial amount of time learning and producing the video. If time is of less value than money however, this may be a viable route and I’ve included some recommendations for useable HD video cameras and sound equipment in my article ‘Video Production tips’ The main con of the DIY approach apart from the time invested is that a poorly produced video may damage the company’s brand image. Most people are used to watching tv and know bad lighting, sound and camera angles when they see them and this may reflect adversely on the brand.

For an overview on online video read my post ‘What makes a good online video‘.

With current and forthcoming broadband speeds and the vast amount of video distribution potential becoming available, we are at an exciting and crucial time in video production and how modern business is conducted. Video has been statistically proved again and again to improve online visibility and drive more action than images and text. Email us now for more information on how you can employ video effectively in your company and how you can capitalize on this revolution in internet technology.

Video production London