I’ve been talking about how to stand apart from the crowd, like Waldo, by using video. Here’s my first reason for using video: Google loves video.
These days it seems all you hear about is “how to be on the first page of Google.” And while that is an important goal, it isn’t the be all and end all to success in the search engine. But video helps. Google has an algorithm (sorry – formula) of about 200 variables that determine a site’s value. No one knows what all these elements are, but we do know video is an important one. With the drive to Web 2.0, it’s now all about having a dynamic site. Blogs were the first step to being interactive and we’ve seen that explosive growth. Blogs are also the perfect medium to offer videos. The dynamic nature of blogging, done on a consistent basis, automatically helps Google see your site and evaluate it for ranking; adding video helps raise that (perceived) value even more. Done on a consistent basis, putting video on your site can increase your page rank. Google’s purchase of Youtube demonstrates their commitment to the future of video. It also makes sense that they would give preference to Youtube in their search results.
But that’s good news. It levels the playing field so small business has just as much of a chance of ranking, and thus being found by their potential customers, as big business. Video can be the great equalizer. You don’t need big budgets to have video on your website or to rank higher in Google. But you must have video. No doubt you’ve noticed the increase in popularity of online video over the last couple of years, and it’s expected to quadruple by the year 2014. Google seems to rank sites with video higher than sites without video, and there’s some speculation that in the near future, if you don’t have video on your site, you may not even rank at all.
Your Assignment
Get video on your site.
Longer answer
Obviously, there is a bit more to it that just “get video on your site.” But I wanted to make a point. Here’s one suggestion of where to start to get video on your site: consider a 60-90 second video about your company. Just a brief hello, who you are and what your company does. Get it on the home page of your website; Facebook and Youtube if you have accounts there. Let me know if you need help, but don’t delay. The sooner people can find you, the sooner they will become your customer.
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