I am asked all of the time; "What is the benefit of putting a video on my website?", and the follow up question; "How much time and/or money should I invest in putting a video for my site?"
Of course, this always leads to more questions...
What is the purpose of the video?
Are you trying to build trust and credibility?
Is it to build a more personal relationship with your clients or prospective clients?
Are you trying to improve your search engine rankings?
Are you trying to show how a process, product or your business works?
Who is your audience?
One of the first steps I would take is to take a look at what other businesses are doing in your area and around the country. Many videos can be found on YouTube, but you will need to go through some sites to see how other businesses are using videos on their sites.
If you take the time to do this, you will likely see videos that will give you some great ideas for how you may want to use video. You will also see videos that make you cringe.
1-High-end/high quality videos.
Why use a videographer as opposed to a do it yourself scenario?
If you do not, you may do more harm to your image than not having a video at all.
You may have fun shooting the video. You may have done your darndest to make it look incredible. Rarely does that translate into a video someone else will be impressed by. As you look at videos on other sites you will see some absolutely horrible videos that try to look professional and fail miserably.
(By the way, there is a great time and a place for very cheap/free videos, and I will discuss that in point "2-" below)
How much should you spend on a high-end video?
These types of videos are shot by a "professional" or "semi-professional" videographer. They usually require a half day to full day of shooting, professional lighting, a story board, at least a "loose script" and after the shooting a significant amount of time editing.
I have seen good quality videos for as low as $695, but these are often very hit and miss because the company selling them usually has very little control over who actually shows up to shoot the video. They tend to use a national network of full and/or part-time videographers. As a result you may end up with the equivelent to a nightmare version of "the cable guy"-and often you do not know until they show up how good or bad they will be.
I would ask not just for references from the company, but references from the actual videographer who is going to do the work. You may get a very good result from this type of service, or you may be very disatisfied. It is a crapshoot.
Important: many of the video services that large companies sell that do not specialize in videos but sell them as an add-on product are reselling the same $695 video service for $1,500-$3,000. They still offer some advantages in that at least you have a big company backing the service, but they have very little control over who shows up. The sales rep that sold you the video will often try to show up the day of the shoot to help make sure things go smoothly, but he or she often has little control over who the videographer will be.
If you can spend more than $695-say $2,000-$20,000+, then I would look for a local company or individual that allows you to see some of the work done by the people who will be working for you. Again, you don't just want to see their portfolio of videos, you want to find out about how the process goes and specifically who will be working with you.
A good quality 60 second to 120 second video will likely cost you $1,500 +, but you may have to spend more than that to find someone with a great track record that you can trust. As you know; time is money. If you spend 1/2 a day working with a cheap videographer and the end result is not worht puttng on your site because it will actually hurt your image-how much would THAT cost you?
2-When can I use a free, cheap or YouTube type video?
First of all, I have seen a number of businesses utilize video clips from shows they have been on and commercials they run on TV. You already have these, so why not post them on your site and on YouTube?
The two videos I put on this blog post are examples of videos I should be posting every day-but only on a blog, or a place on my website that people go to to "hear from the Dan". You can build trust, relationship-even "intimacy" in the most appropriate sense of the word with these types of videos.
It enables people to see the "real" you and determine whether or not you are someone they want to work with. They don't expect it to be nor do they want it to be an over produced video because they want to learn something about what you do and who you are. You can utilize these types of videos in addition to a professional video you put on your home page, but don't try to replace a professional video with one of these "blog" type videos.
You can shoot these types of 30 second to 2 minute videos in your office from your computer's camera (or buy a pc camera for $40 or less), or even use your smart phone. I told myself when I purchased my iPhone 4 I was going to use it all the time to blog post because it has a "video yourself feature". I have a hard time getting around to doing it, and so will you, unless you make it a daily or weekly habit.
All you need to do is commit 5-10 minutes to shoot the video and post it to your blog. It may take you longer the first time you do it, but as you do it more regularly you may be able to keep it below 5 minutes.
This type of blog post is easier than even writing a blog post, therefore you can do more of them and possibly every day.
SEO Benefits: This type of activity can help you with your search engine optimization efforts, because search engines are actually "listening" to videos now, so they are great ways to add more content to your site for the search engines to index.
My friends criticize the professional looking photo I have on my lawyer marketing site because they know it is not even my real smile. It's a professional pose, and it is appropriate for where I placed it on that blog. My less professional looking blogs have pictures of me mountain biking, playing with my kids, etc. The point is that like pictures professional videos build your "professional credibility", the blog type videos build relationships and and a more personal trust.
I hope you found this information valuable. It is not rocket science. If you have good common sense you probably resonate with much of what is in this post. If you have new ideas you would like to share, or any questions, please feel free to post them here!
Of course, you can always give me a call for free consultation.
Happy Holidays!
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