Syracuse Web Design, Website Development, Hosting, Offsite Data Backup

Using Video on your Website

Videos are a big deal. This isn’t anything new. What might be new, for a lot of web owners, is using videos on a website the right way. It’s a bit more complicated than just embedding a code where ever it will fit. To get the most out of your videos, follow this simple guide.

Storage and Embedding–

Unless you have a good reason (and the technical skills to pull it off), don’t store videos on your website. Upload them to Youtube, or a similar service, and embed the link to the video into your website. This will save you the hassle of loading the video onto your site and getting all of the embedding code right on your own.

Placement–

Where you put the video, and the size you are using, is important. Videos need to be where they can be easily seen (and watched), but also in a place where they aren’t detracting from the rest of the content. Too small, and they’re difficult to watch, too large, and they distract readers from the rest of your site. Popular places are to either side of the main content, or embedded as part of the main content, centered in the page.

Description–

Unlike with text, search engine spiders can’t “read” through a video to see what it is about or what keywords you are using. They rely on the video description, which is why your description needs to be very clear, and use keywords to improve the page’s ranking.

Play Options–

Repeat after me: auto-play videos are bad. Very bad. There is nothing more annoying than landing on a site, hearing audio start up, and then having to search around to find the video and turn it off. It may even be enough to convince me to leave your site and find a better (read: less intrusive) website to find information on or purchase from. Most people feel the same way. Have play/pause, volume, fast forward/rewind, and pop-out buttons available for your videos. Put the reader, or viewer, in control.

Quality and Length–

The only thing worse than having no video on your website is having very low quality videos on your website. Take the extra time and effort to make sure the videos you’re putting together are the very best they can be. Invest in basic editing software if you don’t already have some. Just like in writing website content, editing is important. You also need to keep track of the length of your videos. They should be long enough to really say something, but not so short that viewers get bored. If you’re making a video longer than 5 minutes, make sure you have something important to say.

Text Version–

If you’re going to use videos, make sure you also have a transcription of the video available for website visitors. Sometimes, you just can’t watch a video. Being able to read through what the video is saying may be the only way that some people get the information you’re trying to share.

Videos are a great way to add “something extra” to your website. If you haven’t experimented with video yet, give it a try. When you get ready to start publishing your videos onto your site, start with one or two, and experiment until you are happy with placement and the other factors that go into making the most of your online video library.

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