by dhwriting

Created on: July 18, 2010

Why Small Businesses Should Use Videos in Their Internet Marketing Strategies

The subtitle to this article could actually be “Why Not Use YouTube?” After all, videos have become an extremely powerful marketing tool for any business, large or small. A picture might be worth the proverbial 1,000 words, but a video could be worth hundreds of thousands of hits.

There is little doubt that almost any online business would find it difficult to do well unless it uses video marketing. Take a breath and let that statement sink in, because it's a powerful claim to make - almost as powerful as video marketing itself.

The typical conversion rate of videos far exceeds that of more conventional sales pages. Being a professional writer, I hate to admit it, but videos are much richer and more versatile than the written word. This makes videos much more effective at communicating sales messages and inspiring purchases.

Video marketing's power and importance can now be seen on many (if not most) online sales pages. These sales pages use videos to build trust through showing customer testimonials. Other videos are able to demonstrate products or the value of services the websites are selling. Many longstanding websites have now completely revamped their sales pages to incorporate videos. When done correctly for the targeted audience, sales pages displaying videos have every chance of outperforming traditional sales copy by a significant margin.

YouTube can be a great way for your business to break into video marketing. To use video marketing you need video production tools to produce your video footage. You also need a video hosting platform to display your footage to visitors. A video hosting site such as YouTube can serve that purpose, at least initially. Unfortunately, YouTube sometimes mysteriously deletes your videos or prevents them from being embedded into your web page. The results could be disastrous if this happens; imagine the despair you'd feel if this occurs just after you launch a new ad campaign incorporating an embedded video hosted by YouTube.

YouTube also displays links and advertising that you do not control. All in all, hosting your own videos is a much more professional way to conduct your video marketing.

An effective video marketing campaign requires a quality video display that you completely control. If you host your own videos, inappropriate ads or links to your competitors' sites will no longer be a problem. The costs involved with video hosting will be insignificant compared to the potential boost in earnings your website could receive.

The easiest solution is to use a web host that not only hosts your website, but also offers proper video hosting. You'll have full control and your videos will be displayed professionally, making them much more likely to lead to increased conversions. You'll also be able to keep all the most important website-related activities together in one place. For example, you'll be able to update your content, host fixed images and videos, blog and more, all from the same location. This is far easier than constantly switching back and forth from one service or tool to the next.

In today's world, video marketing is essential for the success of any small online business. It can also boost the profits of small brick-and-mortar businesses that have their own websites.

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