If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?

Because we intuitively know that web video selling is an extraordinarily valuable tool, but to exactly what extent, is of course oftentimes very difficult to accurately quantify.

Just as television eventually became the dominant form of advertising in the traditional media formats, web video selling is rapidly becoming the dominant online form. The reason behind this trend is very simple and obvious: video engages all of the senses (excluding smell of course) and emotions, whereas print only engages the eyes. And, anecdotal and scientific evidence bears witness to the effectiveness of web video as an effective video selling tool. For example, online marketer Brendan Sinclair conducted a comparative study between normal print site and video selling site of Aaron Wall’s “The SEO Book Training Program”, and found that the video selling site got four times the conversion rate.

The popularity of You Tube alone powerfully attests to video’s future on the web. The future currency of everything on the web is video. It is a huge opportunity for web developers and marketers. It is not a matter of if, but when. Virtually every website wanting to build a customer relationship or effectively sell a product will need a website that includes video. Now is to time to get onboard and learn the video skills that will make a huge difference in your online sales effectiveness.

Technorati Tags: video selling

We have found some great blog posts on video marketing that you may find useful and might want to take a look at:

• Youtube Video Analytics A Video Tutorial and Overview - On March 27th Youtube officially released its first version of video analytics. This release brings new depth and attention to the importance of video marketing. Being the 3rd most trafficked site globally and the fact that the generation Y trend for video viewing has skyrocketed literally making online videos the new TV, according to emarketer, has helped to propel the recent attention onto online video marketing.

• Cut Yourself a Big Slice of Video Marketing Pie - Video Marketing is an incredible opportunity if you want to brand yourself as a legitimate business person who adds value to the marketplace. It is an awesome tool to brand you as a leader and promote your product or company 24 hrs. …

Technorati Tags: video marketing, video selling, web video

U.S. Broadband Penetration Hits 55%

Filed Under: Video Marketing

Tags: statistics

Kaminski takes issue with much of the statistics spouted about on how sites featuring video fair against sites using only text. He maintains that most data and claims come from major advertisers and internet marketers whose source and form make it virtually impossible to accurately correlate it to “marketplace realities.”

So, he decided to share the actual non-financial statistics from Google Analytics between a video site and a text only site. For the video site he used his homepage, webvideouniversity.com, which is a mix of video and text with about a dozen videos. For the text site, Kaminski used a site of one of his partners that is 100% straight text. Though it’s not in the same exact market as his site, it is of similar design and gets the same amount of traffic.

The results are as follows:

Bounce Rate (people who go to the homepage and leave without taking any other action):

Text = 87%
Video = 59%

Average Time on Site:

Text = 42 seconds
Video = 5 minutes and 50 seconds

Browser Used:

Text = 76% Internet Explorer, 20% Firefox, 4% Safari
Video = 43% Internet Explorer, 53% Firefox, 4% Safari

Operating System:

Text = 92% Windows, 5% Mac, 3% Other (Linux, iPhone, etc.)
Video = 79% Windows, 20% Mac, 1% Other (Linux, iPhone, etc.)

Internet Connection Speed:

Text = 70% DSL or above, 24% Unknown, 6% dial-up
Video = 78% DSL or above, 21% Unknown, 1% dial-up

Although there were no conversions to measure between the text and video sites, Kaminski suggests that the comparative Bounce Rates and Average Time On Site statistics are strongly indicative that the video site will deliver better conversion rates.

Kaminski includes the Browser and Operating System statistics to illustrate a trend he maintains has been demonstrated in other web video statistics….“that people who watch online videos are actually more educated than those who don’t.” (He apparently bases this view largely on his preference for Firefox and Mac.)

He included the Internet Connection Speed stats to illustrate the point that…“the percentage of dial-up users online is so small that there is no reason to dumb-down the quality of your videos to accommodate them.”

Technorati Tags: video selling, website video

Benefits of an online video

Benefits of utilizing an online video can be phenomenal and making it a significant component of your marketing mix is always a wise move. It is by far the most ideal platform in order to keep your audience engaged and get the message across with a stronger and meaningful impact. This way; visual text, imagery and audio all come into play together and create the much-needed impact. This impact cannot be achieved with the traditional Internet marketing strategies.

Furthermore, creating an online video does not necessarily entail heavy investments and can deliver great Return On Investments. The trick here is to create highly relevant and meaningful videos, keeping in mind the length of the video, the content, quality and most importantly the relevancy. It should keep the audience engaged while delivering as much accurate information as possible in the most comprehensible format.

The goal to be achieved

Keep in mind that the goal of creating and marketing an online video is to offer indispensable information or resources through your video and conveying your message in the most effective manner possible. It is always a good idea to weave some humor into your videos clubbed with real life experiences and/or customer reviews. This creates the intended impact without being overkill as with most textual marketing formats. Another secret formula that comes into play is the thumbnail. A thumbnail is the single image that represents your video. The thumbnail should peak the curiosity of the visitor and capture his interest, in order to increase the click through rate of your online video.

Fabian Tan is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and the author of the popular 51-page Report:

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fabian_Tan
http://EzineArticles.com/?Video-Marketing—How-to-Create-an-Earth-Shattering-Marketing-Campaign-With-Videos&id=1223433

Technorati Tags: video selling, website video