Truth: Online Video Keeps People on your Website (…when embedded correctly)

If you’re on top of your game when it comes to your online presence then you know the importance of having a beautifully designed website. Customer expectations continue to change with their online experiences, and without a great looking website, you’re giving off a message of being out of date and out of touch. But if you’ve spent the time getting a great looking website but haven’t got video, you’re giving visitors more time to check out other options.

Because the figures are in. It’s official. Websites with video keep visitors on their sites longer. And the result? They don’t go surfing off to visit competitors sites.

In 2016, video needs to be an integral part of any website design process. Without it, you’re just not providing the type of content that visitors want. They want to see you and hear from you. They want to be engaged and inspired by video. They don’t just want lots of text to read.

But a Beautiful Website Needs a Strong Video Presence

But there is a catch. Just like you invested in a beautiful website, you need to invest in video that is on brand, on message, and at a quality that represents the brand, and then ensure that the video is embedded properly into your site design. Too often I see investment in a good video wasted by not integrating that video seamlessly into the website. You need to showcase that video in a way that encourages your visitors to actually watch it.

Recommended for YouWebcast: SEO in 2016: How Search Has Changed & Why Modern Marketers Must Adapt

So – here’s a couple of quick tips to get you started to ensure your videos are going to be an asset to your web design.

1. Put Your Video in the Right Place on your Website
   Your video needs to be embedded ‘above the fold’. ‘Above the fold’ refers to the area of your website which is visible when the page first loads. You don’t want people having to scroll down to see it. And keep this area clean and tidy. You don’t want people wondering what to do next, you want them engaged and watching your video.
2. Encourage Visitors to Watch your Website Video
   To get people watching, be sure your video has an engaging and obviously ‘clickable’ thumbnail. There’s no point investing in a video if you’re not encouraging people to watch it. Create a great looking thumbnail that is aligned with the videos content and preferably has a real human face in there. People want to engage with people you know!
3. Video Player Beauty Matters Too
   If you’ve spent to make your website look beautiful, then make sure you style that embedded video player so it sits beautifully with the rest of your web design. Your designer should know a few cool tricks for this, but the simplest option really is just making use of the YouTube custom embed parameters to clean up the video player and get rid of most of the standard YouTube buttons, controls and functions.

That’s it. Provided you have a great, engaging piece of video content…

1. Embed it above the fold (no scrolling to see that baby!)
2. Use a custom thumbnail (so people just have to play it.)
3. Ensure a clean embedded video player (because style really does matter)

Do these three things and you’re bound to keep visitors on your website (and therefore in your sales funnel), rather than have them shooting off to visit others.