In addition to adding to your website’s stickiness, online video can increase your conversion rate. A great example of this is through product videos. According to a study by Invodo, a business video company in Texas, 52 percent of online shoppers "said that they are more confident when they watch a product video in advance of making a purchase online, and therefore are less likely to return that product" (marketingcharts.com).

With the internet growing, gas prices creeping up, and product assortment expanding, people have less and less motivation to travel from store to store to find exactly what they need, at the best price. The increase of Consumer Shopping Engines shows just this – people want to see it all in front of them, instantly.

Online consumers are missing something, though – actually experiencing the product by touching and feeling it, pre-purchase. The best way to give these consumers a real shopping experience is to provide product videos. One product video can give a shopper the opportunity to see the product in many dimensions, in use, and in scale.

Seeing a person using the exact lawnmower that somebody is researching really helps to show the consumer exactly what he or she is in for when using it.

The above example from Black & Decker is great too, as it shows the flexibility product videos provide the e-tailer: you can add engaging sound, voice-overs, and text, giving the consumer all they need to know in one shot. As we have written about in the past, it is not easy to get and hold the attention of a consumer online, and engaging videos are the best way to do so.

And these consumers don’t want to see just any old video – also shown in Invodo’s findings, more than 54 percent of online consumers prefer high-quality, professional videos, busting the myth that casual videos with a more authentic feel are better for your e-tail shop. It makes sense – don’t you want to see that a company put forth the extra effort? Consumers see high-quality products and transactions when they see high-quality product videos.

What was the last online purchase you made? Did a product video help you to make your decision??

Businesses want potential customers to stay on their websites like flies on flypaper.  Like bees on honey.  Like gum on the bottom of your shoe.  Well, maybe not like that, but you get the idea.  What, exactly makes a website sticky?  Read this post to find out some key strategies.

The average time on site for a given webpages is only about 12 seconds, according to emarketingvideo.com.  12 seconds is certainly not enough time for a visitor to learn about a company and become interested in its’ products or services.  For this interest to develop, there needs to be something on the site worth staying for.  The average bounce rate of a given website, as of 2012, is 40.5%, according to Kissmetrics.  Since bounce rate is inversely related to average time on site, the lower the bounce rate, the better for your business.  What keeps a visitors’ interest is determined by a website’s "stickiness".

The stickiness of your webpage depends on many different factors, but there are some basic ways to engage visitors.

1. Speed: Something many website owners overlook is speed.  You have to check your website every once in a while, entering and navigating as a viewer or a consumer.  Do you have to wait more than a few seconds for the pages to load?  According to Jennifer Kyrnin of About.com, "if a page doesn’t load within 7 to 10 seconds, most customers will have hit stop and gone to another page."

To improve the speed of your site, first make sure that your coding is polished, and then optimize any media you may have on your page.  As you will see below, images and video are key factors to a sticky website, but these items must be optimized for speed.

2. A Clear Message: Do I know what you are offering right off the bat when I go to your website?  If you are not selling anything, do I know exactly why I should continue to navigate your site?  This information should be clear, and above the fold.  Don’t be cryptic – get to the point.

And don’t distract your viewer. Below is an example of a website that not only does not tell the viewer what the website is all about, but it also is confusing and distracting.  Take a look.

While the above example is a terrible execution of website content, it IS necessary that you have relevant images and videos on your site.

3.  Engaging Content: Is your website content engaging? To engage is, "to attract and hold fast" (dictionary.com). Elements that help visitor engagement are things like great photos, graphics, and videos. As Snapapp puts it, "Websites that combine text with images and videos increase the time viewers spend with them. Videos accompanied by engaging content are more likely to be viewed and spark the interest of viewers to continue learning more."

Not to say that a video alone will help engage your viewers; as we mentioned in previous articles, your videos themselves must be informative and enticing.

We always like to reinforce the simple fact that people prefer to watch video over reading paragraphs of information. Thirty seconds of video goes fast (if it is engaging video), but thirty seconds of reading text goes extremely slowly. We’re getting bored just thinking of it! If the average visitor only spends 12 seconds on a page, and you have a 30 second video that they watch, you just doubled – almost tripled – the time they spend on your site" If you have a a 2 minute video and they watch all of it – you just increased your website’s stickiness by 10x the average. Engaging video is a very powerful tool for keeping people on your site.

And video is ADDICTING – if your video is good (informative and exciting), people will want to see more.

If you had 12 seconds to get a viewer "stuck" to your website, how would you spend them?

This has got to be the creepiest video we have seen in a while.

As you read in our last blog, an online video has about 10 seconds to convince its viewers that it is worth watching. 10 seconds of the above Little Baby’s Ice Cream‘s video produces way more emotion than most others we have seen: intrigue, sickness, confusion, and sadness, to mention a few. 

Added on August 1, 2012, this video has acquired over 2 million views on YouTube, with 9,618 likes and 4,729 dislikes. That is a high ratio of dislikes to likes, relative to other viral videos. However even though this video made us quite sick to our stomachs, we still had to finish it. Not only did we finish the video, but we then proceeded to seek out the Little Baby’s Ice Cream website and learn more about the company. And then WRITE about it… Talk about good marketing!

However this commercial does NOT make us want to eat ice cream, nor does it make many of its YouTube viewers; comments read, "will i ever buy this icecream? NOPE," and "i don’t wanna eat ice cream anymore =/".

But the 11,000 + users who have commented so far not only saw the video, but had something to say.  Sometimes as a business, you just need to be talked about.  Organic conversation will come, and those customers who already know and love your product will vouch for you. For example, another commenter writes, "I… eat little baby’s icecream. It makes me feel glorious!!!!!! ;)" This comment makes us think twice…

This type of unconventional marketing is just what a new, young company needs.  It was low-cost, and buzz-worthy.

One may think, but the commercial did not even show the product! It does not need to – it was just meant to get our attention. And it worked.

Little Baby’s Ice Cream has our attention. Now, the company has the exposure to the market that they need to be successful. It does not matter that they did so with such a repulsive video, because the company is in its beginning stages of the business life cycle – it has plenty of time to develop its marketing strategy as an established brand.  Now that these guys have our attention, we will want to see what’s next, no matter what it is.

Again, this company is in the beginning stages of the business life cycle.  The goal was to GET attention and potential customers.  Unless your business is new, or re-branding, this type of video is probably not your best approach.  But it sure did work for Little Baby’s Ice Cream, and we look forward to more videos in the future!

By the way – this video came second  Little Baby’s Ice Cream‘s creepy series.  Check out "Love Lickers" below:

Would you try LIttle Baby’s Ice Cream after watching this video?

In this blog we talk about the importance of video on your website. Whether you are a business owner, a one-man show, or a person or group promoting a cause, whatever your website may be, video can play a major role in getting your message across. We asked some of the biggest players in website development in our area some questions to get to the core of this topic. Read more to see what they had to say.

To learn more about the role of video on a website, we interviewed several of our area’s top website producers and marketing professionals:

Tom Malesic of EZSolution

Andy Garman of Pipedream Marketing and Design

John Stauffer of Flash Avenue

and Steve Wolgemuth of YDOP.

Q: How important is video on your website?

Tom Malesic feels strongly that, "for most businesses, video is probably the most critical thing they really need to consider for their website." People "would rather watch video than read content," he adds.

"Video is extremely important if you would like to immediately capture your visitors’ attention and have them become become fully engaged with your message," says John Stauffer.  All of our subjects were in agreement here. As Steve Wolgemuth puts it, "video can be an extremely effective medium for a website, particularly for certain types of sites and audiences." "We find that its a great way to communicate a more complex message," says Andy Garman.

Pipedream Studio, for example, recently added a series of videos to the website of a manufacturer with somewhat of a complex product, which explain to customers how to service and clean the product. Here, Pipedream and the manufacturer took an in-depth process and made it easier to understand through video. "We could have explained in text," as Andy points out, "how to fit part A into part B, and the visitor could figure it out with some effort, but demonstrating how to do so with video makes it a lot easier for the end user to really understand."

Q: What are some successes you have seen when it comes to website videos?

YDOP’s Steve Wolgemuth’s story begins with an e-commerce site. Steve had a client who was having trouble communicating clearly the pricing of his products. Steve suggested a video consisting of a clear explanation. The end product was a 60-second standup in which the client clearly and concisely described the pricing and options, paired with some added visuals to hold the viewers attention and further clarify his message. "The result was a home run," says Wolgemuth.

Something to keep in mind when posting a video on your site: in most cases, it is best to keep it brief. YDOP’s client’s video lasted only 60 seconds – just enough to be clear while also keeping the viewers’ attention.

When Andy Garman worked with the American Music Theater, the venue would post videos of past shows and performances on its website. These videos were viewed tens of thousands of times, and Andy believes that this helped the AMT twofold: to attract new customers and generate interest in their shows, and to excite established customers. Potential customers who visited the site were able to watch past shows and see what kind of experience they were about to buy into. The videos also drew additional potential customers to the site from different social media platforms such as YouTube, where they were posted as well. More traffic ultimately lead to more sales. And while the videos helped to gain more customers, they also helped to "extend the customer experience" as they allowed the existing customers to "relive the enjoyment and share the experience with their friends." To this example, the Entertainment Industry is another area in which video works quite well on company websites, and is recommended.

Flash Avenue’s customers notice an increase of word-of-mouth advertising as well, with the help of engaging videos that users share with their friends. Stauffer also points out that videos make the user experience more successful because they, "deliver a marketing message through all 3 forms of learning; video, audio and touch(pointing/clicking) interaction."

A more measurable observation of success that Tom Malesic has seen is "an increase in conversion rate" on sites. Through watching a video, the visitor or potential customer gets "a much better understanding of who the company is," giving him or her more of a reason to trust and make a purchase. And if the owner is part of the video, it is almost as if the visitor has actually met that owner. That particular element adds "instant credibility."

Q: What are some dos and don’ts that you suggest to your clients about video on their websites?

As we saw in the above example, extending your video to social media sites like YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and more can really boost views and traffic to your site. Andy Garman always suggests to take advantage of all applicable platforms. He says, most importantly, to post your videos on YouTube, or better yet, create a Youtube channel. You do not need to pay to show up on a YouTube search, so those people interested in a topic that relates to your business can stumble upon you this way.

Something to consider, according to Flash Avenue’s John Stauffer, is volume. "Avoid dramatic volume changes throughout the audio portion of your video. Sudden loud bursts can be extremely annoying and disruptive." Keep in mind that visitors want to have a pleasant experience!

Another strong recommendation from Stauffer to help assure that the user has a pleasant visit: "consider your potential viewers situation before deciding to have your video start playing automatically." "Situations where auto-play is appropriate," says Steve Wolgemuth of YDOP, are almost non-existent. YDOP strongly recommends against auto-play. Use of this function causes a few problems: it startles and annoys some visitors (notably those at work, as Stauffer points out), and a visitor can miss a very important part of your video if they aren’t ready to click play. "Give them the option," recommends Stauffer.

That being said, a second recommendation from Wolgemuth is to create video that is, engaging right from the start. The best online video, in the first ten seconds, convinces the viewer that it is worth watching. This is another reason why you dont want to have your video auto-play the beginning is the best part! Online viewers are a fickle audience, says Wolgemuth, and you can be sure theyve got a hand on the mouse ready to leave during the entire movie. For this same reason, YDOP encourages their clients to,

KEEP IT SHORT!

Tom Malesic tells urges his customers to have video content "reflect [the] company image through the process." In other words, make sure the visitors can relate to your company by keeping your video, "real." A good example for this is with video testimonials. Malesic thinks "getting an overwhelming amount of video testimonials" is a real "critical piece." "Don’t let them read off a script, don’t let them think too much about the question," he adds. The more they stutter and say "um" like normal people, the more the viewer can relate and believe what they are saying. "Be real!"

Q: What do you see is the future of video on websites that you design?

Wolgemuth, Garman, and Malesic have the same vision: as Andy Garman puts it, thanks to increasing bandwidth and faster internet speeds, its becoming easier for web surfers to view and interact with high-quality video online. With that being said, businesses will be expected to have higher quality video on their sites. Surfers will become less tolerant of bad video, in the same way they have become less tolerant of bad websites over time, says Wolgemuth. Website videos will almost certainly become more prevalent and more visually appealing.

Tom Malesic takes the future a step further, "I think websites are going to be almost predominantly video at some point. I think it’s going to be like a TV show about your business."

What do YOU think is the future of online video?

Is formal education slowly being replaced by Internet video? In this blog, we will teach you "how to" become a student in the greatest classroom of all – the world wide web.

The average American spends 11.8 hours each day consuming information, according to researchers at UC San Diego. In the last 7 years, the way we consume information has changed significantly with the rise of Internet video. If we miss our favorite television show, we find the video online. If we are away from a television, we can catch a news broadcast from the networks dot com. As the Internet begins to replace television with sites like Hulu and Amazon Prime, we no longer need to pay a monthly cable bill (if we so choose). But television is not the only source of information that is slowly being replaced.

Since the creation of YouTube in 2005, we have become accustomed to searching for and discovering user-created videos that we never would have had the opportunity to see before this generation of technology. Much of this market includes how to videos. Now in 2012, you can learn how to do virtually anything by typing in how to into the YouTube search field. Ever want to learn how to make a paper crossbow? Me neither, but if you did, you could learn on YouTube.

Try this: type in how to on YouTube. The first video that comes up in the search is How To Be Ninja. While this may be a hilarious parody, the majority of these videos create a whole new platform for education. Maybe we wouldnt want to learn how to become an electrician or perform heart surgery with YouTube (please, DONT try this), but taking up a new instrument or learning to cook a gourmet meal is made more possible by this type of internet video. One no longer needs to take classes to do much of anything, short of receiving a degree (actually, many online college and university courses now use videos, but that only reinforces our point).

For years, our marketing team member Alison has wanted to learn how to play the guitar. With he busy schedule and lack of funds, she was never able to take guitar lessons and finally resigned to the fact that she would just never acquire that skill. However once she realized that YouTube hosted a slew of how to play guitar videos (there are hundreds), she regained hope. These classes could be watched on her time, at her pace, and for free.

Having a dinner party and want to learn how to make chicken parmesan or chocolate lava cake? Had you not taken a cooking class, you would probably be lost. But search how to make chicken parmesan on YouTube, and you could quickly learn in a pinch. Rather than taking two separate classes (Italian Cooking and Pastry-baking, perhaps?) and learning how to make several different dishes over a period of time, you could just hop online and customize your own cooking education.

This trend is so significant, that several sites have been created to focus solely on the how to trend. eHow, Howcast, Monkeysee, Videojug, and Howdini all feature experts who teach the world how to do everything from tying a tie (which is the number one "how to" seeked by men) to making a battery.

Arthur C. Clarke once said, If a teacher can be replaced with a machine, they should be. Dont get us wrong we strongly support going out and receiving an education, be it working towards a profession, or just for fun. But the real point is bigger than this. Internet video has made our lives easier and has made us smarter. We are able to receive more information, quicker. We arent quite in an age yet where machines are directly teaching us how to grow tomatoes, but we can use our machines to connect with those people who are choosing to be teachers for the rest of the world.

Communication technology today is designed around the two-way flow of information. People are no longer satisfied, or trusting, of one-way information systems like that employed by colleges and traditional education systems. They want to participate, contribute, and take ownership of content. They are most interested in letting their curiosity be their guide. -Thomas Frey, author of Communicating with the Future

The big question on our minds is this: is the availability of all of these videos causing us to be more curious? Or is our curiosity driving up the supply?

Recently, we have been called upon to create videos for a cause, helping to raise money for creative projects through Kickstarter.com. We love to create video and to support the arts so this is a very exciting time for us, and we are psyched to share the news!

For those of you living under a rock, Kickstarter.com is the worlds largest funding platform for creative projects. Basically, it is a website where people can go to raise money for their creative projects, or to donate to support those projects that excite them. The project creator sets a monetary goal to reach, and may only collect the money pledged if the full goal is met within a set time period. To incentivize people to contribute, the user can offer rewards for each level of donation. Once someone chooses to donate, a credit card is held on file until the goal is met. If the goal is not met, Kickstarter does not charge the donors cards.

Each project has its own Kickstarter page, which describes the project and outlines the goal and offerings. Some users choose to include a video on the very top of their pages, which proves to be a really important element fundraising. Rather than having to read through the entire Kickstarter page, potential donors can watch a video and get a full comprehensive understanding of the project. And dont forget, as we explored in a previous blogpost, it is in our DNA to respond to video better than any other form of media.

Here at AideMMedia, we have helped to produce a video for the Kickstarter campaign of a really cool project: Pinkerton Road Studios adventure video game called Moebius. To see the Kickstarter campaign, click here. The campaign has been extremely successful, exceeding its goal significantly.

Here is the video we made for Pinkerton Roads Moebius:

Jane Jensen and Pinkerton Road Studios chose to set a goal of $300,000 to reach within a time span of 40 days. In a time crunch, they called on us to shoot and produce the video above, which they posted at the top of their Kicksterter site. After only 27 days they met their goal, and by day 40, Pinkerton Road raised $435,316 through the website alone! When we caught up with Jane, we asked her about her experience with Kickstarter. Video, she said, is critical to a Kickstarter campaign. In fact, Kickstarter.com featured the video we produced on their blog, which you can read here. Because of this additional exposure, Pinkerton Road gained more traffic, contributing to their success.

Our friends at PostageVFX also recently ended a very successful campaign for an adinmated adventure film called Atomic Robo: Last Stop. Here is their Kickstarter video:

Jeff McComsey of The Fictory has used Kickstarter for several projects, and agrees that the use of video is crucial. It is, the first thing that gives [someone] an idea of the quality of the project. Also a donor to several projects, Jeff will hesitate to pledge any money if the video on a site looks like it is just slapped together. So not only is video so important, but a high quality video will get a creator the optimal amount of funding. Needless to say, Atomic Robo was very successful for the studio – they even raised $6000 out of $12,000 in a half of a day! Jeff is certain that they also raised some fans, which is another very valuable effect of Kickstarter. Funding for a project is important, but fans and dedicated supporters are priceless. Click here to see the successful campaign.

A final project that we want to share with you comes from a crew making a BMX film – Blue Trail Entertainment. This is a campaign, active through July 14, 2012, to raise funds to complete the studios first full-length feature film, Heroes of Dirt. Watch the Kickstarter video below:

Although we did not produce this video, we really believe in the project and are very hopeful that Blue Trail Entertainment will be successful in reaching its goal of $50,000. We spoke to Producer Jill Bugbee, who was kind enough to share her insight on Kickstarter and the importance of video for the campaign. Jill strongly believes that a Kickstarter video is key for the success of the project. Because everything [for] this generation is video-based, people dont have the time [to read through all of the text].

It should be easy for a person who may back your project to learn about it not a chore!

Also, Jill believes a video really shows that the creators have everything in order, and will have a legitimate product. She agrees and stresses that it is important that the video be of quality especially if the project for which one is raising money is a film itself. Without a good video, you dont have a good representation of what your project is about, says Jill.

Jills video is going viral, and more and more fans are liking Heroes of Dirt each day on Facebook. Click here to check out the Facebook page, and click here to see their Kickstarter page.

If you were going to look for support, what kind of project would you take to Kickstarter.com?