In the era of immediacy, your audiences are busier than ever. They enjoy and prefer quick, straightforward solutions to their problems. Most people do not visit websites today to read long and complicated essays. In fact, one-third of the world’s online activity is spent watching video content.
Because of this, video is one of the most important tools for your digital marketing strategy. Website visitors are consuming more video content than ever and there is ZERO sign that this trend is slowing down anytime soon. In a recent study, website visitors only read about 20% of your content before they move to a different site. This is why you need good, engaging video content to keep your visitors on your site longer.
The move from text and visual content to video has been fast and those businesses that do not swiftly make the transition will be left in the dust with underperforming websites.
To help you understand why video is important for your websites and to encourage you to take advantage of video we are going to give you our top reasons why it is NECESSARY you have video content.
1. It Is How People Get Their Content
The attention spans of most people on the internet are shorter than ever but videos allows visitors to consume more content in a shorter time period. Video delivers important content in a fun, engaging way that keeps your viewers engaged as opposed to simple text.
Just so you understand, this is not just a trend. Youtube is the largest online video network in the world with more than 1 billion unique visitors each month, over 500 million hours of video watched every day. An even more impressive statistic is that 45% of people watch more than 1 hour of videos on Facebook or YouTube each week.
If this many people are captivated by online video then why would you not take advantage and utilize the engagement for your own site.
2. Great Website Experience + Increased Time Spent
Long gone are the days of static brochure-esque websites. The most successful businesses online utilize their websites to create a captivating experience for their visitors. These businesses understand that by making a connection and building a relationship with their visitors can lead to a increased number of loyal customers.
Video content on a website offers a way to make that connection. Brands are utilizing video to do things like demonstrate products, share expertise and tell their story. If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video must be worth at least a million so it makes sense that they are successful utilizing video. Video is a great way to deliver tons of information into a short, descriptive and captivating medium that the human brain can easily understand.
Our brains can process visuals 60,000 times faster than static text making it likely that viewers will retain close to 95% of information presented in video format. If we are able to receive and retain that information in an engaging manner then it makes sense that visitors are more likely to spend more time on your website. The combination of motion, images and sounds captivates the human mind and holds visitor’s attention to keep them on your website. If they are staying on your site longer than those without a video then they are more likely to value your content and reduce the bounce rate of your site.
3. Benefits Inbound Marketing Strategies
SEO Efforts
As stated earlier, YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world and is owned by the largest search engine in the world, Google. Video content can enhance every keyword you are targeting on your website. Additionally, Google prioritizes rich and unique content i.e. video which can improve the ranking of your site on search engines.
Video is also great for SEO efforts because it keeps visitors on your site longer. When visitors stay on your site longer it will help your page rank higher in search results. In fact, a website with a video is 53 times more likely to rank highly on the first page of Google. The longer a visitor stays on your site then the more important Google (or other search engines) think your site is.
Sales
If you are selling products online you cannot discount the importance of video. Ecommerce websites are utilizing videos to convert customers because the vast majority of customers would rather learn and explore a product or service through video as opposed to static text.
Social Media & Email
Video is one of the highest shared forms of content on all distribution networks. When you create a video with original content you are getting the most out of social media and email because you are driving people to your content and your website.
4. Increased Conversion Rate and ROI
Static text is great but it is dependent on the reader and today most readers do not have the attention span for it. Video content can emotionally connect with your visitors so the content resonates and convinces them to convert to customers.
The fact is that video results in an 80% increase in conversion rates because it is such a great storytelling medium that engages your customers. Now most poeple may be hung up on the ‘costly’ price to produce good video content but think about the high ROI due to all the aforementioned statistics. Additionally, you can always create the video content yourself. There are a plethora of tools online that won’t break the bank but will still give you great video content.
You can start getting your team thinking about creating videos showing your products or explaining your services and your investment will be well worth it.
Final Thoughts
The competition online is astronomical so your website should be fine-tuned to meet the ever-growing and ever-changing demands of the online world. Successful businesses online know understand that some website visitors learn by hearing and others by seeing. This is why you need to discover the perfect balance of static text and video content.
