Article Written By: RobinPorter
The massive rise in use of broadband in the western world has caused a phenomenal rise in the use of online video. At present (December 2007) the USA, Europe and Japan all had a usage rate ofaround 85% (ie 85% of all internet users were on broadband at home.) In the workplace this is around 94%. The massive rise of YouTube (the popular video sharing site) resulted in Google snapping it up for an amazing $1.65 billion this year, a mere 18 months after it was launched.
So online videos are clearly an important trend but how can retailers profit from this?. Instead of showing static product images, how about showing a video of the product.It can be shown from all angles, you can show it in use,and you can highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the product. They say a picture equals a thousand words - a video equals a great deal more. Show video product comparisons on your website. You coudl put together a video comparing different products that you stock, showing advantages and disadvantages of each product. Begin with the less costly products showing their features and then progress through the product range until you get to the to high end products. This will help users to make intelligent and informed buying decisions and they will thank you for it.. Have a video introduction to your company. On your homepage you can have a personal welcome introducing yourself and your company giving the human touch. If you have premises such as a warehouse or a shop you can do a quick tour to show it off to visitors, thus establishing trust and credibility that you are a real live business. You can show your entire product range as well. andquot;How to orderandquot; video. An amazing amount of people have problems ordering online . For those that encounter diffciulties or are new to ordering online you can show the entire process on a video so that they know exactly what to do and what to expect when they hit the checkout button. andquot;how toandquot; video. When searching online, more often than not, people are looking for solutions to problems rather than actual products to buy. Think about it - what problems do your products solve? If you cna show your product in use, and show it solving problems then so much the better. Informercials. Have you got a new product into stock? Or perhaps you've got a sale on certain products? If so, then do a short video commercial highlighting your new stock or your sale and show it on your homepage. This will get users attention . So how to you produce video? Video for the net can be done easily and quickly with decent lighting and a standard video camcorder. Don't worry about getting TV quality video or hiring in a full production team. Most video camcorders can produce good quality video to show online with a steady hand. You can find most of the software you need on your standard PC - windows usually comes with moviemaker built in, and there are many tutorials available on online to show how to produce video. Once you have all these videos you can then upload them to Youtube and all the other video sharing sites. This will then attract traffic to your online store. Do make sure that when you upload a video that make sure you tag it with the relevant keyword phrases and remember to display your website address on the video. Also, it's worth naming the video according to the problem it solves or andquot;review of product xyzandquot; as these are likely to be the most likely searches that people look for. Video is a growing trend and to date has not been capitalised on by the majority of ecommerce retailers. Learn to use online video now and get ahead of the rest.Robin Porter is CEO of Arpey Internet - a company that specialises in web site design in kent . He has helped many small businesses get online and start harnessing the power of the Internet. Don't reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
This Article Has Been Published on Sat, 8 Dec 2007 and Read 263 Times