Putting video on your website

If you're trying to make an impact, video can be very effective in doing so. People remember only 10% of what they read, but 60% of what they see, hear, and read. It's because you're activating different areas of the brain in order to process the information. If you want to maximize the retention of your message, you may want to consider adding video, whether it be to your website or to your email marketing campaigns.

What you need to do:

1) Provide your video files to your website developer.

If you have recorded a DVD of your footage, it is best to mail the disk to me so I can extract the video file.  However, if you happen to have your video in a .mov or .avi file format, it makes life just a little bit easier. These formats ensure that your video can easily and effectively be converted into a .flv (Flash video) format.The .flv format is the best format for online videos, as it allows most viewers to watch your video without having to install additional third-party plugins. All it takes is Flash Player, which the majority of people worldwide already have installed.

-OR-

2) Upload your video files to a video sharing website.

You can also choose to upload your video to a video sharing website like YouTube or Vimeo. Your developer can then use the embed codes that YouTube provides to place the video on your website or e-newsletter. This can provide the benefit of added exposure—a person doesn't have to be on your website or email list to see your video. However, your video quality may suffer somewhat, and you may not feel YouTube gives you the professional image you want to portray.

What you need to know:

Video files can take up considerable storage space and bandwidth on your web server. If you want to add a lot of video footage, it may become necessary to pay for increased storage or bandwidth. An alternative is to host your videos separately on a free site like YouTube.