I’ve been dabbling with online video for a few years now.  If you scroll through the archives, you’ll find several of my step-by-step screen capture video tutorials that have been posted both on my blog as well as distributed through the different video sharing sites like YouTube and Viddler to name a few.  I’ve been a little reluctant to post videos of myself but in the next few months you’ll probably see a few videos popping up that feature me, rather than just screen capture technology.  So keep an eye on this space for more videos and brand new tutorials coming your way.

In the meantime, let’s talk about online video and its ability to connect with your audience, help increase your traffic, and boost your profits.

A Powerful Tool To Build Your Tribe

One of the most powerful tools you can use to build connections with your followers or your tribe is online video.  The power of online video comes from its transparency.  Online video let’s your character shine through much more readily than mere words written on a blog post.  Look at it this way: if you’re a regular blogger, you’ll quickly establish yourself as an expert.  You can share your expertise and educate your followers easily, allowing you an avenue of sharing facts.  Add audio to the mix and you’re upping the transparency.  Not only can your tribe learn valuable information from you, but they can start to get a sense of your language and your tonality and start to get a clearer picture of who you are.

With online video, there’s another step up in transparency.  Your followers can see who you are.  They can see your personality and your character.  With video you’re able to connect with people, not only on a factual level (based on the information that you’re sharing) but on an emotional level.  Your personality, emotions and motivations come shining through much more easily in online video than with just the written word.

In a nutshell, videos allow you to connect one-on-one with your followers.  It feels more intimate, more personal than any other method of online communication.  It’s the closest you’ll get to a live face-to-face meeting with your audience.

Do The Math

If you’re not currently using online video in your marketing efforts, you’re missing out on a key traffic source that can help boost your business.  Let’s look at the numbers:

  • There are 1.73 billion internet users worldwide.  The North American market represents 20% of the worldwide total.
  • In the US, 83% of internet users view online video.
  • The average viewer views 182 online videos per month.

If you’re leveraging online video, you have the potential to reach a lot of internet users.  As the technology to create online video becomes easier to use and more affordable, the reach is only going to increase.

Here’s a great little video that provides a powerful insight on the state of the internet:

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Video=Traffic=Sales

Okay so we know we have the potential to reach a large market with online video.  But how does this translate to traffic and, more importantly, to sales.

It’s a well known fact that a keyword optimized and targeted video is about 50x more likely to appear on the 1st page of Google.  So if you’re using video effectively and have a good understanding of the keywords your target market uses, video is a great traffic generator.

But what happens once those visitors reach your site?

Research has shown that most websites sites convert 1% or less of visitors.  So of all the traffic that you send to your site, only 1% will convert into a subscriber or a buyer.  The rest leave without providing their contact information or making a purchase.  What if you could convert a mere 2x more visitors?  My experience has shown that with the simple addition of video, you could easily engage an additional 20% of your visitors and convert them into leads.

Online video works because it allows you to leverage the psychology of the online buyer.  Let’s face it, people need to know you, like you, respect you and trust you — long before they buy a single thing from you.

As I mentioned earlier, video is the closest thing you’ll get to a one-on-one connection with your tribe.  But instead of reaching only one person, local to your geographic area, you have the ability to reach many people at the same time, without the restrictions of time and space.

In the next post, we’ll take a look at how we can easily implement video in our online marketing efforts.

Share and Grow

  • Do you use online video in your marketing efforts?
  • Have you seen an uptick in your conversions or sales?
  • Have you noticed a change in the response of your readers or tribe?

Share your thoughts and experiences below.  Would love to hear your thoughts.