Last year saw the incredible rise of social media, including networking online and sharing of content (images, music and online video) with friends. The primary social media platforms which also offer online video hosting – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – facilitate the sharing of digital content and provides the means for content to go viral. And if your video clip does go viral you have just found a fantastic way to make money online.

Websites which integrate multimedia content into their presentation tend to have a higher conversion rate than those that do not. Multimedia such as video, podcasts, or interactive animation, graphics and other features add different dynamics to a website. Visitors are able to engage with more content in different ways, keeping them interested in your site for longer.

Experts have found that a video sales pitch or explanation of a product is much more effective than wordy written content. Multimedia is more time consuming and expensive to produce than traditional copy, and it is because of this that not many companies make the extra effort to include it. This means that those businesses that do dabble in multimedia are a minority with a significant competitive advantage.

I spent my first graduate years immersed in the education field, from assisting in the university to teaching English at summer camps to fund my travels. What I learnt from my time as an educator, among other things, is that everybody has their own learning style. These learning styles have become of particular interest to me in an online context since comScore released its August report which shows that, in addition to humour and home maker sites, educational sites were top performers in the northern hemisphere this summer.

In an endeavour to once again be an educator, I will ask you to do a small task for me and take note of which particular learning style you prefer and I will then explain what relevance they have to the internet. Educational experts tell us there are seven distinctive learning styles (which category do you fall into?):

Web design has come a long way over the past 5 years. With new technologies coming up, more bandwidth, and faster browsers, designers have had opportunities they have never had before. The emergence of new programming mediums such as video streaming, flash and CSS technologies have opened up new design concepts across the web. With new opportunities come more choices, and more possibilities to pass on information to the end user. As a result of these new opportunities, we as designers must decide on the most efficient ways to incorporate meaningful site design that will appeal to and engage end users. It has become a balancing act to effectively and creatively communicate the meaning of a web site while maintaining purpose and direction.

There is quite a fuss being made about how online video SEO (search engine optimisation) can help most small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Using video as a method of enticement can substantially increase your website traffic and also your conversion rates. Many are already using online video SEO to help drive actions and sales, but many more fail to see the benefit of using online video as a viable (additional) marketing tool.

Typically, when consumers are searching for a particular product, they will search a fair amount of websites before committing to one and completing the purchase. However, when these product sites add videos to promote their products, consumers are more likely to search fewer sites for the product they require. This emphasises the notion of how online video can help SMBs, and also shows how placing strategic video throughout your site can help enhance and stimulate the buying process.