MediaVision Blog » Multimedia SEO

2011 is the year for Online Video

Kat Stephenson — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 10:26:55 +0000

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.

But how do you go about getting people to watch your online videos? While there is no specific way to get it to go viral, there are some simple things you can do to encourage streaming of your online video. Search marketing companies recommend you keep in mind that the platforms you use to place and share your videos are made up of users, who in turn make up communities. Engage with your target audience and find out what they like and what will encourage the sharing of online video.

Now you can go about creating and editing content/clips using an online video editor, then set up your online video player to make watching and sharing the clips easy. While word of mouth is the main way content is shared, technical tweaks such as optimising your online video can get it ranking quite quickly as well. Pay particular attention to the title, descriptions and tags in order to utilise keywords.

Finally remember to be patient. YouTube is embracing HD and becoming more generous with lengths and size of clips, which will facilitate a better user experience. Use the support section as a guide to online video, which may give you a better idea of how to use YouTube more effectively, and become a master of online video.

2011 is the year for Online Video

Multimedia makes for better online business

Catherine — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:25:54 +0000

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.

Like all content on your business website, multimedia needs to be optimised for SEO. Though you should consult your SEO specialist on how best to integrate extra dynamic content into your online marketing strategy, there are a number of fundamental steps you can take to increase hits on your multimedia and gain traffic for your site.

Before starting the production process for any multimedia develop a thorough plan about what the piece should communicate, and which medium would be most suitable for the message. Multimedia content should give the viewers something extra that copy cannot. A talking head giving a sales pitch will bore viewers, but a video demonstration of a product in use is more likely to pique their interest.

The title of your multimedia content is all-important in terms of SEO.
Titles must be short and catchy or intriguing, but should also incorporate search phrases relevant to your business. Carefully considered tags are also important as these help define the category of your content. People searching for specific content will often run a search through YouTube, Flikr or other content aggregators, and a good title and solid tags, as well as the file name of the upload, will make your material more visible.

SEO still primarily centres on text, so make sure to include a short written description with your multimedia. The text should supplement rather than repeat the content, and should also contain your key search phrases.

The primary upload destination for your content will obviously be your own website, but you should also maintain active channels for your business on distribution platforms like YouTube and Flikr to gain further exposure for your media. Multimedia content is well suited to social media networks, so be sure to use your accounts for extra promotion.

Exploring multimedia is a worthwhile endeavour for any business with a website. Spend some time thinking about how to make a new approach work for your company and start experimenting to find the best way to tap into the benefits of multimedia.

Multimedia makes for better online business

Internet learning styles: what they can tell you about your target market

Frances van den Berg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:35:24 +0000

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?):

• Visual or spatial where you learn with images, pictures or graphs
• Aural or musical where you learn from listening to sounds or music
• Verbal/linguistic (my particular learning style of choice) where you learn with words, whether it is in speech or writing
• Physical or kinesthetic where you learn by using your body and the sense of touch
• Logical or mathematical where you learn with logic, reason and systems
People also fall into two broader categories depending on the study setting they prefer:
• Social or interpersonal learners: where they learn best in a social setting or a group; or,
• Solitary learners, where they learn best on their own.

Your next task is to go back and browse through a few online articles and websites and determine what learning style they are trying to evoke, because whether we know it or not, the internet is all about educating people: educating people about a product, a service, a bit of history or a recipe.

Here is a rundown of the learning styles that some very popular sites rely on.

• You tube: uses both visual and aural learning which shows that this must be a very common learning style among the general populace as videos are The Next Big Thing. A personal note here: I don’t quite understand the obsession with videos because I would much rather spend five minutes reading an article than bothering to download a video but that’s just my particular learning style coming to the fore.
• Facebook: uses a combination of verbal, visual and (obviously) social learning. Again, the popularity of social media shows us that many people, particularly youngsters, are social learners.
• Slide share: uses visual, verbal and, often, logical learning depending on the content.

Educators have recently discovered that they can use a combination of learning styles to deliver best results. For example, the latest methods for teaching foreigners English combine all learning styles: students are asked to read, listen to tapes, look at pictures, play games and work both independently and in groups.

But what does this have to do with online marketing?

Blended search results show us that now even IT gurus and online marketers have realised that people require a varied approach to keep them interested. Marketers also need to realise that every individual in their target market will approach their website from a different point of view. Some will be enticed by videos, others by compelling copy and another group may be enticed by something more tangible like the promise of a free T-shirt or the chance to have a conversation. And many people will love a clever combination of different media to keep them coming back for more.

Internet learning styles: what they can tell you about your target market

The best of both worlds

Tare Dyce — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:24:22 +0000

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.

The biggest challenge, however, comes in when a site has to be optimised for search engines, which can affect the website’s design. Why does SEO affect design while design never affects SEO? Designers have to bend over for SEO, which can be very annoying.

I had a look at a friend’s website http://www.eccentris.com/splash.htm, which looks great and is very visually appealing. And guess what? It has never been optimised. One has to understand, however, that some site owners find the lack of SEO to be acceptable, such as in my friend’s case.

On the flipside, there are sites that focus on SEO and rely heavily on it for survival. But this can take a heavy toll on the design side of things, including site navigation and usability, etc. Regardless of the amount of incoming traffic, if the site is not well designed, it won’t be able to serve its intended purpose. If your purpose is to sell goods for instance, the design must give visitors enough confidence to buy! If this does not happen, clearly the website has failed.

To achieve an optimal balance between design and SEO, it’s best to plan the two simultaneously. A perfect plan will include well researched keywords, which are fitted into the design in the draft stages of the website. This really helps designers to fit all the keywords in. If this is not done, it can mean that we get keywords that are longer than the site allows, and this can be a great pain because it might mean that keywords have to be changed throughout the directory structure links across multiple pages. This can cause errors in the long run.

The web is big and the stakes are getting higher. If the overall goals are to be achieved, the website has to sell. In the cyber world, having a visually kick a** site with the ability to attract traffic is vital. Too much emphasis on one and not enough on the other can limit a website’s success, but a healthy blend of good SEO and good design will pave the path for success.

The best of both worlds

Online Video SEO for SMBs

Prevyn Jeftha — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:32:35 +0000

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.

Through the use of online video, conversions from general organic searches could see a sharp spike, depending on what you are offering. On an organic search engine results page (SERP), your online video could make an impression on the user to the extent that they do not feel the need to search elsewhere for alternatives. While online video is in its infancy as a marketing tool, it is a viable way of creating a distinctive identity for your company and/or product that will set you apart from the rest. But as time passes this trend will surely change, as more and more SMBs turn to online video as a method of advertising.

Businesses are focusing on methods to measure the efficacy of online video marketing, and are moving past the idea of just publishing a video to be more unique. This objective is to show the right video at the right time, but this is a more long-term goal.

The thing to remember is that something new and shiny will always get attention. Website quality and relevant content is what will keep consumers visiting your site regularly. These can be accentuated by the effective use of technology and presentation formats i.e. online video. But in order for technology to be effective it has to be implemented appropriately.

When implemented correctly, online video can make your site more useful and relevant to the consumer, and this is good for SEO as well as business purposes. In order for online video to be continually used as an effective online marketing tool, however, it needs to stay fresh and evolve alongside the industry.

Online video is here to level the playing fields and allow SMBs to vie fairly with larger cash-injected companies by showcasing their strengths in an affordable and entertaining way. This is an amazing initiative in terms of online competition and can only be good for the market. And the consumers will be happy too. Now it`s just up to the smaller businesses to build up a strong online reputation and actually start investing in online videos. Whether they survive or not could hinge on this.

Online Video SEO for SMBs