Add Value to Your Website
by Adding Video

Television is video broadcast through the air.  And it's a medium we all know intimately and enjoy.  But we don't know exactly how those images and messages were formed or come to appear in front of us in our TV and Tivo boxes.  TV and movies are just a familiar kind of "magic" to us.  Web Video is another form of that same magic. And this is why adding video to your website will increase its value.  It's simply the most popular, familiar, and enjoyed magic the world over - its universal appeal is limitless!

NOTE: Video making was complex and expensive to do in the past, but not any more.  So it's not the technology that's stopping people from making web videos.  Video technology practically operates itself these days!  Video cameras auto-focus for fast motion and auto-adjust for lighting changes.  Cameras also "stabilize" video shot from our shaking hands, and conveniently plug into our computers and laptops with firewire or USB.  And of course, today's video making software creates small web files for us with just one click!

So if making web videos isn't complex or expensive any more, why aren't more website owners like yourself using it?  Their resistance (and yours?) might be from a lack of knowledge and inspiration about how to combine the medium (video) with a message.  What should a video "say" to a web visitor? What should your video say?

The answer may be as simple as a little show and tell.  Check out these examples...

Bring Your Product to Life (Show and Tell):
The Duct Tape Guys - Duct Tape Halloween Costumes
http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/media/onTV/halloween.html

Offer a Video as a Free Bonus:
Body Language Secrets That Are Essential to Your Success
http://www.kevinhogan.com/bodylanguage.htm

Display a Sample of What You're Selling:
Tony Robbins Speaking Engagements (Click Opening Date)
http://www.tonyrobbins.com/Home/Home.aspx

Promote Your Press Coverage:
Mrs. Cavanaugh's Hand Made Cookies
http://www.mrscavanaghs.com/press.htm

Take Potential Customers to a Location:
Apartment for Rent
http://www.Geocities.com/MyAptHome/

Sell Information Products
Beyond Manifestation Audio CDs
http://beyondmanifestation.com/

Demo Your Products:
Video Code Maker
http://www.videocodemaker.com

Share Information:
Dixie Chicks Info Site:
www.chicksrockchicksrule.com/

Greet Visitors Personally:
Our Bastrop
http://ourbastrop.com

Entertain Your Visitors:
How to Fold a Shirt
http://www.howtofoldashirt.net

Educate Visitors So They Can Become Customers:
Learn Faux Painting
http://fauxfun.com

Share Your Passion, Share Yourself, and Gain Trust:
http://barrettchiroclinic.com

Share Your Amazing Story and Get Tons of Free Publicity:
Kyle MacDonald's Blog, "One Red Paperclip"
http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/2006/01/videos.html

And there are many more ways to combine the medium and the message!  These are just a few examples.  Now go forth and add value to your website by adding video!

By Nerissa Oden, web video expert and author.