Are you ready to add video to your website, or just improve how you approach video altogether?
Incorporating videos on your website is a fresh way to simultaneously build your web presence and add variety to your content strategy. Captivating video content can encourage users to spend more time on your website, which can help increase your search presence.
From an engagement perspective, video matters: according to an Animoto study, four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it, and one in four consumers lose interest in a company if it doesn’t have video.
Adding video to your site can be a pretty straightforward process depending on the route you choose, but not all video integration is created equal. Coming up with a strategy for how to best include video on your webpages—and discovering which route will be most relevant to your needs—results in more creativity, engagement, relevance, and fun for your viewers.
Here’s a brief look at some of the most popular options used by some of the most successful websites.
1. Embed a video.
The quickest and easiest way to incorporate video onto your website is by embedding a link to a YouTube or Vimeo video. This method is compatible with nearly every content management system (CMS) and requires nothing more than copying an embed link into your site’s HTML code. This method gives you the benefits of unlimited bandwidth and video length, as well as increased exposure—uploading your videos to a site like YouTube prior to embedding will make your content accessible to the platform’s 1.9 billion users. Plus, it’s free!
2. Use a button that reveals your video after clicking.
Some website owners worry that a video may clash with their site’s design aesthetic. Adding a button on your page that allows a video to pop up when clicked, instead of embedding a video directly, is a more aesthetically pleasing and organized way to elicit a video click. A button also provides a subtle call-to-action and prompts your visitors to engage with your website.
3. Auto-play video in your hero image.
Including a video in the hero of your website can create a connection, impact, and serious engagement among users. Forbes revealed that including a background video in the hero image of a landing page can increase your conversion rate by a whopping 80 percent. This type of integration also leads viewers to make an emotional connection between your business and what they observe in the video, creating a positive association with your brand—especially if the video tells a visual story that includes people as subjects.
According to Webflow, using human faces personifies users and enables them to relate to the brand on a deeper level.
4. Create a slideshow gallery with multiple videos.
A slideshow gallery allows you to “bundle” relevant videos that viewers can scroll through and select with ease. This feature is not only user-friendly, but it also allows you to display multiple videos in a condensed format that won’t overwhelm the entire landing page. It reduces website clutter, allows you to organize videos by topic or category, and frees up additional whitespace on your webpage(s) for a clean design.
5. Create a video gallery grid.
A grid video gallery is perfect for showcasing a large array of video content. A grid video gallery makes it easy for visitors to locate specific videos or topics among a large collection. Think of this like a “video buffet” where all your videos are on display for selection.
For example, if you have a video series that features parts one through six, viewers can quickly find and select each part without having to dig through your site or search for the right video. Despite this method’s ability to display multiple videos at once, the design is still easily scannable and pleasing to the eye.
Incorporating video this way can be just as easy as embedding a URL, but your website will require the proper functionality.
Get your video strategy off the ground.
In the current digital space, one thing is certain: video matters. Cisco reports that by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82 percent of all consumer internet traffic. Fortunately for businesses, the options available for incorporating video are more advanced, fun, and creative than ever, yet simple to incorporate when you have the right tools at your disposal.
The first step is determining how you want to incorporate video on your website based on your current video library. Once you’re ready to move forward, it’s just a matter of finding the right functionality for video on your website that makes the process easy, efficient, customizable, and goof-proof. And, of course, your website should work seamlessly across all devices.
If you’re just starting your website creation process or are looking for a host with more functionality, make sure to choose a web-based platform that provides all of the tools and features you need to seamlessly create a stunning, effective website.
By Sean Haney
Marketing Specialist at SpaceCraft
