Online videos can truly differentiate your products and services from the competition. Google and Bing rank video content in the organic search engine results and actually prefer web pages with videos.
In addition to the SEO benefits, website visitors stay on a page with video content over 50% longer than pages without video. If professional video creation isn’t in your budget, you can take advantage of today’s advanced video recording and screen capture technology to make and syndicate videos.
Here are some tips for creating and distributing professional, quality videos.
1. Determine whether you are going to shoot live video or simply voiceover screenshots of a presentation. For software demos or voiceover presentations on a PC, we use Corel VideoStudio Ultimate X10 or CyberLink PowerDirector 17 Ultra. For the Mac, we recommend Final Cut Pro X. For both PC and Mac, we recommend Adobe Premiere Pro CC or Adobe Premiere Elements. On the go? Use KineMaster on your smartphone. Believe it or not, YouTube’s editor is excellent as well, and may be worth considering.
2. Create a script and rough storyboard. This will allow you to determine timing and will make it easy for the speakers to quickly record the sessions.
3. Use a high-quality microphone. For voiceover of screen capture or software demos, we use a Blue Yeti USB Microphone by Blue. It’s less than $120 and delivers great sound quality. Another popular model is the Audio-Technica AT2020USB Plus Microphone. For videos, you will probably want the participants to use lavalier microphones or at least attach an external microphone to your camcorder.
4. Eliminate noise in the recording environment. No room is 100% silent so record your voice as loud as possible, keeping your voice signal many decibels louder than the ambient noise of your room.
5. Keep the digital compression as high as possible for the best video and audio. For video, save as AVI uncompressed for editing purposes, and then upload to the web in MP4 or MOV format. Here are more recommended upload encoding settings, based on YouTube specs.
Recommended video bitrates for HDR uploads
| Type | Video Bitrate, Standard Frame Rate (24, 25, 30) | Video Bitrate, High Frame Rate (48, 50, 60) |
|---|---|---|
| 2160p (4k) | 44-56 Mbps | 66-85 Mbps |
| 1440p (2k) | 20 Mbps | 30 Mbps |
| 1080p | 10 Mbps | 15 Mbps |
| 720p | 6.5 Mbps | 9.5 Mbps |
| 480p | Not supported | Not supported |
| 360p | Not supported | Not supported |
Source: Google
6. Optimize your video for search engines. Use keywords and phrases in your video titles and descriptions to help search engines index your video. Include a link to a relevant web page in the description, and take advantage of all the settings and tags available to give Google as much information as possible.
7. Distribute your video efficiently. YouTube is the main player, but you can also upload your work to other relevant video sharing sites. You’ve invested a good amount of time into creating your video, so be sure to share it where relevant.
After watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online. Click To TweetEmbed your video on your website, share it on social media, and use its content as inspiration to efficiently craft other content types, such as blog posts, white papers, or infographics.
This process may seem daunting, but it’s worth figuring out. By creating high-quality, valuable videos, you’ll get ahead of your competition and improve your SEO results. It’s a true win-win!
Don’t want to go through that hassle?
We’ll do it for you. Let’s get started on your video creation!
