It’s hard to believe that YouTube is only three years old. But since its explosive entrance onto the web in 2005, and its purchase by Google, one year later, internet video was off to the races, and hasn’t yet looked back. Three years ago, most people had never watched video online. Now that number is reversed.
Here are three crucial things for you to know about web video:
1. Video will soon dominate web traffic.
Cisco, the networking giant, predicts that by 2012, 90% of consumer web traffic will be video. This means that consumers will increasingly search, learn and make travel decisions based on video, rather than merely text or photos.
What this means for innkeepers:
Starting now, if you don’t have video, you are missing a huge market. A 2008 website with no video is like a 2005 website with no photos, or a 2002 business with no website. The flip side is this: If your competitors don’t yet have video, they will soon. Shouldn’t you beat them to it?
2. Search engines are obsessed about video.
Search engines are very good at understanding text and links, but not very good yet at understanding how to index and return results for video searches. But starting with Google’s purchase of YouTube in 2006, search engines have devoted a lot of time and money to delivering relevant video search results to their users.
What this means for innkeepers:
Search engine companies are trying to keep up with the video surge online. They love to find quality videos with accurate meta information, which tells them what the video is about. A high quality video is one of the best tools for quickly increasing your search engine visibility.
3. Professional videos stand out on the web
While most of us can’t exactly describe what makes a great web site, or what exactly makes the composition of a great photo, we are all expert consumers of video. We watch hours of film, TV and web video per week, and all of us can spot an amateur video from a professional video. Right now most of the video on the web is amateurish, unedited and very low resolution.
What this means for innkeepers:
An HD video, professionally shot and edited, immediately garners attention online, whether it’s on your website, a video sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo, or on a directory like Google Local.
Contact us today to get a free quote for a promotional video for your business.
One Comment
Once again, I feel that I am running about 50 miles behind the curve!
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[...] Three years ago, 75% of Americans had never watched a video online. Today, those numbers are reversed. Since Google bought YouTube 23 months ago, search engines have put more of a focus into providing search results that feature video. And by 2012, as much as 90% of all web traffic is expected to be streaming video. [...]