If you’ve taken my advice and started a simple website for your welding business, now’s the time to take it a step further. Video marketing, with a combined audience of over two billion video views per day, provides an immense leveraging potential. Consider using YouTube to position yourself as a subject matter expert, improve your page rank, and have fun!
Why Google Likes Video
I recently watched a vblog that compared search engine optimization to chasing a hot girl. It was entertaining and he made some good points. Getting your website ranked in first place is not easy. Forrester Research reported that websites with video are 50 times more likely to gain an organic first page ranking. Because pages with video are considered more unique than sites without, Google favors video. Plus, Google owns YouTube (coincidence, I think not).
Make the Most of your Welding Videos
Make the most of your videos by carefully titling them. Use search heavy keywords. An intuitive title, though possible less creative, will get more views. A direct title is essential because content of the video cannot be read by most search engines (though this may be in commonplace in the future). The title, tags, and description are the areas you need to concentrate on to get your video in front of the largest audience. When possible, customize your URL and files names to ensure the welding video is correctly categorized by Google. Use a sitemap to ensure that Google crawlers find the video on your website.
Don’t just embed a video on your website. Use YouTube. YouTube makes it easy to search, share, and store your video. YouTube is one of the web’s most popular sites and anyone looking to watch a welding how to video will go there first. Create a profile page to give viewers your business info. Fill out every portion of this section. Use your business name as your channel title/username. Don’t forget a profile picture.
From YouTube you can use the URL to embed the video on your website, share on social media, or even create a QR (quick response) code to direct people to your video from any print advertising you do (even your business card). Remember, a key objective is to get people engaged. User ratings and comments will affect your YouTube ranking. Encourage viewers to subscribe to your channel so you can continue to market to them.
Surround your video with relevant content. To get a wider audience you’ll want to consider the social authority your video has. Syndicate your video and develop inbound links by using Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, and welding related forums to share your video/link. Google loves to see your video on welding industry related sites.
What if You’re Camera Shy?
I understand. I am, too. But I also know that video is one of the best ways to optimize a site. Please note: Google doesn’t really care if your video is high quality or if you are a professional actor. To up your odds of a successful shoot you’ll want to put together an outline (a script isn’t necessary). Have all your materials in order and do a practice run before you begin. Make sure you have good lighting and check to see that your microphone works. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through in the video. If you’re helpful, funny, or even quirky – there is an audience for you.