During the internet’s infancy, one of the biggest limitations was download speed. As a result, the earliest online marketing campaigns involved spam and other text and email-based communication. As bandwidth has increased, so has the ability of advertisers to use a vast array of multimedia tools to reach customers. In the past decade, video in particular has transformed the way that people browse for information, entertainment and shopping.
Some of the more obvious reasons for joining the videographic bandwagon include the ability to personalize messages with a human face and the dynamic quality of the video medium. However, the most compelling reason of all may be far simpler.
A Forrester Research study of internet searches found that web pages which contained videos were 53 percent more likely to receive first-page organic rankings than those that simply contained text and photos. Ever since Google and YouTube became a single entity a few years ago, it is very common to see applicable videos at the top of Google search results. If one searches for a website that may have a relevant video, it is not uncommon to find it as one of the first results.
Small businesses that engage in search engine optimization (SEO) efforts will find that using embedded YouTube videos will be a boon for their rankings. Additionally, companies with a wealth of videos detailing their business and its products and services will be able to be a part of the dynamic new internet that is rapidly emerging.