Your homepage is arguably the most important page of your website, as it’s the first impression of your brand. Prospects infer a lot of information about your business within a few seconds of being on your site.
The design and visuals of your homepage communicate with your audience your proficiency, values, and brand credibility - or lack of. Which is why it’s important to invest time in your website, in order to make sure it accurately represents your business and what it stands for.
Homepage video banners are a great way to leave a lasting impression on your audience. They have more impact than a still image; they’re more engaging and give the impression you’ve put a lot of time and effort into creating your website and brand image.
Here are two reasons why using video banners on your homepage will help your business.
Video Leaves a Lasting Impression
Give your audience what they want! Leading marketers have long caught into video’s powerful influence on conversion rates.
Video has superpowers when it comes to engagement and retention. On average, a viewer can retain 95% of a message when they watch it, versus a 10% retention rate when a message is read (5). According to Hubspot, 80% of people can recall a video they’ve viewed in the past 30 days (6).
It’s also true that more than half of your prospects, 54% of people want to see more video content from marketers (3).
Here is an awesome example of video banner done correctly! It’s a high-quality image, on-brand and persuasive. This video communicates that this advisor offers retirement planning, they’re credible as they’re well established and who doesn’t imagine retirement on a beach? Even if this isn’t your envisioned retirement plan, video has the ability to showcase experience, lifestyle, and evoke emotion - you can almost hear the waves crashing.
Video is Great of SEO
Another considerable impact that video banners have on your business, is that when executed correctly they can boost your website’s performance through SEO (search engine optimization). Google and other search engines love to provide video for search results. Just as the images and copy on your website, videos are ranked within search results pages.
How significant is video’s impacting on search ranking? Including video in your marketing and website has the capacity to drive 157% more organic traffic in search engine results (3). This isn’t surprising when YouTube has now become the second largest search engine when it comes to users. It’s larger than Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com combined with over 300 hours of videos uploaded every minute (7)!
Forrester’s research has found that in comparison to traditional web pages, video is 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of search results. This is because of Google’s updated algorithm which provides searchers with a mix of unique content to answer queries (4).
It’s best practice when implementing a video banner to provide 2-3 formats (mp4, WebM, and ogv) to assure that your website remains responsive on all browsers (1). In case your video doesn’t load or is taking a little longer to load, uploading a thumbnail to sit in the video’s place is necessary. Video thumbnails also aid in SEO and can double your search traffic according to Search Engine Journal (3).
Best Practices to Consider:
Video banners can be tricky, they must be implemented correctly, or they can backfire on your performance. Here are some best practices to consider:
- Keep it short: Your video banner should be ideally 10-15 seconds in length.
- Slow Motion: Slow motion videos generally have higher impact and are easier to follow.
- Relevancy: Your video needs to be relevant to your industry and niche.
- Thumbnail Image: Always upload a thumbnail image for times that the internet is slow or the browser isn’t supported.
- No Music: Music can hurt your search ranking thanks to Googles AutoPlay Policy and overall comes across dated (It can also be very annoying when you're not expecting the sound to blast through your speakers).
- Quality and Size: Your video should be between 3-8 MB in size to avoid long loading times and to create a more user-friendly experience. Longer loading times HURT your SEO; this point is absolutely crucial to find a balance between high-quality images and file size!
Video Banner Providers:
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Fee-based:
Conclusion
There you have it, how something as simple as adding a video banner to your website homepage can help your business. Videos allow you to put your best foot forward, leave a lasting impression, and improve your website’s performance all at once.
We pride ourselves on creating beautifully designed websites that result in high conversion rates. Take a peek at some of our sample websites that include video banners here, or chat with one of our Website Specialists to learn how we can help take your website to the next level with a new video banner.
You might also enjoy these resources:
Webinar Replay - A Step-by-Step Guide to Video Marketing
Webinar Replay - 3 Keys to Showcasing Your Specialty with Video
Webinar Replay - How to Attract Prospects with Video
Blog - 10 Quick Video Tips for Getting People to Watch and Like Your Videos
Blog - Why We Hate Videos On Auto-Play
Blog - Getting Started with Video Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide
(1) Coverr. (2017, July 13). Background Videos: Do’s, Dont’s and Trends. Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/coverr/background-videos-dos-dont-s-and-trends-245ec9e1201
(2) Coverr. (2019, May). What Makes a Stunning Homepage Video? Retrieved from Medium : https://medium.com/coverr/what-makes-a-stunning-homepage-video-7a313ca4ca64
(3) Hubspot. (2019). The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2019. Retrieved from Hubspot: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
(4) Moovly. (n.d.). Google Loves Video: How to rank higher on Google. Retrieved from Moovly: https://www.moovly.com/blog/google-loves-video-how-to-rank-higher-on-google-video-maker
(5) Sheffield Audio Video . (2017). Video Marketing. Retrieved from Sheffield: http://www.sheffieldav.com/production/5-reasons-we-love-video-marketing-and-you-should-too
(6) Templeman, M. (2017, September 7). 17 Stats And Facts Every Marketer Should Know About Video Marketing. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2017/09/06/17-stats-about-video-marketing/#43413b7e567f
(7) Wagner, A. (2017, May 15). Are You Maximizing The Use Of Video In Your Content Marketing Strategy? Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/05/15/are-you-maximizing-the-use-of-video-in-your-content-marketing-strategy/#6709dd343584
