Once you have used video to drive traffic to your site is there any reason to use video on your landing page? Well, according to research reported by Mark Robertson of REELSEO videos sell products. When videos are put on e-commerce sites there is a dramatic increase in sales, even if the visitor did not actually watch the video. Apparently consumers feel more secure if they know that you can show a video on your site.

Should you use the same video on your landing page that you used in your off-site or viral campaign? Absolutely not!

The role of the offsite video was to drive traffic to your site. The role of your onsite video is to convert your visitor into a customer. It needs to close the sale. The difference between your offsite and onsite videos is the difference between “may I help you?” and “would you like that gift wrapped?” or “Hell-o my name is Bob,” and a good night kiss. The visitor is there because they are interested and the video should tell them why they should buy the product or service.

This video is meant to sell. It needs to convert visitors to customers or donors and it should have these attributes:

• The quality should be high and reflect your cause or brand.
• It should be prominently displayed on the home or landing page with a clear reason why the visitor should watch the video.
• It should be short, between one and four minutes.
• It’s message should have a compelling call to action; you want the viewer to buy or donate.
• This is not a training video, do not waste time showing “how”
• Don’t waste time showing the features but concentrate on the value and benefits.
• Do not make this video sharable, it should only be seen on your web site.

When I say that the quality should be high this does not mean that you need to get a Hollywood production company to produce it. It does mean that the quality of the video should reflect the quality of your business or organization. A bank will have a different type of video then a house painter but the images should be clean, the sound audible and the message clear. If you were making a flyer for your business you wouldn’t use crayons and paste. The same is true with your video.

Spend time on the message. Again the video is being used to close the sale. Spend as much attention to the script and images for the video as you would the text on the web page or sales brochure. The message should reflect your company or organization. This video replaces a person talking to the viewer and should leave the same impression.

Experiment with your video and landing pages. Try one with a video and one without a video. If you can experiment with the message untill you find the one that works best for you.

You can download a Free e-book about different types of online videos and how to use them on the internet. Just follow this link for: 10 things you can do with video on the Internet.

For more information about landing pages see my blog, Stick the Landing Page.