Videos are increasingly appearing in the search results. The fact that Google owns YouTube could explain that. Plus the public likes videos.
You don't need to make them Hollywood quality. Here are some quick ways to get a video created:
Use the webcam in your PC together with the software that almost certainly came with it.
Use the camera on your phone. The quality is fine - use a tripod to hold the camera steady and enlist the help of a friend or work colleague if possible.
Create a PowerPoint presentation and use a free screen capture program like Snagit to capture an area of the screen plus your voice.
Get a video created on a site like Fiverr - the quality varies enormously, so check the samples first. The clearer the direction you give, the better the end result it likely to be. The site also offers voiceovers if you don't like the sound of your own voice. My current favourite is something called a whiteboard video - it looks like it's been hand drawn.
Once you've created your video, play it back on your computer to check that it looks and sounds OK.
Using Windows Explorer, rename the video so that it includes your keywords in the file name.
Upload the video file to your YouTube account.
Give the video a good title - aim to include your keywords but make it readable. Ideally your title should be a maximum of 65 characters including spaces.
Write a description below your video. Include your website address in this - YouTube will take care of making it a clickable link. Your description should be long! Even though it's a video site, YouTube and Google do a much better job of indexing words than images.
Add some "tags" to your video - check on YouTube for similar videos if you're not sure and use similar tags to these.
Select an appropriate channel. If you're not sure, check competitor videos.
If your video includes voices (it should - hint!) then YouTube will try to transcribe the voices. The time taken to do this varies. Go back to your video at intervals until this happens - you'll see a CC option. You can then edit the commentary to get rid of any typos and mistranslations that YouTube makes and then reupload the revised commentary.
Use the embed code on YouTube to publish the video on your own site as well. If you're using WordPress for your website, all you need to do is copy and paste the address of your video from your web browser into your post, WordPress takes care of the rest.
Tweet about your video and mention on it on your Facebook page.
You don't need to make them Hollywood quality. Here are some quick ways to get a video created:
Use the webcam in your PC together with the software that almost certainly came with it.
Use the camera on your phone. The quality is fine - use a tripod to hold the camera steady and enlist the help of a friend or work colleague if possible.
Create a PowerPoint presentation and use a free screen capture program like Snagit to capture an area of the screen plus your voice.
Get a video created on a site like Fiverr - the quality varies enormously, so check the samples first. The clearer the direction you give, the better the end result it likely to be. The site also offers voiceovers if you don't like the sound of your own voice. My current favourite is something called a whiteboard video - it looks like it's been hand drawn.
Once you've created your video, play it back on your computer to check that it looks and sounds OK.
Using Windows Explorer, rename the video so that it includes your keywords in the file name.
Upload the video file to your YouTube account.
Give the video a good title - aim to include your keywords but make it readable. Ideally your title should be a maximum of 65 characters including spaces.
Write a description below your video. Include your website address in this - YouTube will take care of making it a clickable link. Your description should be long! Even though it's a video site, YouTube and Google do a much better job of indexing words than images.
Add some "tags" to your video - check on YouTube for similar videos if you're not sure and use similar tags to these.
Select an appropriate channel. If you're not sure, check competitor videos.
If your video includes voices (it should - hint!) then YouTube will try to transcribe the voices. The time taken to do this varies. Go back to your video at intervals until this happens - you'll see a CC option. You can then edit the commentary to get rid of any typos and mistranslations that YouTube makes and then reupload the revised commentary.
Use the embed code on YouTube to publish the video on your own site as well. If you're using WordPress for your website, all you need to do is copy and paste the address of your video from your web browser into your post, WordPress takes care of the rest.
Tweet about your video and mention on it on your Facebook page.