Learn How Video Content Can Drive Web Traffic

As social media and content marketing continue to grow, it’s now more important than ever before to adapt to the changes that are happening. Video content is something that has become more popular in recent years and has been found to be extremely effective when looking to drive increased traffic to your website. But before you turn on your camera and create a video, it’s important to understand what about video content is so effective and how you can produce strong content for your business. 

Montage of diverse video content streaming on screens, depicting the impact of video in driving web traffic and digital engagement.

Importance of Video Content

Video content has been dominating the marketing world for some time, and with the popularity of video content-focused apps like TikTok quickly growing, the marketing avenue shows no sign of slowing down. One of the biggest reasons why video content is so effective is that people enjoy watching videos and willingly consume hours of video content. Videos have the power to be extremely engaging and allow viewers to consume information in a quick and exciting way. It’s a great way for your business to get your audience interested in a new product launch or a specific event, allowing you to explain your business to new customers, thus driving traffic to your website.

Types of Video Content

There are so many different types of video content that exist which can make it overwhelming to figure out which types of content will work best to drive traffic to your website. 

Social Media

While it may sound counterintuitive to say that posting a video on social media will increase your website traffic, social media is where people spend most of their time online. This makes having a strong social media presence incredibly important because it will keep your brand front of mind for your audience. If your brand is working with the current social media trends, viewers will not only see your content, but will be encouraged to visit your website to learn more about your business.

Beis

Last month, Shay Mitchell’s luggage brand, Beis, launched a collection of luggage designed specifically for kids. In video made for Instagram Reels, she shows off the roller luggage designed for kids, going through the different features and explaining the reason for the design. The background music and tone of this video is fun and exciting, the colors of the luggage are bright and youthful, and Shay is very expressive throughout the video. She says her personal experience of traveling with children while explaining the features of the new products, appealing to the parent’s who are members of her audience. This video received almost 500,000 videos, and the caption of the video pointed out the day the new products were launching on their website, which is linked in their Instagram bio.


For captions, click "CC" within the video player. To read the transcript, click the transcript link within the description of the video on YouTube.

How-to Videos

How-to videos are among some of the most popular on search engines, which makes them an excellent choice to bring more traffic to your site. During a how-to video, viewers are provided with a tutorial on how to use your service or product, but these videos are not meant to promote your business to customers. Instead, you should focus on producing content that is as informative and valuable as possible by including advice and helpful information. 

Tasty

One of the most important aspects of a successful how-to video is making it easy to follow and engaging to the viewer. This is something that Tasty’s “How to Make the Best Birthday Cake” is a great example of, with it garnering over half a million views on YouTube alone. Not only is this video informative, it goes through a step-by-step recipe to make a birthday cake, showing different techniques and tips for different expertise levels. 


For captions, click "CC" within the video player. To read the transcript, click the transcript link within the description of the video on YouTube.

Pre-Roll Videos

These videos are brief commercials that appear before the video’s actual content. Pre-roll videos can serve as a teaser to entice website visitors to continue watching the full video. These types of videos are usually brief and contain information that has been written to specifically catch the viewer’s attention. Pre-roll videos do best when targeted at a specific audience.

H&M

H&M is a popular clothing brand, and one of the things they’ve always done well is their video advertising, and this video is no different. The thing that makes this video ad extremely effective is the emphasis on H&M’s unique selling proposition to make great fashion a sustainable way. In the age of fast fashion and the effects of it on our planet, this ad not only makes a loud stance against fast fashion, but also make H&M stand out in a way that shows how different they are from other fashion brands.


For captions, click "CC" within the video player. To read the transcript, click the transcript link within the description of the video on YouTube.

Branding Videos

One of the biggest reasons that video content has become so popular is that it enables you to be more creative with the production of your content. Branding videos will allow for a clear view of what your brand is like, your values, your mission, etc. When it comes to branding videos it’s important to note that you don’t need to invest a significant amount of money into the production of these videos.

IKEA

Autonomous sensory meridian response, also known as ASMR, is something that has been sweeping the internet for years. This has become so popular, that people have built careers on YouTube for making ASMR videos. When it first took off a few years ago, brands like Applebee’s and W magazine began incorporating it into their ad campaigns, but IKEA took it to a whole new level. This video, which is 25 minutes long, goes through making their dorm room products, making a bed, going through a closet, and more. Not only is this video incredibly relaxing, but it also taps into consumer psychology. IKEA specializes in creating products designed for relaxation and ease, so creating an advertisement that is inherently relaxing further encourages viewers to watch the entire video and then visit their website.


For captions, click "CC" within the video player. To read the transcript, click the transcript link within the description of the video on YouTube.

How Video Content Increases Web Traffic

Now that you have a clear understanding of the types of videos that can help drive web traffic, it’s important to understand why videos can be so effective.

Optimize Landing Pages

Just as you would with any page on your website, you’ll need to optimize your video landing pages to improve your search engine rankings. Since search engines typically use text to index and rank a website’s content, you will need to write copy that has been optimized with keywords that accompanies your video. Another way to optimize your video landing page is to include a transcript with your video, which is essentially a written description of everything that’s said in the video. Not only does this give search engine algorithms a better understanding of your content, but it also makes your content more accessible, which will help it rank better on search engines.

Custom Videos

Encouraging people to visit your website is a lot easier when your content is tailored to your audience, which is easier to do than it sounds. The first way that you can do this is if you take a small group of target customers, for example, people on your mailing list, and record individual personalized videos to send out. While this may sound like a daunting task, it doesn’t need to be – the majority of each video can be the same, with only personalized intros or outros to connect with the viewer.

If you’re interested in casting a larger net within your audience, you can rely on retargeting, a marketing tactic that targets consumers based on their previous actions online, instead. Through this method, you can create video content to share with people who have visited your website previously, shown an interest in similar brands online, and more.

Importance of the CTA

While it’s important that your video has amazing content, your call to action (CTA) is what will push people to visit your website. Your CTA should be exciting, create a level of curiosity and urgency in the viewer, and ultimately push them to visit your website for more information.

Share Videos

One of the best ways to increase the chances of people seeing your video is by sharing your video to social media, optimizing it for search engines, sending them to your mailing list, and encouraging others to share them too. Even just posting a video on a platform like Facebook or YouTube where others can share your video will increase visibility.

SEO and Video Content

It’s important to understand that SEO isn’t good for just blog posts or your website. In the last few years, YouTube has become the second largest search engine online, so if you don’t think that you need to create a YouTube channel and post a video, think again. Not only do people use YouTube to find specific videos, but they also use it to make broader searches, just like Google. There are practical steps that you can do in order for your videos to be more visible on platforms like YouTube.

The first thing to consider is the title of your videos, which is the best way to catch a person’s attention and attract a potential customer. The first 60 characters or less will show up on YouTube videos, so be sure to keep your titles informative and short and add keywords to keywords wherever it makes sense. It’s also important to add keywords to your video description and link your website. Keep everything in the description under 70 characters to not only give your viewers more information, but also let YouTube know what your video is about.

Thumbnails, like your titles, are the first thing that viewers will see when they come across your video, so it’s important that your thumbnails are not only engaging and high-quality, but also give the user a look at what your video is about. Creating a positive first impression is the key to getting people to click on your video, which will only further validate the quality of your content on YouTube.

What Makes Great Video Content

Video content is one of the most powerful forms of content marketing because of the engaging and personal nature of videos. Strong video content can have a massive impact on your content marketing efforts and promotional campaigns, but you have to make sure that the actual content that you’re producing is effective. It’s important to understand some key traits of video content that will make yours stand out among viewers.

Structure

When you’re thinking about creating visually pleasing and exciting video content, it’s important to not get lost in the excitement of cool shots and witty text. When you’re planning a video, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Does the video visually hook a viewer in the first 30 seconds?
  • Does the video appeal to what my audience is passionate about?
  • Is what I’m trying to say clear?
  • Is there a CTA that will encourage viewers to further engage with my business?

It’s necessary to keep all of these questions in the back of your mind when you’re creating video content so that you stay focused on your goals.

Quality

If a viewer is watching a video, and the audio or video quality is poor, it’s likely that they won’t continue the video and will likely forget about the business that made it. In a world where smartphones have higher quality video/audio than DSLR cameras, it’s important to make sure that your videos are high quality and engaging.

Versatility

Over the last decade, social media platforms have doubled, making it imperative to create content that can be converted onto any platform. For example, a two-minute YouTube video should be easily converted into 15 seconds for Instagram, TikTok, and more. When you’re creating longer-form content, keep in mind how you can cut the video into a shorter form and have it still be just as engaging.

Positioning

In this day and age, content is everywhere. Not only do you have to compete with others in your industry, you also have to compete with all the other content that exists. While this may seem daunting, it doesn’t have to be. Think about what makes your business unique and how that can be translated in your video content production.

Start Creating Video Content & Partner with a Digital Marketing Agency Today!

Creating effective video content is a key aspect of your marketing strategies to increase your web traffic, and here at Americaneagle.com, we can help. Our team of digital marketers are experts in creating relevant and engaging content for your business. We are a digital marketing and web design company that specializes in all things social media, SEO, email marketing, copywriting, analytics, and more. Explore our digital marketing services today and learn more about how we can help your video content reach your audience and make a meaningful impact.

About the Author

staff at americaneagle.com

Staff

Americaneagle.com has a dedicated team of strategists, technologists, and content writers to help you stay up to date with the latest and greatest trends in the technology industry. We cover a wide variety of topics on a regular basis, some of which include website design, website development, digital marketing services, ecommerce, accessibility, website hosting and security, and so much more. Educating our clients, prospects, and readers is very important to us and we appreciate the opportunity to be an authoritative voice in the industry.