BIG CLEAR PLAY BUTTON I.e. In the middle of the video with the words ‘play video’ (unlike my image to the left!)
2
Descriptive title and summary a. This is essential for SEO b. It also gives users a reason to the watch the video c. Make the title really obvious and descriptive, the summary also to be obvious and provide more detail.
3
HAND-PICK a good still image A nice and intriguing still will encourage viewing.
4
Length of video Include the video length wherever the video is seen – that includes in thumbnail links as well as the video itself – see YouTube results for example.
5
RELEVANCE & CONTEXT a. Don’t have a separate video section as the primary method of finding video. b. Include video with content – ie. The BBC often have a video at the top of an article. The article will then go on to summarize what's in the video.
6
Good / professional quality a. It’s a reflection of your brand
7
Transcript or/and summary a. Essential for accessibility b. Essential for SEO c. Even if it's not a word-for-word transcript a summary will still help. Plus it may be a lot easier to produce than the word-for-word transcript.
8
Promote your videos a. YouTube channel – put all your videos on YouTube b. Snippets – you could also just put snippets or teasers on YouTube with a link saying go to mysite.com to view the entire video.
Funnier than most videos on YouTube is the comments beneath them. Because YouTube reaches the entire world, young and old, stupid and clever, communist and capitalist, racist and fascist (these aren't all antonyms) the comments reflect this diverse group.
Just look at any of the top videos' comments from the front page of YouTube to find a profanisaurus of abuse, sarcasm, banality and incredibly profound discussion, not.
For example, I’ve applied some basic marketing research to the below video. If you can't be bothered to watch or it's been taken down it's a clip of BBC horse racing reporter Clare Balding commenting on the winner of the Grand National's dodgy teeth.
Of the first 157 comments they can be split into a variety of themes as displayed in the following table. A fascinating and many may say unnecessary, insight into the minds of the YouTube community.
Gist of comment
Comment count
YouTube username
Typical comment
Someone politely taking offence at the incident
16
emmafan4evr
I think that was really rude of her. How would she like it if she was embarrased like that on live tv?
Someone taking offence and adding abuse
34
AcademyAwardsGirl
That was horrible. What a bitch!
People pointing out Clare's hypocrisy
3
Coli20
Glass houses and all that.......
People pointing out Clare's hypocrisy with abuse
26
eddyspencer
She said that while she is more manly than him...she is the rough version of Gordon Brown i think..
General abuse of Clare
29
adamfatherofall666
she an inbread dog
People commenting on the beauty of the other comments
14
thispagesux
ha ha ha, these comments are brutal lol.
Agreeing with Clare's evaluation of the teeth
9
loxj
Well he does have bad teeth....
People taking offence at others comments
20
moroccovids
r u a bible basher
Bad jokes
1
563421094
Well it is a horse race.............
Other random comments
5
girlzruleboysdrool
I thought all you Brits had bad teeth....what's the problem? haha. Calm down.
Now I’m not outside of all this banter, partaking as I have in a bit of discussion, or 'user baiting' when I know I really shouldn't. See below, my comments are 'ME'.
A lot of YouTube users have trouble with sarcasm
ME(6 months ago) +1 I'm just flabbergasted Brad and Morgan agreed to reshoot that scene. Not Kevin Spacey though, he'll do anything for a bit of publicity.
BryanWay(6 months ago)+3 They didn't reshoot it. It's simply been re-edited.
BlightyLume (6 months ago) 0 I think he may have been joking, friend...
1984slament(5 months ago) 0 really? ... lol
AustinBrock(6 months ago) +1 I think sexteta was just being sarcastic...
ME(6 months ago) 0 It's not reshot? OK that makes sense, I was wondering how they'd get permission to fly the helicopter over the power lines again. Plus Brad Pitt is fatter now and Morgan's got a limp.
This one I’m particularly proud of as my comment can't now be viewed due to the quantity of 'thumbs down' it has got.
ME(5 months ago)-9 What? I just slept through that. It was terrible. Another star in the tradition of the late great Boris Klinger
Personally, I don't care for puppets much. I don't find them believable.
chewbuggars(6 months ago)+3 it doesn't matter to these guys, besides they already knew that you weren't gonna like it.
mahina1963(6 months ago) +3 the apparent stupidity of some people never cease to amaze me...did you not listen to what they were talking about? Why, YOU!!
ME(3 weeks ago) 0 I've just noticed that my comment is up to -9, the sense of irony is not lost on me.
mavis41558(1 week ago) 0 I have four channels just so I can double up on negatives
And here's me discussing the issues of this sarcasm with other users.
rvfharrier (3 months ago) +3 Don't people here get the joke? It's not meant to be a serious "this is the stig" video, it's quite funny actually. People on youtube need to think.
ME(3 months ago)+1 "Don't people here get the joke?" - Ah, now that's the age old YouTube question. Do people commenting on YouTube often not get the joke. I think the obvious answer here is no they don't, but then that just makes it more entertaining for the rest of us to take the piss out of them. Not that i'd ever do that of course...
Wouter259(3 months ago) 0 You got that right.. xD
Airborne102st(3 months ago) +2 HAHAHAHAHAm how funny.
In this one i'm rumbled for trying to pretend to be sarcastic.
ME(3 weeks ago) 0 I remember watching this in 1985 and wondering at the potential fallout that could occur.
ditde(3 weeks ago) -6 ..this wasn't around in 1985. It's just a teaser for Watchmen.
Strange boy.
ME(3 weeks ago)+5 Ha ha, you think Watchmen is just a film? Wait till Dr Manhattan hears of this.
ditde(3 weeks ago)-1 Now he's trying to turn this into a joke when he was clearly trying to look smart.
The top bods from these four media brands talked social media at yesterday's TFM&A conference in London's Earls Court. I've paraphrased some sound bites from each of them.
Keynote title: Getting Social Media Marketing to Deliver Real Business Results Watch entire thing online:Seminar Streams (needs free login), Digital Training (nothing there yet).
How does social media marketing deliver real business results?
BBC If it’s not helpful & interesting to the user, a blog or whatever is pointless. You need to ensure frequency and content.
Reuters You must maintain focus with UGC [user generated content]. Innovation will happen so we can’t avoid the use of UGC and all its associated technologies. We must therefore control the risk while riding with it.
Facebook "I report to a 24 year old!" We rely on simplicity. Our marketing / product page that people can become fans of are just simple templates given away for free.
YouTube The best social media has a purpose i.e. Flickr (images), YouTube (videos). It’s not about control – you can’t have that – it’s about engaging in dialogue.
The brand and social media
Reuters Your customers own the brand not you. You must understand this to engage in UGC. Once you accept this you can enter into meaningful dialogue
Future plans and Twitter
BBC We have to reach as many people in the UK as possible as we are funded by licence payer’s money. We realise that to reach them we must let more content go. This includes allowing embedding and downloading of videos so they can be used elsewhere.
Reuters Twitter opens up the conversation – I don’t just mean ‘Twitter’ but this form of interaction. It’s about engaging with customers first and foremost, not just being cool and trendy.
BBC Twitter is a really good feedback tool for us. It’s often used by bloggers writing a post to ask their followers, for example, ‘what do you think about this new software’.
What's the next big thing in 2009 for social media?
Facebook In 2009 there will be more ideas and companies using the social space in different ways. There will be a huge increase in Facebook users. Ad formats are changing and they will start to recognise what users are doing. [I mentioned that ad's need to change over a year ago]
Reuters I agree, ad formats will change. The AOP [which he is a part of] is also looking at this. There will become more business models in social media – for example Spotify – check it out if you haven’t already.
BBC "I’ll be dead." And I agree with ad formats. The BBC will embrace more facebook style functionality. We’ll try and join up users and preserve the time they spend on the site. Get users to suggest other areas of the site, improve areas, etc. [This explains the recent increase in "most popular stories now" from 5 to 10]
YouTube There will be an on location explosion. Mobile use is already showing the importance of location based stuff such as Google Latitude knowing where you are by using GPS. You will be able to track your friend’s whereabouts. iPhoto is already making use of the inbuilt GPS that some phone cameras have and embed in photos.
SEO is so much more than trying to get pages or text to rank highly in search engines. With the large variety of content that can now be searched with 'Universal Search' (Google's term for providing something more than just text results) it's worthwhile making sure all the other types of content you publish are correctly optimised.
Text OK, the basic thing that all search engines cover. If you have text on your site, a search engine spider will read it and often index you. Text pages are returned in search results if the search keywords match their content and ranked according to the usual SEO factors including linking, keyword density, commitment etc.
Images Google Image Search "analyzes the text on the page adjacent to the image, the image caption and dozens of other factors to determine the image content." (image search FAQs). Some of these other factors may well include alt tags. So ensure your adjacent text, image caption and alt tag are all keyword relevant and targeted to the keywords you wish to rank for. If you are a news site and want your image to appear in Google News, ensure it is inline.
Flash It was announced back in July that Google will index flash (SWF files). The original Google blog post has some more information on exactly how it works.
Normal 'text and images' PDFs Google will search and index PDFs much as it does HTML. There's lots you can do to optimise your PDFs for search engines.
PDFs of scanned docs Google have started indexing PDFs of scanned docs by using text recognition software (OCR) to 'read' the text. Announced at the end of October it's definitely worthwhile getting any PDFs of scanned docs online if you haven't already. Forgetting Google they may well be good content for your users anyway that will encourage linking.
The previous 6 results summarize the main content types available online that can be indexed however also included in 'Universal Search' are a number of other types of content such as Google News and Google Product Search (formerly Froogle) that I haven't mentioned above as the on page optimisation remains the same - the results themselves are text - however it's essential you go through the necessary submission processes to get on these 'vertical search' engines (search engines providing something specific - the opposite of universal search really).
Product search - Google Product Search as mentioned above, there are also many other search engines and sites that will list products.
Business searches - Google Maps: Local businesses can add their details so they come up in searches. Yell.com: One of many traditional online business directories
Blog searches - Get a blog and appear on a whole of host of search engines including Technorati and Google Blog search. This will also tap into the world of social bookmarking - which any page can do but blogging started it.
Google has loads more including Google Book Search. Plus even more really specific searches but I think they are mostly done via various partners so you probably can't get on these.
Mobile - And then last but not least it's worth considering search optimisation for mobile. With increased mobile internet usage search engines are going to have to start providing mobile friendly results.
Since before YouTube launched in 2005 video has slowly become a bigger and bigger part of the internet. Video specific search engines have cropped up including Blinkx and Google Video, the latter feeding its results into the main Google search listings.
Video is another way to reach your users so the search optimisation of online video is nearly as important as the SEO of text.
1. Exposure - Put your videos on video sharing websites such as YouTube and Metacafe. You can of course put videos on your own site either via flash player or YouTube embed code but the advantage of video sharing websites are their large amount of video hungry users.
Video search - You'll appear in video search websites such as Blinx and Google video if your videos are on YouTube or Metacafe but you can add your own Media RSS feed of your videos to these sites too. (Clearly rainbow coloured logos are a prerequisite of having a video search site).
2. Keyword optimisation Optimise video much like you would images.
Include keyword rich and relevant titles and descriptions - in the case of video sharing sites this is what appears as the page title and description in search listings.
Adjacent text is also likely to affect the video SEO. Google explicitly states for images that they analyze "the text on the page adjacent to the image, the image caption and dozens of other factors to determine the image content." I don't think it's presumptuous to assume this may also be a factor in video SEO.
3. Closed captions and transcripts When included in the video closed captions are an option that can be turned on by the user. This includes things such as subtitles but also environmental sounds, musical score, different languages etc.
These are of great benefit to users and vital for accessibility. Closed captioning allows your video to reach a far greater audience. YouTube explains how to add closed captions.
Their benefit to SEO is not obvious outside of the fact that the most usable and accessible sites tend to invite the most links.
However separately available video / audio transcripts CAN be particularly good for SEO, in addition to the embedded closed captions. If you have the transcripts then include these for download (as PDF) or even on a separate web page. This provides text that can be indexed not only extending the reach of the video but producing good content. More on this here.
Audio We may at the moment just be stuck with the above optimisation methods but it's possible Google may start reading your video's audio tracks in the near future. Google have started beta testing GAUDI (Google Audio Search) on their YouTube political channels. It’s an audio search of YouTube videos. They take the audio tracks from videos using speech recognition technology and automatically convert them to text.
Useful links:ReelSEO - Fantastic video SEO site that I’ve just discovered.
The following two websites will convert your videos into different formats online - without any software downloads - such as converting flvs to mpegs or avi files.
There are decent programmes out there to download that convert files and i imagine they are probably better at it and more customisable than online convertors however that's a post for another day once I've got my head round them all.
Yesterday I had to quickly change an flv into a format so that it could be placed into a PowerPoint presentation, unfortunately the video programme i have (Adobe Premiere Elements) won't import flvs (although it will export) and i don't have admin rights on my work PC to install programmes so i needed another option.
I first tried media convert which converts files 'while you wait'. You might have to do quite a bit of playing with the settings as some files don't convert particularly well into others plus the site isn't particularly user friendly. Anyway i successfully converted the flv into an avi and an MPEG that worked perfectly well. Also the site logo is a lizard or possibly a chameleon - lovely.
Secondly i also gave Zamzar a go which does the same thing as media convert except you provide an email address and a link to the file is emailed to you once processed. This is a lot cleaner and user friendly than media convert although to the point of making things so simple it seems to limit the amount you can do about the various conversion settings. I successfully got the flv converted to a WMV using Zamzar. And this site also has chameleons on it.
Take your pick, neither are going to set the world alight in terms of video quality or techie functionality but a quick life saver they might be.
The increase in mass downloading caused by things such as the BBC's on demand TV iPlayer (why does everything have to begin with an 'i' these days?) is putting strain on the networks apparently.
I don't even understand why the ISPs are arguing. The network is core to their business, if the network can't take it then they have to upgrade it at their cost. The problem is their own fault, they sell 'unlimited' broadband, people use it, full stop. If 'unlimited' wasn't meant to include TV on demand then they clearly need to get better at predicting the future or at least be more careful about what they offer.
More multimedia, TV, films, legal downloading isn't something that's snuck up on the world. It's been inevitable since broadband was first introduced.
Maybe in the future they'll have to change their offerings and remove the 'unlimited' broadband option. That's fair enough. If you want to store ten boxes with a storage company it will cost you more than storing two. If you want to regularly fill up your swimming pool from the tap the water company will charge you accordingly. For the time being though they're going to have to live with it.
In the US this change from the 'unlimited' broadband offering has led to worries about ISPs prioritising content (i.e. such as blocking people from file sharing regardless of the files) and threatening 'net neutrality' (a phrase I've never heard before so see definition below).
Net neutrality = 'A broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, that does not restrict content, sites, or platforms and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most observers.' (source: wikipedia)
The difference here though is that the US broadband market consists of 2 major providers. If anyone tried to do this in the UK users would just move to another of the 60 different ISP providers (I'd hope).
I say let the ISPs try and charge the customer, or try and sell packages based on internet usage. As long as there is a free (ish!) market and the ISPs don't all band together in a cartel, the competitive nature of the UK broadband provider market will mean that consumers will choose what they want...
The best advertising is stuff that's relevant to people and makes the best use of the format it's on.
(I know that some intensely annoying adverts do sometimes work, such as the Michael Winner Esure 'don't panic dear, it's just a commercial', which force the name into the forefront of your mind due to it p*ssing you off. However i'm going to gloss over these as it's not an avenue of marketing i ever intend to get involved with. There's something intensely crass about starting a relationship with your customers by being obnoxious.)
Best TV ads? - Well the ones that use the fact that you can produce film quality video, that people appreciate humour, that people want to be emotionally involved and that people channel hop. I'm thinking the Honda cog advert, most of the Guiness adverts, iconic adverts like Hovis and Flake.
Best radio ads? - Ones that punch through the airwaves, good examples are anything with clever humour. It's so easy to ignore a radio ad so they need to pull you in.
Magazine, cinema, billboards? - I'm sure you can think of your own.
The above i hope shows the importance of adapting to the medium.
Web? Well this is where it get's fun.
Starting off with 'traditional' online advertising. A banner ad that is static is essentialy what every ad in a newspaper is, it doesn't move, it's an image, you look at it or more likely ignore it. Online ads are evolving now, a good example are expandable ads (please leave a comment if this link is dead and i'll find another example). Now these sit like a banner till you put your mouse over them. In theory they let the user choose to interact. Other types of web advertising such as pop ups, floating ads, takeovers are the web equivalent of Michael Winner. Even expandable ads can be annoying when you accidentally hover your mouse over them.
The future? - Well despite this banners ads are here to stay. For the same reason that there are still rubbish sofa ads on TV, boring adverts on the radio and invisible adverts in magazines, somebody (sharp suit, pink shirt, drinks Stella, you know the type) somewhere will always be using the previously mentioned web ad options.
Clickthrough rates are on average 0.4% these days and this falls to 0.04% on Facebook (social networking ad tips article). Unless you're getting monumental site traffic, clever web advertisers (jeans, t-shirt, converse trainers, drinks tea) need to ditch banners and start getting innovative.
There are ways; some are downright scary visions of privacy invasion, others are mild and welcoming, like a bowl of tomato soup.
Targeted advertising - We know so much about people that they can be targeted on their likes and dislikes. For example, my facebook profile contains my favourite films. An example targeted ad campaign would be Amazon displaying an advert on my home page, specifically targeted at me, selling the latest special edition DVD releases of these films i've added to my profile. This i believe is one of those scary invasions of privacy, but it's already happening so be wary, advertisers should atleast give people the choice (Google take notice!)
Contextual advertising - You write a blog article or review about a certain book, Amazon then places an advert on your page offering that book (here's one i made earlier). Similarly, some websites use advertisers that highlight certain words on their page.
For example the sentence: "And JK Rowling earned 3 squillion pounds from Harry Potter" would become "And JK Rowling earned 3 squillion pounds from Harry Potter".
Go look at an article on the BBC, how many words in that article could potentially link to an advertising opportunity? Again, this isn't a fave option of mine as it's too invasive
Part one. Engaging with the user - Ah, my favourite, 'tomato soup' option. Sites such as facebook invite advertisers to engage users by doing things such as creating applications. You can play the Red Bull Roshambull 'scissors, paper, stones' game on Facebook - Here Red Bull get some advertising, you've chosen to engage with them and everyone is happy.
This is the way advertising should be in the future, brands work with you, and NOT just by sponsoring something - that's the lazy way. That means less advertising, but better advertising. More performance per ad pound spent for less ads and more engagement.
Part two. Provide something for the user - The same as above really, let the users come to you by not annoying them and being engaging. A good example is the recent Cadbury TV ad, they added it to YouTube, people created spoofs, the brand lives on. Same thing with the Dove advert. I know this is more viral marketing than online advertising but the boundaries between the two need to be blurred.
Enough of taking offline principles and applying them online, let the web revolution begin!
My friend gZa emailed me this link to KeepVid, you can use it to download clips off YouTube (film trailers being one of my faves) then do what you want with them ie. burn them to DVD and play them on a proper TV / bigger screen.
I can see this being useful for work and play...
Also as a handy bonus the site will also convert .flv files to something you can actually watch via your desktop. I encountered .flv (Flash Video) files for the first time last week and spent half an hour trying to figure out how to watch them before i realised they couldn't be played through Macromedia Flash or WMV. In then end i uploaded the files to YouTube to watch them. The reason is that Flash Video is designed for streaming rather than watching like a WMV or MPEG file (correct me if i'm wrong).
However if you don't want to upload to YouTube or use KeepVid to convert them you can view .flv files using a number of standalone players. There's one on the KeepVid site and also the following player from Martijn de Visser (thanks for the link gZa).
Optimise video much like you would images.
I first tried 
Secondly i also gave