Video is great, and online, it can be a wonderful tool. People love it, it ads a lot to your message – if you are doing a teaching session, video is great, if you are doing a live presentation, that is great too.
Video let’s people learn by watching and hearing at the same time and that makes it more interesting.
But don’t let online video take you over. There is a place for it – and there is a place it shouldn’t be.
For example, a sales letter.
If you do your entire sales letter in only video, you can have a problem. First, for whatever reason, there will be people who can’t watch your video. The connection is bad, they don’ have the right version of some plugin, or whatever. One, though is that they might not have the time. Another thing is that they may be at work or in another environment where video (specifically audio) is not a practical option. Not everyone does all their online work from their home office.
I know when I go to a site and see a video, the first thing I do is look to see how long the video is. I am only prepared to sit there and watch a sales video for a couple of minutes. If it is, say 10 minutes or longer, I won’t even start it. Why should I? I have not yet been sold on anything that this person is offering – that is why I am at the site. So, why should I give them my time?
If you want to use video on your sales page, keep it short. Use it as an intro to a longer video and get people to opt-in. Then send them the link by email. That way, if they don’t have time to watch it right now, they can come back to it. It also allows you to follow up with them and make sure that they watch it. Offer it in smaller chunks if it is long.
and don’t forget to also include a written text version of your sales letter on the same page. Some people will watch the video – but not all. Others will just want to read, or skim the sales letter. Let them. The point of video is to add an element to your site – not take away from it. Don’t exclude the people who want to read the sales letter.
