7 keys to embedding a video
Putting a video on your website has never been easier. But with so many options for embedding your videos, it’s important to follow some best practices.
1. Create a custom thumbnail
A good thumbnail can make or break your video play rate (i.e. how many people click play). Instead of randomly selecting a frame from your video, carefully create a custom thumbnail that will entice your visitors to press play.
2. Make your video embed responsive
Your video might look good on your computer screen, but to make sure it looks good on mobile, tablet, and other devices, use a responsive embed. This will automatically scale to the appropriate size based on the container and screen size.
If you’re using YouTube for video hosting, you can make your embed responsive by using our free Embetter tool.
3. Eliminate distractions
When people are watching your video, you want them to be watching your video. You can help eliminate distractions by using a video hosting service like Wistia.
If you are using YouTube, be sure to turn off recommended videos and NEVER run ads or monetize the videos on your channel (unless content creation is your business).
4. Add captions
Adding captions to a video is a quick and easy win. It allows people to watch and understand your video without sound. Someone on the subway, someone at work, or someone who is hearing impaired.
As an added bonus, captions also provide search engines with more context about your video – allowing you a greater chance to improve your SEO.
You can use a service like Rev to order professional captions for as little as $1.25 per minute of video.
5. Avoid auto-playing videos
Auto-playing a video with sound is very annoying and may cause your audience to leave the page before they give your video any attention.
Auto-playing a video without sound is less annoying, but still isn’t likely to attract real engagement.
There are a few exceptions to this rule (i.e. demo real playing in the background), but in general it’s best to trust your audience to play the video when they are ready to play it.
6. Limit to 1 video per page
Another rule of thumb is that each page should only have one video. When you add too many videos or too many CTAs, you leave your audience with the paradox of choice. Limit each page to only one video and make it a better experience for your audience.
There are a few exceptions to this rule as well:
Video portfolios.
7. Measure everything
Last, but not least, it’s important to have a good system in place to measure the effectiveness of your video.
Some key metrics to track:
Play rate - what percentage of people click play?
Engagement - what percentage of the video do people watch on average?
Views - how many people have seen the video?
Having good video metrics in place allows you to make smarter decisions. If a play rate is low, you can consider adjusting your thumbnail. If engagement is low, you can consider making edits to the video. If your view count is low, you can look for more ways to drive traffic to the page.
If you need help with anything video marketing related, let’s get in touch.