If you want to use video to help get more business, the simplest way to do it might seem like Youtube. You're almost certainly familiar with it already and quite possibly you've used it to upload your own personal video files to share with friends and family.All you have to do is upload the video and use the helpful embed code provided to copy and paste it into your own web pages.
But there are pros and cons.
The Youtube pros are:
- It's quick and easy to upload videos and you can edit them via your web browser
- They could get found in a Youtube search as well as a Google search
- The video streaming technology is fast and effective
- People might post positive and supportive comments that will boost your credibility
- If your videos are really popular, you could earn some money
- People might post negative comments
- Youtube may promote competitors alongside your video(s)
- You can't customise the playback controls or remove the link to the Youtube website
- You must have a Google+ account and accept Google's various terms and conditions
You can get around the risk of people posting negative comments by posting your video privately, which means that people will only find out about it if you share the link with them or if it's embedded in a web page, like a blog post or Linkedin. Of course, if you take this route, it won't be in the Youtube search index, so you lose one of the benefits along with one of the drawbacks.If you want to go a different way, here are a handful of links you might find useful.
viewbix - "add interactive apps to your videos that engage viewers and drive calls to action"
vimeo - proving there is an alternative to Youtube
jplayer - jQuery HTML5 Audio / Video Library
suave - "elegant HTML5 videos (how they should have been)"
firefogg - use your Firefox browser quickly convert video to web-ready Ogg Theora and WebM
handbrake - open source (free download) video transcoder
