Entrepeneur Magazine has an article for business owners about the importance of using video on their web site:

Jama Software, a developer based in Portland, Ore., uses video for everything from product demos to getting customer feedback on work in progress to showcasing its philanthropic work, says John Simpson, partner and director of customer outreach and marketing. The firm’s videos page is the third-most visited on its web site. More than 40 percent of the site’s visitors view a video while they’re there, and 35 percent of video viewers go on to request a trial or demo of the product.

“As a little guy, your best weapon is to differentiate yourself,” Simpson says. “Video lets us do that.”

The numbers back that up. According to online media research firm comScore, in August, 158 million U.S. Internet users viewed a video online–the largest audience ever. That kind of potential viewership is appealing, says Kraig Westfall of Good Fruit Video in East Lansing, Mich. Westfall’s clients typically hire him for video productions between one and five minutes long and budgets of $1,000 to $5,000. He counsels customers to use authentic voices and real people from their companies rather than slick voice-over and acting talent. “That kind of authentic voice builds relationships with the customer or prospect. People are often put off if something seems too slick,” he says.

Video can help customers find you too. Forrester Research recently found that sites with video stood a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first pages of Google results on keywords for which Google offers video results. The key is to integrate video search engine optimization tactics. Much like traditional SEO, the major search sites (Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) each have methods of accepting video submissions in addition to their search algorithms that seek video out.

Of course, we’d love to help you create web videos that work for your business.  Just call for a consultation!

November 24th, 2009

Ever wonder why local commercials look so different from national commercials, even though we’re using similar equipment?  Two things – money and time.  Here’s a good example – this commercial (film? mini-doc?) for Johnnie Walker uses one actor (technically two if you count the piper), one camera, and only one shot for the entire 6 minutes – doesn’t seem like you could get much simpler.  But stick around for the credits at the end to see how many people it took to make this one-camera shoot happen.  They finally got it after 40 takes over two days (most likely 10-hour days).  I would guess that it cost over $100,000 for this “simple” one-camera shoot.

Here’s an interview with the director.

Thanks to CJ from Champaign Movie Makers for the link!

September 30th, 2009

I recently finished production this campaign video for the United Way of Central Illinois.  It’s the first year that they’ve done a local campaign video and so far, they’re getting a good response from it.

September 28th, 2009

Worked the Springfield Mile for Speed TV this Labor Day Weekend. The rain Saturday delayed everything and made for a long day on Sunday waiting for the track to dry. Still had a good crowd, though. Saw quite a few familiar faces.

September 11th, 2009

Spent Wednesday and Thursday with the 3 teenaged winners of the “Looking for your Lincoln Hero” essay contest, sponsored by MyHero.com and the Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition. I had a great time documenting their visit to Springfield. We hit the Presidential Library, Lincoln Home, Tomb, and Law office, the Old State Capitol, and new Salem. We were supposed to meet the Governor at the State Fair, but the big storm hit just as we were arriving. We parted ways Thursday evening when they headed to Chicago.
The SJR has a write-up about their visit here.

August 22nd, 2009