TechCrunch.com has a great article about the details of the new Microsoft bid for Yahoo. I’m not going to repeat the whole article but, essentially, i) MSN’s search technology will power Yahoo; ii) MSN will pay Yahoo a premium for their CPC space; iii) MSN only buys 16% of Yahoo’s stock. Seems like Yahoo has seen that it’s time to cash in on their online real estate. They’ll give up the technology/staffing needed to support their search algo and concentrate on content development(?) Isn’t that most of About.com’s model? Except someone owns them…
Most people’s focus in this new Microsoft/Yahoo deal is that Google is implicated as a possible co-advertiser, perhaps with ads appearing alongside Yahoo’s own ads. The terms of this aspect of the deal contain so many conditionals, it’s destined for failure. Give it 3 months online before it fails to meet one of the terms… if the government doesn’t stop the effort for some other reason before it even gets off the ground. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming business week.
Google will freely give you (almost) all the information you need to build websites that rank well and/or return investment on PPC campaigns. Often, I will try to use information they give about their AdWords paid advertising system to shed light on the natural SEO world. A recent review of the Google Advertising Professional (“GAP”) literature revealed a few new nuggets about video optimization that I think are useful to keep in mind. Since many lawyers are exploring law firm videos, I thought I’d present those ideas here.
Create a descriptive and eye-catching opening image (the image which users see before playing the video).
Entice users to click ‘play’ by using rich, sharp colors.
Include a few words to describe the product, service, and/or company.
Boost play rate with a call to action that tells users they can play the video to learn more.
Create multiple video ads with different opening image sizes to increase the number of placements where your ad is eligible to appear.
Keep the video engaging and no longer than necessary (play rates drop off significantly after 45 seconds).
Be clear about business offers.
Deliver key messages early in the video, because users may not watch the whole thing.
Provide clear next steps for users to take after finishing the video, such as making a purchase or visiting the website or store.
This is definitely great advice for all who are interested in online video optimization. Thanks Google!
In an interesting twist, the article also addresses law firms in this way: lawyers sometimes are too interested in telling you about every minute detail of their expertise rather than provide an easy to understand intro to orient clients. For law firms interested in video marketing, Google’s advice not only provides technical tips, but it reminds us that a solid lead-in is very important to engage and communicate your message to the viewer.
The idea that the video should provide an avenue for action is a good, but problematic one. Of course they mean the video should include a telephone number and/or URL, but how well are you tracking that to video as the conversion mechanism? Meaning, your video will be distributed on YouTube.com, Yahoo Video and the like. Clients who come from your video will not be easily tracked with that as the client acquisition device. Consider using a unique, tracked telephone number in your video projects. Additionally, direct viewers to a URL that is unique to your video’s message. Clients calling that number or visiting that web page can be tracked as a return on your law firm video optimization investment.
In all, lawyers interested in video optimization should remember: i) keep it short; ii) provide a solid intro; and iii) use unique URL and telephone info in the video intro and conclusion for the sake of ROI calculation.
