Did you know YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world?  According to Search Metrics, “65% of Google’s keyword searches return videos in the results.”  More and more small businesses are figuring this out.  In fact, law firms are realizing video provides a competitive advantage in marketing.  Using online video for business development leads to increased visibility and improved conversion.

I gave a presentation to the Evansville Bar Association in February.  One of my segments focused on trends in online video.  If you’re on the fence about incorporating online video for business development, you should spend time watching the below excerpt from my presentation.

The video clip at the bottom of this post is the just the segment summary.  However, you’ll see prompts to click to the full segment.  Those prompts are called “annotations.”

Video annotations enable you to link from one video to others, similar to a hyperlink on a text-based content page.  

I inserted these annotations to let interested people click to view the longer video.  It also illustrates a simple tactic you could employ in your own online videos.

Both of the videos have been uploaded to my YouTube channel.  One advantage to using 2 similar videos is that I can optimize both of them. This provides additional SEO benefits to my marketing campaign.  It increases my online assets and enables me to add similar, but unique keywords.

Another advantage to this 2-video approach is that I deployed them on different social media properties.  I’m a strong proponent of using online video for business development.  Remember though that your target audience may find these online videos on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn or other properties.

I decided to use the shorter version of the video (2:43 minutes) for my firm’s Facebook page.  Facebook users tend to scan more quickly.  Holding their attention on Facebook is more difficult.

I posted the full version of my video (10:42 minutes) on LinkedIn. My LinkedIn audience seems to have a different audience profile. They may have more time to view the extended version.

Interestingly, I saw some quick visibility on Google.  I ranked very highly in searches for my topic – within 2 days of the uploads.

The attached photos show my “web” rank and my “video” rank.  Granted, the search terms (e.g. keywords) are narrow, but I’m seeing the videos show up for multiple iterations.  Notice how the video thumbnail also attracts your eyes to my link and away from the plain, text-based links.  This is a significant advantage of using video online for business development.

Google 1st Page Result in 2 Days – Web

Google 1st Page Result in 2 days – Video

Attorneys and other professionals should record very specific video topics.  The idea is to publish a variety of niche topics.  This provides optimizable content in multiple formats.  Think of it as hedging your bets.  If you have the standard website content, consider thin-slicing related topics for video.  Over time, you can develop quite the online arsenal.  You’re providing Google with many more targets for searches.

Here’s the link to the shorter video summary.  Remember to look for the annotations!

If you’re interested in how your firm could use video for business development and marketing, call me.  My phone number is (502) 208-9639.  Look for additional information and videos on my blog at www.JimRayConsultingServices.com.  Online video can give you an advantage over your competition.