Get the maximum value out of online interactive video

Here’s how video content can help you increase your website traffic

Aug 29, 2021

Want to increase the amount of eyes you’re getting on your website? Video content is a great way to get real results and people to your website. However, it’s important to use video as part of a wider content strategy. Find out more about how you can get the most out of your video content below!

Trying to find a way to get more traffic to your website, but don’t know where to start? If you haven’t already considered creating video content, then now is the time to start – as long as it’s part of a content strategy that covers different mediums. Video is a great way to engage your audience, while also showcasing your business. Whether you’re looking to inform, entertain or convert (after all, 32% of businesses use video for sales), then it’s important to look into video content to form a cornerstone of your content strategy. 

More than half of all consumers want to see more video content from brands/businesses they support, and the desire for video content is ever-growing, thanks in large part to the pandemic. The pandemic showed that people of all ages developed an increased appetite for video content, so now is the time to capitalize, even if video content wasn’t previously a part of your plans.

Driving traffic to your website through video content is a great way to turn brand awareness into enquiries or sales, especially if your website is a natural extension of the video content that you’re creating. We’ve put together a few ways that you can use video content to serve as a funnel to your website, allowing you to tailor both your content and your website to suit your desired business outcomes, whatever they may be!

Why do I need website traffic?

While you might see short-term success while running paid ads on search engines and social media, the reality is that you want to be driving traffic back to owned media channels such as your website. Relying on ad traffic to create sales/conversions is a strategy that’ll see your expenses skyrocket, and you can never quite be sure what changes will be made to these platforms (which many Australian news publishers found out the hard way when Facebook briefly shut down news in February 2021).

Your website is the central place for both people interested in your products/services, as well as returning customers who are either looking for help, or to see if there are any new features/updates. Your business is in full control of your website’s messaging and elements, and it’s the central hub where all your branding and product and service information sits. 

While it might seem obvious that more website traffic means more people know about your business, it’s actually more complicated than that. For example, if you’re a business that makes physical sales, rather than online, then website traffic is more important for brand awareness, rather than conversions. Conversely, if you’re a business that only exists online, then website traffic is the lifeblood of your business. 

No matter what your niche is, or how your business measures success, it’s important to know how website traffic content benefits you. Building a website is often a big investment, so it’s important that you make the most out of it by bringing people to the website and providing an engaging experience. Video content is a great way to get people to your website in addition to using social media posts and search engine optimization, and video content can help you deliver a high ROI on your website.

How video content can help boost your website’s SEO ranking

If you’re looking for a great way to help boost your website’s SEO ranking, then look no further than video content. Google has long been-rumoured to prioritize search results above results without video, and Lemonlight has found that they typically see boosts in organic traffic ranging from 10% to a whopping 250% when they add video content to existing posts. 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, so it pays to pay attention to how you’re tracking on search engine rankings.

Part of the reason Google seems to prioritize video search results is that it’s easy for customers to digest information when it’s presented in video format. Written information can often overwhelm and confuse consumers, especially if your products/services aren’t easily explainable in a written format. If you’re a business that is most impressive visually, then video is a great way to showcase why people need your business’ products or services. Alternatively, if your products/services require explanation, then video content allows you to comprehensively convey the information your audience needs to truly understand what your business provides, in a way that other content mediums cannot. 

Careers NSW uses intuitive branching technology in their video to display their careers services, making it easy for users to find what they're looking for without searching the whole website.

Building up your SEO ranking also allows you to benefit from both organic and paid search results. Approximately 39% of worldwide eCommerce traffic comes from search – with 35% of traffic being organic and 4% coming through paid search ads. Naturally, humans are more likely to click on an organic search result rather than a paid search result (and if you don’t believe us, consciously think about your own search engine habits), so making sure you’re getting the most out of both strategies means you’re getting the maximum amount of traffic to your website!

Use video through paid & earned media to drive traffic

So now you know how video can benefit your business through increased website traffic, it’s time to get to work. Cross-channel engagement strategy is the key to success for any marketing campaign, and a video campaign is no different. In this case, you want your paid media, such as digital ads, to find your targeted audience and earned media, such as press coverage, to gain authority and build relationships with the goal to drive traffic back to your owned media like your website. When your owned, paid and earned media work collectively together, you’re set for success.

When you bring video content into the mix, you’re able to supercharge each aspect of your campaign to create more engagement. Paid video digital ads are more engaging than static display ads, because they combine eye-grabbing visuals and a compelling narrative to introduce your brand to potential customers, who’ll then visit your website/landing pages. Similarly, social media platforms are increasingly prioritising video content, with 64% of consumers making a purchase after watching branded social videos. If you’re not using video in your marketing strategy, you may be falling behind – especially if you’re looking for increased awareness around your brand in what is a competitive market.

Earned media can be trickier as you have no control over the message or final goal, but it carries with it the benefit of being recognized as a credible authority in the market and using video in particular can carry even further weight. Where you can, promote the use of video in press releases and third party endorsements to drive engagement and traffic, as well as engage viewers of the earned media platforms where your business is getting traction.

Use interactive video to drive people to key pages

Looking to cut the time it takes between watching a video of yours to visiting your website? If so, then interactive video might just be what you’re looking for. Interactive video allows you to place calls-to-action, like links to your website, as interactions at key moments in your video, when you’ll have your audience’s full attention.

Taste.com uses snappy recipe tutorials to make it easy for viewers to shop their videos, linking straight to where you can purchase ingredients.

Rather than hiding the weblink to your site or landing page in the description of your video, imagine if you could showcase a product in a video, and send people directly to the page where they can buy it? Thanks to interactive video, that’s easily implementable. Interactive videos showcasing a range of products or solutions can incorporate compelling CTAs that direct viewers to relevant product pages. Alternatively, you can also direct visitors to an embedded form within the video, providing a compelling and easy way for your audience to make contact and become further invested in your business. 

Using interactive video gives you access to deeper analytics than traditional video, so you can see which interactions are most effective at driving traffic to your website. Get access to analytics that track view rate, interaction rate and completion rate, so you can work out what your audience is interested in learning more about, and what’s most engaging. That way, you can create video and website content based on these topics, bringing in more users to the channels you use to promote your business.

Analytics is a great measure of how to improve your content – which is where interactive video’s analytics dashboard can also help! Much like any strategy, the more information you have available to you, the more you can tailor the content you’ll be creating in the future, and the more you’ll see your website traffic increase!

Find out more about Vudoo analytics and how they can help your business meet business objectives.

Dileep Yogasingham
Dileep Yogasingham

Director, Strategic Accounts, Vudoo