Whether you’re introducing your company, explaining a product or hoping to convert readers into buyers, video can be a helpful tool. In fact, there are plenty of benefits when it comes to using video, but you need to use the right tools. One way to get the job done is to use a WordPress video gallery plugin.
We’ll take a closer look at why a video gallery plugin is the right tool in just a minute. Importantly, we’ll also look at the do’s and don’ts of using video – we highly recommend that you read these tips. But before we get to that, let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits and advantages of using video.
Benefits of Using Video
The increase in the use of video is clear evidence that more people are turning to video for their marketing. This is, quite simply, because it works. It engages the audience on a more personal level and helps you build a relationship with your users. This often means you have a wider reach and make more of an impact.
These are great benefits for your brand. Bet there are other advantages as well. Video can help improve your SEO, work towards ensuring a mobile-friendly site, and drive traffic and conversions.
Audience Engagement
People often engage more with what they can see and hear, rather than words on a page, or just a picture by itself. This makes video a great option for capturing your audience’s attention and driving your message home.
Video makes it easier for people to relate to your content, and subsequently to your brand, and what you’re selling. This can go a long way to building trust, an essential element between any business and it’s audience.
In one example, Wistia talks about how video increased the time people spent on a page. For them, this meant a lower bounce rate and a more engaged audience. Much of their focus was on providing value to their audience, which they achieved. But with the added bonus of brand awareness.
Personal Touch
Video can help you create a stronger relationship with your audience by providing a more personal touch. Apart from helping your company feel more human, rather than just a corporate entity, video also makes it easier for people to relate to you. This goes a long way to building your brand, in that it gives you a face behind the brand.
Wider Reach
As videos make your business more relatable, you will find more people engaging with your content. This can result in people sharing your videos, on social channels for example, meaning you reach an even wider audience.
Video, as a platform, is likely to appeal to a different segment in your target audience. People who don’t usually read blog posts or articles may now watch your videos. That’s a whole new audience that could now be converted into customers.
Using video provides yet another avenue from which you can drive traffic, as you’ll most likely host your videos on a platform like YouTube. (Continue reading to find out why we recommend this over self-hosting videos.)
All-in-all, you now have a greater opportunity to reach an even larger audience, who may otherwise never find your website or hear about your product.
SEO
Google and other search engines understand the importance of video and take this into account. Using the right tool (something we’ll discuss in just a bit) means your videos are mobile-friendly. Search engines like mobile-friendly sites! So these factors contribute to your ranking and can help improve your position.
Improved Conversions
Given all of the above, you can see that using video is more likely to result in improved conversions. As you reach a wider, more engaged audience, and communicate with them in a way to which they can relate, you are more likely to convert your visitors into customers.
Brand awareness, trust in your company, and creating a more-human experience all go a long way to convincing someone to try your product. Plus, with the improved SEO, more people are likely to find your site and consider trying your products.
What is the Right Tool?
As you can see, there are plenty of benefits to using video. But in order to take advantage of these benefits, you need the right tools. One such tool is a WordPress video gallery plugin.
With the right plugin, you can easily import videos which saves you from having to store them on your site. By doing this, you’ll be able to embed videos in creative ways without slowing down your site.
Another key factor of using the right video gallery plugin is providing a decent user experience. You might want to use video specific icons. Or you may want to enable videos to autoplay on some pages. While using autoplay isn’t always recommended, a plugin that gives you this ability is a good option.
Using a gallery plugin comes with other benefits as well. FooGallery PRO, for example, lets you add videos and images to the same gallery. With the import function, you can import from various sources, not limiting you to just YouTube or Vimeo, for instance. The import function even allows you to import video albums or channels from some sources.
A good gallery plugin will be responsive, adjusting to fit the size of the screen from which it is being viewed. This improves the mobile-friendliness of your site, which factors into your SEO.
Here’s a quick look at how FooGallery PRO works, with a combination of images and videos imported from YouTube.
Tips For Using A Video Gallery Plugin
While there are many benefits to using video, and to employing a WordPress video gallery plugin, there are some key considerations when doing so.
Videos can take up a lot of space, so it’s best to upload them to a video hosting service such as Vimeo, DailyMotion or YouTube. In this way, you can import and use the videos on your site, without having to worry about losing out on storage. The added bonus of doing this, is that you get another channel from which you can direct people to your site.
Include an introduction or description that accurately explains what your video will be about. (You could even transcribe the video, if you think it will benefit your users.) This serves two purposes: one, it helps people decide if they need to watch the video; and two, it helps keep Google informed about the video content. This is useful for ensuring your video content contributes to your SEO. An alternative way to do this is to use video sitemaps.
Get to the point quickly. The longer it takes for you to get to the point of the video, the more likely it is that your viewers will stop watching. OptinMonster recommends that you hook people into your video in the first 10 seconds!
Edit your videos. An engaging video is a great addition to any site, but to ensure your videos are engaging, you may need to edit them. A video editor can help you do this.
Use the right video in the right place. A detailed tutorial is a great idea, but this wouldn’t work on your homepage. Likewise, a video giving a brief synopsis of your company would work well on your ‘About Us’ page, but not as part of your documentation.
Make it easy to close or pause the video or turn off the sound. These options should be clear and easy to find. If it becomes difficult for users to stop or pause the video, or change the volume, there’s a good chance that they’ll simply close the page instead.
PLUS: What To Avoid
Don’t host videos on your own site! This takes up unnecessary space, which could end up costing you when it comes to hosting. It is far simpler to use a platform like YouTube or Vimeo to host your videos, which you can then import into your gallery.
Avoid using autoplay. Allowing videos to play automatically when scrolled to, is generally considered a no-no. People don’t want to be forced to watch a video. But it can, on occasion, work with the right audience. So if you do decide to use it, Wistia suggests keeping the video short, to the point, and with optional or no sound.
Final Thoughts on Using a Video Gallery Plugin
It is worthwhile using a plugin that allows you to add video to your site. The benefits speak for themselves: you can grow your audience, while increasing engagement and building your brand.
But in order for this to be effective, you need to use the right tool. A video gallery plugin can help you import videos from external channels while allowing you to display them properly. If you have a WordPress site, then you should definitely be taking full advantage of a plugin that can give you this capability.
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