Sunday, May 20, 2007

Google Shakes Up The Internet Marketing World

Well, you knew this was going to happen. With the recent YouTube buyout, you had to know that Google was up to something. Sure enough, they were. Recently Google announced that they were going to change their search engine ranking system to give more weight to sites that contained video. What does this mean for Internet marketers? It means a whole new way of thinking about putting your site and sales pitch together. In this article, I'm going to go over just a few things that you're going to need to do in order to keep up with the new world that we're about to live in.

For one thing, it's now going to be very difficult to compete with sites that have exclusively relied on video, such as news sites with video feeds. They've got a big head start on most of us. Fortunately, as Internet marketers, we're not really in competition with the news sites, so that's a good thing. But we are going to be in competition with each other, so if we want to get a leg up on the other guy, we're going to have to do a few things. Like what?

Let's start with our sales pages. Gone will be the days of the static, long winded sales page that people will have to drudge their way through. You're going to have to mix in some interactive video not only to keep Google happy but to keep people interested. Perhaps have a portion of your sales message be in written copy and a portion in video. Maybe have some video testimonials. They're always great. Of course, if you're photogenic, you'll probably want to have a video of you introducing yourself on your sales page. People will relate better to you when they can see you.

What about our web pages? Well, you're going to have to figure out a way to incorporate video into those as well. Now, in some niches, this isn't going to be easy to do. The truth is, many niches won't convert well to video. For example, having a video of you explaining to somebody how to write a resource box for an article isn't going to be great entertainment. However, if you have a site that teaches people how to repair a grandfather clock, having a video of the procedure could be a great idea. You may even be the first person to do it.

This is certainly going to be an interesting time to see what marketers come up with. Thinking of well written words is one thing. Now, you'll need to get at least a minimal technical education in order to compete in the marketplace. The bar has been raised considerably and those who rise to meet that bar will see success like they never have. Suddenly, with a good video based site, your chances of ranking number one at Google will be a lot greater than they were before, even in a very competitive niche.

Yes, these will most certainly be some interesting times.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The don't put more weight on websites with video, LOL. They are simply combining multiple verticals and integrating them into the standard SERPs.