The Four I’s of VSEO

Posted on February 26, 2011 in Video SEO, VSEO

If you’re involved in SEO, then you know video SEO, or VSEO is a critical piece of the puzzle. As YouTube and other video hosting websites grow in popularity, so does the need for your business to be involved in the trend. There are billions of videos on the internet, and millions of them have been posted by local, national and international businesses as marketing tools. However, not all videos are created equally. There are videos that have the opposite effect you’d like for your business, and there are videos that work magic in advertising for your business. We follow the Four I’s Method.

Interrupt, Instruct, Invite and Impress . . .

Interrupt: The first thing your video needs to do is to catch the attention of the viewer, so you need to interrupt their thoughts. This can be done in many ways, depending on the nature of the video and the message you want to film, but some helpful tricks include music and an eye catching introduction.

Instruct: Arguably the most important aspect to a successful VSEO video is to educate the viewer about whatever you wish: your company, your background, your expertise, your products, a specific service, etc. Traditional advertising used to need to be flashy to stand out from the rest (think back 60 years ago when very few companies could afford to advertise on Television, so commercials were long and informative, then as airtime became more affordable, commercials shortened in length, leaving less time for informative information, and more need for flashy, eye catching slogans and talk). And that is where the epidemic of annoying, cheesy, flashy slogans began. Today, they’re surrounding us, so we bat them away like bugs buzzing at our ears. Instead of watching a video and being left with questions and confusion, we want to fully understand what we just saw and what your company is offering us.

Invite: If a viewer is unfamiliar with your business and is watching your video to learn more, you can only teach them so much in one video. You also want to get the chance to educate them on other aspects of your business, so never forget to invite them to take a look at your website. Seems obvious, but putting the idea in their minds goes a long way.

Impress: Not impress in a flashy, ‘i have the most high tech video capabilities available’ way, but impress in a ‘wow, this company really knows what they’re doing,’ or ‘wow, i really think this seems like a good company to buy from’ way. Depending on the content in your video, you want to impress your viewer with your knowledge, expertise, personality, simplicity, availability, affordable prices, compassion, etc.

Sara Beaudoin is the Marketing Communications Manager for SearchPro Systems