Now that we’ve made our podcasts much more customizable we thought it was a good time to refresh everyone’s memories on how to create your video podcast. Check out the video for a step by step guide…
For more information head to our support document. Or, if you have any questions simply get in touch!
Remember to subscribe to vzaar’s own podcast to stay up to date with our latest news!
What is your online video’s objective?
Is it to increase product sales, revenue and profit?
If the answer is yes you should really be embedding your videos on your own site, rather than uploading to video destination sites or social networks.
And here’s three reasons why…
1. SEO
Video can bring you higher up in the search engine results as well as increasing click through rates once you are there. But why spend money on a video and have all that traffic go to some other site that isn’t yours?
Video is also highly shareable but make sure people are sharing your site content, otherwise all that link juice is going to one of those video destination sites and you won’t reap the benefits.
2. Control
To increase conversions you will need to reduce points where your visitors can leak out of the funnel. Embed on your site and that’s totally within your control you can optimise the page so you get the best possible results. Share your video elsewhere and you run the risk of annoying competitor ads and various links taking your viewer away from you and your offering.
3. Seamless Customer Journey
In the pursuit of sales it’s important to make the path from watching the video to buying the product as simple as possible. If your video content is being displayed off-site you add a step into that journey as the visitor now needs to click through to your site before they can buy. Whereas, embedding on the product page directly removes this barrier.
If you want to make the most out of your business videos it is essential that you deliver them in the right way. You’ve spent time and money in creating them so don’t fall at the last hurdle.
Give your videos all the tools they need to reach their full potential. We can help. Here’s how.
We’ve been working hard to bring you even more functionality with our YouTube Syndication feature. Find out what its all about…
For further information check out the help document or get in touch.
See you next time!
Choosing how to deliver video content can be confusing, with a range of different options available. We’ve put together some of the main questions you will need to consider – with our recommendations – to help you choose the service that’s right for you…
1. Decide what kind of video service you want to offer
- On Demand or Live Streaming?
vzaar is a Video-on-Demand Platform. We are not suited to live streaming. However, if you are looking to provide webinars or online lectures on demand – you’ve come to the right place.
- Will you be charging students to view your videos?
If the answer if yes it’s important that you consider any paywall or login portal you may need. vzaar can help you secure each video but you will need to restrict access within your website as well.
- Does your e-learning course require any interactivity?
If you wish to organise video content using chapters or allow students to upload video content, for example, you will need an API which will allow you to integrate these features into your site.
2. Set up a Free Trial account
Once you have your videos ready to upload and your website secured we recommend you set up a free trial account which will allow you to try out the features for yourself and test whether they meet your requirements. Click here to start a free trial with vzaar. This is quick and easy to do, and we don’t ask for your payment details.
3. Before you upload your first video:
- Decide whether to use the iframe or HTML embed code. We recommend using the iframe as it means the video player will automatically update any changes, without the need to re-embed the video.
- Decide the bitrate at which to upload your videos. This means finding the best balance between file size and quality. Lower bitrates will save you money, providing your students don’t need HD quality. Generally we recommend that you start with 768Kbps but you should experiment with different bitrates during your trial period to work out what works best for your audience.
- Don’t worry about your students’ bandwidth. With vzaar’s dual bitrate feature your video will always play at High Definition, unless the viewer has a slow connection. In which case your video will automatically switch the playback quality.
4. Select key features
Experiment to make sure your videos play exactly as you want them to. Here’s our suggestions based on the typical needs of many of our clients.
If you are offering a commercial or educational service, security is likely to be your primary concern. To prevent people from downloading or viewing your video without first paying for the privilege we recommend:
- Change the playback setting to RTMPe streaming. This gives you greater security because the video is streamed in encrypted fragments.
- Set up Domain Control. This will lock your video so it will only play on the domains you specify.
If you are a non-commercial e-learning organisation you are most likely looking for a cost effective way to provide that service. There are a couple of ways to minimize cost. We recommend:
- Change the Progressive Download setting to RTMPe streaming to conserve bandwidth meaning you only pay for the time the viewers watch the video, rather than the entire video.
- Smaller bitrates will save you money but you need to ensure your students still receive acceptable playback quality.
5. Decide which type of package you will need
The type of package you need will vary depending on how much bandwidth you expect to use.
- How many videos will you upload?
- How many views do you expect to have?
- What size are your videos: bite-sized snippets or extended lectures?
It can be difficult to calculate an accurate answer to these questions but once you have your free trial up and running you’ll get a much more accurate picture of your ideal requirements, allowing you to choose the package that’s right for you.
Using videos to promote your product or brand? There’s a few things you should consider to help you get the most out of them. Here’s our 5 step checklist which will help you set up a successful online video strategy with vzaar.
Key questions:
- On Demand or Live Streaming?
vzaar is a Video-on-Demand Platform. We are not suited to live streaming. However, if you are looking to embed promotional videos which play on demand – you’ve come to the right place.
- Are you using video to raise brand awareness?
If the answer is yes it’s important that you consider the brand logos and images you will use throughout your videos.
- Are you using video to drive conversions?
Consider how you will use your videos to achieve the desired outcome. Does the video need to link to a specific web page or contact form? If you are selling a particular product or service you will need to make sure you include a call to action in your videos to encourage the viewer to take action.
Once you have your videos ready to upload we recommend you set up a free trial account which will allow you to try out our features for yourself and test whether we meet your requirements. This is quick and easy to do, and we don’t ask for your payment details. Simply click here to get started.
- Decide whether to use the iframe or HTML embed code. We recommend using the iframe as it means the video player will automatically update any changes, without the need to re-embed the video.
- Decide the bitrate at which to upload your videos. This means finding the best balance between file size and quality. Lower bitrates will save you money and ensure ease of playback, providing your viewers don’t need HD quality. Generally we recommend that you start with 768Kbps but you should experiment with different bitrates during your trial period to work out what works best for your audience.
- Don’t worry about your viewers’ bandwidth. With vzaar’s dual bitrate feature your video will always play at High Definition, unless the viewer has a slow connection. In which case your video will automatically switch the playback quality.
There are a range of options available to you through the vzaar interface so we suggest you experiment to make sure your videos play exactly as you want them to. Below we have made some suggestions based on the typical needs of many of our clients.
Branding and appearance is likely to be of great importance, you need to make sure your videos are associated with your brand and actively drive conversions. We recommend:
- Brand your videos with company logo and text using the Brand Overlay feature. This will ensure your videos are instantly recognisable as belonging to your brand
- Use brand text in your video with a strong call to action. You can then link this to a specific web page to encourage the viewer to buy.
If you are using video to promote your brand you need to make sure as many people as possible have access to your video, we recommend:
- Enable social sharing features, this will encourage viewers to share your video with their social media connections to ensure you reach a wide audience.
- You may also consider using the Autoplay feature which will mean the video plays automatically when the page loads.
The type of package you need will vary depending on how much bandwidth you expect to use.
Key questions:
- How many videos will you upload?
- How many views do you expect to have?
- what size are your videos: bite-sized snippets or extended lectures?
It can be difficult to calculate an accurate answer to these questions but once you have your free trial up and running you’ll get a much more accurate picture of your ideal requirements, allowing you to choose the package that’s right for you.
If you have any questions simply get in touch!
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