Once your content goes online how will you ensure that people sign up?

Step 1: Get your course found

Consider your audience. Where do people searching for online courses go? Well, the clue lies in the question itself. People searching for content – especially online content – turn to the search engines, which invariably means Google.

In recent years Google has been placing more and more emphasis on blended search results, displaying videos more prominently near the top of the page. Check the stats:

• Forrester Research found that videos were 53 times more likely to receive a first page organic ranking
• Marketing Week found that video appeared in 70 of the top 100 search engine results
• Econsultancy report that video search results have a 41% higher click through rate than plain text results

Embed video on your site and you’ll increase your chances of getting your course in front of the people who are actively looking for one just like it.

But couldn’t you just upload your video to YouTube for the same results?

Absolutely – YouTube videos show up in the search engine results, but what happens once your potential subscriber is done watching?

Distracting links are, well, distracting. By embedding directly on-site you have more control over where your viewer clicks next. A strong call to action sitting along side the video will keep those subscribers rolling in.

Step 2: Get people talking about it

Word of mouth can be a really powerful way to raise awareness for your course and convince people to check it out. Nielsen report that 90% of people trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trusted consumer opinions posted online.

Social media is word of mouth for the digital age. You can reach a tremendous amount of people through your student’s extended networks. But don’t forget that the key word here is “social”. Reflect that in the types of content you post for best results.

So, once you have your social profiles set up – what type of things should you post?

People tune out overt sales-pitches – or worse remove you from their network entirely. Instead, try and add value in the content you post – give your fans a reason to hit the like button or share with a friend.

And remember, video sees around a 100% more engagement than just text posts (Facebook Best Practice Guide)

Step 3: Keep people coming back for more

We’re faced with a new generation of students. They’re tech savvy, they’re connected and they consume video. Did you know, for instance, that in the last two years the mobile share of web traffic has almost tripled?

Given the popularity of video you should consider using it within your course itself. It’s a medium students are familiar with, that they like and that they are coming to expect. The challenge as learning professionals is how to use it effectively to deliver their course’s learning outcomes (check out this post for some ideas).

Whether you use video for promotion or to deliver the course itself it’s a great way to create a buzz and generate interest. It combines audio, visual and written information making it an engaging way to tell your story. By hitting students on multiple levels no matter how they process information you’ll encourage effective learning to keep them happy, satisfied and recommending you to their friends (remember the power of word of mouth?)

Above all, though, if you’re going to be utilising video (and why wouldn’t you?), remember it’s important to deliver it reliably. Buffering issues are a big no-no and will ultimately lead to student frustration and dissatisfaction meaning all your hard promotional work goes down the drain. There’s a few considerations you’ll need to take into account of before you can fully utilise the awesome power of video.

For further information check out the help document or get in touch.

See you next time!

Mobile commerce shows no signs of slowing down. And little wonder. Mobiles are ideal for last minute purchases and impulse buying.

Bored on the underground? Browse your favourite retailer.

Forgotten to order Dad’s birthday present? No problem your mobile is to hand.

In fact, 62% of smartphone users said they’ve bought physical goods through their mobile devices in the last 6 months.

So what? Well, when you consider that by 2015 smartphones are expected to account for 81% of the U.S. cell phone market – if you’re not into mobile you’re missing out on a huge chunk of revenue.

The challenge for eCommerce sites everywhere is in creating user friendly mobile sites – the smaller screen means you should steer clear of bombarding the user with too much information. Make everything more accessible and reduce the number of clicks needed to complete your order.

Video is perfect for these kind of sites. Why?

Information rich

All that text that explains how amazing your product is? It may be compelling copy but on a mobile site it’s just clutter. Put those crucial points into a video instead. It’ll keep the site looking clean while still getting your point across.

Consumers like it

Shoppers are increasingly using video to inform their purchase decisions – and none so more than the mobile consumer. In fact, CISCO have gone so far as to predict that a staggering two thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2017.

Mobile commerce has been on the increase for a number of years, and it’s a trend that looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Be ready for it.

So, taking our own advice, here’s a snapshot of vzaar office life…

Now, we don’t spend all our time posing for photos (we promise!), this was for our listing on roundabout.io. If you’d like to see the final edit head here.

Music:

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.