There are a number of reasons why people choose self-hosted videos, but before you follow suit it’s important that you take a look at the pros and cons. See below for more information:

Pros:

• You have full control over your videos when they are self-hosted. You preserve the copyright over your video content. Nobody else can delete or ban your video. It is also harder for other people to download your videos from an independent site, rather than from YouTube, for example. You can also incorporate Google Analytics and tracking within your videos.
• All of the video traffic belongs to you. When people link to your videos, they will be linking back to your website instead of to YouTube, Vimeo or another video platform website. This increases the authority of your website on the internet. The same goes for embedded videos – When you embed your videos elsewhere online, you can create backlinks to your own website. When you embed YouTube videos elsewhere, they automatically show YouTube branding and link people to your YouTube channel. This way, people are taken back to your website instead.
• You don’t get any adverts. Although you are paying for hosting, you don’t get adverts or other external content linking from your videos. YouTube will sometimes make people watch advertisements before they get to see the video content they are looking for – a major deterrent for many viewers. By using self-hosted videos, people can jump right in without having to wait.
• You can enrich the design of your own videos, in any way you like. You can add your company’s branding, your brand colours to the video player and more.

Cons:

• You have to pay for hosting of your videos. Some online video platforms charge, but many (including YouTube) are free. You need to decide whether the benefits of using self-hosted videos outweigh the potential costs.
• You do need to have some coding skills in order to use self-hosted videos. Whilst YouTube, Vimeo and similar websites are simple to use, self-hosted videos are a little more complicated. Of course, the level of complexity and skill required depends entirely on the video software you decide to use.
• Self-hosted videos can mean slow video playback. If you have a small number of viewers, then this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. However, if you have large visitor numbers wanting to watch one video at the same time, this could prove to be somewhat problematic. YouTube, for example, uses a complex hosting and playback system, to ensure that videos play almost instantly, regardless of how many people are watching them.
• You have no additional promotion with self-hosted videos. YouTube allows all visitors to search and browse all videos. Your audience would be limited to just the people who view your specific website. Self-hosted videos are also unlikely to appear within Google results.

For more information on Video SEO, the best video platforms for search engine optimisation and more, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the SEO professionals at Varn Media.

Whilst it is important to make the most of your video content, you need to make sure that you follow certain guidelines. Most importantly, you need to outline the aim of your videos, and your SEO strategy as a whole. You also need to make sure that they grab peoples’ attention. There are billions of videos available online, so yours should stand out as much as possible.

Follow our tips below to ensure that you’re making the most of your video content, from an SEO perspective:

1 – Content: It is important to make the content of your videos as informative, entertaining and relevant as possible. It should be rich with content, and have a purpose. The most successful videos seem to be those which are memorable, relatively short and which leave the viewer wanting more. Those which demonstrate step-by-step processes, as well as those which express opinions about relevant topics, typically do quite well. Don’t spend time working on videos which are dull, pointless, and which have no relevance to your company or brand.

2 – Title: The title of your videos can be easily optimised. Make sure that you include your main keywords, whilst making it catchy and interesting. Keyword research will help define the keywords which are best suited to your company or services. Try to make your video titles eye-catching, something that will compel people to watch it after reading the title.

3 – Description: A video description is a brilliant way to entice people into watching your video, whilst improving your website SEO. You can include a number of vital SEO keywords, whilst making it interesting and engaging. Whilst it should be keyword rich to grab the attention of Google and similar search engines crawling your content, it should also attract those people visiting your website.

4 – Tags: It is easy to add tags to most video platforms, but many people don’t bother. It is the perfect opportunity to add a variety of keywords related to the service or goods you are promoting. Ensure that you use keywords which are easy for people to understand. Whilst certain terminology is useful and can represent experience and knowledge, you need to make sure that you don’t discourage people who don’t understand these keywords from viewing your videos.

5 – Sitemap: Most people know the importance of uploading an XML sitemap to their website – it is a vital part of website SEO. However, not many of us have heard about Video Sitemaps. These are a very important aspect of video SEO. Adding a video sitemap to your website allows Google and similar search engines to crawl the information on your website, as well as the information within the videos. They can then begin to rank your website for keywords related to your video content. Once you have created a video sitemap, it is important to submit it directly to Google, via Webmaster Tools.

6 – Branding: It is important to make the most of your branding when creating videos for your website. This can increase brand awareness and promote your logo / company name to people viewing your website, who may not have heard of you before. Take advantage of this when creating video content for your website.

7 – Links: When you upload videos to external platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, they create backlinks to your website. Having backlinks from video websites with a high Google Page Rank score, and with good SEO, can improve your own search engine optimisation. Adding links to your videos within other websites with similar content to yours can also help.

8 – Embedding: When you embed your videos, make sure that you allow other people access to the coding. If others are able to share your videos and embed them elsewhere, then this can help your videos reach larger audiences. This can even help your videos go viral. It also helps create backlinks and valuable shares.

9 – Exposure: You want your videos to be seen by as many people as possible, without spamming. Share them with contacts – can be by email, on social network websites, on blogs and so on. You can even submit the videos to RSS feeds to further increase exposure.

The above tips are important aspects of Video SEO. For more detail or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the SEO professionals at Varn Media.

Whilst fairground carousels are fun and entertaining, website carousels are not always so the best option...

However, these features also can have a number of disadvantages:

Conversion Optimisation - Before adding a carousel or image slider to your website, think about the message you are trying to get across. A slideshow could be perfect for showcasing a gallery of images for a portfolio, on a purpose built page. However, if you’re trying to sell items or convey an important message, then consider using static images and text. Content is much more likely to be viewed when spread out across a page, rather than bundled up into one carousel where key sales messages can be missed if the user doesn’t see the carousel image that is relevant to them.

Speed – Most sliders rely upon jQuery and slider script, and have to load all of their content on the initial page load. Say, for example, you have a slider which is 900x400px, your website will have to load all three of those images and any corresponding text before the slider is fully loaded. This can have a negative effect on the page load time of your website. The longer a page takes to load, the more likely people are to leave the website and search elsewhere.

Hidden Content – Most people place valuable information within their sliders or carousels. However, this stays hidden a lot of the time. It’s very rare that people stick around to view every single slide and read all of the text written within them. The content hidden deep within a slider or carousel is often skipped past and missed.

Other Devices – Whilst a slider can increase the load time of a website on a PC, these effects are multiplied when viewing sliders on other devices. Imagine using a mobile phone on 3G whilst trying to load multiple large images and text. There are also still a number of devices – mobile phones, tablets etc. – which do not support Flash, something else used within a large number of carousels.

Flash – As mentioned, it is difficult for some devices to properly view aspects of a website built in Flash. Google and other search engines also have great difficulty viewing content within Flash. For optimisational purposes, search engines should be able to see relevant image titles, alt tags, header tags and so on. If these are placed within a Flash element, Google is unlikely to crawl this area of your website. This in turn can have a negative effect on your Search Engine Ranking.

If you do add a carousel or slideshow to your website, then you can always try carrying out A/B split testing to see what works best for you and your potential clients.

For more information on the advantages and disadvantages of using carousels or sliders, as well as A/B Split testing, please get in touch with the professionals at Varn Media. We look forward to hearing from you.

Successfully written Meta Descriptions can improve your Search Engine Rankings...

What are Meta Descriptions? Similar to Title Tags, they are a vital part of the Meta Tags, placed within the HTML of your website. They are used to provide information on each page of your website, which is viewable by the public, and by search engines like Google. Google then uses this information to assess the relevance of each of your web pages, in order to rank them accordingly for separate search terms, and as the text that displays in the search engine results page.

When you carry out a search in Google, you are provided with a number of different results. The image below shows how each of these results are displayed. The area highlighted in yellow, in this example, shows the part called the Meta Description.

So, now we know what they are for, and what they look like, let’s find out more about writing successful Meta Descriptions:

1. Whilst you are trying to add keywords and information to improve your ranking, it is imperative that you remember one thing – everyday users are also able to see your Meta Descriptions within search engine results. Therefore, they must read well, make sense and be as engaging as possible.  Therefore not only are you helping with optimisation but you are also making sure the click through rate as high as possible.  You have one sentence to tell potential clients why they should view your website so use it wisely.
2. Ideally, each of your pages will have their own unique Meta Description, related to the keywords being used on each page. Don’t duplicate your descriptions across website pages.
3. These descriptions should be between 140 and 160 characters long. You want to put as much useful information in as you can, without exceeding Google’s 160 character limit.
4. Always try to add your keyword(s) at the beginning of the Meta Description – although you need to make sure that you don’t keyword stuff, and that it makes sense to people viewing your website.
5. Avoid using any unusual characters, unless they are included in the keywords you are using. Try to use basic text, without unnecessary symbols.
6. Try to include your company name within the Description, so that people looking for your website or brand are able to recognise you.
7. Always try to add in a variant of your main keywords or key phrase. Try to choose a popular term, which people may use when looking for the services or goods listed on the page which you are optimising.
8. Make sure that the keywords you are using within the description are related to the page which you are optimising – relevance is extremely important within Search Engine Optimisation.

You need to strike the perfect balance between keyword rich content for search engines and engaging content for website visitors, in order for your SEO to succeed. For more information on writing Meta Descriptions for your website, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Search Engine Optimisation professionals at Varn Media. We look forward to hearing from you.

Every new blog entry you post is another opportunity to add fresh, optimised content to your website...

So even if you only post one blog a month, that means twelve extra opportunities for fresh, keyword rich, optimised content every year.  With this in mind follow our 5 tips below, to make the most of your future Blog entries. 

1. Ensure your content is newsworthy.
Whenever you are thinking of posting a new blog entry, you need to make sure that it has a purpose, that people will find it interesting, and that you aren’t just posting for the sake of it. You should always try and make the topic and the content newsworthy – if you are trying to advertise a new product or service, then mention how it could help your target audience. Describe the advantages of what you are offering, highlight any benefits and always try to cite related research, trends and even case studies.

2. Ensure the correct use of keywords.
Whilst writing your blog you need to focus on particular keywords – ones which will aid your SEO efforts. Choose those which are most relevant to your company and the content of the post itself. When you have chosen your primary keywords, you should try to include them in the headline of the entry, as well as the sub-heading and the body text. Remember to use the keywords as anchor text when linking back to relevant sections of your website.

3. Make it clear and easy to read – not confusing.
Make sure that your blog post is easy to understand – try to view it from the perspective of someone who perhaps isn’t as knowledgeable about your industry as you are. Although you may like to add in a few specialist terms, abbreviations, acronyms etc. for credibility, do make sure that you don’t go overboard. Whilst it’s good to sound as though you know what you’re talking about, too many of these things can prove a little off putting for some of your audience. Be sure to include brand and product names where possible, but always use the complete spelling.

4. Include your branding and other multimedia.
Always make sure that you include your logo and other branding within your blogs. Also try to include product shots, and any other multimedia you might think relevant. Blogs have evolved beyond static text – try to make them interactive, captivating your audience’s attention. Add in links which direct readers to relevant parts of your website, use text formatting, header tags and more. You can even add YouTube videos, where relevant.

5. Always track your blog’s performance.
By installing Analytics and other conversion tracking tools within your blog, you will be able to monitor the behaviour of your audience. From this, you can discover the aspects of your blogs which are generating the most website traffic – you can then use this to adapt future blog posts, to make them more appealing to potential visitors. Posting blogs without using any kind of analytics or tracking tool is a common mistake – You can spend hours researching your content, potential audience and so on, but without the statistics to back up your findings, you’re left in the dark.

If you have checked off all the above, and are still having difficulty optimising your blogs, we can help. Simply get in touch with the SEO professionals at Varn Media for more information. We look forward to hearing from you.

Poor SEO can badly damage your website...

When considering Search Engine Optimisation for your website, you need to look at it as an investment. Good quality SEO is neither free nor quick. However, some “black hat” SEO companies still like to try several little tricks which can have a pretty speedy effect on your website’s ranking for particular key phrases. Whilst this is all well and good in the short term, Google has been developed to recognise these processes, and now has procedures in place to punish websites which employ them.

Here are just a few common mistakes made by SEO rookies:

• Irrelevant Keywords – When it comes to keywords, most people think that more is better. This certainly isn’t the case. The more keywords you add to your website, the more likely you are going to be distracting from the subject at hand. As soon as you start losing focus and mentioning keywords with less relevance to your subject matter, you’ll start going downhill fast. Optimising your website for the wrong keywords (without carrying out proper keyword research) can result in a loss of website visits, enquiries and even customer / sales conversions.

• Hidden Links – Having internal links is good for SEO purposes, especially when you optimise the anchor text. However, there are still people out there who hide such links behind images and other media, so that they can add as many as they like, without interfering with user experience. Whilst this may have worked many years ago, Google can now detect the use of hidden links, links which appear in the same colour as the background so as not to be noticed, and many other similar tricks.

• Duplicated Content – We all know that the volume of content within a website is an important factor of SEO. Ideally, each page within your site would have at least 300 words, containing the perfect amount of keywords and related information. This is not, however, an excuse to copy and paste information around your website, in order to increase your word count. Duplicated content is one of the biggest mistakes made within SEO.

All of the above (and many other quick fix SEO tricks being used today) are severely disliked by Google and a number of similar search engines. Whilst they may or may not work for a short period of time, your website will be caught, you will lose your ranking – and you can also be banned from Google.

For successful, long-lasting SEO, you need to do your research. You should always spend time looking into the options available, the latest Google Algorithm changes and more. If you are looking for an SEO company to do the work for you, you need to ask for references from previous clients. You should also understand that proper, “white hat” SEO can take a while – but it’s definitely worth it in the long run, when done correctly.

For more information on other SEO mistakes, how to avoid being banned by Google, and professional, “white hat” advice on Search Engine Optimisation, please contact the SEO professionals at Varn Media. We look forward to hearing from you.

Our client, Paper Bag Co, discovered the many benefits of Conversion Tracking.

Conversion Tracking is a tool which is used to monitor the source and behaviour of visitors to your website who have completed the action you want from your website (anything from purchasing a product or service to contacting you through the website or signing up for a demo).

By knowing the behaviour of these visitors, you are able to discover what sources and keywords actually convert to clients or potential clients rather than just what drives traffic to your website.  This allows you to invest more wisely in particular areas of the website, adverts, keywords and more, ultimately boosting your return on investment and making you more money.

The Case Study

At Varn Media, conversion tracking is essential, and we implement it within as many of the websites which we we work on as possible. One of our clients who has discovered the many benefits of conversion tracking is the paper bag specialists, Paper Bag Co. This client understood the importance of conversion tracking and the advantages of having different tracking tools integrated within their website.

It was agreed with the client that we would install a number of different tracking tools, as this would produce the best results and allow us to able to measure the cost effectiveness of their advertsing. The tools which we used included the following:

• Online Sales Conversion Tracking: Most importantly, we implemented conversion tracking to monitor completed online sales. This enabled us to discover the behaviours of those visitors who commit to buying paper bags and similar products, from the Paper Bag Co website. When analysed, we could mark any trends or patterns within the results, and focus on improving those particular features which were encouraging people to complete their purchases and to understand which keywords or source where bringing the most profitable clients to the website. 

• Web Form Conversion Tracking: We used conversion tracking within the enquiry forms on the website, so that we could monitor the visitors completing the form – we can find out where they had found the website, which sections were leading visitors to the contact page, instead of the checkout, and so on.

• Finally, we also used Call Tracking. Our Call Tracking tool allows us to gather information on people calling the telephone number listed on the Paper Bag Co website. We are able to collect details on how visitors found the website, the keywords used on the search engine, where they are calling from, the length of the phone call, what they do on the website before they call and so on.

This client uses Search Engine Optimisation, PPC Campaigns, E-Newsletters, Advertising and more to boost website visits and sales. With the use of the above tracking tools, they are now able to focus on the areas of the website which have been proven to work.  

Because of the conversion tracking tools we have put in place, our client now knows how to distribute their budget to make the most of their investment (For example because you can monitor the cost effectiveness of any Google Adwords/PPC campaign you know which keywords you can spend more on  per click and which ones are a waste of money.) Without the use of conversion tracking, we wouldn’t know where the enquiries or sales were coming from. This could lead to the client wasting advertising money and missing potential business. Thanks to conversion tracking this isn’t the case.

If you would like more information on conversion tracking and the benefits it could have for you, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the experts at Varn Media. We look forward to hearing from you.

Read on for more about improving website bounce rates

So ideally you want people to visit your website, and then stay for longer periods of time, browsing different parts of the site and then converting to clients or making an enquiry. When this happens, your bounce rate is reduced. 

To help reduce your bounce rate, follow our ten tips listed below. One thing to consider, before we start, is the reason behind your increased bounce rate. More than likely, you’re either acquiring the wrong kind of traffic to your pages, or you’re finding the right traffic, but those people are finding exactly what they are looking for in one page. If it’s a case of the latter, then a higher bounce rate isn’t really an issue. If you believe that you’re attracting the wrong website traffic, or that your site itself is an issue, then you may find the following tips very useful.

1. Avoid Pop-Ups and adverts where possible. Pop-up and static adverts can be off-putting to many website visitors. They can disrupt the user experience and get in the way of the main objectives of your website. 

2. Make sure you have clear and obvious navigation, throughout the website. If you want people to continue looking through your site, then you need to make it easy for them to do so. A complicated, confusing navigation can easily deter people and make them look elsewhere.

3. Make sure your website design is up to scratch. Poor design is becoming less tolerable – especially as good design is easy to come by. Your website should contain attractive content, in the way of graphical treatments and readability. 

4. One of the main aspects of a website which can severely increase bounce rates is speed. Loading times are highly off-putting, especially to those of us who are a little impatient. With internet speeds ever increasing, it doesn’t take much for someone to look elsewhere for something a little quicker. 

5. Have you used responsive website design? With more and more of us using different platforms to access the internet on a daily basis (smart phones, tablets and so on), it is important that your website displays correctly across a number of screen sizes.

6. Internal Search Function – Does your website contain a lot of information? Then you can make it much easier for people to find what they are looking for by providing an internal search function. It allows visitors to locate specific areas of your site both quickly and easily. 

7. Make sure you have helpful error pages. Sometimes, regardless of how hard we try to prevent it, people will come across a 404 page or similar within your website. Make sure that you have a useful 404 page to direct people back to the home page of your website. 

8. Split up large chunks of information. This includes images and text. A bulk of information across most of a website page can really put people off. Break up your content so that people can easily navigate their way through the pages, instead of taking one look at it and leaving.

9. Make your purpose clear. Ensure that you are making your message obvious for visitors. The longer it takes someone to figure out the aim of your website, the more likely they are to leave. You only have a few seconds to make a good first impression – let people know what you’re all about as soon as you can.

10. Good SEO – Above all, good SEO can really help reduce bounce rates. It allows you to direct certain traffic to a particular page or area within your website. It also enables you to track visitor behaviour, so that you can discover what it is that’s really bringing visitors to your site – and improve on it.

Of course, a combination of all of the above will have the best impact possible, within your website. For more information on how to improve bounce rates, contact the professionals at Varn Media. We look forward to hearing from you.

If you'd like to improve your ranking within Google and other search engines, follow these tips...

What are Title Tags?

Title Tags are part of the Meta Tags within the HTML of your website. These Meta Tags include a Description, Keywords and the Title Tag. These should be placed within every single page of your website. They are used to provide information about each web page, to be viewed by website users and search engines such as Google.

If you take a look at the image above, this is how Title Tags appear within your browser. If you move your cursor over the tab which you are viewing, then the full Title will appear.

The image on the right shows how your Title Tag will appear within Google search results. Always keep in mind that people will see this title when looking for your company or the services which you have on offer.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

Why do we need Title Tags?

Title Tags inform search engines of the content within your website pages. This enables the search engine to determine the subject of your website, and then rank each page for relevant search terms. This does not mean that you should fill your Title Tags with search terms – remember that search engines DO NOT like spam, and that real people will be able to see these, too.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

How to write successful Title Tags:

• A successful Title Tag needs to be up to 70 characters long. It should be a balance between keyword rich text which the search engines will be looking for, and something which might attract people reading your listing within the search results.
• If you are adding keywords to your text, then always make sure that the most important are listed closer to the start of the title. Those which are not as important can be listed further along.
• Separate keywords with the pipe symbol, instead of using commas, dashes, underscores etc. – unless the keywords are written using those characters. For example: “Search Engine Optimisation | Website Design | Keyword Research”.
• Include your company name within the Title Tags. People who know your company or brand will then notice your name within the Title, and will be more likely to click on your website.
• Don’t duplicate your title tags – each page of your website should have its very own set of Meta Data, including an original Title Tag. Some websites contain the same titles and Meta information throughout every single page. This is likely to be classed as spam by search engines, and will make it much harder for your website to be ranked successfully within the top pages of Google.
• Always ensure that your Title Tags relate to the content on each specific page. For example, if you are working on a page about website design, then you would use web design related keywords and information within the Title Tag – you wouldn’t mention Sign Making, even if you offered this service on another page within the same site.
• Format your Title Tags in this way for best results: Most important keywords for this specific web page | A brief sentence about your company | Company name. Remember: You should never exceed 70 characters, including spaces.
• Title Tags are a one-line sales pitch, so make sure that they are engaging. Visitors to your website can see your titles – not just Google! Research has shown that having a more engaging title can give you better click-through rates than other websites – even those who are even listed higher than you within search results.

Now that you have your Title Tags optimised, you can focus on the rest of your website. For more information on how to apply successful SEO to your site, get in touch with the professionals at Varn Media today. We look forward to hearing from you.

Follow our tips on Video Search Engine Optimisation

 
Always remember – YouTube is now the second most used search engine after Google. Optimise your videos properly, and they will show up in Google results. 

Channel Settings:
1. Make sure you add your company name or main search term within the Title of your channel.
2. Ensure that you have checked the visibility box, to make the channel visible to the public.
3. If people are likely to know your email address, check the box so that they can find your channel by searching for your email.
4. Choose three to five relevant search terms to add to the Description of your channel. Also add a link to your business Facebook or Twitter page.
5. Choose a theme or colour which is similar to the branding on your website.
6. Use your company logo within your YouTube channel, so people can be sure that it is you.

Profile Settings:
7. Use your business name as the YouTube profile name
8. Make sure that you enter your exact URL in the website section of your profile.
9. In the ‘About Me’ section, write a short description of your company, including relevant keywords.

Video Settings:
10. Try to create engaging, high quality content for your videos – make it something related to the services or goods which you are trying to promote within your website.
11. Make sure that you select your uploaded videos to appear in the featured content box, and always set one of your own videos as the featured video on your channel page.
12. Check the relevant box to make the featured video play automatically.
13. Include your company name and a relevant keyword in all video titles.
14. Add your website URL to the beginning of the video description, followed by your company name.
15. Include three to five keywords again in the video description, as well as a Facebook or Twitter link.
16. Always add video tags – use 3-5 keywords and separate then using quotation marks. For example – “Video Optimisation” “Search Engine Optimisation” “YouTube SEO” and so on.
17. Always choose a visually appealing thumbnail for each video to attract viewers.

Other Options:
18. Make sure that the privacy of your videos is set to public. Select the standard YouTube license when asked. Also, allow comments, comment voting, video responses, ratings, embedding and syndication.

Further Tips:
19. YouTube converts videos into Java, which stops Google from being able to properly crawl any YouTube videos. You can get around this by uploading a caption file. If your video doesn’t contain any speech, then you can make use of the annotations feature instead, to show the relevance of any video content.

Promote Your Videos:
20. You can embed YouTube videos in a variety of blogs and websites – ensure that it is placed within any company blogs or websites you may have. Include a link to the YouTube URL where the video is located, also. You should also post links to your videos on any social networking websites you may be signed up to. For example, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on.

If you would like further advice on optimising your videos, then get in touch with the SEO professionals at Varn Media today.