Welcome to Part 8 of my series where we are discussing 37 elements of success user engagement. The journey has been awesome and if you’ve joined me from the beginning then you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. If you have just joined me, then I encourage you to please start from Part 1 so you’ve adopted the other tips before going any further. Today we’ll be discussing how multimedia elements like image and video can help increase user engagement. Why are these so important? The answer is very simple:
First, people have different ways of taking in information so providing different types of content just increases the chances of visitors engaging with your content. Secondly, multimedia will increase conversions because you are getting the point across in more depth. For example, think about how many people are selling products through YouTube.com…right? This platform even offers a great way for people to market their relevant website and/or blog. The point I’m trying to make is if you haven’t started to use images and multimedia in your blogging then it’s about time to start.
Let’s get started:
Awesome Multimedia Strategies
The question now becomes what are the best multimedia platforms to start with which has both the traffic and provides flexibility. If you are looking to post videos to your blog, then it’s important to add them to YouTube.com at the same time. This network is FREE allows you to optimize and at the same time has no posting limitations. If you would like to make use of images, then I would recommend posting them to your blog and Google Images because this can drive traffic to your blog too. Below we’ll be exploring each one in greater detail however my data and statistics has shown me both are very effective when trying to achieve your bottom line.
YouTube.com
Hopefully by now you have done your research and created a video relevant to what your audience is looking for. Make sure you have covered the right questions because if you are creating this video for yourself then it won’t increase engagement as effectively as creating them for your readers. The questions you have and the ones your readers have will be different so focus on your audience. Once you have researched your niche than create a video which answers all of their common questions. After, it’s time to add the video to your blog and upload it to YouTube.com. I’ll obviously think you know how to upload videos to your blog however it’s time to tweak for YouTube.com.
First, make sure the title contains the right keywords especially those you are trying to rank for. We all know videos do rank within Google and we have seen them sometimes when searching ourselves. Next, make sure keywords are included within the meta-description because this will be displayed within search engines too. Third, select the appropriate category because this will help organize your video so when people are searching using category tag your video will show where it’s supposed to. Here are some additional tips other than these MOST important:
- Adjust quality
- com allows you to add clickable text to videos. Only add relevant and important resources
- Before creating your video research competition so you create something better
- Enable commenting because this is great for feedback and debates
- Cover all the related topics so your video is of high quality and in-depth
Utilizing Images
These can be very powerful for getting the content point across quickly. You’re going to have visitors from all over the world which might NOT read English text so images and videos are a great way to get the point across to these people. Not to mention both are a great way to help your audience understand your topic easily. For example, if I was writing on how to utilize social media for link building, do you think a text article or a complete walk-through video is more effective? If you are like me, then you would agree a video…right? However, images need to be tweaked and optimized too. Follow these tips when adding images to your content.
- Make sure they are named properly. All images are indexed and will be displayed within Google Images. This increases the chances of users finding you through image search. At the same time, Google will show a button where users can click on “Visit Website†and arrive on your page.
- Make sure they are compressed so they load quickly. Images are ONLY effective if your audience can see them as soon as the page loads.
- Make sure they are relevant to your content. You are adding images to help get your point across and use as an additional explanation. Non-relevant images will be NO good and will go against your objective.
- Make them stand out so when people share on social media they look good. You’ll have enormous competition online both through search and social media. You need to be able to attract visitors so they click through to your content.
Going forward utilize these multimedia strategies and don’t forget to test along the way. Once you gather the right statistics, you can tweak for optimal engagement.