• Animated Videos – Why Are They White Hot?

    Wednesday, February 3, 2016

    You’ve seen them, those scribbler videos that somehow always seem to grab your attention. They feature a real hand holding a marker or pen which is drawing something…

    Read More

  • The Skinny On Search Engine Optimized Content

    Tuesday, January 26, 2016

    Information. The internet is where people go to get information.  They go on the hunt for all kinds of information, and if it has been search engine optimized…

    Read More

  • content writing

    Content Writing That Gets Read

    Monday, November 23, 2015

    What Is Readable Content Writing? Q: How is the content writing on your website read? A: In order to answer this question we first need to discover the…

    Read More

  • Cooking Up A Video

    Monday, November 2, 2015

    Knowing something about cooking is very informative when it comes to understanding the use of video as a form of blogging, once called, vlogging.   Here’s a few…

    Read More

  • broken backlinks

    Broken Backlinks Are Toxic

    Friday, October 2, 2015

    One of the most important tasks in maintaining a healthy website and online presence is to clear out broken backlinks.  That will not be easily accomplished unless you…

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  • Marketing Strategies Using Content Writing

    Tuesday, September 15, 2015

    Unless instructed to do so, search engines do not read images, see pretty pictures, watch videos or vote on our fancy logos and website designs!  They read words…

    Read More

Feb
3

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Animated Videos – Why Are They White Hot?

You’ve seen them, those scribbler videos that somehow always seem to grab your attention. They feature a real hand holding a marker or pen which is drawing something on a whiteboard (hence the name whiteboard videos), and you’re inexplicably captured by whatever message is being conveyed.  The ratio of viewers clicking out of these types of videos is very, very, low.  You can determine that from various types of software that monitors and scores user engagement.  Here’s a definition of this type of video that may prove useful:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteboard_animation

whiteboard animated video

It’s almost a surreal experience, the captivation, intrigue and suspense that is the nature of these whiteboard videos. And, no surprise, these explainer videos (as they are also called) are now such a hot trend on the internet you’re likely to see them cropping up in more places for a variety of uses.  I’ve even seen them on the big screen featured in commercials before the movie I went to see begins to play.  The production costs for those are very expensive because all the art work is original and custom designed.  This, however, does not mean that you cannot use this production style and still hold the costs down by employing images already drawn.

Those neuroscientists sure know what they’re doing…

Ever since the dawn of man, humans have been drawn to motion. Like cats watching mice or birds, the human eye is programmed by the brain to follow movement. It’s a matter of survival, and it’s something that is programmed so deeply within our brain, the instinct will never dissipate. Animation videos take advantage of this instinct by literally almost grabbing hold of the viewer’s attention when the hand with the marker appears on screen. That element goes double for the animated person that begins to speak or the drawing comes alive like a cartoon character and begins a conversation with you by asking you questions that you find yourself mentally responding too!  Getting that mix, just right is what filmmakers know as ‘screen time’.

whiteboard animated explainer video

Dropping one of the balls should not happen…

Good screen-time means that while you are watching the hand either draw, write text and or move images on and off screen, you must have a good mix of these actions so that the viewer can listen to what the voice over is saying, it must be paced so that they are able to take it in, then be able to enjoy the sound effects and or music which must be an element that must not interfere with the over all message of the whiteboard or explainer video.

The viewer must be given time and space to think and engage, respond or interact to what’s on the screen.  If they don’t have this, they’ll either exit by clicking out of the video or continue watching having dropped a ball or two which will mean that the sales tools failed to yield a ‘buy’.  In other words, the rhythm and space you’ve allocated in the video does not easily engage and sustain that to the satisfying end.  The juggling required to comprehend and act on the video sales tool will be almost exclusively set on that simple rule – ‘screen time’. The basic features of these types of quick draw or explainer videos, are an entertaining message that engages the intellect and emotions into a marriage of convenience so that the final delivery is satisfying.  That’s what makes a sale.

whiteboard explainer video production

SEO savvy videos that have evolved from cartoon technology…

Cartoons date back to a century ago. They were a form of entertainment that is still used today, and are acknowledged, accepted and recognized by every segment of the population. SEO savvy videos take cartoon technology to a new level by utilizing them for various purposes such as explaining a product or service, marketing it,  or certain company or product training and development.

And even better, research shows that this new whiteboard technology grabs the viewer’s attention quickly, maintains it, prompts the viewer to take action, and perhaps best of all, keeps the video’s message implanted in their mind. These explainer videos or whiteboard video production works because, in general, people are tired of static images and boring old ad copy. They want to be entertained, they want to be wowed, they want to feel like a kid again by watching the hand create charming bubble letters and people out of what seems like thin air. Plus, these videos uniquely and ingenuously use the two earliest forms of communication: hand drawn imagery and the human voice.  It’s the oldest and the simplest way to narrate a story.  Everyone loves to hear a story.  That alone is worth thinking about; tell your story.  Consumers have confessed many times to doing business with the person who’s story they know even if their competitor offered the same product or service for less money.  This is something to really pay attention to.

whiteboard videos conversion rate high

They don’t cost an arm and a leg…

Although, you might see an arm and a leg compellingly drawn, the cost to produce a whiteboard animation is remarkably much lower than virtually any other type of video. Whether you’re interested in marketing videos, training videos, videos used as vlogs (video used as blogging), webinars, sales video, and others, whiteboard animation videos cost very little, especially when compared to the enormous impact they have on the audience.

Production costs are minimal if you use existing archive content of both still images and traditional video footage as well as line drawings that can be traced into the video production by the quick draw or video scribing software.  Having to hire an artist, someone with the artistic skills to draw original artwork is, for the most part, cost prohibitive.  Unless the video scribe is a production that can effectively be used over and over to market and advertise the company, I usually discourage this type of video production.  When you consider that these days, a video once viewed is usually ‘dumped’.  Once viewed, there’s usually no reason to view it again.  Now if the company can take that same video scribe or explainer video and send it out to fetch in new prospects then spending a lot to create is possibly a good call.

whiteboard animated video quick draw video

Stand out from the crowd and leverage yourself against competitors…

With the highest conversion ration of any other type of video, these animations are a big bang for their buck! Think about it, no camera is needed ( if you want traditional video footage as part of the narrative, there are stock houses you can buy from) no real actors, just a script (message) but not to minimize this at all, it has to be a well thought out script if it’s to be successfully communicated. And who better to sell your brand than you and the people who best know your business! You can positively, productively and imaginatively create a video that tells your company’s story, conveying it to the viewer in a compelling way while also driving your message, by drawing it into their brain where it will be retained.  This, by the way, is why animated neon signs are so easily recalled.  They ‘write’ and because we also write, our eyes follow the lines the drawing makes and thus recall easily the form it draws.

Teaching and learning just got a little more fun…

There are so many learning styles. Invariably, in classrooms throughout the world, children fall behind in their education because they’re not being taught to in the style that relates best to them. Learning styles include visual, interpersonal, logical, physical, auditory, verbal, and interpersonal. Most people fall into these three categories: Visual, Auditory, and Physical. The beauty of the whiteboard animation video is that it incorporates these three learning styles flawlessly; ensuring that the message will reach a wider audience and the retention of the message will be high.  Think of the lyrics you cannot forget because you memorized it with music, then add to it a visual image and viola, you have a type of explainer or whiteboard video.  Powerful sales tool and it’s not to be ignored if you want to be competitive.

whiteboard explainer animated video

Whiteboard videos and SEO…

Okay, even though these animation videos have oodles of uses, many companies are using them to not only engage their audience (with hopeful conversion), but to also pump up their SEO marketing. There are still some basics to remember when it comes to your SEO strategies and explainer videos:

1. Know your keywords. This is the basis for any SEO advertising & marketing campaign.

2. Add the keywords to your video via the file name, video title, video description and tags. Remember, (this is crucial) the search engines don’t know what to do with video. They can’t “see” it and it really does nothing for search engines or the arsenal of bots ( electronic reading devices) that are sent out to fetch whatever was typed into the search bar.

3. Upload videos to YouTube and have the keywords in the content. For accessibility services, YouTube always creates a text based version of videos that are uploaded. This way, your keywords will be “seen” by Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.  You can also ‘beef’ up these scripts by adding additional keyword rich text but stay well within what is actually spoken within the video.  Then publish the video with these scripts.  Tons of SEO value can be gained just by doing that.

Whiteboard animation videos are white hot because people can’t seem to get enough of them. They’re captivating, charming and appeal to everyone’s child-like sense of wonder. Don’t be left behind, they’re also inexpensive and are well worth while for use in any marketing and advertising campaign.  It is now well known that to have one on the home page of your website or available within your social media will do much to convert the viewer to the customer.

explainer animated whiteboard video

 

Jan
26

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The Skinny On Search Engine Optimized Content

Information. The internet is where people go to get information.  They go on the hunt for all kinds of information, and if it has been search engine optimized they will find it whether it’s about:

  • a rash they have,
  • why the bread is not rising,
  • how to repair the toilet, and
  • why the puppy doesn’t get: ‘pee on the paper – not the carpet’

Anything and everything they want to locate or learn about, they type it into the search field of their preferred search engine.  Now here’s the point of this whole article:

For information of any kind to be located on the world wide web, it has to be groomed, optimized or it will not be discovered.  The content needs to be optimized.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is for website content what a peacock’s fan is to the peacock, or what the right color accents do for the decor in your living room: it attracts and focuses interest.   When a website is properly optimized for the search engines it attracts, pulls interest from the search engines.  It’s especially intelligent to ensure your website’s home page is primed to pull traffic from the searches.   Your persistent efforts will be rewarded and you will eventually rank somewhere on Google’s first page This is not easily achieved.  It’s good to remember that you’re one among thousands, sometimes millions of business owners who are competing for a position on page one of google.

Keywords Are The Currency Of The Internet

Some keywords are worth pennies while others are so valuable you’d think Ben Franklin’s face was embedded within them . The trick is to find Read More

Nov
23

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Content Writing That Gets Read

What Is Readable Content Writing?

Q: How is the content writing on your website read? A: In order to answer this question we first need to discover the process of how the content was located, where it was found and why it appeared in the search results. Content writing such as blogs are located and read by two separate means:

• Internet surfers like ourselves who type keywords into search fields such as Google sends a signal that goes out and fetches the information we’ve requested which we then read;

• Digital devices known as Robots (bots) that read the keywords typed into search engines such as Google and then go fetch what they find because they read it;

At first glance you could say that these methods are identical, but they’re not. The main difference is that we read very little of what a keyword search harvests while the search engine bots read everything that’s available and return very key word specific data. This is something to seriously consider because as internet users we stumble upon all sorts of data that we may enjoy reading. Bots are far more selective and learning to direct them to our blogs or other content writing is essential for our success. 

The secret to successful blogging is to write fresh, relevant, frequent, and original content that humans want to read and bots cannot avoid reading. Read More

Nov
2

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Cooking Up A Video

Knowing something about cooking is very informative when it comes to understanding the use of video as a form of blogging, once called, vlogging.   Here’s a few questions that cooks typically ask themselves before they begin to prepare the menu, and they’re very similar to questions the video producer asks before they begin video production.

Who’s coming to dinner OR Who’s the video for? 

There’s no point cooking a meal that no one wants to eat or producing a video that no one wants to watch.  The greatest compliment paid to the cook is that the diners arrive hungry and leave satisfied.  That same axiom applies to the market place when you produce a video.  The video will be satisfying if it… Read More

Content

Animated Videos – Why Are They White Hot?

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

You’ve seen them, those scribbler videos that somehow always seem to grab your attention. They feature a real hand holding a marker or pen which is drawing something…

The Skinny On Search Engine Optimized Content

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Information. The internet is where people go to get information.  They go on the hunt for all kinds of information, and if it has been search engine optimized…