Source: comScore

When it comes to online video, YouTube and other Google video sites are still king.

A comScore Video Metrix report found that 180 million Americans watched an average of 18 hours of online video content in August. That’s what the company called “a record 6.9 billion viewing sessions.”

Not surprising, Google sites and Hulu logged the longest viewership – with an average user watching 5.7 hours on YouTube and 3.2 hours on Hulu.

That means video ads aren’t going away anytime soon.

Americans watched more than 5.6 billion video ads last month — 996 million on Hulu, according to comScore.

More than 85 percent of Americans using the Internet watched some form of video online last month. The average length of video – whether viral or favorite TV show – was 5.3 minutes.

Want to learn more about online video and how it can help your company? Ask the Intellisites’ Albany web design team.

The world wide web is for everyone.

But think about how challenging the internet experience might be for people with disabilities.

People who see, hear, understand, focus, or read differently than others can have a tough time navigating through a website that was not designed with all people in mind. But the Web Accessibility Initiative website gives examples of specific disabilities and some easy ways you can enhance your site to level the playing field for people with these challenges.

For instance, the WAI site points out that many websites present obstacles for individuals with colorblindness. The site suggests labeling color pictures with words, particularly on e-commerce sites that may be selling the same item in, for example, red, blue, green, and gray. It also mentions that text designed to indicate something special is often a different color on a site (e.g. clearance items in red text), but using underlining or bold text would be more helpful for a person with colorblindness.

Providing Access for Everyone

The key is to provide options that will allow different users to access your site in the way that works best for them. If you have videos on your site, for instance, you may want to think about making it easy for a user with a visual impairment to view them at a larger size. You may also consider providing a closed captioning option for the hearing impaired. And it might be a good idea to make the videos easy to turn off in the event that they distract a user with ADHD who is trying to read nearby text.  You’ll find that providing these types of options on your site can also benefit clients who do not have disabilities, allowing them to make choices about how to use elements of your site and making it easier for them to use.

A lot of factors go into the design of a website, but if reaching the largest possible audience is one of your priorities, make sure to tell your web designer that you’re interested in making your site accessible to people with disabilities. After all, a store with a ramp is more likely to get the business of a person who uses a wheelchair, and a website with accommodations for individuals with disabilities can make it clear to your customers that everybody’s welcome at your site.

Did you know that YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine? That’s right, more searches go through YouTube than through any site in the world besides Google. Getting your brand on YouTube can be a powerful strategy, if you do it right. Here are three ways to make it work for your business.

1. Video Testimonials – See if some of your customers will agree to give you 30-second testimonial. Get yourself one of those little flip cameras and just shoot right on the fly. Then run it through free video editing software to make it look professional, upload, make sure the video is optimized, and away you go. Let your past customers convince your future customers that your company is the right choice.
2. Tips and Tricks – Use YouTube to share some of your expertise with the world. If you’re an accountant, chat about some money-saving tidbits. If you own a coffee shop, demonstrate how your customers can best brew your premium coffee at home. Showing off your knowledge is a great way to establish credibility with potential clients.
3. Saturate Search – Google likes to mix up its search results by showing popular websites, blogs, videos, and more. Using properly optimized YouTube videos is a great way to ‘own’ search results for your company. If your company has a YouTube channel or plenty of videos, you have an SEO edge over your competitors who don’t.  Adding any content to the web helps you SEO-wise, but YouTube videos are an especially sweet way to stand out from the crowd.