So you want to upload videos to your website. For space, load-time and other reasons, the better option is uploading them to a third-party video site and embedding them on your own site.

But which service do you choose? We’ve done some research breaking down the pros and cons of arguably the two biggest players today.

YouTube:

When it comes to video online, YouTube reins king. If you want your video seen beyond your site, YouTube is the way to go

• High definition
• Upload files up to 20GB in size
• Up to 15 minutes in length (you can raise your limit by verifying your account)
• Allowed file formats
• Private videos (give specific people access)
• Unpublished videos (won’t list in searched, but assigned unlisted URL)

One big drawback to YouTube, according to some of our clients, is the related videos that appear at the end of the videos. But for others, the social sharing ability is worth it.

Vimeo:

Vimeo is newer than YouTube and tends to have videos of a more artistic nature.

• 500MB per week (up to 10 files per day)
• No video length restrictions
• High definition
• Vimeo Plus (which you pay for) allows for up to 5GB upload per week
• Allowed file formats

There are no related videos on Vimeo that come up at the end. For a site that is solely embedding the video for viewing on their site, this is the recommended way to go.

Still looking for some other ideas? Here are 30 more.

Do you have an idea for a video but aren’t sure how to execute? Are you looking for some advice on creating videos for your site? Ask the online video experts at IntelliSites.

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.

We’ve talked before about some simple ways you can use YouTube to promote your business.

But don’t get me wrong. I only scratched the surface with that post. YouTube has grown into a marketing superhero that provides a ton of different advertising possibilities.

Today we’ll talk about some advertising opportunities YouTube offers to those of you who are ready to go beyond the basics.

Marketing in the World of YouTube

People visit YouTube to be entertained by videos. But thanks to movie trailers and TV commercials and radio ads, we’re used to entertainment sources doubling as advertising sources. YouTube has built on this premise by setting up a number of ways businesses can reach an audience through their site. Here are some of the best ones:

• Advertise in Popular Videos. Through YouTube’s Partner Watch, your clickable ad can appear as viewers watch the videos uploaded by trusted content partners, either in the format of a banner across the bottom of the video or as a banner located next to the video as it plays.
• Display an ad on YouTube’s homepage. That’s right, you can market your website on YouTube’s actual homepage, which is viewed by a ridiculous amount of people each day. These interactive advertisements, which are displayed for 24 hours at a time, allow viewers to click on them and arrive at your homepage.  And even those people who don’t opt to click on them still see your ad when they start their daily YouTube adventure.
• Create a customized YouTube Channel.   This is the best way to organize and display all of your videos. If you’ve been diligently uploading testimonials and how-to videos onto YouTube, why not develop a YouTube channel to serve as a one-stop shop where your customers can find all of your YouTube treasures?

If all this talk about videos makes you want to watch one, here’s one that gives some great answers to some FAQs about YouTube advertising.  And here’s one about cats playing patty-cake, in case that’s more your style.

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.

Lost in The Web Jungle

There are bo-jillions of great e-marketing tools out there. Company web sites, social networking sites, forums, blogs, youtube, email, etc.

All are powerful by themselves. But they’re most powerful when integrated into a complete marketing strategy.

Assemble Your A-Team

Would the A-Team have worked so well without the individual personalities of each member? No way. and I pity the foo’ who thinks his marketing can survive with a website alone (sorry – I couldn’t resist).

Your goals will require a few different tools, each with it’s own role to play. Before jumping into the world of e-marketing, you need to know your Howlin’ Mad Murdock from your B.A. Baracus.

Your e-marketing tools are like employees. Your salespeople make sales, your project managers get things done, your customer service people make your customers happy. The cooks cook, the servers serve, the bartender makes drinks, and the busboys clean up. Switch things up and you’ll have cold food, weak drinks, and pretty soon no customers.

Who’s Driving This Thing?

The moral: know the strengths of your media. Your blog positions you, rallies community and helps with SEO. Don’t ask it to make sales calls – It won’t succeed, and you’ll lose a lot of your community. Your email campaigns are good for direct marketing and communicating messages. Don’t use them as chat forums. Too many email blasts will decimate your mailing list as people get annoyed and unsubscribe.

And don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal. Without something to strive for, your marketing efforts will quickly dilute.