Website Homepage Video

What is homepage video

A homepage video is a video hosted on the front page of a website. It helps quickly inform visitors about your company, product, or brand. A well-crafted homepage video can improve engagement and conversion rates, as well as enhance the image of your brand.

Why should I use a video on homepage?

The play button is your strongest call to action move. People are far more likely to click it and watch a video than read tons of text on your website. And that’s why you want to be prepared by predicting and planning their actions.

These days, everyone wants to have a video on their homepage. It’s the latest must-have in marketing.

And it should be, because the reported numbers that the studies and experts are sharing are impressive.

• The average conversion rate for websites using video is 65% more than a website without video

• The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video (Forbes)

• 72% of consumers prefer to watch a video about a product than read a product description (HubSpot)

• 62% of businesses say their homepage explainer video is effective

• And 90% of consumers state that video “helped them make purchasing decisions” (Forbes)

However, when I ask people why they need a video on their homepage and how they’re going to use it, 9 times out of 10 they don’t have an answer.

Guys, remember, this is your money. At Yans, we want to help you make sure your every dollar is invested wisely.

So read on, because we’re going to break down every detail to help you use video right for your marketing purposes.

How  You Can Use Video On Your Website Homepage?

Video on a homepage can have different roles and possibilities. Here are the most popular:

• Background video
• Product explanation – explainer video
• Brand video- Create a brand image
• Website design integration
• Product or portfolio demonstration

As you can see, the roles can be quite different, but they all have one main goal. Give people a reason to start a conversation with you.

4 Uses of Video On Your Homepage

Explainer Video

This is probably the most popular option. Obviously, once people are on your site, they need to quickly understand what you’re all about. Just keep in mind that homepage explainer videos should have 1 of 2 main tactics/strategies.

1. Addressing pain points, suggesting your solution, and sharing your features and benefits. Your product or service is either new or new to the viewer, so it’s your job to tell them and explain all about it.

Explain why you are different. This is another tactic. If you’re targeting a specific audience where people are in the market and know there are possible solutions, you can use this opportunity to cut to the chase and let them know why you’re different and they should choose you.

Brand Video

Brand videos work great when potential customers already know what they want and are looking for a reliable partner. This method portrays you as that reliable partner and builds on that trusted connection to your audience.

Demonstration

If your product or service has a unique feature, just demonstrate it! You know it’s your biggest hook and selling point, so let them see it ASAP and get excited to contact you.

Background Video

Background videos usually have a dual role of integrating with the design and establishing an image of your business.

In this example, the video does both those things. It’s complementary to the design and also creates an image of freshness and healthy food with the cold and snowy vibe.

But be careful, as background videos can be more attractive than useful, or even distract from the call to action or CTA.

All told, there are dozens of uses for homepage videos and each have many variations.

If you don’t know where to start, just schedule your free consultation with a video strategist and get to know how to use video in your marketing to raise conversion.

Free Consultation

What to Consider When Creating a Video for Your Website Homepage

Very often, people/businesses create a video without a plan in mind for what to do with the video once they have it.

Ideally, you’ll want to plan this ahead of time because depending on your goals, the video may end up different.

Here what you should consider when creating a video for your website homepage.

Short and to the point

Even though video already saves time for visitors to your site, you should still not take that for granted as attention spans are shorter than ever to let people know what benefits they’ll receive.

They’re on your website to find out what you can do for them. So let them know ASAP since they’re impatient and will move on fast if you don’t get them hooked with interest.

Make your value clear

You also need to make your value crystal clear. The benefits should be described with focus and as simply as possible so that a child could understand it.

Plan your next step

Plan what the viewer’s next step will be. What should they do immediately after watching your video? Do you have a unique proposition, a free demo or trial, or an easy way for them to learn more?

There should be some sort of call to action button in the direct vicinity of the video.

Location of homepage video

The video should usually be on top and in the center. Another good possibility is to create the composition of the top of your page to place the video in the most visible section. You can also use tools to analyze your homepage heat-map to see where the best video position will be.

Will video solve all of my problems?

First, you should understand that video is not going to sell by itself. Again, the best thing your video can do is start a dialogue. What do I mean?

Imagine you’re on a website. Will you pay a dollar after watching a video? Probably not. However, what would you do if the product interests you? You’ll try to find out more info; specs, how it works, features, pricing, etc., depending on the type of product or service it is.

The bottom line?

Homepage video should start a conversation, persuading your potential customer to proceed on the journey you want them to into your sales or marketing funnel.

What NOT to do

Do not try to share everything or get too detailed.

It doesn’t matter if your product does 15 revolutionary things no other product does. That’s too much info for one video, and you can always make more. In the short amount of time you have their attention, you can talk about 1 or 2 main benefits.

Don’t try to get into every small feature or app platform you support. They won’t select you for that anyway. 1 strong reason is more than enough to get them into your funnel.

Autoplay

Do not set your video to autoplay if your main benefit is in it, it’s too distracting. Wistia tested autoplay video on their homepage and ended up with a worse result. You’ll get a better result without it.

Enable Related Videos on Embedded YouTube Videos

If you host your video on YouTube, make sure that after the video is played there is no autoplay, playlist, or suggested related video showing.

It’s not professional, and sometimes suggested videos will show content direct from your competition, and you definitely don’t want that! It’s easy to disable when getting your embed code, so make sure to do that.

Test, Test, and Test

Congratulations! You’re through the halfway point with your video!

Now you need to try different things out to see what works best. Try to change locations on your homepage and different styles with your play button.

Of course, that’s just for clicking the video. You should also be testing different messages and calls to action with A/B testing tools to see what converts most.

FAQ

Does a video on your homepage slow down your website?

If your file is too big, you can run the video through an optimizer to make it load much more quickly. It’s better to optimize it than to set it to autoplay.

Should I upload it to my website, or embed from a different host?

For larger files, we recommend using hosting services so you don’t need to spend money on your own bandwidth. That will also keep load speed from being affected. Additionally, you’ll get analytics and other marketing tools you can use to track and retarget your viewers.

Which video hosting services do you recommend?

We recommend considering 3 main services:

YouTube
Vimeo
Wistia

How much of a difference does video on my homepage make for SEO?

A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video (Insivia).
Video increases organic search traffic on a website by 157% (Conversion XL).

How long should a homepage video be?

It really depends on what kind of video it is. If it’s an explainer video, then the best duration is 60 – 90 seconds. If it’s branded content or a product demonstration it can be longer. The main thing is to remember that it should be as focused and clear as possible.

Can I use YouTube videos on my website?

Yes, you can copy the embed code from YouTube and use that on your site. Just remember to have it branded on your website and remember to make sure autoplay and related videos are disabled.

Where can I get free videos for my homepage?

There are some great sources out there for free videos. Just Google “free stock footage” and read about the license on the website before using. Here are some sites you can check out:

What’s the best format for video on a website?

We recommend mp4 or MOV in the highest possible quality.

What’s the best resolution for web video?

Depending on the design of your site, you may want square or vertical, but the most popular is a horizontal 16:9 aspect ratio. And depending on the platform, resolutions will differ. Here are some possible variations:

2160p: 3840×2160
1440p: 2560×1440
1080p: 1920×1080
720p: 1280×720
480p: 854×480
360p: 640×360
240p: 426×240

What’s the optimal file size for video on a homepage?

Ideally, you want to keep it as small as possible as big videos can affect the speed of your site and the customer’s experience. If you can optimize it to less than 3mb, you’re in good shape. Just remember, the longer and better quality the video is, the bigger the file size will be. So for a bigger file size, it’s better to have an external host.

Final Thoughts

As you’ve seen, there are plenty of options for using a homepage video. And the results are unmistakable – the possibilities for success are much higher for websites that use it vs. those that don’t. If you’ve got any questions on how a homepage video can help your business, we’re always happy to provide a free consultation.