How Video Can Be Used Effectively Online

By
Marie-Claire Ross



A powerful way to convey your communication messages to
your audience is to be able to have your promotional
video available on your website.

Yet, we have probably all experienced visiting a
website and clicking on a video only to have to been
irritated that the content is not viewable or that the
sound is inaudible. The result is we leave the website
in frustration.

So how do you make sure the video content on your
website can be watched by your audience? It all boils
down to how you want your viewers to access your video
file and the level of video quality you want your movie
to be played at.

There are two different ways of sharing your video file
on the web:

1. Streamable Video

This is where the viewer is able to download sections
of your video (otherwise known as “streaming”), while
the video is playing. The main benefit of this method
is that the user does not have to spend time
downloading the complete video before viewing.

There are three major streaming video formats –
RealVideo (RM), QuickTime (MOV) and Windows Media
(WMV). These are playable on Real Player, QuickTime
Player and Windows Media Player respectively. Windows
Media Player is widely available on most PC’s, as it is
part of Windows Operating System. The other players
need to be installed.

The only negative with streamable video is that the
quality of the video is dependent upon Internet
connection. In addition, it has the annoying habit of
dropping video frames because the streaming software
has to adjust the data rate based on the speed of your
Internet connection, in order to keep playing the
video.

2. Download and Play

This is where the viewer needs to download the entire
video first, then play it on their video player
application. The main advantage is that the video
quality is not affected by Internet connection speed.

However, it can take some time for the video to
download if the file is large.

So which format do you choose?

In a world where first impressions always count, it is
extremely important for companies to appear
professional and trustworthy at all times. Marketing
videos with poor picture quality are likely to reflect
a poor quality company in the mind of the viewer.
Consequently, we always recommend the download and play
option. This is because it allows for high quality
video content to be viewed.

However, as you don’t want viewers to give up on
downloading your video, we only recommend that short
video clips are inserted onto your website.

This means your website users will be able to download
a short video at a high quality picture resolution that
will portray your company in the best possible way.

(c) Marie-Claire Ross 2004. All rights reserved.


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Marie-Claire Ross is one of the partners of Digicast.
Digicast works with organisations who are not satisfied
that their marketing and training materials are helping
their business grow. http://www.digicast.com.au.