MASTCOM.COM Blog

Archive for February, 2010

Here are just a few reasons:
- To increase the time a visitor will spend on your site.
- To increase your appearances in web search engines.
- To decrease the sales cycle–your prospect will be better informed.
- To create a consistent message.
- To increase your conversion rate for new visitors to your site.

How can you use video on your web site affordably and effectively?
- Find the right producer to assist you and tell your story.
- Keep it short and appeal to emotion if possible.
- Cut to the chase–do not waste any time getting to the point.

There are many examples of web video in past articles of this blog. Of course, there are many other uses of web video, like product demonstration, testimonials, meeting highlights, etc. The bottom line is that people prefer to watch videos over reading lots of text on a web site.

When discussing digital media projects, clients will sometimes ask us which is the best way to create and deliver their message — through video or Flash? It depends on a number of factors, the first being the source material. If you have mostly video, you should create a video. If you have no video, but lots of graphics, then it may be best for Flash.

Here are some other considerations:

Flash works/looks better than when your message needs to play back at larger sizes from the web. However, raster images and photos animated in Flash will require more bandwidth and are more likely to look “jerky” if moving.

Video works best for photos/raster images, movement/animation and syncing precisely to sound. However, the drawback for video is that image sharpness will be degraded by compression for standard DVD players and especially when compressed for the web. The frame rate also needs to be adjusted for web video. Typically web video is converted from 30 fps to 15 or even 12 frames per second.

Flash defaults to 12 frames per second which can look bad when converted to video, but usually looks fine on the web. All video is 72 dpi, or gets converted to 72 along the way. Everything on the web, including Flash, is also 72 dpi so there’s no such thing as 300 dpi video or Flash. However, it’s good to start with the highest possible resolution.

The bottom line is we need to know exactly what media and device it will be displayed on to recommend the best possible playback results. Call us today for a free consultation on the best way to deliver your messages at (763) 231-1881.