Internet Video Publishing Advice, Best Practices and Tips

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1. Video Publishing & Website Integration Best Practices
2. To Host or Not to Host - 3 Options for Website Video Publishing Environments
   • Self-Hosted
   • Online Video Platforms (OVP, e.g. Brightcove)
   • Post & Embed (Social video, e.g. YouTube)
   • Things to Consider
     • Purpose for video?
       • Sales & Marketing
       • Customer Service, How-to
       • HR, Internal Marketing, Training
     • # Videos
     • Monetization strategy (ROI)
     • IT resources?
     • Need deep integration?
3. Advantages / Disadvantages
4. Self-Hosted Video
   • Use-Cases
     • Few videos
     • No need for integration
     • Good technical resources
   • Advantages
     • Complete control
       • File formats, delivery, players, monetization
   • Disadvantages
     • Need resources for:
       • Storage
       • Delivery
       • Integration
5. Video File Formats
   • Use Flash Player/Container – Ubiquitous
     • SWF NOT a movie – player only
   • File Formats & Compression?
     • Flv vs. mp4 vs. m4v vs. mov vs. wmv, etc…?
     • .h264 vs. MPEG-2 vs. Vorbis, etc… ?
6. Recommendations
   • Mp4 .h264 codec w/AAC (audio)
     • Highest quality for file size
     • Supported by:
       • Mac, PC, Flash 9+, iTunes
       • Mobile devices (iPhone, etc…)
       • Broadcast
       • Blue-Ray
   • Tools for Transcoding
     • Sorenson Squeeze
     • Macromedia Flash Media Encoder
     • Handbrake (free)
     • Encoding.com
     • VideoRX.com
7. Delivery Best Practices
   • Lots of video? – You’ll Need a CDN (content delivery network)
     • Recommendations
       • Amazon S3 + Cloudfront✔
       • Akamai
       • Bitgravity, etc…
   • Players
     • Custom branding, interactivity, analytics?
     • Recommendations:
       • JW Player/Longtail✔
       • Flow Player
       • Macromedia Flash
8. Video Hosting Platforms
   • “An online video platform is a free or fee-based self-service platform that offers hosting, encoding, customizable & embeddable players, and metrics for organizations that wish to upload and distribute their own video content.”
9. Dedicated Video Hosting Platforms - Shopping for an Online Video Platform
   • Evaluate Options
     • Monetization
     • Customization
     • Interactivity
     • Analytics
     • DIY or plug-n-play
     • Plugins & API
   • Get under the hood – test-drive
     • Most offer free trials
   • Month to month agreements
     • What’s their migration policy?
10. Dedicated Online Video Hosting/Delivery Platforms
    • All-Purpose
      • Brightcove
      • Vzaar
      • Fliqz
      • Bitsontherun
      • Ooyala
      • Kaltura
      • Sorenson 360
      • 60 +
    • Sales & Marketing
      • Veeple
      • Wistia
    • Live
      • Ustream.tv
      • Livestream.tv (formerly Mogulus)
      • Justin.tv
    • WordPress
      • Tons of plug-ins available (JWPlayer, Kaltura, etc…)
      • Video press
11. Post & Embed – “Social Video Platforms”
    • Advantages – Less Expensive, simple to use, social nature
    • All – Social nature, destination sites…
    • YouTube = Free, easy to use, large audience, etc… (rights->YouTube)
    • Vimeo= Inexpensive, HD, customizable player (no products)
    • Blip.tv = Cheap, customizable players, ad support, syndication, iTunes
    • Viddler= Customizable players, HD, syndication, in-video commenting
12. Uploading to YouTube
    • Recommendations/ Guidelines for Uploading to YouTube
      • HD – best quality, multiple options
      • 16:9 Aspect Ratio Recommended (4:3) letterboxed
      • Resolution
        • HD = 1280x720
        • Else = 640x360 (16:9), 480x360 (4:3)
      • Mp4 file format
      • .h264 video compression
      • AAC or MP3 audio compression
      • Frames per second: 30
      • Maximum length: 10:59 (we recommend 2-3 minutes)
      • Maximum file size: 2 GB (still says 1G, but trust me)
13. YOUTUBE Hacks & Tricks – Customize Embed Code
    • New embed code will be changing soon – currently not XHTML complaint
    • Turn off title & ratings
      • &showinfo=0
    • Turn off search and related
      • &showsearch=0&rel=0
    • Turn off annotations
      • &iv_load_policy=3
    • Custom Size? = Use 16:9 + 25px height
      • Width(9)=Height(16) – 25px
    • Want a custom player?
      • Use Chrome-less Player (YouTube API)
        • JW FLV Player
14. Web Video Integration Best Practices
15. Creating a Video Section – (Multiple Videos)
    • Subdirectory vs. subdomain
      • Depends on resources
      • Subdirectory preferred – i.e. site.com/videos/
    • Don’t make it difficult for users to find
      • Prominently link to your video section
      • Incorporate video results within your own site search
    • Help search engines find your video content
      • MRSS feeds, XML Sitemaps
16. Creating a Video Landing Page
    • 1 Video/URL
    • Unique URLS w/Keywords
    • Use Embedded Players
      • Not Pop-ups, not lightbox
    • Optimize the Video Landing Page
      • SEO principles for titles, URLs, metadata, H1, etc…
      • Keyword anchor text to URLs
      • Provide Context to Surround Video (accessibility/SEO)
      • Contextually related links (products, videos, articles)
      • Related on-page text (tags, transcripts, comments)
      • Best Practices for Video Landing Pages
      • Video Landing Page Anatomy
17. Other Tips for Website Video
    • Consider distribution outside your site
      • YouTube for sure
      • iTunes
      • Tools
        • tubemogul
        • heyspread
    • Enable social interactivity
      • People like to share videos
      • Social bookmarking, embedding, commenting & rating
    • Create compelling thumbnails
      • Eye-catching
      • Relevant
      • High Quality