In last week’s post, I pointed to a couple of articles speculating about current web design trends. One of those articles made the argument that video content would continue to become much more prevalent throughout this year and beyond. A blog post by video production company Key West Video predictably corroborated those claims, urging corporate clients to make video production a major part of their web marketing strategy.
The latter article promoted the idea that one minute of video can be worth 1.8 million words. While I don’t disagree about the overall growth in importance of video content, I would hasten to point out that this needs to be carefully contextualized by you or your local web marketing company.
Like many of the trends I observe among Los Angeles web marketing firms, video content is a good servant but a bad master. As much as some clients and visitors are demanding more of it to provide a wealth of information in a compact space, there are others who find it distracting or intrusive when it is not the sort of content they are looking for.
The article linked in last week’s post suggested that some web design and internet marketing companies would start off 2017 by making introductory videos take up the entirety of client homepages. This may indeed be beneficial for some sites, especially those with a defined pathway for new visitors who are seeking specific and comprehensive information. But it may be a disadvantage to those whose visitor bases are more fluid and include people who desire the opportunity to seek out the type and quantity of information that they choose.
As with all things, you should have a thorough conversation with your local web marketing company and court a second opinion before you commit to trends like an emphasis on video content. This will be as true in 2017 as it has been in any previous year.
