In 2015, the American author and professor of communications, W. Joseph Campbell, wrote a book about a single year. It was called 1995: The Year The Future Began. What was so important about that year? Well, to summarise, it was “the inaugural year of the 21st century … the ‘year of the internet’ … when the world wide web entered mainstream consciousness, [and] … started changing lives”. Pretty big year then.
Fast-forward to today and the same will probably be said of 2020 in years to come. And if the future had already arrived back in ‘95, then 2020 may come to be seen as the year that the penny dropped – the future isn’t something that is far away. It’s already here.
As one of our co-founders, Jamie Garside, noted a few months ago: “The last 18 months have changed everything. Covid-19 has pushed us even further online, accelerating an already rapid shift towards digital. The effects have been staggering. Right now, the world is almost entirely driven by digital technologies.”
Being online isn’t an option anymore – and it hasn’t been for a long time. Sure, you could just about get away with avoiding it in the not-so-distant past, but not today. Whether you’re the owner of a barbershop or working on your first digital side hustle, you have to have some digital presence. Otherwise, you’re never going to realize your full potential. And you’re always going to be one big step behind your competitors.
The good news is that for now, it’s not too late to get started. Our recommendation is that you prioritize your website – your digital shop front. There’s plenty of brilliant website builders out there to go with, from Squarespace to GoDaddy, but if you’re a newbie with very little experience, you really can’t go wrong with WordPress.
WordPress: What You Need To Know
Close to 40% of websites out there are powered by WordPress. That’s a huge number – a decent chunk of internet real estate. What makes it so popular is that it’s easy to use and powerful, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. WordPress’ mission, after all, is that “software should work with minimum set up, so you can focus on sharing your story, product, or services freely”.
That’s an outlook we understand all too well – and it’s one of the reasons we use WordPress. We don’t want to be directing all our time to ‘managing it’. No thanks. What we want to be spending our time on is perfecting our software and helping you guys out with handy guides and how-tos on how to nail video content.
The beauty of WordPress is that it puts you in control
WordPress also makes things happen. If you take our blog as an example, it’s vital to its success, enabling us to create the kind of content we want to create easily, helping us do it in a creative and user-friendly way, and, by way of plugins – more on this later – ensuring that we when we send content out into the world it’s as optimized as it can be for search (e.g. think WordPress SEO, think Yoast).
Getting Started On WordPress
It’s free to get started on WordPress, too, meaning one less to worry about when setting up shop in the digital world. What you get with a basic, entry-level plan is a WordPress subdomain, several themes to choose from, and, among other bits and bobs, the ability to customize your site. It’s enough, as WordPress explains, to “be on your way to publishing in less than five minutes”.
But the free plan is limited. You can only get so far with it. And it will cost you to make important upgrades, such as the ability to host your website on a custom domain, being able to monetize your site, and making it grow with plugins (again, more of this in a bit). Think of the cost as money well spent. An ongoing investment. You’re always going to need your website. So, the better it is, the better the opportunities. It’s a simple science.
Finally, the beauty of WordPress is that it puts you in control. You can upgrade when you want to. Add plugins when the moment is right. And make tweaks when it makes sense. And just like our video animation platform, you don’t need any technical experience to get going with it.
Why Video Is Important For Websites (And Conversion Rates)
Your website is where a lot of the magic happens online. It’s where people go to learn about your business or your organization. It’s where they go to better understand what you do, and what kind of products you sell or what kind of service(s) you offer. It’s where prospects go to get more of a sense of who you are, and what you stand for. And, whether it’s organically through Google or via a paid ad on social media, it’s where people end up when they want to find out more information about this, that and the other.
Which is why your website needs to resonate with your audience. Think of it as being the digital version of your business. And just like the real-world version, it has to come across as being professional, genuine, and accessible – easy to use (or navigate) and easy to understand. People act a little differently online. They’re more impatient and in an incredible rush to get what they need. Your website, therefore, has to help them do this quickly and effectively. Cue video.
This truly is the golden age of video. It dominates our lives – and it’s everywhere
Now, we’ve said this before, but it bears repeating – this truly is the golden age of video. It dominates our lives – and it’s everywhere. The most visited site in the world is YouTube. Some of the most popular social media platforms in the world are either defined by video, such as TikTok, or adapting their offering to make video more of a priority (such as Instagram). And throughout the world we consume and use so much more of it than ever before, whether we’re being entertained (think Netflix), learning new skills (think Masterclass or Expert), or communicating with one another (yep, you guessed it, the now daily Zoom call).
So, by adding video content to your website, you’re not only tapping into the zeitgeist, you’re also helping to make it more of a richer and worthwhile experience for your user. And when done well, be it a product video, a testimonial or even a documentary, video can even increase website conversions by a whopping 86%. And if that stat alone isn’t enough to dazzle you (really?), how about the fact that 78% of video marketers have confirmed video has directly helped increase sales. Or perhaps this stat: 64% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after watching a branded video.
We can certainly say that from our experience, video has and continues to increase website conversions and has directly helped increase sales. It’s at the heart of everything we do. And the numbers speak for themselves – video content has played a central role in helping us attract over 170,000 users to our platform. Video converts. End of.
Boost Your Website Conversion Rates With Our WordPress Plugin
This brings us nicely to this final section. We’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching over the last 12 months to better understand how Viddyoze can help more businesses and organizations not only create better video content quickly and affordably, but also how we can support those who are beginning to migrate online, as well as those who are in the market for smart solutions to anything digital.
So, we’re innovating. Thinking of new ideas. Testing things out. And every now and again, something magic happens – and the results, in our humble opinion, are quite spectacular. Our new WordPress plugin, which has just launched, is just one of the many gems that have come out of our lab this year. And it’s going to make a huge difference to the 28% of small businesses looking to set up a website for the first time in 2021, as well as the 44% of small businesses looking to improve their website this year. Good quality video converts. That’s it.
For those of you new to Viddyoze, well, we haven’t forgotten about you either
The short of it is that for existing users, our plugin lets you connect your Viddyoze account to your WordPress account, meaning you’ll be able to create high-quality video animations without ever having to jump between the two platforms. It all happens inside of WordPress.
And for those of you new to Viddyoze, well, we haven’t forgotten about you either. You too can download and add our plugin to your WordPress account. All you need to do is sign up to our brand-new and very awesome basic plan, and you’ll soon be able to whip together impactful, attention-grabbing video animations right inside of WordPress. And, in no time at all, you can bet that your conversion rate will begin to steadily improve.
Oh, and one last thing before we wrap up. All of this is free. The plugin. The basic plan. It won’t cost you a single dime. You really won’t get a better deal than that. So, what are you waiting for? Get started today by tapping on this link now.
