A successful online business is defined by its measure of web presence, typically how high it is ranked in the major search engines like Google and Yahoo. Today, every small and big online business owner knows that SEO is critical to their website’s success. Search engine optimization is the key to attaining web business excellence; it’s all about getting to the top of search engine ranks and sustaining the cash flow.

We have heard it said repeatedly: “content is king”. Yes, it is. However, it is not the only thing that can be optimized, or should be optimized. Sadly, to a large number of online business owners, optimization still begins and stops at content.

Pictures and videos help improve your site’s content. They provide essential breaks in paragraphs of text, helping to clearly highlight a product and promote it. When optimized, pictures and videos further your website’s chances of attaining high search engine ranks. This is where a professional SEO services company can help you out.

How to Optimize Pictures?

• An image is the closest your customers will get to experience a product online. You will want to use the right type of image in your website design to compliment your content. If your content talks about a dog training package, the image should ideally be that of the package contents (books/videos) and not just a couple of dogs, or a dog with its trainer.

• Pictures convey ideas better than words. Choose an image that visitors can refer to for a better idea of what your content is describing.

• The image of a German Shepherd dog will be more specific with “German Shepherd” or “Alsatian” instead of “myalbum17.jpg”. Use specific keywords that best describe the image.

• Even a generic keyword like “dog” may not get you targeted visitors for German Shepherd or Alsatian.

• Always use an alt tag for your images. Search engine crawlers cannot ‘see’ your image and read its content. Image alts make your images ‘visible’ to the search engines, especially when they contain the specific keyword describing the image.

• If you are linking text to an image, the anchor text should also contain the keyword describing the image.

• Keep your file names, alt tags and anchor texts short and descriptive. Don’t overload with too many keywords.

How to Optimize Videos?

• Similar to images, use keyword rich alt tags and anchor texts for your videos. Also, make sure you have a video file name that is specific. Adding a keyword content transcript for the video will also help search engines read it better.

• Always post your product video on your site first, and then post on video submission sites. This makes it easier for you to get links by using embed codes.

• Break a large video in two parts. Post both parts on your site and only the first part on video submission sites. Provided you have interesting and useful content in your video, visitors will visit your site for the second part of the video.

• Search engines love sitemaps. Make a video site map and let search engine crawlers go through your videos.

• Build internal and external links for your videos. Keep subject relevancy in mind when you are linking videos. You would not want to link a dog training video to a dog movie clip. That kind of linking does not work with users. Besides, it’s no value addition to your site.

• Make your videos social by bookmarking, tweeting or sharing them on social networks.

• Use keywords to optimize the URL of the page where you are placing the video.  This usually works when there is only one video on one page. You can also change headings, subheadings, and Meta and title tags to describe the video. Of course, the page’s content has to be on the video.

In other words, if the page is there solely to promote the video, make URL, headers and Meta tag changes enunciating video benefits, content, etc.

Live videos, sound, animation is the hot pie of modern web. Be it a business, e commerce website, to name a few, all have been using these devices to make the websites more interactive and appealing.

Gone are the times when websites were made of simple static pages with fixed background and flat colors. Websites have undergone a huge makeover in recent past. Today, video clippings constitute an integral of as part of the overall design of the newly built websites.

Rise of Clip Culture

With the growth of broadband network, video clips began to be added to websites increasingly. This new trend has given rise to new set of values within the web arena and set up a new web culture popularly known as the clip culture.

Boom in clip culture became more apparent in 2005 following the advent of You Tube and other sites like Google Video, MSN Video, Shockinghumor, and Yahoo! Video born in and around that hour. Today,online videos have become the order of the day.

Sources of online videos

The content of these web videos range of various kinds. Web videos sometimes depict moments of great importance, any performance, humour , any oddity, if any, to name a few. News, amateur video, music videos, historical videos and movies are the most reliable sources for these video clippings. Again, sporting videos,television programmes,film traliers also supply material for these online videos.

New mode of video recording

Usually, good quality camcorders with high resolution,good sound recording are used for video recording. However, it has been observed that digital camera, mobile phone and web cam are also used to shoot videos. High resolution,high mega pixels, high end sound recording tool of these digital formats give clear, sharp picture quality and perfectly audible videos which are at par with the videos made from advanced camcorders.

Different types of web videos

Websites often have videos of their own. For instance, business websites have web videos demostrating the values of the company, its product and services. Again, there is the scope of online sharing of videos sites which give an easy platform to independent amateurs to publish their videos without any difficulty. Blip.tv,VideoEgg, Dailymotion, Veoh are some of the other most popular online video sharing sites.

Trend of online video sharing

2006 became a record year in the history of web world wherein the web videos were no longer limited within stringent lines of only being viewed as mere piece of information. Now, videos began to be shared in websites. These web videos became the next stop shop of expressing free will of the GenNext.

Characteristic of web videos

1. Flash video format is commonly used. Besides, RealMedia ,Quicktime or DivX and Windows Media Video are other popular formats .
2. It is generally available free.
3. Poor technical quality(Not all videos) as it is uploaded in the web by private individuals.
4. It offers a platform of absolute expression as it is not subject to censorship.
5. Generally these videos are used in Web 2.0 sites and weblogs.
6. Web video is made with advertising revenues at the website in which it is hosted.

Both business industries as well as individuals have greatly benefited with the rise of the web video. These kind of communication is highly intercative in nature.Web videos are very much applealing to the human eye. The demonstration of the company,its values, products and services is very much live. Again, individuals have great an oppurtunity to express their views and thoughts effectively to the world. Again, web videos covering world wide issues are very much informative and a good source of entertainment. Despite its huge popularity, it has been observed that online videos are sometimes consist of vulgar and obscene elements. There are many instances, to name one is the shooting at a school in Finland. Inspite of the all major drawbacks ,which had an alarming impact on the society as a whole, web videos are in huge demand and growing at an increased rate in the world.