Video is universally recognized as the best option to increase the ROI of your marketing efforts. It's so much so, that you have to be extremely good with marketing copy to be successful without video in today's marketing environment.
This is where Vidyz, a cloud video hosting provider shines, mainly because it was designed for video creators that have online marketing as their main goal.
If you stop and think about it, there are two types of video creators in this world, namely...
1. The YouTube type, that concentrates on growing their channel withing YouTube and love people coming to YouTube to watch as many of their videos as possible and,
2. The ones that create videos with the purpose of selling something. Which invariably forces them to embed that video in a sales page of some kind.
This second variety of creator, doesn't care much about growing a "channel". They're more interested in having people come to their sales page and not leaving until they take some kind of action, be it buying whatever they're selling or joining their mailing list.
For this type of creator Vidyz is a godsend. Vidyz was created by a marketer, precisely because YouTube cares more about its own traffic and that of the first type of video content creator.
The Problem of YouTube for Marketers
The result of this, is that YouTube makes every effort to siphon traffic back to their site, whenever it's embedded in a page somewhere else on the internet.
As you can see in the image, even before starting the video, it already is offering the viewer options to leave your site.
Even worse, when the video is finished, the options are much more plentiful. There are the recommended videos, the option to go directly to YouTube, the link to go to YouTube to visit the channel being shown and so on...
Look at the second YouTube image and tell me... what in the world does John Oliver has to do with my "How to light your videos" video?
It certainly makes marketing sites look highly unprofessional.
The Advantages of Vidyz for Marketers
This is where Vidyz shines. You can program which links as shown and when.
For instance, at the end of a video, you can program a specific URL to which the viewer will automatically be redirected after the video finishes. On top of that, you can add the following things to your video that is always to your advantage:
- Call to actions that reside on top the video like buttons and forms
- Slides that stop the video until the viewer takes an action. These slides allow you again to add CTAs to the video, increasing your chances as a marketer of obtaining your desired result
- You can create SEO optimized pages automatically, just by setting the video as public within the Vidyz member's area. These pages can be customized with your logo and theme color, CTA buttons and a separate description of the video
- You can add a customized clickable lower third message that takes the viewer to your intended destination
- Autoplay option that's not stopped by your browser
- Detailed views and plays statistics to be able to assess the success of your marketing efforts
- Automatic GIF file generator that accompanies your video wherever it goes
- Customized thumbnails
All in all, Vidyz is really a gold mine for any marketer that is willing to actually sit down and create videos.
Here are a three specific situations for which Vidyz would be perfect and YouTube not necessarily.
- Video Sales Letters
- Internet Marketing Product reviews
- Interviews with Internet Marketing Product owners during a launch
In all these three cases, you do not want your viewers to be distracted. Why not? Because you want them to take a specific action after watching the video.
You don't want them wandering away before they do what you want them to do. Imagine a person who is on the fence of buying whatever you're offering.
It's obvious that you cannot completely control what your visitors do. In reality, they can go wherever they want. However, you don't want to put distractions in front of them when you actually want to concentrate.
Let's examine some of the cool features of this service
Automatic GIF file creator
Very often having a moving thumbnail, so to speak, is a good idea to attract the attention of your visitor.
Vidyz has an option to create a 3 second GIF automatically. Just pick the point in the video where this 3 seconds should start and click on create.
Once it's done, you just add it to your video. After that, no matter where your video is embedded, the GIF will accompany it. And that's a big advantage because it's an automatic process.
Customizable Lower Third
Vidyz allows you to customize the text of the lower third area of your video. If you opt to show controls as you embed your video, the lower third of the video will show the text you want.
On top of that, you're able to add a link to that text. Giving you the ability to send your visitors to your desired destination. Once again, you have control of the situation.
Detailed Views and Plays Statistics
For each and every video in Vidyz, there is an option to display the detailed views and plays statistics for that particular month. This statistics reset every month.
When a page that has a video embedded is loaded on a browser, the system will count 1 view. If the visitor clicks on the play button, then Vidyz will count 1 play. To recap, views are loaded pages where the video is embedded and plays are when the uses actually clicks the play button.
As can be seen on the image, you get information about unique views as well as unique plays. The location of the views is displayed on a map, so that you can have an graphical idea as to where your viewers are located.
For the plays, you'll get also how long the played the video for. That information is displayed in the bottom right area where "mrbockreviews.com" is displayed in orange. When only the name of the domain is displayed, that means it is just a view.
Training is offered as well
As you'll see on the video, there is a tutorial for each section that explains how that feature is to be used. The developer Brett Rutecky has made sure that you understand how to use every feature available in the system.
You have a "Basic Overview" tutorial, as well as "Video Settings", how to "Embed Code", how to "Use Slides", the use of "Video Pages", "Creating GIF's", "Saving Bandwith" and how to understand the "Video Stats". On top of that, there is a specific tutorial on building your slides.
All in all, the training is complete and will have you up and running in no time. I was able to upload and embed my first video in less than 1 hour after getting access to Vidyz.
My Only Gripe
At the moment and as I mention in the video, my only gripe with the system is the fact that, at least for me (I tried in Firefox and Chrome, on desktop and mobile), there is no way to start or pause a video once you're in full screen mode.
Specially on a mobile device, this tends to be a bit cumbersome, because you don't have an ESC key that you can hit and immediately be able to pause. Mostly you have to activate your back key, press it and then pause.
However, given that this is a cloud program, it would only be a matter of updating the software on their servers and all the users would have the updated version. No need to download or install anything. Based on this, I don't see this as a show stopper, just a little temporary annoyance.
My Verdict
Vidyz is a well needed solution to a problem created in recent years by YouTube for the type of content creators that use their videos for marketing purposes embedded in sales pages or blogs. With this sofware you avoid losing your precious traffic to distractions that have nothing to do with your marketing goals.
You get to keep your traffic on your site, and if you decide to send them somewhere else, it's on YOUR TERMS. Not those of YouTube.
For this I see Vidyz as an excellent addition to anybody's marketing tools.
