When making your own web video, it’s important to make sure the beginning of your clip has a great intro
Most web visitors make snap judgments on both websites and videos when browsing from site to site. This means you only have a small window of time to appeal to the viewers sub-conscious in order to captivate their attention.
Your video intro is the first impression the viewer sees once it’s been clicked on, so it’s vital you create something that assures the viewer they have found what they are looking for, and encourages them to keep watching.
If your intro illustrates what the viewer should expect in a professional manner then your video stands a chance of playing onwards for another 15-30 seconds or more. But if the intro is vague, uninteresting or unprofessional, then you can be sure the visitor will ‘bounce’. A high ‘bounce rate’ is bad for many reasons as Google and Youtube have an algorithm that detects a visitors skipping off quickly, and can mildly penalize your Youtube channel as it sees the video as ‘poor quality content’ – kind of like ‘one bad apple spoiling the bunch’.
A bad intro to your website’s video may also reflect badly on the quality of your whole site. A visitor may rightly make the assumption that an unprofessional video means the same for the rest of the site and may bounce off altogether in search of something better.
For most people trying their best to keep up with the latest website trends, it’s hard enough just making a video in the 1st place. The majority of website owners don’t even bother with creating their own video because the thought of even editing a video seems daunting. But the reality is, that it’s not that hard at all. There are plenty of how-to videos on youtube itself on how to tackle these problems along with directions where to find free software to perform the tasks needed.
What’s important is facing each task once at a time. For example first focus on the story or structure of your clip. Once filmed, focus on some simple editing. Then look at creating your intro… and then your outro. When managing this take in bite-sized pieces, you will be surprised how easy it can be.
Check out this great video on how to make a compelling intro – Stay tuned for another tutorial on how to create an outro that will cause your viewers to take action.