In an interesting article on ReelSEO, guest columnist Stephen Condon (VP of Sales and Marketing at PixelFish) lists some things to keep in mind when creating effective online video ads.

The second bullet in his list reads:

• Include a call-to-action and ensure that it can be easily edited.

Condon’s point is that you need to optimize your VideoAds not just for search but also for viewer response.

Assumptions about viewer response

When people think of viewer response in relation to online advertising, they typically think of clicks.

For example, an ad might contain a link to an advertiser’s home page or to a printable page that includes a 20% Off coupon.

While web links are tried and true response triggers and I’d never suggest you avoid them, in this post, I’d like to encourage you to go beyond clicks and try something new in the viewer response line.

Lead capture: An effective complement to clicks

While it’s great if viewers of a VideoAd visit an advertiser’s website, it’s even better if they respond to an offer or promotion by providing their names, email addresses, and other personal information.

In the Mixpo Studio, you have two options for generating these highly qualified leads. You can:

• Customize the Inquire call to action that is built in to the VideoAd Player.
• Add promotional overlays and associate them with lead capture forms.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Restaurant

In this VideoAd, the owners of a seafood restaurant have taken advantage of both a call to action and an overlay to generate leads.

This customized call to action gives viewers a quick and easy way to request a reservation.

Tip The owners also customized a click call to action (Find Us!) to provide viewers with a map to the restaurant location.

This overlay informs viewers that the restaurant’s menus change with the seasons and invites them to be among the first to know when changes are made.

Clicking the overlay opens a customizable form where viewers provide their names, email addresses, and more.

Law firm

In this VideoAd, a law firm specializing in personal injury cases encourages viewers to get in touch with the firm in two ways.

This call to action makes it easy for viewers to contact the firm to ask questions or make appointments.

This overlay eliminates barriers by inviting viewers to explore, cost-free, whether or not personal injury cases have merit.

Take Stephen Condon’s advice

Don’t limit yourself to clicks. Use all of the tools at your disposal to optimize your VideoAd for viewer response.

I’d like to know more about associating lead capture forms with overlays

Please tell me more about overlays

Please tell me more about calls to action

Tags: lead capture, Mixpo, optimize, overlays

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 10:32 am and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.