Q&A: How do I embed a video into my website?

Over the past year we have produced many videos for our winery clients. Our most popular videos produced have been Wine Bytes which we featured in this month's Artisan Media Newsletter. One of the most common questions we get from our video marketing clients is "Now that I have this cool video, how do I embed it into my website?" Most wineries have some sort of video (whether it is professionally produced or the product of one of their staff members who is handy with a video camera and editing software) that helps to showcase the winery and worthy of posting on their website. Many wineries make the mistake of attempting to post their videos into their content management system which CAN affect the performance of their entire website. Our recommendation is to use a 3rd party video hosting/streaming solution which separates the content from your website and the video itself, thus providing the ideal viewing environment for those who wish to stream your videos on a high speed internet connection.

There are several cost-effective options available for shooting and streaming video, all of which use some form of flash technology. YouTube is the most common hosting and streaming solution. Along with the viral marketing potential of the You Tube viewing community, this service is FREE. Like most other things, you get what you pay for...and in my opinion, the viewing quality is not up to par with the quality of other services out there, not to mention that you are locked into displaying the YouTube "bug" in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen which distracts from your own brand. Again, the price is right for most people who don't particularly care for either quality or brand integrity (ouch).

Another option is Vimeo, which like You Tube is FREE for non-commercial use...AND boasts incredible HD quality video streaming (of course, the video has to be shot in HD format in order to stream at this high quality level). From my experience, Vimeo has the best quality of any of the FREE solutions, however, I find the streaming to "hiccup" from time to time, thus taking away for the viewing experience. While not having the same level of website traffic that YouTube boasts, Vimeo nevertheless provides sufficient viral marketing potential for expanding your "brand footprint". Another option for those who are looking for a commercial quality option is Viddler, which lacks the HD quality of Vimeo and the Viral Marketing factor of YouTube and Vimeo...BUT, allows for a "White Label" video hosting/streaming option for those wineries that have a huge library of video and require better tools for managing media rich websites.

In order to simplify things and to combine the best of all options available, we decided to build our own proprietary digital media hosting platform which we have customized for simply uploading videos, compressing them into flash format, and broadcasting to our respective clients' websites, in addition to their own YouTube channels. We felt that we needed high quality HD with the ability to integrate into YouTube for the viral marketing aspect. All of our clients have the option of using our hosting solution which provides a seamless solution with their website's content management system. At the end of the day, sometimes it is better to have fewer options that meet all of your key criteria, than more options that distract from the ultimate goals for your business. If your goal is to drive traffic to your website, increase brand awareness through video/viral marketing, and provide a viewing experience without "hiccups", then you should have no problem with most of the options discussed. Of course, no video hosting solution will make up for terrible wine videos so invest your time and money wisely.