by Keith Smiley

Having video on a website dramatically improves SEO. According to a study from Forrester Research, videos are 53 times more likely than text pages to appear on the first page of search results.

Online videos can be used for a variety of reasons.

They include:

• To generate leads from a company website
• Moving the sales process along
• Creating buzz about the product and company
• Competitive advantage
• Keeping up with the "Joneses."  If your competitor has an online video and you don't, you're going to want to have one.

If you’re planning to create an online video for your company you first must have a script.

Here are 9 tips for writing effective online video scripts.

1.  Organize All The Details Before You Get Started

Before you begin, determine what the goal of the presentation is. Is it going to be placed on your website to generate leads? Will it be used at a trade show to get people into a booth?

How much technical or industry knowledge will viewers know about the information being presented? This is very important because it will help you target your script to the right audience.

Will there be a voice-over script? If your video is going to be seen at a trade show, it doesn’t make sense to have a voice over, because it won’t be heard. Your writing will be seen on-screen.

So what’s on-screen needs to explain everything and stand on its own without a voice over to explain animations and other visuals.

2.  Start with a strong opening.

It’s too easy for a viewer to simply “click off” your video. For this reason, it’s essential that the opening start off strong. You need to quickly grab the viewer’s attention and communicate why your video is relevant to them. You can do this by opening your video by asking a question, begin with a quote, and establish the “pain point” that the product or service ultimately solves, or open with a story.

3.  Keep it Short

The best online video presentations are succinct and get to the point quickly. No matter how fascinating your products are people tend to tune out after five to seven minutes of a presentation.

If you’re doing a tutorial you’ll have a little more time. Tutorial viewers are typically seeking out information or trying to learn how to use something. They will be motivated to listen and watch longer.

Whichever type of video you’re planning on producing, the copy must immediately describe the problem your product or service solves, identify who the message is for, and what their big challenge is.

4.  Write For The Ear Not The Eye

Your video script should be written in a clear, concise, and conversational manner. Visitors to your website are going to have to listen as well as look. It needs to be easy to digest with a clear message.

Write your script the way you talk. It’s ok if your script is full of sentence fragments because that is actually how people talk. If it makes sense to you when you read it out loud, then it will be ok.

Also make sure that the words you use are descriptive, colorful, and easy to understand. Remember that you are trying to engage your visitors on a one-on-one level.

5.  Focus On Benefits Not Features

Just like all marketing pieces, it’s about your prospect not your company. Discuss the benefits your product or service provides to its customers not how great your company is.

6.  Take Advantage Of The Visuals To Help Deliver Your Message 

Don’t use adjectives and descriptive prose to describe how great your product is. For example, don’t write about how great your software is. Instead, show someone using your software.

7.  Keep Words To A Minimum

Viewers can only take so much audio and video at one time. So if your presentation needs a lot of strong visuals, keep the words to a minimum. On the other hand, if you need a lot of words to convey your message, keep the pictures simple.

8.  Use On-Screen Copy To Reinforce The Voice Over

If your presentation has a voice-over, you can use words on-screen to provide reinforcement. Sometimes the words can be just suggestions as to what you want the viewer to understand.

They can also reconnect the viewer if they stop paying attention to the voice over.

If there is no voice-over, the on-screen words become more important. They will have to explain what is going on visually and create a mood for what you want your viewer to learn. When writing on-screen words, be sure to keep the phrases short and easy to digest.

9.  Provide A Call To Action

When the presentation is over, you need to always tell your viewers what you want them to do next. Maybe you want them to make a purchase, call for more information, download a white paper, or request a price quote. Whatever you want them to do you have to tell them directly and persuasively. You must be direct by clearly asking them to take a specific action. Be persuasive by explaining the benefits they will enjoy as a result of taking that action.