Video killed the radio star … but it rocked your business. Using video is one of the best marketing strategies for maximizing your online business presence. Why? It tells your story visually, differentiates you from your competitors, and is 53 times more likely than text pages to show up on the first page of search results.

There are a few things you need to focus on (no pun intended!) before you’re ready to start shooting. Write a script that’s chock full of good keywords to help people find it online. Title it with appropriate keywords that are relevant to your brand (and the content!). Tip: remember to include the word ‘video’ as a keyword too, so that folks can search for your product or service in that form. When you’re titling it, be as descriptive as possible. Say what it’s about so viewers can find it. Not rocket science, right? You’d be surprised at how often that step gets shortchanged, which kind of defeats the purpose, now doesn’t it?

Once you’ve got a finished piece, transcribe the script and add the transcription into the description field. That’ll help ensure better success with search engines locating your masterpiece online. Speaking of that, post your video on multiple sites to help more folks find you. YouTube ranks right up there behind Facebook and Google, but it’s not the only place to post your finished piece. Check out TubeMogul, where you can upload a video once and distribute it to myriad video sites simultaneously.

Whether it’s a simple introduction to let people know about your company or a detailed explanation of how your product works, your marketing strategy is not complete until you’ve incorporated online video into it. (And keep the blooper reel for rainy day entertainment – either for yourself or your customers. You never know when it might come in handy!)