Why website video helps you sell more
Have you noticed how rarely people read text on a website? However useful the information, most visitors will not work through it. They want to understand quickly what is on offer and whether it is for them. That is the gap a website video fills.
Website video solves one specific problem
It compresses understanding. What takes four paragraphs to explain can be conveyed in forty seconds, and — more importantly — the visitor sees the people behind the service. For higher-priced services, that is often what decides whether an enquiry is sent at all.
Visitors stay longer
A page with video holds attention longer, and that affects more than the statistics: a visitor who stays reads the next section, finds the price, and reaches the contact form. Video does not replace good copy — it buys the copy a chance to be read.
How long a website video should be
The first screen is brutal: a person decides within seconds. A website film therefore has to work without sound and without explanation — with a short caption saying what you are looking at. In practice 30 to 60 seconds works best on the home page, and 90 to 120 seconds on service pages, where the visitor is already looking for detail.
The second thing that is usually overlooked is speed. A video uploaded straight into the site without optimisation slows the page and turns an asset into a liability. For a website, the file has to be compressed, muted on autoplay, and given a static first frame that looks good even before it loads.
Where to place video on a website
- On the home page — a short film about who you are and who you work for.
- On service pages — a specific process or result film answering “what will this look like for me”.
- Next to the price or the form — the face of the person who will do the work. This reduces the fear of buying from strangers.
- On the about page — the team on camera. One of the least used and most effective films there is.
Why these films do not suit social media
A website film speaks to someone who arrived deliberately. A social media film first has to stop a stranger from scrolling. Both can come out of the same shoot, but they have to be edited separately — and a vertical version is not simply the middle cropped out of a horizontal frame.
Frequently asked questions
Does website video slow the page down?
It does if the file is uploaded unoptimised. A properly compressed film, or one loaded from a video platform with a static first frame, has almost no effect on page speed.
How long should the home page video be?
Thirty to sixty seconds. Its job is not to explain everything but to make the visitor stay and read on.
Can the same video work on the website and on social media?
Rarely. From one shoot you can prepare both versions, but they need separate edits.
