Will Links In Videos Lead To More Spam?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Friday, October 9, 2009 Comments (5)

We are officially at the dawning of a new age. Marketers are now starting to put links in their videos. And the click through rates are soaring. But I’d imagine that the spam rates are too.

Seriously. Do you think those links in video will lead to more spam? I do. But they’ll also lead to more business and assistance with your off site search engine optimization or link building efforts. Got to take the good with the bad, I guess. But it’s just a matter of time before someone solves that issue. They did with e-mail links on websites.

You got CAPTCHAs. They’re a pain in the rump, but they get the job done.

Then there’s forms that people have to fill out. No e-mail. Just a good old contact form. Those work too. And I’m thinking videos need something like that. A video contact form. Or you could just send people to your contact form from the video. But that’s an extra step and you’ll end up losing some people. Just give me a video contact form and I’ll be happy. No spam.

Comments (5) Category: Social & Viral Marketing

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5 Comments

Comment by Lorraine Grula

Made Thursday, 5 of November , 2009 at 1:49 pm

Hey Nick.

You will be glad to know that you CAN put contact forms inside your video. I have written about interactive video a lot as it excites me to no end and provides lots of new ways for a video producer like me to communicate with the viewer. I have tons of links in most of my videos. I have not noticed an increase in spam at all. Perhaps the spammers are not yet smart enough to scan the video looking for email addresses.

The best place I have found for interactive video is veeple. They are comprehensive, low cost and have great customer service. It is VERY easy to put an email contact form inside a video with veeple.

And you are so right about interactivity helping conversion rates and sales. In fact, the CTR can be amazing. The best I have heard of is a guy who got a 63% CTR for sales of his book thru a video emailed to his subscribers.

In fact, I just wrote up a big report on interactivity to give away at my membership site, Video Marketing Express. I will send it to you.

Thanks.
Lorraine

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Thursday, 5 of November , 2009 at 4:19 pm

Hey Lorraine,
Thanks for the additional info, please feel free to share this case study with our reader (if you can) and link to it in a comment…Oh and thanks for letting me know about Veeple, I will be sure to check them out…thanks!

Pingback by Links and Email Forms Inside of Video : Video Production Tips

Made Thursday, 5 of November , 2009 at 7:24 pm

[...] is really catching on and lots of people are talking about it. My favorite SEO expert, Nick Stamoulis, had an article on his blog today wondering whether links inside video will create more spam. [...]

Comment by scott broomfield

Made Thursday, 5 of November , 2009 at 8:47 pm

Hi Nick,

Oh the power of SEO. I received a Google Veeple alert today on your blog comment. We have many customer success examples on our site right off our home page. Have a look.

As to spam, the answer is both yes and no. Yes there will be spam when a site embeds a lower third interactive ad into a video, something I hate. No there will not be span when the video is being viewed from a site where the video is the message and the content creator is using interactivity to enhance message and engage the viewer. Then is is not spam because A) the point of interaction is relevant and non-intrusive, and B) the content owner puts it there themselves. No one will spam their own video.

Also, Lorraine is right about the 63%. One of our customers did see a 63% CRT. But, 63% is not the record. The record is over 100%. The average right now is running just under 24% engagement rate.

Would love to chat with you.

All the best,
Scott
Veeple Co-Founder

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Friday, 6 of November , 2009 at 5:54 am

Hi Scott,
Thanks very much for your message and the additional information!