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There’s a lot of publicity around the idea that using videos in your blog posts can be a fantastic way of upping your readership and even improving conversions. But how can you make sure you’re using videos to their full potential? We’ve got a few top tips to help you out:

1.���ձ���� people your post includes a video

Advertising the fact your post contains your video is a great way to get your post noticed. Here are a couple of ways to give people a clear indication that you’re sharing a video:

Embed the video near the top of the post

This way, your readers will see the video as soon as they click on the post, so they’ll know straight away that you’ve got some video content to share with them. Putting a video at the bottom of your post will make it less visible and reduce the chances of people watching.

Put the word ‘video’ in the title

It may seem obvious, but adding the word ‘video’ to the title will mean people know there’s video content before they even click on the post.

2. Provide some context

Placing a video into an otherwise empty blog post is not going to be effective. People want to know what the video is going to show them before they watch it. Write at least an introduction to the footage, and try to include the following points:

• What – point out what the video is about
• Why – tell your audience why they should watch the video
• The benefit – point out the benefit your audience will get by watching it!

3. Make sure it adds something to the post

There’s no point embedding a video into your blog post if it doesn’t add value to what you’ve already said. Be sure the video is relevant to your post, and that it supports or adds to the point you’re trying to make.

If you have a recorded version of the written post, embedding it will mean you’re giving your audience a choice, as well as providing an alternative way for you to deliver your message.

4. Optimise the video

Simply placing a video into your blog won’t do you any favours, unless you’ve taken into consideration the size of the link you’re embedding. Be sure to optimise the width of the video to match the width of your blog’s content area. This will stop the resolution being affected, as well as ensuring the full width of the video can be seen on your readers’ screens.

Set the resolution you want and test out how it looks – if it isn’t right, just tweak it until it looks as professional as possible. For more tips on how to optimise YouTube videos on your blog, check out by 12 Stars Media.

5. Add a call to action

This is your chance to tell the reader what to do next. After they’ve read your post and watched your video, it’s more than likely the next question that pops into their head will be “so what?” So, tell them what you want them to do!

This is the perfect place to plug your social media channels by telling your audience to ‘like’ your pages, or it’s a great opportunity to spread the word about your content by asking the reader to ‘share’ your post with their friends and colleagues.

 for more handy tips from 17�Թ�����!