If you own a local business and you are looking for ways to gain a marketing advantage over your competitors, then you must consider using video. Video, and its ability to give SEO for your website a huge boost is something that most businesses are completely unaware of.

The truth is Google absolutely loves video and given it owns the biggest video website on the planet, YouTube, it is little wonder that videos rank very highly in their search results. But it is not just for Google’s benefit and your website’s rankings that you should be using video, it is due to the fact that your customers and potential customers love video too.

To prove this point, the next time you are in a busy area of town stop for a moment and look around to see what everyone is doing. It is an absolute certainty that many of them will be walking, standing, sitting or even having a conversation whilst at the time looking at a mobile device such as a phone or tablet.

This is the world we live in today where handheld devices have almost become as much a part of us as the hands that hold them. While there will be all sorts of different reasons for looking at one of these devices, the primary ones will be social media, communication, and entertainment, with videos often being the main source of that entertainment.

The rise of video and the part it plays in our daily lives has been astonishing and is due in no small part to rapid advances in video recording and playback technology for mobile devices. The expansion of super-fast broadband for both fixed and mobile networks has also contributed to this with full-length movies capable of being downloaded to handsets in just minutes.

Where all this leads to in terms of your business are the huge opportunities that video can open up for you to boost the ranking of your website, increase the number of visitors who come to your website, and most importantly,  the numbers of sales that you make. The great thing about using video is that there are so many ways in which it can be done with respect to the content that you create, and the platforms on which you can place those videos for consumption.

Starting with content, you can create promotional videos that build up your brand and sales videos where you can showcase your top products and services. These are also a great way to introduce your staff to customers so that they feel that they know them before even meeting them face to face.

You can ask customers to give you video testimonials and the great thing about these is that you do not even have to record the videos yourself, as the customers can do it on their own mobile devices and send them to you. Other videos could be informational videos that provide useful tips and advice relating to the niche you are in, and you can even do live streaming videos on promotional days.

Now although these videos provide value to those who watch them, because the content is free, there are also considerable benefits to your business too. Obvious ones would include the sales that are generated from all your promotional and sales videos, plus the increased awareness of your brand, which is always a welcome step forward.

Less obvious, but every bit as important are the benefits to your business that come from the online presence of your videos. As we mentioned earlier Google loves video, and if, for example, you have several videos posted on YouTube and they’re all optimised for specific keywords in the back-office settings, that can help you gain higher rankings on Google. Bear in mind, this does take some expertise to optimise them properly so might want to get an SEO professional to do it for you.

Beyond YouTube, you can have your videos posted online on multiple locations, with optimized links back to your website adding further to your SEO. Again, it only works if done properly, so enlist the help of video marketing experts if you are not sure.

Finally, we must highlight the point about creating videos for your business being a lot of fun. It certainly can be a lot more enjoyable than sitting at a desk writing blog posts and other writing content and gives you the opportunity to get your staff and customers involved with the promotion of your business to the benefit of all.