Product video has become a must-have for e-commerce merchants, but how do you get clips for your site?

Manufacturer-produced or user-generated content might be an option when you’re starting out. Eventually though, you’ll want to produce your own video content to gain control over the message to customers and how it’s delivered.

If you don’t have your own production team and in-house studio, you’ll need to outsource to a video production company to shoot your product clips.…

I recently had the opportunity to interview Scot Wingo, who is on the Board of Directors for Shop.org as well as the Founder and CEO for global e-commerce platform provider, ChannelAdvisor. In the interview, Scot shares his insights on how the retail industry can utilize video commerce to strategically improve product conversion.…

In our continued “how-to” series on creating product videos in retail and e-commerce, I interviewed Jon Schroeder, Video Director and Editor for Crutchfield Electronics. Jon shared with us about Crutchfield’s own formula for effective ROI and customer relationships with how-to videos, as well as some tips for what other retail and e-commerce businesses can be doing with instructional videos today. (To read more about why I think how-to videos are effective for retailers and brands, and for some tips on creating them, you can read my previous article, “How-To” Product Videos Tips for Every E-Commerce Business.)…

How-To product videos are one of the most under-utilized features that every e-commerce site should have.  Many brands and retailers should be doing a lot more of them for real financial gain as well as social value with their customers. Learn in this post what are the many benefits of doing how-to videos for your own brand, and some helpful times for getting started.…

There are so many amazing things that you can do with online video once you have the video assets.  We read about trends, new ideas and examples everyday here on the Video Commerce Consortium and at ReelSEO, and everyday I get excited about what business are doing with their video strategies.  There are also tons of great articles with convincing ROI figures from online video but there are still literally hundreds of e-commerce sites stagnant in their development of a video strategy.  I’m sure there are probably thousands of reasons for this from budget constraints, timing, and lack of …

This past week I got the chance to check out the baseball flick, Money Ball. Brad Pitt stars as the Oakland A’s General Manager, Billy Beane, whom creates a winning team out of an “island of misfit toys.” The movie begins with the A’s losing their biggest stars, Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon, to free agency.  Beane is forced to fill their vacancies with a budget that is a fraction of their worth. The scouts begin discussing the possibilities, analyzing everything from batting average to looks.  But Beane is hesitant about their old school ways.  Frustrated he addresses the …

Most businesses wouldn’t argue with the statement that video helps drive consumer engagement. It’s what the video content should consist of that usually sparks the debates. Just what exactly are consumers supposed to be engaging with in these videos? Well, to get right down to the ROI, we must first ask what it is that the business is selling… Products or services?

Historically, product videos have dominated the video commerce frontier. Not surprisingly, they are relatively easy to produce and have a clear cut purpose. Utilizing sight, sound and motion to virtually deliver the product experience, these videos are designed …

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on the topic “Video Studios That Scale: What You Need to Know” at the Liveclicker Video Commerce Summit. On the panel was Kevin McNall from Brown Shoe Co, Kristopher Martin from Onlineshoes.com and as a last minute stand-in, the always camera ready Melissa Salas from BuyTV/Buy.com.

With one less panelist presentation than we had planned for, we decided to fill the time after Kevin and Kristopher’s presentations by turning the topic into an open forum. What came out of this was somewhat interesting but as life goes, pretty …

I interviewed social video expert consultant and creator of one of the earliest – and still most successful social video series today, George Wright. In this rare interview, George shared with me the keys to how he managed to make BlendTec’s “Will it Blend?” YouTube video series a viral sensation and an economic success.  He also shared his tips for what we can learn from doing product videos in our own retail, e-commerce, and marketing activities.

I originally met and interviewed George Wright back in late 2008, when he was Blendtec’s VP of Sales & Marketing. (George has since moved …

I suppose that the title is about as obvious as saying water is wet but sometimes pointing out the obvious can get you to think a little differently to make some profitable changes.  For many products, descriptions can be pretty straight forward but for others such as wine, descriptions become a bit more subjective.

Here was a description I found for a Tenuta Biserno Insoglio Del Cinghiale:

Medium crimson hue. Intensely brambly aromas of raspberry and pencil shavings. Lovely mouth-feel frames juicy flavors of strawberry and earth; perfect balance. Clean, tart finish.”

I love wine and despite growing up …