Video on a website can be either very simple or very complicated!
It’s quite simple when:
  • There is NO editing needed
  • It can be shared via YouTube
  • There is no customization of the player (play, pause, volume buttons etc.)

When you share a video on YouTube, it’s made public on their website, and then you can embed it on your website.  So people can watch it without leaving your website, but it still has the YouTube logo, and YouTube may “inject” links to other videos.  That’s the downside of using YouTube – they control how it appears on your website. Some people consider this a bit unprofessional and would rather have the video hosted on their own site, where they have total control over the appearance  But it’s a tradeoff.

The advantages of using YouTube are:

  • YouTube is a free video hosting and streaming service that works in all browsers.  This is a tremendous advantage, because if you host the video on your own website, it may not perform as well, and it will not look the same in all browsers.  In fact, it won’t work at all in some browsers unless a web designer  installs custom coding to make it compatible.
  • From the search engines point of view, YouTube video is another “vote” for your company, so you get exposure.  Likewise, people are likely to find and view it on YouTube – more exposure.
  • People are so used to seeing YouTube videos that they know how to interact with them, and they don’t seem to fault you for using a free service on your website.

So needless to say, if you’re concerned about cost, I recommend the YouTube route.

If, on the other hand, you want control over how the video appears (IE using your logo as the first frame), or how the video plays (IE want it to start automatically), then you need some customization.  In this case I would expect you need a web designer’s help to do it right.  Since video editing, cross browser compatibility, and custom players are all rather time consuming, it is likely that you’ll spend several hundred dollars.

On the bright side, someday we expect that installing video on your own website will be simple. Someday will come when HTML5 is widely used, when video file formats and players are more standardized, and when browsers improve their support for the various options.   Someday could be right around the corner!