Eleven tips for using video in your article

Blogger Andy Dickinson gives a few tips on how to get a video right on a newspaper website. After studying The Times, The Telegraph, FT and the Guardian's websites, here are his tips:

* Make the video part or the article sell, not a related link. Videos play a great role in attracting readers.

* Make sure the link from your video player to a related article is clear. If you are using related links for your videos, make sure the links are clear and the words related to the article.

* Make sure any accompanying text in your player clearly cues your video. Add a text to your video, either a caption or a title.

* Embed your video in an article page. Embedding is the new trend, according to Dickinson mixed Media "is like adding nitrous to your news section."

* Make your video poster frames (image that appears before that the users presses play) work as images. The picture has to be related to the video, avoid text and icons.

* Make the embedded player as big as you can. The video has to be big in order to be clear.

* Keep pre-roll out of embedded video. Avoid the ads before the video starts

* Get some variety in your ads. But if you are using them, make sure it is not the same ads that appear before all the videos.

* Niche works. The video has to appeal to your audience.

* Formats kill variety. Avoid episodic videos.

*  Feature formats kill long tail. According to Dickinson another problem with formats is that you will have to add unnecessary words or information such as "presenters, title sequences, set-ups".

Source: andydickinson.net