Here’s the inside story on how web video has dramatically boosted sales at SiteSell.com, generating dramatically larger sales for SiteSell and larger commissions for SiteSell affiliates.
When I first launched WebVideoZone back in September, 2006, I decided to introduce my new site and service to a few friends and colleagues. Near the top of my list was Allan Gardyne, a highly-respected internet marketing veteran who I’d known since we were both newbies way back in the mid 90’s.
Because a core feature of the WebVideoZone is the Video Affiliate System (a tool which enables web site owners to incorporate videos into their existing affiliate program), I thought Allan might be interested. So I fired off a brief email explaining how it works, and invited him to take a closer look.
Within a few days, Allan was a new WebVideoZone member. Soon after, I discovered that a sudden burst in traffic to my site was the result of Allan’s review of my site where he informed his readers, “The Video Affiliate System has exciting possibilities. Affiliate merchants will see the huge potential in this…”
I was excited that right after the review went out, several of Allan’s readers had signed up to become WebVideoZone members. But it was the name of one new member in particular that really caught my eye: Ken Evoy.
Ecommerce trailblazer
Anyone who’s been in this game for a while knows about ecommerce trailblazer, Ken Evoy, and his hugely popular Site Build It! service at SiteSell. His reputation precedes him (he’s one of a few for whom this is actually a good thing), so I quickly seized the opportunity to introduce myself and welcome him to my new site.
Now let’s jump ahead six months. Ken is not only still a member, but I’m fortunate to now call him a friend, mentor, and business partner as well. And during these past six months, Ken has gone full steam ahead with web video. And it has paid big-time dividends for him – and his affiliates.
When we started working together, we discussed how we would put web video to work for SiteSell. Ken told me: “I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think video serves us especially well because SBI! is a BIG product, a BIG concept, that takes a lot of words to explain. But video enables us to get so much more information across so much more efficiently.”
As a result, using the WebVideoZone tool-set, Ken has effectively incorporated video into SiteSell in two different ways:
1. The Home Page “Video Shortcut”
To explain the who-what-why of SBI! and exactly how it changes lives, Ken introduced a 3 minute “video shortcut” to the top of SiteSell to walk newcomers through a quick tour of the SiteSell website.
The results? Ken says…
“Since we added the WebVideoZone Web Video Player player to our home page, sales have increased by 30%. This is pretty amazing stuff for a company our size that had long ago stopped doing a/b split-testing, having pretty much maximized our conversion rates.”
2. Affiliate Video Players: VideoBuildIt!
Towards the end of 2006, Ken ran a “Why I love SBI!” video contest, which was open to all SBI! members. Those who submitted a video were eligible for the contest’s $10,000 grand prize. In the end, more than 140 people submitted video entries, with a variety of awards going to dozens of members.
Afterwards, Ken took the top 40 videos from the contest and created Video Build It! by incorporating the videos into the SiteSell affiliate program using the WebVideoZone’s Video Affiliate System. As a result, it is now simple for his tens of thousands of affiliates to add compelling, commission-generating SiteSell videos to any web page.
Amazed by the power of video
“I am so amazed by the power of video,” says Ken, “especially for a product like SBI! – we have never communicated so precisely, nor with such emotion. And we’ve never put such an effective tool as Video Build It! into the hands of affiliates. We are already seeing traffic grow, faster than it was before. As we reinforce the importance of video, I’m expecting that to accelerate.”
But what about results? Do these video players actually increase sales, helping affiliates to earn more commissions than standard links and images?
The answer is a resounding “YES!”
The tricky part
The tricky part has been getting affiliates to see their potential and actually use them. For example, Allan recently revealed the following to me…
“I have to admit that to start with I didn’t take much notice of Ken’s advice on web videos. When he told his affiliates that SiteSell was providing tools to enable them to embed SBI videos on their sites, I just skimmed the item and dismissed it.
“I’ve spent years living and traveling in places where Internet access has been slow. I didn’t want bandwidth-hogging video on my site. I’d totally missed the fact that the videos would actually be hosted on the SiteSell or WebVideoZone servers, and not mine.
“Then Ken sent me an email suggesting I test SBI videos on AssociatePrograms.com. I’ve been a SiteSell affiliate for eight years and I’ve learned from experience that taking Ken’s advice always seems to put more money in my pocket, so I decided to do a little test.
“I placed one video on the main page, one on my Top 10 page and added one to an SBI case study. SiteSell had made it really easy for affiliates – all I had to do was plug a bit of code into each page. I like the ways the videos end with my affiliate link to SiteSell.”
When Allan decided to give the videos a try, he found the results were “astounding.” Allan said, “My SiteSell conversion rate, for first-time visitors, soared from 1.98% in February to 2.81% in the first week of March. That’s a fantastic increase – much more than the 30% increase in sales that Ken has been talking about.”
Could this just be an anomaly, some kind of a fluke? I don’t think so…
“In case you’re wondering,” Allan told me, “We’re talking about thousands of dollars in commissions in that week – plenty of traffic for an adequate test.”
There’s only one conclusion here: video is undeniably connecting with potential customers and getting across the benefits of SBI in a really powerful way.
Here’s an example, a video produced by a delighted SBI user…
(Putting the above video on this page was a simple matter of pasting a little bit of javascript code into the page. Affiliates don’t need to understand how it works – all they have to do is paste in the code.)
Here’s another example – a powerful video which affiliates can drop into their pages…
“The combination of the PREselling power of video on your site and the SELLING power of video on SiteSell.com delivers terrific conversion rates,” says Ken. He adds, “I’m amazed that more e-commerce execs and affiliate managers have not yet understood the incredible power of video to both convert and increase traffic.”
I think they will now, Ken, after having read this ; )
Here’s a video which explains WebVideoZone’s Video Affiliate System…
For more information:
– The WebVideoZone “Video Affiliate System”
How to Use the Video Affiliate System
How to upload a video to YouTube
– The WebVideoZone “Big3”
Web video uploader/converter, video hosting, and player maker
– WebVideoZone Testimonials
– A selection of I Love SBI videos made by SBI users.
