Thanks for reading this — this is my first blog post, and many more will follow. Even though it's the first, it's worth your time, because what I'm about to share is genuinely valuable information. Before I get into it, let me introduce myself. My name is Cole Hallgarth, and I'm a marketer from Vancouver, Canada. I've been in the online marketing world for almost 10 years, working with all kinds of businesses — Amazon stores, English schools, web design clients, and more. All of them needed the same two things: a website, and a way for people to actually find that website.
The website itself needed to be visually appealing, but what "visually appealing" means has shifted dramatically over time. At first, a simple HTML page with some cool graphics was enough. That's stone-age design now. I decided to get ahead of the trend, so I looked closely at what Fortune 500 companies are actually doing.
Before I continue, let me be clear about one thing: the whole point of a website is to show your customer what your business is about, and to do it visually, as fast as possible.
The way Fortune 500s handle this? Video. I noticed it, and I made it my mission to bring the same approach to smaller businesses. High-quality video in the hero section lets a customer know everything they need to know about a business — what you offer, how professional you are, what it feels like to work with you — within the first 10 seconds. They don't need to read anything (though written content should never be neglected). Video does the heavy lifting.
Getting quality video in the hero section absolutely matters. Anyone who says it doesn't is lying to you. A site with a strong hero video will always look more advanced and more expensive than one built on a basic drag-and-drop platform.
I'll keep this one short since it's the first. The next post will be about how SEO has changed and where it's going — and with each post, I'll go into more depth and write a little longer as I settle into the habit. Until then, hope you enjoy your day. See you in the next one.