Donít send your business down the Youtube!

A company website is the businessman’s most powerful marketing tool in the 21st Century, and it is very risky to compromise on quality, using free online host sites like YouTube for posting video content, says top technological strategist, Stephen McCluskey, CEO of Vzaar.



“Businesses need customizable, secure and reliable web video hosting that protects their content and branding,” says Mr McCluskey. He is appalled at how many businesses are letting their image down by posting video of poor quality on their websites: the loop often stutters or stops, the image is embedded with garish logos from the hosting site, surrounded by advertising (often from competitors!), and usually the upload is confined to a limited size and duration.



“YouTube is a good way to get started with online video to promote your business, products and services,” says Mr McCluskey. However, if you want a truly professional look and feel, with reliable high quality delivery and the ability to track who sees your video and control what they do with it, you need to migrate to a powerful, secure and dependable video platform.”



Mr McCluskey said many business owners were unaware of the affordability and ease of use of a commercial video hosting platform like that offered by vzaar. The advantages of using vzaar’s video platform are legion – “basically, more options and top quality”.



James Orr, CEO of an eCommerce site dealing in high-end cigars and wines (www.jamessuckling.com <http://www.jamessuckling.com/> ), is one of the converts who opted for the vzaar platform after initially considering using YouTube. “Our business has a specific audience, starved for exclusive content. We decided to build and launch a video-based subscription media site aimed at that demographic. YouTube does not offer that capability,” says Mr Orr. Vzaar was his platform of choice because it “offers more flexibility and control over our content, and is of consistent high quality, with highly responsive tech support”.



YouTube was also rejected by another vzaar client, Bryan Pate – CEO of ElliptiGO. “We started with YouTube but quickly learned that the only way to get the slick, cool look and feel that we needed to promote our brand was to use a professional hosting platform,” says Mr Pate, who is now the happy owner of a customised vzaar video player.



Vzaar platform users can create and share videos of various shapes and sizes, with customised embedded messages, advertising messages, links and animations. Instead of sporting “You Tube” banners, with a vzaar video hosting platform entrepreneurs can create their own.



The Vzaar video platform also allows for total control of online access to video material, and unlike in the public domain on a site like YouTube, video can’t be copied, parodied, plagiarised or spammed.



If you’re worried about being “technologically challenged” the Vzaar platform is surprisingly easy to handle and manage – you can even use an iPhone app to manage your video library from anywhere in the world. It also allows for optimising website search results, and analysing the traffic viewing the video.



With all these advantages over the “free” You Tube type service, it seems businesses not subscribing to a video platform like Vzaar are giving away exclusive rights to their content, exposing themselves to abuse of their material as well as missing out on a professional looking, high quality website.