In this episode of the Website Design Made Simple podcast, 3X Your Website Engagement with These Video Content Strategies, I joined host Jenny B. to dive into how video can transform a website’s engagement and impact.

I share why video content—especially docu-style, interview-driven formats—is essential for small businesses looking to build meaningful connections with their audience. We discuss how adding video to a website builds trust, keeps visitors engaged, and boosts conversions, making it a powerful tool for any brand. Tune in to discover actionable strategies to leverage video content and take your website to the next level or read the transcript below.

Transcript:

Jenny: Welcome to Website Design Made Simple, the podcast for busy, small business owners who want a high performing website that converts and sells their offers, even while they’re sleeping. Because you deserve to have a strategic and beautiful website that truly represents your brand and positions you as the expert that you are.

I’m your host, Jenny B., web designer and creative director at Jenny B. Designs, where we believe that your website is the one thing that makes you sales and builds your brand at the same time. Ready to say goodbye to a website that you’re embarrassed to share? And hello to a money making, personality packed powerhouse?

Let’s head into today’s episode. Did you know that simply adding video to your website could keep visitors engaged for three times longer than without it? It’s been proven with a recent study from WebFX that video can boost your website’s engagement by 88 percent, drawing people in and keeping them longer than you ever thought possible.

Today, I have a special guest, Paige from Main Page Media. We both have gone on such a fun journey together, and you’ll hear about it in our conversation. And we chat about why video is so powerful and why every small business needs video and especially needs video on their website and how it can truly help with your engagement and still much more.

I hope you enjoy this episode. Let’s get into it. Hello Paige and welcome to the podcast. I am so excited to have you here. I feel like journey is just going circle around, circle. We met such a long time ago in 2020 and then I did your website and then I went to you for a video business card and now we’re doing this podcast.

So welcome. I’m excited to have you here. 

Paige: Thank you, Jenny. I know this whole like relationship has been very full circle and it’s such a good example of marketing and business connections, I feel like we met through someone who just introduced me to you. And then when I was looking for someone to do my website, and we had met years prior to that, but I remembered you and your work from all of your content on LinkedIn.

And it just kept feeding, right? And then that relationship built, and when you were ready for video, you came to me. So it’s rewarding to see when relationships just work out like that. 

Jenny: Ah, that’s so special. Why don’t we start with, maybe, tell us a little bit about maybe where you got started and your journey to where you are now.

Paige: I started in Main Page Media in 2019. I was working a full-time job at Simmons University doing all of their in-house video marketing. And I’ve been doing that for about four years and I was ready for a change. I knew at some point in my life I wanted to start a video production company. I loved when I was working at the university, working with different departments and treating them as clients and working as an in-house agency for them, right?

I would really have meetings with department heads and chat with them about, what are your goals? What are your must-have messages? What are your nice to have messages? Who are the key players in this? And that translated really well to working with businesses and nonprofits once I started this business in 2019.

What we do predominantly is docu style video. So that’s interview style, conversational, really getting to know people through video and letting them use video as a medium to connect with their audience and also to market and sell, right? What obviously is a big factor when it comes to our business clients is how do you actually create video that means something and converts?

It isn’t just pretty to look at. Over the past five years, we’ve really been able to execute that and we work with a lot of small businesses, nonprofits, and schools. 

Jenny: Yes, and truthfully, before I met you and followed your process, I actually didn’t think that a video would be for my small business.

I thought it was more for a larger business or an organization. I really enjoy how you make it so accessible and such a key piece of our marketing. Tell me a little bit about your interview docu style videos and how they differ from other pieces of video content and what that means to you.

Paige: Building off what you said with being a small business owner and not realizing that you need video or that type of video something really highly produced and polished is for you, I think that it’s so crucial and especially for service providers you spend so much time working with people, you spend so much time working closely one on one with people that when they get the opportunity to meet you on video, and I think that’s the really powerful content that we can create as small business owners, is how can we create an experience where people feel like they know you, the most important things that I hold on to is that people work with people they know and trust. And I know that applies to a lot of different industries, but really distilling that down and capturing that essence on video is so important. Yes, those social media videos that you’re creating on your own are also an extremely important part of your strategy, depending on where your audience comes from.

Having the professional video as a small business owner really comes into play for our clients when it’s something they want on the homepage of their website, something they want to highlight a specific offer that maybe needs either that personal connection to help close that deal or maybe needs a little bit more explanation.

I’ve had clients where they’re like, I’m going through this whole spiel to get people to understand how my offer is going to work for them. Or what it looks like. And I’m so tired of doing that. And this is a way to get them to watch it. And then when they get on that sales call with you to say, I already know, I want to work with you. I’m sold. Let’s make it happen. Maybe they ask those few clarifying questions and they’re ready to go. So those are the types of videos that I think are really exciting. And they’re the ones that are worth investing in. I never recommend to a small business client to invest in all of their Instagram reels.

Like you can invest in some of them if you want to, for sure. But first and foremost, what are those evergreen pieces that need to go on your website? And that’s the majority of what we specialize in for that interview style, docu style. 

Jenny: You brought it all back to the website, right? I remember how you said your videos build that know and trust factor.

That’s what encourages your potential client to get to know you and trust you. And I love to build websites that do build that emotional connection. That bring out your brand personality with the copy. And the visuals, but then integrating a video into the mix. It’s just a way to up level the entire experience.

You’re hearing directly from the business owners’ mouth, what they are doing and how they want to help and how they can help. A person who’s looking into their services and I feel like it does. It just pumps up that whole know and trust and your potential client basically knows you, knows everything like you said, and they just have a few questions to answer before they could get started to work with you.

So I think it’s such a powerful tool, like you said, an evergreen tool that can be used on your website. 

Paige: Yes, and a lot of buying is an emotional decision, right? Whether or not we choose to believe that if you, someone watches your video on your website and they’re like, I like this Jenny woman she seems like my vibe.

It’s like they can get a sense of who you are. That’s how I was working with you. I was like I’ve met her and I like her. I like her energy. You’re very calming, but very organized, you get a sense from people and it does make it an emotional decision for people, right?

Whether I feel some kind of connection to you, or we will work well together. There’s a million people that can create your videos for you, there’s a million people that can create your websites for you, but how do you choose who it is? And I think that having that personal connection is so crucial.

Jenny: Yes, and it’s your unique personality that you’re bringing out in that video. 

When you say, docu style interview, tell me more about what did that mean? What does that whole process look like? 

Paige: I think there could be a misconception when I say docustyle that might mean that we’re creating a documentary for you and maybe it is like a mini documentary, but we’re getting content, right?

It’s not necessarily just storytelling. It really is also trying to veer someone towards some kind of action, right? But docu style really means interview style. We do some scripted work. It is a very small percentage of the work that we do. And that really comes into play when there’s something either really technical that needs to happen. Or maybe it’s some kind of training or tutorial video or for bigger corporations where they don’t really want to have a face of the brand because they have high turnover and they really just want something scripted with voiceover or something like that. But when it comes to, especially the small business clients, our nonprofit clients, interview style is really where you’re going to get the best from people.

We’re not actors, we’re business owners, or we are marketers, or we are the founder of an organization, right? We’re not actors, so when we’re trying to read from a script, it doesn’t sound like us. And I think what I love to do is really capture humanity within people. And you can’t do that by giving someone a script.

We work through talking points when I work with people. We make sure that your messaging is going to be what we want it to be. Make sure that if you start saying something that I know that maybe like Jenny at the bar might have to say that, but Jenny for her business might want to button that up a little bit differently or something like that.

We can be ourselves, but also be strategic about it, which is really important. And so there’s ways to do unscripted without feeling like you’re totally a fish out of water. Sometimes people would get that feeling where they’re like, if it’s unscripted, how am I going to know what to say?

I talk about what to say, but I still want you to say it like you and I get these fun moments from people when I’m interviewing them that I may not have gotten otherwise that might make it into the final cut, and that’s really cool because you really then get to see someone’s personality when they maybe say something in a way that they weren’t expecting to say it.

So that’s what I really love to do. It’s unscripted, but with a plan, right? 

Jenny: Yes. Because I didn’t know what it meant going into it. I didn’t know, do I have to memorize things or how is it going to be? And you were able to have just a conversation with me, ask me some questions, and then you know what you wanted to get out of, like what the point of the whole video is.

And if I didn’t answer something that kind of fit your vision, you would ask me again and I’d say it in a different way and you pull all the pieces together to tell this beautiful story about my business and to get that personality across. And I guess I was worried, do I have to know things before going in?

But the answer is you don’t, you just have a great way of pulling out the essence of the person and having them answer the question. Your process is simple. It’s really special and I’ve got such a beautiful product. I really love my video on the site and everyone does as well and I’m enjoying that.

Paige: Thank You. You made it easy. You were an easy interview. Definitely. I don’t want people to feel like they have to overthink it, right? Like you said, do I have to memorize something, no, you’re going to talk about your business, which you talk about all the time. Like I always say to people this isn’t stuff you don’t know. I’m asking you questions about stuff you already know and you already talk about all the time. And you’re trying to reach people that have never heard it before, right? Or that have heard you say it before, but they need reinforcement, right? It’s, what is it, seven times that someone has to hear about your rant before they even take action?

We go in as if someone’s never met you, what would you say to them? You know what you’d say to them. You go to networking events, right? You create social content, you write blogs, whatever you’re doing for your business, you know how to talk about it. And I think that takes the pressure off a little bit.

It’s alright, it doesn’t have to be something monumental, I just have to be me. What’s already working for me and capturing that and capitalizing on that. 

Jenny: Let’s talk a little bit about some examples, some case studies of how you’ve seen it help people, businesses that you’ve worked with when they’ve had these video business cards, these docustyle videos done?

Paige: I think one of the coolest, and maybe it’s not like a hard ROI thing that I am bringing to the table, but one of the coolest things that I get from a lot of people is that they feel more confident in their brand. And I recognize that making a big investment for confidence might not seem all that logical.

There’s of course also the sales and the more qualified leads. And, the longer people are spending more time on their websites, right? All of these things are really valuable. But the increased confidence is really cool for when I do work with small business owners because they’re seeing themselves in a way where they feel like that imposter syndrome is gone.

I get it from so many of my clients where they’re like, you fully captured me. My business feels so legit now, which obviously it was always legit, but it gives you this feeling where you’re showing up as your best self on that video. And then you can take that confidence with you and continue to show up as your best self in your business with that confidence, right?

It was the same way that I felt when I got my website redone, I was like, oh, my business, it no longer feels like a mess. And it no longer feels like this thing that I just couldn’t quite put together myself, right? It’s something really clean and polished and now people really get it.

And I found even with myself, I obviously have a video for my own brand. My clients, they have a sense of what I do. I don’t really have to give that whole spiel all the time. I’ll get it and they’ll nod yes. And I love the way that you do this. I’m like, excellent, you already know…I’ll move on. I don’t have to keep trying to sell you on something. Which is really cool. I’ve had some clients where they’re trying to drive more sales online and they’ve been able to do that with video because they’re driving more people to their website. 

One of my clients who sells garlic salt, not my typical clientele for product, but she’s been a great longtime client. That was one of the first reasons she came to me. It was the pandemic. She said, I can’t do farmer’s markets anymore. I want more online sales. And creating video content was helping. She had a good following on social media, but creating that video content was really helping drive people to the website, right? And get them there and then making those sales, which is really exciting. 

Jenny: Yes, and you said drive people to your website. At the end of the video process, you’re giving that call to action. And that call to action is where you want them to take the next step for you. Where do you want them to go?

Sending them to your website to fill out that contact form, or to book a consultation call with you. It’s all kind of a piece of the puzzle. And I can relate with the just having more confidence. I feel like you said, when I work with someone, and we do their brand and their website, and they have this, there’s so much confidence that comes with that and you’re excited to send people to your website because you feel this is going to really represent me.

And then when you add a video that’s able to describe and someone’s able to see you articulate what you do, that just takes it up a whole other level. And I’ll say, a lot of people know me, they know that I do website design, but they might not know about my process and how I value simplicity and how I’m so organized and who I really love to work with.

And having that video and having them be able to understand all that and say, I really now understand exactly what she does. It just helps people relate to you and they’ll be able to recommend you or decide to work with you better.

Paige: I think, there’s been studies done that people retain 95 percent of what they watch in a video versus 10 percent of what they read in text, right? And of course, that’s a statistic that I love to ride on as a video marketer. And that may not be you, that may not be everyone.

I’m sure there’s plenty of people out there that think no, if I read something, I retain it way better than if I watch a video. But the study is showing that there are a large portion of people who prefer to consume information that way. And the data is wild on how often people are choosing video over any other type of content when they’re trying to look into a new brand.

And so you can have the best copy on your website in the world and that might be converting a lot of people. But if it’s not converting those people that don’t want to read, which is also a lot of people, you want to make sure you’re having the different mediums to capture every possible audience.

If we think back to like traditional advertising, big brands weren’t just doing TV commercials. They were also doing billboards and flyers and radio ads, right? You’re trying to get people wherever it suits them. And I think just relying on one form of media, whether that’s text or images, social media, or creating trending videos as opposed to actually showing up on camera.

You’re missing out on an audience that’s probably going to be a better audience for you because they’re now spending even more time with you. I think one of the coolest parts is seeing those more qualified leads come through once you have video for your brand because people are actually ready to work with you.

Jenny: They are, and you bring up a good point of actually spending the time to watch the video just in the basic sense when someone’s on a webpage and you know you have copy they don’t want to read and they might leave your website or they might not stay very long but if you do have a video they’re staying there for that minute or minute and a half watching the video. 

And that only helps at making the Google gods happy, like understanding that someone’s staying on your website longer and making a connection. It goes full circle there and the benefits that it can have. 

Paige: Even if the video itself for some reason isn’t working on that person, like you said, at least it’s pleasing the Google gods. It’s helping your SEO. If you have your closed captions in there or transcripts, that’s going to help with your SEO.

So there’s residual benefits of having this content out there. Even just, I tell all my clients, make sure you put your video up on YouTube because YouTube is owned by Google. Get it all up there, whether or not you have a YouTube channel or using YouTube, put it on there. It’s just like another place where you can really be seeding your searchability.

And YouTube is the second most search engine. I’m pretty sure that was the latest that I heard after Google. People are looking for things there, so be there and you can’t really be on YouTube if you don’t have any video content. It’s a great place to start. 

Jenny: After our engagement, you sent me a list of places and what to do exactly with that video, put it on your website, put it on YouTube, and you had instructions on how to do every piece of the puzzle.

How else do you suggest people repurpose their video content so they can get more life out of it? 

Paige: All clients that work with me, they do get that implementation guide where we’re really telling them best practices on how to post, where to post. The last thing I want is to give someone a video, have them like it on Facebook one time, and then we never see it again.

What was the point of that? And so really making sure, of course, spreading it across social platforms. If you are investing in working with a video production company, and you’re happy with your product, right? Make sure that it’s pinned to the top of your social pages. Because if that is all encompassing of who you are and what you do, you want people to see that first.

I have my video pinned on the top of my social pages, a lot of my clients do as well. Putting your video in your email signature so that every prospect has the opportunity to watch, that’s huge. Something that is overlooked. We might link to our websites down there, but why not say, hey, watch this three minute video or watch this two minute video to learn more about us.

Again, there are people that prefer to consume media that way or think, oh, video, and watch it. I can’t speak from personal experience because I’m super biased and I always watch a video if there’s a video, so I can’t necessarily say, see, even I do it. I do think that there’s a lot of people out there that shows a lot of people out there do want to consume media that way.

And then also, of course, keeping in mind when we’re thinking about our marketing and we’re thinking about our social media. We know that the algorithm only shows a very small portion of our followers our content. And so never feel tired of reposting that video time and time again. I like to say do it at least quarterly because that’s a good way to just get new eyes.

You have new followers, you have new connections you’ve made, and you have people that have been connected to you for five years who did not see it come up in their feed. It happens all the time with all of our content and so reposting is crucial. But then you can also use the video, people have used it in so many different ways, people have used it in press releases, people have used it to pitch themselves for a speaking opportunity, if you’re applying for a grant and you want someone to know about your business or your organization, that’s a great thing to add on, a lot of grants ask for a video component.

There’s really a lot of different use cases for a video once you have it. And then of course, you can slice and dice, create new social content out of it. I always offer my clients, we do the interviews for 30 to 45 minutes, typically per person. We only give you the best two minutes, but there might be a fun anecdote or story that was left on the cutting room floor.

Let’s talk about it. Come back to me. Was there anything that was left that we think we could turn into more content? Like we have it, now it’s in the can, it’s been recorded. You looked great. There’s so much opportunity to keep going with it. Even when you’re just investing in the one video to get started.

And of course, the one brand story video that we do for most of our small business clients, isn’t the extent of the video content that you can be doing, but it’s definitely the place where people start when they’re small business owners and they’re on a budget for sure.

Jenny: It’s great to be able to repurpose because you do invest all this time and energy into this one piece and you got to make sure that you can put it in other places and have it work for you. And I’ve added it to my email signature, like you suggested. And people have actually responded to me and have watched it.

So that’s been a great addition. And I’m thankful for all the ways that you share that you can actually get out and repurpose it. 

Paige: I love that. Makes me very happy. Anytime I get something where someone says I love the video in your signature. I’m like, thank you. Thank you. Just makes me happy to know they’re watching it.

Because I don’t look at the analytics enough to see if they’re watching from there. Maybe I should, but it’s nice to get that affirmation. And it adds another touch point, right? There’s the surprise and delight customer experience that we all want to create. And when they say, “Oh, I love that video.”, that’s the delight. Like they didn’t expect it and they want to tell you that they were happy to see it. That’s just another touch point. And that’s some more brownie points you get with that prospect when you’re chatting with them. 

Jenny: Yes, anything else you wanted to share with small business owners who are interested in video or anything else you forgot to chat about?

Paige: I’m sure I could talk about it all day. And there’s so much breadth to which you can be using video for your brand. Like I said, it’s not just that video brand story we did for you. There’s also testimonial videos are incredibly powerful process videos, service highlights. 

There’s so many different ways you can continue to expand upon the video content you’re using. A lot of the questions I get, especially from the small business owner is, when should I invest in this and when should I just do it myself? And sometimes I’ll get on sales calls with people and I’ll hear what they’re saying and I say, you don’t need me for that. You can do that yourself. It’s not something that I think you should be investing in based on the size of your business, based on your capacity, based on your budget. 

I think there are plenty of big corporations that want to invest in that stuff that maybe only has a one-time use. And that’s fine. They have a budget for it. They don’t have time to deal with it. They want someone else to deal with it. But the small business owner, if they’re like, I really want a video to promote this lunch that I’m having, and I want to attract cool people to come. I think maybe that’s a social media video that you create on your phone.

Whereas if a big corporation is selling tickets to this lunch and they say we don’t care that it’s one and done. We want it to be really polished and aligned with our brand. So there’s always that balance of where your resources lie. I would say when you are a small business owner, the best places to invest are those videos that are going to be evergreen and live on your website.

The things where you’re trying to really make conversions. I say the video brand story is great on social media, but I do actually think it’s better on your website. So working with someone like yourself, who’s going to create, a really high converting website, having that video as a component, I always tell people it’s a tool.

It’s not the solution. You can’t just have a video out there. It’s not going to do anything for you. You have to drive people somewhere. There has to be an action for them to take. It’s a tool as part of this bigger digital marketing puzzle and having it be there to help elevate and help strengthen.

Just like good copy, just like good photos, just like good SEO. It’s like everything else that we think about in marketing. The investment should really be on that website. What’s on your homepage? Do you want to highlight a specific service? Do you need to explain that? Do we need to have a product video for that?

What is going to last you a long time? And we at Main Page Media really focus on how evergreen can we make this content for you. I try to make everything as evergreen as possible. I don’t want you to talk about a specific year. I don’t want you to talk about, right now. I don’t want you to even say something like, we’ve been in business for four years.

I’ll recommend, how about you say we’ve been in business since 2020? Because that way it doesn’t age. And that still works. Five years later, now it doesn’t work anymore. And usually, especially with a small business owner, you don’t have to redo your video until either your business has dramatically changed, or this has not totally happened yet, but maybe it’s that technology changes so much that it looks different, incredibly out of date when you’re like now it looks old. We’re all, I don’t know, creating video in 4d now so I think if you’re thinking about first place for an investment, think about where are your clients coming from currently and what’s currently working and how can you capitalize on that. And that’s the best place to start.

Jenny: You put it so well. It’s like pieces of the puzzle. Your website, your SEO, your brand, and then a beautiful video on top of that. It’s just all the pieces of the puzzle come together. You have a wonderful place that you can really get across your unique personality and make that connection with your potential client.

This has been great, Paige. Tell us how someone can get in touch with you if they’re interested in some video for their business. 

Paige: Thanks. You can check us out at mainpaigemedia.com. Follow us on Instagram at Main Paige Media. Paige is spelled P-A-I-G-E because that is my first name and I did found this company and I’m always here for a good pun.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Paige Burns or follow Main Paige Media, LLC on LinkedIn. We’re also on Facebook, but to be completely honest with you, Facebook page is not the most active place. So I’d say Instagram, LinkedIn, the website. Do whatever you need to do. You can find us. Send me a direct email Paige@mainpagemedia.com. However you want to reach me, I’m available. 

Jenny: I’ll put them all in the show notes and I’ll put a link. If you go to my homepage, you’ll see the video business card that Paige did for me as well in my second section where they talk about the business, the company. And I have the video right alongside there.

Thank you so much, Paige, for chatting. I appreciate you and your time and we’ll talk to you later. 

Paige: Of course. Thank you so much, Jenny.