Do not underestimate the power of videos online was one clear message from SES NY 08.

In February 2008 alone 116 million of internet users watched an average of 124 minutes of online videos! They viewed more than 5.9 billion video streams; 72% watched news video online at least once a week.

So the audience is there, its your job to make sure you make it as simple as possible for them to find you.

Even local small businesses can profit from using video online. Many ’yellow page’ sites are integrating video with business profiles. Now that Universal search results puts video on web search pages it’s a strategic move to add video to your online yellow page listings.

You are 2.2x more likely to get a click from a Search Engine Results Page if you have a sponsored result and a local listing, but if you have a video plus local your 3.2x more likely, said Steve Espinosa, Director of Product Development and Management, eLocal Listing, LLC.

Tips to follow to improve your online video presence:

• Enhance existing text content with Video Thumbnails. This makes a huge difference when the user selects which video to click.
• make sure you have the right keywords in the title tag and description
• Use keywords in the video file name and separate them by hyphen. Example: www.herroom.com/sports-bras
• One video per URL (and avoid Flash and pop-ups)
• Surround video with on-page relevant text
• Allow video files to be embeddable and include logo watermark . this is very importnt as it makes it possible for bloggers to use your vidoe material
• Brand yourself in the video: right now it’s easier to rank for video than text
• Mention your videos where ever your key audience would be

Online video offers a burgeoning PR opportunity for branding and visibility.