The most enthralling, exciting and motivating web videos are useless if they don't get played. That's why we've added the ability to display an attention-grabbing introductory animation video in The Web Video Player™ before the video starts playing. Here's an example...

SiteSell.com CEO and WVZ member, Ken Evoy, recently had his advertising agency create a short video to promote his popular Site Build It service. When integrated with the WVZ's Video Affiliate System™, the above video will soon be playing on many of his affiliates' web sites, driving targeted traffic to SiteSell.com (and earning commissions for his affiliates).

When developing the video, the agency asked me if it would be possible to have a short video animation display in the player before the video even started. At the time they asked, this wasn't possible. However, since it was a feature I was planning to eventually add to The Web Video Player™ anyway, I had my excuse to make it happen sooner, rather than later.

As a result, we now have the first new addition to the Web Video Player for 2007...

Ability to Play Intro/Exit SWF Video Animations

First, a little background information:

The SWF file format was developed to allow for the efficient delivery of graphics, animation and short video clips (optionally with audio) over the internet. When first introduced, SWF files were created primarily using the Adobe/Macromedia Flash program. However, there are now hundreds of programs available that can help you create, edit and work with SWF files.

To use an SWF file with the Web Video Player, you specify the file as an Intro Image and/or Exit Image in your player configuration settings. You can either upload the SWF to your WVZ account as a hosted image:

Upload an SWF file as a hosted image

...and then select it from the dropdown box in your player configuration; or, you can specify the URL path to its location on another web server:

Specify SWF file in your player configuration

A few things to keep in mind when using a SWF file with The Web Video Player:

1. The SWF starts to play automatically as soon as it loads.
2. Be careful not to use too large of an intro SWF file, as it may take a while for it to load and display in your video player.
3. Make sure your SWF is the same size as your FLV (e.g., 320x240).
4. If your SWF contains audio, your visitors will hear it but not be able to adjust the volume level or turn it off.
5. Starting the video by pressing the "play" button or "click to play" screen will stop the SWF from playing.
6. Your SWF file will replay from the beginning only if you set it to "loop" when you create it.
7. Clicking on the animation while cause the video to start playing.
8. When used as an exit image, you can specify a URL exit link to encourage people to click on the SWF and be taken to another web page.
9. Any links (a.k.a. "hotspots") contained in your SWF will not work when the SWF is displayed in your player.

In future articles, we'll be covering the tools and tutorials showing you how to create enticing SWF animation videos that will help get better results from your web videos.