Should I use YouTube or Vimeo?

 

Both sites are important and in most cases we recommend having an account for your business on both YouTube and Vimeo. We've found that uploading all videos in both places provides more potential for exposure, as well as the opportunity to use the unique features of both sites.

 

In some cases, however, our clients have chosen to go with one over the other. If that applies to you, here are some things to consider.

 

First off, YouTube is absolutely massive, with over 24 hours of video being uploaded every minute. That can be a blessing and a curse - yes, youtube has the largest video watching audience in the world, but it also has an ocean of content. Therefore, unless someone is viewing your video right on your channel, you don't have a lot of control over what content appears next to your video. Especially when you're brand new on the site, you run the risk of losing your audience to the "related videos" of cute kittens playing with string or worse, a competitor's video.

 

Fortunately, most YouTube users are savvy to this and it's not typically a deal breaker in terms of connecting to your audience. And most of the traffic you really care about on your video will be generated by you actively sharing and using the video.

 

Where Vimeo excels is in custom presentation of the content. Particularly if you upgrade to a PRO paid account, you can create custom video portfolios and display pages with your brand, provided you're a little familiar with design and possibly some basic CSS coding. The Vimeo video player is simpler and in our opinion often looks nicer when embedded, but that's a matter of opinion. However, before you decide to jump in only on Vimeo, remember that the overall audience is much, much smaller.

 

A final key point is that YouTube is owned by Google and YouTube videos tend to rank quite well on Google searches (when the video is relevant and being watched). If SEO is important to you, this is important to keep in mind.