There’s a common perception that integrating video content into your website can be expensive. However, this isn’t the case any more — video-to-web is fast, easy and affordable.

Showcasing your product with video creates a much more intimate connection with your website visitor than just a photograph, diagram or list of services. Probably the best example is BlendTec’s "Will it Blend" video campaign, which illustrates the blending power of their products on objects such as iPhones and marbles.

Additionally, if you use a video-sharing application to host your content such as YouTube or Blip.tv, your video is instantly shareable in a peer-to-peer fashion. These services allow you to cast a wider audience net outside of your own website.

So how do you get started?

1. Equipment. Depending on the final quality you’ll need, you can hire a freelance videographer to shoot it, or simply create your own content with affordable digital video equipment such as the Flip cam.
2. Get it on the Web! This is much easier than it sounds. There are many video-sharing websites out there to choose from — I mentioned YouTube and Blip.tv earlier, but there’s also Viddler, Veoh, Revver and many more. It’s a snap to upload your video file to any of these websites and they will take care of file hosting and bandwidth for you, usually for free.
3. Integrate it. All video-sharing applications allow you to easily embed your video content into your website, blog, or social network profile. Typically this is as simple as copying and pasting a snippet of code.

In summary, there’s no reason to drop $10,000 on an expensive video shoot for your website. With the right tools and a little curiosity, you’ll be on your way to integrating video in no time.