Stephen Reali
Videographer

Stephen loves all forms of art. His youthful passion for drawing, sculpting, and painting led him to his current career in video production.

Born in Washington, D.C., Stephen is a native of Maryland. He attended the University of Maryland for a year, and graduated with a BFA in Applied Media Arts from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Although traditional animation was his area of concentration, Stephen took a number of film and video production classes.

Stephen joined NetStrategies in January 2009 as an intern, producing video for Leadership Fairfax, Inc. He is now NetStrategies' videographer, launching the company's inhouse video blog, Internet Marketing TV. He films and edits Web video for our company and customers and then distributes them online. He also assists with the management of analytics data for our customers.

Why should you have video on your website?

Video actively engages your clients, subscribers, and potential customers much more easily than simple text. Text has become commonplace and is static. Embedded video allows your viewers to see firsthand what it is you're selling or promoting. In addition, video gives a face to your company. If you can make your viewers laugh or learn something, you are more likely to create a conversation.

What would be the ideal length of a web video?

When you add video content to your website, you definitely want to keep it under five minutes long... even going over three minutes is pushing it. You want to hold the viewer's attention. If the audience grows bored, even the most well done video won't stop them from hitting the "Back" button. Also consider the video's file size. A longer video takes more of the viewer's time to download and decreases the likelihood of success.