If there has ever been a time to think about adding video to your website then that time is now. Recent breakthroughs in video hosting technology allow for the delivery of high quality video streams at a low cost. In addition, the online video audience continues to grow at a nice clip. Technology at the point of consumption continues to improve as well with companies like Boxee and Roku making it easier to bring web based video to the television. Television makers like LG have gotten into the act as well by baking web video access directly into their TV sets.

On the content creation side the landscape has changed for the better as well. There was a time when the capture of quality video required a camera that utilized MiniDV tapes which would then need to be transferred in real time to a computer. The cost of that part of the process was usually considerable, requiring an expensive camera and tapes, and time consuming as well. Now you can shoot high definition 780p and 1080p video utilizing flash recorders from companies like Kodak and Flip for under $200. These types of cameras record the video to flash drives that can transfer the resulting output files from camera to computer at high speed. Don't expect to shoot movie theater quality video with this type of hardware. After all, there's much skill that goes into creating professional video. But do expect to be able to create sharp videos that represent your ideas, products or services very well.

Once you've created your video you'll want to edit it so that you end up with the most professional presentation possible. Once again, there have been great advances in video editing software over the last few years. Microsoft has released an new, free Windows Movie Maker for Windows 7. Apple's iMovie, included with new Apple computers, is well known for being easy to use while producing great results. The bottom line is that you won't need to invest thousands of dollars in editing software in order to edit down the video you shoot into a nice final product.

What to do with the video you've created once it's ready for the world to see? Get it online of course! When I started publishing video one the web back in 2005 there weren't many good options besides YouTube. Even then the resulting quality of YouTube videos was not very good. YouTube has since upgraded their video conversion to high definition quality supporting both 720p, and more recently, 1080p as well. That means your high definition video uploads will look sharp on computers and televisions. Another web video host that has made great strides since the early days is Blip.tv. Blip has improved their video encoding quality, created an embeddable player that you can customize, allows for playlists that you can attach to custom embeddable flash players and supports syndication via many other sites, including the iTunes podcast directory. Both YouTube and Blip.tv are free. Blip offers an $8 per month pro account that adds features such as priority conversion to flash, auto conversion to iPod and mp3 format and password protected videos.

Another important part of the web video workflow process that has improved in recent years is integration with web publishing systems. Almost all systems, either web-based or self-hosted, support the embedding of video players from 3rd party hosting sites. Popular self-hosted web systems like WordPress and Drupal offer a wide variety of add on modules that allow you to do even more with videos you have hosted elsewhere.

So with all of the technology pieces of the puzzle in place you might be wondering whether it makes sense for your business to get involved with the production and publishing of online video. It's a good question to ask because it might not make sense for you. I think that the question you need to consider is whether or not you have anything visually interesting that you want or need to share. If you're selling software you might want to consider video screencasts that show off the features or show how to use your software. If you make a physical product you might want to show off the product or show people using the product. Two other key things to consider when making videos are passion and creativity. You want to try to speak to people in a way that expresses your passion and therefore ignites the passion of other people. And you want to be creative so that people find your work interesting and want to see more.

This is a lot of information to consider but thankfully you can dip your toe into the water and test out online video with a much smaller investment of time and money than you would have needed a few years ago. If you like the content that your tests yield and you are able to get positive feedback from viewers then you can consider making a greater investment of time and money in your online video efforts.