In the world of video on the Internet, broadband changed everything.

With dialup going the way of the triceratops, Web-based video is becoming ubiquitous. Video can be an effective way to communicate with succinct messages with an emotional hook that text or still graphics cannot supply. It can give a face to a message or reinforce brand attributes.

So what kind of video should you consider putting on your Web site? Maybe your TV commercials if they’re funny or compelling, and not too old. A how-to-do-it video if you sell do-it-yourself types of products. Client testimonials. A message to your employees from your CEO. Maybe a new product video. Or even, if you got the money for it, original entertainment programming that drives people to your Web site. BMW used original short films by major directors to drive traffic to their site (hopefully driven in a BMW).

If I may, I’d like to suggest some ways I think will help you put video successfully on your Web site.

Engage your audience. And do it fast. Visitors will click away quicker than you can say “Our company started in nineteen forty-seven with a dream…” Your video should be something people want to watch, and, if you should be so lucky, tell other people to watch. You should know your target audience well enough to present video they would like to watch. If you don’t know your audience well enough to do this, well, you should.

Exclusive Content. Some prominent successes in Internet marketing came from the idea of only being able to get certain content from your Web site. If the content is compelling enough, and drives word-of-mouse, then people will visit and watch. The Bud Light commercial documenting the fictitious cause of Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction is an example. It was pulled from broadcast but put up on an A-B Web site, where it gained new life and lots of, um, exposure.

Basic production rules apply. The quality of video on the Internet can be quite bad. That’s OK for a You Tube video of a guy in his basement channeling his inner Frodo while battling Sauron with his pull tab ring of power. But you may want to consider good lighting, good sound, and good editing as a viable alternative for your own video.

Promo it. If you want to drive viewers to your web site, you can’t do it by publicizing it only on your Website. If you have something really special, tell people about it in other media. Get some press on it. Take out an ad. Create an event.

If you go for funny, be funny. Really funny. Not kind of chuckle funny. Save kind of chuckle funny for blog posts.

How about a live video? I do like live Web cams pointed at interesting places. Sure the frame rate is ponderous and nothing much happens most of the time. But when the hyena walks by the camera or you see the sun set on one of your favorite beaches, it’s pretty cool.

Keep it current. Keeping a video up long past its viable shelf life is not a good idea. If it’s dated, it’s dated.

Copyrights apply. Violating a copyright may be a problem if your violation can be viewed by almost everyone on the planet. Talent, music, images – all may have rights associated with them. Viacom is suing Google for one billion dollars over copyright infringement on YouTube. How it’s settled will probably affect use of copyrighted material on the Web (at least in certain instances), but it hasn’t been settled yet.

How about HD? You can get decent HD on the Internet, movie trailers from the Apple site, for instance. But your viewer needs the broadband speed and the computer horsepower to make it work well – and it will take some time to download. So give standard def as an option to hi def and make everybody happy.

The handwriting is on the screen. Broadband video is with us … in our homes, at the office, on our cell phones. Yes, put video on your Web site. If you’re pretty sure someone will want to watch it.