If you’re a small business owner, you’ve likely heard the motto “content is king” to describe the importance of content marketing. And while written content is effective for many audiences, visual marketing is an even more powerful tool to increase interactions and actions.

Forrester Research takes the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” one step further by adding that a one-minute video is worth 1.8 million words. Considering that 46 percent of people who watch a video ad on a business website take action after viewing it, it makes sense to include video in your marketing strategy.

Here are four reasons why you should use video on your business website:

1. Rank Better in Google

One of the factors of Google’s algorithm for search rankings is “dwell time,” or how long visitors stay on your website. This may also be referred to as “long clicks vs. short clicks.” The idea is that if people are spending a lot of time on your website, it must have quality content. A great way to capture—and hold—visitors’ attention is to provide a short, compelling video.

Businesses that include video on their site generally see higher engagement rates, higher click-through rates, and higher conversion rates. In fact, 80 percent of people who watch a video ad will recall it even a month later, and 12 percent will purchase the product from the ad.

2. Showcase Your Brand’s Personality

In today’s digital world, more and more people shop, work, and communicate online. While this is convenient, it means that we aren’t putting faces to names as often. To humanize your brand, use video to connect to your audience with as close to a face-to-face interaction as possible. Our emotions are what tend to motivate our decision-making and the actions we take, so the use of both sound and moving images appeals to all our senses.

Using a video to showcase your brand’s personality helps visitors on your website get a better sense of who you are and what you stand for—which builds trust in your business—and the emotional connection is one of the reasons that keeps customers coming back.

3. Stand Out From The Competition

There’s no doubt about it: video is an important part of content marketing and it’s only going to become more essential. Consider these facts:

• 90 percent of online consumers report that a business’ product or service video helps them make a decision to buy
• 65 percent of executives who watch work-related videos visit the business’ website afterwards
• 64 percent of people who visit a business’ website are likely to buy their product after watching a video
• real estate listings that include a video get 403% more inquiries than those without video

But because only half of businesses currently use video in their marketing—a number that is predicted to rise to 64 percent in the near future—you still have the opportunity to stand out from the competition by making use of this powerful marketing tool. Use it to introduce your brand to newcomers, answer your website visitors’ questions, or just to make ‘em laugh—not to mention create a favorable and lasting impression.

4. Include Mobile Users

If you’ve ever tried reading a long article on a relatively small Smartphone screen, you know how slow-going it can be—even on websites with responsive design. Receiving the same information via video can make the process much easier for the average person, especially in this day and age of short attention spans. Since viewing video on a mobile device has increased 532 percent in the last two years, and 40 percent of people prefer to get their information visually rather than plain text anyway, it makes sense to give consumers what they want.

When you use video on your website, you have a powerful tool that can increase the authenticity of your business. Whether you want to earn money, share your knowledge or increase page views, you can use video to create a dynamic web site the attracts and keeps visitors.