These days, charities are getting a lot of encouragement to have a video presence on the web. Good thing, too.

YouTube, now the world’s second largest search engine, runs an excellent service for non-profits – with the ability to put links in your video that go directly to your website.  It should definitely be considered as part of an effective SEO strategy – rather than just somewhere to shove old DRTV ads and odds and sods of old footage.  Check out Michael Hoffman’s post on the subject to find out why.

One of the most vocal new promoters of video is See The Difference.  If you haven’t sat through one of their infectiously enthusiastic presentations this year – where have you been?  See The Difference, when it goes live sometime this winter, will be a spectacularly shiny environment, with all sorts of bells and whistles, where you can display your charity’s fundraising videos.

It represents what the web is about: fluid communication that allows you to move intuitively from one interesting thing to another, following your whims and hunches, donating a bit here, a bit there?  The only question that keeps nagging at me is whether donors will bother to go there and look.  I really hope they will, because the demo site is seriously cool.

But – and there is a big ‘BUT’ – people won’t watch your video unless it is emotionally engaging.  No-one will give to your cause as a result of your film unless you have made a persuasive case.  And no-one will want to watch any video online, no matter how worthy, if it’s long, meandering and doesn’t make an interesting point – and fast.

Doing this is simply not as easy as it looks.

If people have got short attention spans nowadays, there’s nowhere they’re shorter than online. (By the way, the optimum length for an online video is between 3 and 4 minutes.)

A while back I met with some lovely people from a medium-sized charity who had just made a See The Difference do-it-yourself-style film.  They opened the laptop and pressed play.  I watched footage, which ran for several minutes, without any voiceover, then stopped abruptly.

Apart from the missing branding and lack of logo (you might easily be left wondering which charity it featured), the missing case for support (who knows what they were actually going to do with your money?), and the fact that in their film everyone seemed pretty happy and healthy (you do have to illustrate some need when you’re fundraising) – it wasn’t too bad a piece (a bit worthy and dull, but not, you know, awful).

Perhaps these were basic errors that many charities would avoid?  I’m not so sure.

The thing is, charities are often so passionate about the change they create, and so convinced of the need, it often makes them incapable of taking a critical view of their fundraising and realising potential donors might need a bit more persuasion.

But consider this: technology has brought production costs down so much now that making a video is within the reach of just about anybody.  This means more and more people churning out their own mini productions (hence the phenomenal growth of YouTube).

Although that’s great for charities, it’s also going to make it harder and harder for your cause to stand out and be noticed.  And it’s also going to get more and more difficult to persuade the average person to give up three minutes of their life to watch your film, instead of someone else’s – not to mention to watch it and donate.

What’s the solution?  An old one I’m afraid.  Unless you’re an expert yourself, find someone who is.  As media channels have proliferated beyond all recognition, certain things have never gone out of fashion: ideas and craft.

No, you don’t have to spend a fortune on film any longer; a home video camera will do (or even a mobile phone).  But you still have to work damned hard to get someone’s attention.  You still have to think.  You still have to use your imagination.

Frustratingly, this can’t be done with a checklist.  Making a film like that is a bit like painting by numbers – it looks like a painting, but it doesn’t make you feel anything.

Moving images are still the most instantly emotive way to connect with people.  Cleverly used they can make you cry, laugh, gasp with amazement and have you diving for your wallet.

So, remember, while you’re cutting costs, that you still need to invest in the skills required to make this medium sing sweetly.  They’re worth their weight in gold (or pounds sterling!).