As engagement becomes a more valuable - and measurable - metric, optimizing Flash videos and other rich internet applications becomes critical.

We at OTTO Digital and Offermatica have been optimizing flash for some time with clients. Here are some of the things we've learned.

6 Steps in Optimizing Flash Video

Step #1. Theme
The best video is not the one the interactive designer or the brand agency delivers. It's the one that gets the highest percentage of users to perform an action.
For a travel site, for example, do you show the video with the happy family enjoying their time together or do you show fantastic clips from some of the most popular travel destinations? How about a mix of both?

Step #2. Length
As a lover of YouTube and a self-professed optimizer, I’ve often wondered how long the optimal length of a YouTube video would be, in terms of reducing drop-off and maximizing video (page) views per user.

Gord Hotchkiss is leading this thinking in search results with his eye tracking work. Still the best advice on video length optimization might be from Charlie Parker: “Always leave them wanting more.”

Step #3. Cut
Once we have the right theme to capture attention and the right length to keep attention, then we become story tellers with editing.

For example, Apocalypse Now would still have been a great movie had it been edited any number of other ways. The script, photography, acting are all great, but there is likely another cut of the film that would have appealed to a wider audience, or different cuts that would have appealed more to different audiences. I bet, for example, that the film could be cut a different way in order to appeal more to women than the original.

Bottom line: The “audience cut” of your flash video means that you have improved what you set out to do in the first place.

Step #4. Sound
In most cases, sound is still something most users do not expect. With a strategy to meet and exceed user expectations this generally means no sound. However, in certain instances it is expected and can provide benefits. The only way to determine impact is to test.

Step #5. Choice and Control
User control of the experience we will increase engagements: a good thing. Too many choices and the perception of difficulty will decrease engagement: a bad thing. So what are these choices and controls, and how do they affect performance. The Major League Baseball homepage is a typical rich experience site with a well of videos on the homepage, six in all, with one default. Are six the ideal number? What about the order? The number (choice) and order (control) can be optimized based on actual user interest.

Step #6. Targeting
As with virtually all creative, the most important optimization technique is targeting.
You can target a number of things on a site. For example, while visiting MLB.com today, I was served a video on the Red Sox and the A's, rather than the Yankees and the Mets. Had the site geo-targeted me based on my New York City IP address, I would have received more relevant content, and stayed longer.

Take this one step further: consider the fact that, given my choice between the Yankees and the Mets, I would have clicked on the Yankees. Having expressed my affinity, the site could then have re-targeted me, on repeat visits, by defaulting to the Yankee videos, which are much more likely to engage me and to get me to return to the site in the future.

If you have or will invest money, time and resources creating and delivering flash video for your site, and you have given it front-and-center prominence in the site, then you are being remiss if you're not optimizing. In fact, you could be doing more harm than good.

Flash video has sometimes been seen as an enemy of users, but it doesn't have to be that way. If the presentation and delivery are optimized, it can provide a richer, more relevant experience that will improve the results of your business and the value of your brand.

(This post is excerpted from Jonathan Mendez's blog, Optimize and Prophesize. For more on this topic and for six examples of Flash optimization, click here.