Script for the edit, not for the algorithm

Because there is no feed to survive, structure can follow the argument rather than the retention curve. Write the voiceover and the visual direction together: what is said, what is on screen, and what B-roll or screen capture the editor needs. That two-column discipline is what separates a script an editor can shoot from a document they have to reinterpret.

You still cannot waste the opening — a viewer on a landing page is one tab away — but you have ten to fifteen seconds rather than two. Use them to state what the video will let the viewer do or decide, so they know whether to keep watching.

Two to four minutes covers most brand, product and case-study videos. Longer is fine for training and documentation, where the viewer is committed and chaptering matters more than pace.

Where the video sits determines the close

Write the ending backwards from the page it lives on. A homepage explainer should end pointing at the thing directly below it. A sales-cycle video should end at a booking. A support video should end at the next article. A generic "thanks for watching" wastes the only moment where the viewer's intent is highest.

Chapter anything over about three minutes. Vimeo's chaptering makes long videos navigable, and a navigable video gets used as a reference rather than watched once.

Plan the captions and the transcript as deliverables, not extras. An embedded transcript is readable content on the host page and makes the video accessible to people who will never press play.

Common mistakes in embedded video

Writing it like an ad. The viewer is already on your site; they want detail and specificity, not another value proposition.

One long unchaptered take. It is fine to record; it is not fine to publish without navigation.

No plan for the silent viewer. Embedded video frequently autoplays muted or is skimmed — burn in the key claims.

Ending on a logo. The last frame should contain the next action, and that action should match the stage of the buyer who is watching.