Did you know that 168 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 26 billion videos online during September 2009? That’s an average of 154 videos per viewer.

With these stats in mind, we decided that it was time to find out more about how online videos can be used by small business owners to promote their business. So we enlisted the help of Josh Williams, CEO of the Onvids Group, who specializes in online video marketing for small business owners.

I sat down with Josh to discuss all things video and the video below is the first part of our interview. We discuss why online videos have taken off in the last few years, how business owners can leverage this success and why you don’t need to have a huge marketing budget to get started.

These days just about anyone can make a video and upload it to YouTube, so why can’t you? Some of the biggest companies use video to promote their product on their websites including Microsoft, BMW, GE and Apple. We have a number of product videos on our website and even our very own YouTube channel. So why not get yourself behind the camera to make your website even more appealing with a video explaining your products or services.

Our interview with Josh is in 2 parts. We will bring you the second part in the coming weeks, where we discuss how to make your video go viral and what the future holds for online videos.

So check out Josh’s tips on how you can use video to support your online marketing efforts. If you have any other tips about online videos then feel free to share them in our comments section below.