Three steps for turning a video into a Web Story

If you run a website, YouTube channel or blog, chances are you’ve produced a video for it. And you can easily reuse that content by converting it into a Web Story, which offers a few key advantages. As a Web Story, your video can be consumed at the viewers’ own pace, page by page, and they can navigate forward and backward. This makes it ideal for content like recipes or other instructional materials. Web Stories are also more flexible than videos because they can include links, quizzes and other interactive elements. In addition, Web Stories may appear in a carousel on Google Discover which can help you reach a new audience. 

In the video below, I share how to convert a video into a Web Story in three steps. This process is also useful for turning text-based content like blogs into Web Stories.

Here are the three steps:

1. Revisit the original video.

Videos and Web Stories are different formats. Don’t just aim to cut your video into Web Story-sized clips. You’d end up with way too many pages and the Story would lose its focus. Instead, revisit the original content and find sections where you can boil down the content to the core messages you want to convey. Each page of a Web Story should feature a single, contained thought to ensure a smooth flow. You’ll also want to start your story strong as most readers will decide to keep reading or quit within the first three pages.

2. Write a script for your Web Story.

Once you have identified the key points of your original video, you’re ready to build your Web Story’s script. It helps to include a summary of each page; any video, animation or photo assets that will be included and any text you’ll want to show on the screen. The Storytime team has this script template you can use to structure your script. It helps you maintain a balance between pages with video and pages with text. It also prompts you to decide if you want to dress up a page with gifs, quizzes, polls or other Web Story features. 

3. Create your Story.

The final step is to prepare your assets, trim your video clips to the desired length and jump into your favorite visual editor. We’ve listed some of the most popular ones on stories.google.   With the script as guidance, you can build your Web Story page by page. To optimize your workflow, use placeholders for videos and photos and import your assets once the design is finished. Also, be sure to add important metadata like alternative text and captions before you publish. 

Everyone has a different creative process. Some people create mock-up pages while scripting, while other people allow these steps to overlap as they work. You are the author of your own Web Story, so free to write, design and create in whatever way works best for you.