Video blogging isn’t for everyone. You need to have the right equipment, commitment and passion.

The correct equipment means lights, cameras and then its action time and ensuring you get the basics right and avoiding making the basic mistakes.

This is the last article in a three  part series where we look at how to put together a professional looking video on a budget.

So if you missed the first two you can quickly leap to them below.

• Part One: Equipment
• Part Two: Audio and Lighting
• Part Three: Post-production

The Post-production

Now that all the filming is done, we will look at how to compile and package your video so that it is professional and pleasant to watch.

Video blogs need to be set out like an article. It will have a main topic and then subsections within this.

A video blogger needs to be prolific; it can’t take hours to package your video each time so we recommend that you create a series of templates that you can reuse to define your subsections, title background screen and so on. These templates are made up of graphic elements that will give your videos a recognisable style and can include branding and contact details.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Templates

Remember that these backgrounds and templates can only work if you have shot the video with a blue or green screen chroma-key background, which can then be keyed out and replaced with graphic elements.

To begin with you can create your opening title screen backdrop. Remember to keep your introduction short and informative. Then you can add an animated title backdrop that introduces the speaker. This can be used for guest speakers too.

Talking Heads can be Boring

Most video blogs will use the “talking head” style but this can become visually uninteresting so create a series of backgrounds. Obviously they need to be relevant so you can make a neutral one that just has some texture, otherwise you can add pictures, video or a slideshow.

When making a list you can create bullet points next to the speaker, or even cut the speaker out completely and just keep the audio while listing the points. But what the speaker is saying and what you show doesn’t need to always be exactly the same, you could add an infographic, for example, that will enrich your point. Keep in mind the audience’s assimilation rate. This is how long it will take to absorb the information on the screen. You need to find a balance so that the viewer is happy that they have had time to understand what’s on the screen but not so long as to bore the viewer.

6 Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

There are a few simple things that can make all the difference to your video.

Sound is another import thing to focus on. First I want to focus on music and then I’ll just list some tips on how to adjust your audio in post-production. Adding music can give your video a lot of texture and an ambiance that can be very effective. But there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Firstly, be careful to find royalty-free music. It’s illegal to use copywritten music without paying a usually hefty royalty fee.
2. Then you need to consider that the relationship between the subject matter and the speed or style of the music has to match. If I’m being really serious and talking quite slowly having something jaunty and fast in the background isn’t going to work. In the same way, if I’m talking excitedly about a subject I’m passionate about and this slow, poignant music is playing, it changes the whole atmosphere of the piece.
3. If you are putting music behind a voice, you need make sure that it is soft enough so that we can still clearly hear the person speaking — if it’s too loud, the video is really messy. But it also can’t be too soft, which sounds like somebody left the radio on the other room.
4. When there’s a pause in the narration you can push the music up. But also don’t be afraid not to have music. You can have silence when the speaker is on and then just use the music to bridge the sections.
5. Really importantly, you need to make sure that the music corresponds with your subsections. Often people will put a song on, let it run and end and then add another, but it’s really jarring if this happens randomly in the middle of a section. Rather work backwards; put the end of the song at the end of a section and just fade the music in at the beginning, even if you are starting in the middle of the song. This sounds less jarring than ending in the middle.
6. Make sure that your audio levels are consistent; they shouldn’t fade in and out or change at all and if you have picked up some ambient noise, try to soften it in postproduction.

That’s it for our tips for packaging an online video blog professionally. I hope you have got some good ideas out of this. Happy blogging!

About the authors: Francois Karstel is the owner of Sound Idea Digital, a full service digital agency. You can connect with him on Twitter @soundideadma, Robyn Bloch is a digital journalist at Sound Idea Digital. You can connect with her on Twitter @soundidea or visit: Sound Idea Digital

Image by KTVee

If you’re a business owner and have watched popular YouTube videos, you’ve undoubtedly wondered: how can I get my brand seen by millions of YouTubers? People go on YouTube to be entertained and your videos can accomplish just that with a tight or non-existent marketing budget.

The key to your success, however, is forgetting about your brand all together.

YouTube videos, blog posts, pictures, and/or articles go viral mainly because they hit people emotionally: they make people laugh, cry, feel good, feel surprised…they make them feel something. Your brand can be placed subtlety within the video or at the end of it. However, the mention of your business should in no way take away from the purpose of your video, which is to show compelling content, much like Apple did in its Think Different ad. A viral video may give your business a sales boost. More importantly, however, is the fact that a viral video can make people care about your brand in a way that blatant advertisements cannot.

Give Away Something for Free

These days, people don’t want you to push goods or services on them. Give away something of value for free (in the form of a Youtube video) and people will want to know who made that cool video happen. You’re brand will stick in the minds of potential customers for a long time, creating long term relationships.

5 Brands Who Became a Hit on YouTube

Here are five examples of businesses doing just that…

1. Blendtec

Tom Dickson, founder and CEO of the company, created a YouTube account, in which he shows random items being blended. Although his Blendtec blenders are on prominent display throughout his videos, the blenders act as a character and add to the comedic value of the video clips. The company’s YouTube account has many videos, each with over 1 million views.

If you plan on your product or service being a central part of the story, make sure that it adds something to the story and isn’t a blatant self-promotion tool.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. Sick Puppies

Although the lead singer of the band Sick Puppies had not intended on making a viral YouTube video, that is exactly what he did when he sent a video gift to Juan Mann, whose grandmother had died. The video combined Juan’s recent “free hugs” campaign with the band’s music. The video was uploaded to YouTube on 2006 and immediately went viral, receiving over 70 million views since its creation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

3. MSI Laptops

This laptop manufacturer thought it would be very funny if they had guys throw their laptops into each other’s butts. They were right, because at the time this article was written, their “Guy Catches Laptop With His Butt” has been seen by over 4 million people.

Click here to view the embedded video.

4. Ok Go Band

They first achieved online fame through their “Here It Goes Again” music video, in which they perform a complex, non-stop dance for over 3 minutes. Their original music video has received over 50 million views and they have since built a huge online presence through their YouTube Channel.

Click here to view the embedded video.

5. Google

Yes, Google may be a giant, and such a huge company creating viral videos may not sound impressive, but Google proves that even a giant can create a viral video, which costs no more than the price of screen recording software. Their “Parisian Love” video, which aired during the 2010 Superbowl, has amassed over 6 million views on YouTube.

Click here to view the embedded video.

4 Tips to Go Viral on YouTube

Although your video’s “sharability” will be based primarily off content, you can increase the chance of your video going viral by…

• Marketing it. Telling people about your video defeats the whole purpose of a “viral video”. However, many videos with fascinating content don’t have nearly as many views as they could have and many videos with subpar content have millions of views. Rebecca Black’s Friday music video, an awful song according to her critics, had only 4,000 views before it was featured on Tosh.0
  ’s blog, turning the video into a viral hit earning over 160 million views. If your video gets on enough forums, blogs, Facebook shares, and/or websites, your video can get onto Youtube’s “Most Viewed” page, from which traffic can snowball.
• Keeping the video short and sweet. Like Charlie bit my finger – again !
• Having a shocking or interesting title such as “Dog Back Flips 10 Times”. Including the title of an already popular video within your own can help as well, like it did with the INEBRIATION (Inception Parody/Spoof) video.
• Having an interesting thumbnail. YouTube will let you select one of three thumbnails once you upload a video. If none of those are to your liking, try editing your video (by adding or deleting footage) so that Youtube will give you a different set of random frames to select. You want your thumbnail to show potential viewers that the video has interesting content. Pictures of faces, odd footage, and attractive females tend to do will. Youtube took away the ability to manually select a thumbnail because too many people were abusing the system by making deceptive thumbnails for their videos.

Guest Author: Nickolay Lamm is an internet marketing specialist who manages InventHelp Scam as well as other web properties.

More Reading:

• 50 Awesome YouTube Facts and Figures
• Online Video for Business: Don’t Ignore It Your Competitors Aren’t
• How To Create and Promote Your YouTube Video in 8 Simple Steps
• Who are the Top 5 YouTube Stars
• 32 Lessons for Online Video Social Media Marketing Success
• 9 Secrets of a Successful Online Video Social Media Marketing Strategy

Image  by leti_valde94

I have realized the importance of online video now for about 18 months after joining YouTube on September 28, 2009 and this year I have committed (and actually started) to interview on video and publish online, 50 business leaders in the online and internet sectors so that other people can learn from their experience and insights.

The power to educate and influence through video has been realized by big business and TV moguls for over 50 years but with advent of social media and YouTube the democratization of media is just beginning.

Any business large and small can easily, quickly and efficiently produce and promote their online videos to achieve business goals with various degrees of  skill and success but it is now available for all to use.

An Ad-ology forecast for small business reveals some statistics that confirm the growing importance of online video in the mindset of business owners stating that nearly half (45%) plan to do more with online video in 2011 (significantly up from last year when only 28% of companies planned to do something with online video).

Getting started with online video is maybe the hardest part through not knowing what to do and also just plain procrastination and lack of inertia are the culprits.

I just viewed the latest online video by Stephanie Wonderlin from Austin, Texas who I met on Twitter about a year ago and I have watched her very professional and enchanting YouTube online videos educating people about social media with quiet admiration.  Her latest online video exploits display interactive video which is very cool. So if you want to see an awesome online video production check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I hope it inspires you to start thinking about how you could use online video for your business.

If you want to connect with Stephanie (I am sure she won’t mind  as she is a social media fanatic) you can follow her on Twitter and check out and subscribe to her blog at Stephanie Wonderlin.com.

Online video has become mainstream, it wasn’t a decade ago.

I remember drawing up a business plan and having meetings with the major distributors of video in the late 1990′s because I had this dream of  being able to distribute video on the Web to people on demand. There was a problem, the internet was too slow and waiting for a video to download was measured in multiple hours and not minutes.  

Fast forward seven years and YouTube launches in 2005 and is sold to Google a year later for $1.65 billion. Online video is now mainstream. Since then we have seen it become available in high definition and on mobile phones as we not only have the fixed line networks delivering high speed internet but 3G mobile networks are now providing broadband to mobile devices such as the iPhone and the iPad.

The Rise And Rise Of Online Video

So with the rise of online video on demand anywhere and everywhere, progressive and smart marketers are starting to use online video to sell and market in ways that were not even imagined.

• Zappos uses 50,000 two minute online video reviews of its products to improve conversion rates of its online stores shopping basket by up to 30%.
• Gary Vaynerchuk uses a video blog to grow his personal brand and increase his family company’s wine business from  $4 million to $45 million in just 3 years. (read about it here in the article “9 Secrets Of A Successful Online Video Marketing Strategy“)

How You Can Use Online Video For Marketing

Online video can be used for marketing your brand in various ways including:

• Increase brand awareness
• Content creation
• Position the company as a thought leader
• Improves your SEO also known as “search engine optimization” (move you up the rankings of a Google search and maybe even get you on page one where 90% of all clicks to search results happen)
• Improve views to press releases by 500%
• Improve call to action responses for event registration, whitepaper download, webinar sign up and product service/trial

The Challenge

The challenge though is that making online videos that produce positive marketing results and look professional and don’t diminish your brand can be time consuming and the learning process can be lengthy. It is a whole new  skill set that needs to be learnt and optimized.

There are companies though that take your hand and provide you with the tools and the expertise online that make it easy for the “lazy” marketer to self create online professional videos that significantly improve conversion rates for emails, websites and sales campaigns.

The Lazy Video Marketers Solution

One such company is Visible Gains that provides you with a software platform and resources that that make it easy for you to make your own online marketing videos. Here is a short 2 minute video interview with Visible Gains CEO, Cliff Pollan that outlines what they can provide for the video marketer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So what does Visible Gains provide you?

1. Video editing software that creates the professional videos in segments that can be interchanged for different target audiences
2. Non linear navigation that reacts to user input
3. Clickable elements on and around the video that allow the user to download supporting content and connect to company individuals
4. Online Tutorials
5. Analytics and Reporting that shows the video opt-in rate, engagement profile and  conversion rates

So if you want to accelerate your  online video marketing program it is maybe worth checking out Visible Gains and by the way they also provide a free trial.

I look forward to hearing about your online video success stories.

Here are some more resources:

• How Zappos Plans To Use 50,000 Online Videos
• How To Create And Promote Your YouTube Video In 8 Simple Steps
• How To Video Blog Your Way To Success
• What Is The Secret  Of Success For YouTube Stars
• Who Are The Top 5 YouTube Stars?
• 32 Lessons For Online Video Social Media Marketing Success
• 9 Secrets Of A Successful Online Video Social Media Marketing Strategy

Image by blentley

If you want to aspire to be the top in whatever niche you are in or aspire to whether that be sport or business it always worthwhile to look at what the top players do and have a closer look at how they have achieved their success and study their habits.

The thing to keep in mind with these YouTube stars is that with the demographic of YouTube being predominantly 18-34 year olds (they make up 34% of the viewing audience) that if you are a little older you might not find the top ten to your liking.. I certainly have felt the cringe factor cut in while viewing some of these videos but hey I am not 34!

Before we take a closer look let’s look at some more of the latest facts about YouTube.

• The monthly unique visitors to YouTube in May, 2010 totaled over 103 million
• An average of 24 hours of video is uploaded every minute
• 5.8 billion videos were streamed in the US in June , 2010
• 2 plus billion videos are viewed globally every day
• 1 hour and 12 minutes is the average time spent on YouTube per month in the US
• 47% of the global internet audience visited YouTube.com in April, 2010

Source: Flowtown

Yesterday we listed the top five ranked YouTube stars, today we look at those that round out the top ten.

Ranked Six

Shay Carl is a 21 year old who is very prolific with over 300 videos on his YouTube channel titled “Kalebnation” and again comedy is the thing (it didn’t make me laugh though). Total views in the past year stand at 192 million with Tube Mogul estimating his earnings at $140,000.

Ranked Seven

This is Greg Benson with his channel called “Mediocre Films” which he produces and publishes once a week (yawn…comedy again).  What does he say about himself on his channel

“Hiya! We’re the idiots who bring you Gay Leprechaun, Retarded Policeman, Excellent Questions, Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, Celebrity Sock Puppet Theatre, Greg Hits Hollywood and lots of other insane stuff. NEW VIDEOS EVERY THURSDAY!!!”

Greg’s video views total 159 million and the estimated banner ad earnings stand at $116,000 as estimated by Tube Mogul an online video aggregator and distributor.

Ranked Eight

This comedy duo (Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox) call their channel  ’Smosh‘ with the viewing numbers around 154 million with estimated earnings  at $112,000. (I certainly felt the cringe factor engage here)

Ranked Nine

So here we have a YouTube channel called “The Young Turks” and it is a daily talk show with a focus on politics with some news, pop culture and entertainment thrown in for good measure.  On viewing it the presenter’s demeanour and style remind me a young Jay Leno.  What does their profile say

“The Young Turks (Winner – Best Political Podcast & Best Political News Site of 2009) were the first original talk show on Sirius satellite radio and the first live, daily webcast on the internet”

Total views to date stand at 153 million plus and estimated earnings for the last 12 months approximately $112,000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ranked Ten

This is the Australian, Natalie Tran who uses her YouTube titled “Community Channel”  to discuss some of the day to day issues with Gen Y women but done with a clever dose of subtle humor and satire and has currently attracted  138 million views with estimated earnings of $101,000

For me the learning from all of these whether you hate or love the content is that they are passionate about what they do. In essence that is the number one secret to their online video success.

What do you think?

Image by by Rego – twitter.com/w3bdesign

YouTube and online video has continued its growth as broadband and higher internet speeds not only become faster and cheaper on fixed line but also as mobile broadband continues to spread globally with smart phones such as the iPhone and new platforms such as the iPad providing hardware that makes viewing online video compelling even on the move.

This has lead to the emergence of star video bloggers on social media channels such as YouTube to obtain and grow traffic numbers that make your eyes bleed.

What are some of the latest growth statistics for online video

• Facebook is the fifth largest provider of  videos
• Facebook users upload 20 million videos a month
• Online video growing 4 times faster than TV
• 12-34 year olds are the vast majority of the video viewing population
• More than 177 million US internet users watched video content in June
• 90% of 2009 -2010 broadcast TV was on the Internet

So with this availability of online video there are some emerging stars and some might even make you laugh. (These are the top ranked YouTube stars including traffic and banner ad revenue estimates according to research performed by Tube Mogul an online video aggregator and distributor )

Ranked Number One

Shane Dawson (Channel known as “Ask Shane & Others) who provides sketch comedy in a teenage sort of way (not my type of content) but with 431 million views that are aggregated from his weekly online videos on YouTube you can’t argue with the numbers and he certainly is providing content that is hitting the mark with his target audience. Apparently his estimated earnings last year from ads was $315,000

Ranked Number Two

Dane Boedigheimer (also known as the Annoying Orange) This is clever comedy starring a talking orange with very short videos often under 2 minutes that certainly made me laugh. Views to date number are in excess of 349 million. Estimated earnings last year $288,000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ranked Number Three

Philip Defranco with a YouTube Channel called “The Philip DeFranco Show” that provides parody and satirical content and with 248 million views in the last year must be  doing something right. Estimated earnings in the past 12 months approximately $181,000. (I was able to watch this channel for about 60 seconds)

Ranked Number Four

Ryan Higa with again a sketch comedy YouTube channel (seems to be a consistent theme emerging here). Ryan’s YouTube channel’s last 12 months has seen over 206 million video views and his estimated earnings are in the region of $150,000.

Ranked Number Five

Lucas Cruikshank with his YouTube channel titled ‘Fred” which seems to be targeted as a Children’s online TV channel.  Total views in the past year 200 million with estimated earnings of $146,000

So with YouTube only starting in 2006 it is amazing to see these traffic numbers and to view these emerging YouTube stars and their creativity.

I am certainly looking forward to the next 5 years to see what this web world will look like and where social media will be.

In tomorrows article we will look the next 5 ranked YouTube stars.

What does impress me with Facebook is that it is willing to constantly try new things and its evolution is a moving feast that sometimes annoys and teases with changes to features and functions.

On August 13, Facebook launched a Facebook “live” video channel which is run from its Headquarters in Palo Alto, California.  It certainly isn’t YouTube ..yet!!  but it does seem to be a pilot to gauge reaction and to test technology.

On viewing the live channel what I noticed was that the quality of the live video was patchy but if you look at the site you can see where Facebook might take this in making online video more social.

In this screen shot below you will see that while the Facebook ‘Live’ video is playing that you can

1. Invite friends to watch
2. Chat with Facebook friends while you are watching the online video
3. Post it to Facebook and share with your Friends

This of course makes watching a video a much more social event that can be shared and commented about while viewing.

There are rumors that  some media companies are looking to embed their video content and channels on Facebook such as the UK’s Channel 5 as reported on webtvwire.com.

The potential for broadcasters to get access to Facebook’s 500 million users is huge and would leverage Channel 5′s audience far beyond its current viewing audience.

For its part, Facebook will have more people staying on the site for longer as they watch full episodes of recent shows. While Channel Five will likely increase its on-demand audience, all of which will be seeing ads managed by the broadcaster.

The opportunity for social online video  is enormous, just imagine if you were able to watch the recent World cup on Facebook and be able to comment and share with friends live.

So watch this space, social online video is coming to a Facebook channel near you… so YouTube watch out!

So would you watch and share with your friends Facebook online video channels?

The use of online video is continuing to grow and develop as higher broadband speeds become more widespread worldwide and the appetite by the younger generation for viewing rather than reading.

The old chestnut phrase , “A picture is worth a thousand words” begs the question, “How many words is a video worth?”So how do Zappos utilize online video and how effective is it?

They use video to engage with the buyer as much as possible. The use of  video is to create “virtually” the reality experience of a bricks and mortar  store, as if the buyer were in store and “more”.

They use online video to

• Describe their shoes
• How to use the product
• To demonstrate

Note: The videos are about the products, are with real Zappos employees and not models or actors… a bit of authenticity happening here, not stock photos with incredibly handsome and beautiful people.

They are testing interactive video on their site for Nike products. The company has launched interactive product videos.

The website provides the following 9  Functionalities, Features and Future Plans

• Allows viewers to click on items in the clips before landing on product detail pages.
• It can signal to consumers if an item is out-of-stock, discontinued, or part of a special offer.
• If the viewer mouses over a shoe in a video, it becomes highlighted, alerting the person that the item is clickable.
• Users are then taken to a product detail page in a separate browser window where the item can be added to a shopping cart.
• Zappos.com’s media player also allows shoppers to post the videos to their Facebook and Twitter profiles while the clip continues to roll.
• The 10 product videos currently on the site are each around one minute long.
• plans to leverage the interactive videos by incorporating them into its  user-generated-content program (UGC).
• Its “Daily Shoe Digest” is one of the few e-mail newsletters — in any niche — featuring UGC (User Generated Content) 100 percent of the time.
• Site visitors will be encouraged through future marketing messages to create product video reviews that will also have the interactive features.

Selling products directly from online video content, known as “hot-spotting,” is an advertising niche that’s growing slowly but surely. For instance, earlier this year, H&R Block began utilizing YouTube’s annotations allowing viewers to click on specific items in a video linking to a landing page or another video. And last year, clothing brand Express sponsored Vogue magazine’s online reality show, Models.Live, which featured clickable overlays in a manner combining product placement and direct response marketing.

So what are the effects of using video?

Zappos’s experience has shown “It obtained increases of 6 to 30% in conversions ..for products that use video”.

Note: This has prompted Zappos to strive for 50,000 videos !!! next year (they have about 8,000 currently), they will include “10″ fully working studios in house in 2010 to handle all of it.

Zappos, last month partnered with Overlay.TV and rolled out “Engagement Pages” for specific brands, where the videos engage users with clickable overlays. These overlays allow users to shop within the video content, pull up additional information and click through to product specific landing pages. Users can also record product video testimonials directly from the engagement pages.”

Online at Zappos you can see the shoe from “7″ angles and “3″ different magnifications (see Nike page at Zappos) and the screenshot below.

Note: This goes a long way to overcoming the issues of online shoppings  “experience gap” that shopping at bricks and mortar store provides.

This is starting to show how “real” an online store can become, as online video enables a more pervasive and integrated experience within an ecommerce website.

For a good resource on Online Video “Best Practice“  see Reel SEO article.

So how are you using online video to good effect? Like to hear your stories and the tools and apps you are using.

It was when I was reading a Comscore report on how many online videos that the US consumer was viewing each month that I came to a realization that “being found online” was not just about “textual content” anymore but that video was the new ”teeming hotspot”. The latest generation don’t so much as read but “watch videos”  

I was raised  in the era of books, reading and offline content.. because the Internet was not even on the horizon whenI was growing up .. in fact colour TV was simply “amazing”. .. man had just landed on the moon… Ugg boots were “cool” and “Flares” were still the rage.  The  “Yellow Pages” were the place to be and fax broadcasting was the new frontier of marketing.

So if you want to be found you need to be not only using “Google” but  also “YouTube” as it is the second largest search engine after Google.

So after that completely “non-influential introduction”  Do you think online video is an important strategy in getting found Online? Yes or No