Here is a 6:17 review of My Video Talk, an online video platform for video email, video conferencing and more.

The services offered by My Video Talk are EXACTLY what many readers of this blog are looking for.

My Video Talk is booming and being talked about a lot in internet marketing and online video circles, for very good reason. First, it’s a very innovative service whose time has come PLUS it’s business model is MLM, so many people are attracted to it as a business opportunity, not just for the video services it provides.

Now as a business opportunity, I personally do not yet have experience with it as I’m just now getting involved but it looks good in that My Video Talk has an 8 year track record, a good reputation and a debt free bottom line. I’m generally not a fan of MLM marketing but it seems to be working well here.

The My Video Talk company is based in California but started its service in smaller, international markets. They did this in order to work out all the bugs both technically and from a marketing standpoint. Now that they’re well established internationally, they’ve got their sights set on the American and Canadian markets and it’s full speed ahead.

My expertise of course is as a video producer, not MLM, so looking at it from that perspective, my video talk is indeed an incredible, well-rounded service that is very affordable, easy to use and delivers a whole lot. There are a million ways to use it, both personal and business uses.

Their service is broken down into five different products that all fall under the umbrella of online video. Which ones you get depends on which package you signup for. The least expensive option is just $14.95 a month with no joining fee and the most expensive is still very affordable at $49.90 a month. Now compared to other online video services, that is a really low fee given what you get in return. Even when you tack on the starter fees, which apply only to the 2 highest two levels of service, My Video Talk is still a BARGAIN.  ($199 and $299 are the start-up fees for the highest two levels.  )

Here is a list of the five different products offered by My Video Talk.

• My Video Designer
• My Video Broadcaster
• My Video Channel
• My Video Web Show
• My Video Boardroom

My Video Designer is what they call their video email platform. Now video email can be used to great benefit by almost everybody. All you need are simple talking head videos done with a webcam. The video you send in the email is seen inside a brandable template. In addition to using them as video emails, you can also turn them into easy video landing pages.

My Video Broadcaster is the name they gave to their video webinar platform. Here again, the system is brandable with your own images and logos. Inside their conference room, you can show power points, images or use a white board. Now you can hold even bigger online video meetings with up to 16 webcam inputs using the service they call My Video Boardroom. Between the two products, you can get every type of online video meeting technology in existence.

My Video Channel is a product that allows you to easily build a video-oriented website all your own. Your own private, brandable video channel online with no other ads popping up anywhere. My Video Talk covers all the video hosting, and gives you all the templates for easy website channel creation.

Top all these online video services off with the live video streaming service they call My Video Web Show. Not only can you stream live video, but you can also store video content so you can have viewers 24-7 for your own personal web shows. There’s a programming guide and the ability to link up with all your social networking sites with too.

All five of these products added together give you just about all the online video services you could ever use. They’ve been tested by the markets the company started in. They’ve designed to be really easy to use. My Video Talk is all in the cloud, there’s never anything you have to download or install.

My Video Talk is absolutely one of the most successful companies offering these kinds of services. As an observer of the online video world, there’s a lot of competition in this space and I’ve seen several companies come and go. I think the fact that My Video Talk perfected its technology before hitting the US market, and because they’ve made it so far being debt free with a good customer service reputation, all that bodes real well for their continued success.

If you are interested in signing up for My Video Talk either as a customer or a distributor or both, please contact me for more information. I can get you in touch with representatives of the company if necessary.

For Video Production Tips, I’m Lorraine Grula.

This is the squeeze page video I created for a client in the Cash for Gold business.  Two other versions of this squeeze page video are down closer to the bottom of this post.  It is one part of the huge video marketing campaign I am working on right now.  Although the campaign so far features about 15 videos, this squeeze page video is probably the single most important.

Of course we all know that the money is in the list, and a squeeze page video is the list entry point.  So obviously a squeeze page video can make  or break your list building efforts.

This particular video marketing campaign is so large that it is giving me the opportunity to do some experimentation and I plan on passing the results on to my readers. We’re just beginning so this is my first post on it.

In addition to this squeeze page video, I am going to make at least two other squeeze page videos that use different tactics.

This one is quite dramatic with an ominous feel.  I achieved that feel by using very dramatic music along with a dramatic read.  Honestly, a different voice (deep, male) might achieve this better than mine, but the client likes my voice so who am I to argue? 

The script was also designed and written to be a bit fear-inducing.  The free product being offered is, of course, going to alleviate the fear of the consumer.  The script makes clear that without the free product, they are throwing themselves to the sharks.

The two other squeeze page videos I am planning for the campaign will not be so dramatic in nature.  One will still be sales oriented but  simply be less dramatic.  That means I’ll write the script with less dire overtones and give it a softer read as well as more light-hearted music.

The third squeeze page video will be formatted more like a news story.  In other words, an informational video that is not so heavy on the sales language.

Over time, we will see which video gets the best conversions.

At this point, I kind of hate to even make any predictions because I am so unsure of the outcome.  I know enough to realize that one method will work better on some people than others but which one will appeal to the majority is just a guess.

I personally do not respond well to overly dramatic videos.  I actually laugh at them which is NOT the reaction we’re going for of course.  But my 30 plus years in the TV business has proven to me time and time again that  I am a weird-o!  I guess you could say I am the “PBS type” and like stuff most people consider boring!  In my observation, scaring the bejeezes out of people is a very effective strategy.  That’s why the first one out of the shoot is this one!

I promise to expand on this post as time goes by and let readers know which strategies work best.  We’re all learning here.  Online video marketing is a relatively new thing so I hope my efforts can add to the body of knowledge that will propel the industry forward.

In the meantime, let’s hope my client, who indeed offers the best place to sell jewelry, sees his list grow by leaps and bounds!

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips!

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal

UPDATE WITH TWO OTHER VERSIONS OF THE VIDEO

As I said, I wanted to make a version of the squeeze page video that was not so dramatic. Some people might use the word hokey, or corny, or silly and not dramatic! But whatever your adjective preference, the two videos below are significantly different in tone than the first video above. We’re going to split test to see which does better. The only real difference between the two below is one is shorter than the other. The shorter is :57 and the longer is 1:24. I’m thinking the shorter one will do better but we shall see!

These are “less dramatic” mostly because I read the narration completely differently. I also used less dramatic music and took out the slow motion flame.

Think of it as an online Yellow Pages of companies in the Online Video category.

In addition to descriptions of their products and services, each company provides links to their free White Papers (a fancy word for PDF report) that you can download.  So even if you do not wish to buy any of these services, you can find free information to help you navigate the ever-growing world of Online Video.

The categories within the directory include:

• Advertising
• Content Creation/Production
• Content Protection/DRM
• Encoding/Transcoding
• Formats/Player/Codecs
• Hosting/Delivery
• IPTV
• Legal Issues
• Mobile
• Music/Radio
• Online Video Platforms
• Video SEO
• Industry Verticals
• Education
• Enterprise
• Government
• Media Entertainment
• Streaming Industry

Keep in mind these are all paid listings, so the companies listed are all fairly large.  This is not a directory of mom-and-pop type services like me.     I do not get paid in anyway for recommending this directory I am merely passing along the information because I think it will be of benefit to my readers.

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips!

Lorraine Grula

This 12:08 video describes the “Easy Video Player” product sold on Clickbank.  Is it worth the money or just a bunch of hype?  Easy Video Player is a product created by Josh Bartlett and used by some of the big name “gurus” in Internet Marketing like Frank Kern, Mike Filsaime and Ryan Deiss.   It runs $127 and is an in-the-cloud membership giving you an easy-to use interface for hosting and playing videos out of  your own Amazon S3 account.  The sales page, of course, makes it sound like a must have.  OMG, the sky will fall and crush you if you don’t immediately open your wallet to use what the gurus use!  Well, how true is that?

OK, I want to let you in on a secret about me.  I cringe when I see “as seen on TV” blaring in bright red off any printed advertisement.  The advertising firms that create those ads no doubt think the majority of people are impressed if a product has been seen on TV.  And I guess the majority are.  But me,  having worked in local TV production all my adult life, realize the sad reality is that the product might very well be a flimsy piece of junk destined to break within ten minutes of taking it out of the box!

Many of my experience online make me feel the comparison is apt.   I react much the same way when sales pages brag about the multi-gagillion dollar “gurus”!

Is it just another gimmick designed to make their little circle of friend richer or does the product actually live up to the hype?

A few folks I trust told me they used it and really liked it, so I wanted to check it out for myself.  I am please to say my cynical self got a slap on the wrist for being too pervasive, as I found Easy Video Player to be a very handy tool with a lot of very functional features.

As I’ve blogged about before, relying on YouTube (or any other free service) for hosting your videos can be a dangerous practice for those in business.   I always advise my clients to have some videos in an account of their own where they have complete control.  There are three basic ways to do this:

• Paid video hosting account with any one of dozens of online video hosts like Brightcove, or Veeple
• A bare bones Amazon S3 account that is much less expensive but hard to use
• Your website host that probably will charge you a fortune for bandwidth but won’t have any provisions for easy-to use video players or anything else video oriented.

Doing it the third way is fairly unheard of but it’s possible so I listed it.

Trying to go bare bones with an Amazon S3 account can be more of a headache than it is worth unless you are really familiar with several programing languages.  The average person has to use some sort of third party interface.  There are several on the market and here’s a post on one long time favorite for many people,  EZS3.  Here is a review of another  one called Cloudberry labs.

Services usually charge a monthly fee in the neighborhood of $35.

A Clickbank Product called Easy Video Player does not bang your credit card every month.  It’s a one-time $127 purchase.  For a bit more you can get a commercial license.

I LIKED IT! 

I was quite impressed with Easy Video Player because it had a lot of beneficial features for that one-time fee. As a comparison, getting a paid hosting account with a service like Brightcove (I use Veeple) is going to be a monthly fee too, a MINIMUM of $100.

Largely what you pay for in any paid video hosting account is all the bells and whistles.  The ease of use.  The ability to have fancy players that create an attractive-looking display of videos for your web pages.  Universal playback on both Flash enabled devices and HTML5 devices is critical now because so many people are going online with mobile devices.  Within some hosting solutions but not all, this complex problem is automatically ironed  out.  That’s a big plus these days as it’s been hard even for the biggest of players in the video hosting space.

I was quite impressed that Easy Video Player made mobile playback possible and it was VERY easy.  It was a multi-step process, but it works flawlessly if you follow their precise instructions.  (My video goes over their instructions.)

Easy Video Player was also able to match the features I’d only expect with more expensive video  hosting.  For example, EVP had an easy way to self-brand your player with a watermark.  There were multiple ways to precisely control how your video plays, pauses, goes full screen, auto-plays or comes out of a light box.

Even more awesome were the additional marketing tools such as adding various overlays on top of your videos that can do great things such as re-direct the viewer to another website, or contain an auto-responder form.

As an online video professional, I personally have used a fairly large variety of online video hosting solutions and I promise some are better than others.  Trying to go the bare bones route with an inexpensive Amazon S3 account can cause more headaches than it’s worth.  If you rely on videos for your online life, it often pays to fork out a few bucks for a quality video  host,  just as you do for website hosting.

But I can with confidence say that Easy Video Player is one of the better solutions for getting your videos uploaded and hosted online.

Selecting a video skin in Easy Video Player

THE FOLLOWING IS THE TRANSSCRIPT OF THE VIDEO ABOVE SO YOU CAN MORE EASILY FOLLOW ALONG.

GUESS WHAT?  IT’S HOSTED ON EASY VIDEO PLAYER! 

Easy video player is a hot product used by lots of the big name internet marketers.  Hi, this is Lorraine Grula with Video Production Tips.  But is it something you need? Well, let me explain what it does so you can decide.

Easy video player integrates with your own amazon s3 account, where your videos will be stored. This account is free to set up with amazon. Easy video player gives you an amazing amount of choices about how your video will be displayed and even allows you to embed interactive “buy now” buttons, auto responder forms and things like that straight into your video. Not that Easy video player is the ONLY service where you can get these functions, it’s not, but it is one of the least expensive and easy to use. I can easily see why this is a popular product. It truly gives you a lot of features that help you maximize the function of your video with interactivity and auto responder forms and so forth.

Now let me back up and explain amazon s3 a bit. you probably already know that amazon created S3, their simple storage solution service, that provides unlimited hosting for pennies on the dollar. Cheap is always great, BUT, as a stand alone service, amazon s3 is incredibly difficult to use, you need to know several programing languages. So the market came up with LOTS of products and services that integrate with S3 and make it something the average Joe or Jane can use. Easy video player is such a service that is designed specifically as the interface to help you upload, host, display and play your videos in an s3 account. So, if you would like to use your own personal amazon s3 account to host your video files, Easy video player is one of the most independent and least expensive ways for you to do so. It’s an in-the-cloud service so there’s nothing to download, you join and then log in to go to your dashboard.

From the dashboard, you can upload any video you want, from your own hard drive or another page on the web. Then you get it ready for display and start adding your bells and whistles. click on the “change video settings” button to take you to this page. Here is where all the incredible options are located.

First, you can easily select a skin for your video, which gives you options for how your video player will look. you have lots of choices and to load one you just click on it. Some are pretty wild looking, but most are minimalist.

Next, you select all these options always click yes for the first 2, shadows gives you a little drop shadow under the player, auto play is good if the video is the only one on the page, but often auto play is not something you want because lots of folks will bounce if a video they are not expecting starts blaring out.

The options continue. you can add chapters to your video if it is long. Having you video open in a light box means this window will pop out and the rest will darken, then you have options for sharing or security. but the really good stuff starts down here.

you can have the video redirect to any url when it is finished, or you can have a button pop up, you have your choice of all these buttons.

You also have the ability to add any type of overlay, any image or logo. This kind of interactivity can really add to the functionality of your video.

You can butt two videos back to back using the “intro videos” function.

Elements is a function that lets you put arrows, buy buttons and other design elements on the page where your video plays.

A watermark is good for individualized branding,

Here is where you can create an entire web page around a video, it’s very easy you can add images and other elements out side of the video on the page.

Continuing on, Easy video player gives you options for security and sharing, which is good if you don’t want others copying your video, or if you want only those with a password to see it.

Now this share the love feature is pretty cool as it allows you to add a clickbank id for afifiate sales.

You also have the option of tracking the sales.

One of things that made easy video player quick and easy to learn was their good tutorials section,. here in the help section is a whole list of tutorial videos that show you the function of each and every feature. These videos were well done and easy to follow.

I like to recommend Easy Video Player because it really does a lot. I’ve used multiple services for uploading and hosting videos online and for the money, easy video player delivers a lot. And it truly is easy. Some of this stuff is touted as easy but once you get in there it’s anything but. Well, easy video player IS easy. And your resulting videos will play on any device, which is an incredibly important feature these days. You need mobile playback! if you follow their specific instructions, your video will play on mobile devices as well as the standard flash enabled devices, which of course is the long time standard.

Their specific instruction include encoding your video in a specific way using the free, open source video conversion software called handbrake. Handbrake is something you will download onto your own hard drive and use to convert your videos to a web-ready format after you’re finished editing them. Hardbrake is good software for lots of video encoding needs.

In summary, If you’re the kind of person who does not want to rely on YouTube for video hosting, and you don’t want to pay realtively big bucks for a video hosting account on one of the many video hosting services out there, easy video player and an amazon S3 account is one of your best choices. S3 only bills you for actual bandwidth usage on a pay-as-you-go system and like I said, it is waaaaaay cheaper than any other hosting you’ll ever find, the trick is to figure out an inexpensive but highly functional way to interface with it, and easy video player is one of your best bets. I hope the information in this video helps you out! Thanks for watching. I’m Lorraine Grula for Video Production Tips.

Get easy video player here

I know the feeling!  During my long career in TV production, I was NOT an on-camera person.  I was a behind-the-scenes gal all the way.  So when it comes to putting myself on-camera, I started my online business with no more experience than the rest of you.  Trust me when I say that the thought of being on-camera makes me want to reach for the barf bag!

First tip is to say say that doing a voice-over instead of a full on-camera appearance makes it MUCH less intimidating, so try that.    You don’t  have to worry about your hair! 

My second tip is to work on getting over whatever is holding you back.  This post gives several suggestions for doing just that!

PRACTICE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE!

Start by practicing without even having a camera present.  No lights either!  This will help you just get used to the sound and feel of your own voice “announcing” and speaking out loud.  Speaking in this manner feels MUCH different than ordinary conversation and it’s perfectly natural for it to take some getting used to.

Don’t worry about what you say; just grab whatever is handy.  Read a magazine article or something like that.   Or, you can babble about your favorite past time or your favorite food.  Do this without anyone else even being in the room.  Now, what’s there to worry about?  No one will laugh at you because no one is there!  If you goof, who cares?

By eliminating all the common stressors, you give yourself a chance to become comfortable with everything that comes with the act of being on-camera.  Once you are comfortable doing that, it won’t be as bad once the camera and lights are actually staring you in the face!  Some people think this is a silly step and a waste of time but I assure you it’s NOT.  Most people are amazed at how nervous they feel when they first start practicing this way.  It seems silly because there’s no logical reason to be nervous when you’re just talking randomly to an empty room.  Well, whoever said nervousness had anything to do with LOGIC?

This is my inconsequential video with the subject being to describe my favorite books.

DO VIDEOS THAT ARE INCONSEQUENTIAL

The next step toward feeling comfortable on-camera is to practice making videos that  no one will ever see.  Inconsequential videos I call them.  No one will see these unless you want them to.  It does not matter if you goof.  What do you talk about?  Anything.  Read any article or book that is handy.  Or, talk about yourself.  Describe your favorite book.  Your favorite movie.  Favorite meal.  Describe important incidents in your life.  Pontificate on politics or any subject that interests you.  It does not matter what you say.  What matters is that you are in front of a camera, with lights on, making an actual video.  You are becoming comfortable just BEING there.

MAKE “BRAGGING” VIDEOS

One of the reasons why people feel so uncomfortable being on-camera (or with public speaking) is because we’re often taught all our lives that it’s rude and immature to try and be the center  of attention.   (In general, it IS but carrying that logic to being on-camera is taking it too far.)  Many of us are also told that it’s arrogant to think anyone cares two hoots what we have to say.  “Quit bragging, who the heck do you think you are!  Sit down and shut-up!”

The antidote for all of that is to realize that it is not even remotely arrogant to promote yourself or business.  Granted, it pays to promote yourself in a humble way so to speak, but promoting yourself is actually critical in this day and age.  If you don’t promote yourself, who will?  Anyone going on a job interview better be comfortable promoting themselves or they’ll never get the job!

Making online videos is largely about promoting ourselves and our businesses.  So if  you are harboring fears about coming across as arrogant, attention-seeking or self-agrandizing,  it’s probably a fairly deep seated fear.  Best way to get over it is to allow yourself to brag!

Make some inconsequential videos where you are  bragging so much your mommy would faint.  (Just don’t invite  mom to the taping.)  Brag that you are the best darn YOU that ever walked the face of the earth.  You’ve got great legs, great taste in clothes, great breath.  You’re a great cook, housekeeper or driver.   Whatever.  Honestly, you don’t have to even pick something that you’re really that darn good at!  Say you are anyway!  Remember this is an inconsequential video no one will see.  The point is to just get used to bragging.  Then, when it comes time to make a video where you promote your business by claiming to be the best accountant in town, you won’t feel so self-conscious.

Here is a bragging video I made about having great teeth.  I love my teeth!  I’ve been told a zillion times that I should do toothpaste commercials.  Really, I have!  There’s way more to it than that though.  Actually, it’s a pretty shocking reason why my teeth are still so white and  healthy at the ripe old age of 52.  And I don’t  use the word “shocking” lightly!  Watch the video to find out what motivated me to take exceptional care of my teeth.   (It’s actually another exercise in bragging because I am quite proud of why I am so dedicated to dental hygiene.)

Gosh my teeth are pretty!

BUT I’M AFRAID OF LOOKING UGLY AND SOUNDING STUPID!

This is a fairly universal fear.  Having put thousands and thousands of regular Joes and Janes on TV, I’ve heard it a million times.  And I’ve felt it myself.   We are our own worst critics.  Chances are high that you look and sound just fine.  Besides, gorgeous people are often intimidating to others!  Your “ugliness” just might make the audience feel more comfortable and that’s a GOOD thing!   I know mine does!  LOL!  Seriously.  I had a guy write to me and confess that he had avoided doing videos because he did not want to look OLD and FAT.  Then he saw my videos and said to himself, “Well, she’s not putting off doing videos because she’s old and fat so I won’t either!”  I laughed and laughed! So glad to know that I was easing the neurotic insecurities of others!  Now don’t worry, he was very polite about it!

VIDEO TECHNIQUES TO LOOK YOUR BEST

There’s no doubt in my mind that the more simple the video production set-up, the more comfortable the person on-camera will be. Smaller cameras, less lights, a microphone pinned on instead of being held, all these factors help.  This means tiny web cams that get by with just room light will be an easier situation to face than a 30-pound professional camera using 3,000 watts of light.

Good lighting makes a WORLD of difference.  For faces, bright, diffused light is best.  (Click this link for several tutorials on lighting techniques for video.)

Also, pull the camera back a bit and DON’T do a super close-up.  Most of us look prettier from a slight distance.   Stand behind a chair or otherwise crop your body out if you feel fat.

Grooming is more important that actual looks.   Wear something nice.  Do your hair up nice.  Ladies, wear about 20% more make-up than normal.  Guys on TV wear make-up too, usually just foundation to help even out skin tones.  Lots of men will  not want to do that and IMHO, that’s OK.  The weird feeling many men would feel from wearing make-up would do more harm than having uneven skin tones!

In summary, going on camera is important enough to put effort into.  The steps outlined here will help tremendously.  Most newbies feel inadequate if they can’t get in front of the camera and do a perfect take first time out.  I’m here to tell you that you that’s unrealistic.    Virtually NO ONE does well without practice.  Practice does indeed make perfect!  Well, OK, not perfect but good enough!

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips!

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal

Why?  Because YouTube can delete your channel without any giving you any details or recourse.    It happens more than I like to even think about and honestly, scares the bejeezes out of me.  I follow all the rules, but it seems like that does not necessarily matter.

As a person who studies the online video world closely, I’ve heard the horror stories time and time again.

Over the weekend, I heard another one and thought it would be of value to my readers to share.

The perplexed victim this time is Jeff Johnson, a popular internet marketer.  Jeff’s only notification was one generic email claiming he had violated the YouTube TOS.   This was after three years of posting about 90 videos with no complaints.  Jeff reviewed the TOS and wracked his brain, but could not come up with any good answers.   After reading his blog post (linked to above) I have to agree that YouTube’s actions seem entirely unwarranted.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand completely that YouTube needs to have rules and enforce them.  YouTube has every right (and even an obligation) to control the content and remain family-friendly.  At the same time, their actions often seem arbitrary and inconsistent with their own rules!  Banning an account should not be something they do on a whim.  In Jeff’s case, he had built a huge following on YouTube with over a million views.  It was a large part of his business.  His videos were not sleazy, misleading or full of crazed and dangerous ideas.

YOUTUBE CAN (AND WILL) IGNORE YOU!

The worst part seems to be that Jeff cannot get YouTube to give him the time of day.  No warning.  No negotiating.  No answers at all.  Just the draconian action of banning him for life.

This is why I tell all of my online video clients to NOT rely exclusively on YouTube for video hosting.  For your most important videos, it’s best to have them somewhere safe where you have total control.  (I use Veeple as my video hosting service.  They have the cool interactivity.)

In addition to possibly being banned, hosting your business videos exclusively on YouTube has a few other problems, which all boil down to control.  You’re stuck with the YouTube player whereas with a paid hosting service you can usually get a branded player.  (Yes, there is software to get around that, but YouTube won’t like it so you risk being banned.)  Unless you specify otherwise, “related videos” that are not necessarily related to you at all pop up at the end of the video.  A plastic surgeon client of mine was more than a bit distressed at the caliber of videos that YouTube deemed related to his very education video on breast augmentation.  Related videos also immediately take the viewer away from your message and direct them elsewhere.  Compare that to having your own call-to-action remain smiling at the viewer when your video ends.  YouTube analytics are also a bit wanting for the business video user.  A paid video hosting service will give you better analytics for the critical insight you need to run an effective marketing campaign.

HOW SHOULD YOU USE YOUTUBE?

Does all this mean you should not use YouTube at all?  No.  Not at all.  YouTube is simply too huge to ignore.  There are tons of potential viewers on YT.  It’s the second largest search engine online so having your videos indexed in YouTube can be a great SEO tactic.  Make sure every video you post has a link back to your site as these links carry quite a bit of weight with other search engines.  YT is such a popular website; most everybody is comfortable using it.

YouTube has all the great features to easily share your videos on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.  You can also allow others to embed your video on their site for greater exposure.   Being one of the leaders in online video, YouTube keeps abreast of all the latest technology like file formats and mobile device playback.   You Tube has the incredibly handy instant record/upload feature for webcam videos.  This can totally eliminate the  need to deal with confusing file conversion.  And of course, YouTube is FREE!  Can’t beat that with a stick.  At the same time, the old adage that you get what you pay for applies.  Since you aren’t paying YouTube one red cent, they retain 100% control, not you.  Jeff Johnson learned that the hard way.

Another reason I like YouTube is that it gives me an excuse to make cute puppy videos like this one! These puppies were born to Lucy, owned by my good friend Adena Warner.

This video reminds me to get busy editing the cute kitten video I’ve got!

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips.

Lorraine Grula

The online video revolution continues to boom!  It seems like EVERYBODY wants to use video to promote themselves and their message to the world.

And no wonder!  Online video  has proven to be the single BEST way to communicate with and convert website visitors into customers.

LET US MAKE A VIDEO FOR YOU!

Here at Video Production Tips, we encourage everybody to delve into video making.  We provide tons of free tutorials and articles so even those with zero experience can learn how to make video.  At the same time, we recognize that for many people, it’s simply not practical to take the time to learn how to produce their own videos.  It can be MUCH more practical to simply outsource video production.  We’re here for that too!  Here is an example of four different visual styles we created for an opening to a You Tube video series for Deb Allison, who makes adorable polymer clay ornaments.

Deb’s YouTube video series about making clay ornaments is one way she promotes her business that sells ornaments.  As a novice video producer, she does a great job on her series but when it came to creating an open/close for the series, she decided to outsource it to me.  In the above video, you can see how I presented her with a wide variety of choices.  She ended up selecting version #3 and I tweaked it a bit from the way it is presented here.   I personally liked version #4 best, but they customer is always right!

WHAT KIND OF VIDEOS DO WE MAKE?

We  specialize in a variety of styles, often creating information oriented documentary style videos.  You can think of them sort of like an in-depth “About Us” video if you will.  Here is an example of one such video I did for Darlene Quinn, an award winning novelist.

Here’s another information-oriented video we did for a gold and silver business that is structured much like a news story.

Here’s one that more resembles a standard advertisement.  (The squeeze page video at the top of the page is another advertisement-like example of what we can make for you.)

AFFORDABLE VIDEO PRODUCTION

If you’re interested in having us make a video for you, please contact us at VideoProductionTips@gmail.com. We strive to make our production services very affordable. Some of the above videos were done for around $500, some were a bit more depending on how much time it took to produce. Compare $500 or even $1,000 with how much it will cost you to learn to make video yourself. Remember to factor in your time! Let’s say you pay $2,000 for a huge video production course, then spend a month struggling your way through it. What’s your time worth? At the end of the month-long training, you probably will still have lots of questions. Now, wouldn’t it be easier, and yes, CHEAPER, to just hire us?

Like I said at the beginning of this post, we encourage folks to learn to make video and enjoy providing free tutorials and advice. But in the end, sometimes it’s more practical to concentrate on what you do best and leave the video making to us!

Thanks for being a Video Production Tips reader.
Lorraine Grula
Internet Video Gal