YouTube101.TV

Another WOW year for web video

2011-01-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

Youtube uploads more than doubled (per hour), online YouTube viewing is up to 2 billion a day and online video viewing on FB is up to 2 billion a month. All this from the Pingdom roundup of 2010 stats. Find it here.

New Classes at The City Club of San Francisco

2011-01-20T20:30:00.001-08:00

I'll be teaching some new web and social media strategy and marketing classes along with web video marketing classes in downtown SF starting in March for nonprofits.

Additional classes for professional services and small businesses are also in the works - stay tuned as dates get firmed up!

Here's the schedule.

Just Like on Jon Stewart: You Can View CPAN Clips Too!

2010-03-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

One of the regular (and funny) segments running on The Daily Show features government representatives and the changes in their rhetoric over the years. Jon Stewart's relentless minions isolate and find sudden changes in political viewpoints to show the hideously partisan underpinnings of elected representatives.

Well now citizens have that same power at their fingertips. You no longer have to have a full time CPAN research team to find comments of elected officials from the last 25 years. You know have CPAN's entire archive available online for all to see.

Read details here in the New York Times coverage of CPAN's archives launch.

Or visit CPAN's top picks from its archives here.

Journalism's Top Prize Goes to Amateur Cell Phone Video

2010-03-13T11:00:00.001-08:00

In a dramatic turn of events, for the first time journalism's top award went to a cell phone video sent by an amateur from Iran.

A Youtube spokesperson said, "Social media has taught them [people] to think of their lives as almost living documentaries."

Read the full article here.

You can see the video from a CNN report here.

Top of My Wish List

2010-02-23T23:48:00.001-08:00

YouTube Biggest Hits of 2009

2010-01-31T22:54:00.000-08:00

Here we have it - the official list of the most popular videos of 2009 - click here.

Deconstructing the News Format

2010-01-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

This is the not only a send up and a put down but also a how to! Enjoy:

The Class of Jan. 22, 2010

2010-01-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

Here's moi (Pam) with web video marketing class from last week held at Techliminal, a wonderful walk-in tech salon and beehive of activity in downtown Oakland.

This intro class had four students: a volunteer from the Oakland Rose Garden; Tora Rocha, of Oakland's Morcom Rose Garden; John Klein; and Michael Mitrani, Earth Island Institute (not pictured).

Tora made a very successful video for the rose garden which has been posted on the garden's Facebook page and has attracted a lot of comments, attention and PRAISE. Tora says it's also attracted many new friends and followers to the garden's Facebook group.

Here's her Animoto video about the wonderful volunteers in the garden:

NEXT CLASS: FEB. 19

The next Intro to Web Video Marketing Class will be held Friday, Feb. 19, from 9 to 3 pm. For more info, visit www.webvideomarketingclub.com where you can also register for the Feb. class. The fee is $95. You'll learn how to use web video for your business or cause, without having to learn how to shoot and edit video, using free or low-cost tools and services. Come discover how video can make your organization grow!

Your Own Look on YouTube

2010-01-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

You know when you go to a YouTube channel and the channel sports a custom background? Have you wondered how to do that?

Well, here's how to upload your own custom background. See here.

A FREE Professionally Made Video - Yes, FREE

2010-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Turnhere.com's been experimenting with various pricing over the last few years as it tries to become the go to place for professionally produced, low-cost videos for small businesses and others. This summer the price was $500 for a 2 minute piece (shot on location at your place). Earlier it was $899. Now - it's FREE. Yes, you read that right - FREE.

It's free for three months, at least.

After that, you'll need to start paying - you have choices. The $19.99 a month plan promotes your video here there and everywhere online. If you want to download a copy of the video and post it yourself, that'll run you $599. Still, it seems like the steal/deal of the century to me.

So let's review the economics of the situation here:

You order and receive a video - FREE.
If, after three months, you like it and want TurnHere to promote you in search, online, in Google Local, etc. - you pay only $20 a month. That's $240 a year including SEO, etc.

If you want to do your own online placement, you pay $599.

But if you get a video and use it for a year, that's going to run you 9 months at $20 = $180. Yowsa.

I say - Go For It - and soon. Who knows when this offer will change up on you. And you'll go - oh no, I shudda, cudda, wudda. Sign up now! You've got nothing to lose.

Check it out here.

Class Tomorrow: 9 AM at Techliminal in Downtown Oakland

2010-01-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

We'll be having a great intro to web video marketing class Friday (tomorrow) in downtown Oakland. I am going to be showing a few Animoto videos made by former students including this one from Martha Edith Hernandez at Peterson Power (Caterpillar).

Here are Martha's comments about the results of the class she took (in Sept.):

"These videos have been so much fun to create. I've created several. We just used them at a tradeshow in December in Vegas. I had my sales team put these videos on there iPhones and show customers. The one I am sending you was on a continuous loop on our monitors. All of the managers love it. It only took me 5 minutes to create it! Amazing!! Thanks so much for showing me this amazing tool."

See her video for Caterpillar here: http://animoto.com/play/00cf0ZHh4rm1pUO9ylv9OA

Of course, Animoto is just one of more than 20 easy to use options the class covers...come to class and find out about the rest!

A reminder of more upcoming classes: Feb. 20 in San Francisco is the next one-day intro class in the city. Signup online at the U.C.Berkeley Extension web site here.

YouTube Gets Its Makeover - So Your Video Gets Its Closeup

2010-01-21T09:19:00.000-08:00

OLD YOUTUBE

YouTube is getting a graphic upgrade! The new design makes a lot more room on the page for the video to play. Less fussy and fewer distractions to make you click on to yet another link - which means people may continue to actually watch YOUR video.

NEW YOUTUBE

Read about the new version in this article posted on Mashable.

A Great Example of a Simple Video with Big Impact

2010-01-15T11:31:00.001-08:00

Remember the word palindrome? That means something that can be read forwards and backwards.

Here's a very clever video using the palindrome principle - taken to new heights!

By the way, this video was created by a 20 year old in an AARP video contest - who says contests don't work!

Web Video Marketing Class in Oakland Jan. 22

2010-01-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

How can you find out how to use web video to promote your business or organization? Come to this one day intro class. Details:

Date: Friday, Jan 22
Time: 9-3
Location: www.Techliminal.com

Register now at www.webvideomarketingclub.com

Take a Panoramic Photo or Edit on the iPhone

2009-12-27T10:40:00.001-08:00

What are some of the best iPhone apps for visual types?

PANO lets you take panoramic photos on the iPhone.

See here.

Here's an app that lets you edit on the iPhone, one of the top iPhone apppicks today from Huffington Post.

See here.

Stop Motion You Can Do

2009-12-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

Pam Featured on Fox News: What Online Video Can Do For Your Business

2009-12-07T17:53:00.001-08:00

Read the Fox TV Small Business Portal interview with Pam on web video marketing for small business here.

Free Videos for NonProfits: A Great Way to Get Ready for the New Year

2009-12-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

Free videos for nonprofits - see here!

Pixorial Digitizes Your Old VHS Videos - For $15 a Pop = Good Deal!

2009-12-03T11:26:00.001-08:00

Featured in the NYTimes today is a company called Pixorial that will take your VHS tapes (or several other sorts of analog video media) and digitize them for $15 each.

Then Pixorial will put them on a password-protected part of the company’s Web site.

You can use Pixorial’s simple editing tools to cut the master tape down.

Read more at the NYTimes

Make Your Christmas Greeting a Video This Year - Check Out Animoto!

2009-12-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

Animoto is offering one free or one low-cost video holiday greeting this year - they're cute and they're cool. If you already have an Animoto account, you won't have to purchase the pictured greeting.

Pretty sweet deal!

• Check them out here.

BrightRoll: Video ad revenues are soaring, despite downturn

2009-11-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

BrightRoll: Video ad revenues are soaring, despite downturn

iPhone Apps for Photo and Video

2009-11-07T15:55:00.001-08:00

Site: Easy Video Producer

2009-11-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

A new twist on the do it yourself video ap - Easy Video Producer. Ignore the screaming promises of building your email list on this over amped marketing site, but do take a look at the product demo. For those who can't use YouTube's embedding feature, this may be a solution.

1. Record your video (in their example, a talking head from your webcam)
2. Pick a web page template (theirs have slots for your video to be inserted)

and away you go.

See the demo here.

Web Video Marketing Class Starts Next Week in SF

2009-11-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

Check out the U.C. Berkeley press release about the class here:

http://www.pitchengine.com/pitchfeed.php

Google Wave for Filmmakers?

2009-10-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some ideas about filmmakers might use Google Wave in the production process.

• ReadWriteWeb story

Some other tools for collaboration are Market7 (which I think is much more sophisticated and very good) for the small, mid-sized and large producers, and Scenechronize, which is targeted for studio-sized projects.

Screenr - Way Cool Way to Make a Mini Video Screencasts - And Tweet Them

2009-10-29T09:55:00.001-07:00

The problem with Twitter is that 140 characters means haiku or link - i.e. you write something very short OR you link to a page with more info.

Screenr is a new ap designed to make - quickly and easily - little screencasts you can tweet - quickly and easily. It's like a micro version of YouTube but with screencasts and Twitter. It's about as micro-contenty as you can get.

See the one minute intro video here.

Could be unbelievably helpful for business...help desk is the most obvious function, but probably there are gazillions more. What ideas do you have about what you would use it for?

Do MORE With LESS: Web Video Marketing Club Launches!

2009-10-28T14:42:00.001-07:00

I'm launching a new thang - it's called the Web Video Marketing Club and it's online at (guess what)...www.webvideomarketing.com

I will be teaching classes in person through the club at Techliminal, a tech salon in downtown Oakland, at 268 14th St.

Here's the schedule:

One Day Intro Workshop
Monday, Nov. 2
Monday, Nov. 16 (repeat)
$95

Six Week Evening Class
Wednesday nights, starting Nov. 4 (through Dec. 9)
6:30 - 8:30 pm
$295

Signup on the Club web site or via mail. See Club site for details!

I will still be teaching the UC Extension classes but those are only available in SF. The East Bay classes should be more convenient and are more affordable.

Learning how to use web video to market your company is probably the best use of your marketing dollars (or almost no dollars) you can make since this is the most persuasive media that is going to make the biggest impact for the least amount of money with your customers. It also helps you leap ahead in search results pages. So make this year the year you get with the program and take a class to see how to get the most out of your marketing dollar.

PS Signup for the free emails at the Club site too - you will receive links to presentations and more valuable content not available elsewhere.

Web Video Marketing for Retailers

2009-10-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

I spoke this morning to the Oakland Merchants Leadership Forum, an interesting group composed of district merchants and Oakland economic development folks, about web video marketing for retailers. The other speakers included Jody Colley, publisher of the East Bay Express, who will be launching some major new cool opportunities for local businesses online in the early part of 2010. They currently offer web video production services and display on their site, which Jody says has been getting great feedback from the merchants who are using it. Prices seem very good to me.

Stu Sweetow, of AVConsultants.com, was the other panelist and showed us the fun stuff he and his crew can do at their Grand Ave. storefront. Green screen on a budget! Cool effects! Web videos for as low as $175! Wow - all this from a very experienced outfit with lots of personal attention.

I pointed to the fabulous success of the Parkway Theater in using video for its business - its homegrown Coming Attractions videos which set the tone. Doing a search on the Parkway Theater in Google search, selecting videos, more than 300 popped up. None were made by the Parkway - which just shows what incredible word of mouth you can get from a fanbase. That's the kind of marketing every retailer should want.

It's interesting to consider how slow local retailers have been to adopt web video. (Or even web sites.) Don't they know where their customers are? Let's hope the light shines through - maybe this will be the holiday season they'll get online. Hope.

Shari Godinez is the program manager for OMLF. You can learn more about the organization here.

I have been asked by Shari to join the OMLF marketing committee - which should be a great way to get more involved in this vibrant community.

Google TV Ads

2009-10-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

It's real, it's happening and you should check it out - Google TV ads.

Here's the basic overview:

And a great success story:

There are more videos that illustrate Google TV and more success stories online at the Google TV ads channel on YouTube or the Google TV Ads web site.

Another Top 10 List

2009-09-30T23:34:00.001-07:00

Check it out here....http://mashable.com/2009/09/29/top-10-dancing-babies/

Mixpo: Another Way to Get a Video WITHOUT Shooting

2009-09-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Understanding Jivox: Three Easy Videos

2009-09-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is the Jivox video ad:

This is the CEO interview:

This is the how to:

Google Video Ads: Info Here

2009-09-21T00:21:00.001-07:00

Interested in learning more about Google's video adwords program? Get the info here.

Interview with Brad Inman of TurnHere.com

2009-09-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

Turnhere.com just lowered its prices for small business videos from the already low, low, low price of $895 to a new low - $499.

Here's an interview from Sept. with TurnHere CEO Brad Inman.

And here's how it works:

Traffic Geyser -Beyond Tube Mogul?

2009-09-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Web video marketing doesn't stand on its own - its tied to search engine optimization, social media distribution, and many other online marketing variables.

Last year, Tube Mogul was the biggest breakthrough in getting your video posted onto multiple video outlets - no more uploading videos to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc. one by one. Tube Mogul handled all of these submissions for you at one time.

Now the web video distribution engine du jour is Traffic Geyser. TubeMogul distributes to about 15 sites - TG to 25-39 or more. TubeMogul is free. TG is $97 per month - that's about $1200 a year. What you are really paying for is Traffic Geyser's search engine optimization technology.

TG also separates the audio from your video and submits it to 16 podcast directories.

They also help you with video creation - for a fee.

A new feature announced on their blog converts your video to transcription - also for a fee of $100 per hour...you could go to elance and do much better (like $25 or less for someone in Sri Lanka or India to transcribe your video).

Learn more in Patricia Whitehead's YouTube video overview:

Visit Traffic Geyser to learn more about their product in four free videos they make available. They also offer a 30-day free pass.

Strangely, or smartly? enough, they don't have a company channel on YouTube. What does that tell you?

Web Video Marketing Class - Rave Reviews

2009-09-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report back that the one day class on Web Video Marketing I taught yesterday in downtown SF through U.C. Berkeley's Extension's marketing program was a great hit - thanks to the wonderful folks who participated. It was a small, intimate group of like-minded people, who came from the differing worlds of established brands, government-funded institutions, and a classic Bay Area type - a startup.

The class was an overview of the more in-depth course I will be giving starting Nov. 10 in downtown SF on Tuesday nights.

The evaluations said things like this:

"Pam's great! Very knowledgeable...she knows SO much and is willing to share. Great course! It should be advertised more widely. Anyone in charge of internet marketing should take this class."

"Very practical. Received clear information about video production options (some for only $500). Geared toward my level of technical skill so recommendations can be implemented."

I'm excited about the positive feedback and writing the textbook that will accompany the longer course. Please sign up on the Berkeley Extension web site - it's quick, easy and painless.

The class covers:
• Web Video Overview (conversion rates, success stories)
• Must Have Types of Videos (home page intro, product overviews, news, more)
• Make or Buy Decision Points (pros and cons of each and when to use which)
• Do It Yourself Options - from simple to complex
• Buy Options - from $150 to $500 and up for a complete video
• Distribution (how to include video in emails, where to distribute your videos, and sites that shortcut the distribution process)
• Tracking (free analytics tools and what they offer)

Guest speakers from many Bay Area companies have also been invited to present in the class.

Hope you can make it. Sign up or learn more here.

Wine Industry Catches the Web Video Vibe

2009-09-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

Aside from restaurants and hotels, I can't think of another industry which has so embraced online web video marketing the way the wine industry has. I guess all those things that make us feel glowy and happy lend themselves to contact highs on video. Or how else to describe the way web video is catching on.

The grandaddy of them all, Gary Vaynerchuk, who says his video blog WineLibraryTV has helped him to grow to a more than $50 million a year business.

He has:
• 90,000 followers on his video channel (and 733+ videos) since 2006
• 900,000 followers on Twitter

A great new story appeared on Gary, including news of his upcoming $1 million 10-book contract with a major publisher, in the NYTimes last week. You can read it here.

I've blogged earlier here about the Wine Guys at V. Sattui Winery (seen here)...

...as a brilliant web video marketing move.

Now my email inbox today brings news of the Wine Spectator's video contest - 70 videos vying for the top prize. Most look like they were professionally directed.

Here's a sample - a wine rap song, pitting Eastern makers against Western makers. Being from Oakland, I always find white rappers a bit strange, but still fun nonetheless. Another features a wine detective story, one is about kosher wine, and another spoofs Arnold Schwarzeneger and Charlie's Angels. My favorite is the old world wine versus new world wine, in the PC versus Mac spoof subgenre.

My only beef - video embedding not allowed (by Wine Spectator). Guys, get with it. Videos are supposed to be viral.

But carping aside, go see the entries and vote for your personal favorite. See here.

In the meantime, enjoy last year's grand prize winner here. Entitled Wine and the City, it's a parody of...you name it.

Want more? Visit the Wine Spectator's YouTube channel. 144 videos and counting.

Web Video Marketing Class Launches Sept. 15

2009-08-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

I will be offering a one day workshop on using web video for marketing (on your site and off) in San Francisco Sept. 15 through U. C. Berkeley Extension.

Workshop info here.

I'll also be offering a six session evening course there starting Nov. 10.

These will be great classes - go to the U.C. site to signup now!

Animoto - New and Improved - With Video

2009-08-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

You can now add video clips to your Animoto videos. Cool.

See the announcement and demo video on the Animoto site here.

Vidyo: My Next New Favorite Ap - Personal Telepresence

2009-07-08T11:27:00.001-07:00

Cisco telepresence, HP Halo? These are the telepresence (i.e. high resolution, life-sized video conferencing applications) aps to the Stars of American Business. But for you and me - ordinary folks - there's now an almost equally good offering as well: Vidyo.

While a Cisco telepresence room costs $300,000 to setup and install and $300,000 in monthly network fees over two years, Vidyo costs only $99 a month for 1200 minutes a month. Here's the 2008 demo:

I heard about it last night at a talk by Chuck Houston, executive director of Media X at Stanford University, in his presentation for the CIO Meetup group. And boy is Vidyo cool.

One of the biggest markets is anticipated to be boomers who want to keep tabs on their aging parents.

Vidyo's web site features this video showing the quality difference between its personal telepresence ap and "well known" (would that be Skype?) to show what a difference it makes to reduce blur and fuzzy images with crisp and clear ones. Vidyo supports HD as well as H.264-SVC (the latter automatically scales the streaming speed to the correct streaming settings for the end user's device).

Have a look and then visit the Vidyo web site for more details and a more engaging video here.

Web Videos: Not So Short Anymore

2009-07-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Today's New York Times features a story on how web video makers are going longer form with their offerings. See it here.

A Long Tail Video With Broad Appeal

2009-06-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here's an example of a new kind of documentary distribution - on the web. Now this isn't a new idea, but it's nice to see it actually work. This wine documentary - 26 min. long - fights back against the mainstream wine media - Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast.

Many powerful folks from Napa are featured speaking out against the domination by wine's royal class of critics and the points rating system. Included are Robert Dunn of the famous Dunn Vineyards and Karen MacNeil of the Culinary Institute of America.

I would say also that the wine industry has been one of the early adopters of using video to market their products. We'll take a deeper look at this in my upcoming class at U. C. Berkeley.

Great Example of Video Ad - With Photos Only!

2009-05-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

I talked to the Extraordinaries here at the Netsquared conference (we had breadfast) and they showed me their way cool video promo on their iPhone.

Easy to create - just use Comic Life, some photos, and edit together in iMovie or some other simple tool.

We'll learn more about these simple tools and how to make simple but effective videos in the July 18th class. Visit the UCBerkeley Extension web site to sign up.

East Bay Express Offers Video Ads

2009-05-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

A new development in the rising tide of video ads that are professionally produced - the local free weekly in the East Bay today featured an ad for a new East Bay Express Videography service.

Ads are shot and edited by Jonathan Mann. A video slideshow costs $250; a real video $900 (the same as TurnHere).

• Samples here.

Call the East Bay Express at 510 879 3700 for details.

Web Video Marketing Class - Announcement and Enrollment Now Online!

2009-05-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

You can now sign up for my Web Video Marketing class at UC Berkeley Extension's web site. The class will be held Saturday July 18 in San Francisco.

Class details

Rave Reviews from Past Participants

• "Easy to listen to...expert knowledge."
• "Thank you! Excellent informative presentation."
• "Lots of stuff. Very inspiring."
• "Great Content/Info!"
• "Valuable Seminar - well worth the time spent here."
• "Very informative, great resources, on target."
• "Lots of info - very friendly!"
• "I learned a lot of online video and a lot of good websites to help me make video without thousands of dollars. Really great!!!"
• "Very deep knowledge of video/media. Good speaker. Good at soliciting questions and comments."
• "Good, lots of questions allowed. Nice Pace. Great documentation. Lots of student/teacher interaction."
• "Learned a lot. Great informative handout - love the websites. Wonderful presentation."
• :Good help for my business."
• "Very well informed and easy to understand instructions."
• "The best workshop I have ever attended at SBA!"

Vcasmo: My New Favorite Web Video Application for Businesses

2009-05-21T13:38:00.001-07:00

Sample here...it displays your video side by side with slides. This sort of player used to be quite expensive: Vcasmo is free!

The embed below is just one of a number of examples on the Vcasmo site.

2.0 Cornucopia

2009-05-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I am totally amazed by how many sites I never heard of that look totally fantastic and cool that are contained in this presentation. Have a look! But be forewarned - it may take you off the path you're on because you will find so many new sites that extend your ability to collaborate and create.

Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire

View more presentations from tippydawn.

VoiceThread

2009-05-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

Oh dear - yet another new great tool! Check out the many wonders of VoiceThread.

The tour is good; the examples not so good - but imagine better ones - perhaps you'll make them!

Sketchcast: Way Cool

2009-05-21T10:44:00.001-07:00

It's yet another new amazing web site where people can create - and share - content - Sketchcast. Here's a sample:

Could be a very useful tool for businesses.

You can also record your voice to narrate your Sketchcast.

Opinion TV - Want to Bring It to America?

2009-05-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Opinion TV - the folks behind the TV Taxi - have a great deal for you...they'd like to bring TV Taxi to every state in the U.S. and are looking for a partner. The deal is this: you trick out a vehicle with the cameras, mikes, and lights and staff it. Edit the videos and upload to a central site where you can mix and match footage with their audiences. Or not.

In Europe, Mazda is providing TV Taxi with a free vehicle for each country they're in.

TV Taxi is a great format - someone should jump on this right away!

For more info, or to contact them, go to www.opiniontv.eu.

This is exactly the kind of thing the world needs now.

YouTube to Uploaders: More, More!

2009-05-21T09:02:00.001-07:00

When I first gave the original YouTube101 talk at BizTechDay in the fall, I opened the talk Jeopardy style - showing an answer. The answer was 13 hours per minute.

The question was How much video is being uploaded to YouTube?

I now have to revise my talk as YouTube today reports that 20 hours are being uploaded every minute - and they're egging the crowd on to post EVEN MORE - and providing a new tool so you can post video responses more quickly. This from the YouTube site:

May 20, 2009 | Posted by: Ryan Junee

Zoinks! 20 Hours of Video Uploaded Every Minute!

In mid-2007, six hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. Then it grew to eight hours per minute, then 10, then 13. In January of this year, it became 15 hours of video uploaded every minute, the equivalent of Hollywood releasing over 86,000 new full-length movies into theaters each week.

Now, 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and it is a testament to the fact that you've made YouTube your online video home. We couldn't have built this site without your commitment to sharing your thoughts, experiences, and creativity with each other. We have news clips and full-length shows and movies, music videos and how-to content, sports highlights and animation, short films, homegrown videos, and, yes, all the dogs on skateboards you can watch. There's an audience for every type of content on YouTube, and we hope that with all this video, you can find whatever it is you're interested in on the site.

We're still developing new ways to upload videos to YouTube. Today we're launching a feature that allows users to conveniently record a video response immediately after watching a video, making the YouTube experience even more social. When the video you're watching ends, an icon encouraging you to respond will appear in the player. Clicking on the icon will activate your webcam and immediately bring you into the conversation.

So thanks, and let's see if we can get to 24 hours -- a full day's worth of video uploaded every minute.

Ryan Junee
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

Embarq's Adventures in YouTube Land

2009-05-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Embarq Brand Channel - OMMA Hollywood Panel

View more presentations from Zena Weist.

Video in Emails Boosts Clickthrough Rates - 200-300%

2009-05-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

For this story, visit:

http://www.marketingvox.com/video-in-email-boosts-click-through-rates-2-3x-044057/

How Not to Make Your Web Video

2009-05-19T10:19:00.001-07:00

Long Form Video Sites Growing Faster

2009-05-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

Is the online video world moving more toward TV on demand?

From today's NYTimes comes the story Social Media Eclipses Email, which shows the dramatic growth in both social media and online video. Time spent on social media sites has now eclipsed the time spent on email sites. This is a sea change in consumer behavior.

In addition, the article goes on to say something equally dramatic:

"Sites with long-form videos (averaging six to eight minutes) are showing much more growth and user time spent online than those with shorter videos."

is this all attributable to Hulu.com? One can't say yet, but....

Opinion TV - Check out TV Taxi!

2009-05-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to the Innovation Journalism this week at Stanford and they're featuring this video on their site.

What a great way to collect opinions - check out this format! (Interviewing people in a taxi fitted out for this purpose).

Martha Stewart Tests Paid Online Videos - for Archives

2009-05-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

From Memo Pad

CLASSIC MARTHA: Martha Stewart is about to try something most magazine publishers have yet to attempt: charging for online videos. Next month, Stewart will begin testing consumers’ appetite to pay for videos, which will come from archives that are not yet available online. The videos can be purchased at marthastewart.com and then downloaded onto a computer, iPod or mobile phone. Pricing has not been set. Stewart said she’s been trying to figure out how the company can charge readers for online content for several years although, for now, the broader digital strategy will continue with an ad-supported online model.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Stewart said, during a conversation with New York Times media columnist David Carr on Thursday that was mainly about celebrities using Twitter. They spoke at the DeSilva + Phillips “The Future of Celebrity Media” conference. Stewart now has more than 600,000 followers on Twitter, although she hasn’t figured out how to get them to also read her blogs. “I think we’ll define it more,” she said, adding she will test Twitter with more specific information on, say, weddings or gardening.

— Amy Wicks

Many companies do have gold mines of how to videos out of sight and out of circulation.

"Use Your Words"

2009-05-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

There's a lot you can do just with titles, as this little spoofy video from my friend Peter Hirshberg shows. Enjoy (and imagine some possibilities of your own). In this case, some great music provides much of the "secret sauce."

Beating the Drum for Web-Styled Videos

2009-05-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

You gotta love this new ad campaign from Jive, makers of Social Business Software (formerly known as "Communities" or "Knowledge Sharing" or "Enterprise 2.0"...it uses some of the great tricks we first saw in the Michael Wetz videos (text lines that change half the sentence, for instance) in a great animation ad. Check it out:

Nielsen Study: Mo Web Video Happening And It's All Good

2009-05-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

Online engagement by Internet users is deepening, according to a new report on the online landscape released by The Nielsen Company. This increased engagement is in part a result of a shift toward video content and social networking as popular online subcategories.

Highlights Of The Report Include:
* The number of American users frequenting online video destinations has climbed 339 percent since 2003.
* Time spent on video sites has shot up almost 2,000 percent over the same period.
* In the last year alone, unique viewers of online video grew 10 percent, the number of streams grew 41 percent, the streams per user grew 27 percent and the total minutes engaged with online video grew 71 percent.
* There are 87 percent more online social media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites.
* In the last year alone, time spent on social networking sites has surged 73 percent.
* In February, social network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail usage for the first time.

Be sure to read the full report - it's got lots of good graphs and visuals as well as great data.

• Report

Web Video Marketing Example: Book Promotion on Amazon

2009-04-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

Tim O'Reilly has a new book about Twitter coming out on Amazon in late May. See the promo video on Amazon here.

New: Web Video Marketing Classes from Yours Truly - Coming July 18

2009-04-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

Interested in learning more about web video marketing for your organization? If so, you might want to consider taking my brand new course in web video marketing at U.C. Berkeley's Extension.

Details here.

Social Media Marketing: Video Interview Process

2009-04-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

I spent the afternoon visiting my new friend Andreas Weigend, professor at the Haas School of Business, who teaches a class in social media marketing and who consults and speaks on social data mining to corporations. He is the former chief scientist at Amazon.com.

Today in his class he featured an interview with a former student Mark Choey who recently became a realtor and used social media to grow his firm ClimbSF.com rather dramatically. Mark Choey used a Wordpress blog to grow an informational site at SFNewDevelopments.com and has since added Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Google chat to his social business arsenal. I was really struck - and reminded again! - of how incredible useful chat can be. See his home page on ClimbSF.com for the example.

Takeway #1: Certainly this could be useful for internal communications. Who knows why people don't want to pick up the phone and call, but having internal chat could be a great enhancer for internal communications.

Secondly, after the two hour class, Andreas and Mark did a video interview for both of their web sites on Choey's social media use as a business case study. I'll post the link when the video is edited and available online from Shaun Toi who has been shooting and editing videos for Andreas. (Andreas found Shaun by posting an ad on Craigslist, of course). Shaun works with a number of rappers, producing videos for them.

It was interesting to observe the process - one I have recommended but not seen someone else do which is to set up two tripods with two camcorders and therefore get two points of view, like a super-quick two cam shoot. See the photo to see what I mean. I am excited to see the final results.

Most importantly, you can hear and read transcripts of all of Andreas' class presentations in the Social Media Marketing class online at his website www.weigend.com.

An interesting note: Weigend has his own sound equipment, which includes two wireless mikes, and does all the recording of his talks and interviews with his own audio equipment so he can post it on the web. We are grateful to you, Andreas, for sharing what you know - and for being a great role model in this way.

TV's Latest Mashup: Google Ads

2009-04-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

Google announces program for combined video ad buys on TV and online. See the WSJ article here.

Get the details:

YouTube Video Downloader

2009-04-10T00:52:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to download a video from YouTube (for personal use). This is the ap for you.

TubeSock lets you capture it and play it on iTunes, your iPod, whatever. Check it out.

Obama Campaign: 20 Videos a Month, 77 Million Views

2009-04-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

I read a book today about the success of the Obama campaign, Barack, Inc., Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign by Barry Libert and Rick Faulk (who run Mzinga, a social software company). It says a lot less about the role of social media in the campaign than I was expecting, but it was still worth the 60 minutes it took me to read.

It's sometimes a little complex to explain to my clients why they might not want to use a video creation process that is labor-intensive or costly. Now I have the perfect proof.

My favorite quote:

"Hundreds of videos produced rapidly and cheaply by the Obama staff, were put up on YouTube. Toward the end of the campaign, they were being uploaded at the rate of 20 or more a day. As of October 2008, the videos had been seen 77 million times on YouTube alone."

Of course, these are far better results than almost any other campaign in history - and the stakes were high - but the very idea of creating 20 videos a month is a good concept for people to contemplate.

Most people seem to be happy to be able to publish just one - and that takes a tremendous amount of effort.

One way to succeed is to find easy ways to make videos - which, of course, is what I like to teach my clients - just how to do that very thing!

Speaking at the New Communications Forum April 27

2009-04-06T19:24:00.001-07:00

I will be on a panel on Integrating and Measuring 2.0 Across the Enterprise at the New Communications Forum April 27 at the San Francisco Marriott.

The panel is at 9:30 am, following the keynote address by the rockin' ace philanthropist Charles Best (video about him here.)

The conference is sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research.

Check out the conference site for more details.

Even The Catholic Church Is Using Web Video

2009-04-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

I went on a local architectural history tour yesterday of the architecturally significant new cathedral in Oakland and was surprised to learn from one of the docents that the cathedral had several videos on its web site so visitors could learn more about the building of the new church from both its sacred and secular builders.

The videos are not embeddable or I would publish them here. They're not notable for the production values, but as a sign of the times - and good ideas that other groups could follow up on. How wonderful it would be to find a video by the architect about various buildings - on the web.

Check out the Cathedral video page here.

Infusion Lunch - The Presentation

2009-03-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who attended today's Infusion lunch at Berkeley Rep. This High-Tech networking group meets monthly, organized by networker extraordinaire Sylvia Paull.

Here's are the slides on SlideShare.net that I presented at the event.

YouTube101: Video for Startups and Small Business

View more presentations from Pam Strayer.

I will be releasing an updated version with audio - as a paid content online webinar - in the near future. Please sign up for this blog to be notified when the webinar site launches!

And feel free to email me with any questions or followup conversations. And thanks for being an engaged and exciting audience!

Talking at Berkeley Rep

2009-03-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

I will be speaking at Berkeley Rep's INFUSION luncheon on Wed.

For details, see the Infusion site:
http://www.infusion.airset.com/

iMovie09 - Run to the Store NOW

2009-02-27T09:12:00.001-08:00

I have been playing around with iMovie 09 this week, which took a lot of courage. After the debacle of iMovie 08, which I couldn't figure out for the life of me, and the earlier love affair with iMovie HD, which I adored, I clung to David Pogue's slightly put down review of 09 on the basis of losing its export to tape function.

While I couldn't agree more and beg, plead and whine to Apple (in store, online, posting a comment at the bottom of the Pogue column), Apple Has Spoken. So Far.

Once I could focus on actually Using iMovie 09, to do a quickie edit (carving up an 8 hour conference video into the individual presentations) that didn't require much deep thought, I began to be thrilled.

Whiz, whiz - the edited footage was scooped up, lassoed, and plopped into place. Maps...hmmm...new...looks like the old Road Trip Effect code I put in my 2005 book Create Your Own Digital Movies. But wait - it's much more. And it's soooo fast? It IS so fast. Plop, plop - here I can plink down some titles. Awesome. It took awhile to sort out the audio editing process in iMovie, but it does make sense. It does however require relearning old habits. Some good, some bad in that.

The upshot was however, that my video took all of about 5 minutes to edit. It would have taken at least an hour in the old style iMovie HD. Hmmm. Moral dilemma now. What do I say to my trustworthy faithful horse? For now, it's a fond farewell.

All went well until I went to upload the conference video. YouTube is no longer free for more than 100MB or 10 min. So with 30- and 60-min. 336 MB+ files, it was off to Google Video I went. But then the default window opens on Google Video, larger by far than on YouTube, and the quality was atrocious. My lovely world maps were blurred almost beyond recognition. Was it something I could control?

I spent a bit of time on the phone with Apple tech support. First with the iMovie specialist, who walked through various paths with me - intelligently and patiently and competently. Though I try to steer clear of actually using Final Cut Express, I do own a copy and wondered if exporting it from FCE would improve the quality of my uploaded video. An FCE rep asked for my support code, which I didn't have and informed me that it would $199 per incident to talk to her. Wow. That's more expensive than a call girl. After I explained that the information I was seeking was related to a capabilities issue form a sales and technical perspective rather than my actual USE of the software, she was very helpful. But ultimately I was transferred back to another iMovie person who walked through even more detail. Yet, in the end, the method I had used was the best one and the solution lay not in the creation side of the fence but in the publishing side.

Slow moving dolt that I was, I finally had a reason to go to Vimeo, where videos Look Good. I did a test post last night. I'm sold.

iMovie 09 and Vimeo - the way to go.

PS I have been telling people for some time to use iMovie HD for rough cuts or producer's cuts and encouraging people to hand off the roughs to real editors using FCP for quite some time. I just noticed Apple actually promoting this idea. Right on.

PS2 Take the iMovie 90 min. class at your local Apple store. Awesome. They'll show you how to open up the Advanced Features (under Preferences) which is what really sold me on iMovie 09. But better than that, for everyone, is the hands on approach in the class. No more show and tell. It's show and do. And did I mention - it's FREE?

See the Difference: Vimeo Vs. Google Video

2009-02-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

I used the same res files shot with the same cameras for both of these:

GOOGLE VIDEO
Due to the fact that YouTube won't accept videos of more than 100MB or 10 minutes, I used Google Video's upload service, which I am grateful still exists. However, this lovely feature is going to go away. So upload while you still may! And get into their search results. The videos already uploaded before March 30, 2009 will remain online.

VIMEO
Quality is higher - but at a price. You can upload 500MB each week for free. Otherwise, pay $59.95 for a year license with 1G limit per month.

Green Plans Conference - New Zealand from pam strayer on Vimeo.

How to Make a Computer Sexy Again? Modbook's Way Cool Product Video

2009-02-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

Stop motion animation - a great way to make this product video shine!

See what you think...and then add a comment on this blog:

What did you think?

Animoto for Business

2009-02-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

I have blogged and written about Animoto for businesses in the past, but just want to point to an extremely good example. Unfortunately, the animoto videos do not seem to be embeddable, so I'll just link to it here.

See the SmartSheet.com video now.

Embedr: Make Your Own Playlists

2009-02-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

You know how you can now watch video on a bunch of different sites? It used to be just YOuTube, but now there's dozens of sites.

If you want to aggregate all your videos from a variety of sites into a single playlist there's a new site for you!

Embedr.

Embedr currently supports Atom Films, Blip.TV, College Humor, Dailymotion, Metacafe, MySpace Video, Veoh, Vimeo, and of course YouTube. It will handle up to 100 manually added videos or 50 videos per smart playlist.

Read about it in the ReadWriteWeb article.

What I like about Embedr from a marketing perspective is the site feature that allows others to explore your playlists...Consider the possibilities. Just another social channel for your videos - and one more reason to make them!

Great Video Marketing: Jeff Jarvis

2009-02-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

How do you get to go from being a TV Guide writer to a job at NYU? How do you pitch your new book? Well, if you are Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do?, you master new media.

Here's his book web site - look at the numerous videos, some self-produced using his FLIP camcorder.

And his book is due to be the first video book from HarperCollins - yet another new media promotion as well as product.

"Cartoonicize" Your Message: ComicLife!

2009-02-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

It's supereasy to use cartoon-icized photos to add va va va voom to your visuals. Of course, you have to have visuals to start with, but let's say you've got some of your own - or you've found some creative commons licensed ones on Flickr that allow your use as well as modification. That narrows it down to millions.

First, go to SeriouslyGreen.org and see how cute and cool their graphics on the opening screen are. Example above.

Second, go to plasq.com and buy ComicLife (available for Mac or Windows) and start adding captions to yo stuff. (There are probably other programs, too; I just happen to use this one.)

Quick and easy.

Third, post away, adding to your site, blog posts, etc. and see if your images get a little viral.

Fourth, let me know how it works out!

CNN/YouTube combo on Obama Inaugural: A Winning Combo

2009-01-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Techcrunch is reporting that the watch CNN with your friends on Facebook combo is proving to be something of a crowd pleasing winner. More than 1.5 million people flocked to both media yesteday to get their new Obama era groove on.

Having used it, plus twitter yesterday, I can only concur. A whole new way to enjoy what used to be boring old TV.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/20/facebooks-big-day-15-million-obama-wall-posts/

In the mid 90s, when I worked on an interactive TV channel for Time Warner, no one would have ever thought that text - albeit social - would be the killer interactive ap!

Web Videos Taking Root in Wine Sites

2009-01-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

I am working on some wine-related research for a new project this week and have been taking a look at a number of sites from California's famed Napa wine country. Surprise! They are using video.

V. Sattui, one of the more commercial, touristy vineyards (the wines are not great, but the picnicing is, since V. Sattui has cheeses and foods for sale in its onsite wine store) has a whole series on their web site. I recommend checking them out on their own site to see how they're displayed.

• V. Sattui Site

Secondly, I was at the Wine Sustainablity site, a program that helps the wine industry learn about sustainability and best practices for growing grapes and making wine. Even they have a lovely and helpful intro video.

77% of Americans watched online video in Nov.

2009-01-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

See the new study from eMarketer.

New Podcast on Video Ads from Spotrunner.com

2009-01-12T19:28:00.001-08:00

Want to learn more about the advantages of small business video ads? Listen up to Spotrunner.com's talk about maximizing your local reach.

Here's the link to the podcast.

New: Spotmixer Lets Small Business Video Ad Makers Directly Distribute Ads on Google Adwords for Video

2009-01-12T19:23:00.002-08:00

Spotmixer.com's investors announced the company has raised $9 million for small business video ads today.

The company says it's a vote of confidence for the effectiveness of video ads for small business, even in an economic downturn.

In even more good news, SpotMixer just became the first authorized reseller partner in oogleclients will be able to directly distribute their ads using Google's ad platform in addition to creating them online.

Read the story here.

New Classes Starting Feb. 7!

2009-01-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Saturday Series is launching! You can attend three daylong workshops on web video marketing for small business. Get all the details here!

http://youtube101tv.eventbrite.com

And spread the word! If you bring a guest, you will receive a $25 discount.

Three More Web Video Marketing Success Stories

2009-01-08T17:43:00.001-08:00

Don't miss this Inc. article on three companies who found revenue increases from 10-20% or more after they starting using video on their web sites.

For example, Personalith Hotels video tours show potential guests the Dashell Hammett suite, staff tell you how they'll pamper you Diva-style, and you can have a look at a suite designed for those traveling with children. The hotel's owner says bookings increased 5% after the videos were posted.

GDiapers of Portland, Oregon, an eco-diaper line sold at Whole Foods, says its videos are among the most popular content on its web site and credits them with much of the reason its sales have doubled.

Read the article here.

Cheeky Humor from David Pogue: And Then Some Predictions for 2009

2009-01-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

David Pogue sings about a world without Apple. Then he talks about the tech trends for 2009.

Animoto Fans: Go Wild with the New iPhone app

2009-01-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, iPhone/Animoto fans. Go wild, with the new iPhone app from Animoto. Make photos from your iPhone into videos.

• Details

Make 2009 Your Year to Learn About Web Video Marketing

2008-12-31T10:45:00.000-08:00

This is why video works:

People remember:

- 20% of what they hear
- 30% of what they see
- 70% of what they both hear and see

That's why video is your most powerful ally in helping to convert browsers to buyers on your web site.

Where to start?

I will be offering new online webinars come January: they will be FREE and a continuation of what I have been speaking about at BizTechDay and the SBA class.

But here's one thing to contemplate:

Think about a video profile for your web site.

Here are three companies to consider:

Pixelfish.com
Sagas.com
TurnHere.com

eMarketer Study on Online Video Ads

2008-12-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

While advertising online in video is only one of the many ways for small businesses to use web video, it's interesting to keep track of the wider world out there and what's happening in it.

As you can see, the big guys are selling 90% of their ads at high-ish rates, while the new kids on the block are just figuring out how to get into the game and not having an easy time of it.

Again, I think online video ads are only of marginal interest to small businesses - but this could change in 2009.

Mino HD: Pogue's Video

2008-12-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

For a lighthearted road test, or cruise ship test, of the new Flip Mino HD, check out Pogue's latest video on the newest member of the Flip family.

The TurnHere.com Interview: Video Making Company Leader Brad Inman

2008-12-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

Brad Inman's company TurnHere.com has been making videos for small businesses as a business for the past few years, as one of the pioneers in the industry. The company's package model pairs video production with placement in various online sites and is one of the companies in the presentation I gave at BizTechDay and the SBA a few weeks ago.

You might be interested in his presentation, which was online at the ReelSEO site. The company claims to have created 11,000 ads for small and medium business. I wonder if most of them were part of the company's original online directory model, which it appears to be backpedaling on, if its current web site is an indicator. Instead, it's pushing for what must be, presumably, a better business model: local video ads coupled with ad buys on certain portals.

The company is backed by media mogul Will Hearst and early on served publishers well with video interviews for authors.

But enough about that. Here's the complete presentation (below).

The biggest takeaways?
(I've bolded them below but they are:)
• 55% of users who watch these videos end up visiting the website of the business
• Video increases calls, clicks, site visits, etc….
• Ads that aren't ads work best
• Ads build trust

1. The Anti-Super Bowl Ad
* Make it targeted, relevant, informational, and evergreen.
2. Killer Product for IYPs (Internet Yellow Pages)
* As print revenues decline, IYPs are looking for high-margin growth areas online.
* Video represents the best opportunity for growth and margin.
3. SMBs Love Online Video
* The affordable nature of online video, combined with the results seen is driving adoption of video by firms traditionally shut out of TV advertising.
4. Cycle Time is Everything
* Creative process must align with the sales business cycles.
5. Customer Eduction and Coaching Spur Faster Shoot Times
* Sales support = fulfillment.
6. Put That Camera Away
* Some businesses are camera shy. Voiceovers, as TurnHere announced today - they now offer custom voiceovers.
7. Recession Advertising
* TurnHere is profitable and is growing each quarter.
* In tough economic times, video represents a cost-efficient means of effective online advertising.
8. Scheduling is the Black Box
* 50% of people reschedule their first appointment.
* 4.5 calls are needed in order to schedule an appointment.
9. Custom Beats Stock
* Custom production creates more engagement and action than stock video products.
10. Video Ads Work
* Video increases calls, clicks, site visits, etc….
* 55% of users who watch these videos end up visiting the website of the business.
11. Ads That Are Not Ads Work Best
12. Video Create Trust
* We have written about this with regard to online video marketing for attorneys.
13. What Type of Businesses Love Video?
* Restaurants, dentists, auto repair, plumbers, movers, limos, home repair, veterinarians, attorneys, car dealers, florists, insurance, bars & nightlife.
14. Engaged Trumps Branding
* Tired of paid actors - Authenticity helps.
* Shoot video of the actual business owner, and make it a compelling and authentic.
15. Local Producers with Local Sensibilities
* The parity that occurs when you partner local filmmakers with local businesses from the same area is something that can not be matched with another model.
16. It Has to Be Easy
* Small business owners don’t have time to waste - do a quick shoot - 90 minutes, 1 filmmaker crew, shoot while the business is open, no preparation needed, online preview and approval.
17. Vanity is Part of the Package
* People are excited about their videos.
* Make that small business owner a hero.
18. One-off Production Shops Do Not Scale
19. Filmmaker Coverage is Tough
* Getting a filmmaker in NY is easy, in Georgia, not as easy.
20. You Need a Trained Network
* Anyone can scale a database.
21. Transparency is Critical
* Passing off your customer to a 3rd party shouldn’t be done carelessly.
22. Executive Buy-in is Critical
* Sales leadership is important and partners will not be successful without top-down leadership in sales.
23. Training is Everything
* “Train baby, Train.”
* Sales training is critical.
* Provide sales tools to make the sales process easy.
24. Distribution Drives Success
* Video content is portable.
* Leverage existing online audiences.
* Go vertical for relevant eyeballs.
* Video Search Ranks #2 in Search.
o Youtube is now the #2 search engine next to Google.
25. Everyone Loves a Winner

Want to hear straight from Brad? Here's a 2007 video:

The only caveat I would add is that this is written from the point of view of the service provider, who has found a business model working with internet yellow pages - and has not developed as a provider focused on meeting the needs of small business owners. That said, there's still good information here that you can think about.

Practically Automatic: Spotmixer, the Cool New Video Admaker

2008-12-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

I just tried Spotmixer.com, a new web site that offers small business owners quick, easy and foolproof ways to make video ads - for a price.

What's Hot

Spotmixer makes creating your ad spot-on E-Z. Its main advantage is that it requires as little thought to make a video ad as it does to make a text ad in that there are short text fields, like Google Adwords (which I jokingly call 21st century haikus), which you enter a few words into that appear in your ad. Select your industry and the site pulls stock photos that move on screen, a little like Animoto.com, to make professional looking Flash videos.

Spotmixer also lets you easily insert your own art or narration into the video, so it's truly original.

For many small businesses, Spotmixer is probably the perfect solution - but again, at a price.

What's Not to Like

The price: $49 a month gets you an embed code so you can post the video on your site and a link to post it in emails to your customers. Considering that you could easily make a brief video like this in about an hour, is it worth it to you to spend upwards of $600 a year for an ad like this?

Spotmixer also allows you to place your video ad on various partner sites, including

To learn more about how it works, visit Spotmixer.com and see the comparison page for details.

Marketing Sherpa Web Video Marketing Report

2008-12-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

For a mere $277 you can get up to date information from Marketing Sherpa on why to use web video on your site. The report's free chapter includes great material - but from the table of contents, it's obvious that there's no how-to or costs in the report, making it somewhat interesting - but mostly theoretical.

I'm in the midst of writing my new book YouTube101: Web Video Marketing for Small Business which will give you ALL the pieces you need to put together to create successful campaigns, turning browsers into buyers - cost effectively.

Here's a brief snippet from Marketing Sherpa's free report.

• Fall 2008 survey of 1,000+ respondents (marketers and consumers)
• For marketers: 57% were happy with the results they saw from putting web videos on their web sites

One successful strategy mentioned in the free chapter: pairing video ads with text ads - i.e. get traffic to your site from text ads and have video on the landing page or home page to quickly educate interested customers. I have been teaching this, of
course, but it bears repeating!

Download the free chapter here.

After 12/31/08, the report will cost $397, according to the web site.

Overall, I think the report contains valuable information, but it's much more detailed than most people would like, and it doesn't cover the all important area of HOW to create your ads!

Finally: A Terrific How-To Site for Lighting

2008-12-19T09:33:00.001-08:00

One of the questions I am asked most frequently is how to light. Since I'm not an expert on lighting, I usually try to duck the question and refer people to a better resource.

Now the perfect resource is here. It's Lowel.com, where you will find lots of fantastic diagrams and resources to help you situation by situation find out how to do professional quality lighting. Of course, it's from a manufacturer of lighting equipment, but...I think the company should be applauded (and patronized) for its fabulous how to light site.

The site includes really useful extras, like an interactive feature that shows you exactly what effect certain lighting positions have on your subject. It's like being given the key to the secret language of light that cinematographers know.

You may not need to really know how to light this well, but I find it very exciting that I have a place to refer to should I need to know this skill. Enjoy!

Your Company's New Year's Resolution for 2009: Use Web Video Marketing!

2008-12-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

Join me for the first Saturdays Series starting in January.

We'll meet one Saturday a month in Jan., Feb., and March to focus on getting your startup or small business into web video marketing aimed at increasing revenues.

Why should you feature video on your website? 52% of people viewing online video ads take action, and 12% buy something from viewing a video ad, according to the June 2007 study ("Frames of Reference") from the Online Publishers Association.

And there's that recent WSJ article about small businesses increasing their profitability using web video resources.

What are you waiting for?

Sign up today!

And if you're not able to attend classes in person, I will be starting to offer webinar classes as well, so please sign up via the PayPal button (and dropdown menu) on the upper right or subscribe to emails to be notified in the future about classes.

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Talk to Me: Take This Survey Please!

2008-12-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

Last night I gave a class at the Small Business Administration in SF on YouTube101: Web Video Marketing for Startups and Small Businesses. It was basically the same slides as the BizTechDay presentation you can find on SlideShare.net.

I want to thank all the participants (about 50 of you?) and ask you to please please please fill out the survey.

Click Here to take survey

This lets me know if you are interested in more classes and what dates and locations are best for you. Even if you filled out the email signup sheet at the event, please take the survey!!!

And thanks again for your great comments and feedback. Here are some:

• "Easy to listen to...expert knowledge."
• "Thank you! Excellent informative presentation."
• "Lots of stuff. Very inspiring."
• "Great Content/Info!"
• "Valuable Seminar - well worth the time spent here."
• "Very informative, great resources, on target."
• "Lots of info - very friendly!"
• "I learned a lot of online video and a lot of good websites to help me make video without thousands of dollars. Really great!!!"
• "Very deep knowledge of video/media. Good speaker. Good at soliciting questions and comments."
• "Good, lots of questions allowed. Nice Pace. Great documentation. Lots of student/teacher interaction."
• "Learned a lot. Great informative handout - love the websites. Wonderful presentation."
• :Good help for my business."
• "Very well informed and easy to understand instructions."
• "The best workshop I have ever attended at SBA!"

Thank you all for your comments!

Making It on YouTube

2008-12-16T22:35:00.000-08:00

The New York Times ran a story this week on Christopher Buckley, a guy who's making $100k a year off his YouTube videos.

Lots of times people fantasize about making it big on YouTube - but forget that YouTube in its current state isn't about mass marketing. It's about distribution.

I think of YouTube as both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it's America's Funniest Home Videos on steroids. As a verb, it's a free platform for video distribution.

Stars like Buckley are tapping into the YouTube community as broadcasters. For performers, getting a massive audience like this is demonstration of their marketability to big media - and now you're seeing people like this get opportunities in Big Media. I categorize this as basically a very high level audition - and it's a great way for performers to use YouTube. However, for most small businesses, the measure of success will not be x million hits on YouTube, but rather, the amount of monetization of targeted customers. So don't think massive, but strategic. Not as sexy maybe - but more bankable!

As I pointed out at last night's lecture at SBA in SF, Blendtec's Will It Blend campaign on YouTube cost not $50, but probably more like $50,000 to $100,000 (if you include the cost of the origina in-house video staff member and not just the cost of props - which is the $50 figure that George Wright, Blendtec's marketing director, usually mentions.) And if it's brought revenues up 700%, that seems low, as I mentioned. If your company went from a small unknown brand to an Internet sensation, with millions of page views, I would expect to see revenues increase more like 7000%.

Use YouTube as a distribution channel and a social media channel to get your customers to look at your videos. You don't need massive views that don't convert to dollars. You need relationship marketing. You need word of mouth. You need search to find your content. So don't think about how to make the most hilarious video ever and get a million hits on YouTube. Think about how to interest your dream audience - i.e. people who can't wait to hear about and buy your product or service. It might get you moving in a more lucrative direction.

PS If you want to take a trip down memory lane, check out that college kid who made the YouTube hit video (that parody of myspace) in his basement in Michigan in 2005 and was supposed to then take Hollywood by storm. What happened to him? I just see a few more web videos on his site. Had he made a fortune from all that YouTube fame for the myspace parody? He has a new one out on Facebook.

Vixy.net: Get Your Flash Video To Go

2008-12-03T08:41:00.001-08:00

VIxy.net offers a free online FLV (Flash Video) Converter so you can download online videos direct to PC, iPod or PSP - free. Check it out here!

There's also a desktop version available for free download.

Getting your Flash Videos (i.e. everything on YouTube) to your iPod (in Mpeg4 files)- that's cool.

And for your uber techies, you can download the open source code that converts the file formats.

The Presidential YouTube Channel: Coming Soon!

2008-11-28T10:09:00.001-08:00

Obama intends to carry over his campaign's high-touch web presence style once in office. Learn more in this BBC article. Or watch the BBC video about the impact of digital communications on governing - "the Internet president."

Common Craft - Videos ANYONE Can Make!

2008-11-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I didn't know about this site already. It is SO COOL. You don't have to fork out 25k for a happening Flash animation. You can just do like the people at Common Craft do. Make your own paper animation video - for pennies!

See more here.

You can license videos from them, too, but making your own is pretty darn cool.

StoryTlr: The All in One Place Place

2008-11-23T20:25:00.000-08:00

Do you have a twitter comment, a few photos, and a video about the same day or event or topic? And yet all these pieces are in separate places on the web...unless you have storytlr.com, a nice place to pull them altogether. See here:

Or just go to www.storytlr.com. Kinda nifty.