This post comes to us from Guest Author D’vorah Lansky. She is a great student of both Screencast Profits and Learn Camtasia and becoming quite the resource for all things blogging.
Using video in blogs is, of course, and great strategy! Here is her article.
Video Blogging
I’d like to thank Lon for having me as a guest blogger on his site. My name is D’vorah Lansky and I am known as the “Relationship Marketing Wizard”. I’m a huge fan of and very involved in blogging and in designing WordPress blogs. I’ve been a student of Lon’s for some time now and we had the opportunity of meeting one another in person at Bob Jenkins’ Internet Marketing event in North Carolina this past spring. Lon will also be blogging on my site the same week that I am here. (www.RelationshipMarketingCafe.com).
Video Blogging
Adding video to your WordPress blog will add another dimension to your content, keep people on your site longer and have them coming back often to see what new videos you’ve created. Video blogging is quite simple and there are many things that you can video blog about. You can take your written blog posts, create a PowerPoint presentation with key points listed as bullet points, and read your article aloud. Alternatively, you can have just a topic title or sentence or two at the beginning of your blog post and add a video on that topic. Being that Lon is the world renowned expert in screen capture video, you can view his work to get an unlimited number of ideas.
Video captivates people and keeps them on your site longer. Setting up a video on your blog is very easy in WordPress. There are several different options for where to host your video. One of the most popular is to create your video, then upload it to YouTube. Once your video processes you will be able to copy the embed code to your blog in order to make the video play on the selected spot on your site. When you are in the post-editing mode on your WordPress blog, you’ll see that there is a place to put the code. Note that there is an HTML tab. Click on that tab and paste the video code into the HTML section and publish your post. When you do that you will have a video on your site.
Once you’ve uploaded your video to YouTube, you can select the “embed” tab and decide what settings you’d like for your video. It is recommended that you uncheck the box that asks where you want to “show related videos” after your video is done playing. You cannot control which videos will show up and often times these related videos are inappropriate for all viewing audiences (if you catch my drift). The other setting you’ll want to make note of is the video size. Choose the proportions that will best fit in your blog post.
The downside to hosting a YouTube video is, when someone clicks on the video player on your site, they will be taken to YouTube.com
An alternative method involves setting up an account at Amazon S3 (http://aws.amazon.com). They do charge you for the bandwidth but it is ridiculously affordable. This way you keep your viewers on your site and prevent them from clicking off to YouTube. You will need to have a way to incorporate a video player with the AmazonS3 code. The premier Amazon S3 video player is called Easy Video Player. I found out about this player from Lon and absolutely love it.
I can complete an Internet Radio Interview and within three minutes can have the video up on my site. One of the beauties of using Amazon S3 and Easy Video Player for your video hosting is that you decide where the viewer will go at the end of the video you are also able to decide if you want your video (or audio) to be downloadable.
Another of the benefits of video blogging is that you can put a link to your video posts in your e-mail newsletter and say something like: “Click here for this week’s video.” This is a great way to get a lot of traffic coming to your blog and Google is going to pay attention. This will increase your search engine rankings, which will get you more traffic.
To ensure that you have an ongoing source of new video content, consider scheduling a time each week to produce a few videos. This way you will have reserve content in case you want to take a vacation or you get busy with other projects. Create videos and you will be creating a powerful way to share your knowledge and your presence, while building relationships with your audience.
I welcome your thoughts regarding video blogging and encourage you to scroll down and leave a comment.
As part of the Blog Tour that Lon and I are participating in, you will earn points for each comment as well as for each of the blog tour articles that you tweet using the hashtag #blogworldtour.
One thing I REALLY love about this music resource is that, unlike most providers, Mike understands that people don’t just need the music content…they need help in how to use it.
Video tutorials every month on how to use your music tracks
And you can get 2 full tracks with a no obligation trial membership for…a buck. Sweet!
Mike is a master at creating and using audio content for all kinds of creative things besides just video too. Some great ideas to be had from a complete pro.
If you’ve followed me for awhile or been through previous posts on this blog you know that I’m a big fan of studying the big guys as they crush big product launches using video
The old saying “Watch and learn…” is completely applicable here!
I watched, learned, and marveled as Andy Jenkins rolled out the Video Boss and commented on the interesting process employed by Frank Kern for List Control…
Today, one of the only other experts in my very small circle of influence (read that as people I follow and listen to) is finishing up yet another sweet example of of what happens when you couple video with a targeted market and tell a compelling story.
Over the last week, Mike Keonigs of Traffic Geyser layed out a pre-launch series of 5 videos decidedly worth watching:
You will have to opt-in the watch all the videos and, yes, that’s my affiliate link. To be very clear: Promoting the product is NOT my goal here (but I’m not stupid either!)
Watch And Learn
My only recommendation is to watch what the best-of-the-best do. When you’re done, heck, unsubscribe!
I also suggest that you take advantage of the download links for these videos and save them to your hard drive for future review. That’s what I’ve done…
Here are a few of my observations on this series:
1. While Mike has the advantage of a pretty killer studio and some great video editors and talent behind him, the bulk of the content is delivered as…you guessed it…screen capture video and presentation graphics captured to video.
2. The “flow” of the messages smacks of world-class copy…the Hook, a big promise, social proof, pattern interrupts, etc. – truly a thing of beauty and worth taking notes on.
3. I love the visuals, builds, and transitions! Probably ultimately done on a Mac in a high-level editor like Final Cut but…I’m pretty jazzed about the new PowerPoint 2010 in beta right now and a whole bunch of this kind of work can be done with a little creativity and attention to detail. Lots of great ideas!
4. They are streaming the videos from Ooyala.com where the hosting fees start at $500 a month! Yikes! Pretty serious stuff…
What do you think? What jumped out at you and what did you learn?
Lon
P.S.
Oh ya…there is a product offered here. Clearly, not for everyone but if this model floats yer boat and ‘cause momma didn’t raise no dummy…I’ll throw out a nice bonus for you if it fits your needs:
1. Full access to my new $397 Camtasia Training at LearnCamtasia.com including the current Camtasia v6 content AND the new Camtasia version 7 training in early May.
3. Two full hours of online, screen sharing consulting from me to answer any questions you have about making your Camtasia videos, demonstrated, recorded, whatever you need ($175 per/hr).
4. Oh and how about this? If you haven’t upgraded to Camtasia 7 I’ll buy it for ya! Or…if you have upgraded…a copy of PowerPoint 2010 when it ships?
Just clear your browser cookies, be sure to use the link above so I get credit, and email me a copy of your receipt (admin (at) screencastprofits.com) as usual…
In this Camtasia Screencast QuickTip, I’ll cover a very nice “hidden” feature in the new Camtasia Studio version 7.
In version 6, to add custom images to your videos, you had to add something called a Custom Callout (in a somewhat complicated procedure) before you could add them to your timeline.
In Camtasia 7…it’s sublimely simple!! Check it out:
I totally love this new feature!!
Seriously, this could be worth the price of upgrading alone.
since 2002 and I’ve searched over the years for a better video screen capture tool. Haven’t found one yet…
Today, Techsmith has released Camtasia version 7 and these are my initial impressions after having been testing out the software for a couple of weeks with a pre-launch evaluation copy from Betsy Weber.
I’ll keep this short for now and give you some highlights. Of course, I’ll have more in-depth tutorials on the way!
Here’s a little preview video I did using the Search Story concept to show off a few of the features:
What’s New in Camtasia 7?
1. A New Look
The first thing you’ll notice is a sporty new look in Camtasia Studio.
I’ll be honest with ya…it does take a little getting used to if you’re a seasoned Camtasia user. It is, after all, a major interface change.
That being said, I’m finding it to be a well layed out structure as I work with it more & more. Especially as it incorporates some of the new features and how you access them.
Thumbs Up
2. Camtasia Library
One of the most useful things is a new Library feature that let’s you store all of your video elements (music, custom callouts, sound effects, video backgrounds, etc.) in one place! Nice…
One click access to all this stuff is useful enough but it gets even better…
You can also highlight any content on the timeline and right-click to ADD it to your library making it ready for future use! This is especially handy for Title clips & Splash Intros or anything else you might want to “re-use” in future projects with a simple drag-n-drop.
I like the fact that they have include some royalty free music tracks to use and some wicked cool new animated backgrounds, Title clips, and lower third “sets’” from folks like Digital Juice that you can use!
And also, you can share libraries with others.
Techsmith is providing some Library additions that you can grab:
Camtasia 7 has some upgrades & additions to it’s Callouts. The legacy ones are all there but a new batch of shapes have a much nicer, less cheezy look and Effects like transparency, new Styles with greater control over how they look.
A few new “specialty” Callouts are also available:
Sketch Motion Callouts
I love these! They are animated callouts that you can use that “draw” themselves!
It’s like you have a pen (your choice of color, thickness, etc.) and you can have a circle or oval, square or rectangle, or arrows drawn in the video in real-time to highlight an area. I also like the “scribble it out” one.
Keystroke Callouts
These let you show viewers exactly what keystrokes you used and when you used them. I haven’t played with this one enough to decide if it’s useful but you can also just insert a “Control-C, or “ALT-D”, etc. image to indicate keystrokes for your viewer.
Two Thumbs Up!
4. Cursor Effects
This I find to be wicked interesting. In previous versions, you could add a little highlight, or rings when clicked, etc. to your cursor when recording.
Now, as long as you save your recording as a CAMREC file, you can add or modify all those attention-drawing items (and more) at editing time!
Included are also the long awaited “spotlight” & “magnify” effects and a cool new “warp” effect. You can also just make your cursor bigger!
No more having these effects burned directly into your recording. Add or change them while you edit. Nice!
Two Thumbs Up!
5. Audio Enhancements
OK…I’ve always had extremely mixed feelings about Camtasia’s “Audio Enhancements” like Noise Removal, Volume-Leveling, etc. More on that in a minute…
New to this version is the ability to get some nice control over fading in and fading out and volume levels for an audio track.
how to buy clomid online width=”445″ height=”378″ />
If you are adding intro / outro music or want a music track playing throughout your video but still be talking over it? This is awesome!
That’s the good news…
Three Thumbs Up!
Now…the BAD news:
The other audio enhancements like noise removal and volume level?
Still mess with EVERY AUDIO TRACK!?!? OMG!!! Ouch…
How can I use this neat feature to get my intro music just right…and then have it basically destroyed if I need to level the volume of my narration??? FAIL.
The workaround is to do noise & volume stuff first, render out to AVI and the pull it back into Camtasia…ugly.
Ya…oh well.
6. Widescreen Presets
As you saw in the video above, there are now more presets available including new widescreen dimension settings. This is becoming increasingly important for certain viewing devices and for uploading to YouTube.
7. YouTube Integration
This feature is now improved from previous versions. Basically, you can now connect directly to YouTube at production time. It works as a preset so…you can’t really change any of the quality settings.
I don’t know…not very useful in my opinion but for those looking for “easy” I guess it’s OK.
No Thumb Opinion…yet.
8. Improved Recording Engine
This is really kinda sweet. Under the covers, Camtasia now records your content much better and faster. On XP machines you’ll notice a significant difference in the speed at which it captures and records motion on your screen.
Vista and Windows 7 users will see upwards of a 40-50% improvement in capture frame rate.
If you are recording videos playing in your browser, Flash animations, full screen motion, stuff like that…this is a big enhancement!
Worth the Upgrade?
The pricing for Camtasia Studio 7 is the same as previous versions and the upgrade bill is still $149.
When you look at the performance improvement, new features and gadgets I think an upgrade is a reasonable consideration.
I think most users will have to weigh in the factor of a bit of a learning curve since there is a new interface (I’m still getting used to how you “select” with the new Timleline Playhead…) and my feeling is that…
As with Camtasia 6 when it first came out…lots of users will take a wait-and-see stance.
You can download the 30-day free trial and check it out for yourself:
This is a fully functioning trial. You can install it and run version 7 right along with any previous versions you have installed…it doesn’t write over your current installations.
Camtasia 7 has some new callout styles and, even cooler, something called sketch motion callouts. These are “animated” callouts you can drop in that will “draw” themselves into the video. Nice…
Camtasia 7 Cursor Effects
In Camtasia version 7 you will be able to help your viewer follow along better by editing the mouse pointer to enlarge it, creating a spotlight, and visual “clicks”.
“But Lon…we could do that in Camtasia 6!”
Ya…but not on the fly during the editing process! Ya.
Plus…there are new and much cooler effects (a spotlight and better looking “click” highlights) and a Cursor Track added to the timeline for more control over the effects.
The next version of Camtasia Studio from Techsmith is on it’s way and will be available very SOON. This new version is considered a major upgrade and we’re excited to see everything it has to offer!
Check out a couple of teaser videos from Techsmith on the new release of their flagship product Camtasia Studio.
Will it really make screencasting as easy as a “piece of cake”?
We’ll see!
And here’s an interview with the new Product Manager, Shane Lovellete done by Technical Evangelist Betsy Weber:
Shane says:
We’ve got some great new stuff but we’re also addressing a lot of the smaller issues that have been problems for awhile that we want to help make it easier for people to use…
It’s kinda what I do and how I come up with new tips & tricks and continue to expand my Camtasia video skills. I also find that watching what’s going on is essential due to the fact that “what works” and what people want changes SO fast.
In my almost 10 years of studying the evolution of marketing on the internet, I’ve found that most people don’t “get it” …but a handful of people do. And those are the people I study the most.
Why do some marketers struggle to get any kind of significant results and a select few absolutely CRUSHeverything they touch?
Well…study them to find out!
Frank Kern is one of those folks I mentioned. If you’ve never followed a Kern launch, I suggest you do so because there simply is none better. I posted about the first step of list generation with a viral video tactic he used recently.
The actual launch phase is now in full swing and you can follow along by getting into the flow and watch the video sequence HERE:
Let me be clear about some things once again:
Yes, that’s an affiliate link. I guess it would be stupid not to use it.
I am NOT recommending the product. I have not seen it or used it.
It’s gonna be expensive and not for everyone.
I’m not even taking the time to put together a bonus like most of the 10 gazillion emails you’ll see for this.
In fact, if I were you and was interesting in buying? I’d probably find someone with a huge bonus and buy it from them…
I don’t care if you are interested in it or not and I’m not trying to get you interested in buying it…but I suggest that you study the process.
Hidden in the outstanding free content and strategies Frank gives away in these videos are the actual elements that make this launch flow so effective.
Can you spot them? Leave a comment and let me know what you find and what you think! I’ve listed some of my favorites so far below.
Please, let’s NOT get into any kind of ethical debate over semantics or specific tactics. I get that some folks don’t like anything that has to do with “sales” or persuasion. I concede that Frank is a master at ninja NLP mind tricks…so be it.
I’m focusing on some core concepts:
The “story”, imagery, and sound MAKE this video series compelling. As video marketers, we can rock like this too.
Selling sucks and is hard! Instead, I want to draw people towards me and not simply push stuff .
But I’m getting REALLY tired of lazy ass marketers…
And, as Frank puts it:
1. Be SURE you know what they want (and that you can actually help them get it).
2. Demonstrate you can give it to them by helping them right from the start.
3. Make an offer that’s obviously a no-brainer for them …and do so kindly – with their best interests in mind.
4. Give them a reason to take action now.
The philosophy that we are “paid in direct proportion to the value we provide to the marketplace” is one that I completely subscribe to and I hope that most of my members and subscribers would think that I follow.
And Andy Jenkins recent launch of the Video Boss coaching program was another perfect example of a well executed pre-launch flow using basically the same video flow as the main sales tool.
I recommend this excellent post by Andy as a great example of the strategic thinking behind these two launches:
I absolutely love the thinking and systems behind these launch examples and can’t wait to put together a sequence of extreme value and relationship building content for my next big launch.
Well, it’s time to gird your loins for the newest round of super guru promotin’!
Of course, one of the super-duperest gurus of all is Frank Kern. If you are on any lists you’ll certainly see emails for a new latest-greatest thingy from him called the 4 Day Cash Machine or something…
Anyway, I’ve got some thoughts on the process he’s using with video for his list building and launch that I think are worth noting.
Let me be very clear here: I do NOT know what this is all about, I don’t own it, I’m not recommending it one way or the other.
But as a fan of Frank’s methods in the past, I will tell you what I DO like:
I am lovin’ the use of video and the viral promo tactic they are using.
1. The first step in the process lands you on a video squeeze page that has Frank giving away a presentation called Core Influence of really good quality in exchange, of course, for creating an account which puts you in the launch sequence. Standard stuff…
2. What happens next is pretty cool. Immediately after signing up, you are put on a page with an affiliate link for you and a video that explains that: "If you send out that link and get x number of referrals, you can get an extra video called Core Influence 2. This is an automatic built-in reward incentive. Awesome idea!
If you’re a student of excellent ideas like me, you can follow the flow also by clicking my affiliate link (of course!) here:
Seriously, you are going to see all kinds of the standard hype emails of how somebody made $37,394.42 in blah blah days or got a 57% blah blah conversion rate…geez, I’m sick of all that crap!
My take? Don’t worry about the junk…follow and study the process. It’s brilliant!
I really don’t even know what the actual product will be here. Don’t care. Not recommending it. I’m only using my affiliate link here so I can see the cool little reward that’s part of the process. I suggest you do the same thing if it’s applicable for your friends or lists.
The Core Influence videos are excellent content and worth the watch.
After the 2010 Google Super Bowl ad I was inspired to try my hand at making one of these very cool screencast videos. In case you missed the blog post about it, here is the Google ad that aired and my first attempt to do one:
Check it out and leave a comment and/or Tweet it if you like!
Lot’s of folks want to know how I did that so I made a tutorial covering the details. Here ya go:
PRESS PLAY
I talk about a couple of main concepts used in this video that are applicable in a wide variety of screencast work:
1. Recording in “Scenes” - Have you ever gotten frustrated with trying to record a video because you messed up at some point or gotten out of sync? Maybe you’re just trying to do too many things at once!
2. Recording for Clarity – A couple of useful tips for getting crystal clear captures.
3. “Speed Typing” Effect – 3 ways you can get the nice fast typing effect.
4. The Power of Music – Music = Emotion and can change the entire “feel” of your video and the emotion of your message.
Doing standard searches can be effective when telling your story but don’t forget to think “outside the box”. Here are some links to interesting things you can use that you might not know about:
July 28, 2010 
I’d like to thank Lon for having me as a guest blogger on his site. My name is D’vorah Lansky and I am known as the “Relationship Marketing Wizard”. I’m a huge fan of and very involved in blogging and in designing WordPress blogs. I’ve been a student of Lon’s for some time now and we had the opportunity of meeting one another in person at Bob Jenkins’ Internet Marketing event in North Carolina this past spring. Lon will also be blogging on my site the same week that I am here. (www.RelationshipMarketingCafe.com).
Adding video to your WordPress blog will add another dimension to your content, keep people on your site longer and have them coming back often to see what new videos you’ve created. Video blogging is quite simple and there are many things that you can video blog about. You can take your written blog posts, create a PowerPoint presentation with key points listed as bullet points, and read your article aloud. Alternatively, you can have just a topic title or sentence or two at the beginning of your blog post and add a video on that topic. Being that Lon is the world renowned expert in screen capture video, you can view his work to get an unlimited number of ideas.
blog is very easy in WordPress. There are several different options for where to host your video. One of the most popular is to create your video, then upload it to YouTube. Once your video processes you will be able to copy the embed code to your blog in order to make the video play on the selected spot on your site. When you are in the post-editing mode on your WordPress blog, you’ll see that there is a place to put the code. Note that there is an HTML tab. Click on that tab and paste the video code into the HTML section and publish your post. When you do that you will have a video on your site. 
An alternative method involves setting up an account at Amazon S3 (http://aws.amazon.com). They do charge you for the bandwidth but it is ridiculously affordable. This way you keep your viewers on your site and prevent them from clicking off to YouTube. You will need to have a way to incorporate a video player with the AmazonS3 code. The premier Amazon S3 video player is called Easy Video Player. I found out about this player from Lon and absolutely love it.
Posted in Video Blogging 
No Comments » 
Thumbs Up
how to buy clomid online width=”445″ height=”378″ />
The rumors are true!
content rss