Start Your Online Avalanche. Now.

This is Part 2 of a 3-part blog series about video on the web.  In Part 1, I discussed the ins and outs of screencasting.  In this installment, I’m going to tell you how to get your videos out onto the web, attracting eyeballs in a number of communities, and ultimately driving traffic back to your own sites.

Web Video Distribution

This part can be a point of major hesitation to people for a lot of reasons:

• Where do i host my videos?
• How do i embed my videos on my site?
• How big is too big?
• What freaking format do i even use?

Like most things, the short answer is “It depends.”  Big surprise, huh?  But seriously, you have a lot of options here, and some may make you more comfortable than others.

The fact of the matter is that this part is strongly tied to how you market your videos (remember how important that is?), so we’ve got a firm Snowcap Labs recommendation to make in the end.  But for completeness, i want to cover all of your options so you can make the best decision for you.

Hosting Your Own Video

This is probably the mechanism most people expect to do by default.  The basic process is simple, you just upload your movie file to your server and embed a Flash movie player that points to it.  The basics of file upload are beyond the scope of this article, but here are a few Flash video players that you can use to your heart’s content without paying a dime:

• FlowPlayer
• MCMediaPlayer
• JW FLV Media Player

You will need to make sure that you are exporting your video files into a format that your chosen Flash player is capable of opening.  Unfortunately, it looks like FlowPlayer is the prettiest, but the most prohibitive in terms of formats, while the JW player is ugly with the most functionality.  There are definitely more options out there, Google remains your friend.

Now, if you’re planning on getting a lot of traffic to your videos, I’d like to take a moment to suggest you not host it on your own box, but rather to host it on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3).  This is basically a simple way to leverage the immense infrastructure built by Amazon to host their web scale retail store for your own needs.  The upshot is that you won’t slow your server down to stream video, it will never go down due to high traffic, and it’s very competitively priced (15 cents per gigabyte, transfer.)  Again, this is beyond the scope of this article, but there’s an excellent write-up on using Amazon S3 here, and it works as simply as the FTP method once it’s set up.

Using Web Services to Host Your Video

Another option for hosting your video is simply to not do it yourself at all, and let someone else handle the load.  The sheer number of video sites that let you use their bandwidth to do what you want with your video is astonishing, and they work the same way as the Amazon S3 option, only they’re easier and free.  You simply create an account with them, upload your video, then copy the embed code over to your own site.

Here’s a list of some video sites that allow this:

• Youtube
• Google
• Blip
• Viddler
• Yahoo
• Vimeo
• Revver
• Veoh
• Photobucket

Video startups are so numerous that this service is effectively commoditized, so you have the freedom to pick on features.  For example, Vimeo allows HD content.  Revver shows ads over your videos and shares revenue with you.  Youtube has integrated viewer tracking/analytics into their offering.  So take some time and find the one you like.

But before you rush off and start this process (or rush to the comments and start flaming), there’s an important branding/ownership discussion to have here.  Many people get concerned when they imagine embedding someone else’s Flash player on their site, because it says “Youtube” (et al) all over it.

“Won’t My Brand Suffer Using Another Company’s Player?”

That is logical, and I’m glad you’re thinking like a marketer.  Your brand IS very important.  But it’s a fallacy to view external video sites as an attack on your brand.  In fact, they are a boon. You see, hosting your videos on other sites means you get free exposure to an entirely different community from your own, and some of these communities are absolutely massive (Google alone controls almost 40% of online video views!)

As for that ugly logo that has someone else’s site’s name on it, don’t worry about it too much.  At this point, web video viewers are essentially “ad-blind” to that kind of thing.  As long as the “Play” button is large and beckons action, it really doesn’t matter who provides it for you.  Pick the service you ultimately embed based on the features you want, and the user experience that best suits your site.  Many players are actually really unobtrusive with their logos!

Your exposure in these external communities is critical to getting the word out about your video initiative.  So it really is all about the marketing, but it works in a counter-intuitive way.  Here at the Lab, we rush to syndicate our videos to as many services as we can, often trying new ones as soon as they enter the scene.  As a result, we’ve learned a few things about how to maximize the usefulness of these sites.

Video Publishing Best Practices

Now that I’ve convinced you to utilize other sites, there’s a next step.  This is where you turn it all around and actually embed YOUR branding on THEIR sites!  Here are some our tried and true techniques for driving home your brand when putting video on other sites/communities:

• mention your site in the video, and give your viewers a call-to-action of some sort
• always embed your URL directly in the video (so your branding appears on their site!)
• always fill out descriptions, and include a link back to your site as close to the top as you can
• tag your videos (appropriately) to increase search exposure on the target site
• rate your videos (or get your friends to do it for you) to help your relevance

Your logic senses are probably going crazy again at this point.  After all, if you are trying to get exposure in external communities now, wouldn’t you want to post every video to every video service you possibly can?  Yes! Absolutely!

“But isn’t that a lot of work?  Video isn’t even my core competency!  Do i really have time for this?”

We hear you loud and clear.  And luckily some smart folks on the web are listening your needs…

Total Web Syndication for Your Video

This next technique is an absolute coup, and it’s our firm Snowcap recommendation for your video hosting and distribution needs.  Utilizing this next set of services can totally transform you from a lonely video geek with no real traffic into a web celebrity with fans on every social video site and loads of traffic to your own site daily.

The problems with syndicating your videos to every video site under the sun are various and sundry:

• it’s a lot of work uploading, describing, tagging, etc to each site
• it’s hard to track your stats, comments, ratings, etc on each site
• every new video site exacerbates the problem

This is where some new syndication sites step in.  These sites have distribution platforms that allow you to upload your video once, set a description and tags, and then automatically syndicate it to lots of sites at once, with all of the pertinent details in place.  The only trick is that you have to have accounts with all of the destination sites, and you have to configure these services for each one up front.  Once they’re set up, however, you’re ready for one-step syndication to dozens of video sites.

The distribution sites we’re experimenting with are:

• TubeMogul
• Hey!Spread
• Blip (also a video host)

It’s important to go ahead and sign up for all three right now, as they syndicate to different sets of sites (with some overlap, of course.)  They also each have different features going for them.  TubeMogul has an awesome tracking and reporting interface, for example, and Blip claims to even have an in with television for some set-top boxes.

Yes, it’s going to take some work getting set up on the dozens of target services, and then getting set up on these syndication services.  But my advice to you is to embrace the struggle.  You should take the time to craft profiles on each site that really reflect the spirit of your video project.  If you’re organized about it, it may go faster than you think as you can use the same descriptions, avatar images, tags, etc for each site.  You’ll probably also want some standard username and password across them all for simplicity’s sake (or a password heuristic, if you’re the uber-security type.)

What’s Next?

That’s it for Part 2.  In the next installment of this blog series, I’ll be discussing live video and all of the possible ways you can leverage it to turn your fans into fanatics who multiply for you again and again.

What are your favorite video hosting services?  What features are your favorite?  Do you have experience cross-posting video to lots of services?  Horror stories?  Leave me some comments!

(Part 2 is here.)

At the current rate, there are 10 hours of video uploaded to Youtube every minute. “Who has time to watch all that video?”, you ask incredulously. And you’re right:  this trend represents an abysmal signal-to-noise ratio.  But as a savvy web professional, you also know that this should inspire you to action, not inaction. Not only should you be participating in the new video landscape, but you should also be avidly marketing your content!

The time for web video is now, and this goes for most any person or business with web properties and a message to spread (I’ll assume that includes you, humble reader, or else you wouldn’t be reading this, right?)  But many people still see video and have a knee-jerk reaction of “Oh, that’s not for me,” or “Video just doesn’t make sense for what I do!”  But I beg to differ!

In Part 1 of this 3-part blog series, I’m going to talk about screencasting:  what it is, how easy it is, and how you can use it for your business.  In Part 2 and 3 I will be discussing web video distribution, and live video on the web, respectively.

The Art of Screencasting

Ok, maybe that’s a little bit melodramatic.  Screencasting is really just the practice of recording your actions and voice while you use a computer. It is a means of demonstrating software in order to easily share information so other people can enjoy it and learn from it later.  Let’s start with an example.  This video was recorded and post-produced in under 10 minutes by my 2 partners, Charles Lumpkin and Josh West:

The web marketing particulars he discusses here aren’t important, but the notice the cool effects we’ve utilized.  You get a nice view of Charles’ face to start off, and then the content takes center screen.  This is just one example of using a screencast for training/education purposes, but the applications are virtually endless.

Here are some other examples:

• efficiently sharing knowledge between your gurus and your staff
• inexpensively training your staff in new software
• profitably training someone else’s staff in new software
• explaining features of your site or software to your users in a simple way
• getting the attention of would-be customers in a compelling way
• etc…

What it all comes down to is the cost of communication.  If you are paying your guru $100,000 a year, you really can’t afford to have her spending 60% of her time training every new hire.  Instead, have her do the training once, with a screencast, and let her get back to being productive.

If you add a new feature to your web site, but you can’t explain it without an 8 paragraph essay, you will have considerable drop-off in adoption.  However, if all your user has to do is click a “Play” button and enjoy a pleasurable video demonstration, you may have the highest adoption rates you’ve ever seen.

Screencasting Software

So that’s the cost of communication, but what about the cost of production?  Is screencasting going to break the bank and waste hours of the company’s time for 5 minutes of video?  Absolutely not.

If you’re going to get started creating your own screencasts, you’re going to need software.  For Windows, there’s Camtasia, which comes in at $300.  Not too bad a price, and it seems like everyone in the world uses it, so there’s no shortage of (you guessed it) videos explaining how to do various things with it.

My favorite screencasting software is called Screenflow for Mac OSX (Leopard only.)  What I like about Screenflow is its extreme ease of use, its facial branding, and its price-tag of $100.  This software is seriously slick, with an amazing interface for both recording and post-production.  You can literally just sit down and start using it, and in almost no time have something worth publishing.  It also records your face while you demonstrate, making it really easy to create a brand for yourself, if that fits your situation.  It’s also really fun!

Screencasting Hardware

Now, if you don’t already have a webcam, I don’t suggest you break the bank to get one.  You don’t need one at all if you don’t plan to show your face, but it can really help make things more personal if that suits your situation.  A typical $25-$50 webcam is all you really need, and truthfully, all of the extra bells and whistles that typically drive the price up just get in the way and cause compatibility issues. A built-in laptop camera is actually ideal!

Lastly, you’re going to need a suitable microphone to do your voiceovers (no internal laptop microphones allowed!)  You will at least need something external, even if you keep it cheap.  Here at the Lab, we use the excellent Blue Snowball, a USB microphone which you can purchase at your local music shop for ~$100.  This microphone is amazing, suitable for a number of uses ranging from podcasting/screencasting, to musical instrument recording, to live recording in a public or group setting.

“Okay, I’m Making Video, Now What Do I Do With It?”

Now that you’re cranking out stunning videos with aplomb, it’s time to get some exposure with them!  In Part 2 of this series, I discuss the ins and outs of getting your video hosted, embedded, and happily playing along with the rest of the web.

All of the oh-so-important marketing happens when actually putting your video on the web, and I’ve got a couple of tricks up my sleeve that will blow your mind as they give you the reach and audience that was previously reserved for major players with major bankrolls!

What kind of projects are you considering for a screencast?  Are you stuck in the process somewhere?  Leave some comments and let’s get this discussion started!

Hey Folks. Loren is giving a talk on screencasts, live video, and video distibution channels tonight at the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs. It starts at 7pm EST. You can check out the live feed here:

http://www.snowcaplabs.com/live/

If you are around you should check it out!

Earlier tonight I was watching Hulu.com (which is really great place to burn a few hours and watch some TV online). I noticed an interesting video advertising concept. TRESemme was running a series of ads throughout the videos. Before the video began there was a screen asking you to “Choose the style you prefer:”

I think this is really cool. Here they are actually involving you interactively in the advertisement. When you choose one style over another it gives you tips specific to that hair style. Now that’s an interesting concept delivered over time. If you did this with more fine-grained segmentations you might actually be able to create ads for direct response advertising. I give TRESemme kudos for coming up with a cool concept.

BUT they did miss the market big-time. Why in the world would you show a hair care ads deliberately created for women to a man watching “Weird Science”? It’s about as far off the mark as you can get, but the concept still stands.

What questions would you like to ask your audience?

Recently Yahoo and Google announced a new partnership. Here’s the skinny. Yahoo will serve up Google’s ads on about 80% of their search volume. This move will add about a billion dollars annually to Yahoo in the short term, but in the long term they are going to effectively kill off their search business. This deal really concerns me for several reasons:

1. Google is becoming a monopoly. Google already has about 65% of the search engine volume. A combination with Yahoo will give them over 90% of the search volume. I’m always a fan of competition over monopolies. This will effectively consolidate Google’s power and dominance. I’ve already mentioned how Google is raking the little guy over the coals. This will only make it worse.
2. Your costs on Yahoo are going to increase. Guaranteed. Average prices on Yahoo are about a third of what Google’s paid search algorithm is able to achieve. This is where all Yahoo’s new-found cash will be coming from. Straight from your pocket.
3. There will be less innovation. Yahoo is not known for their innovation in search. But Microsoft is actually innovating. Take their adlab or their excel plug-in for examples of the next generation of tools for advertisers. I believe that a combination with Microsoft would have combined Yahoo’s volume with Microsoft’s innovation. But with this deal there will be no reason to even run a separate Yahoo account. This means no improvements or innovations on their own platform. (Not that they understand how to improve their platform anyway)

Let’s hope that the Department of Justice puts this one to bed before they can execute it or that Microsoft and Carl Icahn go hostile. This deal completely seals Google’s dominance and your dependence on their traffic. Anyone interested in forming a consortium of concerned advertisers?