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The Flip UltraHD – A Must Have For Web Video Marketing
I just returned from DV Expo in Pasadena and I have a lot to report! Whew! First off, the night before the expo opened I bought a Flip Video UltraHD pocket camcorder at the Pasadena Best Buy so that I would have a small camera to make quick videos on the fly, ready to upload. Sometimes I just don’t want to lug around a camcorder and this thing is about the size of a pack of playing cards.
I honestly didn’t expect that great quality from it but boy, was I wrong. The images are pretty amazing considering this thing only costs $200. If you are wanting to promote your business through video, (and you should!) you should all have one of these handy all of the time. I cannot count how many times I’ve missed a good taping opportunity because I didn’t want to be bothered with carrying a camera with me. Now there is no excuse. I’ll be writing more about this cool new toy soon. Here is a sample I shot from Pasadena.
Two Powerful Types of Video You Should Have on Your Website
You know you need to add video but you don’t know what type would be beneficial in promoting your business. Here are three great ideas to get you started thinking along these lines:
Testimonial videos
Testimonials from happy customers on your site is very important. When you use video, it is many times more likely that the person will purchase the service or product. And the more unpolished the better since it is more believable to the viewer. Of course, you need to use a real, satisfied customer for this. Here is one we did for 10MinutesToPainFree.com.
Adele Stern, Central Coast, CA
Producing your own video can be done at many levels. From using your webcam or cell phone to using professional equipment in a studio, there are all types of video out there on social media sites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Vitter to name only a few.
Company Spokesperson Video
Use a great company spokesperson for this type of video to get a message out about the product or service. This can involve on camera talent or you can do it yourself. In addition to talking about the product or service, consider giving some great advice pertinent to your industry. Make the viewer want to bookmark your site as the place to go to for great information and subsequently to buy from or do business with. There are several internet marketers out there now who give tips and pointers while they stand in front of whiteboards. Minimal editing is involved. They post these out on YouTube and drive the traffic back to their sites. They are finding it extremely effective in making a name for themselves.
These are just two types of video you should be putting on your website. This is just a start as there are many more powerful types of video you can be doing to promote your business and brand yourself.
We Are Sold On Amazon S3 and eZs3 For Hosting Videos
Putting video on your site is as easy as can be with eZs3.
Last year we would groan every time we had to upload a video. Consequently we didn’t load too many because it was a pain…and we consider ourselves pretty web savvy. Plus we were concerned about all the bandwidth our videos were using.
Then we discovered Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) which is an online service provided by Amazon.com, that allows web designers to store large amounts of data online.
S3 is free to join, and is a pay-as-you-go service, meaning you only ever pay for any of the hosting and bandwidth costs that you use, making it very attractive for small companies such as ours. We just received our bill for last month. It was a whopping 81 cents.
The nice thing is there is no limit to the amount of storage and bandwidth you can use on your Amazon S3 account, meaning it is a fully scalable to your needs.
Amazon has also built the S3 service to be very reliable, and guarantees server uptime of 99.99%. This claim is backed up by a service level agreement, whereby the user is entitled to a service credit if the service ever drops below this guarantee.
But there was still the problem of getting the media files onto our website.
Enter eZs3!
eZs3 is a service which allows you to fully manage your own S3 account, including uploading and downloading files and folders, and creating players and wrappers that you can easily use to embed media files on your website.
It is truly what its name implies – EASY! And although it is not free, at $20 a month it is so worth it in time savings alone.
What we like about it:
There is a simple uploader applet which allows you to navigate through folders on both your local PC, and your hosting account at Amazon S3, and use drag-and-drop to simply transfer files between the two.
Since S3 allows you to create up to 100 individual folders within your account to help organise your files. eZs3 makes it easy to create these folders, including choosing the location.
When you’ve finished using a file or folder on your S3 account, and are sure that you will no longer need it, eZs3 makes it a straightforward process to delete, so you no longer have to pay for hosting you do not need.
S3 combines inexpensive storage with full access control for the files and folders stored on your account. eZs3 allows you to easily modify these access policies giving you complete control over who can view your content.
eZs3 allows you to create players and wrappers for you media files, and easily embed them in your website using a simple javascript command. eZs3 currenty supports Flash FLV Videos, Mp3 Audios, Windows Media Videos, Quicktime Movies, Adobe PDF Documents, and Camtasia Studio Productions.
eZs3 tracks how many times your video has been viewed, on any website it has been embedded on. This allows you to track the popularity of your videos and make changes to your online marketing strategy to suit.
It also allows you to quickly identify whenever someone else has embedded your content on their site, so you can ask them to stop, or open up a whole new business channel.
Did we also mention how easy it makes the process of uploading your videos?
We are sold on Amazon S3 and eZs3.
Tutorials
Interested in doing an Infomercial type video on your site?
The The Internet Infomercial Toolkit v.2.0 available at www.InfomercialToolkit.com program takes you through:
- How to produce online video that sells using the secret formula that has created hundreds of TV millionaires.
- Plus, how to produce viral videos, customer testimonial videos, screen capture videos.
- Even how to produce online commercials without a camera.
KickStartMedia.com provides distinctive services and products for marketers that capitalize on Internet video, social networking, podcasting and other transformational online technologies.
Hosting Your Online Video
If you already have a website you may not need go further. If you have a fairly robust server and you are not trying to place a lot of video on your site or don’t expect a flood of traffic watching your video, then you can probably go ahead and place the video file on the server. Server capacity has improved markedly in the last few year. We host many of our videos on our own server.
However, if you get hit with a lot of visitors simultaneously downloading a video file, it may cause your server to crash or at minimum, hiccup as it dishes out the file. Even dedicated video servers suffer from hiccups from time to time.
You can place you video on servers designed specifically for the demands of pumping out high bandwidth video all day long. Prices can range from $20 up to several hundred dollars a month, depending on the bandwidth you use. Bandwidth is basically the number of bits you are sending through the server.
We have been using a relatively new service offered by Amazon Web Services canned S3 (Simple Storage Service). You can store your files on S3 and serve them anywhere in the world. Using an additional Amazon service called Cloud Front, your files are stored in multiple locations around the globe to ensure fast, uninterrupted service anywhere. The cost of using S3 is solely based on the number of users and amount of data served out. There is not monthly minimum and the rates are very reasonable.
For many people on small budgets, S3 is a great option. There are programs available to upload your programs to S3 and place a Flash “Player” around the video. This makes getting your video online and ready to play a straightforward task. We have had excellent results using eZs3 for this purpose and highly recommend them.
For encoding your files into Flash on a Mac we recommend DV Kitchen. This program does a quick job of encoding files into FLV format. You can even set the program up to encode and immediately upload the file to your website. You can then select a player skin from a large choice of styles and get the code to place on your website. We use it and love it. Piece of cake.
If all of this sounds like gibberish to you, don’t panic. It is easier to do than to describe. If you need help, we can assist you in encoding, uploading, setting up an S3 account and getting the code to place your video online. Take a breath… you’re getting closer and closer to getting your video online.
Lights, Camera, Action!
BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING
So let’s say you want to tape someone or something to put on your website. Where to start? Oddly, even the word “tape” is becoming outdated, as many of the least expensive video cameras today don’t use tape anymore. They record to solid state chips or hard drives inside the camera body.
CHEAP, SIMPLE & GOOD
Flip Video produces the hottest items in the camcorder market, the Flip Ultra and Flip UltraHD. These sleek camcorders look no different than digital cameras and are small enough to easily fit in a pocket, purse or backpack. These nifty devices save the video to an internal chip so there are no moving parts, nothing to change, and unlike camcorders that use compact flash cards, nothing to lose. Both models offer a full two hours of recording capacity, a bright two-inch transflective screen for no-glare viewing even in direct sunlight, and an innovative AA rechargeable battery pack that can be conveniently recharged through the camera’s built-in USB arm. The Flip Ultra is priced at just $149.99, while the Flip UltraHD sells for $199.99.
These cameras could not be easier to use. Just point and shoot. Flip Video camcorders are the world’s first with on-board software to enable editing, organizing, and seamless video uploading to websites. Even the built in microphone does an impressive job for for what it is. When you’re ready to upload to your computer, simply flip (hence, the name) out the USB connector and using the provided software, transfer the video clips as simply as transferring a file. Then upload to a website or import into your favorite editing program and away you go. Folks, it just doesn’t get any easier than this.
MOVING ON UP
OK, the Flip Video cameras are not for everyone. For those wanting higher quality and more options, you will want to move up to either a consumer or prosumer camcorder. The camcorders today offer amazing value. For around $300 and up you can get a quality camera that will either record to DV tape, a memory chip or internal hard drive, will have options for adding a more professional microphone, and some even have a built-in light for working in dark spaces.
There are scores of cameras available in this range. If you stick to Sony, Canon, Panasonic, JVC, Sanyo and other well-known names, you can’t go wrong. B&H is one of our favorite sources for equipment. World renowned, B&H, is the place to be for all your video and pro audio needs. Their commitment to sales quality and customer satisfaction is second to none.
SOUND IS HALF THE PICTURE
You’ve probably noticed that “tinny” sound most home movies have, and the way the background sounds overwhelm the main subject. That happens when you rely solely on the built-in microphone. It isn’t picky about what it hears, and the louder the source, whatever that is, the more it will be the main thing you hear. Plus your hands handling the camera, or if you are outside, the wind can create a lot of noise.
For professional sound you will want to add external microphones. Lavalier mics (wired or wireless) are placed on the “talent” and give a sense of presence. They will make a 200% improvement in the sound of the person speaking over a built-in mic. You can buy a simple lavalier mic at Radio Shack for $26.49 online. I use a lot of $300 lavaliers and this mic isn’t bad at all compared to them. It isn’t as good, but at that price it is a great value. If you do want a more professional lavalier, the Sony ECM 44-B is an industry standard and can be had for $220 at B&H Photo Video and other places. These mics sound great and will last a lifetime if treated with respect.
Shotgun mics can be used on the camera, on a boom pole or a mic stand. Contrary to what many people think, a shotgun mic does not amplify or reach out to get the sound in front of it. It works by ignoring the sounds to the side and behind it, to varying degrees depending on the design. These work great when you need to isolate a speaker or actor but cannot practically use a lavalier mic. You can spend thousands of dollars on a top end pro model, but good quality can be had in the $200 – $500 range. B&H Photo Video sells our favorite shotgun mics from Sennheiser and Audio Technica for under $300.
LIGHT IT
All video cameras love light. Most cameras today will operate fine in darker situations, such as an indoor room without a lot of windows, but you will improve the shot immensely if you add light to fill in shadows, add a sparkle to a person’s eyes, and bring out the colors of a scene.
Like microphones, lights can be cheap or very expensive, and unless you plan to shoot professionally there is no reason to spend a lot on lights. Simple worklights from Home Depot will work in many situations. A person at a desk could be lit with a desk lamp pointed at them. You can get ornate with lighting diagrams (that’s the cool patterns the light throws on the wall behind the subject), but the point is to light the subject so as to fill in shadows (or create them, for mood effects) and to give the camera enough light that it doesn’t push the gain up and cause graininess in the image.
One of the challenges of lighting is that what your eye sees is not at all what the camera sees. Your brain evens the “color temperature” of light out, but the camera cannot do that. When you adjust it for tungsten light, the kind that you get from stage lights or a traditional light bulb, it will see daylight as blue. If adjusted for daylight, it would see tungsten as deep orange. So you may have to add colored gels to the lights to balance everything out.
To keep things simple, when shooting indoors with tungsten as the main light source, try to eliminate daylight unless you want the blue effect (this can be quite nice, when done artistically).
I have given a very quick overview of what you will want to consider at all levels of shooting. If all of this seems overwhelming and high production values are your goal, you may want to call a professional.
