Web Video Secrets Podcast - WebVideoUniversity.com

iPad's are used for a lot of things they were never intended for.  Especially with photography and video.  They can be used as teleprompters, clapperboards and even control cameras.  But most people don't realize that iPad's can be used as video or photo lights too. As a matter of fact, they can function as surprisingly good lights.  Of course they can't light an entire room...but they are good for lighting objects or someone's face.  And it's best to make sure the room is dark when using an iPad as a video or photo light. How do you use an iPad as a video or photo light?  You need to download an app.  These apps do their best to mimic  classic softbox lighting.  They also allow you to change the light color and size, as well as providing multiple styles of light. You can simply search for "softbox" in the app store to find apps that will turn your iPad into a video or photo light, or below are links to two of the most popular (and probably best) apps: Photo Soft Box Pro HD Softbox Pro for iPad      

Website analytic services, like Google Analytics, can tell you what pages people are visiting on your site.  But if you want to know what people are actually doing on those pages, you'll need to use heat maps. Heat maps show you, both graphically and statistically, what people are clicking on while they are on a web page.  This can be very helpful in designing and laying out your pages.  But a major hidden benefit is that heat maps allow you to see things your visitors are doing that you never would have guessed in a million years.  And it's these things, once discovered, that can have a major impact on the success of your site. Google Analytics does offer heat maps, kind of, through their "In-Page" offering.  Problem is, In-Page is in beta.  And it's not really a heat map.  And it doesn't really work that well (including sometimes not at all). For the past several weeks I've been testing a Wordpress plugin that does heat maps.  You just install it and activate like any other Wordpress plugin.  And just like that, you have heat maps for every post and page on your Wordpress powered site. In fact, I like this plugin so much that I'm now recommending it others as well.  It's not free, but it's not expensive either.  And in my opinion,  it's well worth the money.  Below is a link to the Wordpress heat map plugin I recommend (and yes, it is an affiliate link):   Click Here For More Info On The Wordpress Heat Map Plugin I Recommend    

Vimeo has long been synonymous with outstanding video quality.  The videos on their site look great.  But they never allowed users to upload any type of commercial content.  All of that changed in August when they introduced Vimeo Pro, which offers the same outstanding video quality that Vimeo is famous for, but for businesses. Since Vimeo Pro is designed specifically for businesses, it's not free.  The cost is $199 per year.  For that you get 50GB's of video storage and they'll stream your videos 250,000 times.  That's more than enough storage and delivery for the average business owner.  And at least for now, they charge nothing extra for bandwidth. That comes out to around $16.58 per month...which can be a lot cheaper than even hosting your videos on Amazon S3.  And keep in mind that Amazon is just giving you storage and delivery, not an entire platform like Vimeo Pro. About the only drawback with Vimeo Pro is their terms of service.  Not that there is anything wrong with their terms of service, it's just that terms of service can be changed whenever a company wants to.  Which means for example, Vimeo could decide (out of need) to start charging extra for bandwidth.  In other words, it's a great deal now, but there's no guarantee it will stay that way. Some people might also wonder why I would review or even recommend Vimeo Pro, when I have my own product which might be considered a competitor (Video Rebel).  The answer is simple.  My job is to give everyone the straight facts on the options that are out there.  And then they can decide what's best for themselves.  No review of any product can be legitimate unless this is done. Here's the link to Vimeo Pro where you can get more info: VimeoPro.com

If you create enough videos and have them online long enough, chances are that sooner or later someone might "borrow" your videos and use them in ways you don't approve.  So what should you do if that happens? Well first, if you have uploaded your videos to YouTube and someone swiped them from YouTube, there's actually not much you can do.  That's because when uploading videos to YouTube you are consenting to their terms of service, which pretty much gives both YouTube and YouTube users a license to do with your videos whatever they want. But if that's not the case, what you'll need to do is submit a DMCA Takedown Notice to the offending website.  Video theft is common enough that most places where they turn up (like YouTube and file sharing sites) have dedicated DMCA Takedown Notice links on their sites...just search the offending sites for these links.  Or in the case of YouTube, you can go here. If the offending site has no such links, you'll need to submit your DMCA Takedown Notice to the website owner either via email or even regular mail.  Of course to do that, you'll need either a valid email or mailing address. If the website doesn't list those items you can usually find them through a WHOIS lookup...here's a good WHOIS lookup site.  Keep in mind that sometimes people do private registration with their domains so their email and mailing address won't show up.  In those cases, you can send the takedown notice to their web hosting provider or domain registrar. What exactly should your DMCA Takedown Notice contain?  Nothing fancy.  Just the basics you'd expect...who you are, proof you own the copyrighted content, the URL's where the offending videos appear, your contact information and a declaration that everything you're saying is true. You can Google "DMCA takedown notice example" to find plenty of samples, or below is a sample DMCA Takedown Notice you can use: Hi, I'm the owner of copyrighted videos that someone has made available through WEBSITE NAME.  I am contacting you to request they be removed from WEBSITE NAME. My name is YOUR NAME, the owner of YOUR DOMAIN.  The videos on YOUR DOMAIN are copyrighted by my company, YOUR COMPANY, and theses videos appear on your website without authorization.  The URL's where these videos appear are below: http://somedomain.com/somepage.html http://somedomain.com/somepage2.html http://somedomain.com/somepage3.html My contact information is: YOUR NAME BUSINESS NAME AND DOMAIN NAME ADDRESS CITY, STATE, ZIP, ETC. TELEPHONE EMAIL I state that the information I have provided is accurate.  Neither myself or my company has authorized any of our copyrighted videos to be made available through your web site and we request these links be removed immediately.

We're all familiar with placing orders online. You manually submit your payment information into a form or sometimes several. But a new service called Netswipe from a company called Jumio plans to change all of that. With Netswipe, customers can pay for things online using their webcam. Specifically, they just hold the credit card up to their webcam, enter their credit card security code and they're done...the order has been placed. It's free to sign-up and begin using Netswipe to accept payments on your website.  Integrating it into your website is as simple as filling in some fields and pasting some code on your web pages.  Jumio will keep 2.75% of each transaction as their fee for the service. How do you get the money Jumio processes for you?  They send you a check every 30 days.  They also keep 10% of your money in a rolling reserve for 180 days.  So if cash flow is critical to your bottom line, using Netswipe will stretch you a bit. That said, Jumio claims that Netswipe is not only more secure than the traditional methods of accepting online payments, but it also provides higher conversion rates (less shopping card abandonment). Want to try a live demo of Jumio Netswipe?  Just click here.  It's a demo site I setup so you can see everything in action (don't worry, you won't actually be charged anything). And if you want to learn more about Netswipe from Jumio, you can visit their website here.

Many people think that the video camera you use will determine your video's final quality on the web.  Actually, as I proved in this previous video, the camera you use doesn't impact video quality as much as you might think. Instead, the biggest "secret" in getting great looking, crystal-clear video on the web is how you prepare the video for the web.  In other words, it's the recipe you use in your web video preparation. There are lots of options out there for preparing videos for the web...ranging from Handbrake on the free side to Sorenson Squeeze on the expensive side.  And the quality these products produce can vary as much as their prices. Like many people, I was frustrated with the options out there.  So a while ago I created my own recipe or system, so to speak.  It's dead-simple to use, produces great video quality...and...makes it a snap to add videos to your website to boot. The best part? I'll be making it available to everyone soon.  Full details are on the way...so stay tuned.

Far and away, the most frequently asked questions I receive are about video cameras.  Either people want a recommendation for a camera or they've seen a video online (including mine) and they want to know what camera was used to shoot the video. There's a hidden little catch behind video cameras though, at least when it comes to producing videos for the web.  You see, all video cameras are good these days...even the cheap ones.  In fact, they are so good that the quality of video between a "cheap" camera and a "pro" camera is fairly subtle in most instances.  That means the average web video viewer (i.e. not video pros) won't be able to tell the difference between video shot on a $200 camera or a $2,000 camera. To prove this point, I created the video above using a camera I bought at Best Buy for $250...the Canon Vixia HF R100.  Most people will probably think the video quality looks pretty good. But here's the rub.  The secrets to making video look "pretty good", "great" or "outstanding" often happen after the video is already shot.  That means what you do in preparing that video for the web.  This is an area that I can tell you from experience baffles, frustrates and intimidates people.  It's also why many people don't achieve the video quality they are after. In the coming weeks I'll be sharing something that can erase these problems for people, both quickly and easily.  Stay tuned...  

We all spend too much time staring at our computer screens, especially for extended periods while editing video. Tired eyes, red eyes, burning eyes, headaches; sound familar?  There's actually a lighting technique that can help reduce or even prevent these things. It's called bias lighting.  Some high-end TV makers even incorporate it into their HDTV's. Bias lighting is basically a light placed behind your computer monitor, which acts as a backlight reflecting off the wall.  Done properly, it helps to increase your perception of contrast while also reducing eye fatigue.  That means you can see things better and your eyes don't get as tired. A quick, easy and inexpensive way to achieve bias lighting is through a kit from Antec called Soundscience Halo Bias Lighting.  It's a strip of LED lights that get attached to the back of your computer monitor.  And then it plugs into your computer via a USB cable.  Just like that you have instant bias lighting. The Halo Bias Lighting kit works on monitors up to 24 inches in size and it's best used with your monitor close to a light colored wall (while your room/office is fairly dim).  For the price, it's tough to beat.  The Antec Halo only costs $13 and can be found in most office supply stores. Or you can get it here. If you're thinking, "gee, why can't I just stick a lamp with one of those twisty CFL bulbs behind my computer screen and use that instead?", well you can.  But you're going to need to make sure you have room behind your monitor for that.  And CFL bulbs do get a little hot (LED's don't).  You're going to have to reach behind your computer screen to turn it on and off.  And you'll want to make sure the bulb you use has a color temperature of 6500 Kelvin, which is ideal for bias lighting. In other words, the Antec Halo just makes things a lot simpler for you.  And it's inexpensive to boot.

Cartoons can be a very effective and unique approach to web video, particularly for people who are camera shy. But how do you create a cartoon video if you can't even draw? You could go the "web route" with sites like Xtranormal or GoAnimate.  But if you want total control over your video creation (and don't want your cartoon videos to look like everyone else's) a tool at the top of your list should be CrazyTalk Animator. CrazyTalk is a desktop application (for Windows only) that allows you to quickly create cartoon videos without any experience required...while also giving more seasoned artists the ability to fine-tune a huge array of options.  And on top of that, you can take photos from your camera or any images on your computer and turn those into cartoon objects as well. Once you've got your cartoon ready, CrazyTalk allows you to export it as an AVI or WMV file for use in a video editing app...or...you can export it directly for the web. Something extra to note.  Creating great looking cartoons in CrazyTalk Animator is dead-simple.  But if you poke around their web site you'll see some amazing demo videos.  Don't expect to create videos like these with just a few clicks...it takes practice and experience before you can achieve results like those.  Got it?  OK. Here's a link where you can learn more about CrazyTalk Animator and even download a free trial copy if you'd like.

Recently a new plugin for Wordpress was released that allows you to easily create popups and opt-in forms for your site.  Nothing new there, there are lots of plugins that allow you to do that.  But this one is different, very different.  Here's why. First, it allows you to create a variety of popups.  From lightbox popups, to exit popups, to footer popups, to header popups, to in-post subscriptions, to widget subscriptions, to custom popups and more. Second, it allows you to display multiple popups on a single page.  For example, you can have a header popup, lightbox popup, in-post subscription form and sidebar subscription form all on the same page. And third, the plugin tracks all of your popup activity, allowing you to split test various popups head-to-head.  That means you don't have to ask people "hey, which style of popup should I use for my site?".  Or trust the claims of unsavory Internet marketers.  You can place a variety of different popup styles on your site and see for yourself which produces the best results.  No more debating.  Find out what works best yourself. On the downside, this plugin isn't necessarily intuitive to start using (i.e. it's a little confusing).  And it's not free. Below is a link where you can learn more and purchase this plugin.  And yes, that's my affiliate link.  But here's the rub.  If you decide to purchase this plugin through my affiliate link, I'm throwing in a little bonus.  It's a quick start video I created that shows you how to setup and start using the plugin, while hopefully getting you past the aforementioned  learning curve. Just send me your receipt number using this form and I'll send you a link to the bonus video.  Fair/simple enough?   Click Here To Learn More About or Purchase The WPSubscribers Plugin    

In the world of video, one camera has quietly become a very coveted piece of equipment.  It functions much like a normal video camera, but shoots gorgeous video like a DSLR camera.  And here's my full review of it. The camera is of course the Panasonic Lumix GH2.  And while it looks like a DSLR camera, it's actually a micro four thirds camera.  For the most part, that means as part of processing an image, it uses a solid state chip instead of moving glass.  The end result is photos that aren't quite as good as DSLR's, but video that is often just as good (notice I said often). The GH2 doesn't suffer from overheating problems common with it's DSLR counterparts.  You can shoot until the battery dies or the memory card is full without any worries (I shot for 45+ minutes straight the other day, in 80 degree weather, with zero problems). This is in large part because the GH2 shoots video in the AVCHD format, which is common to regular video cameras.  If the AVCHD format makes you wary because of editing issues, you'll be happy to know the GH2 can also shoot in the Motion JPGEG format.  Motion JPEG is an older, less compressed but more video editing friendly format.  When used with the GH2, you'll get slightly grainier and more saturated looking footage.  Many people actually prefer this look because of it's "film like" appearance. As far as shooting formats, for AVCHD the GH2 does 1920x1080i (60i), 1920x1080p (24p) and 1280x720p.  To get the highest quality allowed by the AVCHD format though, you'll need to choose the 24p mode.  In fact, the 24p mode looks significantly better than the other AVCHD options...to the point where it's probably going to be the only AVCHD format you'll want to shoot in.  For Motion JPEG, you get 720p at 30 frames per second...no full HD. The GH2 does so-so in low light, where it definitely can't keep up with it's DSLR counterparts when things get really dark (it only goes up to an ISO of 3200), but is still a big upgrade over traditional video cameras. For audio, the camera has both an on-board stereo mic and an external mic jack.  For some reason Panasonic decided not to go with a standard 1/8 inch microphone/headphone jack, so you need to get an adaptor if you plan on using a 1/8 inch microphone with the camera.  When using an external mic, the audio quality is decent and recording levels can be adjusted (plus, no annoying "auto gain" like with Canon DSLR's). The GH2 also offers auto-focus when shooting video...a very welcomed feature for those who are one-man bands (operating the camera while also being on camera).  The auto-focus is sometimes great and sometimes a little nit-picky.  It does take some time to figure out how to best use it for the types of videos you shoot. But the bottom line is that the Panasonic Lumix GH2 shoots stunning video.  Aside from my own video above shot with the GH2, you can check out what others have done with this camera, here, here and here. As a result of it's outstanding video quality, the camera is in high demand.  That means it's consistently sold-out everywhere.  And when new supplies come in, they go out just as quick.  So don't hesitate if you do find one available somewhere.  Even if you buy it but don't like it for some reason, you'll be able to sell it very quickly. And finally, the full technical specs of the camera are available on Panasonic's site here.  

If you want a more professional solution for hosting your videos than video sharing sites provide, you basically have two options.  You can do everything yourself or you can pay a video hosting platform to do everything for you. The do-it-yourself method is by far the least expensive solution, but you need to know how to perform a number of fairly technical things.  Like how to encode videos, how to use video players and embed code, how to mange your videos and how to track video statistics. With video hosting platforms, they do all of this for you.  All you have to do  is click a couple buttons.  But the downside is cost.  Most video hosting platforms charge anywhere from $50 to $500 a month, each and every month.  Plus you can incur additional costs depending upon how much storage and bandwidth you use.  And of course if you stop paying, your videos disappear. But last month a new video hosting platform emerged called Playwire.  While the service is geared towards the video gaming community, it can be used by anyone.  Like other video hosting platforms, they make the process of getting your videos online and making sure they're playable on all devices...simple. But where Playwire differs is they also make it more affordable to people.  Instead of set monthly prices, everything is pay-only-for-what-you-use and pay-as-you-go.  In this video, I review Playwire and show you what they have to offer. Resources Playwire  

Among their many uses, iPad's can be used to shoot, edit and publish videos online. But to do it, there are a few important things you need to know. I share them in this video, which was created entirely on an iPad. Most of the clips you see in the video were shot with an iPhone 4. Everything was edited on an iPad 2 using iMovie. You'll notice the audio is so-so for the on-camera shots. That's because I was standing about 8 feet from the iPhone. You'll notice the audio is much clearer for the shots where I demonstrate how to use iMovie. That's because I was standing right next to the iPhone (which was being used to record what I was doing on the iPad). It's a good illustration of how audio quality can change given your distance from a microphone. It's also a good illustration of how poor audio can sound when using a camera's built-in microphone, which I used for this video. You can use lavalier (and other) mics with an iPhone or iPad to get much better sounding audio. You just need a special adapter and a mic. Rather than get into the details here (which would be an entirely separate video), you can check out Jeff Geerling's post which will tell you what you need to know.  Or if you're looking for a studio-quality mic for recording audio on an iPad, the Samson Meteor is a strong choice. And finally, iMovie for the iPad is not an advanced editing tool.  It will however allow you to perform basic video editing tasks, like cutting out the pieces of video you don't want, piecing everything together, adding photos, transitions, background music and voice-over recordings. Resources iMovie for the iPad

In this video I review some impressive new video editing software for web video producers, called Avid Studio.  What can it do, how does it compare to Sony Vegas and should you get it?  All the answers are in the video. Resources Free 30 Day Trial of Avid Studio

The terminology used with web video is both confusing and intimidating to a lot of people. So in this video, I provide plain English explanations to the most common web video terms