Youtube Makes Video Guide Ebook Available to Youtube Publishers

Youtube knows it will be successful when it makes its publishers or producers successful so they have created an ebook named “Youtube Creator Playbook” and/or presentation that will guide  you through the tips, guidelines and all  the information you need to know to get started in order to make your next video successful.

5 Free or Open Source Screencasting Applications to Create Your Next Video

Screencasting and live video streaming may be the next big thing in marketing for your small business, but it is hardly worth diving into if your budget is already squeezed tight and you can’t make room for expensive software and video tools.

However, not to worry there are a few robust and free applications out there, that you can at least begin to use in order to get familiar with the technology and get “your feet wet” with video marketing without a financial outlay.  You will have to invest some time to get familiar with the products but that shouldn’t be too difficult as most of the website provide short video tutorials on how to get started.

How to Convert a Powerpoint 2010 Presentation into a Marketing Video

If you have  Powerpoint 2010 on your Windows computer, you have the tools to create a marketing video at your fingertips without needing screencasting software.  In addition,  Microsoft usually includes their basic video editing software Microsoft Windows Live Movie Maker with your purchase and you can use this software to edit your completed video, if needed, or prepare it to upload to Youtube.

Unlike previous versions of Powerpoint,  Microsoft has stepped up to the plate and provided video conversion  functionality in their most recent release,  so you will not need a third party application to convert your Powerpoint presentation to video.  The following steps will guide you through this process:

Who is Watching Video On Their Mobile Phones?

In a previous post, I had shared my Youtube Insight Analytics data as  anecdotal proof that I had noticed an increasing number of viewers accessing my Youtube channel via mobile phones or other mobile devices.  While Youtube does not give specific information that tracks the types of phones or mobile devices that are used it does include this information in your analytics data. The great news is that Comscore has compiled and released that very data today and it basically validates the information and observation I had shared with my readers.  The information shared, basically coincides with my Youtube video viewers and varies only by a few percentage points.

Three Top Sites for Free and Open Source Fonts for Designers

Most graphic designers are aware that fonts (or typography) add personality and customization to their print media and web designs, so when they find high quality fonts for free in one or two locations this makes his job easier.  With a variety of fonts at his or her fingertips, a designer has the ability to personalize his or her designs to accommodate his clients’ taste and budget.  However,  building a font library with a variety of design styles can get expensive.  The good news is that several website owners have  joined with professional font designers to make open source and free fonts available for personal and commercial use.

Design Social Media Icons Into Your Music or Band Business Card

There are social networks specifically set up for the music and band industry that can be added to a business card that reflects where your fans and/or customers can find your music or  music videos.  In this case, we have included social media icons for Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Last Fm, Flickr and Youtube.  These are the social networks that are most likely used or are often used by bands or members of the music industry.  However, one can include any social media icons that they want.  The rule of thumb is to include only those that best reflect how you promote your business.

QR Codes can be incorporated as well, so that less text can obstruct the visuals included on the business card and yet your fans can have all the access to your contact information that they need.  In this concept card design, ( a preliminary proof) for a client, I have tried to include all of these graphic elements.  The QR Code is one of mine and I’ll be tweaking  the design in order to make sure the QR Code functions.

In any case, hope you find my latest design inspiring.

Related Post:

Business Card Design for Media Business With Social Media Icons

 

WordPress Mobile: Making Sure Your Blog Can Be Viewed by Mobile Devices

While most small business marketers are aware that they need to build traffic to their website or blog, not many are aware that they should also set up their WordPress.com or WordPress.org self-hosted blog to be viewed by mobile devices like the Iiphone, Android smartphone, Ipad and other mobile devices.

According to Comscore datamine, a service that tracks this type of industry information, …”More than 76.8 million Americans owned smartphones during the three months ending in May 2011, up 57 percent from the previous year. A look at the top smartphone app categories revealed that Weather apps had the largest audience reaching 31 million smartphone owners, or 40.4% of the total U.S. smartphone audience. Social Networking apps closely followed with a smartphone audience of 29.4 million (38.2% reach), followed by Maps with 25.8 million users accessing this category via apps.

Designer QR Codes: 5 Tips to Customize Your QR Code to Promote Your Brand

Designer QR Codes are a hot, new design trend and with good reason since they improve engagement for your ad, marketing collateral or website with their creative color, design and concept. To be sure, it’s a definite improvement over the often cold black and white, slightly geeky 2D barcode where it might serve its purpose for inventory but is not as attractive  or engaging in marketing or print collateral.

Popularized in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994 for inventory purposes, the QR ( Quick Response) code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes.

Free Online QR Code Generator for Print Media Designs

There are many free QR Code generators online, offered by a variety of 2D barcode software vendors, but few offer functionality that enables a graphic designer to generate a QR code and make it readily available to be used on Photoshop or other graphic editing programs. This is important when designing or incorporating QR codes for print collateral or other small business marketing material

Multi-use QR Code Generator Website

Kerem Erkan’s online generator form does and it offers a whole slew of options.

With this handy online tool, you can generate a QR Code for all the following functions:

Customizing Your Desktop Wallpaper With Your Brand

In a previous post, I discussed the option you had, as a small business marketer, of rethinking and  redesigning  your desktop wallpaper especially if you are considering producing screencasts that will display your computer or laptop’s desktop. I believe that it can be a subtle but effective way of promoting your small business’ brand.

The desktop wallpaper can serve as an additional image to promote your business or offer.  Whether you do it yourself, or have someone create a custom design for you. Although I prefer staying away from blatant branding, it just depends on your small business and the type of screencast you will be producing.   In the following screencast, I detail  step-by-step in Photoshop CS5 how to create and customize your desktop wallpaper.  Although I use a music background in this case, all skills that are discussed are basically transferable to any background you want to create.