Youtube Gets a Slicker and Cooler Interface But Is It A Real Improvement?

As we get nearer to  the end of the year, and often many companies prepare by rolling new bells and whistles,  Youtube has rolled out a major overhaul on their design interface.  While it does look a lot sleeker and adds a host of options it will be interesting to see if this overhaul will actually enhance viewer experience.  It’s an interesting risk since Youtube has pulled away from it’s simple and clean interface.  The following video has a quick overview of the customization options that are now available.

This is Youtube’s new front page interface, of course with some of my own interface options, so the view may look different from your own.

Design wise the interface looks great but if you are already struggling to keep up with all the options available to you in developing your Youtube channel,  Youtube has just  upped the ante.  In fact there are mixed opinions on these new changes, and videos with access to script changes to revert back to the old interface are becoming readily available.  Even the video posted above has several thousand dislikes.

In my opinion, perhaps Youtube wasn’t forthcoming on how drastic the changes would be and have irritated their loyal users to say the least.  I will be tweaking and updating my own channel in the following weeks and checking under the hood, so to speak, on design changes.

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:

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.

Photoshop CS5: Quick Tips to Improve Your Desktop Wallpaper Design

This video tutorial covers quick tips and design principles in order to take your desktop wallpaper beyond run-of-the-mill type of desktop backgrounds.  While the design of your personal desktop wallpaper won’t matter to most people (since your the only one who sees it), that whole concept changes when you decide to provide screencasts from your desktop.

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. It still is a good idea to put this on your to-do list as another way to subtly market your small business.  I’m not suggesting blatant advertising here; however, subtle design changes can make the difference in promoting your small business or brand.

How To Use Screencasting Software to Create Your Marketing Video

Who doesn’t desire that their business video should go viral?  And when most small business marketers contemplate creating a video they usually are thinking of  portable and traditional video cameras or video production equipment.  However, there is another video creation tool that is often ignored , namely screencasting software. But what exactly is screencasting?