Today I’ve created some Powerpoint to Video promotions for my web design site at Salmon Web Design.
Whilst you can view them on that site, I thought that I would also add them to this site as it represents yet another method of creating animated style videos for video marketing purposes.
Here are a few of the other methods with which I create videos for my web properties:
web cam videos
screencast videos
Google Hangouts
green-screen videos i.e. replace the background
animated videos
sketch-style videos
Powerpoint videos
freestyle videos with my camera
Adobe After Effects logo stings
The 3 Powerpoint to video examples above were created from the content already on my computer just to test the format. I hope you enjoyed watching them. If so, head over to Salmon Web Design and take a look at some of the great content I have on that site to wow prospective customers.
I have just created a promo sketch video for Astles of Nottingham.
I decided to create this video as an added-extra just to keep my hand in with creating these types of videos. Like anything else. you get better with practice!
I have created a logo reveal with Adobe After Effects. You can see the results of my first project below.
I have never used Adobe After Effects prior to creating this logo reveal so I am pretty pleased with the results (particularly because the training video was created by someone with a foreign accent who spoke quietly!)
I don’t think this is an area of expertise I really want to develop because it is cheap and easy to outsource this kind of stuff by buying a template from say Videohive and then getting someone on Fiverr.com to do the editing on Adobe After Effects for you.
I’m increasingly of the opinion that I should not be spending too much time learning these skills for myself but outsourcing the work to experts while I concentrate on product creation and marketing.
However, to know that I can do this for myself, if I need to, is useful and opens up more opportunities for creating stunning video products.
I recently bought a bundle of products off Envato that included this logo reveal template and I decided to give this a go. It is more complicated than I anticipated – the software takes a little getting used to but, like anything else, if you give enough time and effort to it should be easy to learn – particularly if you start with editable templates like me!
Tell me what you think of my first logo reveal using Adobe After Effects – I am sure this is basic stuff for some people but for non-technical bods like me, this is as ‘state of the art’ as it gets!
In the pre-launch phase of Hangout Cash Code, we have also been interviewed by Mike Thomas, also known as Mike From Maine.
Mike runs a very popular video interview business via Skype and we were flattered to be asked for an interview. As I said to him, ‘I almost feel that I know you’ even though we had never spoken or met. He said ‘that is the power of what I do’ and I suppose that is the real power of Google Hangouts too.
This format of interviewing other people or presenting face-to-face is extremely powerful because of the ability to create relationships with people. As we have repeatedly said in our interviews and also inside the product – it’s the ability to quickly establish the ‘know like and trust’ factor that makes this format a winner.
When you combine that power with the ability to quickly and easily rank your videos so that you get viewers, it immediately becomes the primary way to create content that converts in our opinion. That’s why you should pick up a copy of The Hangout Cash Code here.
In fact, after listening to Chris and I, Mike Thomas is swapping over to Google Hangouts himself – so that is the ultimate endorsement because he already has a very successful business format and can see the benefit of moving over to Hangouts.
Here is the Hangout Cash Code interview with Mike Thomas aka Mike From Maine:
Yesterday I was interviewed by James Knight & Kristie Chiles about The Hangout Cash Code. You can see the interview below and as you will see they are gracious interviewers.
I was thrilled to meet them as I have bought some of their video products in the past and their training will no doubt have influenced some of the content in The Hangout Cash Code!
They told me that they currently have around 15,000 keen followers in their Facebook Group including myself.
Unfortunately, Chris Cole, my partner, was unable to make the call for personal reasons but this is why having a partner is so useful – they can pick up the slack if needed!
Here is the interview – you will see that James & Kristie major on the affiliate product which we sold through Google Hangouts but the uses of this technology really go much further than that. Chris and I have identified numerous ways to monetise Google Hangouts.
The Hangout Cash Code launches tomorrow (1st August 2014) at 11 a.m. EST or 4 p.m. GMT. But before that we have another interview to do with Mike Thomas aka Mike From Maine.
It was great to meet James Knight and Kristie Chiles about The Hangout Cash Code on their James & Kristie Show and they were so generous with their offers of help that I really feel that we have made some good friends here.
Han Fan (the internet man) is promoting Hangout Cash Code which launches on 1st August 2014 at 3 p.m. EST.
The interview took place at around 2 a.m. in the morning so if Chris Cole and I look a little tired and our mind is wandering from time to time, you know why! Chris is currently holding down a full-time job as well as doing his internet marketing so this was a tough call but this is what it takes to succeed.
Han Fan is a super-affiliate – in other words he makes a large full-time income from promoting other peoples products which is why Chris and I were prepared to go the extra mile for him. If Han Fan is behind us, it guarantees a fast start to our launch and some good EPC’s.
It is worth watching this replay just to see how he operates as an interviewer. Prior to the interview, we received a series of generic questions in a document and this enabled us to think about our responses in advance. Prior to the interview starting, Han Fan also talked about what he wanted to cover and how we would respond to ensure that we were ready.
Don’t forget that this is how he makes his living so whatever you think about the interview just know that this is a successful formula for him. You can then model his success for yourself.
The other important point that I want you to get from this interview is the role that we see Hangouts playing in building our online relationships – this is absolutely critical.
Relationships are critical in business and it is difficult to create online hiding behind our computers – it takes time, consistency, effort and skill so the point that Han Fan makes about the fact that you are dealing with ‘real people’ is well made because it is easy to forget when you are dealing with a hidden audience.
Chris and I can already see that Hangouts will be a major part of our strategy to build the ‘know like and trust’ factor to increase our sales conversions and to improve the lives of our customers. The story I tell about how I started in consulting by leveraging my previous banking relationships is 100% true.
Relationships do not appear in any balance sheet but just know that this is really where the money is, not that I think of relationships in those terms. If you just have a passion to help other people to improve their lives then this is the correct mindset to have.
In order to enable you to do this and expand your sphere of influence, you do need to sustain yourself financially and also to finance the lifestyle you want. So the money is only important from that perspective but ultimately you will only be rewarded to the extent that you find a way to add value to other peoples lives and thereby gaining their trust that you can deliver what they want.
With that said, here’s the interview (and note that he has spelt my name wrong in the video title and description!)
I’m pitching to a business, CCL Group, which runs a digital forensics course here in Stratford-upon-Avon.
I had the crazy idea that rather than telling them that I knew a little bit about SEO and video marketing, why don’t I just make a 2 minute video and rank it. So this is just a test and not requested by the client.
Note how the red splash image stands out on the page – nice strategy!!
These rankings were achieved without any backlinks. If I had to bid for the keyword ‘digital forensics course’ in Google Adwords, the suggested bid is £6.17 per click and competition is ‘High’.
Here is the video and below it you will see that I was ranking on page one of YouTube for the keyword ‘digital forensics course’ within 1 minute of upload and multiple other related keywords:
(The settings on this video on YouTube have been switched to ‘Private’ so you cannot check it out on YouTube at the moment)
This is the video script that I prepared prior to preparing the video:
Keywords:
Digital forensics course
digital forensics course online
digital forensics training courses
digital forensics syllabus
computer forensics classes
The cost of cyber-crime to the UK is around £27 billion, over a third
of the cost is a result of intellectual property theft.*
Is your business vulnerable to cyber-crime?
IP and data theft are just some of the reasons your company may need a
forensic response. Other issues include:
– computer misuse,
– harassment and bullying,
– internal sabotage,
– breach of policies and
– employee productivity.
FIRST RESPONSE TRAINING
Product Description
When one of these activities affects your company, you need to know
what can be done as part of the investigation, and the correct
procedures to follow.
CCL Group can help; we are the UK’s largest digital forensic provider and
have completed over 55,000 digital forensic cases. Our experience
means that, whether you’re dealing with a formal disciplinary,
investigation or tribunal, we can show you the correct processes to
follow, that will get the evidence you require and ensure that your
evidence will withstand legal scrutiny.
CCL’s First Response training course covers what key personnel need to
know – how digital forensics can help you, what it can be used for, and
the steps to follow.
THE AGENDA IS AS FOLLOWS:
What is digital forensics?
Why I might need a forensic response?
Where data can be retrieved from
Case studies and examples
Forensic requirement warning signs and how to respond
Handling digital evidence
Forensic readiness
Policies
Technology in business
Minimising impact and disruption
When, where and how to book?
To find out our next available dates please contact us on 01789 261200.
For more information or to book online, please click below to book or
email training@cclgroupltd.com
For several weeks now I have been working on a product entitled Hangout Cash Code in partnership with Chris Cole.
At the beginning of the year, I set myself the goal of really mastering Google Hangouts as part of my 2014 business plan. So when Chris Cole approached me to help him to build out Hangout Cash Code, I leapt at the opportunity.
Chris is a fellow coaching student who is talented in a number of areas such as video creation and graphics and he has high product creation standards.
Some of the tutorials within Hangout Cash Code are animated videos made with VideoMakerFX and others are Hangout recordings of trainings made with Mindmaps that cover a particular topic. The front-end product will be an e-book on Hangouts that has yet to written.
Overall, I have enjoyed the process of using Hangouts and working with a partner is very beneficial because it provides a safety net whilst you are still learning. For example, on one of our live webinars I was unable to share my screen so Chris immediately leapt in to rescue me. If you are on your own, you have to somehow work this out on your own which greatly increases the pressure.
Also, having someone as the ‘cameraman’ who controls what the audience sees on their screen is important as is having someone to handle the questions while you are speaking.
The only way to master a technology like Google Hangouts and webinars is through practice until you become confident and comfortable.
By making this product, both Chris and I have gradually realised all the opportunities and possibilities that Google Hangouts can offer any business and we are both excited to be mastering this technology and to be revealing our findings through Hangout Cash Code.
The other benefit that we have gained from creating this product is to experiment with both Webinar Jam and Webinar Ignition – these are two front-end applications for facilitating the running of webinars and the registration process.
To improve the structure and content of my webinars, I am currently going through another training entitled Webinar Expert Academy but this has been hampered by the slow delivery of the training. However, this is the funnel model that I will be implementing in future as a result of this training:
Having experiment with Google Hangouts and Google Hangouts on Air, I can easily foresee that this is going to be one of the main tools in my business going forward.
If you want to see why I am so excited by this technology, then look out for Hangout Cash Code which is due for launch on 1st August 2014. If you join my list, I will keep you informed of the launch details and in the meantime you can read my free report entitled Badass Hangouts to whet your appetite.
Alternatively, you can read my free report called Webinar Riches whilst waiting for Hangout Cash Code to launch.
I’ve just added the ability to make sketch videos to the video formats that I can create.
Here is the first test video that I made:
This is a very rough and ready test but I think it shows the potential of this format where it is possible to spend a lot of money to get this type of video for promotional purposes.
I will continue to develop my skills with this software in order to use it to its maximum as sketch videos are a popular video format that engages viewers.
I have uncovered a technique for getting ranked #1 on YouTube within 17 minutes for my chosen keyword. This was just a test to see if it works.
My video may have ranked even quicker than 17 minutes because it took me 17 minutes to check the ranking after posting the video!
This did not involve any back-linking or paying for views or paying for traffic – it was just pure on-page SEO and video marketing.
Furthermore, I used Google Hangouts on Air to make the video so it literally took less than 10 minutes from end to end because I did not script it and just opened up Hangouts and just started talking.
I do, of course, need to test my technique from end to end but the initial results are encouraging.
It will be interesting to how long the video can maintain its ranking without backlinks and then, if I throw some backlinks at it, how long it will take to recover its ranking.
Now I am going to work on scripting and systemising my promotional videos to ensure that they are of high quality and have a clear call to action. I’m also going to test this with animated videos.
I’ll keep you updated about what else I can get ranked #1 on YouTube and just how quickly it happens as I will be rolling out a lot more promotional videos in the near future.
Here are the results of another test (- sorry about the poor audio quality!):
I was already able to create videos in a variety of formats including screen-share, green-screen, webcam videos, Hangout videos etc but this puts the icing on the cake because access to programmes that can make videos like this normally cost a hefty recurring fee. I have bought the software and templates for a one-time fee subject to annual maintenance charges.
Making videos using VideoMakerFX can be sold as a service to other businesses or I can simply create videos to promote my own, or other peoples, products and services for profit.
I am in the process of developing a new product called Hangout Cash Code with my friend Chris Cole, so video is the hot-topic of the month.
Google Hangouts have given marketers a low-cost entry into creating webinars – it’s a technology that I intend to master for my own business.
Webinars have great conversion rates and coupled with Google Hangouts, that rank well for keywords on Google, represent a great way to create content and to market your business.
Here are a few ways that we can use Hangouts in our businesses:
we can create lessons, either free or unpaid, that help our customers and demonstrate our expertise. Google have taken this to the next level to create Google Helpouts.
we can create workshops and training for a Group of students. I think this is the way forward for education – by providing recordings, students can learn at their own pace.
Hangouts are a great way of creating demonstrations of products – demos are a great use of the technology
what about creating marketing presentations with Google Hangouts? You can cover the full benefits of the product and also handle questions and objections from the viewers.
one of my colleagues has just created an interview product that launched with 560 front-end sales – interviews are a great way of using Hangouts. You can even have more than one expert in the Hangout – infact up to 10 people including yourself!
I haven’t yet mentioned webinars. Prior to Google Hangouts, webinar technology was relatively expensive, with leading providers demanding hefty monthly fees. Google Hangouts have made the technology available to everyone.
communicating with partners and staff is now made much easier with Google Hangouts. This is a great way of holding an online meeting or colaberation.
what about providing customer support through Google Hangouts? I’ve not seen it done yet but it is perfectly feasible. I have seen it used for a monthly Q & A session with customers to demonstrate product features and to get feedback.
you can also use Hangouts for announcements and news items.
In my mind, Google Hangouts is just a question of being prepared to master the technology – the more that you do, the better you will get.
You just need to be a little mindful of copyright – make sure that you do not infringe copyright with any of the material, images, music, background items in your videos. It would be very easy to inadvertently infringe copyright if you do not remain vigilant.
With these thoughts in mind, I have added a report entitled ‘Bad @$$ Hangouts’ to my site – you can get it for free here.
As a bonus to a video product I have just bought was a package of nice free background images with a reseller license.
These images were part of a previous paid product by Todd Gross and he has now bundled them as a bonus with a new product.
I therefore though that I would offer these to my subscribers. The only drawback is that the images are all from the US. In due course, I may add to the package by steadily taking some pictures in the UK.
There is an optional upsell to purchase a collection of video backgrounds that are perfect for optin pages and green screen video purposes.
The free images can be downloaded here in return for an optin.
Here a few examples of images in the free package:
In this video I outline a source of free graphics that you may have overlooked.
In fact it is a completely authentic and engaging source of graphics that will be great for your personal branding. It is easy to build up a nice library of graphics that you can use in future projects and they will be free of copyright or royalty restrictions – indeed, you own the copyright!
Are you ready for me to reveal this source? Then watch this video:
Now that you have your free graphics, you can take them to one of the graphical editors and make variations of your images. For example:
You can create photo distortions on PicHacks.com or your iPad:
You can create sketches, like this one of my grandson. I will cover how to do this in another video (- subscribe if you want to find out how!):
You can combine pictures:
Here’s another great tip for getting free images from video (-this one has my new video intro and outro):
Here’s an image clipped from this video with Snagit:
The possibilities are almost endless.As I said, this may be a source of free graphics that you had previously overlooked… but not anymore!
Leave a comment and let me know what you think about these tips!
I’ve been watching my online friends, Chris Cole and Matthew Houghton, creating incredible videos and have been wondering how they did it.
(If you want to join in the magic then this is the Facebook Group that you need to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/580398582047648/ and I recommend that you subscribe to Chris Cole’s YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/imchriscole and you will be impressed by the great information he is just giving away about video marketing and YouTube)
I therefore invested in a studio background cloth and stand. This was a partial fail for two reasons:
I had inadequate lighting
I had a white background that was difficult to remove effectively in my video editing software
I therefore bought a couple of studio lights off eBay. I discovered why they were so cheap – just one bulb in each! However, as I am filming in my small office, I think I will get away with this. However, my friends have much more powerful lighting – 4 bulbs in each which enables them to use a bigger space for filming.
Despite the new lighting, the white background was still not working, so I invested in a green background cloth.
This time, I had success – here is my first test. This is not perfect by any means but it does represent a break-through for me. Hopefully, I will now be able to go on and raise my game.
I have also created a new video outro that I will start to use on my videos – the creative options are enormous with video – feeling excited:
Green screen video may not be a new frontier for you, but it is for me!
I stumbled across this video review checklist and thought that I would post it to my blog because it may be useful to my readers.
