It's Time to Produce Videos: And (Relatively) Easy

I love the videos produced by Chris Pirillo and Robert Scoble. For the most part, these are not slickly produced Hollywood videos but simple, one camera videos that have GREAT content (if you're a geek for the most part).

If these guys can do it - and they have hundreds of thousands of viewers per month and make good money doing it, why can't you. (I can hear you saying, "I'm not a geek").

Creating video is not hard. You know what the hardest part is? Having great content that people will want to view. Having a web site is a must and expanding to include Web 2.0 features so that you are not just talking to your audience but your audience (customers, partners, employees) can also communicate with you, is critical.

Adding a web component to your communication will take things up to another level. Adding video content makes your web site even more attractive and brings an even more human element to your digital communications. Have you had a look a the guys who do the experiments with Diet Coke and Mentos? Baseline Magazine has some rules from them on doing videos.

What do you need to start your first video?

Know what you want to say or showcase.
Get a decent video camera - spending $1500 or more is fine. Less is ok too.
Use a cheap (or free) video editing software to edit the video and add an introductory screen (or give the intro right on the video).
Post the video to YouTube or Britcove or some other video sharing site. Solicit comments and do it again - only improved.

Once you do your first video, doing the 3rd video or 8th video will get easier. If you think doing this is not for you, hire someone to help you, or get a smart employee to learn.

There's several smaller technical steps you'll have to go through, but give it a try and show me your video!

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