Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

Well, it’s probably the worst kept secret in video marketing. I’m talking about the relatively new Xtranormal video service. There are already thousands of Xtranormal videos up at YouTube and I expect that number to increase dramatically. However, if you want to get the most out of this service, here are a few tips that will really help a lot. I hope you find these to your satisfaction.

For starters, get the premium service. If you’re going to make money with the videos, you’ll have to get a commercial account. It comes out to $20 a month which is not too bad. This will give you the right to direct people to your sites with the videos for the express purpose of making money. Yes, they have very strict TOS so please be sure you read them. By getting a premium account, you’ll have access to more characters, scenes, no trailer and a lot of other goodies that you won’t want to do without.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you REALLY want to get the most out of Xtranormal, get yourself a camcorder and some video editing software such as CamStudio, which is free. Let me explain why. Yes, these videos are really cute and can stand alone. But eventually, the novelty of the characters will wear off. However, by using a Camcorder and recording yourself and them editing the video so that it appears you are interacting with the characters, you’ve added a whole new dimension to this thing. To pull this off, all you need is a camcorder, editing software and the service itself.

Finally, and this is probably the most important thing, stick with a theme. You want people to identify with main characters in your production. This way, as you do more and more videos, there will be this familiarity that will make people feel comfortable with the production. It’s the reason why we have favorite TV shows. Eventually, we get to know the people and grow to love them. It’s the same thing with these videos. You want people to love your characters.

Nobody can predict the future. Xtranormal may someday be a distant memory. However, as of this moment, it is hot. So if you’re going to take advantage of it, keep the above tips in mind when making your videos.

It CAN make the difference between a hit and a flop for YOU.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to get some cool Xtranormal tips that will make your videos sizzle? Visit my blog at http://xtranormalvideotips.blogspot.com/ and become an Xtranormal expert.

Internet marketers are getting more and more creative everyday. We all know by now that video is big and a great way to get your message out to people. But this new craze has taken video to a whole new level. If put in the proper hands, it can be hugely successful. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, keep reading. I’ll fill you in on all the details.

I learned about this from a member over at the Warrior Forum (where else?) The craze I’m talking about is animation. Yes, there are tools out there that will allow you, and quite simply I might add, to make animated videos for your product’s message. One of these is Xtranormal dot com, which is just pure genius. I won’t go into all the specifics. You can go there and check them out. But I will give you a basic run down.

Essentially, the way it works is like this. You go to the site and you get walked through a bit of a wizard. You are first given options for what characters you want to use and how many. The free options allow up to two characters. There are options for premium members.

After you have chosen your characters, you type out your script for each character. You can also use stage directions as well which control camera angles and how the characters move in the video itself. The voices are computer generated and a little artificial sounding, but that only adds to the charm of these videos.

After you’ve finished your input, the video is rendered and you can then upload it to YouTube. If you go to YouTube and look up Xtranormal, you will see tons of these already. They are VERY popular. Combine these with a solid message and you can actually make some money from your business.

But…and this is a big but…know something about video production and scripting before you venture off into this area. If you don’t know the basics of how to create a video, you’re going to end up with a mess on your hands.

As I said, in the hands of the right person, this can be a great tool.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to get all the tips you’ll need to create great videos, even Xtranormal ones? Visit my review of Kevin Riley’s Video Creation Product at at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html and get yourself a real video creation education that you can take to any media.

In this entry, I’m going to show you how to get the most out of your Xtranormal membership. This is some really cool software, but if you take it to the next level, you’ll be way ahead of the competition.

Let’s begin.

First thing you want to do is get a premium or commercial account. If you want to make money from the videos, you need a commercial account. The reason you want to go premium is because you get access to more features such as characters, settings, and so on. Trust me…it’s worth every penny.

Next thing you want to do is get yourself a camcorder of some kind. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Just something that can take movies. The reason is this. The videos themselves are fine, but imagine mixing in live human beings interacting with the characters. It takes the whole thing to a new level. Very few people will do this.

Finally, you will need some editing software to splice the live action in with the characters. If you can’t afford Camtasia, which is what I use, you can get CamStudio for free.

Okay, now, as far as making the videos, I’ve developed a process for doing this that will make the whole thing go a lot smoother. Remember, you are now taking bits and pieces of many videos and splicing them together. This can get really hairy without a system. So here it is…a very good one too.

Write the script for ALL the characters, including yourself if you’re going to be in the video. You need to have everything written in advance.

Here is my sample script from the last video I did:

Steve:

This is an XNN special news bulletin. Steve Wagenheim reporting. This just in. Home business owners reported being scammed.

Character 1:

Yeah, I was robbed.

Character 2:

Me too.

Steve:

Tell me, just what exactly has gone down?

Character 1:

Some jerk promised me that I’d be making all this money if I bought his crappy e-course. Instead, all I got was a load of horse manure.

Steve:

Could you be more specific?

Character 1:

It was crap.

And so on…

Okay, you will notice that the dialog is back and forth, just as it would be in a normal conversation. However, you don’t want to record each piece of the conversation one piece at a time. For a long script, that’s a nightmare.

So what you want to do is this. Type in ALL the dialog for A character and create a whole video for THAT character. That way, when you import it, all you have to do is edit each segment for the specific dialog you want.

Xtranormal has an option where you can upload your video to YouTube. Do it. THEN, use one of those online downloaders to download the video to your PC.

Here are two that I use.

http://www.mediaconverter.org/

http://www.forinside.com/

After you have each character completed, including your own character, import each video into your editing software.

What you then want to do is go through your script, line by line. Find the WHOLE video that contains THAT dialog and drag it to the time line. You’ll have more than you really need. This is where the editing comes in.

What you have to do is delete all the dialog BEFORE and AFTER the dialog that you actually want to appear at THAT part of the time line. The software makes this fairly easy to do.

After you’ve finished with that piece of dialog, move down to the next piece in your script and repeat the process.

For a long script, it DOES take some time. But trust me…the end result is well worth it.

When you’re done, compile the finished video into whatever format you want. If it’s for YouTube, I suggest FLV. It’s smaller than SWF.

Here is the latest video I’ve done so you can see how it looks when it’s all finished.

I’ll have more great Xtranormal tips for character creation and a whole lot of other stuff coming soon.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

There is something about seeing something visually. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. The same thing could be said about video as well. However, when making videos for the purpose of marketing products and services, there is more to it than just the video itself. There are some fine touches that you can add to the process to enhance the video even more. Some are subtle and some are not so subtle. In this article, I’m going to go over some of these things.

Let’s start off with the sound. I know we’re talking about video, but sound is important. What kind of sound do we have going on in our video? Is it just a person speaking? Is there music that goes along with it? And if so, when does the music come in? A common tactic is to have music for the intro and during the closing credits. These are common signals that the video is now starting and ending. The music, of course, should fit in with the theme of the video itself, but this is flexible. Have you listened to some of the music that accompanies some videos? It’s pretty out there.

What about PowerPoint presentation videos? A lot of marketers think that the presentation itself is good enough, whether it’s slides or clips or whatever. But there are subtle ways that we can enhance these slides. For example, let’s say that we’re showing a slide of some income stats showing before a certain campaign and after. We might want to highlight the stats that came after the new campaign so the viewer can visually see the difference a lot clearer. Sure, the numbers are there, but by pointing them out in some way, the viewer becomes more aware of them. Yes, it’s a subtle addition, but it works wonders.

What about links? So many marketers forget about the importance of presenting links during the video so that the viewer can make a note of the site that the marketer wants them to go to. Sure, they may mention the name of the site in the actual presentation, but how many people are actually going to remember it? Unless you mention it many times, which can be annoying, the viewer is likely to forget it. By flashing that URL up on the screen and leaving it there, it is unlikely this will happen.

There is so much more, but these few simple tips, adding sound and music in the right places, highlighting PowerPoint slides and displaying links during the presentation, can make your video a lot more effective.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

A lot of marketers think that, in order to create a video that will bring in tons of cash, you have to script this elaborate production. Wrong! All you need is a camcorder of some kind to have the bucks come pouring in. Think I’m kidding? Well, after reading this article, you’ll realize how easy it really is.

Do you know what tomorrow is? It’s the day we’re going to have another solar eclipse, as of this writing anyway. So what’s the big deal? Well, I happened to run over to YouTube to look up solar eclipse and wouldn’t you know it, there were almost 3,000 videos having to do with a solar eclipse…many of them actual footage of one. And guess what? Some of these videos had monetization at the end of them. That’s right. Some guy with just a camcorder and a way to upload that video to the Internet is making money hand over fist.

The key to the whole process is finding a subject where all you have to do is go outside and take some movies where there is a market for that information. Off the top of my head, how about a movie of a guy hitting golf balls for a golf instructional video? Or how about going to the local bowling alley to take some shots of a guy tossing bowling balls for a bowling instructional video? Or baseball, or football, or any sport where the best instruction is video? All you need is your camera and somebody to demonstrate the correct technique for whatever you’re doing.

Let’s say you’re making a video to show the proper golf swing. As I said, you don’t need to script some elaborate production. A intro as simple as, “Here is the proper golf swing for a T shot using a 3 wood” will do the trick. Then just let the guy do his thing. The beauty of these type of videos is that they’re action videos and therefore, a lot of words aren’t needed. Just tell the viewer what they’re going to see and you’re done.

Video marketing for many topics can be as simple as just walking outside and letting your camera do the work.

And it doesn’t get any easier than that.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

My apologies from the get go but because of certain TOS of a certain site, this article is going to have to be very cryptic in some areas. I will still try to make my point as clear as possible without naming any names or anything in specific. I’m going to be referring to a specific video in this article and show you (sort of) how the creator was very smart in their creation of it. Okay, here we go.

The video was one promoting a service that the site was offering. The video was composed of two parts. The first part was the owner of the site talking about their service in general. The second part was a voice over artist going over the actual terms of the service. Okay, let me touch on this first.

You’re probably wondering why the site owner didn’t do the whole video. Well, there are two reasons. The first one is simple. Would you want to listen to one person talk for five minutes straight on any topic? No, of course not. After a while, you’d be bored. By having a voice over artist, along with slides, go over the actual terms of the service, it breaks the video up. The risk of boredom is reduced.

However, there is a second reason for doing this, one that I am guessing at. The site owner, great guy as he is, probably realized that a professional voice over artist would get the terms of the site over better than he could. This is very important when creating a video. See, most video creators think that they have to do everything themselves. This is not true. If there is something that you feel another person can do better, whether it’s graphics, voice over or whatever, you should have that person do it.

Another thing that I want to point out about the video was that the terms of the service were clearly pointed out as well as what the service did NOT include. This kind of honesty is very refreshing today and will certainly add to the credibility of the video.

I’m sorry I can’t be more specific about the video itself but the site’s TOS forbids me to name names. But by following the bit of advice I gave above, you should be on your way to making better videos.

To YOUR Success

Steven Wagenheim
Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

I never thought that I could learn anything about video marketing from Ezine Articles, but son of a gun, after watching their video about Premium Membership, it really got the wheels turning in my head. If you’re not an Ezine Articles member, you’ve missed a great video presentation. In this article, I’m going to explain why it is and how YOU can use these techniques for your own videos.

The video essentially discusses what Premium Membership is and what the benefits are. Okay, so what was it about this video that I found particular interesting?

For starters, the video used a combination of personal interview and slides. This makes the video presentation itself less boring. The reason is because the two techniques break up the monotony of the video. Imagine seeing nothing but slides or nothing but a person talking for five minutes. You’d be pretty bored after a while. I know I would.

What I really liked was that the speaker, the owner of Ezine Articles, was smart enough to hire a professional voice over artist to explain the nuts and bolts of the membership while the owner added some commentary to it. I won’t venture to guess why this was done but in many cases, site owners will do this when they realize that they don’t quite have the speaking voice to pull off the specifics. So they will hire a voice over expert.

This is important to understand. See, a lot of people are under the impression that if they make a video that they have to do it all themselves. This is just not true. The key is to focus on what you’re good at and let others do what you’re not so good at. That way, you end up with a professional presentation.

Another thing that caught my attention was how well the benefits of Premium Membership were explained. There was absolutely nothing that was unclear. Also, I liked how it was also explained what membership did NOT include. The honesty of the presentation added more credibility to it.

If you’re an Ezine Articles members, watch the video. You will learn a lot from it as far as how to make your own videos.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

God bless Internet marketers. They love to sugar coat things. If you read how easy it is to do just about anything online, you’d think that everybody was a millionaire at this business. Truth is, there are very few things that are REALLY easy. Video marketing is one of them. In this article, I’m going to give you the REAL truth about video marketing. You may not want to hear it, but you need to know it.

Let me start off by saying this. Videos can absolutely explode your profits like nothing else. However, it’s not going to happen JUST by you slapping up a video on YouTube with any old garbage on it for just any old niche. A little bit of planning is required.

For starters, not all niches are going to be receptive to video. Some subjects just don’t translate well to video and are better served by the written word. Would you want to watch a video of some guy talking about the atrocities of war? I know I wouldn’t. I don’t care what book he’s selling. That video would put me to sleep. Give me a well written article instead. On the other hand, a video of somebody showing me how to play great guitar leads would really grab my attention and maybe even get me to buy his course. Know your niche and know your audience.

Secondly, you can’t just slap together any old thing. Have you seen some of the most popular videos on YouTube? They’re either very well made or they’re very clever and unique. The attention span of most people today, especially with all the distractions in the world, is limited. If you don’t grab their attention right away, forget it. So taking that guitar lead video as an example, many of the great ones will start off with a sound clip of the person playing this really cool lead so you can hear what it sounds like. This makes you want to watch the video so you can learn to play it as well. You MUST grab people right away.

Finally, it is rare that a video takes off overnight. Things take time unless you have something that is so unusual that people just start talking about it to everybody they know. But for most videos, you need to use proper keyword selection to get them to the top of the search engines. So yes, you need to know a little bit about marketing.

Make no mistake about it. Videos can work really well. But if you think you can do a half baked job in any old niche and make a fortune, you are seriously kidding yourself.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

If you’re a serious Camtasia user, you know that there are many options for publishing or producing your videos. With so many options, which ones do you choose? Does it really matter? This article is going to cover a few basic uses and hopefully give you some simple tips for publishing your videos.

There are two things that you need to be aware of when producing any video. The first is quality and the second is ease of viewing or portability. Unfortunately, as I am sure you’ve discovered, you usually sacrifice one for the other. For example, if you want your video to be of really high quality, that usually means that the video size is going to be quite large. That ultimately means that many potential viewers of your video can’t view it properly or it takes them forever to do so. Make the video smaller and in many cases, the quality suffers greatly. Yeah, it’s a real pain in the backside.

Sure, there are some video experts out there who can optimize your video for you and still have it looking good. Problem is, these services will also charge you an arm and a leg. For the average video marketer who is making quite a few videos, this is simply not an option. Therefore, they have to make do with what they have. That’s where this article comes in.

After beating my head against the Camtasia wall for months now, I have come up with the optimum way to pump out videos where the quality is decent enough and the size isn’t so that you’re restricting the average Internet user. The key is to produce the video in FLV format. This will give you the smallest size while at the same time producing decent enough quality. A frame rate of 5, max bit rate of 300, and 50% quality will be more than good enough for Powerpoint type presentations. For live action videos, increase the quality to 70% and you should be just fine.

No, these videos will not look like they were produced in a TV studio, but they will do the job and you won’t have prospects screaming at you because they can’t view your production.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html

What you are about to read is my own screw up, so believe me when I say that I am speaking from experience. You really want to plan your videos in advance to save you from wasting a lot of valuable time. This article is going to be a real eye opener for many. It certainly was for me.

Okay, let me get right to the story. Fortunately, this video wasn’t for a major project or I would have been crying in my beer. I made a video to show people how to create a PayPal payment button. Now, since I use DLGuard, I don’t really do this anymore myself. And quite honestly, it had been a long time since I last made one of these things. So when I got to the PayPal Merchant Services section, I was a bit surprised at what I saw. Wow…they really changed things around.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. See, in going through the process of creating the button, I did something that I didn’t think would cause a problem. but it did. I ended up getting an error message at the end of the process. I then had to go back and fix it. Now, if this was for a major product release, I would have had to re-shoot the video. There is no way I could have released it the way it was. It was only because it was for a friend that I could get away with the production the way it was.

Had I gone through the button creation process first before making the video, I would have saved myself a lot of time in having to re-shoot. Fortunately, I didn’t have to only because of the circumstances. Point is, when you make a video, you don’t want to fly by the seat of your pants. You want to plan every action out before you actually go ahead with it. Imagine doing an hour long video and having to scrap it because of a few screw ups during the filming. It’s not a pretty picture.

The extra time you take to plan will save you tons of time in the editing room, assuming your botched project can even be saved.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to find out how to create killer videos like my friend Kevin Riley and rake in a 6 figure income like he and I do? Check out my review of his dynamite product at my blog at http://stevenwagenheim.blogspot.com/2008/06/kevin-rileys-recipe-for-success.html