Like most product managers in today’s online world, I’m a big fan of screencasts. I’ve used Camtasia Studio for quite a while to create demo videos of web apps. I think it has saved me a TON of web copywriting. The fact is, people hate reading web copy. They only really read headings. But they will watch a screencast.
Here are a few tips:
- Write the text of your audio portion out like a script, and have your reader read it seperately. You can add the audio in later. Ad-libbing it never works out well. Trust me.
- Record the audio in a studio if you can. If not, then try to get a recording mic or something nice. Computer microphones are terrible.
- Keep them short. Some people say keep them under 1 minute. I’m a little more generous and try to keep them under 3 minutes. But you can decide what works for you.
- Encode them as high a resolution as you can. Most quality video hosting sites will adjust the resolution as needed.
- Pay to host them on a professional service such as Vimeo. Brightcove works too. I’m not always able to do this, but you should try your best to get a budget to host them professionally.
- If you do have to use YouTube, make sure you set the video to play independently. You don’t want related videos showing up at the end of your demo for another product or to some random dude reviewing your software.
- If you can find music that’s not annoying, go for it. But fade it into the background and keep it turned down low.
- Use screencasts for support FAQ videos and training videos as much as you can. These don’t have to be as professionally produced as the marketing demos, but do your best to keep them concise.
- Lastly, redo them if they are terrible. I know it is a pain, but it’s worth it.
And check out Camtasia Studio. They have a free trial and there are a ton of turorials online.
