Viddler

How did Vidoo get started? Tell us a little bit about what you do?

With a background in multimedia, TV and video production, my aim with Vidoo was to deliver a low cost video marketing solution for business both large and small. Although video production isn’t a new medium, the popularity of online video content and new low-cost technology developed over the past 2-years has seen video fast becoming the number one marketing tool for a range of businesses and budgets. As a new company we believe that we can make video marketing a genuinely affordable and accessible platform for businesses and organizations of all sizes.

What are some of the biggest obstacles in producing high quality online video content?

One of the biggest obstacles I think is trying to stand out from everyone else when it comes to online videos, with so much video content flying around online these days it’s important to rise above everyone else and deliver creative, entertaining and importantly informative content. It’s also vital that the videos portray the correct messages to the audience, a poorly produced video can damage a company’s brand just as much as a great video can enhance it; in an online world where comments, social networks, threads and forums are so popular, it’s vital that videos are shared for the right reasons!

How has Viddler helped you in making Vidoo successful?

Viddler is who we’ve used since day one, they’ve made hosting, managing and sharing our videos extremely easy, as well as providing the tools to be able to easily monitor analytics to judge the impact of our videos. The flexibility of the packages on offer means that as we grow our video hosting grows with us.

Where do you see the future of online video for marketing going? Where do you see Vidoo in 5 years?

At the moment, I can only see online video content growing and growing, it’s the latest online trend, which companies from all areas are now turning to as alternative and unique way to promote their brand and businesses. I think within a few years every website will contain video content of some kind, whether it’s bespoke videos or content embedded and shared from other websites. As for where we see ourselves in 5 years time…well we plan to be one of the front runners in producing video content and creating bespoke tailored packages for clients, helping businesses to develop ways of implementing and delivering this content to their clients and customers.

What are some past projects that really stand out to you. What are some current projects your working on that excites you?

I’m personally extremely proud of every video we produce, and we always have fun with each and every project we’re involved with, and always relish a challenge. It’s great to be involved with such a range of companies and organizations, and work on such varied projects. We’re currently looking into developing some E-commerce based video packages for clients, and look to roll those out over the next 12 months.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Zach Onisko, Director of Product Design at Branchout. Branchout is a forward thinking company utilizing social media to connect people in search of employment. During these hard times, Branchout is helping people easily find jobs by networking with the people around them via Facebook. Check out the great interview below and visit Branchout today.

How did BranchOut come together?

Great question! The idea for BranchOut developed when founder Rick Marini was contacted by a friend who wanted an introduction for a sales lead. Rick wanted to use Facebook to see who he knew at the company in question. That search capability was not yet available, so Rick asked our Director of Engineering to build it. He did and we immediately knew we were on to something. BranchOut officially launched in July 2010.

What is the mission of BranchOut?

BranchOut is the largest professional networking service on Facebook. BranchOut users leverage their Facebook friend network to find jobs, source sales leads, recruit talent, and foster relationships with professional contacts. BranchOut also operates the largest job board on Facebook with over 3 million jobs and 20,000 internships. We fundamentally believe BranchOut will change job search, recruiting, business introductions and professional networking by allowing users to fully utilize their social network.

We are a free application for anyone interested in professional success. All BranchOut users create a professional profile that includes their work history and education. So personal information, (like photo albums and status updates), aren’t included in BranchOut profiles. BranchOut also offers endorsements and career badges, which friends and colleagues give to one another as a way to acknowledge skills and accomplishments.

How has the use of video contributed to the growth of BranchOut?

We determined that close to 25% of our new users watch our “How-To” videos on Viddler. We have a light box that appears over our dashboard with a 30 second video. All of our top videos play on Viddler. Obviously, we are pretty big fans!

How has Viddler helped you have complete control over your videos?

Viddler has helped us control the look and feel of the player. We moved to Vddller when YouTube started putting ads in all of our videos. We’ve tried other video providers, but thanks to our trusty Viddler representative, we’re now saving thousands of dollars a month!

I recently got to chat with Dr. Brad Semp and discuss Busyness TV and the use of online video to spread his message.

What is the story behind the creation of Busyness TV?

My personal mission for some time has been to help others to identify what it is that they want in life and then design and take the right action that will lead them to their desired results.  I’ve focused the last 12+ years of my life doing this at a personal level, as an executive leader in corporate America and now as a coach and consultant to individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses ranging from small-sized to Fortune 500 stature.  In doing so, the one common theme across all scenarios is the fact that we live in an extremely busy society.  Unfortunately, many of us delay or miss what we really want in life because we get caught up in BUSYNESS, i.e. “meaningless action”.  I started the Busyness TV show to address this hidden societal problem and help folks to combat busyness and life an UNBUSY LIFESTYLE.

How does online video allow you to effectively deliver your message?  

Prior to launching the Busyness TV show, I would dabble in blogging and produce how-to videos in sporadic fashion.  Unfortunately, the “on and off” nature of my blogging and video publishing did not allow me to gain traction in exposure or in developing relationships with my clients and customers.  Using online video has enabled me to make a commitment to consistent recording, production and distribution of videos (and therefore my message) to a growing population of Internet users who watch videos online.

How has Viddler contributed to the success of Busyness TV?

The Viddler platform has enabled me to leverage a single, centralized platform for both the hosting of my show videos as well as for gaining additional exposure and viewership.  Powering my Busyness TV show videos at Busyness.com with Viddler has provided for a high-level of quality in the delivery of my videos as well as allowing me to leverage some of the Viddler features such as player customization and in-video tags.  From an exposure perspective, general visitor traffic through Viddler has increased the number of weekly views of my shows and I also utilize the ability of Viddler to integrate with iTunes to reach an even wider viewer base.

What benefits does online video provide that you would not be able to obtain with any other medium?

Online video allows for a level of engagement and relationship development with prospects, clients and customers that is unparalleled with other mediums.  As viewers are able to watch me speak to them via video, they are able to connect and engage with myself and my message in a much deeper manner than by reading one of my emails or blog posts.  For this reason, we are actively transforming our platform to deliver video messages at each of our customer touch points.

What advice would you share with another individual that could market there ideas, products, or services via online video?

There are a couple of pieces of advice that I would offer up to folks who are considering using online video as part of their marketing repertoire.  First, I suggest my concept of 10% Perfect.  This means that you do not have to have a perfect video or a perfect situation to get started today.  Just take the action to get started, put videos out on a consistent basis and improve your videos over time.  Second, I would recommend consistency.  Whether it is an every day schedule, every week, or every month thing it is important to set a regular interval for your video production and stick to it.

Viddler is thrilled to welcome Everyday Better to the Business Community. EVBE is using online video to promote good health and an active lifestyle. Learn how to properly exercise and get in better shape from a professional personal trainer while staying in the comfort of your own home. I recently had the pleasure of asking Amy Mac some questions on EVBE and its use of online video.

How did Everyday Better come together?

Every woman I know wakes up every day and says, “Today I’m going to be better – a better friend, wife, co-worker, mom, cook…” so that is when the concept of evbe was born. Everyone wants to improve their health but they don’t always know how to do it. Not everyone has hours to spend in the gym so we’ve created short, intense workouts that will help you increase your strength and cardiovascular health.

After years of doing my blog on WithAmyMac.com and video show, Fit Life, I convinced my producer that we should take a leap and create a new site containing a video encyclopedia of exercises and experts teaching people how to be healthy and lose weight.

What benefits have your clients been able to receive through the use of video that would not of been possible otherwise? 

Video is the next best thing to teaching people in person and sometimes-even better because it can be available on demand! Demonstrating exercises, doing full workouts where they can follow along with a coach and even cooking can all be brought to the audience in a creative, timely and cost effective way.

What advice would you give to other businesses that are thinking about implementing video?

Video can be such a powerful tool for teaching, interacting and entertaining. It can supplement your content or it can be the main dish, just make sure it is accomplishes a goal. You also need to make sure you have decent audio, it isn’t that difficult or expensive anymore to create video of quality. Finally, you are never going to like the way you look or sound on camera so just take the plunge and learn from your mistakes!

What are the goals you set out to accomplish by creating EVBE?

The first goal is to show people how easy and affordable it can be to slim down and get in shape. Not everyone can afford a personal trainer, chef or nutritionist so we aim to bring those experts to EverydayBetter.com so you can take advantage of their knowledge and apply it to your own life. With hundreds of fitness videos and plans already on the site, evbe has started its journey to becoming a complete health and fitness network offering exercise, nutrition, cooking and more!

It’s very rare that a person isn’t carrying a device with a light-sensitive electronic sensor (i.e., camera) in it. This means that anyone can capture photos or video within seconds. Whether it be a birthday party, historical event, or your current thoughts on a topic, you can immortalize it and share it with a friend or the world.

Video blogs are typically produced with minimal editing and posted in a chronological order — often soon after they’re recorded. There’s a plethora of fascinating people that share their video blogs online. If you’re interested in starting/improving your own video blogs or viewing some really great ones, then here’s my top 5 (in no particular order).

Alex Bare

Alex documents a lot of his life through video. From exams to PackageTodays; he covers a large range of adventures. He records most of his videos with his trusty iPhone.

Sam Proof

Sam is an actor, director, and writer in Los Angeles. He posts videos about various projects he’s working on as well as opinionated

Dance Trippin’ TV

Giddy rad dance videos.

E. Christopher Clark

Short movie reviews and videos of family.

And, of course, Gary Vaynerchuk

One of the most interesting video blogs to make it big was Gary’s Wine Library TV. WLTV was retired in March, 2011, and Daily Grape was born in its wake. I rarely get more adventurous than drinking water and chocolate milk, but Gary’s knowledge and enthusiasm for wine has me vary interested in trying it.

Gary also records quick video blogs about technology, social media, and so on. He’s quite insightful about the future.

What are some of your favorite video blogs?

We’ve mentioned Rails for Zombies from our blog before but now we’re privileged to be able to bring you an interview with Gregg Pollack from EnvyLabs (and the guy in the instructional videos) to tell us about how Viddler has helped Rails For Zombies‘ success as well as about EnvyLabs’ new venture; Code School.

Gregg, we at Viddler think Rails for Zombies is a fantastic resource for developers moving to Rails. How successful has Rails for Zombies been from your point of view?

Over 5,600 people have completed the entire Rails for Zombies course, over 25,000 people have signed up, and over a quarter of a million people visited the website.  We have been blown away by the response to the website, and it feels great to know that we’re giving lots of developers their first taste of Rails.

What inspired EnvyLabs to couple the video content with the programming tutorials?

1. We had first hand experience doing conference tutorials where people had to show up with applications installed. No matter how simple the configuration was to get a library / application installed, people are going to have problems. Inevitably you’ll end up doing a lot of troubleshooting, trying to get crap installed on someone’s computer. We wanted to have the same sort of interactive tutorials, but do away with the configuration issues by allowing users to code in the browser.

2. We realized that learning by reading a book or watching a screencast isn’t as powerful as learning by doing. You actually learn something if you’re forced to solve problems.

Rails for Zombies is very well produced. What made EnvyLabs put so much of an investment out there, and then offer it all for free?

Thanks! It helps that we have a killer video delivery service like Viddler built into it. *warm fuzzies*

About 10 months ago we put out the Rails 3 Screencasts (also powered by Viddler) and I quickly realized that the videos (although they were basic) were targeted towards existing Rails developers. I took a look around and realized there needed to be more (up-to-date) introductory Rails content, so it made sense that the next project needed to be a beginner website.

Regarding the free part: Some people like writing open source software, I like giving back by creating educational content. When you put out content for free it has the opportunity to benefit so many more people. If we were charging for zombies we’d have maybe 10% of the user base we do today.

Rails for Zombies uses some key Viddler features, such as controlling the video player with JavaScript. How have these features helped with the success of Rails for Zombies?

Viddler is the perfect platform to host our videos, allowing for HD streaming and downloading of content. Having the ability to control the player with javascript makes it dirt simple for users to skip around to watch a certain topic again if they didn’t understand it the first time. That’s one of the awesome things about video education. If you don’t get something the teacher says the first time, you can easily skip back to the beginning of the topic and watch it again.

We at Viddler would like to thank you for putting this resource together. Being a Rails shop ourselves we’ve all referenced the labs to up our Rails game. Thanks Gregg.

That’s great to hear, and I’m happy to say that we’re on the cusp of releasing a new course which follows the same Rails for Zombies format. The course is called “Rails Best Practices”, and it’s targeted towards the Intermediate Rails developer who wants to polish his/her skills. So, if you dig Rails for Zombies and you’ve created at least one Rails app on your own, you’ll really dig Rails Best Practices. Rails best practices sports a brand new interface, point system, hint system, and an all new set of screencasts and in browser challenges.

It’ll be running on a new system called Code School, which will act as a store front (like the app store) for purchasing educational content. We also plan on also releasing a jQuery and HTML5/CSS3 course over the next month or two.

The courses are not going to be free, but they’ll definitely be a lot of fun.

When they’re up, you’ll find them over at CodeSchool.com. If they’re not up yet, you’ll find a form to be notified when they gets released.

Thanks to Gregg and the entire EnvyLabs team for making Viddler their preferred video service for both Rails for Zombies and Code School. We at Viddler wish them the best in their new venture!

We’re barely half-way through November 2nd and already many NaNoWriMo participants are busting through word counts like tomorrow is Judgment Day. Dun dun dun!

Since 2007 Viddler has been the official place for Nano vloggers to post their videos, share their ideas, and show their progress.

Here’s the official welcome message from the NaNoWriMo HQ:

Of course, this year we have our regulars back and in force; motivating everyone to keep on writing. One such person is Viddler veteran Jason (friend him up). He has some really good motivation this year that I think will get you all writing many, many words!

There’s also some Nano veterans which are newcomers to the Nano video scene. Be sure to friend them up! Here’s a video intro from NaNoWriMo user ‘BreezyShrugged’:

If you’re writing your own NaNoWriMo novel this month, then be sure to join in the vlog group to stay motivated and share your progress.

Be sure to visit nanowrimo.org and follow @NaNoWriMo for official updates.

Remember: If you’d like to suggest a video for a feature on the Viddler blog and front page, then please send me a message, link it up in our forums, or just comment on this post.

Here at Viddler, we have traditionally known that it is almost NFL time when traffic to our office is swamped with Escalades and high profile cars driving to Eagles training camp here in Bethlehem (we are 2 minutes away from Eagles preseason training facilities).

Now we have something else to remind us that NFL is coming, that being Joe Nameth’s new video blog, BroadwayJoe.tv:

I know that many of you are infected with Garyvee’s NJ Jet passion so make sure to get your additional fix on his new daily show:

• Facebook
• BroadwayJoe.tv – make sure to subscribe to newsletter or RSS
• RealJoeNameth on Twitter
• Broadway Joe Shwag

His first episode focuses on offensive line. And I couldn’t agree with him more!

WoW! It’s E3 time again. The 377 days since the last E3 seem to have whooshed by — don’t you agree?

Today is Day One and Microsoft already made all their announcements at their keynote yesterday afternoon. They revealed the Xbox 360 Slim, Kinect (code named Project Natal), and a slew of games for the Xbox 360.

If you’re not a gamer, then take note that the gaming industry has just as many rumors and leaks as the technology industry — albeit probably not as widely circulated as Apple rumors.

This year the hot items are definitely Microsoft’s and Sony’s 3D motion controllers; the Kinect and Move, respectively. They’re basically like a Nintendo Wiimote controller with more advanced tracking sensors. No doubt there will be demonstrations of these two devices all throughout E3.

With the obsession of 3D in the cinema and television industries I reckon there’s going to be some introduction of 3D gaming on 3D televisions. Talk about interactive!

We’ll keep an eye on E3 and update this post with any sweet videos that come out of the event.

Update 1: June 24th, 2010
Here’s an interview Joystiq had at E3 with Shuhei Yoshida, President Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios:

There’s tons of game trailers out from E3 and you can see them on Joystiq’s video page. My favorites are Sonic 4: Episode One and Gran Turismo 5.

Update 2: June 28th, 2010
The Game Show did a really great job of recapping E3 2010 in this episode:

There’s a bit of swearing in this video, so take caution blaring it on your speakers.

You can find much more videos from E3 by searching the E3 tag on Viddler.

If you have an event coming up or have covered one recently and would like us to give it a mention on the Viddler Blog, then send me a message and tell me all about it.

Something fun for Friday. Viddler member nonelikejoshua puts together some really great remixes that he raps to. This one, which features a track from Ronald Jenkees (who is also a Viddler), is particularly great.

Thanks to nonelikejoshua for sharing his remixes with us. We’ve put one up on the frontpage for the day.