Custom Designed Website or Template Site? If you are thinking about creating a new site or re-designing your own webpage, this may be a question you’ve asked yourself at some point. It’s a good question, and both should be considered when you’re in this early stage of design. A client of ours was faced with the same question recently and we helped her make a decision, which turned out to work well.

Before telling you our recent success story with our web marketing client, i’ll give you a brief description of Custom Websites and Template Websites, and exlain the differences between the two.

Template-Based Websites

A website “template” is basically a pre-designed website that you would purchase, and then insert your own content into. You have almost no control over the design (aside from initially choosing it), and most of the time CMS’s will not let you make changes to their pre-designed web templates. You can insert your own text, images, videos (sometimes), and apps (sometimes), but have little control on how it is laid out.

The benefits of template-based websites is that they are cheaper (initially) to setup than custom designed websites.  Also, they don’t take as long to create as a HTML website design, because (you guessed it!) they are pre-designed. These might be great reasons for choosing a template-based site, and they may work fine for you, but in our experience, they’ve given us nothing but trouble.

Custom HTML Website Designs

A “custom” website is one that has been designed specifically for your brand or company (agreed upon with you and the design company you choose). You get a say in how it’s laid out, what colors are used, what fonts are used, what apps are integrated, etc. Basically, you can have a design team make a website look and function any way you’d like.

The benefits of having a web design company create you a completely custom site to match your brand are limitless in our opinion here at Render Perfect. They are designed with your brand in mind, with you telling the web design company exactly what you’d like! Even if you aren’t sure, most design firms can come up with a handful of preliminary designs (made specially for you) for you to pick and choose from. Also, custom designed HTML websites have much more expandability than template-based sites. If your business or brand grows exponentially after a certain amount of time, you should be thinking about expanding your reach on the web to attract even more visitors or potential customers. With template based sites, you’re stuck with whatever pre-designed templates they have to choose from, and have no say in adding new features or functionality for your users.

One of the most important benefits to HTML websites is being able to transfer your whole entire site to a new host (if ever necessary). With template sites, you are stuck on the host of whoever sold you the template, and if you want to switch to a new host, you’ll have to choose a new design when you get there, because the previous host owned that template! (nerve-racking, indeed!)

A Little Success Story With One of Our Clients -

Just recently, we had a client that was using a “drag-n-drop” or “WYSIWYG” (What You See Is What You Get) editor to edit content on their template based site. She wasn’t doing terrible with her traffic or anything, but we definitely saw some room for improvement. We took a look at the code this site editor was producing, and it looked mangled to say the least. There were all sorts of unnecessary code snippets, and a whole bunch of stuff that she didn’t need being inserted into her pages.

Also, she complained that she had ideas to reorganize some of her content to improve the site’s design and functionality, but couldn’t accomplish exactly what she wanted using the “wysiwyg” site editor. We understood her problems and concerns instantly after taking a look at the editor she was using and the code it produced. (Messy!)

What we did for her was recreated her web site, using the exact same design hand coded with HTML instead of using the editor she had bundled in with her web hosting. It was amazing how much smaller in file size the pages had become when we were finished. We had cut the code in half for each of her pages, causing the page load speed and the site performance to increase almost immediately. We also reorganized some of her content into a more understandable, easily navigable design which (in theory) should increase her visitor flow and decrease her bounce rate. (Because her visitors were now able to easily find the information they were looking for instead of searching for a little then giving up.)

Regardless of whether you choose a template-based website or a custom HTML website design, always keep your visitor in mind. There’s a couple of questions you should always ask yourself when considering your web design:

• “If I came to this site, would i be able to find what I’m looking for?”
• “Does it look professional and trustworthy?”
• “What set’s this site design apart from any other?”

If you can answer those questions positively, you’re in good shape!

These tips are relatively easy and can be implemented successfully in just a few hours of work.
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With tons of cheap and reliable platforms for sending email campaigns–we like MailChimp– there is no reason not to send an email every once in a while to your list of clients and potential customers. (You have a list, right?)

Many of these email providers are making it easy to post videos or thumbnail links to videos right in the email. Link to your YouTube video or, better yet, link to a video landing page that’s already been created!

Still not convinced? Check out the undeniable stats in this awesome infographic:

 

These tips are relatively easy and can be implemented successfully in just a few hours of work.
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Value-Added Video Marketing Tip For February:
Add a Video Landing Page To Your Website

Your website is a vast world that is difficult to explore. Make it easy for people to find your best services by adding landing pages through out your website.

Think of this way: Every page on your website is technically a landing page, it should be prompting the user to do something. When you create a landing page, there should be a strong call to action, a form for the visitor to connect with you, and some good content (preferably in the form of a video).

If you are unfamiliar with landing pages, you should check one out. They are a perfect way to create a super-specific pitch for a potential customer and video fits perfectly into the equation.

There are times when we need a more flexible video hosting solution.

Luckily, there are plenty of great video hosting services out there with tons of features. Of course they are not free (on average they run about $100 per month), but if you want to have a whole lot of control on how and where your video is seen, then here are some great services to check out:

1.

Advantages: Unique extras like clickable call-to-action pages in your video, easy Mailchimp integration, and made-to-order transcription services

Disadvantages: The Starter package is essentially unusable with a maximum video upload of three. You’ll probably have to go with the Pro package to get anything done, which might be overkill.

2. 

Advantages: Bits on the Run isn’t open-source, but it’s awfully developer-friendly. So plugins and features are constantly being developed. You pay for the bandwidth and hosting that you use so Bits on the Run is generally cheap especially if you integrate Amazon Web Services for hosting.

Disadvantages:  Bits on the Run has a more open framework which means they really don’t hold your hand when it comes to implementing their service. Chances are you are going to need an advanced web geek to help with getting this live.

3. 

Advantages: Unique features like social tags along with a robust ad delivery service (if you wish to make money from your content) make Viddler one of the best services out there.

Disadvantages: None that we can find. For the money, Viddler for Business seems to be the most flexible solution.

4. 

Advantages: At $200, Vimeo Pro is by far the cheapest of these services (with the exception of a lightly used Bits on the Run account.)

Disadvantages: Comparatively, Vimeo Pro runs a bit slim on the extras. You’re basically paying to host commercial content on the non-commercial Vimeo web space. You also get a white-label player which is a nice touch.

5. 

Advantages: Multiple encodes when you upload videos and it will intelligently deliver the correct encode to the right user. For instance, for visitors with a slower connection, Brightcove will deliver a lower quality encode that will play without interruption.

Disadvantages: Hard to find any, really. If anything. Brightcove might be way more than you need for hosting a few videos on your site.

Rest assured, all of the services above offer premium video hosting services that will work great when hosting your own content. And each service offer a plethora of options. The best way to pick the perfect services for you is to list the options that you definitely need and weight that against the price you are willing to pay for the service. If you’re still not sure, then take a few on for a trial. Each services offers a free trial period that will help you make the best decision for your business.

The final product ends up running about 20 minutes in length. A snippet of our most recent video with Georgetown Lacrosse can be seen below (see the full version here).

A lot of our video services go into this video including:

• Scriptwriting (Telling the story of the season)
• HD sports videography (A fast lens and a wealth of knowledge of the game come in handy here)
• Non-linear Editing (To compile a season’s worth of games into 20 minutes)
• Motion Graphics (Think ESPN titles)
• Graphic Design (For the DVD artwork)
• Encoding (For multiple delivery methods)

Starting in February we shoot games in HD video and capture the footage in our edit suite. In the meantime we construct a script with the coaching staff retelling the story of the season. As the season ends we organize the footage and then videotape an interview with Coach Dave Urick, letting him recall the season as it happened.

We then compile all the footage according to the script, adding in soundbytes from Coach. We add motion graphics and transition to tighten everything up. Finally, we design the DVD label and encode for DVD and YouTube.

The Georgetown coaching staff enjoy the video because it gives them something memorable to present at their annual banquet. Furthermore, it helps them in their recruiting efforts by showing prospective players the story of the school, the ability of the team, and an overview of the Georgetown LAX experience.

With ever-continuing advances in the world of web design and video production, we plan on making 2012 an even bigger and better year for us and our clients.

Here are two video highlights from 2011:

One of our favorite video projects to come through our studio was for Back on my Feet Baltimore. This amazing group uses running as a means to help recently homeless individuals get their life back together. The video we produced was for their yearly bash. We met and interviewed some extraordinary people for this video. The video received a great reception at the bash and was a huge success.

Another fun project was documenting the National Harbor Wine and Food Festival. We do quite a bit of work for Trigger Agency and they always have a great time hosting some of the best events in the region. This festival was no exception. We shot on-location during the two day festival, and put this video together with a fun fast-paced edit and eye-popping motion graphics.

We look forward to creating some great videos and websites in 2012. From all of us at Render Perfect Productions: Have a happy New Year!

• What are our customers searching for to find our company or our competitors?

• Which keyword did people search for the most last month?

• Is this term going to produce more or less traffic then another?

These are all questions that one should ask themselves when beginning to write content for their website, and keyword research should be your first step.

Whether you are starting a new site from scratch, and need loads of content to be written, or you are doing some on-page optimization for your existing website, and only need a couple paragraphs, keyword research is something that will help you out tremendously. While it may seem like a daunting task, it is a necessity if you’d like to keep up with your competitors. I will explain the basics of keyword research and also some “Do’s” and “Don’ts” that you should follow in this week’s blog post.

While it may seem like the obvious starting point, some people overlook it and automatically assume they know which keywords they should be using. Maybe once in a while you’ll get lucky and choose some keywords that work very well without putting that much thought into it, but this is almost never the case.

Before writing content, you should always sit down and think about which terms you will use. Think about who will be reading the content and how they will find it. A couple good questions to ask yourself in this brainstorming phase are as follows:

• Who will be reading this content? (Age, gender, income, etc.)
Quite possibly the most mentioned rule of SEO: “Keep the reader in mind”. The terms you are using depends entirely on your audience. If your audience isn’t very technical and may not know what a given keyword means, there’s no sense in even including that term, let alone stuffing it into a page 6 or 7 times. Keeping in mind who your targeted audience is will help you write much better content that they will understand.

• How will my audience find this content?
Think about the exact search terms your prospective visitors may use when looking for your product or brand. If you don’t use these terms when writing content, how will the users ever find it?

After you have your list of keywords that you brainstormed, the next logical step would be to perform some research on them. First, you want to find out if the terms that you have brainstormed are being searched for, and if they are competitive or not. A good free online tool to use when researching is the Google AdWords: Keyword Tool. This nifty tool provided by Google lets you enter terms and provides you with a list of keywords related to this, and how much they have been searched for on a local and global level on a monthly basis. You can even put your web address in here if you already have an existing site and it will show you recommended keywords for that website. Using this tool, you can discover which terms are searched for the most, and change your list accordingly. You may find that people have been searching for the service you offer, but referring to it as something different, and you can change your keyword list based on this information.

Once you have your list narrowed down to terms that you believe are popular in search results, you should then check how competitive they are. Using the Google Keyword Tool, you can discover the rank Google gives each keyword or keyword phrase based on their competitiveness (either Low, Medium, or High). You also want to check the local and global monthly searches on the terms you’ve chosen and make sure you’re not picking keywords that are extremely competitive, because your content may never get noticed.

Once you have your list narrowed down to terms that you are sure people are searching for, and aren’t highly competitive, you are ready to begin writing content. Like I stated earlier – KEEP YOUR READER IN MIND. This is the most repeated tip for SEO, and there’s a reason. Don’t ever write content just to fit a keyword in it as many times as possible. This is called “Keyword Stuffing”, and search engines like Google recognize it, and will penalize you for it. Try to include as many of your targeted terms in your content while still keeping it readable for your visitors.

“CompanyName is a skateboard company. We produce quality skateboards and carry many different brands at our Skateboard Shop, including Element Skateboards, Birdhouse Skateboards, etc. Our Skateboard shop is located at blah blah blah blahh”

The above sentence is terrible. Obviously the keyword the writer is trying to target is “Skateboards”, but any reader would think a 3rd grader wrote this, and probably wouldn’t hold the site in high credibility.

“CompanyName is a skateboard company. We produce quality boards and carry mare different brands at our Shop, including Element, Birdhouse, and more. Our Skate-Shop is located in Los Angelos, California.”

This looks much better. It is easily readable and you don’t feel like someone is jamming keywords in your face. In my opinion, it looks more trustworthy too. I’d think any user would be much more likely to use a company that wrote content like this, over the first example.

What you probably haven’t heard is how easy it is to add captions to your video. We’re not talking about the auto-transcription created by YouTube, but rather a real 100% accurate and timed closed-caption that will help your video get better search results.

Here’s how to do it:

1.) Compile the transcript of your video. You might be able to easily do this if you have the original script lying around. If not, you’re still in luck since YouTube automatically transcribes every video that is uploaded. The YouTube auto-transcriber tends to get a lot of words wrong but it’s still a good starting point.

To get the YouTube transcript, go to My Videos and choose a video. Click “Edit Info” and go to the Captions and Subtitles tab. You’ll find a file called “English: Machine Transcription” and a download button. Downloading will produce a file called “captions.sbv”. This is not a very common filetype, but it can be opened in most text editors. Here you will find timing and transcription info that will be a useful starting point to transcribing your video. With any luck, the machine transcription will only need a few changes.

Copy the text into a new document. Don’t worry about the time info yet. Just fix all of the errors until you’re happy with the complete transcription.

2.) Time your transcription to the video. Since YouTube has a feature called “auto-timing” this part is easy. Watch the video as you read your transcription. For every pause, start a new line. For every longer pause, skip a line completely. That’s it! No numbers or timecode needed, just blocks of text spaced out organically. Save the document as a .txt file.

3.) Upload and test. You can upload your txt file on the page where you found “English: Machine Transcription.” Upload the file and within a minute you will be able to see your new captions in action. Watch through twice to make sure that they are complete and correct.

That’s it! Within a few days your captions should start ranking in YouTube and Google Video search results.

1.)  Use The Photo And Video Feature Of Your Phone To Perform A Site Survey

Any video that includes on-site production should include a site survey.   This survey is where a producer or scout analyzes the area where any video production will take place, trying to discover any issues that would adversely effect the production.

Some examples of would be:

• noise from an air-conditioner or natural environment
• size of a room
• placement of windows
• background visual distraction
• access to electrical outlets

Use your phone to take detailed photos and even record video of the areas where you envision your video being shot.  Make sure to label each picture and video appropriately with descriptive names such as: boardroom facing front, boardroom facing back, hallway windows, et cetera.  If you record video of the room or area, make a note of the level of room noise.If you do a good job of using the basic photo and video features of your smartphone, you can possibly eliminate the need for an in-person site survey and save yourself some money.  You will also gain insight into areas you feel are best for shooting video, and might be able to select a better area based on your results.

2) Use The Voice-Record Function To Rehearse Your On-Camera Delivery

This tip is priceless and will save you and your video team tons of time and frustration. Let’s face it, if you don’t speak on-camera for a living, it is a nerve racking and anxious process.  Your instinct is going to be to write out what you want to say and then memorize it.  Don’t do it!  We don’t write the way we speak and some things that are written just don’t sound as good when spoken.  If you encounter this as you are trying to present the message on-camera you will try to make changes and start second guessing what you are trying to say.  Instead, whip out your smartphone!

Use the voice-record feature to practice delivering your message on-camera.  You should still write down ideas in advance, but use an outline to map out your main thoughts instead of creating a written script.

Record two or three takes of the message you want to present and have a listen to them and share them with your team.  If your delivery sounds weird to you or you are not coming off in the way you feel you should refine your message, alter your delivery, and record again.

Most people never feel warm and fuzzy about the sound of their recorded voice so use the opinion of trusted friends or team members.  By using your smartphone to record what you want to say on-camera you will refine your message as it will be heard by the viewer, and build confidence, making for a smoother and shorter video production process for you and the crew.

3)  Time The Length Of Your Script Using Your Phone’s Stop Watch

This tip is mostly for businesses looking to produce a promo that intends to be aired on television or radio.  Most advertising copy needs to fit neatly into 30 second or 60 second packages. Businesses always have a large amount of information that they want to convey within a short amount of time. We receive a lot of this type of copy from clients, and it rarely conforms to the time restrictions of their commercial.   We then have to take time to revise the copy for the client and proof it out with them which takes time and costs money.

One great way to avoid having your copy being too long is to use the stopwatch feature on your smartphone to time it out.

Here is how you do it:

1. Sit down with your final script and phone in front of you.
2. Get a glass of water and warm up your vocal cords.  Practice your best voice-over voice, “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday at Race Way Park!”
   
3. Give yourself a count down, “3 – 2 – 1 “, and on one, hit ‘Start’ as your begin to read.

If you come up a few seconds short or a few seconds long you are in good shape.  One or two seconds can usually be adjusted by delivering the script a bit faster or slower.  If you come up more then five seconds short or long, it is time to go back and do some revisions.
We are always looking for tools and methods to make the process of creating video easier and more effective and hope these tips help you in planning your next video production. We’d love to know if you have any other ways to use a smartphone to help plan a video production.

HOW TO RENDER IN PERFECT MP4! (Ta-da)

First off, I’m taking it that you wanna render your video in mp4 to place it on YouTube, Vimeo or another video hosting service. Keep in mind that these sites change their preferences on what seems like a daily basis. So just because these are the best encoding settings today, doesn’t mean they will be a year from now. Secondly, I’m just gonna assume that your video was produced in HD.

So here are 3 settings that “The YouTubes” LOVE right now:

Keep Your Frame Size Consistent
Why:  Youtube’s HD settings go as high as 1080p. So if your video originates in 1080p, congrats! Upload it full frame. If your video is smaller, don’t try to enlarge it in the encode. If it’s 720p, keep it 720p. 480p to 480p and so on. It will look its best at its original size and accordingly on all smaller sizes.

Encode At Datarate Of 5mb/s For Video
Why: Logically, it makes sense that a higher bitrate video would produce better looking video. However, YouTube is going to transcode whatever you upload to its own max bitrate (about 4mb/s). So encoding at the higher bitrate is just gonna mean larger file which ultimately means a longer upload with (arguably) the same results.

Use A .Mov Or .Mp4
Why: A lot of sites will tell you that your video has to be a MP4. To tell you the truth the file extension MP4 or MOV doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it’s compressed with the H.264 codec which is usually associated with the MP4 extension (Confusing huh?). Whatever you do, please just don’t upload a Windows Media file (.wmv)!