Help with website ideas!! what to do?

Ken Campbell · January 9th, 2009, 01:44 AM

Hey Karel, thanks for the heads up with Exposure Room. It's a new one to me. Here's a list of video hosting sites I found some time ago Top 31 free alternatives to YouTube (video hosting sites) Chaos Laboratory

Although YouTube doesn't have the Pro appeal of Vimeo and Brightcove, it does have one massive advantage: it's the world's second largest search engine today and it is tightly integrated with the world's largest search engine. And I heard that 80% of all Internet traffic emanates from YouTube now. Acknowledging the increased size of the content on Youtube, it still demonstrates to my marketing brain that there are a lot of people spending way too much time on YouTube.

As for the Pro vs. DIY debate, it all really comes down to do you want to save money, or do you want to make money. Most money made today comes from investing in something that has potential to grow. The investment for a pro looking image is not that high today.

Here's a helpful hint for those who believe that a better image results in better sales. Today web and creative agencies need videographers as video continues to become the medium of choice for Internet communcations. Many are willing to do favors in return for favors.

Karel Bata · January 9th, 2009, 04:10 AM

Good tip! And an excellent link - I'll post a link to that in my revised 'web hosting comparisons site' (coming soon).

I think Exposure Room offers the best in technical quality available for free (but only just) which will be important to may people here. Unfortunately their site is a bit clunky, though you can embed it elsewhere - but they only offer 3 fixed sizes and the UI is not very clean (see my link at the bottom). It's certainly the one to use if you want to show off something at it's best possible quality, but maybe not if the design of a web page has higher priority. Here's one of mine: Culture Club (you may wish to turn your sound down) There are elements you can change, like the header, but not a lot. Most of these sites want to develop a 'community' but I've found there are few real pros actually hanging out in any of these.

Would be nice if that could be done here?

Paying or free? I think that if you pay you need to pay a substantial amount. A cheapo company will give you an off the peg solution you could have found yourself with some research, and it often looks that way. To me anyway. I'm not saying that everyone should have a fancy site, but that it's always a good idea to look a bit different in a way that says something positive about you. But then most folk here will understandably have other higher priorities.

The biggest question is - who is your target audience? Answer that and the answers to a lot of other questions, like HD or HQ?, become clearer.

p,s. Vimeo and ER both say they're about to launch new improved versions. So keep watching the skies...

Ian Stark · January 9th, 2009, 04:56 AM

Worth keeping in mind that many (maybe all?) of the free video hosting sites prohibit uploading of commercial work or using the site for anything other than personal use (that seems to include Vimeo and Exposure Room. YouTube allows it). How strictly they enforce this I don't know.

Interestingly, two of my (big name) clients are asking me to produce low cost rough and ready videos that simply get their message across without high production values. They want them to be put on YouTube for the very reasons Ken states - massive exposure potential. They are technical messages aimed at senior IT managers who don't care about or appreciate the gloss and just want the bare details. They can deliver ten of these messages for the same price as one full production. The good part for me is that they are now making ten times as many videos (well, almost) in a time when I was very worried that my revenue was going to suffer badly because of the economy. Because I'm in their face all the time, I'm in a strong position to be their first choice when they go back to making higher value videos when the world gets back to normal (whenever that is . . .)

It's a question of knowing what your audience wants and expects to see (and obviously the above is wholly irrelevant to someone making music videos or drama etc).

Karel Bata · January 9th, 2009, 05:16 AM

Absolutely.

copyright?
SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT SIGNS CONTENT LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH YOUTUBE

MCPS-PRS Alliance & YouTube sign ground-breaking agreement

Currently Warner are kicking up a fuss but I see the YouTube - Warner Channel is still live. It's all about HD. Why buy the DVD if you can download an HD version? We'll see a fresh agreement soon.

Forgot to mention that YouTube and Vimeo can do this http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?swf...D18&fs=1&hl=en but Exposure Room can't.

Ken Campbell · January 9th, 2009, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Stark

Worth keeping in mind that many (maybe all?) of the free video hosting sites prohibit uploading of commercial work or using the site for anything other than personal use (that seems to include Vimeo and Exposure Room. YouTube allows it). How strictly they enforce this I don't know.

Just before YouTube went HD I was hoping to create a Vimeo channel as a showcase for a series of videos I am about to do for a client. Here's the pilot "test" video which I purposely did to be 90% entertaining and 10% promotional YouTube - Giacomo Castellano with the Masotti X100M Modern 100W in HD Video I asked Vimeo if it was OK and they said no good. Moreover, Vimeo does not strictly define commercial usage, as most videos on Vimeo are promotional in one way or another. Until they strictly define their commercial use policy there will always be a risk that someone will claim that it is promotional and the video will be taken down.

Fortunately YouTube started doing HD better than Vimeo and for free.

Karel Bata · January 9th, 2009, 07:27 AM

I remember going into a pub here with my baby daughter quietly sleeping in her carry cot. We discreetly put her in a dark corner. The landlord saw her but said nothing. Then my goody goody other half asked "It's ok if we bring her in here isn't it?"
"Now you've pointed it out, I have to tell you it's not. You shouldn't have asked."

I think a lot of internet hosting sites operate much the same policy.

Nice video Ken. He almost looks cool. Wish I could play like that.

Ian Stark · January 9th, 2009, 08:15 AM

You're right, of course, Karel, but it's a dangerous way to run a business.

Karel Bata · January 9th, 2009, 08:27 AM

There's some very precarious business models operating out there...

Hey I like the way you have two windows on videoit, but I thought you'd want to know (1) it took about 10 seconds before anything happened here (2) I got no sound.

XP Chrome.

re (1) is it possible to link to a very short video that would load very quickly which would then automatically follow up with something a bit longer? Just a thought. Would be useful elsewhere though. I think they do something like that with the ads running before videos on the Guardian site, for instance.

EDIT nor on IE, and everything that's 250pixels from the left slips down off the page. Don't shoot the messenger...

Ian Stark · January 9th, 2009, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karel Bata

There's some very precarious business models operating out there...

There certainly are!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karel Bata

Hey I like the way you have two windows on videoit, but I thought you'd want to know (1) it took about 10 seconds before anything happened here (2) I got no sound.

XP Chrome.

re (1) is it possible to link to a very short video that would load very quickly which would then automatically follow up with something a bit longer? Just a thought. Would be useful elsewhere though. I think they do something like that with the ads run before videos on the Guardian site, for instance.

EDIT nor on IE, and everything that's 250pixels from the left slips down off the page. Don't shoot the messenger...

Thanks for the for the heads up, Karel. I'll look into it. There is no sound with those clips, by the way. Are you saying you are using Chrome?

Karel Bata · January 9th, 2009, 08:40 AM

And IE.

"The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters."

I need a smiley here.

Brendan Donohue · January 27th, 2009, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grant Harrington

Don't forget BlocksBox,BlocksBox. It's a theme that isn't a theme. It's a canvas for whatever you want it to be. Does require Yourhead.com Blocks plugin, but makes site design as flexible as you want if you don't want to get into the HTML/CSS coding.

Hey Grant,

thanks so much for turning me on to BlocksBox...It is awesome. Totally worth the approx. $50 for the Blocks plugin and BlocksBox template if you already use RapidWeaver!!

I started out editing a blank RW template using CSSedit, which was cool, but I scRapped it as soon as I purchased BlocksBox, it is amazingly flexible, intuitive and easy to wrap your head around if you don't have much web design experience..I love it!

I've been messin around with it for a couple days now and this is what I have so far, mostly workin on design, haven't added content yet:

Home

Thanks again for all the suggestions!

Andris Krastins · March 30th, 2009, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andris Krastins

I'm using SkyBlueCanvas - The Lightweight CMS as my CMS. I chose it because it's a lot lighter than Joomla, doesn't require a database and to me at least is better suited for a small website.

Here is my: Our Fire
Please don't be scared by lack of images, my preferred style is very minimal.

Since I could not edit my old post any longer I wish to inform that I'm no longer using SkyBlueCanvas, so not to mislead you.
SBC had problems with utf-8, so it was not really usable to me as I had intended it (using non-latin alphabet).
I'm now using a free website template from this website: Arcsin Web Templates - Free Website Templates & Wordpress Themes

January 9th, 2009, 04:10 AM	#32
Karel Bata Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London, Antarctica Posts: 199	Good tip! And an excellent link - I'll post a link to that in my revised 'web hosting comparisons site' (coming soon). I think Exposure Room offers the best in technical quality available for free (but only just) which will be important to may people here. Unfortunately their site is a bit clunky, though you can embed it elsewhere - but they only offer 3 fixed sizes and the UI is not very clean (see my link at the bottom). It's certainly the one to use if you want to show off something at it's best possible quality, but maybe not if the design of a web page has higher priority. Here's one of mine: Culture Club (you may wish to turn your sound down) There are elements you can change, like the header, but not a lot. Most of these sites want to develop a 'community' but I've found there are few real pros actually hanging out in any of these. Would be nice if that could be done here? Paying or free? I think that if you pay you need to pay a substantial amount. A cheapo company will give you an off the peg solution you could have found yourself with some research, and it often looks that way. To me anyway. I'm not saying that everyone should have a fancy site, but that it's always a good idea to look a bit different in a way that says something positive about you. But then most folk here will understandably have other higher priorities. The biggest question is - who is your target audience? Answer that and the answers to a lot of other questions, like HD or HQ?, become clearer. p,s. Vimeo and ER both say they're about to launch new improved versions. So keep watching the skies... __________________ What are the Alternatives to YouTube?

January 9th, 2009, 04:56 AM	#33
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	Worth keeping in mind that many (maybe all?) of the free video hosting sites prohibit uploading of commercial work or using the site for anything other than personal use (that seems to include Vimeo and Exposure Room. YouTube allows it). How strictly they enforce this I don't know. Interestingly, two of my (big name) clients are asking me to produce low cost rough and ready videos that simply get their message across without high production values. They want them to be put on YouTube for the very reasons Ken states - massive exposure potential. They are technical messages aimed at senior IT managers who don't care about or appreciate the gloss and just want the bare details. They can deliver ten of these messages for the same price as one full production. The good part for me is that they are now making ten times as many videos (well, almost) in a time when I was very worried that my revenue was going to suffer badly because of the economy. Because I'm in their face all the time, I'm in a strong position to be their first choice when they go back to making higher value videos when the world gets back to normal (whenever that is . . .) It's a question of knowing what your audience wants and expects to see (and obviously the above is wholly irrelevant to someone making music videos or drama etc). __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

January 9th, 2009, 05:16 AM	#34
Karel Bata Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London, Antarctica Posts: 199	Absolutely. copyright? SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT SIGNS CONTENT LICENSE AGREEMENT WITH YOUTUBE MCPS-PRS Alliance & YouTube sign ground-breaking agreement Currently Warner are kicking up a fuss but I see the YouTube - Warner Channel is still live. It's all about HD. Why buy the DVD if you can download an HD version? We'll see a fresh agreement soon. Forgot to mention that YouTube and Vimeo can do this http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?swf...D18&fs=1&hl=en but Exposure Room can't. __________________ What are the Alternatives to YouTube?

January 9th, 2009, 08:15 AM	#37
Ian Stark Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 2,237	You're right, of course, Karel, but it's a dangerous way to run a business. __________________ www.vit-media.com www.classicmachinefilms.co.uk

January 9th, 2009, 01:44 AM	#31
Ken Campbell Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Milan, Italy Posts: 140	Hey Karel, thanks for the heads up with Exposure Room. It's a new one to me. Here's a list of video hosting sites I found some time ago Top 31 free alternatives to YouTube (video hosting sites) Chaos Laboratory Although YouTube doesn't have the Pro appeal of Vimeo and Brightcove, it does have one massive advantage: it's the world's second largest search engine today and it is tightly integrated with the world's largest search engine. And I heard that 80% of all Internet traffic emanates from YouTube now. Acknowledging the increased size of the content on Youtube, it still demonstrates to my marketing brain that there are a lot of people spending way too much time on YouTube. As for the Pro vs. DIY debate, it all really comes down to do you want to save money, or do you want to make money. Most money made today comes from investing in something that has potential to grow. The investment for a pro looking image is not that high today. Here's a helpful hint for those who believe that a better image results in better sales. Today web and creative agencies need videographers as video continues to become the medium of choice for Internet communcations. Many are willing to do favors in return for favors.

January 9th, 2009, 07:27 AM	#36
Karel Bata Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London, Antarctica Posts: 199	I remember going into a pub here with my baby daughter quietly sleeping in her carry cot. We discreetly put her in a dark corner. The landlord saw her but said nothing. Then my goody goody other half asked "It's ok if we bring her in here isn't it?" "Now you've pointed it out, I have to tell you it's not. You shouldn't have asked." I think a lot of internet hosting sites operate much the same policy. Nice video Ken. He almost looks cool. Wish I could play like that.

January 9th, 2009, 08:27 AM	#38
Karel Bata Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London, Antarctica Posts: 199	There's some very precarious business models operating out there... Hey I like the way you have two windows on videoit, but I thought you'd want to know (1) it took about 10 seconds before anything happened here (2) I got no sound. XP Chrome. re (1) is it possible to link to a very short video that would load very quickly which would then automatically follow up with something a bit longer? Just a thought. Would be useful elsewhere though. I think they do something like that with the ads running before videos on the Guardian site, for instance. EDIT nor on IE, and everything that's 250pixels from the left slips down off the page. Don't shoot the messenger...

January 9th, 2009, 08:40 AM	#40
Karel Bata Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: London, Antarctica Posts: 199	And IE. "The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters." I need a smiley here.