The two most frequently expressed concerns in response to my survey were TIME and MONEY involved in creating videos for accountancy and other professional service websites. I dealt with these two issues in the last two articles.
Now let’s turn to another group of questions that troubled quite a number of respondents:
“How do I get it right?”
When it comes to video most people who ask the How-To question focus primarily on one aspect:
Technology or equipment – ‘Lights, camera, action.’ There is another dimension, though, that is at least as important.
I’ll get to it later, in the next article.
I’ll deal with technology first because most people think that the technology is really important.
I disagree.
‘The other dimension,’ is much more fundamental, and you’ll need to know it whether you’ll create your own videos or commission them.
First things first, though.
Before any technology comes into play, you have to make one very important decision:
What do you want to achieve with video?
Whatever the goal, it is absolutely imperative that you pick one goal for each video, not many. Videos cannot multi-task. If they try and do this, they only end up confusing their viewers who tend to remedy such confusion very quickly with the click of a mouse button or the swipe of a finger.
Yes, your viewers are unforgiving. They want it straight or else they’re gone.
Once you’ve decided what you want, the choice of technology is easy:
You need a camera and a voice recorder allowing you to capture images and sound to achieve your goal plus know-how to operate the equipment.
All this leaves you with two options: DIY or Done-4-U.
This is where time and money come into play. If you wish to review this topic further, I’ve dealt with these two acronyms in more detail in another article (“DIY or Done-4-U – When should you create your own videos?”).
Equipment
“What’s the best camera for online video?”
That’s easy: The best camera for the job is the one you have. In most cases, it’s a smartphone, which, when used correctly, is a very powerful camera.
The key here is not the type of smartphone but ‘used correctly’:
- Don’t hold it upright, that is, in portrait mode. Shoot in landscape.
Use a tripod to keep your camera steady. If you don’t, well, you can see the difference here.
Your sound must be good. This actually is the no. 1 tip for a successful video.
- Make sure your video is properly lit especially when using a smartphone.
If you absolutely want to shoot your own videos, buy an online course on creating videos with your smartphone or DSLR. This will teach you not only how to shoot but in most cases also how to edit your footage.
Post-production is the second part of the technical know-how required to create professional looking videos and includes editing, graphics, animation, soundtrack, optimisation and conversion.
Beware!
However great you are or become at shooting video and at post-production, it won’t help if you don’t get the fundamentals right:
Your Content
Yes, that’s ‘the other dimension’ I went on about at the outset. I’ll deal with how to get your content right in the next article.
Meanwhile, if you want to take a correctly formatted video and its accompanying content for a test drive on your accountancy website, follow the arrow. It comes with my compliments and at no cost or obligation on your part. All I’ll ask you in return will be some feedback if you feel like it.
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