Interview with Brad Inman of TurnHere.com

Turnhere.com just lowered its prices for small business videos from the already low, low, low price of $895 to a new low - $499.

Here's an interview from Sept. with TurnHere CEO Brad Inman.



And here's how it works:

Traffic Geyser -Beyond Tube Mogul?

Web video marketing doesn't stand on its own - its tied to search engine optimization, social media distribution, and many other online marketing variables.

Last year, Tube Mogul was the biggest breakthrough in getting your video posted onto multiple video outlets - no more uploading videos to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc. one by one. Tube Mogul handled all of these submissions for you at one time.

Now the web video distribution engine du jour is Traffic Geyser. TubeMogul distributes to about 15 sites - TG to 25-39 or more. TubeMogul is free. TG is $97 per month - that's about $1200 a year. What you are really paying for is Traffic Geyser's search engine optimization technology.

TG also separates the audio from your video and submits it to 16 podcast directories.

They also help you with video creation - for a fee.

A new feature announced on their blog converts your video to transcription - also for a fee of $100 per hour...you could go to elance and do much better (like $25 or less for someone in Sri Lanka or India to transcribe your video).

Learn more in Patricia Whitehead's YouTube video overview:



Visit Traffic Geyser to learn more about their product in four free videos they make available. They also offer a 30-day free pass.

Strangely, or smartly? enough, they don't have a company channel on YouTube. What does that tell you?

Web Video Marketing Class - Rave Reviews

I am happy to report back that the one day class on Web Video Marketing I taught yesterday in downtown SF through U.C. Berkeley's Extension's marketing program was a great hit - thanks to the wonderful folks who participated. It was a small, intimate group of like-minded people, who came from the differing worlds of established brands, government-funded institutions, and a classic Bay Area type - a startup.

The class was an overview of the more in-depth course I will be giving starting Nov. 10 in downtown SF on Tuesday nights.

The evaluations said things like this:

"Pam's great! Very knowledgeable...she knows SO much and is willing to share. Great course! It should be advertised more widely. Anyone in charge of internet marketing should take this class."

"Very practical. Received clear information about video production options (some for only $500). Geared toward my level of technical skill so recommendations can be implemented."

I'm excited about the positive feedback and writing the textbook that will accompany the longer course. Please sign up on the Berkeley Extension web site - it's quick, easy and painless.

The class covers:
• Web Video Overview (conversion rates, success stories)
• Must Have Types of Videos (home page intro, product overviews, news, more)
• Make or Buy Decision Points (pros and cons of each and when to use which)
• Do It Yourself Options - from simple to complex
• Buy Options - from $150 to $500 and up for a complete video
• Distribution (how to include video in emails, where to distribute your videos, and sites that shortcut the distribution process)
• Tracking (free analytics tools and what they offer)

Guest speakers from many Bay Area companies have also been invited to present in the class.

Hope you can make it. Sign up or learn more here.

Wine Industry Catches the Web Video Vibe

Aside from restaurants and hotels, I can't think of another industry which has so embraced online web video marketing the way the wine industry has. I guess all those things that make us feel glowy and happy lend themselves to contact highs on video. Or how else to describe the way web video is catching on.

The grandaddy of them all, Gary Vaynerchuk, who says his video blog WineLibraryTV has helped him to grow to a more than $50 million a year business.

He has:
• 90,000 followers on his video channel (and 733+ videos) since 2006
• 900,000 followers on Twitter

A great new story appeared on Gary, including news of his upcoming $1 million 10-book contract with a major publisher, in the NYTimes last week. You can read it here.

I've blogged earlier here about the Wine Guys at V. Sattui Winery (seen here)...



...as a brilliant web video marketing move.

Now my email inbox today brings news of the Wine Spectator's video contest - 70 videos vying for the top prize. Most look like they were professionally directed.

Here's a sample - a wine rap song, pitting Eastern makers against Western makers. Being from Oakland, I always find white rappers a bit strange, but still fun nonetheless. Another features a wine detective story, one is about kosher wine, and another spoofs Arnold Schwarzeneger and Charlie's Angels. My favorite is the old world wine versus new world wine, in the PC versus Mac spoof subgenre.

My only beef - video embedding not allowed (by Wine Spectator). Guys, get with it. Videos are supposed to be viral.

But carping aside, go see the entries and vote for your personal favorite. See here.

In the meantime, enjoy last year's grand prize winner here. Entitled Wine and the City, it's a parody of...you name it.



Want more? Visit the Wine Spectator's YouTube channel. 144 videos and counting.

Web Video Marketing Class Launches Sept. 15

I will be offering a one day workshop on using web video for marketing (on your site and off) in San Francisco Sept. 15 through U. C. Berkeley Extension.

Workshop info here.

I'll also be offering a six session evening course there starting Nov. 10.

These will be great classes - go to the U.C. site to signup now!

Animoto - New and Improved - With Video

You can now add video clips to your Animoto videos. Cool.

See the announcement and demo video on the Animoto site here.

Vidyo: My Next New Favorite Ap - Personal Telepresence

Cisco telepresence, HP Halo? These are the telepresence (i.e. high resolution, life-sized video conferencing applications) aps to the Stars of American Business. But for you and me - ordinary folks - there's now an almost equally good offering as well: Vidyo.

While a Cisco telepresence room costs $300,000 to setup and install and $300,000 in monthly network fees over two years, Vidyo costs only $99 a month for 1200 minutes a month. Here's the 2008 demo:



I heard about it last night at a talk by Chuck Houston, executive director of Media X at Stanford University, in his presentation for the CIO Meetup group. And boy is Vidyo cool.

One of the biggest markets is anticipated to be boomers who want to keep tabs on their aging parents.

Vidyo's web site features this video showing the quality difference between its personal telepresence ap and "well known" (would that be Skype?) to show what a difference it makes to reduce blur and fuzzy images with crisp and clear ones. Vidyo supports HD as well as H.264-SVC (the latter automatically scales the streaming speed to the correct streaming settings for the end user's device).

Have a look and then visit the Vidyo web site for more details and a more engaging video here.

Web Videos: Not So Short Anymore

Today's New York Times features a story on how web video makers are going longer form with their offerings. See it here.