Must Design

Screen Capture Videos are an inexpensive, easy way websites can enter the video marketing revolution. Camtasia Studio screen capture video software review.

Google trends helps redesign websites. We used Google Trends to understand headphones category for the Moon-Audio.com redesign launched the day after Valentine's Day. We share trends tips on how to use this powerful FREE tool in this 3 minute video and Curagami post.

http://www.curagami.com/master-classes/ecommerce-master-class-video-using-google-trends/.

8 Reasons Web Designers Should Edit Video Too

This post shares four resume-reasons web designers should learn to edit videos such as::

* Video is growing fast.
* Make more money.
* Expands career opportunities.

* Great For self-promotion.

Team Curagami ( http://www.curagami.com ) has 4 more reasons that are more abstract but no less valuable:

* Videos, like websites, tell stories.

* Designing to seamlessly incorporate video is an important challenge few have mastered.

* Video editing is similar to web design just add time.

* Video editing brings a new dimension to web design (i.e. it adds time).

We designers with video skills design better websites and better videos.

Fantastic Video Website Designs for Inspiration. Selection of Awwwards winning video websites. Video is widely used in today's web design. Video is one of the most powerful tools of visual communication.

Video Online is Harder Than It Looks
These award winning video demonstrate a clear truth - creating a great video experience online is TOUGH. My favorite of all of these examples is Dick's Sporting Goods baseball videos. I like the visual storytelling of the Dick's videos.

I have a real feel for "being there" with Dick's. Problem is as Dicks makes the turn toward home and starts down the positions they lose me. They might lose a die hard baseball person less, but Dick's demonstrates some of video marketing's strengths and liabilities:

Strengths
* Can tell a complex story simply and quickly.
* Holds attention better than reading.
* Creates more hooks to wind a story around.

Weaknesses
* Easy to lose your way from a script / production / website integration standpoint (watch that Keecker and tell me if you don't get a little creeped out too).
* We watch a lot of video, so expectations are HIGH for both production quality and story strength.

* Video floats on top of websites more than it is actually part of them.

That last bullet in weaknesses is where the real design stress exists. How do we move back and forth between website and video without losing attention, being confusing or both losing attention and being confusing? Videos tend to dominate webpages.

When I was Director of Ecommerce we finally, after many tries, found a product page video size, style and length that significantly contributed to conversion. Problem is WE created those videos.

As we move into the User Generated Content social Media world of tomorrow we will need to create less and curate more. There is a way to create a web framework to support UGC videos and as soon as I see it I will be sure to share it (if you've seen a video website you think works WITH instead of against its videos please share).

Ever have one of those light bulb moments. We had one tonight about the future of online marketing when we were able to get our Curagami YouTube channel on our "smart TV" thanks to our Roku box running an app.

You can seen our Curagami YouTube Channel here:
http://bit.ly/Curagami_YouTube

You can read the steps we took to get Curagami on TV here
https://plus.google.com/+MartinWSmith/posts/9P9Dw5pTdrL

Next stop is creating our own Roku Channel and learning more about how to segment and use YouTube. The link on this Scoop takes you to a post explaining how to create a Roku channel in 5 minutes. Roku is not full of blockbuster channels and how cool would it be to play in the same space as HBO and Amazon?

The price? Practically NOTHING now. Won't stay there for long, so get grandfathered in start your online marketing down the future's lane today.

Why is the new Moon-Audio.com crushing last year? We worked hard BEFORE drawing a wireframe. Know your WHY & business then design & follow these redesign tips.

25 Great Web Design Tips From Forbes

1. The 5 Second Rule **

2. Proper Messaging

3. Call to Action **

4. Building Trust

5. Keep it Fresh

6. Incorporating Social Media
7. Don’t Make Me Think **

8. Web 2.0 – It’s About the User’s Needs, Not About You

9. Video **

10. Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

11. Don’t Fall Behind – Your Competitors Will Beat You

12. Security

13. Start with SEO in Mind **

14. Avoid Long Page Forms
15. Don’t Make Me Squint

16. Be an Industry Leader

17. It’s No Longer Just About the Desktop

18. Don’t Attempt to Target Everyone

19. Monitor Site Performance

20. It’s Web Pages, Not Websites That Rank

21. Your Website is a Component of Marketing

22. Good websites grow businesses.

23. Flash is dead.

24. Respect text.

25. Future requires wearable tech integration.

All 25 are great web design tips. Our favorite 5 are highlighted in bold.