Videoeezy from Tosh Lubek Productions

If you're creating video content on YouTube I hope you are taking full advantage of YouTube’s free marketing tools. Of course they don't call them that. They call those tools Cards and End Screens . If you haven't visited YouTube for a while you may not have heard of either End Screens or Cards. But you probably will have heard of Annotations, or at least seen them on videos. But here's the thing, Annotations are NO MORE. Annotations RIP. As of about May of 2017 YouTube Creators haven't been able to create new annotations, nor can they edit existing annotations (with the exception of removing them from videos). Oh no! Annotations were great, at least for Creators, who sadly seldom used annotations in a subtle way. Nonetheless, annotations were useful for Creators. They were a boon; I could use them to link to my website’s landing page or squeeze page. In fact, I could link to multiple websites, although YouTube didn’t really want anyone to know abo

YouTube Annotations. They are a bit like Marmite, you either love them or you hate them. As a viewer you may think they are ugly and often hide the video you want to watch. But if you are a YouTube creator you will know annotations have been one of your best friends. When introduced by YouTube they helped Creators grow their channels by encouraging fans to subscribe, lead them to other related videos, boost comments, likes and shares, Annotation can even facilitate the sale of merchandise. So if Annotations are so good, why is YouTube doing away with them from Tuesday May 2 nd 2017? The big problem for Annotations is that they are old technology that does not work on mobile. Annotations were introduced in 2008 when our e-lives were firmly tied to desktop computers. Mobile networks were relatively slow and streaming HD videos to your phone was a bizarre notion for most people. Almost ten years later everything has moved on. Desktop viewing has been overtaken by mobile and

UPDATE: To see the latest requirements to get into the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), see this article on DIYVideoStudio.com . So you want to make money online and you think an easy way to do that is create video content, upload it to YouTube and monetize it with ads. Well hold on there, the goal posts have just shifted. YouTube has just changed some of its rules about YouTube Partner Program membership. YouTube has introduced changes it hopes will address the concerns of some heavy weight advertisers who recently discovered their adverts had been appearing beside videos that promote hate, extremist views and terrorism. Obviously major brands do not want to be associated with such material but the is a further twist. Some of their advertising budget is being shared with the hate speech creators. Effectively, major advertisers fear they are inadvertently helping to fund and facilitate individuals and organisation whose views are highly divergent from those of their brands.

My first reaction to the launch of the iPhone 7 was anger that Apple had removed the 3.5mm headphone jack. Two days on I’m still not convinced it’s the right move for users but I’ll admit the phone seems to offer the vlogger or video maker some great features. A lot of the initial reports have been about the dual lens system on the iPhone 7, in fact that only applies to the iPhone 7 Plus. The smaller iPhone 7 is only equipped with the wide angle f1.8 lens. Both versions being able to shoot 1080p footage at 30 and 60 fps. Both versions of the phone seem to offer plenty to today’s video creator, although we will have to wait until 16 th  September 2016 before we can get hands-on with the phone. Until then here’s what Apple say we are going to get. Better low light performance Both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have a new 12-megapixel wide angle 28mm f/1.8 six element lens. According to Apple this will transmit about 50% more light to the sensor, compared to the iP

Why Smartphone video is a ‘must have’ for promoting your business A modern smartphone is like having a film studio in your pocket - yet few businesses take advantage of the amazing technology they already own and use it to promote their products. Now a new online course intends to change all that and get entrepreneurs creating great video. In just a few days, Ayrshire-based Tosh Lubek and Ken McGaffin have signed up over 360 students from around the world for their course, ‘Make Great Videos on a Budget’ which sells for just £20. “Video is the most popular form of content online - from how-to videos, product demos, customer testimonials and more,” says Lubek, “With video, people see you and hear you, they follow your advice and they get to trust you - and then of course, they’re ready to buy from you”. And video can outperform the written word. “Small businesses hate writing about themselves - just ask any designer who’s waiting for copy to get the latest brochure done!”