Video recording and editing used to be a field for professionals only some years back. You could only find a few people with video cameras and even fewer who could edit those videos. But times have changed, and having a camcorder or a video recorder is almost as important as having a house to live in. In fact, a phone without a video recorder is no phone at all. Even young kids know how to record videos. But very few people have an idea about video editing. By the end of this, you will be a professional in video editing.The very first process in video editing is transferring the videos to a laptop or a PC. Now, you can edit your videos in your phone or some camcorders, but trust me, you won’t do it to precision, so I would rather you get a software that can edit videos, then you can start your video editing. I would prefer Pinnacle Studio 16 and Corel Video Studio Pro for heavy duty editing.Next you have to get all the videos that are related and make sure they are in one folder. After doing that, drag the videos in the order they were taken into the software’s deck. Start by clipping off the spaces in between different segments of the video. Make sure the video flow is continuous and there are no gaps on between the clips. This is called trimming.In between the clips, you can add transitions to make the clip more interesting and catchy. Transitions range from one video editing software to another but one thing is for sure; you will find transitions that are predefined in each of the video editing softwares. You can fade in a clip after another one is finished, but make sure the flow is smooth at all times. Transitions make a video more captivating so I would rather you use the best transitions.Now videos can be pretty plain some times. If you want to really soup up your video to a professional level, you need a couple of changes in color schemes. Some of the clips need may need to have sepia color schemes, black and white, and many more. A tab on the video editing software is used to change this. Sometimes it is under a drop-down list or on its own, with a label like, “color scheme” or a related term.Now another important aspect of videos is the audio part. However much your video looks awesome, the audio might discredit it if it is not up to the standard. In fact, most professional video experts prefer to get their sound separately using a different microphone that is connected to a mixer and the sound balanced and compressed, then they come and add it to the video they have recorded. But you don’t get many opportunities to do that so we have to improvise. Any good video editor can edit audio too, but not to the studio standards. Some basic audio editing features include panning the sound, volume control, pitch control, and many more. Now, if you are getting your audio separately, ensure it is in line with the video and cases like the video displaying someone speaking then the sound follows some few seconds after do not happen. Ensure that you normalize the sound so that there are no sound outbursts at some points of your video.There is a lot of amazing stuff you can do with your videos. You can even delete an object from a video clip or hide something in the video. Playing around with the video can really take you places. By object I mean even a person. You can fix a character that was not in the video before. The limits go beyond the sky-line. You can animate inanimate objects using some of the video editing softwares and make things come into life.After video editing, you can now export the video and render it in a suitable format, for instance Moving Pictures Expert Group, Flash Video, Apple Quick Time Movie, HD, and many more formats depending on your preferences.The world of video editing is constantly changing, and you have to be in touch with it. You need to spend your time learning new ideas and concepts, and upgrading the ones you have. But as of now, you are good to go. Welcome into the world of video editing!! Now keep in mind that you don’t have to have these professional video editing softwares to be able to do some good job. Even the light duty one you have can take you places.

Small Businesses and Solo Entrepreneurs need to build their brand identity just like the large companies. People are more likely to do business with you if they feel comfortable with you and feel like they already know you.When you sneeze do you ask for a ‘Kleenex” or a tissue? Are you thirsty for a ‘Coke’ or a cola? Consumers buy these products just because they are familiar with them. When you’re a small business owner or solo entrepreneur the product/service is you. It is imperative that you build brand identity that creates familiarity of you within your ‘niche’ market. Building your identity is important because people support businesses and products that they are comfortably familiar with and avoid the unknowns.Here are some successful strategic branding ideas.Personal experience creates a strong bond between you and your customers. Your customer service needs to be extremely personal so it creates an viral cycle. The personal experience your customer receives will lead to ‘word of mouth’ publicity.Create a consistent and repetitive association of you in your prospects mind. This can be achieved by using jingles in audio advertising mediums, and logos, photos, slogans and/or positioning statements in print advertising mediums, press releases, brochures and especially your business cards. Remember there is a back side to your business card and that is valuable space to be used for brand marketing. Be consistent in the look of your marketing/advertising so it brands you and your company. People will be acquainted with you based on that alone.Get a professional web site with headers and footers that continues your business identity using the same logos, photos, slogans and/or positioning statements as you use in print.Write articles with content that is educational and valuable for your customer. Put each article on your website and invite visits to your site through your resource box. Use your resource box to build brand identity.Use article directories to publish your articles, with your resource box pointing back to your website, to build name recognition. This is absolutely FREE advertising and a must for branding your business and yourself. When you sign up as an author you have an opportunity to add your photo or logo in your profile. Make sure you take advantage of this opportunity for increased identity branding.Brand your business by associating with and complimenting other successful products to develop a quality reciprocal link and partnership brand strategy on the Internet. This will increase your exposure and business identity. There are products you can use for this such as Arelis (http://axandra.com/index.htm) and Zeus (http://www.cyber-robotics.com)Build brand identity and stay in constant contact with your customers and prospects by using an auto responder service. Communicate frequently with your customers and prospects giving useful and personal information. Always use your same logos, photos, slogans and/or positioning statements.Frequency is another branding strategy. As an example, create a postcard marketing campaign where you send out pertinent information about your market or how you go above and beyond the ‘typical’ customer service. These direct mail postcards should be sent out at least once per month, if not more, and have your photo and/or logo prominently placed.Your brand is your promise. Make sure you, and anyone associated with your business, can stand behind what you have promised in your efforts and be able to deliver on that promise. If you don’t live up to it promises your customers and prospects will feel alienated from you and your company. This will damage your relationships and your overall brand.A consistent look for everything you do will design your business identity. Successful small business owners and solo entrepreneurs know the importance of ing their identities into the consciousness of their niche. When they are ready to purchase they will already know you and are willing to buy your product or service. Never under estimate the power of branding.Here are a few article directories for your article submissions:webreference, site-reference and articledashboard.

Finding a web designer is the easy part- all you need to do is perform a quick search online and bingo, you’re presented with pages and pages of them in the search engine results. The hard part is choosing the right web designer for your individual project. Every web design project has a specific set of requirements and every web designer has a unique set of skills that may, or may not, be suitable for your needs. In this article, I’ll list some key factors that will help you find the right web designer and how you determine if they have the necessary skills to undertake your web development project.Research the Web Designers Website and Online PortfolioEvery web designer should have a functioning website and an online portfolio of their work. If they don’t, you can scratch them off the list. After you have found some web designers in your area, or anywhere else for that matter, you should research each of their websites and check out samples of their work. Different web designers take different approaches to their work and use a variety of technologies. You should read up on their skills and approach to web design, to make sure they suit your requirements. Viewing completed websites and samples of the web designer’s work is also essential to get a good idea of the design style and skills they have. Make sure the websites function correctly. If some of the web designer’s recent samples are not working, there is a good chance that, if you use them, your website might have the same issues. Look at the design style of their portfolio samples. Most web designers tend to stick to a particular style. If you like the look of their websites, and their website text sounds appealing, you’re onto a winner. Take the next step and call them, or send a project brief through.Speak to Your Chosen Web DesignersAnother key point to determine which web designer is best for you, is finding out whether you can communicate with them. You will need to explain your vision to the designer and they should be able to respond with ideas and suggestions for your project. If you call your designer and there is, for example, a language barrier between you, that could be a problem throughout the development process. Talking to a potential web designer also gives you a good idea whether you are going to get on with them or not. If you call to speak with your chosen web design company and you are put on the phone to a rude or uninterested individual – in my books, that would not be somebody you would want to deal with on an ongoing basis. If they are enthusiastic, keen and communicate well you are more likely to have a successful ongoing professional relationship.Qualification and ExperienceQualifications and experience are not always essential but they do give you some security that the web designer knows what they are doing and has the skills to undertake your project. It’s really up to your judgment whether you want to use a web designer with no experience but you never know, they might be a young gun with tons of talent and is just waiting for that first project to unleash their skills on to. Whether you prefer your web designer to have qualifications or not is also up to you. Qualifications just mean they have had some formal recognition of their skills. My preference would be experience beats qualifications any day. Your web designer may have undertaken a six month course which has got them a certificate of some sort but that does not make them a good designer. There is so much information online and ways to hone your design talents now, that needing somebody to teach you is not essential.Creative VisionIt is very important the web designer you speak to understands your creative vision. To create a website that truly serves a purpose and business goal, the designer need to understand the nature of the website and relate to your overall vision. Take note on whether the web designer offers any ideas or suggestions when you’re talking to them. This is a good indication of whether they understand the project and are enthusiastic about it.The Right TechnologyDifferent web projects need different technology behind them. Not all web designers have all the necessary skills for some types of web development. For example you may need a full content management system with database driven content and advanced search engine optimisation. This is something not all web designers can provide. Most designer’s will tell you straight away if they are unable to complete the project, due to technical limitations. It is up to you as a client to inform the designer of all the feature’s you anticipate your website to have so they can tell you whether they can complete it.A Reasonable CostThe cost of the web project is normally the key factor in how people choose their web designer. The scope of your project and what budget you have can limit what designer you choose. If you have a very small budget but want to build the next Facebook, any sane web designer will tell you they can’t help you. However, it is always good to get a few quotes and see which designer can offer the best package, for a reasonable cost. If they’re too expensive, it might be because they are a larger company with more overheads, or they are simply very good at what they do. If they are cheap, do a bit more investigation before committing – Cheap web design may end up costing you more in the long run, as it probably won’t serve its purpose very well and you will need to get it rebuilt. The cost of web design is often open ended… ‘how long is a piece of string?’… A good web designer should be able to explain the reason why they have quoted a certain price, and discuss what they can do within your budget – Just because you have received an initial quote that may be higher than you originally anticipated, talk to your designer about it. Quite often, there could be features or aspects of the quote than can be removed, or modified, to get the project back within your budget – If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.