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We’re excited to announce some great new features. You’ve told us you want more flexibility and that’s what we’re providing. On the edit text step you now have full editing functionality and can change the font type, size, color and style. For a full rundown of the new features check out the short demo video below.
As always, we’d love to hear your feedback in the comments.
by by You needed video on your site and you needed it yesterday. If these three reasons don’t convince you I don’t know what will.
The SEO benefits of video are substantial
Google loves video these days. And whatever Google loves, you should love it to :). In fact, according to a recent Forrester Research report, your site is 53 times more likely to appear on page 1 of Google’s search results if you have video on your website. Videos now display individually and generally ‘above the fold’ in Google search results. And often they’re displayed with a thumbnail image which makes it more likely to be clicked. It’s also easier to rank higher in Google search results with video than it is with traditional content. This is because there’s generally less video content around a given topic than there is blog posts and articles. This means it’s easier for your video to rank higher in the results.
Your conversion rate will surely increase
Generally, people prefer video over reading. Why? Because people are lazy (not you, other people). Video is easier and more interesting to consume than plain text. And there’s a ton of data to back this up. Here’s one example: A recent Comscore study found that site visitors who view video stay two minutes longer on average and are 64% more likely to purchase than other site visitors.
Human Brains are hardwired for video
Science shows that humans are visual learners. In fact people retain 68% more information from watching video than from reading text. If communicating through video can increase the understanding of your content by almost 70%, adding video to your site seems like a no brainer (pun intended), doesn’t it?
Convinced yet that you need video? For making it this far we’re offering $25 off a Video Rascal video. Just use the code LAUNCHDEAL.
by by This probably goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway… Launching a startup is not easy. About two weeks ago I launched Video Rascal in beta and there’s already been plenty of ups and downs. As I progress through my journey of trying to build a business I’ll take you on the inside and divulge the good, bad, the ugly and everything in between. My hope is that other Entrepreneurs can replicate some my successes and learn from my mistakes.
In the weeks since I launched Video Rascal I’ve learned a lot about myself, and more importantly, the product than I ever could have imagined. Before launch I thought everything was in place for a flawless launch. The site was tested in all browsers, marketing was in place, autoresponders were setup etc. So I hit send on the launch email announcement and……crickets… After months of preparation there was one thing I didn’t pay enough attention to, the email subject line. My email was deposited directly into the Spam folder of hundreds of recipients. Before realizing what happened, the worst went through my mind. Nobody cares about the product, the email registrants were fake, the company is doomed! After a day of panicking I realized my mistake and resent the email with an improved subject line. Lesson learned, don’t use the word “exclusive” in your subject line.
Beyond the subject line here are a few other things I would have done differently.
Share wire frames with outsiders
I’ve received a ton of useful feedback and suggestions on the UI. Much of it now seems so obvious. As is often the case, when working with a product everyday, your view becomes clouded. Things that should be obvious aren’t. Had I simply solicited feedback on the wire frames earlier in the process I could have avoided having to make some of the changes . Next time I’ll share the wire frames with 5-10 people before beginning development.
Email registrants often before the launch
I began collecting emails a year ago, thinking I was going launch in a few months. But as it often does, development kept getting delayed. The longer I delayed the launch the staler the email list got. In hindsight I should have emailed the list a few times before during this quiet period. Even though my launch email open rate was very high (53%) I believe it could have been higher. My data showed that the earlier a user signed up for the email list the less likely they were to open the launch email.
Be prepared to quickly make changes
Being a solo entrepreneur there’s a lot on my plate and a constant need to prioritize tasks. It’s easy to get bogged down with tasks that don’t necessarily move the needle. Looking back I should have been more prepared to act quickly on user feedback. How great would it have been if I could have responded to users with UI updates in a day rather than a week? Had I focused strictly on improving the product during the first week I could have made this happen.
What would you have done differently when you launched your product? Leave a comment and let me know.
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by After months of development we’re excited to announce the launch of Video Rascal! Our goal is to build a web app that simplifies the video creation process so that anyone, no matter their level of expertise, can create a professional video for the web. With the beta release we believe we’re on our way towards accomplishing that goal. But there’s only one way to find out and that’s by getting feedback from user’s such as yourself.
As part of the beta release we’ve opened up the application to all users to try for free. Simply create an account to get started. If you’d like to provide feedback you can email myself andrew@videorascal.com, leave a comment below or chat with us directly. Thanks for trying Video Rascal, we look forward to helping you create professional videos!
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