Videos are everywhere lately, specially interviews. I mean bloggers are really taking it to the next level and why not, it’s a great way to engage your visitor and make them stay a little longer. Are you asking yourself if this is hard to put together?

I’m going to show you how to produce your own video interview guerilla style… I mean, without losing an arm and a leg and without hiring anybody. First let’s review the ingredients:

The Ingredients

• Webcam
• Screen capture software
• Skype
• Basic video editing software
• Video sharing website

Record A Little Intro

With just a simple webcam, record yourself doing a short introduction for your guest, tell people what they are about to see. Make it short because your viewer will not stick forever to see you hook it up.

When you are done save it, you will need it later to edit the final piece.

Screen Capture

When doing an interview you will face two possible scenarios, is the person you are interviewing physically reachable or on the other side of the planet. In this case we’ll talk about a long distance interview and since this is going to happen over the internet, what we need to record is what’s happening on the screen, this is called Screen Capturing. This software will also take care of the audio part.

I personally like iShowU from ShinyWhiteBox, but there are plenty of options out there. Depending of your choice, you should expect to pay up to $100, don’t pay more than that (iShowU is about $30).

Skype

Oh, the beautiful and FREE Skype… If you don’t have an account you should probably make the time to get one, today. In my opinion, the only thing Skype doesn’t do is record, that’s why you need to use screen capture software. Other than that, it makes everything much more simple. Setup your appointment, make sure you have a good connection for the call, make a couple of tests and you are ready.

Consider that your interview should probably not exceed the 10 minutes but try to record more material to play with at the editing stage.

Editing Your Video

The term “Video Editing” is probably the one that scares everybody, but don’t complicate things. Remember that you are producing something for the Internet, not for TV. While there are many options in this field, I recommend you stay in the lower end, the basics. I’m using iMovie but if you are on the PC side, Windows Movie Maker should be the equivalent.

These programs are very easy to learn because they are meant to help beginners like you and me. If you take a couple of tutorials, you’ll be on your way pretty fast (These links are for tutorials on both iMovie and Movie Maker).

During the editing stage, you want to play with adding different elements like pictures, text, effects and music. You will also be able to chop the raw video in pieces and paste them together.

Video Sharing Service

Now that you have your video edited and saved on your computer (usually on a MP4 format), you need to share it with the world and for this you will need to create an account with a service like Vimeo or YouTube if you don’t already have one. I prefer Vimeo but that’s just me, there are plenty options out there for you to find a good fit.

Once you have your account setup you just need to upload your file, be patient, it’ll take a while. Set up a title, a description, tags and whatever you can do to make it a little more friendly. Publish your video and make sure everything is looking good.

Embed To Your Post

The last step is to bring it to your blog, where you want to place it on your next post. Wherever your video lives now (Vimeo, YouTube or other…), copy the “Embed Code” (read my post: “Mini-Tutorial: How To Embed A You-Tube Video On Your Blog“) and insert it into your post. Preview and test everything before hitting the “Publish” button.

It’s A Wrap!

It’s not rocket science, anybody can do a video interview and while the technical part is very important and entertaining at the same time, make sure the main focus is on delivering good quality in the content. People will forgive a technical difficulty if the content is of value.

(2 mentions before I go: Sorry Andrea for using you as an example… and thanks Glenn Sakamoto for the idea for the post).

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Embeding video into your site or blog is easier than you think and provides your visitor with a much richer experience. Here is the screencast and the step-by-step action on how to do it in a few minutes…

These instructions are based on YouTube because is the most popular site, but you can use video from any source that provides you with the embed code.

Step 1: Go To YouTube And Find Your Video

Step 2: Get Your Code

Look for box that includes the URL and Embed, usually to the right side of the video player. Do not get the URL, instead place your cursor inside the Embed box to select it. Copy (Cmd+C on Mac or Ctr-C on PC).

Step 3: Back To Your WordPress Dashboard

Go back to your WordPress dashboard where you are editing your post. You have 2 tabs on your body window, “Visual” and “HTML”, select the HTML tab.

Step 4: Paste Your Code

Once you are on the HTML view of your post, locate the cursor exactly where you want to place the video and paste the code (Cmd+V on Mac or Ctr-V on PC).

When you go back to the “Visual” tab, you will only see a yellow box. You will not be able to see the video from the editor.

Step 5: Preview, Test And Publish

Before you publish your new post you need to test the video and look at the size on preview mode, make sure everything is right and you’re happy with the results.

Hope you like it and if you have any ideas for future tutorials, let us know in the comments of this post…

Also, you can see all the Mini-Tutorials in one place on my Screenr page. Visit, comment and share the love.

Before you go crazy trying to find your Facebook Profile or Fan Page ID, here it is in 3 easy steps…

Step 1: Go To Your Facebook Fan Page Or Profile

Just go to your public profile or fan page.

Step 2: Control-Click (Mac) Or Right-Click (PC) On Your Profile Picture

On your Profile pic, right-click if you have a PC or control-click on a Mac, once the drop-down menu is displayed, click on “Properties”.

Step 3: Copy Your ID From The Element Properties Box

Once the “Element Properties” box is displayed, go to the end of your “Address”, select and copy.

That’s It…

Just paste it whenever you need it or save it for your records.

Hope this helps… If you have any ideas for next Mini-Tutorial issues, let us know in the comments

Mini-Tutorial: How To Retweet from Francisco Rosales on Vimeo.