Posting videos on a website was a very exciting thing just a few years ago. Now when people visit a website, they almost expect to see a video.
Now we can not only take any YouTube or other video and quickly post it to our website, but we can also record videos directly from sites like MySpace without having to upload or transcode them. Pretty amazing stuff.
Even live streaming over the internet has come a long way. Just 3-4 years ago, doing a quality live stream over the internet required expensive equipment and expensive technicians to connect all the cables. Fortunately, like most things on the internet, technology just keeps getting better and better.
Here are ten things to look for in a good internet streaming solution:
- Use a web-based solution: They store all your video files and update the app so you always have the latest and greatest and don’t clutter up your computer with large media files.
- Make sure it can adapt to a variety of Internet connection speeds: Although live streaming is best suited for broadband connections, you should have the ability to adjust your upload speed to accommodate viewers with slower connections.
- Make sure you can record your live stream for playback on demand: This is a big one! Making long live streams takes a lot of preparation and time, and being able to send them as links or embed them on your website is critical to making the most of your time.
- Make sure it uses flash technology: Flash is a slightly lower quality format than Windows Media, but Flash is installed on 95% of all computers and is compatible with both Macs and PCs, ensuring that most people can view your stream.
- Make sure you have adequate airtime: 60 minutes is usually enough to get your point across, but I’ve seen solutions that offer 8 hours of airtime.
- Make sure the solution has interactive communication tools: This means the ability of your audience to interact with you, usually via text chat while watching you on live video.
- Display of images/slides/graphics during broadcasts: Being able to support your live video stream with supporting images and slides is paramount to a good presentation and any good streaming solution should allow for this.
- plenty of storage space: It is important to have ample storage space to park all your media. Five to ten gigs is usually enough for the average user.
- Ability to embed recorded streams on your website or blog. Make sure that the solution generates the code needed to embed recorded streams. Also make sure the system can generate a link that you can submit in your marketing collateral.
- customizable interface: Being able to use your own logos and banners in your live stream is important for messaging and maintaining your brand. Also make sure that your audience can link to external websites directly from your live stream.
What equipment do you need?
These days, all you need is a broadband Internet connection, a webcam, and a streaming solution provider. If you have a digital video camera (the kind you might take to the beach to film the kids!), you’ll get better quality, but a webcam will work just as well. In my experience, using a webcam with a built-in microphone is best.
What can you do with live streaming?
Streaming gives you the ability to create your own mini-TV station to quickly deliver unlimited live streams and even archive them for later playback.
6 great ideas for your live or archived broadcasts
- Your email signature: Include a link to your latest recorded broadcast in your email signature for viral marketing outreach.
- Monetize your talent– If you have expertise in a topic that people are willing to pay for, ask for payment before accessing your live or archived stream. This can easily be done through PayPal or other payment services.
- Welcome video to the web: Introduce your website with a video and explain what your visitors will find on your site and most importantly how to buy your products or services.
- Send to your email list: Now, instead of just plain text, you can add more exciting videos to your online campaigns when announcing new events, products or services.
- online meetings: When you can broadcast live, you have the ability to talk live with your employees, vendors, and business partners around the world. This is an extremely powerful way to communicate, and if your business is large and has multiple offices, broadcasting can help solidify your business goals.
- Constitute Disclosure: If you’re in politics and responding to your constituents, having the ability to broadcast live is essential. Use it for remote public meetings, student Q&A sessions, and much more.
final thoughts
It’s amazing to me that with today’s technology, anyone can become an Internet broadcaster. Imagine being able to sit at your home or office, log into a website, click a few links, and stream LIVE video over the Internet in a matter of minutes. And as more and more people move towards broadband internet connections, the likelihood that live streaming and online video services will become a fixture around the world is all but guaranteed.
See an example of a live stream and find out how you can use and benefit from this emerging technology.