Screen Capture Programs

Screen capture programs allow you to create video for your website or DVD without even owning a camcorder!

By recording whatever is on your computer monitor (including your mouse movements), you can create video tutorials that will be very popular with your visitors and customers, showing them how to use your website, software, applications, programs etc.

Imagine having the ability to not only tell someone how something works, but actually show them step-by-step using video.

Some screen capture programs allow you to add all sorts of exciting extras, like arrows, text boxes, blur sensitive areas, write text, zoom in/out, music, narration, even connect to a camcorder and include yourself in the video using a 'picture-in-picture option.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million! Creating a training or How-To video is the most effective teaching tool available today and people just cannot get enough of them.

And it's easy to see why. Being able to watch over your shoulder as you take them through every single step of a process before their very eyes (and ears), is a very powerful (and profitable) tool. Click HERE to see an example of a 'screen capture' video in action and think about how you can create a similar video for your niche.

You can use screen capture software to create a training video to place on your website e.g. A Genealogy website could create a screen capture video to show it's visitors how to use the most popular genealogy software programs. Or a craft website could show its visitors how to use Photoshop to create greeting cards.

The skies the limit! What could you use a screen capture video for on your website?

Your visitors will love these types of training videos as they offer great unique content that will have your visitors returning again and again.

Perhaps you offer an online service, membership site, or even have a software program specially made for your site? Using a screen capture program will show your visitors, members and customers how to easily use all the great features you have to offer.

Not everyone is a technical whiz, so why not make a screen capture video that shows your visitors exactly how to sign up to your newsletter or use Paypal to buy your products. You need never lose another customer again and your support time will be halved.

But you're not just limited to short instruction videos either. You can also produce a 1 hour DVD of screen capture videos and sell it on your website, Ebay and on Amazon for big profits. Just put together 11 X 5 minute chapters (screen capture videos), a video introduction, a final summary and you’re in business!

Find out how to make a DVD by going to this page.

When you make a DVD using screen capture videos, video quality is essential if you don't want blurry videos no one can see on their TV. If you want great results, make sure you do the following;

- Render your screen capture video using the same aspect ratio you used to capture the video e.g. Capture at 1024x768 and render at 640 X 480 30fps AVI

- Use the zoom tool

- Export your screen capture video and final edited video as an uncompressed AVI video file before exporting it to your DVD authoring program (That way you will get the very best video quality for your DVD)

There are a bunch of screen capture programs available, and some are better than others. They range in price from free to $300, and it's fair to say you do get what you pay for.

The best free screen capture programs are Camstudio (PC http://camstudio.org) and Jing (PC/MAC http://www.jingproject.com).

The best 'paid for' Mac screen capture program is iShowU ($20 http://store.shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html) though Camtasia has a Mac version that competes well.

The best 'paid for' PC screen capture program is Camtasia ($300).