Summary: One of our most popular podcasts ever was episode #14 where we brought you some strategies for content creation. Ever since then we have been fielding queries from people interested to know what content creation tools we use to help with our content creation and productivity. Here we take a look at some of those. Our Content Creation Tools Firstly, obviously we make a lot of podcasts in the course of our business. You may think that you need expensive software to achieve this but that is not the case. In fact, we are using Audacity, which you can download for free whether you are a Mac or PC user. Best of all, it’s very simple to use so you don’t need to be overly technically savvy! When we record our podcasts we are literally across the other side of the world from each other. What we do is use Skype so that we can hear each other and each of us records our own end on Audacity. We are then able to merge the two recordings into one podcast and produce an MP3 file. So you don’t need to be in the same room to make your podcast. To give you an idea of what you might then get members of your team to do, we upload the podcast to Amazon S3, have another member of our team go in and listen to it, then produce written content for our blog based on the podcast. Content Creation Tools for Video Another thing we are doing a lot of right now is creating video content and learning through video. One tool we love to speed up the process of video learning is MySpeed. This basically speeds up the video you are watching while still allowing you to understand what’s being said. Again, you can download a free version, although the paid version is only around $30. One thing we like about this is it doesn't make the voice ‘chipmonkey’ but is just a speedier version of the normal voice. We recommend using it at 2.5 to 3 speed as it gets a bit quick after that! On the other side, if you are listening to something quite technical and the speaker is speaking fast, you can slow the pace down to suit you. When we create video, we love to use Screenflow. This is for Mac users so if you use a PC, it is called Camtasia. We love Screenflow because it is a very versatile tool and easy to use. You can edit all sorts of videos including any green screen work you have done. Again, you don’t have to be particularly technically savvy to use it, it is a click and drag kind of tool so you can literally drag elements to where you want them to be. Content Creation Tools for Imagery As we’ve discussed previously, an important element to include with your written content is imagery. When you use images, whether they be for your website, a brochure or to use in your profile on various sites, you often need to re-size your images due to restriction on image size. We found a tool that will do this easily for you – Picresize. Not only can Picresize size your images to how you want them, but you can add filters to change the image; for example you might want it in black and white or with a frame around it. Content Creation Tools for Information Products If you are creating information products such as manuals, one tool we like to use is Screen Steps. This is a great resource because it allows you to drag and drop images into your manuals or lesson plans so that you no longer need to have each image saved in a separate file. It allows you to set up your document as PDF, HTML or Word so you are easily able to get the format you need. Another great feature of Screen Steps is you can grab screen images and add notes, circles, arrows etc to them. This means you could easily train others on something without needing a complicated process. These are just a sample of the great tools available to help you with your content creation. Hopefully you can find something that is of use to you and leads you to great, productive content! Do you use some great content creation tools? Add your comments below...
