I heard about Amazon's new Video Direct service which is said to be possible competition for the video giant YouTube. I immediately had to check it out and see if it was worth trying. The most attractive feature is that you can generate revenue like video producers do on YouTube. Sign me up!
But it's not nearly as easy to get started as YouTube. Amazon Video Direct is focusing more on seasoned producers who have some experience. Anyone can participate but the steps to get started are not as easy or user-friendly as YouTube and I have a feeling this is on purpose.
When you sign up, you immediately are asked to enter your bank account information. This might be discouraging to some and make you take pause to consider if you want to make this kind of commitment to Amazon so early in your relationship. I am a happy Amazon Affiliate user so I was happy to move forward and provide the info.
Once you're in then you head over to "Your Videos" to add... your video.
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But here is where I got stuck for the moment... CAPTIONS! You must have captions! AHHH!! And they have to be in the right format.
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Video Direct offers help on this but it's not a quick fix... but if you have a trick for generating quick captions PLEASE let me know in the comments below.
So Amazon Video Direct has great promise but it's not as user friendly for the average YouTuber.
But it's not nearly as easy to get started as YouTube. Amazon Video Direct is focusing more on seasoned producers who have some experience. Anyone can participate but the steps to get started are not as easy or user-friendly as YouTube and I have a feeling this is on purpose.
When you sign up, you immediately are asked to enter your bank account information. This might be discouraging to some and make you take pause to consider if you want to make this kind of commitment to Amazon so early in your relationship. I am a happy Amazon Affiliate user so I was happy to move forward and provide the info.
Once you're in then you head over to "Your Videos" to add... your video.
But things got complicated quick. Most of the information wasn't a problem until... Video Direct wants you to have three different graphics that are 1080 pixels and 4:3. YouTube creates these for you but you need your own on this site.
So I created my own...
Pixrl is a great free photo editor if you don't have something like Photoshop https://pixlr.com
You will need a high quality HD file... so much for your old 90's kitten videos.
Video Direct offers help on this but it's not a quick fix... but if you have a trick for generating quick captions PLEASE let me know in the comments below.
So Amazon Video Direct has great promise but it's not as user friendly for the average YouTuber.