We've added a new video to our arsenal of CMS resources. "Getting started managing your website" is a four minute overview of basic CMS functionality. It's designed to get a new user up to speed quickly on what they need to know. Topics covered include: logging in, recognizing the toolbar, switching between admin and preview, recognizing editable regions, adding content elements, adjusting settings on content elements, utilizing the "explain this" help links, adding pages, adjusting page settings, and using the page manager and user manager.

The video is unbranded which means it's available for you to use as your own tool for your own clients. You can simply grab the embed code from the video below and paste it into your own site. Or, if you're using our reseller scripts, this video has been added to the features listing (if you're using the video option), and it will be added to the video script by the end of tomorrow.

Today, we took live the LightCMS pricing plan changes that were announced on Tuesday. All existing websites on the LightCMS system had their pages, users, storage and pricing updated to reflect the new plans. In addition, you will now see the all-new ADVANCED plan as an option when you go to upgrade a website under your account.

I don't see the new ADVANCED plan in my reseller script!

Don't worry, if you're using our reseller pricing grid scripts, you won't see the new ADVANCED plan added. In order to avoid "breaking" your scripts by adding in a new package for which you haven't set your own pricing or name, we decided to leave the old reseller pricing script intact as is. We did update the storage and users on the PLUS and PRO plans to their new levels, but those are the only changes you should see in the old script. This script will now stay as it is for all time. Please note this means it will not be updated with any new features or changes from this point forward.

So, you'll want to upgrade to our new script which will display the new ADVANCED package and will continue to be updated automatically as new features are added or other changes are made. Luckily, it's very easy to update your script. You just need to do two things:

1. Change the script reference from "ResellerPricingGrid.js" to "ResellerPlans.js"
2. If you are setting custom pricing or custom package names, you'll need to modify those to include the ADVANCED plan (you'll now be setting six packages instead of five).

It seems everyone is selling cheap these days. Every commercial I watch on TV talks about how the product or service they're pitching can save you money. Savings is finally cool again.

Here at Element Fusion, we're just like everyone else. When the market starts to contract, we're going to enter a cost savings mode as well. However, one budget we won't touch is marketing.

Marketing is critical to bringing in new business, yet it's often the budget that businesses start chopping first. These businesses theorize that cutting all  costs outside of business operations will help them survive. This sounds logical, and in extreme situations, it might even be necessary. However, I'd argue that without marketing, you're not going to have business operations to support for very long.

Available for download

What you need is a way to increase marketing exposure without hurting your bottom line. So, we've created a free, two-page resource with some ideas on how to do just that. You can download this document at the link below. Please feel free to share it with others. Enjoy.

• Download 6 Ways to Increase Marketing for Little or No Cost by Element Fusion

We've added two new feature demonstration videos to our reseller marketing scripts. This includes our features list with video script and our video content script. If you are using these scripts, you don't have to do a thing, the new video content has been added automatically. Of course, you can also access and embed this video content directly on your own. Simply visit our Blip.tv CMS demos show page to get the embed code.

And for those of you who just want to watch, the videos are included below. Enjoy!

The Built-in Image Editor

The Photo Gallery

Lately, I've been spending quite a bit of time creating screencast videos for our content management products. Some of these videos have already been published (see our CMS demos and CMS tutorials) and others are on the way. I thought I'd share with you a little bit about our process for producing these videos.

Why make a screencast video?

Screencast videos are great for showing a product or process that takes place on a computer. Using a screencast lets you capture the action on your computer screen and use it in a demonstration. At Element Fusion, our screencast videos usually fall into one of two categories:

1. Marketing videos. These videos have a primary objective of generating interest in a product rather than actually showing someone how to use it.
2. Tutorial videos. These videos have the primary objective of teaching someone how to use a products, or a specific aspect of a product.

To script or not to script?

With marketing videos, my goal is to communicate as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. So, I choose to script these videos to make sure time is used most efficiently. Scripting also gives a slightly more polished feel to the video, which I like for marketing purposes. With our tutorial videos, we typically don't script them, but rather speak off the cuff (more on this below).

Equipment needed

You need a computer, a microphone, and some software. There are a ton of software options available, but after trying several, I've landed on Camtasia Studio. It costs about $300, but it is designed specifically for screen capture, so it makes the process really quick and easy. The editing side is limited if you're used to true video editing on something like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier, but at a fraction of the cost, I will make do with the options Camtasia provides. Again, since it's built for screencasts, it makes some of the most common things you want to do (like panning and zooming) very simple.

I also use Audacity for producing audio when working on scripted videos. Camtasia has very limited audio controls so producing audio first in Audacity gives me a little more control. I can't say Audacity is great, but it's the best free option I've found.

Some helpful hints

1. Choose your final output size. You need to know the size of your final video so you can keep that in mind when you're shooting screenshots. This is really the trickiest part of creating screencasts. In order for the viewer to see the whole picture, you need a very large video (upwards of 800x600) but that makes for inconvenient display options and sometimes even difficult playback. So, picking a smaller output size is good (we use 640x360 for most of our stuff, sometimes smaller) but it means you'll have to do some zooming and panning to make sure the viewer can see what you're doing.
2. Determine how you'll handle audio. You really have three options:
   1. Script it and produce the audio first, then add visuals on top. We use this method for most marketing videos.
   2. Create the visuals first, then record narration live on top of the video once it's ready. We do this for most tutorial videos.
   3. "Click and talk" and just record everything live in one take, talking and operating the computer at the same time. We almost never do this anymore (some of our earlier videos were created this way) because it leads to videos that are much longer than necessary and also provides very limited options for editing. However, this method is less time consuming to produce and can be good for some applications like more detailed how-to instructions where you will have a more captive audience.
3. Carefully use noise reduction filters on narration audio. It's almost impossible to capture raw narration that doesn't have background noise, unless you have a sound proof studio. So, run noise reduction filters, but be careful that you don't overdo it and make it sound muddy.
4. The point of editing is to cut out unwanted stuff. If you've got editing software, use it. No need to make the viewer sit and watch you type in a bunch of text on the screen or do other tasks not related to what you're trying to demonstrate. Cut out the boring stuff and keep things moving.

I hope this helps to give you an idea of the process and equipment we use to create screencast videos. If you have your own methods or products that have worked well for you, please share them in the comments. Your questions are welcomed as well.