Friday Freebies for your Blog: Scripting your Videos using CuePrompter Online Teleprompter

By Tom Collins

/ / / Watch this first. / / /

I decided to do this post as a demo of this week's freebie: CuePrompter.com – The Online Teleprompter.

We all know (right?) that we should be doing more video on our blogs. Well, here's a tool that might help get you past worrying about fumbling, freezing, or looking frazzled. Or needing 20 "takes" to get it right!

As a confessed gizmo freak, I've been wanting a teleprompter for years. I even have a set of plans for building my own and downloaded some software for running the text "reverse mirrored" so it looks right reflected in the glass (hmmm, where DID I save that file?).

So this free, online tool should make it easy, right?

It does have a 2000 character limit, but that can be viewed as a benefit if it forces us to keep our videos short!

Closing confession: I still want the gizmo version. Stay tuned!

Bonus Notes:

There's one big weakness with using the free online version of CuePrompter (or any method that puts the text on your monitor). And that is: even with the camera positioned right next to my monitor, I have to look away now and then to check the text prompts.

The magic of "the gizmo" is that you position the camera behind the screen, so that you can read the text like a heads-up display, while the camera records you looking directly at it. The pics here are from Prompta.com, the sponsor of the CuePrompter site.

But back on the positive side, another great benefit of any teleprompter or other scripting method for your videos is that you can include the full text of your video right in your post, for the SEO benefit and in case anyone can't play the video for any reason.

Have fun!