15 Best Mostly-Free Video Maker Tools: How to Show Your Tips Now

Do you need a video maker?

Video consumption is on the rise and is predicted to continue to climb in 2021.

Fortunately, these mostly-free video tools fit any budget.

Let’s dive in and learn about video maker tools.

Show and Tell.

Have you heard of the activity?

Students in primary grades show the other students something of interest as well as tell them about it.

That’s what videos enable you to do. Show as well as tell your blog visitors the information you’re trying to teach.

If you want to empower your readers, showing them what to do is better than telling them what to do.

Not only will using these video maker tools make you a more effective blogger, but when visitors actually see you following your own tips, your credibility will rise.

I have had first-hand experience with all but one of these video maker tools.

They are all free unless otherwise stated.

Videos make powerful resources. Get ready to empower your readers with these powerful video maker tools.

Video Maker Tutorials

EZVid

For a long time, I searched for a video maker tool that would enable me to show my readers how to follow my tips instead of just telling them.

EZVid is that answer.

Although I haven’t used EZVid in any blog posts before this one, I was able to use EZVid for an important purpose recently.

I needed to show my new Virtual Assistant how to do something. I made an EZVid video, sent it to her as an email attachment, and everything fell into place.

As I said, it’s always better to show than to tell.

With EZVid, you can make a video quickly and easily. You’ll be able to give verbal instructions while your website visitors watch what you do on your screen.

How to Use the EZVid Video Maker

Step 1: Download the software to your computer. This link is for Windows users.

Step 2: 

Click the icon of the Page with the Plus sign to start a new project. Give your video a title and description. Choose a category. I chose “People and Blogs.”

Step 3: When you first see your new video project, you’ll see there’s already content there. If you do, highlight the content and click the backspace. This could be EZVid’s logo at the end of your video. If you don’t want it, drag the vertical bar past what you want to delete and click Delete.

Step 4: When you start your video, you’ll see the music that will play over your video is already selected for you. Since I want to talk over my video, I forget to click the microphone. Having music play while people watch your screen is an engaging idea.

Another option for voice recording: You’ll have a choice to pick “Advanced Capture.” Choose it to enable the microphone during your video.

Step 5: Look again at the screenshot. When you’re ready to start recording, click the icon of the computer screen.

Click Start Capture Now. You’ll get a 3-2-1 countdown so you have notice before the camera turns on.

Step 6: When you’re done with your video, press Save.

It may take a while for your video to render depending on the length, but once it’s done, you’ll have a powerful instruction tool, a resource, to show your blog visitors.

Step 7: Find your video. I found this part the most challenging of using EZVid. Note what you named your video. Then, you can use the search function to find where it went. Fortunately, when this video was done rendering, it opened right up on my computer.

My EZVid videos turn up in the Documents folder. From there, I can drag my video to my dashboard. From there, I upload it to YouTube. This gets me a URL to insert so my video shows in my blog post.

Here is the video I made to show you how to use the EZVid Video Maker:

Learning curve:

As you read my instructions for how to use EZVid Video Maker Tool, I indicated following certain steps were challenging, yet I had no trouble following them in this video.

The one obstacle I can’t get over is how to turn off the music while I talk. However, if you watched this video, you can see you could hear my instructions just fine. All in all, the EZVid video maker makes a nice instructional tool for you to give your blog visitors.

Spark Video App

Spark Video syncs to all your devices. Just open the videos in Adobe.

How to Use the Spark Video Maker

Adobe Spark has a video app called Spark Video.

• You can add photos to your video and trim them.
• Your video will contain slides you can reorder like in a storyboard.
• You can select from multiple themes for your video.
• You can resize your video between widescreen and square. Square, of course, is perfect for Instagram videos.
• Record narration and choose from a choice of music.
• Preview your video before uploading.
• Watch the tutorial if you need help.

   

  To start, pick a template. For inspiration, click Inspiration.

  When you click + to create a new video, you’ll see a template. Scroll right to choose a template that’s right for your video.

   
  Templates are available for many categories. I chose Teach a Lesson since I wanted to make a video about how to blog.

   

  Choose a format. You can choose from Full-screen, Split Screen, Caption, or Title and Text.

   

  When you are asked to describe the relevance of your video, hold the microphone and record the importance. Let Spark Video access your microphone. Click the plus sign to add a relevant photo or another video.
   
   
  Continue answering the prompts Spark Video gives you and adding relevant photos or videos.

   

  You can drag to pan or pinch to zoom in on your videos.

   
  You have 3 choices: Adding to your video from your photos, your other videos, or typing text.

   

   

  When you’re done, choose the music.

   

  Save and upload. Since you can choose either a wide or square format, you have the option of uploading to Instagram. YouTube, or another social media site.

   
   
  Here is my first attempt at making a Spark Video for YouTube:

   

  After I uploaded to YouTube, I went back, resized to a square shape and uploaded to Instagram.
   

Other Videos You Can Make with Your Video Maker

Lumen5

When I first published information about Lumen5 and other video maker tools, bloggers wrote to tell me how interested they were in trying Lumen5. The video maker’s popularity has not decreased in that time.

Why should it? You do nothing and end up with a creative video.

Lumen5 pulls your blog content from your blog’s RSS feed.

Look: 

This is a video Lumen5 made from my post How to Increase Your Website Traffic and Get People to Read Your Articles.

Instasize

Instasize is a popular photo-editing and video-editing app.

The video maker tool is definitely one of the good video editing apps.

Instasize is so popular, the company is able to charge for it. The Instasize app costs $5.00 a month.

For more information about Instasize, read How to Get People to Love the Look and Feel of Your Videos.

Introbrand

Introbrand is a pretty cutting-edge video maker.

In my EZVid video above, I ended with my blog’s logo. The logo was a still image.

If I’d preferred, I could have had my logo contain video animation.

Look:

If you use iMovie, you can put your Introbrand animated logo at the end of your movie.

Introbrand is a paid tool. Prices vary depending on the video animation you select.

For more information about Introbrand, read Introbrand: This is the Video Maker You Need, 15 Reasons.

Renderforest

Renderforest is ideal for video makers who want it all without a budget.

Renderforest offers video animation, explainer introductions, and short videos you can use as conclusions.

This video maker tool is so popular, it has almost 50,000 searches for information about the video-making tool monthly.

For more information about Renderforest, read 18 Ways the Renderforest Free Online Video Maker Will Make You a Better Content Creator.

Jing UPDATE: Jing is no longer in use. 

Go to https://jing.en.softonic.com/ to download Jing’s software.

Mark Newsome is a fan of Jing.

Mark offers a more affirmative plug for using Jing.

“Certainly you have to use top of the line, state of the art paid tools.

However, even with this being the case. They are certain exceptions to this critically important rule.

And Jing, a free software piece of software made by TechSmith, is certainly the exception.

TechSmith is also the creators of Camtasia Studio, which is a very robust type of paid software which is used to do screen shares and a whole lot more.

Jing, while a far less robust piece of free software, still offers lots of practical functionality even though it’s limited in its scope.

But it definitely has a place in any serious marketer’s toolkit.

Because you can create screen share images and record up to five minutes worth of video at a time.

And it’s TechSmith quality, even though it’s free.

I hope this isn’t too long, but there may be some newbie marketers, which aren’t familiar TechSmith in general and or Camtasia or Jing in particular.

Jing integrates with Screencast https://www.techsmith.com/screencastcom.html. Click Free Version.”

Animoto

Animoto makes a video introduction. With all the video editing tools like the video maker tools described in this post, you can easily add the Animoto explainer to any of your videos. You can use this short video explainer as an introduction or as a conclusion. If you use iMovie, Animoto would be great to use to make your movie’s introduction.

For more information about Animoto, read 3 Video Maker Tools: How to Easily Enter the Video Age.

PixTeller

Although still in the testing stages, PixTeller offers you the ability to animate the elements of your graphics. Remember how much fun PowerPoint Presentations were to animate? Now Google Slides offer the same ability.

PixTeller offers you the ability to animate your graphic headline and your watermark.

I’m confident your ability to animate the various elements of your blog graphics will be out of beta soon.

For more information on PixTeller, read PixTeller: How to Make Dazzling Inspirational Images.

Facebook Live Video

Many bloggers and marketers use Facebook Live Video to engage potential customers.

If you’re interested in trying as well, read How to Easily Make Facebook Videos.

Periscope

Periscope is a Live Video Streaming app for Twitter.

Periscope Live Video Streaming received the Editor’s Choice Award at the App Store.

For more information, read Do You Need More Popular, Free Blogging Tools? Try Periscope.

Cameo

In a review of the best iPhone apps of 2018, iPhone Life called the Cameo app one of the best apps of 2018. High praise.

I have not yet tried Cameo, but if you need a video editing app, Cameo certainly sounds worth trying.

Visme

Visme’s video maker is a simple tool to create videos for multiple purposes – intros, outros, ads, tutorials, testimonials, product reviews, anything.

Thanks to pre-designed templates and drag-and-drop functionality, it will come in handy for everyone who needs a visually appealing video fast, without having to acquire design skills in advance.

Templates are available in horizontal, vertical, and square sizes to make sure your videos will look good on any platform where you’re going to publish them.

When customizing videos, you can access a wide range of royalty-free stock clips, animated graphics, characters, and transition effects for any taste. 

Once your video is ready, it’s possible to upload it on social media via a shareable link, post it on your site via an embed code, or download it as MP4 to store on your PC.

Instagram Video Maker Tools

IGTV

The beauty of IGTV is three-fold.

First, IGTV is vertical, the shape of your phone, which is perfect for viewing on your mobile device.

Next, IGTV videos are longer than 15 seconds, in contrast to Instagram Stories which are only 15 seconds long.

Finally, for those of you with Instagram followers under 10,000, you can actually link to your IGTV video from an Instagram story. Just instruct viewers to “Swipe up.”

How to turn the video from horizontal to vertical for IGTV: Instructions.

Storeo

Wouldn’t it be amazing if the videos you upload to Instagram Stories can be longer than 15 seconds? Now they can. Storeo slices your videos into sections. Then, you upload the sections in order. Bam, you have an Instagram Story video longer than 15 seconds. The Storeo app is free.

Wrapping Up:

What to Do With Your Video After You’ve Used Your Video Maker

Many video maker tools allow you to upload straight to social media sites.

Since I like to insert them in my blog posts, I upload to YouTube. WordPress allows me to upload a video with a link from YouTube.

I also put my videos on Instagram, on my Facebook page, and on Twitter.

In conclusion, many blogging tips articles discuss finding your voice, your personality, in your writing.

If you follow the tips in this post, you can literally find your voice. It gets better: many of these video maker tools don’t even require you be in the video.

In addition, when visitors view your videos they spend longer on your site. This, in turn, boosts your SEO since your bounce rate improves.

Now go find your voice: Play show and tell with your website visitors.

Readers, please share so other bloggers and marketers learn about these 14 video maker tools.

Have you tried any of these video makers? What are your experiences? Which video maker is your favorite?

I look forward to your views in the comments section.

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