The Gold Standard of Online Video Editing Platforms

Regular readers of Website Magazine should already be well aware of the major role that online video plays in the marketing efforts of many Web companies - and that as video publishing tools get more advanced and user-friendly, the medium will only continue to rise in prominence.

One of the more common problems facing many website owners is a lack of resources and/or expertise needed to efficiently edit and produce professional quality videos. Unless you're an enterprise-level business with a defined video strategy and the budget to hire trained communications workers, spending the money to create, edit and publish videos may not seem worth it.

But the numbers don't lie, and including video in your online marketing efforts does have a substantial impact on your business. According to Affordable Web Design, using video advertisements online will increase the number of visitors to your site by 55 percent, physical store visits by 30 percent and incidence of purchase by 24 percent. Including video on small business social media profiles increases views by over 100 percent and profile clicks over 30 percent.

The upside to such an industry-wide push towards video is that businesses suddenly have more options in terms of tools to create and publish their own videos for cheap. Below are the three best online video editing platforms currently available.

Bronze Medal: Kaltura
Featuring a range of video solutions for businesses, educational institutions, service providers and media/entertainment companies, this open source video platform provider gives users a broad collection of tools to manage, edit, publish, host, stream, monetize, distribute and analyze videos.

As far as editing, Kaltura makes it easy for users to trim and clip content, sequence different clips, include time-based data and cue points, add subtitles and provide users with an in-video search option.

Unfortunately, though you can test the product with a free trial, it is a paid service. So, although this is a great, robust solution that offers users a plethora of useful features, if you're just looking for a cheap video editor, Kaltura may not be for you. However, if you've got the budget, content and desire to really make a splash with your videos, this could be your ideal platform.

Silver Medal: WeVideo
WeVideo is an online, cloud-based video editing platform for users to upload their videos into a personal or shared WeVideo media library, edit them (alone or with others in the cloud) and then share the finished product, either in the WeVideo studio or on a social networking or video sharing website.

Because it's all in the cloud, users edit their videos in a browser, and can do it from desktops, smartphones or tablets, just in case you have a flash of brilliance while you're out getting coffee. Being in the cloud also means that you can easily collaborate with other users all around the world.

Perhaps most importantly, WeVideo offers "you full creative control," allowing you to drag and drop any video content into a timeline in an easy-to-use interface and add effects, titles, music, narration, animations and more to create a powerful, professional video for your business.

WeVideo offers a free, although somewhat limited, plan that comes with 1GB of storage, 360p resolution videos, 15 export minutes a month, 5 invites per project and 390 licensed music titles. From there, packages are available at $6.99, $39.99 and $79.99 per month, respectively.

Gold Medal: YouTube Video Editor
Not much of a surprise, sure, but YouTube's video editing service takes the top prize for a few reasons:

1. It's an incredibly easy-to-use tool with a straightforward interface that, for even the most inexperienced user, takes almost no time to learn.

2. The platform offers basic video editing features, such as text, transitions and the ability to add music or sound.

3a. The service is available to anyone with a YouTube account who uploads a video.

3b. You'll be posting your video to YouTube, which has far and away the biggest user base of any video steaming site, meaning your video could potentially be exposed to tens of millions of users every day.

4. It's totally free.

Each of these different services has the ability to bolster your online video marketing campaigns; it's just a matter of finding out which one best compliments your business in both functionality and practicality.