do most of you use demodemo flash tutorials on your site, are they any good??

Thanx.
:banana:

They are an excellent addition to your existing FAQ. They don't replace an FAQ, but enhance your existing FAQ. We use them and they are fantastic!! :gthumb:

I find that they are pretty good, but so far, I haven't used them as support levels are still low and guiding our clients through some of the steps help us build that relationship. We will probably invest once we reach a level where we have too many clients to guide through all one by one.

I don't have any of demo-demo's tutorials but we have like 30+ total.
I agree with Bob, only use it in our KB area ;)
Only I find myself having to point users to them in first place.

However our forums (where they are located) aren't as heavily used as Bob's and others, so thats the main reason for having to point clients to demo's. Once they see them though I never hear back on that issue ;)

I still do a lot of pointing, Eric. :D :uhh:

I ordered a set yesterday, but not from demodemo. There's an offer in related offers and requests from another company. More tutorials for less money, I couldn't refuse :D

I don't even have a hosting service as yet, but will soon (pending server hardware cooperation ;) )

If anything has been driven home to me by WHT it's that more for less isn't always a good deal. I'm planning on picking up some demodemo tutorials as I think they make a great addition to any hosting site. I just have several other things on the list first :p

My vision of this issue...

FAQ: This is a must have... Make it easy to surf and without crap talk <blah blah> that will only make your customer stop reading it and go head for the customer support means.

Knowlage Base: Very usefull if, once again, EASY to use and a good search tool.

Flash tuts: This is where you give your client another FAQ... The visual FAQ... The insight :) It's recomended so they have a "guide" that actualy shows...

I think, and I can't belive I'm alone here, most plain text tuts have too much crap talk ending by not explaining anything usefull
A visual tut has the power of thousands of words per frame :)

But this is just me thinking :)

I'm very happy with mine. I haven't had a lot of feedback on them (but a lot of that is because I host more design clients than just hosting accounts), but the url to them is in my signup email and for the pricing, I think it's definitely worth the money. They run a great business and I'd recommend them.

Jason

I don't have demodemos flash tutorials but after installing them, clients have stopped asking me "how to" use CPanel. I think it is essential to have flash tutorials available as a host. Many of my customers love them. Just make sure you really advertise them and have a direct link to them.

I haven't ever been able to see them :)

I'm using Mozilla, and they come up only as a blank page.

But looks like that's a problem on my end...

Install the flash plugin :)

Jason

I'm looking to the flash tutorials simply because I like them when I visit sites or demo software.... Some people hate flash tut because they can read the FAQ and just "get it". Some people, need the "hand holding" or "extra clarification" of the flash tuts (people like me!) to understand.

If they help stop/slow down the "how to" questions then the investment will be worth it....

This is a very interesting thread, but I have a question, what length do you think those tutorials should be?

Would you rather have an FTP tutorial split up in sections like:
- how to create an FTP profile
- how to chmod files
etc.

Or would you think it's better to have it in 1 "definitive" FTP tutorial?

Just curious as I would prefer option #1.

Definitely split up...people want speed and ease of getting the info they want. Unless of course you want to create a menu driven flash tutorial where you can jump to "chapters."

Jason

Originally posted by Charlottezweb
where you can jump to "chapters."

Jason

Hmm, I like that idea!

split up... I already know ftp... I want a specific thing and don't want to wade through a long explanation of everything else... if offered a definitive I would simply send YOU an e-mail and ask the ?

Originally posted by Charlottezweb
Install the flash plugin :)

Jason

Already done.

I look at these flash videos as this--if just a couple clients can benefit from them because they learn by watching then they are worth it. Every person learns differently and I believe it is part of our job to help because this is a service industry and without the service then it doesn't matter.

We have three sets of these available and think they are a part of the whole support (as many people have put it here in this thread). Also, as demodemo's marketing says--if the other hosting companies have them and you don't...

Originally posted by idologic_dh
This is a very interesting thread, but I have a question, what length do you think those tutorials should be?

Would you rather have an FTP tutorial split up in sections like:
- how to create an FTP profile
- how to chmod files
etc.

Or would you think it's better to have it in 1 "definitive" FTP tutorial?

Just curious as I would prefer option #1.
I'd prefer split-up myself for the reasons listed by others ;)

Now that you say that though, I must go check my Tut's out as i am unsure if they are split up or 1 big tut.
(if watcher is looking, I mean *my* as in the Tutorials I purchased from a company, not *my* as in I created them) :stickout:

Ideally, offering individual tutorials for individual tasks is optimal. This allows the user to easily choose the topic of choice rather than having to filter through a longwinded tutorial covering several subjects.

The key to getting maximum benefit of your hosting tutorials is to give them proper exposure. Having them readily available in the support areas of your site is obvious. However, the best way to make the movies work for you is to add prominent links to them in the Welcome Emails you send to your new signups. After all, they are the very people who will need them the most.

PapillonHost, I'm concerned that you are not able to view my tutorials in Mozilla. I opened up Mozilla 1.3 and was able to view the tutorials. I'm not sure how to diagnose your problem. Any suggestions?

Vito

I agree with Vito on the individual tasks. That being said, I ordered the Fantastico tutorial from demodemo today, had it ready w/logo in under an hour.

There are several others out there that are cheaper than demodemo, but for some reason, they do not appeal to me. Please note I am not saying the others are less quality, just that I like the appearance and presentation of the demodemo ones best.

I am looking for tutorials but I dont have a BiG budget at the moment hence I would really appreciate it if you could please let me know some websites that provide flash tutorials at a more economical rate.

Thanks

How much more "economical" are you looking for?

Quite frankly, i never saw the "draw" to flash demo's until i visited demodemo and acquired their flash tutorials for hsphere (reseller set to put up for our resellers) , having only been up for a week, we've already recieved glowing thanks for putting the tutorials up.

We're now going to purchase the entire hsphere package, as it seems logical, even though our faq and knowledge base sections are jam packed, the tutorials are a nice little addition, and go over well with customers, both potential and existing

Originally posted by Charlottezweb
How much more "economical" are you looking for?

Depends on quality and so on...

Originally posted by RahulS
I am looking for tutorials but I dont have a BiG budget at the moment hence I would really appreciate it if you could please let me know some websites that provide flash tutorials at a more economical rate.

Thanks

http://demologic.com/

http://www.affordabledemo.com

:cool:

what is demodemo?

Originally posted by vince2874
what is demodemo?

Basicly Flash tutorials to help the support section of your web hosting business. Each tutorial shows a small length, step-by-step flash movie on how to for example Creating a POP email account, Creat a MySQL database and many more.... just go to one of the web sites mentioned such as demodemo.com.

;)

I would highly recommend demodemo.com. Vito did a great job and it will help you by reducing the number of support tickets; there are many users that don't know how to use certain functions from their control panel, and demodemo's tutorials are a perfect way to 'learn' someone the basics.

Originally posted by jay007
do most of you use demodemo flash tutorials on your site, are they any good??

Thanx.
:banana:

Are you referring to demodemo.com's flash tutorials or affordabledemo.com ??

I used http://www.hostingdemos.com/ for my cpanel tutorials,
and I was quite pleased with the quality of the demos, the customer service and the price. Anyone shopping around might want to give them a look-see.

They only accept paypal which currently i cant purhase the demo :( only demodemo.com are accepting cc. oh well....

Originally posted by LOTR
They only accept paypal which currently i cant purhase the demo :( only demodemo.com are accepting cc. oh well....

If you contact them, they use 2 check out to pay by cc!

;)

No doubt they are good , but the point is are they helpful? do customers relly use them? i have my own doubts on this...

Originally posted by win-linux
No doubt they are good , but the point is are they helpful? do customers relly use them? i have my own doubts on this...

Our stats from week one of providing them to resellers are (first movie: setting up admin account)

Unique Clicks: 79
Total Clicks: 207

This goes pretty much "across the board" for all the movies, so yes, in my opinion, they work very well, and for a mere $130, it's worth it for offering to resellers especially, as everyone knows, resellers have the most support calls in the first week, due to "teething problems" on their part

Originally posted by win-linux
No doubt they are good , but the point is are they helpful? do customers relly use them? i have my own doubts on this...
There is nothing better than when you get a support ticket, and their exact answer is one of the demos. [So I then send them to Vito's site :D just kidding Vito :stickout:] So I send them to our hosting demos and they get their ticket answered in great detail. Makes tech support very fast. Win - win. :)

What is funny about these demos, is there is a program out there that does these for you, you just have to fill in the blanks, and highlight what you want. If you go to all the demo sites listed on this thread and look at the demos, they are all most the same. Same play/stop/pause bar. Same pop-up boxes, some of the same highlight areas.

Only cost to you is the program and your time, but I think the program cost less than the whole cpanel, x2 skin, demos that demodemo.com offers.

Originally posted by Maxplayer14
What is funny about these demos, is there is a program out there that does these for you, you just have to fill in the blanks, and highlight what you want. If you go to all the demo sites listed on this thread and look at the demos, they are all most the same. Same play/stop/pause bar. Same pop-up boxes, some of the same highlight areas.

Only cost to you is the program and your time, but I think the program cost less than the whole cpanel, x2 skin, demos that demodemo.com offers.


Robodemo=$299.00
Camtasia Studio=$299.00

Neither are exactly fill in the blanks so if you value your time at all you would have to add that expense.
Makes DemoDemo look like a pretty good deal to me.

Originally posted by Maxplayer14
What is funny about these demos, is there is a program out there that does these for you, you just have to fill in the blanks, and highlight what you want. If you go to all the demo sites listed on this thread and look at the demos, they are all most the same. Same play/stop/pause bar. Same pop-up boxes, some of the same highlight areas.

Only cost to you is the program and your time, but I think the program cost less than the whole cpanel, x2 skin, demos that demodemo.com offers.

You can only deviate so much from a process when you are demonstrating a task, regardless of what demo developer you are. If you make one on FTP, would it be okay to highlight an email area?

To make a high-quality two or three minute demo, there is about two or three hours of development time behind it. Especially if you are marketing it to professional web hosts.

http://www.onlydemos.com

;)

I had a good look at the tutorials and they look great, i think they are a bit expensive for us at the moment though as we don't really have enough customers to warrant using them, and as mentioned most people ignore my faq and ask anyway and i have to point them to it.

http://wozs.com/demo
??

I'm sure Vito doesn't mind seeing his company name bumped to the top of the forum all the time, but is there any particular reason you feel the need to reply to this thread every few weeks with the url to one of his competitors?

Originally posted by Reality Hosting
I'm sure Vito doesn't mind seeing his company name bumped to the top of the forum all the time, but is there any particular reason you feel the need to reply to this thread every few weeks with the url to one of his competitors?

not really im looking into different companies who offer tutorial and thought others may be interested, good to see you are keeping track of my posts. ;)