Wesley Cherisien

Today, innovative technology makes the recording and sharing of high-resolution interactive videos very easy.

Team members can now create over-the-shoulder how-to videos and even pre-recorded webinars in a few clicks.

Every team should be creating video content. Video builds trust and credibility while simplifying the transfer of information.

In fact, 85 percent of the US internet audience watches videos online and over 500 million people watch videos on Facebook every day.

However, while creating educational video content is easy to do, ensuring you have the right tools is the first step to effective video creation.

To help you pick the best possible option, I put together a list of some of the best screen recording software currently available and reviewed them based on ease of use, pricing, integrated features and more.

Let’s get started.

What is the best screen recorder on the market?

Here are my top picks for the best screen recording software to use this year.

CAMTASIA.

Camtasia is a feature-rich tool for creative and innovative video creation. You have the ability to create high-quality video content and add vibrant popover text as well as interactive quizzes.

BEST FOR:

While Camtasia isn’t the most robust tool on the market, its capabilities are far from basic and meets the needs of users who need quality video content quickly.

PROS:

• Comes out of the box with a set of library assets that contain templates, images, audio files, motion graphics and text icons
• Highly intuitive user interface for recording that is easy to understand and newbie-friendly
• Allows for the creation of high-quality videos efficiently even if you aren’t tech-savvy

CONS:

• Animation and transition editing features can be challenging to manipulate and master
• Limited cross-compatibility when using different versions
• Audio editing capability could be more robust

Loom

Loom is a lightweight and versatile screen recorder that allows you to quickly record, edit and share videos.

BEST FOR:

Best used for quick instructional videos, process workflows and demos that do not require a lot of editing.

PROS:

• Gets high-quality screen recordings processed quickly
• Stores videos on cloud where link to content can be shared as opposed to having to download files
• Supports Chrome and can capture recording of a browser window

CONS:

• Library interface that houses recorded videos could have better sorting and organizing features
• Editing features are limited and not suitable for more sophisticated video content
• Recording can lag when creating longer videos

Screencastify

Screencastify is an incredibly simple screen recorder that allows you to record, edit and share high definition videos in seconds.

BEST USED FOR

Educational videos. Teachers love this tool as it gives the opportunity to add graphics while recording to draw attention to certain parts of your presentation.

PROS

• Easy to use, edit and customized recordings
• Syncs seamlessly with Google Drive for automatic video storage
• Lightweight interface and quick processing power

CONS

• 5-minute recording limit for free version
• Mobile compatibility is limited as sometimes the recording freezes

The Bandicam

Bandicam is a modern, lightweight and versatile screen recorder that allows you to create high-quality videos that are easy to share

BEST USED FOR

Creating high quality short videos that can be shared on YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms. In addition to traditional screen recording, Bandicam allows a game recording mode (for capturing gameplay footage) and a device recording mode (where you can record external devices such as phones and gaming systems (Microsoft XBOX and Sony Playstation).

PROS

• Allows for very high-quality recording and supports up to 4K output
• Simple and clean user interface
• Setup is easy to get you recording quickly

CONS

• Does not support use on MAC or Linux computer systems
• Free version shows Bandicam watermark and are limited to 10-minute recordings

Screencast-O-Matic

Screencast-O-Matic is a highly functional and easy-to-use screen capturing software that allows you to easily create new videos for free (there is an upgraded premium version that has more robust recording and editing features)

BEST USED FOR

Teachers and course creators will find Screencast-O-Matic to be intuitive and fairly simple to understand. Editing is easy and allows for truncation and re-recording areas in the video that need improvement.

PROS

• Java applet allows use of the Screencast-O-Matic software without having to download it
• Direct publishing option allows you to broadcast directly to Youtube
• Free version allows you to create and publish videos

CONS

• Editing tools are limited, even when using the paid version
• Requires users to have internet access when using recording platform

Create a Vision that Everyone Can Believe and Share

 In a study surveying tens of thousands of working people around the world, when asking respondents: “What do you look for and admire in a leader?”, 72 percent answered with “that he or she be forward-looking.”

George Washing Carver once remarked: “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.”

The greatest leaders throughout history have inspired hope regarding a better future state as opposed to leaning on knowledge and facts of the known present.

While Martin Luther King Jr. was not the only civil rights activist of his day, he became the leader and face of the era. King did this by creating hope for a future state where all human-beings could live in a society where the ability to live a productive life was not marred by skin-tone.

Mohandas Gandhi, also known as Mahatma (Meaning “the great-souled one”), inspired a vision that illustrated an ideal state of India which constituted the perfect balance of social responsibility and individual freedom, all while respecting the ideology of non-violent divergences in viewpoint and democratic social order.

In the famous Salt March of 1930, a demonstration of civil disobedience against Britain’s Salt Act of 1882 banned Indian citizens from collecting or salt, thousands of people followed Gandhi’s lead. The march resulted in the arrest of nearly 60,000 people, including Gandhi himself.

When he died in 1948, there were nearly 1 million people who followed the procession as Gandhi’s body through the state. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi are great examples of leaders who shaped the vision of an enhance future state that people can follow, which is one of the greatest attributes a leader must possess.

Acknowledge and “own” your mistakes

In his December 19, 1952 address at the National War College, President Harry S. Truman said, “You know, it’s easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you — and on my desk, I have a motto which says The Buck Stops Here’ — the decision is mine.”

During the farewell speech, Truman referred to this concept again, saying, “The President has to decide. [They] can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for [them]. That is [their] job”.

The phrase “pass the buck” originates from the game of Poker and essentially means to “pass the responsibility (or blame) to someone else.”

The best leaders take ownership of their failures and openly acknowledge mistakes while pivoting quickly to recover and move forward.

No one is perfect, and acknowledging our shortcomings does not make us weak – it makes us wholly human.

Albert Einstein, who didn’t speak until he was four years old, failed his entrance exam to the Swiss Federal Polytechnic school at the age of sixteen. He also quit his job as an insurance salesman (mainly due to his inability to perform to standard). Einstein later became known as one of the most brilliant minds known to man.

Elon Musk is arguably one of the highest achievers on the planet, yet he has experienced heart-breaking failures along his entrepreneurial journey. Through each setback, Musk has resiliently moved forward to successfully create or become deeply involved in massive companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, PayPal, Zip2, SolarCity, Hyperloop, OpenAI, The Boring Company, and NueraLink.

Owning your mistakes demonstrates:

• Responsibility – by showing that you embrace a mindset of ownership and will do what it takes to get the job done
• Integrity – by revealing that you refuse to hide from errors and that you value accuracy
• Relatability – by presenting yourself as a flawed human who requires grace

Focus on other people’s success: Use praise and sincere appreciation

One of my favorite John C. Maxwell quotes, states: “The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people.”

Leaders who recognize their dependence on the team’s effort and grasp every opportunity to offer sincere praise and appreciation to others are the most influential.

When you give credit to others for their successes, you are essentially encouraging and empowering them to continue to demonstrate the displayed behaviors.

In a study conducted by Robert Anderson and William Adams, the number one competency that differentiates the best leaders is their ability to relate interpersonally with others. Over half of the additional proficiencies in the top ten of the same study linked to people skills, including team development, listening and empowering their team.

As a leader, you must understand that taking the credit for successes (even if you sincerely believe you deserve it) can alienate you from your team. The best leaders value team camaraderie, engagement, and overall team progress rather than personal recognition.

In the words of Lao Tzu (one of my all-time favorite quotes): “A leader is best when people barely know that he [or she] exists, when [the] work is done, [the] aim is fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Be Fair and Consistent

Just because someone is classified as a leader doesn’t necessarily mean they can lead. Leadership is more of an action than a position, and if your efforts are not consistent, no one will want to follow you.

While many will argue that the workplace needs more equality, I believe that leaders will benefit far more greatly by demonstrating the ability to instill culture equity rather than equality.

Workplace equity is when you give each person what they need to do their job while equality can be view as treating everyone the same and giving each person the same thing.

In a perfect world, equality in the workplace would solve all of our problems. Each person would have the same amount of experience, begin from the same starting point, and need the same tools to complete their assignments; unfortunately, this will never be the case as each person, circumstance, and each project has a unique scope.

It is impossible to treat everyone the same because everyone is different and will need your support in varying ways.

The best leaders understand that workplace equity is the act of treating everyone fairly and ensuring that each person on the team feels equally supported to complete the tasks that they are assigned.

Treat People with Respect

Since childhood, we were all imbued with a simple yet powerful principle about how to deal with people: “treat others how you would like to be treated.” In today’s workplace, it may be more appropriate to show respect and appreciation by treating others how they would like to be treated.

In a Georgetown study featuring responses from a sample of 20,000 employees across the globe, respondents ranked respect as the number one principal leadership behavior.

Respect is an indispensable factor for any healthy, professional relationship and demonstrating courteous behaviors is a requirement for everyone who aspires to be a good leader.

Effective leaders show respect by:

• Treating people (regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or social status) with courtesy and kindness
• Listening intently – allowing others to openly express concerns without interrupting or formulating rebuttals to make excuses
• Managing nonverbal cues such as tone of voice, ensuring approachable body language as well as maintaining a positive and professional demeanor during interactions
• Being aware of emotional intelligence and using the necessary skills to relate and show empathy
• Practicing inclusion to ensure that each person feels like they are an integral part of the team
• Offering recognition and praise to show appreciation for good work

Lead by Modeling the Way

Having a real sense of personal accountability and ownership for your work product and outcomes is an incredible characteristic that very few people possess. While many leaders are comfortable with the idea of holding other people accountable for their actions, modeling the way with personal accountability is what sets leaders apart.

Are you setting the example that you want others to follow?

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” By doing this, you are primarily modeling the way for others and showing everyone your values and expectations.

Bring Others Along for the Ride

When polled, 75 percent of people in the workplace rated collaboration as “very important”. At the same time, research has found that individuals who were asked to act collaboratively to work on a task, worked on it 64% longer than those who were working by themselves.

Leaders are typically active individual contributors and are awarded leadership roles primarily due to their exemplary performance. While you may have been applauded for your stellar personal achievements in the past, great leaders know that they cannot go at it alone.

The best leaders bring their team along for the ride and foster a team-centric environment where everyone can share in successes as well as experience failed opportunities together.

Practice Listening

While many leaders are required to complete education in communication, most of the curriculum typically focuses on body language, tone, and word choice. Listening is the most critical part of interacting with people. Unfortunately, only 2 percent of people have had any education on “how to listen effectively.”

Practical listening displays empathy fosters engagement, and demonstrates the ability to have an open mind to new ideas and change.

Leaders that are the best listeners ensure that they stay focused on the speaker and guarantee that they capture the message by asking well-defined questions to help the speaker fully convey the message.

In 1999, Blackberry was the number one fastest-growing company, trailblazing the consumer market for mobile devices. Four short years later, after failing to listen to the needs and feedback of their loyal customers to make the necessary changes to innovate their product, the company posted up to a $4.4 billion loss and a 56 percent decline in revenue”.

Meanwhile, Apple and Google listened to feedback to meticulously innovate their products, and the rest is history.

Sam Walton says it best: “If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will.”

Show Gratitude and Appreciation

Giving thanks makes you a happier human being – It’s a scientific fact. Giving thanks and showing appreciation also makes you a better leader.

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and a stead readiness to show appreciation or return an act of kindness.

Good leaders are grateful.

They understand that they could not have achieved their success without the help of others and are highly appreciative of the people that they lead. Demonstrate gratitude by taking the time to write personal thank-you notes, verbally thanking people, keeping a journal of the things that you are grateful for, and taking a moment to reflect and pray daily.

Do Whatever Needs to Be Done

Finally, leaders get it done.

Henry Ford once said: “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” Leaders are measured on their tangible actions and successes. As a leader, you must have clarity in your purpose and define specific tasks that will help you achieve your goals and get results.

Act decisively and take the necessary risks needed to get the job done.

As a leader, people look to you for answers and results, and you will ultimately be measured by whether you were able to deliver on the objectives you vowed to achieve.

In 2004, SiteGround launched a website hosting service that has become the gold standard of hosting today and powers over 2 million domains. SiteGround primarily targets small businesses and individual users, providing a service that is suited for new websites that want top-tier performance and customer service at an affordable price.

When it comes to comparing budget web hosting platforms, SiteGround makes a strong case for being the leader in the market. In this article, we will take a look at what makes SiteGround a good choice for web hosting services as well as look at a few areas in their offerings that could use improvement.

Reviewing Siteground Plans

SiteGround currently offers 3 primary plans for personal and business web hosting: StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek.

Each plan provides a different level of service and capacity when it comes to the number of websites you can host on the plan, the amount of web space allotted and the number of visitors your site will have the capacity to host each month. Let’s look at each of the service tiers in greater detail:

StartUp

SiteGround’s StartUp plan is the most cost-effective plan that SiteGround offers and provides- the most basic features needed to get your site up and running cheap and fast. With SiteGround’s Startup plan you can host 1 website and have up to 10 GB of web space to use. We typically recommend beginning with the StartUp plan when you initially create your site and don’t have much traffic as this plan can only support up to 10,000 visits per month.

GrowBig

SiteGround’s GrowBig plan is specifically designed for web growth and allows users to host an unlimited number of websites using up to 20 GB of webspace. With greater capacity than the StartUp plan, the GrowBig plan supports up to 25,000 visits per month and offers premium features such as:

• Free site transfers for your websites that are currently hosted on other platforms
• The ability to add collaborators to your account

The GrowBig plan also offers advanced on-demand backup, WordPress staging and SuperCacher (for enhanced speeds) but these features can all be added for free with plugins and do not necessarily justify selecting this plan simply to receive these add-ons.

GoGeek

SiteGround’s GoGeek plan is the premier option for sites that are established and have a lot of web visitors. With the GoGeek plan, you host unlimited websites on 30 GB of web space and can support up to 100,000 visitors a month. In addition to the features provided in the StartUp and GrowBig plans, the GoGeek plan also offers Geeky Features which includes:

• Advanced priority customer
• The highest tier of server resources

What Plan Should I Get? (Analyzing the Siteground pricing structure)

When comparing the SiteGround plans, it is important to note that a majority of what the markets as advanced features or premium upgrades are standard options that can be obtained by using alternate solutions (many of which can be found for free). The most important factor to consider when deciding between the plans is the number of website visitors you expect each month. If you are just starting and don’t expect much traffic from the beginning, the StartUp plan should be suitable to get things rolling out the gate.

Getting a Free Siteground SSL Certificate

One of the best things about hosting on SiteGround is that they offer a free SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt which is a non-profit authority managed by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) that provides certificates for security encryption at no charge. An SSL certificate is a protocol that establishes authenticated and encrypted links between network computers. This ensures that all of the information that is being passed between the web server and private and secure; without this layer of protection, hackers can easily intercept data from the unsecured website.

Sites that have a valid SSL certificate can be identified by having an “https://” in the URL instead of the standard “http://”. The Let’s Encrypt certificate is typically valid for 90 days and can be renewed at any time. SiteGround has partnered with Let’s Encrypt to support its global mission of creating free SSL certificates for all. What this means for you: by using SiteGround as your web hosting provider, you can install an SSL certificate for your site via one-click installation and instantly have a secured web presence.

Siteground login (Step-by-step Instructions)

Once you have created a SiteGround Account and selected your service plan, logging into your dashboard is very simple. 

Login to SiteGround account dashboard

1. Visit this URL: https://login.siteground.com/loginEnter your SIteGround account username or email to proceed
2. Enter your SiteGround account password and select “login”

Login to your SiteGround cPanel dashboard

1. Login to your SiteGround account to navigate to your user area
2. Select “cPanel”
3. You will automatically be logged into your cPanel account via an encrypted connection

Alternate (and easier) method to access your SiteGround cPanel dashboard

1. Visit this URL and login to access your cPanel via a non-secure port: https://yourdomainname.com:2082
2. Visit this URL and login to access your cPanel securely: https://yourdomainname.com/cpanel

Login to SiteGround WordPress dashboard

1. Login to your SiteGround account to navigate to your user area
2. Select “WordPress”
3. Log in to using your WordPress credentials

Alternate (and easier) method to access your SiteGround WordPress dashboard

1. Visit this URL: https://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin
2. Log in using your WordPress credentials

Siteground support options

SiteGround has one of the best customer service ratings when comparing many of the budget hosting service providers available; the team does a great job in ensuring that each client has all of the resources available to be successful.

SiteGround support promises a 90% rate of issue resolution on the first contact, extremely fast response times and smart automated solution recommendations by their support system. There are multiple channels of help including instant self-help options and 24/7 live help offered by the SiteGround team.

SiteGround support via instant Self-help

If you are in a rush and want to get your issue resolved without waiting you have the option to troubleshoot your concern using the autonomous tools offered by SiteGround:

• Pinned assistance every page – SiteGround offers pinned help options on each of their web pages without the client interfaces. The team makes it relatively simple to obtain easy access to answers to some of the most commonly inquired questions by pinning relevant support articles for each task.
• Smart Artificial Intelligence Chatbots – SiteGround has developed an AI robot that can solve specific issues using the fastest method possible.
• Automation Tools and Processes – whenever a customer submits an inquiry, the support team at SiteGround analyzes it to see if it was an issue that was ever solved before. If so, the team immediately provides a ready-made solution for customers to get the fastest resolutions.

SiteGround support via 24/7 Live help

While ready-made solutions are convenient, sometimes there is nothing more practical (and helpful) than getting in touch with a friendly human-being. SiteGround offers the following Live help options:

• Live chat – Since talking on the phone isn’t my favorite thing to do, using the SiteGround live chat feature has been extremely convenient for me and my team. Service is really fast and waits times are typically a few seconds to less than a minute until you get someone who can help you solve your issue. There is also a rating system that shows you how customers have rated each agent from their previous interactions. SiteGround agents pride themselves on being able to resolve 90%+ of the inquiries they get on the first try.
• Phone support – Want to talk to a live person? Done. The SiteGround support number is listed on their website and easily accessible to all customers. The average time you will have to wait to get an experienced agent on the phone is roughly 2 minutes.
• Helpdesk support tickets – While I am not a fan of support tickets (because wait times can be so darn long), SiteGround does a great job of quickly getting a resolution and moving the ticket into the “resolved” queue for your approval. There is typically an advanced technician on your helpdesk ticket within 15 minutes (which is lightning fast in this industry) and a vast majority of tickets are resolved on a single reply.

Can I get a free SiteGround domain?

There was a time when hosting companies were offering free domains in a package deal with monthly hosting to get new customers. SiteGround once had this offer as a part of their signup package for new customers but has since discontinued this practice and focused on offering highly competitive hosting service rates and exceptional customer service. While there are still companies that may do this, SiteGround does not currently offer free domain registration with their hosting services.

Accessing SiteGround webmail

SiteGround hosting comes with built-in access to webmail on all of its plans which is great if you want to develop a professional web presence when sending emails using a yourname@yourdomainname.com email box. Setting up a webmail account in your cPanel is pretty simple and can be completed in a few clicks; If you want assistance in getting this done, the SiteGround customer support team can help you achieve this.

Once you have an active webmail account, here are a couple of ways to gain access to your email box.

Login to SiteGround webmail through the cPanel

The easiest way to access your SiteGround webmail account is by going through the cPanel. Once you are in your cPanel, navigate to the “Mail” section and select “Webmail”.

You will then be taken to a page where you are asked to log in by selecting an email client. An Email client is a software you will use to access your webmail – neither is better than the other but each is unique in layout and functionality so try them all out and select one that you like moving forward.

Once you have selected your email client, you will be able to log in to your webmail account and start sending and receive emails.

Login to SiteGround webmail directly (without cPanel)

You can also access your SiteGround webmail account using a special URL that is linked to your domain name:

yourdomainname.com/webmail

Once you have entered this address you will be asked to enter your email address and Password. Be sure that you have a webmail account set up so that you can use your domain’s email address to log in. Simply provide your login credentials and you should be in and good to go.

Using the SiteGround Cloudflare CDN service

SiteGround offers Cloudflare service integration completely free with their hosting plans. Cloudflare is one of the biggest networks on the internet and offers services to help websites improve security as well as performance. 

Here is how it works: when you load a website, your request goes from your computer to a server that renders and returns the web pages that you requested. If too many requests go to the service at once, the server could become unresponsive, overwhelmed and crash as a result.

Cloudflare solves this problem by having data centers in over 200 cities across the globe to store and provide content in proximity to each user. This is known as a Content Delivery Network (or CDN), which is essentially a network of geographically distributed servers.

With the free SiteGround Cloudflare integration you can get:

• Faster website speeds
• SSL support (for added security)
• And specific page rules for up to 3 web pages

Should I use SiteGround to host my Website?

There are many great reasons why you should consider hosting on SiteGround which we’ve outlined in this article. The primary benefit of using this hosting service is the highly competitive pricing structure along with the numerous added features that most other service providers do not offer. Top that with an impeccable customer service rating for their expert agents and you have a can’t-miss solution for people who are building out their websites and looking for a budget hosting provider.

I’ve personally hosted many of my starter sites on SiteGround and moved them over to WPX hosting when traffic gets to over 100,000 visitors a month for added support and faster site loading.

I fully recommend SiteGround if you are starting your website and welcome you to try them by visiting this link. Good luck!