YouTube videos are a great way to reach your audience, and best of all it’s free.
Implementing closed captions on YouTube is about reaching a wider audience. While the hearing impaired make up a smaller portion of your audience and benefit tremendously from closed captioning, there are many other people who you can reach if you include closed captions.
For example, many people may need to watch videos on YouTube with very low or no sound, especially those who are at work. In addition, your YouTube captions can be translated into hundreds of different languages to reach non-English speakers and an even wider audience worldwide.
Closed captions also provide text full of keywords for better search engine optimization (SEO) of your video.
But how do you add captions or subtitles to your YouTube videos?
You can add them to your video right in YouTube, or you can use software that may make the process a bit easier.
One such software is MovieCaptioner, which is available for both Mac and Windows. This software allows you to play your video in four-second increments while you type in the captions. After you’re done, you can export your video to YouTube and a variety of other media formats. Currently, MovieCaptioner is available as a full free demo, meaning you get the full version for 14 days. After this time period is up, it’s one of the most affordable versions of captioning software at $100.
You can also use the free CaptionTube app.
Adding closed captions or subtitles to your YouTube videos is just one more way to make them more accessible to people who need closed captions or would rather use them than not when watching video online.
picture from http://www.ada.gov/
Heather Rose