With such a wide selection of styles and formats from which to choose—from simple screen videos to full-motion video—cost will likely be the deciding factor in what your next demo will ultimately look like.

You have three options in creating the cheapest possible demo:

• Use screen capture software to create a software product tour
• Convert a presentation into a demo using a PowerPoint-to-Flash conversion utility or exporting straight from Keynote
• Use a Flash alternative that creates an SWF file without having to learn Flash Pro

Screen-capture software—such as Adobe Captivate, BSR Screen Recorder, Demo Builder, Instant Demo, Techsmith Camtasia, or Replay Video Capture among others—is a great way to affordably create a great demo. The software is very easy to use and the final presentation visual quality is acceptable for most companies. The only potential drawback to using DIY software is the potential for reduced image quality. So you should always export your movies with the highest quality (least amount of compression) that the program will allow. But the bummer here is, the larger the demo (in both screen real estate size and in export quality) the longer your audience will have to wait for it to load into their browser window. So practice with the results and give yourself plenty of time to get it right.

You can easily convert a PowerPoint presentation to an SWF (Shockwave Flash) movie (using one of the many converters available such as IncrediTools, PointeCast, FlashPoint, etc.) or export your Keynote slide show to an SWF movie to deliver your presentation with narration in the most common format on the web: Flash. The method you choose depends on whether or not you use a Mac, Keynote is only available on Macs and PowerPoint does not export directly to Flash. The biggest impact you can make to creating a great-looking presentation-converted demo is to use quality stock photography and illustrations in your presentation program to start with. iStock is great and very affordable (2 bucks each!) or you can spend a bit more and go to Getty Images for higher quality assets.

Several companies offer alternatives to Flash Pro that produce essentially the same final output without the steep learning curve. Flash Pro is capable of producing complete applications and highly interactive experiences but it is also very complex and often requires the use of other programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator for the highest quality demos. Fortunately, companies such as Adobe Presenter, Articulate Presenter, Tanida Demo Buidler, Flypaper.com, Laughbird Flash Ad Creator, and others provide animation software that is easier to use than Flash Pro and produces the same file format as Flash Pro: SWF (Shockwave Flash). They're easy to use and can give you all the right tools for a linear presentation.

Sometimes though, no matter how hard you try, in the effort to provide a demo using an exported slide show or a Flash alternative that won't take forever for your audience to see (because it takes a while for the demo to load into their browser cache), screen shots, photography, and illustration might get a bad case of the jaggies. If this happens to you and you can live with it to save money, you can always improve other things, such as:

• Use a professional narrator. Simply record your demo with your own voice and all the screen activity you want to show, then find a narrator on the Internet (they typically charge between $250 and $600, sometimes more) and have them record your script. Syncing up the new narration can be a bit tricky though so it might help to have them send you multiple small files.
• Add background music. Many royalty-free web sites offer great clips for $20 or $30 such as SoundRangers.com (my favorite) and PremuimBeat.com. Don't use clips without paying for it, like from your MP3 library, they deserve to be paid for it's use.

Next Steps...
I've provided links to all these great solutions on the DIY Software page.

I hope these tips help you with your self-produced demo. Please send me feedback or add a comment below. And you can register with FlashDemoWorld (using the login form at right) to gain access to exclusive content such as my 10 steps to creating a demo.