Online video is on the rise. More people are watching. More people are uploading and more people are clicking through mobile apps to watch a video advertisement.

Now YouTube is making it easier for even the novice video-maker to turn out a clean and creative product. Starting today, YouTube is officially rolling out an editing suite that allows you to make changes to your video on the fly.

Before now, you’d have to take down, fix and then reupload a video in order to make changes. This meant losing your URL and the comments associated with it. With the new edit button, changes are saved to the same ID number, so you don’t lose your place, counts or comments.

The edit suite comes with two levels of options. On the lower end you can stabilize hand-held footage, rotate a video, and boost the contrast and colors. The “I’m Feeling Lucky” button corrects color with one click.

For a more drastic change, YouTube has teamed up with Picnik to create visual effect overlays. Go black & white, thermal, or turn your video into a cartoon.

The new YouTube edit button isn’t meant to take the place of a full-scale video editor, but it can make your homemade efforts look more professional and fun. Not everyone can afford a creative team or has the talent to produce their own mini-movie, but as we’ve seen, polished isn’t always the biggest winner on YouTube. Very often, it’s the simple, silly or heart-felt videos that go viral, shaky hand-held footage and all.

Look at the YouTube edit button as permission to make a mistake. Make a short video featuring your product or service, don’t spend a lot of time, just do it and upload it. Then spend a half hour trying out the new filters and options. A basic video of a person enjoying your product, could take on all new life when it’s turned into a cartoon.

Remember, this is YouTube, where everybody gets to be a star for at least 3 minutes.

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