Just to add a couple things to your guide.
-Sony has recently released Sony Vegas 8.0 Pro ( but won't seem to render any videos over 4.2 gigs ) [ if you want to keep up to date // try downloading the trial version ]
-Adobe Premiere CS3 Pro was recently released and is less user friendly than Sony Vegas 8.0, and more for the hardcore users, but has integration built-in for both Photophop CS3 as well as After Effects CS3 [ both help a bunch with graphics].
-After you're finished editing with WMM / Premiere / Vegas / Avid / Pinacle / etc. I recommend using encode either the Xvid codec or VirtualDub, both which are free of charge.
-I've found one of the best places to upload is Filefront, they allow uploads up to 3 gigs or 10 hours of upload time (or something like that) and generally have better quality than YouTube.
I wish you luck with your videos~
