A Guide to Video Blogging

Video blogging is nothing new on the internet. Before a couple years ago, a video equipment was not so cheap and affordable like now. There are more and more video blogs from day to day. In this post, I would try to guide you to the video blogging. Showing you how and why to create a video blog.

A video blogging is still on the growth, there are so much affordable devices and services on the internet which are related to the video blogging. A post production software and online services like YouTube are much easier and accessible than ever before.

What is a Video Blog?

First, I will show you what is exactly a video blogging and why it is called like this:

Video blog is a form of blogging where entries are made regularly and often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts. (source)

My own definition regarding to Video blogging is:

Video blog is a blog based on the online or live video shows. Combined with a less text and other media files compared to the regular blogs. They are usually updated less frequently but may include more information because of the video source.

Why to Create a Video Blog?

In this section, I will tell you why you should create your own video blog.

First of all, there is a demand on the market. According to comScore, more than 80% of all internet users in USA have viewed a video online at least once. If you know that YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the internet, this value is a very realistic – for my opinion.

Main Reasons to Start your Own Video Blog are:

Exposure – Providing your own video contents on your own blog gives you a more exposure and popularity through the internet. Some visitors would like you and someone would not. Anyway, these who like you may easily become your loyal visitors and visit your blog regularly.

Cheap Equipment – Today, a video equipment like camcorders, mini camcorders and mobile phones with a good camera quality is nothing new and too much expensive. I think that anyone can afford a quality and not expensive device which records video at reasonable quality.

Free Hosting – Once you record and edit your own video files, you are ready to update them on the internet. Today, it is an extremely easy to upload your videos completely for free on hundreds of video sharing sites like YouTube. See below if you want to know which services I like the most.

Post Production Software – Today, there are more and more quality and affordable (even some free) quality video post-production software applications for all popular operating systems. This automatically allows you to

Say More – Video allow you to say more than in regular articles – the way you want it to. Of course, you can say much more in 5 minutes than in 1000 written words. Videos can contain a much more information and resources. I specially like some video bloggers and I regularly watch every their show!

Of course, these are only the main reasons why to create a video blog yourself. Also, video blogs have a very huge loyalty factor. Meaning that you can get more and more loyal visitors which are going to visit your blog at regular basis. A loyal visitors are better than other generic come-through visitors of course.

Creating a Video Blog

In this section I will show you how to create a functional base for your first video blog. I will include all necessary information and resources I have found recently.

Blogging System and Hosting

Of course, you would need to create a blog to place your videos into it. I would recommend you to go with some simple design and use a Blogspot or WordPress at the beginning of your blog.

Later on, you can buy a domain name or a web hosting to get more functionality and productivity.

Video Bloggers are trying to use as much simple design they can use. This way they can get their videos in front of other basic elements of the blog and also some other features:

• Less Resources – A video blog usually uses a lot less resources than any other blog. Simply because they usually use a less-complex design and they contain a less hosted files than regular blogs.
• Less Bandwidth – These blogs uses a lot less bandwidth than a regular blogs. Video files are hosted on free-hosted video sharing services in most cases, and that is why these blogs uses a less resources than other sites.

This is a very good thing for all video bloggers. Hosting a multimedia files (specially videos) can take much more space and bandwidth on your site. Making it automatically more expensive.

A video sharing sites can also give you some additional video viewers and stats for free, which is good because any viewer is a potential loyal visitor and subscriber to your blog.

Recommended Video Sharing Sites:

There are a much more free video sharing sites on the internet. Below, I will show you my recommendations. Anyway, all these services allows you to host your videos for free.

• YouTube – Definitely the most popular video sharing website on the internet. Allowing you to upload your videos up to 2 Gb per file with max. 10 minutes in length. Can upload multiple files and HD quality videos.
• Vimeo – This is my recommended service for every video blogger. Videos likes a much more better with higher quality and somehow it looks much better than YouTube for me. With a basic account Vimeo allows you to upload up to 500 Mb video and 1 HD quality video per week.
• Blip.tv – This is one very popular video sharing website among video bloggers. Allowing you to upload up to 2hrs video with free account per video. I have to say that this service have a very good and quality interface and video quality. Maybe you’ll like it more than the above services.

You can use any video sharing service you want it to. Anyway, above mentioned Blogspot (Blogger) and WordPress have a complete support for uploading and sharing a videos on your blog.

What Makes a Good Video Blog

With lower costs for equipment and software, anyone with a video camera could easily become a video blogger. In this section I would show you what every video blog should have.

First of all, you need to create a good and quality videos. Try to spend more time to create a quality video after recording. You should need to cover all aspects that your audience should expect from you.

Let’s say you have a software-related video blog. You would probably post more software reviews on your videos and less personal videos about yourself and your general opinions. This way you get more quality visitors from all the sources on the internet, letting you to grow and build your blog as a quality and effective one.

Second thing you should care is a video length. You should not create a too short but also a too long videos. In both cases you would loose your valuable visitors and potential viewers. Too long videos may be a boring for your audience and short ones can distract them, so take this fact very seriously.

According to ComScore research, an average online video viewer watched 582 minutes of video, or 9.7 hours. The duration of the average online video was 3.7 minutes.

So, I would recommend you to create a video with minimum duration of 3.0 minutes and maximum of 10 minutes. In some cases, you can create a long videos if you are trying to present to your readers a more complex ideas. Most video bloggers I follow and watch every day makes videos no longer than 5 minutes in average.

I also think that most of the people would decide to watch or not-to-watch a video within a first couple of seconds. So, it is a highly important to create a some kind of attractive introduction to your video to improve it.

Some Free Video Editing Software

These applications can help you to finish your recorded videos. Do not worry, there are much free video editing software applications which can make your video look professional and good.

Windows Movie Maker – Windows movie maker is a great video editor from Microsoft. You can easily create an attractive videos with this software. Comes included with most Windows XP, Vista and Win7 editions. You can not do miracles with this app, but for sure it can be a handy one.

Apple iMovie – This is another free video editing software with great functions. iMovie is available only for Mac OS operating systems and allows you to use some advanced and great functions at ease. If you want to edit videos on your Mac – there is no so much better free app than this.

Avidemux – This one is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. Avidemux is available for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows under the GNU GPL license. This is a well known video editing software which is available on all popular platforms.