What is A Video Blog?

| Saturday, April 2, 2011
By Mike Helft


The world of the blogger is chaning as technology changes. It used to be that the blog was just a personal record of what was happening to the author, then it evolved to be a core tool in internet marketing and now it is changing again with video blogging.

It has been said that blogs require images to help split the text into readable chunks. Now, using video not only does that but it also helps the author explain the message they are trying to get across.

Video Blog- Technical Requirements:
Technically, if you are going to use video for your blog, you will need:

* Extra storage - you need a lot more capacity for video that for words.

* Quicker Machines - video streaming requires your server to be fast enough to cope with the demand - which is significantly more than for a written blog.

* Extra software - most of the everyday blogging tools like Wordpress and Blogger have plugins available to
add video to your blog. However, you will also need something to let you make your videos in particular to edit
the results from the video camera.

* Camera - no surprise here - you need something to record with, and you may need a separate microphone as well. In the early days a fairly basic set up will work but as you get more sophisticated you will want better kit.

* Lights - a video needs good lighting. Don't make the mistake of having great content and then recording with your face in shadow - it ruins the video. If you can use daylight - it is best to look natural - but if you can't just ensure everything is properly lit.

Once you have the technology correct then there are 2 main types of video content:

1. Your Product or Service
Video blogging is a great tool for promoting your products and services. Think of how powerful it would be if your customers get content from you that is not only informative but also shows them how to use and get the benefits you are talking about.

It is becoming essential to use video. Not only are customers getting more sophisticated in what they expect to see but your competition is doing video so you really have to.

One word of caution - don't make this type of video blog entry too long - too much and viewers will get bored and leave your site.


Secondly, you will video about your opinions and ideas just like you wrote about. You know your blog needed to add value for the reader well it is no different when recording a video. Instead of writing a post record the post - just keep it short and sharp.

Part of your current marketing process has been to syndicate your blog entries via RSS, bookmarking etc. When using video as the medium you can carry out a similar activity but you just distribute to different sites.

In the past one of the constraints with video recordings was that they could cause speed problems with the viewers' computer - not only when viewing but sometimes on download as well.

This shouldn't stop you it is just a word of caution. Video blogging is becoming an necessary marketing tool for your business and it really isn't too difficult to do.




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