There are many reasons why bloggers may decide to incorporate video blogging onto their site. Sometimes it is out of a desire for diversity, since both the reader and the writer may get bored of large amounts of text. Sometimes it is because the blogger has something that they’d rather say – or show – with verbal rather than written words. And sometimes the blogger is just lazy (or in a hurry) and would rather talk their thoughts than write them down.
Whatever your reason may be for incorporating video blogging, it is important to plan out your strategy beforehand rather than simply jumping right in. Making a change to your blog is like making an investment. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Know When It’s Appropriate
A blog post made on a video is inherently different from one that is put down in writing. It will have a different tone, a different blogger-reader connection, and it will ultimately impart a different feeling upon the viewer. Before you video blog, be sure you know what you want to convey. If you’re discussing something personal and emotional, will you appropriately convey that emotion through video? If you’re talking about something complicated or technical, can you incorporate diagrams or other visual elements? The topic of your blog, essentially, may make video blogging more or less appropriate.
Get the Logistics Right
This may seem like a minor step to take, but it’s still an important one. Before you post any videos, then, it is crucial to test out your camera and see how a video you record would look on your blog. Is quality good? Is the picture clear? Do you move too much while you talk? Is there any background noise that may be distracting for viewers? Make sure you address and answer all these questions before posting.
In addition, learning about the different options available to post content on your blog is important. With all of the mobile advances over the years, people can blog from virtually anywhere they have a data or wi-fi connection. Picking up a blogging app and video editing app for your smartphone could serve as essential tools to keep your blog updated and interesting. Tools like these can be efficient and help attract more viewers.
Know Your Audience
As always, a successful blogger must take his audience into account. Depending on the nature of your blog, adding a video component could be viewed either positively, negatively, or neutrally by your readership. If your readership is more literary minded, for example, they may prefer to see the written word in your posts.
On the other hand, if your blog has a lot of short updates or a need for interactive demonstrations (such as a how-to or review of tech products), a video element would probably be more welcome. You should also take your appearance into consideration at this stage. If your blog is geared towards a business readership, it’s probably important to look and sound professional.
These are just a few tips to get started, but the most important take-away should be that any video blogging is fully considered and planned in advance. Video blogging can be very beneficial to your website, but you want to insure, first and foremost, that it’s done the right way.
Video is the way to go, especially if you are posting your videos on YouTube. YouTube is not only a huge timesucker in the web, but also it brings the Google-sphere into play. Through YouTube, you can link back and forth between your blog, your Google Plus account and your Google YouTube account. This in turn benefits your site from a SEO perspective. What do you think about this?