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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

The Latest Craze in Blogging

Recently, blogs have gained much popularity in many online communities because people have the ability to hide their identity and write about subjects that they relate to, and sometimes bloggers feel strongly towards a certain story or issue. Vblogging has become a recent We then look towards vblogging, which is changing the way we look at blogging and bloggers.

Vblogging allows users and readers to see the face of the blogger, while he talks away to his readers. Some bloggers may not be comfortable talking to a camera, and may want to just continue to write on their blogs without showing any interest in what vblogging can actually do for their and that their facial expressions are on show to the whole world, but others might jump at the chance. Some of these such people will stick to traditional blogging in the sense of writing posts to their blog and ignore the aspects of video blogging.

If you're a person who is shy in-front of the camera, then vblogging (video blogging) probably isn't going to be good for you, as the whole world could potentially view your videos online. If you are having problems and trying to find the time to post two or three times to your blog each day, then you are probably better to not produce any video posts to your blog, as you should publish a regular traditional written post each day too. Many internet users love video blogs as they share so much incite than a post could do, yet many internet users and blog readers like to read and comment on the more traditional blog posts written by their favourite bloggers. So, unless your blog is downright crap you probably should continue doing what you are as your readership will continue to read your blog and other traditional blogs in your niche.

If you've made the decision that vblogging is for you and that you're going to start a vblog, then you will need to pay attention to a few important points. The most important is that your face will be viewed by millions of people throughout the world who tune into see your vblog. Your video and image, once loaded will stay on the internet for quite a long time; therefore, if you don't want to appear all over the internet then I would suggest that vblogging is just not for you. But, you should keep at your traditional blogging of posting daily, as subscribers will want to stay tuned so that they don't miss any important stuff that you have to say or comment on.

If you're serious about using video posts on your blog then you should look into doing many different things. You will need to keep your video posts short, engaging to the reader and humuorus at the same time. You will need structure for what you are going to say, just like you would when you write a blog post, and you will need to follow the plan you have so you're not considered a 'rambler vblogger'. Having weekly themes on your blog can help people in making the decision to come to your blog to watch your weekly video - this will also create an increased amount of traffic to the other posts on your site, as many people will view your other posts after they've watched your weekly video.

Vblogging is similar to traditional blogging in a couple of ways. A topic that you feel comfortable about is best for your to actually talk about in your videos, you will feel more comfortable and confident talking about something you have at least a little knowledge about and an area that interest you somewhat - you will need increased commitment to a video blog, as many video posts take a lot more time and effort than writing a 1,000 word post. You could choose to hire an actor/actors to produce your video post for you, but this may become expensive and most probably isn't a representation of you, the actors could read the scripts you provided them, but they would end up being the 'front line face' for your blog - doing this can protect your identity, but it can also have negative impacts on people recognising you later as a video blogger (vblogger).

Setting up your very own vblog really isn't too difficult, all you need is a video camera, some editing software to remove the parts of the recording that aren't needed and the ability/time to upload and configure the video to your blog. Some people put up video posts onto their blogs as much as twice per day, so, you will need to look at what type of schedule that you're looking at and think about whether you want to vblog or not. Now, many other bloggers, who have traditional blogs do tend to publish a video post once a week or once every two weeks, so if you want to try this on your traditional blog then it could be a good start.

If you have a number of blogs that you post to, then you might not have the time to setup a vblog and post videos to it daily - this is ok, as most readers will like the enjoyment and anticipation of when the next video post is going to be published. Vblogging is very exciting and fun, as it lets you become 'face to face' and actually speak to the readers of your blog, doing so increases the readability of your blog and the quality that your blog is accepted in.

VBloggers who have vblogs are gaining a huge following online and are staring in their own shows, some are talking about quite controversial topics too and are thus creating a substantial readership base and following. Vblogs include not only the video blogger, but other people (including their family and friends) that they invite to star in their videos. Some video blog posts even include work colleagues or mentors to help the video blogger achieve credibility in their topic area. Internet users who search across the internet are generally wanting to find answers to certain questions, as well as enjoy a giggle or two whilst doing it; video blogging takes this to the next stage and looks at blogging as even more of a personal view of a part of the world's online community.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

What Else Should I Know About Video Blogging?


A great additional tool you can use for your video blog is an RSS feed. This is a technology that allows people to subscribe to your video blog and have it download to their electronic device automatically, (it can download to a omputer, a PDA, a phone, and doubtless by now other devices.)

Congratulations! You have become a video broadcaster now, the star of your own tiny network.

How To Make a Video Blog



Creating a video blog isn't as straightforward as regular blogging. With an ordinary blog, you just have to be able to type in a regular post. But with vblogging, you'll need to have access to a good computer that can work with movie programs as well as a camera that can take video as well as snapping shots.

The first part is the easiest: create your digital video on your camera or camcorder. There are an infinite number of ways you can put your vblog together; you're not tied to a studio and you don't have to adhere to any rules you haven't made up yourself. Once your video has been created, you should download it to your computer in preparation for formatting and compressing it.

You can use a variety of different movie programs to work with your video blog, but the most commonly used are iMovie (for Mac, comes as part of the OS) or Movie Maker (for PC, comes as part of Windows). Others widely used are Final Cut Pro and Avid Free DV. If your camera or videocam create movies in Quicktime format, Avid Free DV is a great idea.

Once your movie is downloaded, you can use your movie program to make any video clip changes, insert new film, create titles and/or subtitles, and even add music to your video.
After you've finished editing your movie, you'll need to compress it in preparation for uploading to your vblog. But here's the catch. You want the movie compressed as far as possible so your audience will be able to download it and view it quickly; but the smaller you compress your movie, the less sharp your video quality will be. The idea is to find a happy medium, with your movie as small as possible, but with enough resolution left that your audience isn't squinting to turn your grainy square-pixellated image into something vaguely human.

As you work with changing the compression of your movie, you should be able to monitor the predicted file size at the bottom of the dialog window (in any of the above programs). Ideally, you want to compress your movie into no more than 5 megabytes (5000 K, roughly). If possible, you should compress it down to a single megabyte. Video blogs filmed with minimal movement and with a solid-colored screen behind the vblogger's head will compress the most, but they're the least fun type of video blog to create.

After you've compressed your video blog, you're ready to post it online. As a compressed Quicktime movie, you can just place it on your website with a link directly to it, just as you would with a regular web page. Or you may want to get involved in a video blogging community; if you do this, each community will have its own rules for putting your new vblog up and arranging introductory information around it, and you should read this carefully.

You should also read the users agreement carefully. Some video blogging sites may not accept vblogs with certain types of content; others may help promote certain types of content. You definitely need to know what your chosen video blogging community will help with and what they frown upon.

After posting your video blog, download it once and look at it carefully. Does it download quickly? How is the video quality? Anything you need to change? Once you're happy with your new vblog, promote it. Set up a link in your email signature line, or post links to it on bulletin boards you frequent. Creating the vblog is only half the work; someone has to view it now!
To help ensure your vblog is not lost in the shuffle, create some text around it, too. The major search engines only search text, not video. You must give them text to categorize your vblog, or they will ignore it.

Why Use a Video Blog?


You may already express yourself in a regular blog. Think about all the communication you're not delivering by writing everything down: the smug little facial expressions, the tone of your voice, and the clever repartee between you and a partner.

Besides this, video blogs are a fantastic tool to deliver indescribable content. Being in the right place at the right time can make your video blog take off. Or if you like to blog about sporting events, a video blog can enable you to capture the action and deliver it to your fans, not just describe it in too-pale words.

If you're a long way from home, a video blog can also be a great way to keep up with friends and family. Think of it as a great new way to share the baby's first steps with his or her grandparents.
And then, you may have harbored a secret dream to be the next great television newscaster or reporter. A video blog may be your perfect chance.

What Is a Video Blog?



In its simplest form, a video blog (vblog or vlog) is the posting of serial videos to a website, with an audience response encouraged. Even though this new form of web communication is in its infancy, videobloggers have already started making regular postings online.

Many vbloggers are using video blogging to create their own miniprograms, using an RSS feed to deliver new episodes automatically. Others are experimenting with the new technology. Like any new community technology, there is no telling where vblogging is going to go in the future.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Should You Outsource Your Blog Marketing?

Many issues in Internet marketing and corporate web presence have a fairly clearly defined ‘preferable’ side. One odd issue that is evenly divided is in blog marketing - while some people feel that outsourcing blog marketing and writing is the only way to run a blog, others say that completely betrays the spirit of your blog! The reality, as always, is a little more balanced than the extreme views. Today we check out the arguments on both sides of the fence about outsourcing your blog marketing and writing. 

Time
Blogging well takes time. And if the people at your company that are ‘qualified’ to blog are worth in dollar terms per hour doing something other than writing, then the amount of time for blogging that their bosses will put in their schedule is nil. However, there is another consideration to make - the occasional post by a true expert in their field can add a lot of value to a blog … in the longer term. 

Outsourcing isn’t all-or-nothing
You can outsource part of your blogging, and still retain the personal flavor. For example, there’s no reason for the ‘brains’ behind the blog to do any of the legwork, such as comment moderation, editing and proofing, finding images, etc. 

New perspectives versus inconsistent perspectives
We often hear that people who don’t like the idea of outsourcing their blog marketing/writing are worried about having an inconsistent voice on the blog. However, once a blog has been up and running for a while, it really grows beyond the individual single voice that created it. Blogs can certainly evolve without alienating readers. Simply give your ghostwriters or guest writers some style guidelines, or retain the right to edit the posts that they create, and there is nothing to worry about. 

Is blog marketing the same as blogging?
Given the blogs are mostly content, most of the marketing of a blog is in the creation of the content. However, there are still blog marketing tasks that SEO firms are well-placed to help with. They’ll also have some pretty handy ideas about content creation, as the subjects of your posts will inform the keywords you can use, which are the basis of good blog marketing. 

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5 Reasons Why Blog Advertising Needs Experts!

Get an idea for a blog, write some content, get advertisers, get rich. The entire process sounds simple, and many people focus exclusively on the ‘idea’ and ‘content writing’ stages of blogging, to the detriment of what could be the most important side … the blog advertising. Like most industries in our very big, very diverse world nowadays, advertising is full of complexities. And blog advertising has its own little quirks that demand good understanding if you’re going to have not only a well-read blog, but a financially rewarding one! Here are the top 5 reasons that blog advertising should be handled by the experts. 

1. They have an understanding of fair pricing
People with little experience in blog advertising (either hosting it, or doing their own) usually have little concept of fair pricing in blog advertising. The lack of a realistic price for services will be a negotiations killer very early in the piece. 

2. The technical details can be difficult
The technical specifics of targeting different IP addresses, which ad formats will work best, allowing scripts, etc tae a long time just to grasp their definitions … let alone make judgments on what will be best for your blog! 

3. Because if your attention suffers, your blog suffers
And if your blog suffers, then the core offering at the center of that blog advertising campaign is devalued. If your blog isn’t at its absolute best, there is no sense engaging in heavy advertising and marketing for it. If people see it at less-than-its-best, you actually have the potential to create negative publicity. Not ideal! 

4. Systems to make it easier
All businesses develop systems for their core activities to make them more efficient and cost effective over time. If you pay somebody the equivalent of $40 per hour to do a task that would take you three hours at $20 per hour of your own labor … the smartest option is clear! 

5. For in-house advertising, the pitch is crucial
If you’re thinking about running advertising on your blog, you need the professional’s help to cerate the ‘pitch’ for potential advertisers. Once this has been created (and uploaded to your ‘Advertising information’ page), it can pretty much be forgotten. But having that professional help to begin with can really bump up your blog advertising profits. 

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