Time for another Reader Poll – Have You Used Video on Your Blog?
With services like YouTube (and many others) that make it easy to share videos on your blog I’m keen to hear how many bloggers have used video as a way of engaging readers.
This poll simply asks if you’ve used video and if so – have you made it yourself and/or used other peoples?
{democracy:41}
I’m looking forward to seeing the results and I am interested to hear from you as to what impact you feel video has had upon your blogging and readers levels of engagement?
I’ve only used video made by others. Been getting good reports on impact of video.
Anybody can give advice on video services? Traffic Geyser, etc?
Matthew
http://twitter.com/MatthewSM1
I use videos a lot on my blog and am currently in the middle of a 50 post traffic series all which are accompanied by a video.
If blogging is about reflection and engagement and community building, then video is perhaps an even better tool to do so than text alone.
I include both others’ videos as a way of sharing in my blog, along with learning videos I have created myself, and have posted video comments on other blogger’s sites. Misanchuk, Schwier and Boling found “there is every indication that mediated experiences are equivalent to human experiences, and there are few, if any, special ways of thinking or feeling about media that are unique or different from how we deal with human experience”. While still asynchronous, video creates a new way of connecting, and in a blog comment especially contains all the nuances of expression in a wonderfully unedited and spontaneous medium.
From reading many of your previous posts Darren I can certainly see the advantages to using video on a site. It is potentially more engaging than plain text and of course there is more marketing opportunities with hits coming from youtube etc.
However I’d be interested o hear your thoughts about the negatives of using video on your site – and how to overcome them.
I’m thinking that a poorly produced, webcam quality, boring video embedded may do more to turn people off than draw them in. Certainly innovation is needed here. There are way too many talking head videos that I will never give the time of day again.
Patrick
veryevolved.com
I have used a few videos maked by others in my blog posts and some of the pages. It is my goal though to have an intro video of my own before the winter is over.
I make my own videos, I use YouTube for the quick and dirty, Utterli for the mobile, Vimeo for the better quality and Mevio for an on the water kayaking “podcast”
I’m personally not a big fan of videos: There are some (very few) extremely good ones, helping to explain abstract processes (like “in plain English” or the fresh http://cli.gs/kiva-video ), but mostly videos are a time consuming linear nonsense.
Smile! Gerrit – We speak Online.
Hi Darren,
This is the smallest post by you that I am ever reading…Still very interesting one. I am very confused about this. I use videos made by others from youtube but I think I will stop doing that as I want my blog to load as soon as possible. Because to get stumbles, the first point to keep in mind is to make your site optimized for stumbleupon which means a fast site first of all. I often bury (stumble down) slow sites. Well plz do post about the final results of the poll.
Regards
Laksh
http://makemoneyonline-withme.blogspot.com/
I post a video related to my blog every couple of days, check them out they are interesting
http://www.webli.st/category/video/
Regards,
Firas
I’ve done everything from the electric slide to blogging tutorials and I find that my readers love to watch them! I think it just gives them a more personable feel and we all want to feel like we “know” the blogger.
We would love to start using them for our clients. We have written copy for videos. We have created the ideas and conceptualized the copy but actual shooting of Video nope. Ooo no wait I did an interview for a client but, the subject was a PHD in the poultry industry lol The Chicken doctor as I called him. However that was a “sit” down interview turned the camera on and that was it.
But I am not sure where to start. Any info you could send my way would be greatly appreciated. I work on a Mac and have iMovie and have used Flash etc,so I am not new to the Internet but I am a little older than most (in this industry) so I have yet to get on the Video band wagon craze.
Thanks for bringing this topic up, it reminds me of just ANOTHER thing I need to do :D
Video blogs are the future Darren!
One of the things I’m focusing on this year is adding multi-media content to my site (via audio and video). Personally I think it’s a great way to engage and accommodate differing tastes amongst your readers.
The challenging thing about video is that a very high quality standard is expected (especially if it’s a business blog). Where a flip cam might cut it for doing an interview at a conference, it’s not going to go over well when you’re doing that walk-through on that million dollar listing that you’re trying to market via your blog (I use real estate as an example because that’s my demographic).
Video for my blog is a key aspect to engaging readers. I do a lot of posts on guitar players or non guitar music to give examples of style and sounds; helps to have video.
At the same I create original videos on bands, guitar players, as well as video interviews. I’m about to start a series of video lessons on learning guitar chords and anyone will agree that video makes it much easier to learn guitar.
Overall, videos made by others and mine are a big part of my blog.
I’ve recently started posting videos of myself and our family. My readers really like them. As a diarist, I think my readers feel like seeing and hearing me talk makes me more “real” to them. It adds a whole new element to blogging. I mean, I can’t exactly vlog in my pajamas. Well, I could, but no one would want to see that. :-)
On my beauty/fashion blog, I’ve done a makeup tutorial that was really well received.
I use videos virtually every day for my site. Luckily, Comedy Central in their infinite wisdom has decided to make embeddable videos for virtually every part of the show I blog about (‘Colbert Report’). We also do Episode Guides for each show with links to all videos featured for the show, so linking to both embeddable videos as well as linking to the sites where videos are featured are integral parts of our archive-style blog posts for the show.
I think custom video would be extremely engaging. However, writing isn’t my occupation so it’s hard enough to get from the draft to publish phase with articles. For me, custom video as a time constraint doesn’t seem feasable.
I have received positive feedback each time that I have used videos… I am looking forward to doing more this year. The most views I had was a professionally shot video that I shot in a prison. Darren, I’d be interested to get your thoughts on the video, here is the link:
http://bigisthenewsmall.com/?p=709
I did not use video on my site yet, but I am planning to.
Well I still yet to use video for my blog, however I think depends on what one is blogging and how well is video helping to emphasize the content of your blog.
For example some cooking blog used video to show the actual cooking tutorial instead of just showing the ingredient lists and steps.
I actually have a video on my blog posted tonight. However I find that on days where I post video visitors stay around longer. Good information though unused at this time.
My blog has become merely a piece of my online resources and I am still looking at how all the pieces fit together. I would love to do my own videos but no camera other then on my phone and I don’t think that would be decent enough quality plus not sure how to use the phones camera in that matter.
I have a weekly video show that I do, plus I tend to embed 2-3 videos/week from other sources.
I most often use other people’s videos to supplement news items that don’t really have alot of meat, such as an application announcement or something. Not only does it make my post look a bit more ‘full’, but it gives my readers something to interact with, as well.
If you’re making your own videos, and simply interested in getting the most eyeballs, you need to be using TubeMogul.com. I upload my video once, and then using TubeMogul I can publish it across 15+ different video hosting services (youtube, blip, viddler, vimeo, etc), AND it tracks stats and pulls them into a single graph.
I’ve just started using videos on my site. I’ve so far used only videos made by other people, but I’d like to start creating my own.
Interesting poll! My multilingual blog is almost exclusively for showing videos that I make myself (about interesting cultural aspects in my travels). I’m curious to see how this poll develops!
Actually its the other way around for me. My youtube videos drive viewers to my blog. Unfortunately only about 10% actually do, based on the number of video views vs. the number of blog readers. Still, the combination of the YouTube Partner program and Adsense on the blog does produce a modest monthly revenue.
Video has definitely increased reader engagement – the feedback has been very positive whether I’m doing how-to screencasts or talking head humor or anything in between.
Since YouTube went HD/Widscreen at the end of Nov ’08, I bought an HD mini video camera – similar to the Flip Mino HD, except the LCD screen is larger and actually flips out either way. That way you can flip it towards you and easily frame self video.
The HD models take a bit more learning for a non-pro, but they are easy enough for us amateurs to figure out and use to create high quality videos for our blogs.
I don’t know if this counts but I used the free “shorts” 30 sec video by animoto (see animoto.com) where you download your pictures and they make a musical slide show. So much fun. I had some positive responses some of which were, “it needs to be longer” I like to watch short videos on blogs, but it shouldn’t take the place of thougthful, written content.
Yeah, I use videos a lot, and plan on increasing the amount of videos I do very soon.
I believe that through the use of video, the reader can actively engage in your personality and body language, as well as usually being more interesting to learn through watching (for the younger readers especially).
– James.
Never used video.
I think 2009 will be the year of video, and as a result it is going to encourage the blogosphere to connect more and more through video.
I’d also expect to see video making its appearance in website designs, with blog themes sporting areas for video.
Ultimately it is one of the best ways of enhancing your personal brand.
My regular readers almost always comment when I do a video vlog post. By interviewing other artists with video tools I have been able to network with my peers and support them in a way they really appreciate.
I write a Boston based music blog and I use video quite often. They are easy to put up, fun to watch, and offer an alternative to pictures when posting media.
Also, I think they make nice headers when the dimensions are altered to match the width of your writing space. I particularly enjoy when the screen capture that is shown when the video is not playing can be hilarious (e.g. Rick Ross’s “Boobie Boys” tee shirt)
Cheers,
Aaron
Yes dareen.
I used my own and you tube videos on My blog.
This is good stuff for blog because visual display is better than witting.
I have made a video only once on “Choosing a accounting qualification” and uploaded it on revver and blip.tv. Whenever anyone searches on that term on google, it directly takes to the video. It seems the search engines fetches the videos better.
Other than that I have linked management videos on my blog especially from youtube and google videos.
To make your own video, it takes a lot of efforts so that viewers will be interested in the video and the message you like to convey. I think viewers would be more engaged if it is made in an external environment rather than indoors.
Regards,
Santosh Puthran
I’ve used video on my site to great success. People love videos, especially heartwarming ones. Here’s on of my daughter who is battling Leukemai that drew in thousands of new viewers:
http://www.brentriggs.com/default.asp?ItemID=330&CategoryID=187
So far, only to post a video of a presentation i did: http://www.it-eye.nl/weblog/2008/06/29/the-real-meaning-of-web-20-for-your-business/. I beats putting powerpoint slides online.
To make the poll more meaningful, I think you might want to split the “No” vote to 2 options:
1- No thanks
2- Not yet
This’ll tell you how many people don’t care about video and how many are interested but still haven’t taken their first step :)
Hey moderator… could you correct the two typos in my comment? Sorry, just wasn’t paying attention
Leukemia
“Here’s ON of my daughter” should be “Here’s ONE of my daughter”
That sounds like a great idea to make a video for your site,but one question. Would creating a video create more traffic and also, what software would you use that is cheap and easy to use?
Now I only embed videos made by others, but I plan to make my own video in the future.
Darren:
I’ve been using videos from YouTube and other sources on my blogs.
So far, I have not produced any of my own.
Although, I’ll be using them soon.
Videos seem to increase visits to my blogger site at http://tinyurl.com/WallStreetHangover
Looking forward to seeing how traffic and comments change once I start to use my own information sharing & interview videos.
Thanks for posting this poll!!!
Interested in seeing the results and the rest of your readers’ comments.
– Girard Frank Bolton, III.
http://twitter.com/gfb3
Currently I have a short “welcome to my blog” video on the home page. The 15 second video has worked wonders. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from several readers. Its amazing what a flip camera, You Tube, and 15 seconds of time will do.
Although I haven’t yet used videos on my blog, I personally find a video of a project much more helpful than static photographs. For instance, I wanted to learn about how to make a rocket stove. I looked around the web and read a bunch of stuff, but it still wasn’t clear to me how this all worked. I found a video at Google videos. After one watch through I understood the whole thing well enough that I could still go and make a rocket stove months later without watching again. I also understood well enough that I have been able to explain the process to others.
Definitely for some things a video is worth more than a thousand words and even worth more than a series of photos. Many of the videos I see on blogs are just fun, and yes, I agree, they make the blog owner more real to the reader.
Currently, I have a short “welcome to my blog” video on the home page. The 15 second video has worked wonders. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from several readers. It’s amazing what a flip camera, YouTube and 15 seconds of your time can do.
I first embedded a couple of videos into a post a couple of days ago http://tinyurl.com/7hbm7g (I didn’t realized how easy it was to do until finding the instructions somewhere…and tinyurl is another of my new parlor tricks). I wrote about a concert and used a couple of promo clips I found online so readers could hear/see what I wrote about. I haven’t had any feedback yet as to how using the vids did/didn’t enhance my post, though.
BTW, as a new blogger, I really appreciate the great advice and info I’m finding here. Thanks.
Great question, I was just thinking about this. I know a lot of people love videos, but personally I rarely watch a video posted on a blog. Who has time to sit though it? And media that requires volume is often not ideal when I’m at work or even at home.
I got a Flip Mino camera last month. Went to see client who’d recently completed a successful recruiting campaign with me, and recorded about five minutes of video.
It took close to an hour to edit it down in Windows Movie — mainly because I’d never done it before and was figuring it out as I went along. Posted it to Youtube (I now have my own channel! I’m a filmmaker!), and embeded into my blog.
The post — my first effort — is here http://tinyurl.com/8tdr6t. I can already see things that I’d do differently next time, and would love to hear suggestions from more experienced hands.
The next day I emailed the link to several recruitment advertising prospects. One wrote back immediately, and gave me an order. So the camera’s already paid for itself.
Actually I have 7 websites and 3 blogs… but on http://www.seniorsentertainer.com I used video for the first time.
Mostly live performances.
I’m looking to find a simple way to edit video and improve the quality over what I get from my little &129.00 nikon camera with poor quality video. Any ideas?
Yikes! I put a bad link in there and can’t edit my own comment after the fact. So here it is again — my first video blogging effort: http://tinyurl.com/8tdr6t
I’ve used video produced by others (such as client-produced videos, or YouTube embeds) to good effect, but have yet to get into making my own. Baby steps, baby steps! I figure, screencasts and audio posts separately, first, that’s my plan: because years in the video production industry teach how easy it is to shoot yourself in the foot with a poor video or one that misses the mark. Risks are a part of anything that has a potential great pay-off, however.