How to Start Video Blogging

Video blogging is now the in-thing to do. What is a video blog and how do you set up a video blog? A video blog can be many things. It can be a personal diary. It can be news coverage. Whose news will you cover is a good question to decide. Video blogging can be a promotional tool to sell your products, such a crafts, antiques, e-books, or even your writing and illustration talents. It can also be a teaching or learning tool for many people. Whichever way you approach a video blog, it is a blog that is visual, smart, and informs the audience. Otherwise, there is no audience, only you. It is the coming wave, or maybe just behind the next wave. Some people are very adept at video blogging while for others it is a slower process to get their message or product out to the viewing and blogging public. How to get set up and run a video blog is part of a learning curve that leads to a new visual world.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• A recent computer, such as a PC that runs Windows XP or a Mac OS X
• High Speed Internet connection

1. Write a list of topics that you want to cover in your video blog. You can also decide what kind of blog fits your video blogging ideas and style. You may want a free-flowing unstructured video blog, called a reality blog. Or if the idea of unstructured sends you screaming up a wall, how about a planned video blog. Decide first what type of video blog you want to set up. Do you want a polished and planned video blog or a “comes from the gut level” blog? The video blog must fit your vision and style in order to succeed and attract viewers and other bloggers’ responses. If you think your video blog is awful and you don’t want to view it, then why would other people tune into your video blog. Be a critic about what you want to present.
2. There are large and growing numbers of video-editing programs. If you have a PC, Windows XP has Windows Movie Maker. It is a simple tool for creating and editing movies. If you have a Macintosh OS X, then you will be using iMovie. Either way, get familiar with your camcorder and the software on your computer. Re-read all the instructions that came with your camcorder and your digital camera. Frustration overtakes and destroys any project when you forget to check out everything on your camcorder and your computer to ensure that you are good to go. Forgetting to click Save or Copy causes people to stop and break into monumental temper tantrums when a simple Save or Copy would prevented many problems.
3. Download the uncut, unedited video from your camera, camcorder or whatever source you have chosen, to your computer. Begin editing the raw video or photos to a video-editing program and convert these images to a web-ready file format. When you are satisfied with your video, convert the edited video to a web-ready file format. Don’t take editing lightly. The finished product will hopefully get viewed by a large audience
4. Get a free video hosting account. Start looking at other people’s video blogs. Be sure to post your video to an RSS-enabled blog on the Internet. You can use Windows Media Player, QuickTime, and Flash as your file players. One important thing to remember when you post your video blog on the Internet with video file players is the compression. A video file has to be compressed or the file will be too large for anyone to download and watch. The three file players I named are your best bets as a newbie to get your file compressed and watched.

Tips & Warnings

• Popular video blogs and videoblogging directories to watch: www.vlogdir.com www.mefeedia.com www.vlogmap.org www.fireant.tv iTunes Music Store Yahoo! Video (http://video.search.yahoo.com) Google Video (http://video.google.com) Internet TV networks: Veoh.com, Current.tv, DTV
• Be careful what you videoblog. The world could be watching.
• Go slow at first on video blogging until you get comfortable with your equipment and your subject
• Don’t give out personal information.