The "Don'ts" of Video Blogging

22 Aug 2008

The "Don'ts" of Video Blogging

Author: Jim | Filed under: Guest Bloggers

This guest post is by Mattaw of Moneybites.com. Moneybites is a blog sharing tips, tricks and little bites about how to earn online, so check out his blog!

Video blogging seems to be gaining traction in the blogosphere. Everywhere I look I see video blogs pop up. Now this could just be me going crazy, but I do think there is a lot more interest in video posts.

So, I know you guys are all groaning thinking, “oh no, not another what you need to do to make good videos post”! Well, do I have a treat for you. This post is, in fact, not about what makes a good video but what makes a bad video.

What you should glean from this post is what mistakes not to make, so next time you’re making a video you can keep them in mind (and hopefully not make them).

Video and audio quality – This is my number one factor when looking at videos. Honestly if I can’t hear what your saying or having a hard time seeing you (due to static), I’m probably not going to be watching it again. If your audio quality sucks, get a better mic (and/or camera). In terms of video quality, if you’re making a lot of videos it’s probably worth investing in a decent camera (come on, they’re not too expensive).

Cutting together your video with a program also drastically improves video quality. Transitions or even just cleaning the video up using a program like Windows Movie Maker (it’s auto installed for all you PC users), or any of the other decent freeware out there will improve your watchers watching experience. The result is more people will come back to watch what you produce because it is simply easier to watch. I personally won’t watch anything that looks like it was made by a sixth grader (unless I’m at a sixth graders video presentation, then I might stomach it..).

Load time - Don’t self host your videos. Unless you have a server to be streaming videos off of I wouldn’t recommend doing so. Honestly, nothing annoys me more than a slow or partially loading video. If you self host your videos you can/will run into these problems. There are tons of good free hosting sites out there. Even if you want to get away from YouTube you can find another site that allows you to upload video (and maybe has a revenue sharing option for all that are looking to slightly monetize videos). A couple of these are sites like Viddler, Veoh, Revver, and so on.

Confidence – Not a lot of people want to watch the person with no clue what they’re talking about (unless for some reason they are very entertaining, so if you are very entertaining, disregard what I say next ). Speak on video with confidence. Video blogging is about being a good actor. Even if you are nervous, don’t show it. Confidence is attractive to a viewer when watching a video. By being confident it assures viewers that you know what you’re talking about (even if you sometimes don’t…. ) and gives them another reason to watch the content you put out there.

How the blogger looks – Unless you are the sleepy unshaven video blogger, you shouldn’t look like a sleepy unshaven blogger. Video blogging is also about putting in an effort to look decent (at least I think it is). If you look like you just rolled out of bed (like quite a few people that video blog do), it turns me off. If you don’t put in the effort to make yourself look good for your videos, why should I watch it?

Content (and this doesn’t mean you need good content… that is a given) – Is your content dry and boring. Video blogging is about putting a face to a blogger and giving a user a new experience. If I think that you’re just reading off a screen or piece of paper, I won’t be tuning back in. The moral of this story: vary your content. Do make it all about just the material. Perhaps use some comic relief or even just being somewhat personal can break the monotony of a lecture like video post.

So heed my advice, and don’t make the mistakes I outlined above! Hopefully you will all take my advice, produce better video posts, and subscribe to my RSS feed.

-Max