The Benefits of Video Blogging
July 4, 2008 Posted by Tyler Cruz
First I’d like to wish all the Americans out there a happy 4th of July. I live in Canada, and we actually had our independence day on July 1st. We seem to be impatient with our holidays and get them earlier than you (our Thanksgiving is an entire month earlier)!
Deborah Phillips from MarketLeverage, who also runs a couple of blogs in her spare time as well, made this quick (quick indeed!) guest video post outlining some of the benefits of video blogging.
She also reminds you to compete in my Affiliate Marketing Challenge (well, actually, I asked her to ;))
…and now a word from our sponsors (literally!):
On a site note, Deborah is also raising money for breast cancer research. If you want to donate or help out, you can purchase some advertising on their blog: 60 Mile Walk for Breast Cancer. All proceeds will go straight to the benefit of breast cancer research.
They’ve already fundraised $25,471 of their $45,000 goal, but will need to raise $267.52 every day from now until September 12th, in order to reach their team goal. I find it interesting how their blog design is the exact same pink design my original blog was (theirs, mine)…
I’ll personally be donating all of my Entrecard credits to them when I remove the widget in a few days (they can use it to advertise their fundraising blog).
The downside of video blogging is that some people (like me) skip right over video posts in our feed reader.
I only have a limited amount of time in this life, and I can read pretty fast, but I can only watch video at one speed. I can quickly skim a post (especially one that’s well structured with images and sub-headlines) and determine if it’s worth my time to read more in-depth. Beyond that, I can share it, quote it elsewhere, link to it, etc.
There are also obvious search engine benefits to text (especially long-tail keywords) that may never be matched with video.
So that’s the downside to video blogging. I’m sure the video above points out the upside…but I didn’t have time to watch it to find out.
Another downside to video blogging is that people who read your site at work often won’t watch them. It’s easier to read non-work related blogs discreetly, but watching videos not so much. There are some benefits, but I’m not a big video blogging fan yet.
Why do you want to remove your entrecard widget??
Entrecard pretty much sucks now. Graham just doesn’t admit it
-Mike
Yep, especially with the new pricing system! erghh I don’t like it at all, the first one was better.
yeh..
i love watching cool videos than reading boring texts
I do enjoy video blogging, but if you are in a niche where the consumer is not used to video or doesnt want to spend the time to watch a video and would rather read I say switch to just a regular blog. But I was in a niche where the consumers enjoyed a good comedy video at least every other day so video blogging worked well there for me. I say try it out, if it doesnt work dont continue using it. Great Post by the way.
the problem with video blogging is you, as the reader, can’t scan it, and second, as the author, you still have to write something about the video for SEO purposes.
what about doing a video then having somebody transcribe it for you?
Always good to see debbys face. Keep up the great work..
Tyler,
Thanks for posting the video! I should have added that it is better to keep your videos short. Most of us have a short attention span!
~Debby
Always love to see a video of Debby
Of course, the one on my blog has a more personal touch
Jay
Sweet I live in Canada too. I thought you live in the US but cool
Thank you for bringing such nice posts. Your blog is always fascinating to read.