It’s easy to make a vlog to share your videos with others
A video blog, or vlog, is a collection of videos—your own or your favorites—posted on a web site. It’s easy to create a free video blog, and it’s a great way to reach out to audiences and show off your work.
With a camcorder, editing software, and a high-speed internet connection, you’re well on your way to producing a successful video blog. However, there are a handful of things to think about before you fully commit.
Find a Purpose
The most important part of any vlog is the content. You’ve surely stumbled on a video blog that quickly became one of your favorites despite it having low quality video or poor clip transitions. The primary reason you keep coming back is because the content is golden.
Find a reason or theme for your blog. Video blogs can have many different applications, and can be created for various personal and professional reasons, so you can choose anything—there aren’t any rules here.
An important thing to keep in mind when choosing what your vlog will be about is whether you’re passionate enough about it to go on video to show it. Or, at the very least, even if you’re not truly passionate about the topic, make sure you have enough interest to talk about it many times over because at the heart of a good blog is fresh content.
Choose a Host
A host for your video blog is simply the website that will retain your video files and provide a way for people to find your blog content. There are many free web services that will do this.
I generally recommend YouTube or Vimeo for hosting videos. You can then use the channel page on the video site as your vlog, or you can create a separate blog—like with WordPress or Blogger—to embed your videos and add text content.
Picking a site to host your blog videos is important because oftentimes the platform itself has some great sharing features and is already really popular. Just think of all the video bloggers on YouTube that are super easy to find through recommended videos and a quick search.
Name Your Vlog
The content of your video blog is much more important than the name, but having a catchy yet easy-to-remember title can attract more viewers and keep them coming back. Don’t get overwhelmed thinking of a name, but do spend some time picking what seems right to you.
For example, if your vlog is about travelling, it’s best to name it something like WeblogTravel, GoTravel, TravelWithMe, iTravel, etc. If you pick something completely irrelevant like iLoveDogs, anyone looking for videos on travelling who just sees your website name, will probably jump right over it in their search for the best travel vlog.
If you need some inspiration, use a blog name generator like Cool Name Ideas or Domain Wheel.
Prepare Some Content
If you’re fortunately enough to generate a lot of interest from your audience right out of the gate, good for you! However, you can’t stop there. It’s tempting to just let the views come in and quit producing more content, but you need to add new content regularly or your viewers will lose interest and stop checking in.
Another way of thinking that might get you wrapped up in the idea that you can hold off on new content for a while is if you’ve made a few really popular vlog posts. Again, while it’s great to get all those views immediately, if you quit making new videos, even new visitors will see that you don’t update your blog often and will be much less likely to subscribe to your channel, follow your updates, keep tabs on your social media accounts, etc.
Before you go live with your video blog, make sure you have enough content to keep it going for a little while. Create a week’s or month’s worth of content as quickly as you can, and release them on a solid schedule. You want enough content to show visitors that you’re serious about your blog.
Post Your Videos
Once you’ve chosen a topic, picked a hosting web site, determined a name for your blog, and made some content, it’s time to actually upload those videos to the blogging platform. You can improve the visibility of your videos by adding good titles, tags, and description—whatever is supported by your blogging or hosting site.
If you’re not dealing with your own videos, or want to mix videos from other people with your own content, video curation is the easiest way to put together a great video blog. All you have to do is find videos that other people have produced that will be of interest to your audience, and post them on your vlog.
Promote Your Vlog
Most people, at least at first, will not just randomly land on your blog. To gain an audience for your vlog, you’ll need to let the world know that it exists!
You can promote your blog through other web sites if you know the owner or they respond kindly to your suggestion to post a link to your blog. They might even request you do the same so that you both have backlinks to each other’s sites.
Search engine optimization is another popular and efficient way to gather an audience. When your blog posts are designed well based on popular searches regarding your blog, you will make it easier for search engines like Google to show your blog.
Another self-promotion technique is to just send an email out to all of your contacts—just don’t spam them with too many messages. You can also post something on your social media profiles for your friends or the public to see.
Make Money From Your Vlog
Depending on the content, and where you choose to host your video blog, you may be able to make some money from your videos. The top vloggers in the world are able to make a killing from their video blogs, and you are fully capable of doing the same using similar tools.
Earning money from your blog probably shouldn’t be your first aim while making a blog, since you should focus on content first and foremost, but consider it a nice side project for when you’ve got a good following.
Update!
Your blog won’t stay fresh by itself—you have to keep posting new content to garner new visitors. Keep making new content and post the videos as often as you can while being mindful to avoid spamming your followers with too much to consume at once.
If you’re creating videos about a topic that you love, keeping an up-to-date video blog should be a joy and not a chore. If you can’t make enough videos for your blog because you’re not enjoying it, you might consider shifting your focus.
