Fliggo is another cool service for anyone interested in building a video blog or portal. It’s designed to help you build a portal without having to write a line of code. You gain access to pre-made templates, and you can easily upload your short videos (1 GB) without too much trouble.The service is for free for now, though the premium plans are on the way.

Once you sign up for Fliggo, you are going to be provided with a chance to choose a URL for your video portal. Fliggo does not allow you to use your custom domains at this point, but it’s in the works.

For now you are going to have to settle on a Fliggo domain, but just like many other services, you are going to be able to use your own domains for a monthly or annual fee. I do recommend you lock up your brand name on Fliggo just in case. Once you have done that, you are going to be provided with the chance to choose your vlog’s template.

Fliggo allows you to choose how you want to manage your community. You can choose to have a closed community, though it’s much better to settle on a moderated one. Fliggo comes with a lot of free features right from the start, but for $50 more, Fliggo promises many more features.

Fliggo may not be Viddler, but it’s a great place to start for newbie vloggers. The free service is a great way to practice the art of vlogging and learn new things without spending money. The details on Fliggo Pro are sketchy to say the least, but it’s interesting to see what you get for $50 / month account fee. Either way, Fliggo is a great place to get started as a video blogger.

Camcorders & Video Cameras

Sony Webbie HD: Sony Webbie MHS-PM1 HD Camcorder is a decent mini camcorder to get started with vloggers.

Flip UltraHD: the Flip needs no introduction. It has been around for years and is great for vlogging.

Kodak Zx1 HD: An affordable mini HD Camcorder for those constantly on the go.

Microphones:

Audio Technica AT2020USB Condenser USB Microphone: it’s the microphone I use for my projects. It’s not super expensive but the quality is very high.

Shure 55SH Series II Microphone:  Shure 55SH Series II is a bargain and one killer microphone.

Samson CO1U USB Condenser Mic: another decent choice if you are looking for a fairly high quality Microphone. For most podcast projects, this is enough.

Software:

Adobe Audition: the best pod-casting software on the planet. Great for manipulating multi-media files.

Camtasia Studio: a great software for capturing videos and conducting video demonstrations for your visitors.

Video Blogging Books:

Producing Video Podcasts: a great book to get you started with your own professional video blog.

YouTube – An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts: if you want to vlog on YouTube, you need to read this book to learn the latest tips and tricks.

Video-Blog Web Hosting

• DreamHost: my current web host. They are pretty decent and the support is wonderful.
• Wpwebhost: tailored towards the needs of WordPress site owners. Supports WordPress MU as well.
• Blue Host: used by a whole lot of small businesses for blogging, pod-casting, and …

WordPress Themes and Templates

• TV Elements: is one of the best video blogging themes available on the Web. It allows you to create your own show and manage your episodes effectively.
• WooTube: is another great theme for YouTube vloggers.
• evid: evid is a cool little video-blogging theme that allows your users to rate your videos. Makes it easy to add your own videos too.
• Tubular: it is a cool dark video blogging theme that allows you to embed videos from YouTube, Viemo, and other top video sites to your blog.

There you have it. There are a few other things that you may need depending on the sophistication of your video blog. If you are having guests and so on, you are going to need audio mixers, camcorder lights, better microphones, and …, which is why there is a second part to this post. Stay tuned.

Whether you have been watching Gary Vee lately or following the blogging industry trends, you know the present and future belongs to video. Many bloggers have already started posting their videos online. Some use YouTube, Vimeo, and Viddler to share their content with their users. A few others go hardcore and buy expensive video hosting services to start their own web shows. If you have a lot of money to burn, you can always get fancy and buy the latest camcorder on the market and pay someone to design the best vlogging theme for your site. In reality, you don’t have to a millionaire to start a video blog these days. You just need to have a passion and the dedication to work hard and execute your video-blogging strategy.

Video Flick is a very well-designed vlogging WordPress theme that helps you get your site up and running fast. The theme is SEO-friendly and comes with two color schemes (white/black). VF is designed to make it easy for you to add videos to your WordPress site fast. It uses WP custom fields to help you embed YouTuve, Vimeo, and … videos.

Customizing Video-Flick is a piece of cake. The back-end settings enable you to change all aspects of your video blog without having to write a line of code. Whether you want to change your logo or just set up your Google Adsense ads, you can do it all in the back-end without having to change your code all by yourself. I also like the fact that Google Analytics is integrated into this theme. It makes things just a bit easier.

Overall, if you are looking for an affordable WordPress theme that lets you start your own video-blog past and doesn’t require you to be a programming genius to customize it, you should consider VideoFlick.

Vlogging is not the next big thing in the blogging world. It’s the current big thing. Most super-bloggers are now using video on their blogs. But more importantly, we are seeing blogs that are based only on video. No text blogging plus a couple of videos here and there. There are guys who literally make a living out of having their on Internet shows (vlogs).

How to get started with video blogs

Getting started with video blogging may seem overwhelming at first. A lot of folks are shy about showing their face on video. And a lot of folks don’t know how to manage a camera/camcorder. But the main mistake that newbies make with their first videos is getting the color contrast wrong. Things such as background color may not look very important at first. But believe me, having the right color settings in your video can be the difference between a hit or a failure.

If you are comfortable presenting in front of folks, you are going to find it even easier to present in front of the camera. But even if you are not comfortable with presenting in front of a group of folks, you’ll find presenting in front of a device more relaxing. After all, you don’t get to see all those eyes looking at you judging your every move. Whichever your case, you should definitely get started with videos now. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest you look at various vlogging training available on the Internet. But as long as you have valuable material to discuss, and you can envision yourself presenting in front of a camcorder, you should be fine.

Your take: what’s the biggest challenge you have faced in creating videos on your blog?