Posts Tagged ‘vlogging’
5 Attractive Video Blogging Wordpress Themes
Filed under: Vlogging Tips, Wordpress | View Comments
Starting a video blog doesn’t take much these days. You obviously have to know what you are doing and have a plan on what you want to accomplish with your video-blog. And of course, if you play all your cards right and get a bit lucky, you may become the next Internet video superstar. But before you do all that, you are going to need a place to share your videos with your fans. A lot of newbie vloggers start with YouTube and only after they have gotten a few subscribers, they put up their websites. But you should always do the reverse. Whether you want to use Viddler or YouTube to host your videos, you should always have a website to post your videos to and let your fans to connect with you. That’s the best way to get the biggest bang out of each video.
As someone who has built close to a thousand websites and blogs in the past few years, I can tell you that creating a simple vlog is not as tough as it used to be. With technologies such as Wordpress, Drupal, and Ning, you can build a killer video community without breaking the bank. Even if you are not a designer, you can still use a premium video theme to get started fast. There are lots of video blogging themes available for Wordpress, so you should have no excuse for not having you site up and running before posting your videos on YouTube.
1. TV Elements: TV Elements is very clean video blogging theme that makes it easy to put your web show online. Great way for your visitors to browse through your episodes.
2. Tubular: Tubular is a cool dark video blogging theme that allows you to embed videos from YouTube, Viemo, and other top video sites to your site. So you can essentially have your own videos as well others that you find interesting.
3. Groovy: Groovy is cool, fun video blogging theme from WooThemes that gives you plenty of options to share your videos with your fans. 17 color schemes to choose from, so you have a lot of options to choose from.
4. WooTube: WooTube is another great theme for YouTube vloggers. This is an ad ready video blogging theme that is very easy to customize. And you get 7 color schemes to choose from.
5. eVid: evid is a cool little video-blogging theme that makes it easy for you to share your videos with your visitors. Your visitors do get a chance to rate your videos too, so you can get feedback and work on creating better quality videos.
These theme won’t cost you a fortune, but they do give you the chance to get a head-start over vloggers who only focus on putting their videos on YouTube without having a real long-term strategy. If you are just getting started with your vlog, I strongly recommend registering your own domain and putting a website that your fans can refer to for more content. Have fun vlogging!
5 Cool Themes For Wordpress Bloggers
Filed under: Vlogging Tips, Wordpress | View Comments
If you have been using Wordpress to manage content on your blog, you have probably seen all those free themes that you can use to start your Wordpress blog fast. While it’s always tempting to set up a blog with one of those free themes, you want to make sure you get a theme which is not that common, and at the same time is flexible enough for you to make changes to it and make it look unique. Premium Wordpress themes may not be as unique as a custom-designed theme, but they are cheaper, and as long as you get your hands on a flexible theme, you can change it to make the look and feel unique to your site.
One thing is for certain if you are using Wordpress for your blog: you are going to have a lot of options when it comes to deciding a theme for your blog. You just want to make sure you think long-term and choose a theme that can be easily customized. To help you find a cool theme for your blog, here are 5 pro-blogging themes that are worth a serious consideration:
1. One Theme: an all in one solution designed for all types of bloggers. One of the most flexible themes on the market that allows you to use it in any niche. It’s search engine friendly as well to help you get some free traffic.
2. Thesis: Thesis needs no introduction. It’s one of the most flexible themes on the market. Almost all top bloggers have used Thesis in the past. The strength comes from the back-end where you get to change the settings of your blog without having to write a line of code.
3. Arthemia: an attractive and flexible theme for blogging portals. Great theme to start and manage your blog more effectively. And you can’t argue with the design which is simply stunning.
4. Black Aperture: a dark theme that is great for handling lots of images and is user friendly as well. It has a super professional look and feel to it. Great for those who like to plan things long-term. You’d have a hard time out-growing this theme.
5. VideoFlick 2.0: is a great theme if you plan to create your vlog/blog hybrid site. A lot of people are starting their vlogs these days, and this is a great time to do just that. You can easily embed videos from all kinds of sources, and you won’t have to spend a fortune to get your hands on it. It’s SEO friendly as well.
All in all, you want to make sure you get a theme that is well-designed, SEO-friendly, and customizable. You can always pay thousands of dollars to get a custom design for your blog, but I recommend that only when you have a major following. With these premium themes, you get to spend more time focusing on providing valuable content to your readers and less on other things.
Your turn: which of the 5 designs do you like the most?
Vlogging On The Go with VidMap
Have you seen those folks who go around the country and blog/vlog using UStream, YouTube, and Twitter? Wouldn’t it be nice if you could share your videos with your audience and show them at the same time where you exactly are when you are shooting your video. Now you can thanks to an innovative service called Vidmap.
Vidmap makes it easy to geo-tag videos and show your progress through the video on a Google map. So if you are blogging from the road, your readers are going to have an easier time following you and find out exactly where you are.
Uploading a video is not that hard. You just need to take your video when you are on the go, and then take the time to supply enough information to Vidmap to show your videos alongside Google maps on the side.
Overall, if you interested in Geo-vlogging, you are going to love Vidmap. It still needs a lot of work and is in beta, but it’s a novel idea and something definintely worth trying.
Getting Started With Video Blogging Fast
Filed under: Start a Video Blog | View Comments
Vlogging is not so much of a novelty these days. Most blogging superstars have jumped on the videoblogging bandwagon. But for a long of folks, starting a videoblog is a challenge. If you have checked videos on YouTube, you have probably seen that for every one great video there are 1000s of worthless crude items out there. A lot of folks don’t know how to work the camera, and some don’t know what to say once they get in front of the camera. These are very real challenges, but videoblogging is not something you can’t master.
Here is what I learned from my experience with videoblogging which I believe will be helpful to a lot of folks who are trying to get started with their video-blog:
- YouTube is only part of the game: a lot of folks buy these books and master YouTube as if YouTube can make you look good on camera. Knowing how to do things on YouTube is great, but it doesn’t make you a good video blogger.
- You’ve got to have a story: you’ve probably seen those boring videos that folks struggle to talk about anything interesting for 10 minutes. That’s what happens when you get in front of the camera with no plan of action. There was a time that I would go to my presentations without preparation, believing that I would ace them due to familiarity with the subject at hand. But proper preparation not only makes you more confident but it can get you out of some hairy situations. The same concept applies to videos. Prepare and have a story to tell or you are doomed.
- You’ve got to be able to tell your story: you know what’s the difference between a salesman and a scientist? A salesman can come up with all kinds of stories to convey things to prospects. Scientists, on the other hand, often struggle to convey what they know with others. Having great videos is not about who’s the smartest in the room but about who can tell their story the best.
- You’ve got to engage your audience: just because you are in front of a camera doesn’t mean folks won’t see you. Your video will be viewed by real folks so you want to pretend there is someone there. Imagine your camera is a living breathing person. That’s key!
- Know what you are getting yourself into: Video-blogging is a more intimate form of blogging. People are going to see you and hear you, and your video can be distributed, downloaded, and shared all over the web (depending on your success). Make sure you behave, and be ready for criticism.
YouTube is a great testing ground for your ideas. Pitch your ideas on YouTube and see if there is an audience. You learn a lot about your video-blog idea from YouTube and other video sites. Take the feedback on the chin, and remember that no one is perfect right out of the gate. The sooner you get started with video, the better off you are. It’s not too late to get started with videoblogging. Not yet!
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Why Videoblogging Is The Current Big Thing
Filed under: Blogging Strategies | View Comments
The Internet has changed dramatically in the past few years. The year 2008 has been a very transformational year for bloggers and Internet entrepreneurs. A couple of years ago, having a video-blog was somewhat rare. The social media was around but folks were not as hooked as they are on Twitter and Facebook as they were on MySpace then. But what’s surprising is that many marketers still think of vlogging as the next big thing.
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?
