thA few days ago john chow talked about videos being the next wave in the blogging world, i strongly disagree here, content was , is and always will be king no matter what new methods might come up. To be perfectly honest i think videos are tacky and horrible for serps, unless you provide a text transcript for the video…much like two versions of the same post one in video and one in text. Although it may seem unlikely but while watching videos to learn something you might look over something crucial or might not understand something properly that can’t be explained any further whereas text is far more easier to edit and update.
Now heres my list of cons in video blogging.
- Less authority, more entertainment.
- More hassle on the author’s end.
- Not being able to make videos unless you’re in top shape
- Losing out on the smaller ratio of readers, the ones on dial up. I used to have dial up and i hate waiting for videos to load for hours..
- Alot of pressure to completely explain a point otherwise lose a whole video
- Minimizing in-context ad sales
- Devaluing serp value
- Low or none seo advantage
- Less links
- Simply more work
The list of pros..
- In video ads
- Bigger portion from the non-reader’s base
- Personal Touch
Although i think having a side thing for video blog posts is a good idea because it adds that something extra to your blog that people might want to see, it has that personal touch from the author that readers crave for, if you do it with just at the right amount you will see the maximum results but if you tend to make it an all-time thing then you might turn the readers off and a huge part of the revenue as well.
If you are thinking of making a learning blog based on only videos then its definitely a bad choice unless you are trying to launch a tv show or a series that is aimed at nothing but humor and entertainment, i do have a project around this topic, it’s Shoe Fossil. I know the problems and hassles to deal with in order to launch a proper video blog.
Now, heres what i think the next big thing in blogging really is!
More interaction
The more you get involved with your readers on a topic the more visits you will get over time, just being on the reading side of a learning process really sucks unless there are some activities you can participate in.
Some of the tried and tested method in interacting with readers are
- Polls
- Surveys
- Contests
- Community work - Like reviewing your reader’s products/services/sites and explain how they can make it better - collaboration.
- Free Web tools and services
- ..etc
Try to put yourself in the equation, would you just like to be preached about alot of things and not be given the proper attention within the process or the right tools to go about doing what you are preaching?
Any thing that helps your readers and involves them in the process of what you are preaching will always end up with you being a more successful blogger!
