Video is Your Chance to be a Pioneer
Photo by Athena’s Pix.
I read an interesting piece by Steve Rubel, a voice in social media that I admire and respect very much, called ‘Why Text Remains King of the Web‘. He argues that, as much as video is booming, text is the stronger medium. Text brings search traffic, videos don’t do this so well. Text is scannable, video is not. You can get away with browsing text at work, but it’s much harder to get away with watching video. Text plays nice with mobile devices, video does not… and so on. All very good points.
Although I’m not a video blogger, I do see video as the next frontier of web content. I also think Steve’s depiction of video is a little one-dimensional. Text certainly has a few things over video, but video has a few things over text as well. These things are not inconsiderable.
We’re at a point now where every niche imaginable has been saturated by written content. You can still forge a name for yourself and gather an audience for your stuff, but it’s harder than ever to set yourself apart. You have more competition than ever before, and because we’ve been doing this for a while now, people are smarter in how they approach creating blogs and websites. For that reason, it’s harder to give people a reason to take an interest in you over the dozen, hundred, thousand people writing about what you’re writing about.
Video blogging immediately sets you apart. You offer readers a different sensory experience and a different kind of engagement with the content. Often it’s an experience that simply can’t be translated into text. In fact, great video bloggers often make poor writers, and vice versa.
This could be you…
One video blogger who has become much more popular lately is Gary Vaynerchuk (even if you don’t like him the case study is relevant). His main assets are his energy and his clarity of expression when he speaks. He doesn’t always say ground-breaking things, but he gets people excited and pumped up to tackle things that matter. If his blog were a traditional written one, though, I’m not sure he would have ever made a name for himself. Energy is really hard to communicate in writing–about the only tool you have is an exclamation mark!
Just like I’m far less articulate with words than I am in writing, Gary is the opposite. He’s a brilliant verbal communicator but his writing is average. Video blogging plays to all of his strengths. If you can see some of yourself in his strengths and weaknesses–maybe you feel like just an average writer, or that you’d much rather speak to someone directly than write to them–think about whether you might actually be better suited to video blogging than written blogging. If so, this is not a bad thing at all. In fact, it could be a very, very good thing.
A good tech analysis video blog is going to generate much more interest than a good tech analysis written blog. The niche is saturated with ‘good’ text content, but very little good video content. The people who are passionate about tech are already reading all the blogs they’re supposed to read–they’re probably not hungry for more of the same. Video blogging offers something completely new to them. You can cover topics people are passionate about in a way that is utterly different to the written stuff. You’re going to achieve something that is incredibly challenging for a written blog to do in a niche like tech analysis: set yourself apart from the pack immediately.
In the ‘Why Text is King‘ article, Steve argues that it is big strength of the text medium that it can be scanned. True, but remember that whenever something becomes widely propagated online there is always an inverse market for its very opposite. Some respite from what ‘everyone else’ is into. If you’ve found yourself drawn to blog posts with complicated thought-lines and not a single numeral in the headline, you may personally be experiencing this.
I would much rather watch every second of a ten minute video blog than scan the bolded sub-headings in a blog post. The very appeal of video as a medium is that it enables and encourages full engagement.
There for the taking
The thing that excites me most about video blogging is that there are so many unused good ideas ready to be turned into incredible realities. Unlike written blogging, where it can take days of hard thinking to come up with even a small idea that is vaguely ‘new’, video blogging has only reached 1/10th of its potential and, I believe, its saturation. You can start a video blog about indie music or half-hour video game reviews and be the only player in a niche that, in its written existence, is choked to the brim.
If I had the qualities to make a good video blogger, I would be losing sleep over this. I would be pulling my hair out over which niche to colonize first. While I don’t have those qualities, I know that some of you do, and I hope I can make you as excited about this new frontier as I would be. Even as a spectator, I’m so excited to see where people take it.
A different kind of search traffic
The video blog that is spreading virally through word of mouth and social media because it’s something completely new and entertaining will far and away eclipse the written blog that receives a few dozen visitors a day from long-tail search traffic. SEO, mobile compatibility, watching at work, scannability are all pretty small things in comparison with something that captures the imagination of the audience. The latter will spread far and wide, despite its handicaps. As humans, we love to see faces and listen to other voices. We like facial expressions, we enjoy entertaining our eyes. We like to watch stuff. Most of us probably spend a lot more time watching stuff than we do reading it. In fact, watching stuff is so ubiquitous that most of us probably don’t even think of it as a hobby. ‘Watching TV/YouTube’ is unlikely to be something you’d put under ‘interests’ on Facebook!
YouTube is now the second biggest search engine in the world. Bigger than Yahoo. I don’t buy the argument that video blogs will die because of lack of search traffic. Host your videos on YouTube and the problem is solved. In fact, I’d suggest many video bloggers will get more traffic from YouTube than I will ever get from Google!
So here’s the tip
My goal with writing at Skelliewag is to help people build popular blogs. Not just blogs that people read, but blogs that a lot of people read. I’ve talked at length about how to do this with written content, but I feel like video blogging–if you have the right qualities–might be a significantly easier route to notoriety than the hard slog path of writing. It also presents an opportunity that has waned in the world of written web content: the opportunity to be a pioneer in a huge niche.
I don’t want any of this to sound like I am jumping ship from written content and backing video all the way. Writing is where I devote my energy and I do love it. I also believe the full potential of written web content has not even come close to running dry. But I want to help you think about other ways that you can set yourself apart as a blogger, and I think video is one of the best.
So if you are, or could learn to be:
- Not self-conscious
- Verbally articulate
- A bit thick skinned
- A bit brave
- A bit less private
Then I urge you to think about it. I do envy the opportunity you have!
Yes. While I agree on everything about why “text is king” (from a reader’s point of view, that is - it’s just so much easier to skim text than video), there is something powerful in video that text cannot convey nearly as effectively.
That’s presence - and trust. People get to see you, they feel that you are real, and in return for that, they will feel a much stronger connection with you and your message.
That’s for the reminder to try this out. And you never know, maybe you don’t have to envy us, it’s still not too late for you to show your face ;)
I think a mix of the two is great but I would never be brave enough, ever! Video is only powerful if the person has a good presence and a great energy. Not everyone can do that and while I would love to I am certainly not brave or thick skinned enough. Have you read some of the personal attacks they make against people’s appearance. i will leave it to the young and unwrinkled thanks!! Great post and good to have you back! And it would be good to see your face actually!
Great post Skellie. It’s something I keep wanting to try out (Maybe in the form of screencasts instead of videos of me. Makes it a little less intimidating and would let me do tutorials)
One drawback to it is that it takes a lot longer to load a video for some of us. I know that most people are on broadband now. I’m on it (1.1mbps in theory), but the actual speed i get fluctuates all day. Fairly regularly I need to start a video loading, then pause it and come back in 15 or 20 mins. You really have to know that the video is worth watching before you bother with all that :(
Not sure how many people that would put off, I suppose there’s only one way to find out!
I have been wanting to do audio visual for quite some time too — well, more than two years.
Michael Martin has my concern. (Hi Michael :) As I’m connected with DSL, with several things going on at once, I often have to stream the video before playing. Wish a better Internet speed is available here…
I agree that video offers more opportunities nowadays, but why not make use of all, if time permits? With multichannel marketing, businesses may be able to capture audience that is otherwise not available if they only focus on one communication channel.
Great stuff! I recently started introducing “video chats” on my project management blog. I interview expert through skype, record it and post it on the blog.
The reason I start using video is that it brings me and my readers, and fellow bloggers “closer together”. It takes away the sense of anonymity. I hope it makes my “tribe” stronger. I guess smaller too :)
Anyway, it is just plain fun, and people are getting excited, which makes me excited too.
Cheers
Bas
Project Shrink
I totally agree. I would never back away from writing. I love it far too much. However, on my newest site, we have pushed video a lot. My blogging partner for that site and I do co authored video as well as video interviews. What we lose in search traffic we figure we’ll recover by being pioneers.
A very good comparison between video and traditional text blogging.
Another aspect of video blogging is if you are aesthetic pleasing you will have a much better chance of success. As much as people says that personality helps, people are naturally attracted to aesthetic people or things.
I had experimented with video in the past, but in the end felt that my subject matter (food) would be better conveyed through good writing and static images. I also found that the time required to film, edit, and upload a video was more than it took to edit photos and write even a lengthy post. However, what you said about different personalities being better at video is true. You’ve already mentioned Gary. Christine from Happy Slip also used video in a very successful way, to show off her comedic and singing talents. And video blogging is also a great way to transmit more raw subject matter, such as filming interviews, music shows, performance art, etc.
I think video and audio have their merits but will never replace text for one simple reason:
Time Density
If I’m trying to get information, I can get it faster by reading than any other format. It drives me crazy when I’m going through someones “podcast” when they could have just made it a blog I could read in 10 minutes. Instead I have to wait through an hour of poorly edited audio. It will be very hard to promote a medium where the transfer of information happens at a much slower pace. Video is fine for information, but has some serious disadvantages for information transfer.
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing video for awhile, but I haven’t yet found a topic in my niche (intercultural relationships) where a personal video made my me would convey information better than the written word does. I do make use of short videos - documentaries, daily show clips, etc - that I think would be useful or amusing to my readers, though, and I like the way it mixes things up.
Video is a great way to connect with readers, but there are other ways to achieve a similar effect, I think. I’ve had a great response to posts where I showed personal photos related to the topic, for instance.
I agree with you Skellie, that video blogging has much potential. However, it seems to me, that on some level, it is already being done on youtube. Youtube is not considered a traditional blog, but people do essentially that on there. And have been for a while.
Recently me and my brother revealed our identities to the world and we did it with none other than a video camera. It’s the only video blog we’ve done thus far:
http://punintended.com/blog/our-identities-finally-revealed/
Nice insights, Skellie. Unfortunately, I think I still don’t have the guts exposing myself using videos but I may consider audio later. I also think that it’s not only the content that will judged by the audience but also the personality - the voice quality, the physical appearance, facial expression, etc.
But one good thing about using videos I believe is the more personal touch. We all know that anyone can buy articles for their blogs, while self video cannot be faked.
Lastly, it’s more of realizing what will happen next. Will your face be familiar because of praises or insults? One must be really ready for anything that can happen.
I’ve been messing around with video for the past month and I love it. It’s not easy getting it all right - it takes quite a few takes. But when it’s right it’s magic.
The voice inflection and movements make the content so much more dynamic. I’m a huge fan of writing, but I’m realizing that getting my ideas across is easier with video.
Also! I’m willing to watch any video for a few minutes. If it’s good I’m coming back for more.
Video and text have their own potential and benefits, like video give more personal touch, but text are more easier to store and scan.
People may think newspaper will not be used anymore because of the internet but something can’t be replaced. Video blogging could be another chance for some people to enter blogoshpere and create its own world. And it also depent on how they do it.
I started my website as video but it soon turned in to video+text blog. I have 10yrs in video and text helped us with SEO, easier and cheaper to create and text pages get bigger hits than the videos, I am now using the videos as more of a brand extension to drive traffic to the site. Once more people get broadband I see video taking off
There a couple of sites I follow that use video as a medium (and now I added another one, thanks to you recommendation; thank you), but there is one that stands out for me. I find heaps of value and am keen to listen. They do interviews with many popular bloggers including: John Chow of JohnChowDotCom, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, Leo Babauta of Zen Habits…
Check it out: http://blogopolisblueprint.com/
A blogger who combines video and text has a powerful content mix at his hand, each supporting the other. All over YouTube we’re finding fine examples of this, and they extend both in the personal and business worlds. The “trick” is to house the content and conversaion on ones own website, and use YouTube to draw readers and viewers onto ones own blog where you can convert them into regulars, back sell services and products, to name just 2 examples.
People like text because it is a non-linear medium. Rather than “linear can be great” maybe - how can we present video in a non-linear format?
Isn’t that what bbc.com is doing? Including short video snippets as components in text stories - skip them if you like.
What apple.com etc. are doing by presenting 10 ninety second infomercials/introductions for new products, rather than one 15-minute presentation?
Hey man really rich content you have on your posts. I was really surprised to know youTube is now the second largest search engine even larger than yahoo.
I have written some things about how Blogging for the new generation.
I to feel videos must be a part of one’s blog and i second your opinion that it requires much courage to let yourself open for all to view.. reading your thoughts is far more different than viewing your activities.
Thought-provoking post. I tend to side with your hunches on this matter, and GaryV is the obvious example to cite here.
One observation: Blogs (read: text) grew so fast in quantity and volume due largely to tool availability (e.g. Blogger, WordPress, etc.) However, video has not reached that point. Many have webcams, and you see a ton of crappy content on youtube. The well-done and typically valuable content (e.g. GaryV) is professionally filmed and edited. Until video recording and editing tools become easy and of high quality, video won’t reach a saturation point as far as user-generated content is concerned.
Interesting post. (Welcome back.) But I couldn’t disagree more. Video does not have the potential to be that big. Sure, YouTube is popular, but that is because people are looking for videos… music videos, viral videos, movie trailers, etc… There is less ofa demand for to hear the average Joe talk about what he probably should just be writing in his blog.
And while it is a novelty, its limitations will prevent it from replacing, or even significantly competing with, text… I don’t need to be a pioneer. :-)
If, however, a video is used to supplement content already in a blog post, then it might be successful. For example, I like when bloggers use a video for tutorials. And this use would have the advantage of sufficient ‘text’ for search engines…
Hey guys,
Thank you for the thoughts and reactions on video vs. text. It’s cool to see that some of you have already been experimenting and having success with this medium.
A couple of you mentioned a point that I forgot to add in the article — that video does raise the boundaries of access for some people who are on slower internet connections. Hopefully in future this will not be an issue, but for now it certainly is. This might be a reason to include text transcripts of videos… but that of course adds to the work-load involved in producing them.
True. So True.
I’ve said this many time :)
Hey - great to see you posting again, Skellie!
I agree with you about using videos, although I have no desire to start a video blog. I’m passionate about writing, so that’s always going to be my first love. On the other hand, I want to incorporate multimedia on my blog GoodlifeZEN.
I’ve made a start by putting up a short ‘welcome’ video. People watching it can get a sense that I am a real person. After all, there are so many people on the Net who hide behind pseudonyms. What the heck are they hiding? My readers seem to appreciate the fact that I am what I say I am!
I’ve started taking lessons from a film maker in order to learn how to make videos. My intention is to transmit some of my ideas visually. I’d love to talk about, say, spaciousness when standing on top of a mountain. Or about time and tide whilst walking along a beach.
One thing that puts me off videos on other blogs is something you touched upon. I’m a fast reader and haven’t got time to sit through one-hour videos in order to get information, when I could scan the same stuff in 5 minutes! That’s why I’m determined to make short clips - 7 minutes max!
I’m excited about learning how to make videos. This blogging thing is just the most amazing journey - I love it! :-0
I think those final bullet points at the end of the post really sum it up for me. Written word is so popular online BECAUSE it’s disconnected, the same reason second-life is so popular - because it’s not really you, unless you want it to be.
That’s why we have more confidence flirting on MSN than face to face, more confidence writing articles than having people judge our appearance and speech, more confidence to be agressive and cocky if forums than the courteous polite people we are in real life.
Written word is a necessary barrier for me - it gives me time to think and to better articulate point if nothing else. Video is just too personal!
Though clearly it doesn’t help me that much as I’m still THE typo-king :)
Excellent post! Thanks for sharing, I will be back again soon.
[...] Blog: Skelliewag.org tagged with: inspiration Post: http://www.skelliewag.org/video-is-your-chance-to-be-a-pioneer-598.htm [...]
[...] many reasons NOT to use video, there are indeed some benefits. In a rebuttal to Rubel’s post, Skellie over at Skelliewag.org points out that video enables you to connect with your visitors in a way not possible with text. [...]
[...] Video is Your Chance to be a Pioneer via Skelliewag [...]
Interesting thoughts Skellie, so good to “see” you back.
I’ve heard of companies getting transcripts of their podcasts done (via outsourcing) for SEO purposes. I suppose the same could be done to an extent with video. Maybe alongside screenshots.
I’m a very impatient surfer. Almost every time I see a video or screencast, I don’t bother hitting play. I move on to find another resource I can scan. That is, unless I’m in a more leisurely mode where I’ve heard of a great video for music/humour/art etc. So I think if you’re mainly doing video you’d have to be careful choosing your niche. I suspect some niches would tend to be more patient than I am :-)
I think a great example of video content that wouldn’t require you to be a “personality” on the screen is the Common Craft paperworks videos. I think they’re just brilliant.
Thanks for the encouragement! I love watching [short] videos and making them. I’m not spectacular at it, but learning as I go.
I’d read something similar to the “Text is King” article and decided that I don’t really care which is king I love to do videos so I will.
ere is my beef with video posts:
Although some people pull it off, the majority of those who do video updates and posts just come off sounding unprepared or boring. Broadcasters and TV personalities go to school and learn how to come off with ease on camera, just as writers learn to deliver the written word with some flair.
I know there are some naturals out there, just like writers. But the complaint about the poor quality of blog writing can also be transferred to video blogging.
I choose to basically ignore most video bloggers, unless they speak on a topic I truly have an interest in.
But, with all mediums, I think it will start to step up in quality. Instead of using a built in webcam, maybe add some production value. Solid editing, maybe even a nice DV camera for these kinds of posts.
Webcam video posts, while some are good, remind me of a low-fi Blogspot blog, where if people can add some production value to them, they will be like having your own domain/wordpress blog.
Scott
this is a great post skellie and i agree video blogging is a HUGE opportunity. ive noticed it explode in the video gaming niche, especially to people with strong editing/animation skills.
it does take a certain type of personality though…certainly worth experimenting if you are brave (im not!)
As more and more people start blogging about the same stuff, video is definitely going to become a good way to post something original. Even if the topic of your video has been covered before your personality and presentation will inject originality. It’s hard to blatantly rip-off a video.
That said I don’t think I have what it takes to try video. Can’t bear to smile for photos, never mind try and sound intellectual in front of a video camera.
Skellie -
Thanks for the inspiring words. I recently began a video blog of sorts called “Meetings In A Minute”. This probably isn’t a BIG niche, but as the Mayor Pro Tem in Hermosa Beach, CA I saw an opportunity to update folks about our city council meetings via a very short video. You’ve got me thinking about what I could do that has a bigger impact. Cheers!
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I agree with Chris Johnson’s comment: not only are there barriers to viewers, but there are barriers to creators. I can blog even if my personal computer breaks from a free library, or campus computer. However, a camcorder is expensive to buy, and a good one even more so. You have to have a more powerful computer than mine to handle editing video at all. And then if any of your equipment malfunctions, you basically have to get it fixed because it’s unlikely you can make do with borrowing or find free equipment to use.
Personally, I think text will stay strong because you can see all of it at once.
Video is good as entertainment, but not necessarily for spouting off what you happen to be thinking each day. At a written blog, if 1 in 2 posts are useful and interesting, readers will enjoy it and keep coming to look at your new content, in case it is one of your good posts. If you had that kind of ratio with video, I’m not sure if readers would be bothered to find out if your latest video is any good. Maybe they would. Something to think about.
Skellie,
Great post. I think video is really powerful. It’s got it’s own learning curve to work out. I’ll be getting my foot into this arena though with screencasting soon. Having a truly multi-media blog is the way to go. Written articles, with imbedded video, cartoons, or interactive content. Highly visual posts like comics or info graphics. There’s no limit really.
I like your thoughts on pulling taffic through video. I watched a viral video show on VH1 the other day that had “Ask a Ninja,” the guys that put mentos in diet coke and a whole lot more that made it big on Youtube and other video networks.
Thanks for the thoughts.
This article brings up so many interesting thoughts. I too have thought that video blogging will become more popular as time goes on. There will always be pros and cons to both writing and video blogs but I see a future when both will be widely used. Thanks for writing this, it helps seed my brain with ideas. :-)
[...] about video these days. Skellie over at Skelliewag wrote recently about video being “your chance to be a pioneer” (mainly in videoblogging or “vlogging”). The potential of mobile video is also [...]
[...] not writing tutorials? Why should you include video in a blog post? As Skellie explains, Video is Your Chance to be a Pioneer: We’re at a point now where every niche imaginable has been saturated by written content. You can [...]
Love your article and agree! Our problem is this. We are 2 friends that have been doing a 1/2 written 1/2 video blog since August. We started out in the mommy community of bloggers, but have found this to be a very needy group. Must follow everyone everyday because on the whole they are looking for friendship. I want to produce great videos and content, I don’t want to spend 4 hours a day commenting on other blogs (although there is some fun in that). I can’t find information to help us find the right viewers. We have gotten a great response to everything we do which is encouraging…but as a busy mom myself…my time to research is just limited. I would really value your very honest opinion about the quality of our content and where we should start to find our target audience. Thanks in advance, for your consideration. Holly