Did you know that there are actually several different ways that you could choose to publish videos on your blog? Although you are likely to settle on one of the options – it helps to know a bit about them and the advantages as well as disadvantages of each.
Embed Videos from Free Online Video Platforms
Undoubtedly the most popular way to publish videos on a blog is to embed them from online video platforms – such as YouTube.
The reason this option is so popular is simple: It is easy. All you need to do in general is upload the video to the online video platform and then copy and paste the embed code that it will generate.
For example if you choose to use YouTube you can follow the embed instructions that it provides.
In some cases there are plugins that will make that even easier, and on some blogging platforms you can just copy and paste the video URL to embed it.
If you do use this option you won’t need to worry about issues such as bandwidth, storage space, or creating versions of the video in different resolutions. However the downside is that you will have less control over the video.
That can be a bit of a drawback, especially as many online video platforms tend to recommend other videos for viewing – which could entice viewers away from your blog.
It should be noted that free online video platforms (especially YouTube) have a lot of internal traffic that your video may benefit from however.
Self-Host HTML5 Videos
The HTML5 video tag has made it relatively easy to self-host and publish videos. In theory all you need to do is upload the video to your webhost, and use the video element to publish it.
However in practice it is much more complicated than that and there are lots of reasons why you should not self-host videos. The most notable of which are that it will:
- Require a considerable amount of bandwidth.
- Take up lots of storage space on your webhost.
- Need to be converted into multiple formats.
- Must be provided in different resolutions.
- May have complicated code to add fallbacks.
Suffice to say you should only ever self-host and publish HTML5 videos if you really and truly know what you’re in for. It is definitely not a beginner-friendly option.
If you do self-host videos you need to be prepared to convert them into many different versions. For that you can use Online Video Converter (https://www.videoconverter.com/) as it will let you quickly and easily convert your videos into various formats. It is fast, and more importantly has no file size limit so you’ll be able to convert any video that you need.
Use Video Hosting Providers
Aside from free online video platforms, there are other video hosting providers and content delivery networks that you can use. However most are not free, and the cost can vary – often depending on the total file size of your videos.
The advantage of this option is the fact that it is as easy as uploading and embedding videos to online video platforms – and at the same time you’ll have full control over the video. It won’t require you to worry about converting the video into multiple versions, or the storage space and bandwidth.
Most of the professional video hosting providers have lots of other useful features. For example you may be able to customize the appearance of the video player, control access to the videos, determine when (or if) to play ads, and so on.
All in all this a great option to publish videos, and businesses frequently use it. The only real caveat is that you need to be willing to pay for it.
Conclusion
As you can see none of the options to publish videos on a blog are ‘perfect’, and each has advantages and disadvantages of its own.
Now that you know a bit about each, it should make it easier for you to decide which option is best suited to your needs. In most cases the safest and easiest is to embed videos from free online video platforms, but if you want more control over your videos you can look at the other two options described above.
