Adding Video to your Blog

Do you have a video camera? If so, you may want to add video to your blog. For example, we like to play Pickleball. So many people ask, “What is Pickleball?” The best way to explain is by showing it. If you would like to add a video like this to your blog … read on.

Lots of choices with Video
Video is the ‘bleeding edge’ of the Internet today. It requires the best Internet connections to play well, and it requires the most time and knowledge to do it right. There are currently dozens, maybe hundreds of different video formats, and an equal number of different websites and procedures for uploading and playing them on the web. It can be a full time job just to learn all the different ins and outs.

But you don’t need to know all the ways! You only need to know one. So that’s what I’ll give you.

Edit with MovieMaker or iMovie
First, you’ll probably want to edit your video a bit. The clips that come from your camera need to be sliced and diced to leave you with only the best. If you want to upload your video to the web, it’s best to keep it under 5 minutes, 1 and 2 minute videos can be very effective in your blog. Windows XP and Windows Vista both come with MovieMaker for this purpose. Macintosh comes with iMovie. These are the applications that allow you to cut out the poor footage, and add music and titles to what’s left. When you publish your movie with MovieMaker, choose the option for ‘This Computer: Publish for playback on your computer’ This will create a .wmv file.  iMovie creates a .mov file – or you can publish directly to Youtube.

When you’ve finished editing and you have a final video file, you’ll need to upload it to a video sharing website. In a previous article, I discussed how you can use Picasa to upload videos. But, I’ll leave Picasa out of it this time.

Upload to Youtube
The most well-known video sharing site is www.YouTube.com. First you need to have an account. It’s free, they just need your information in order to keep your videos together. Once you’re logged in, you will see your username at the top of the screen with a drop-down arrow next to it. Click that arrow, and then choose ‘My Videos.’

Now, you should see a menu item in the upper left for ‘My Account’ and a drop-down arrow for ‘New.’ Click on New and choose Video Upload. Use the Browse button to find the video file on your computer and then click Upload. This takes a while. It could even take several hours if your video is lengthy. If you have any issues, you can read thru YouTube help on uploading.

Embed Video in a Blogger Blog
Once the upload process is complete, you can view the video on Youtube. While viewing it, you will see lots of options for sharing. You can email a link, add the video to Facebook or other community websites. But, what we’re talking about here is called ‘Embed.’ Meaning we don’t want our reader to have to click on a link to see the video. We want it to appear right in our blog post, like the pickleball video at the beginning of this post. Notice the yellow highlight in the screenshot below. That is the Embed code that you’ll need.

When you click on it, some more options will open up. Select the size you want from the choices presented, then click in the embed code box and copy it (Ctrl-C Windows, Cmd C Mac).

Adding the Youtube code to your Blog
Now you’re ready to go to your blog post and add this code. Make sure you are viewing your blog in HTML view. That’s what this code is – HTML code. Position your cursor in the spot where you want the video to appear and paste (Ctrl-V Windows or Cmd V Mac). If you now switch to Compose view – you’ll see the video as a box. You won’t see the actual video until you publish.

I’ve used Youtube and Blogger as my examples here, but the same process applies to several other video hosting sites and several other blogging systems. I’ve recently been using Viddler for videos and WordPress for blogs. The same steps apply, the commands are just in different places.

For more help on blogger blogs – see our tutorial videos at GeeksOnTour.com. Spice up your blog with Videos. Try it, you’ll like it!

Chris Guld
www.GeeksonTour.com
Computer Education for Travelers