A few weeks ago I did a series on video blogging, explaining the benefits of vlogging, providing ideas for vlog posts, and providing tips for optimizing your vlog posts, but there was one major section that was missing: how to embed vlog posts on your blog.

If you want to start vlogging, there are a few different ways you can connect users with your vlog:

• Post on YouTube (or other video website) and link to your channel on your blog homepage
• Post on YouTube and write a new blog post for every new video you upload
• Embed the video in your blog posts
• Embed the video in your blog posts, but behind a ‘more’ tag

Option 1: Link to your Channel

Your channel is your page on YouTube that lists all of the videos that you’ve made.  You can link to this on your blog home page side bar.  While I think that this is a great idea, I think it should be done along with one of the other options.  Only linking to your channel may not attract as much traffic as the other options.

Option 2: Write a New Blog Post when you upload a new video

Whenever you post a new video, you can also post a blog post letting your readers know, and provide a link to that video in your post.  (Make sure you use keyword-rich link text).

I would say this is preferable to option 3.  This prevents your blog from loading slowly.  The problem, however, is that it means users have to load another website to get to your video.  Once they’re gone, they may get sidetracked and watch other videos on YouTube instead of coming back to yours.

Option 3: Embed the Video in  your blog posts

Now, if you’re going to embed the video in your blog, you are going to need to be careful.  If you vlog frequently, then your homepage might be full of videos, which can slow down your loading time.  You can read this recent post about how a slow loading speed can affect your readers.

There are positives for this option, though.  You don’t need to use another website to upload your video; using another website might be a hassle for you, so this would eliminate that inconvenience, if you feel it is one.

Option 4: Embed the video in your blog posts, but behind a more tag

A few months ago we analyzed the pros and cons of the ‘more’ tag, which is a tag that allows you to display only the first part of your post on the home page.  To read the entire post, users would have to click on a link like “continue”.

This answers both the problems of Options 2 and 3.  Now, your bloggers are staying within your site instead of going else where (as with option 2), but you don’t have the loading problems that you might have with option 3.

The best way to do this?  Have an eye-catching headline for your post title that also tells your readers that it is a vlog.  Then, have a short paragraph (2-3 sentences) explaining what the vlog is about and how it will help your readers.  Use this paragraph to entice readers but also for SEO purposes.

To Embed your Video in the post:

Make sure your file is saved using the right format …  .mov or .wmv for example

To embed a video, you need to use specific code.  Here is a link that explains how to embed a video in your blog post and provides a breakdown of what the different items in the code mean.

If you’re embedding a video from YouTube, they will provide you with the code.  Simply go to the specific page the video is on, and click ‘Embed’.  It will prompt you with options, and you can go from there.

If you’re using WordPress, here is information about how to embed video.  There are a number of different options.

Vlogging is a great way to connect with readers and keep things new and interesting on your blog.  However, if your blog is overflowing with videos and has a slow loading time, this can negate any benefits of vlogging.  Think about how you want to share video carefully.

How do you share video on your blog?