Have you toyed with the idea of a building a multimedia
blog? Well not to be rude, but it's about time! Admit it -
a text-based blog is boring. No matter how information-rich
your posts are, they're just text and the last time we paid
attention to any of it, text didn't exactly throw us into
any sort of exciting frenzy!
With today's technology, there's really no reason why you
can't turn your blog into a virtual entertainment center
complete with video, audio, instant messaging, and more.
This article describes a couple of the multimedia tools
we're talking about just so you can get an idea of how you
can turn a Plain Jane Blog into a screaming wild ride of
thrilling exhilaration.
Internet Video
Online video takes multimedia to the max and quite often,
making it available from your blog can be a simple matter
of installing a plugin or pasting in a small piece of
javascript code. YouTube offers thousands of free videos
like this for example, but if you want to make your
presentation truly unique, you'll need to make your own
little movies. Most of today's cameras (and some cell
phones) can turn anyone into an instant movie maker and if
you're not camera shy, you can record yourself using a
product that you're selling, you can record yourself
explaining a particular technique, or you can simply record
yourself giving a speech.
If you **are** camera-shy however, you can record your
computer screen instead. Thanks to a sweet and free
screen-capturing program called Camtasia, you can make
videos of yourself using software like Microsoft Excel or
Word with or without audio and text bubbles. If you're a
software developer, you can make training videos and teach
your users how to use your programs while you're sleeping!
Internet Audio
Offering audio on your blog is another great way to satisfy
today's multimedia-crazed society -- especially since we're
all naturally attracted to sound more than we're attracted
to text. With audio, you're presented with a couple of
options. You can offer streaming audio, which is live audio
broadcast from a radio station or even from your own home.
Or you can offer recorded files. Many blogs will play a
recorded audio file as soon it's loaded while others let
visitors download a collection of files.
Either way, audio gives you the opportunity to offer an
earful of business-related speeches, lectures, or
interviews and increase the interactivity of your blog at
the same time.
Instant Delivery vs. Archived Delivery
If the truth must be known, immediacy is what makes
multimedia most effective. Streaming video and audio is
much more exciting than their recorded forms because
they're LIVE. It gives visitors the feeling that they're
"right there" inside the action and that they're part of an
important event.
If offering your own streaming information isn't a feasible
option for you right now, offer some of the free streaming
videos and audios that are already available. You'll find a
ton of relevant subjects ranging from software and computer
topics to sewing and fishing hobbies. Just be sure that you
keep your visitors' capabilities in mind when offering
these tools.
You don't want for example, to overburden your visitors'
computers by forcing unwanted downloads. Always give your
visitors the choice of listening to an audio file or
watching a video. Believe it or not, a significant portion
of the Internet community still connects via dial up.
These users for instance, won't appreciate having to
download a ten megabyte audio file before your blog
completely loads -- especially since it can take dial up
users up to half an hour before that download is even
finished!
----------------------------------------------------
Gobala Krishnan is the author of the best-selling
"Wordpress Adsense System" and also a niche-blogging
specialist. Discover how you too can master Wordpress as
marketing weapon now at http://www.EasyWordpress.com
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