What Is Video Blogging? How to Create Your Own Blog

Video blogs—usually housed on the YouTube platform—serve as video-based diaries. They're a natural extension of the text-based blogs of the early 2000s, with the exception that because they're housed at YouTube, discoverability increases and content-sharing friction decreases.

To launch your vlogging journey, create an account on YouTube. Anyone's allowed to upload content to YouTube; you don't need a special creator account to upload.

Effective vlogs are generally short and personal. In most cases, a vlog entry shouldn't be fewer than two minutes long or longer than six minutes long—research suggests that too-short, or too-long, of videos dissuade viewers.

The goal is to post frequently and authentically. It's better to post a half-dozen times per week with a webcam or your phone camera than to post twice a month but emphasize studio-quality glossiness.

Because vlogs are a more personal form of content, over-producing them (with screen crawls, too-good of video quality, etc.) is generally off-putting. That said, unless you're already famous, most people aren't all that interested in unstructured rambling. So develop a plan, and every now and then, bring in a special guest. Keep it varied.

But remember, frequency is more important than polish.

Vlogs grow, but the more you promote them, the better you'll be. Promoting your content on social-media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest will help, depending on the kind of content you share. Likewise, tying your Vlog's URL to your social profiles promotes native discovery.