Blogger: Using Video on Your Blog

Blogger is a helpful blogging tool powered by Google. If you already have a Gmail account, chances are you've spotted blogger in the toolbar before, and, you won't even need to make a new account to get started. Simply log in with your existing Gmail account to start publishing.

Blogger isn't upfront about the file formats it supports, or the file size limits it allows for video uploads. While this helps to keep the user interface friendly and simple, from a video maker's perspective, this is information you need to know. After a bit of testing, It seems that Blogger tops out at 100 MB, so don't try uploading video files any larger than this. In addition, Blogger accepts all of the common video formats like .mp4, .wmv, and .mov. Last but certainly not least, Blogger doesn't monitor its users' usage at this time, so you can upload as many videos as you want. This differs from sites like Tumblr, Blog.com, Jux, Wordpress, and Weebly, which have storage limits.

To prepare your video to be posted to Blogger, you'll need to compress it so that you achieve the highest quality with the smallest file size possible. I recommend using the H.264 codec with your original file format, and if the file is still too big, switching file formats to .mp4. In addition, if you shot your video in full HD, you can lower your file size by changing the aspect ratio to 1280 x 720. If you've already posted the video to another video hosting site, you can skip these steps and embed the video directly into Blogger, which I'll talk about later.

To post your video to Blogger, simply log in to your Google account and hit the 'post' button, which looks like an orange marker. Blogger's user interface consists of actual pages, so the screen in front of you will resemble a blank word document. Go to the icon that looks like a clipboard to post your first video.

There are several options for putting video on your Blogger site. The file format and size specifications I mentioned above are only relevant if you choose to upload a video directly from your hard drive to the Blogger site. Doing so will mean that Blogger, or Google, is hosting your video, or storing it on their servers.

If you've already posted a video to YouTube, you can post the video to Blogger by embedding it on your blog. In the 'Select a File' dialogue, Blogger includes a search bar that lets you search YouTube for your desired video, and also has a personalized section of all the videos you've posted to YouTube using your linked account. Blogger doesn't support Vimeo at this time, so using an embed code on your Blogger page will only display a link rather than a video player.

Once you're satisfied with your Blogger page, simply click 'Publish', and the video will appear on your site within the format of your Blogger theme.

By downloading the Google+ app for your Android of iPhone, you can post videos from your mobile device to your blog. When you're in the G+ app, you'll need to enable "Instant Upload". This will make it so that every time you take video on your cell phone, it will be uploaded to a queue that you can then see through the "Upload" dialogue on the Blogger site. All of your videos in the queue are private, and chooses to publish them on your blog will make them public.

Blogger offers a simple layout and flexible settings for posting video. If you're already a Google or YouTube user, Blogger will be well-suited to your needs.