Website Video Uploading 101

admin    Flash Video     Uploading, Video, Website

The massive explosion of video on the ‘net lately is proof of how effective a tool it can be for improving your website. Webmasters that have not thoroughly embraced video technology for use on their sites are quickly falling behind the times. Internet users no longer see video content as just a novelty added feature. Due to the massive popularity and success of multimedia social networking sites in recent times it is now viewed as a standard part of the web browsing experience.

However, many webmasters have resisted this forward change because they fear that the constantly evolving video implementation technology is far too volatile and difficult to master, even though this decision may be costing them traffic and revenue. As for the publishers that are able to successfully embrace this technology and implement it on their websites, they will continue to see a surge in popularity, traffic, and revenue for years to come.

When utilizing video content on your website, there are a few things to keep in mind. The very first thing is to remember that internet users are an impatient bunch. None one wants to be required to download additional software to view multimedia no matter how entertaining or informative it may be. Additionally, people expect quality video content. While the Web is still relatively far from streaming very high quality video at reasonable speeds, the video that you offer should still be of good quality.

All webmasters who want to utilize video content on their websites should consider three important factors:

1. Bandwidth – This is the amount of data transferred from your hosting server to your visitor via your website. Video takes more bandwidth than almost any other web application. The result, many times, is that webmasters are forced to pay overage charges in order to accommodate the surge of bandwidth needed for their websites when they begin hosting video content. Be sure that your hosting package includes enough bandwidth to accommodate your users.

2. Video file type – In the confusing and largely un-standardized web video realm, some video file types largely outshine others. All, however, have their pros and cons. For instance, MPEG videos cannot be viewed by Mac users, but PC and Linux users can view them fine. WMV is accessible by both Mac users and PC users, but isolates Linux users. Finally, AVI video format has been around since video first made its appearance on the web but the technology isn’t perfect – problems can arise with the synchronization between the audio and picture aspects of the video. The Flash format is probably the most reliable in this respect as it works problem free on each of the above operating systems.

3. Video upload software – One of the most crucial aspects for webmasters. The application has to be reasonably robust to have adequate functionality but also be user-friendly so that even novice web publishers can effectively utilize it. As well the software has to reliably synchronize picture and audio and compress files accurately for seamless, uninterrupted playback. There are programs out there that can compress your video considerably but also degrade its quality so much that you wouldn’t want to watch it online. Be sure to view samples of compressed video before purchasing any software to confirm that the end result is acceptable.

The choice of software to use can be confusing, because so many have recently flooded the market. The ideal software is one that can shrink your file size without suffering your video’s image and audio quality and can make your file HTML ready for automatic upload with as little fuss as possible. Whatever software you choose make sure that it conforms to these guidelines. If you are new to uploading then you can’t go wrong if you follow these simple suggestions when buying a program.

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