Community – VideoPress

From Tech to Fashion, Video Adds a New Blogging Dimension

Virtualized Geek and Feven & Helena couldn’t be two more different sites. They do have one thing in common, though: they both use video (and VideoPress!) to add interactive features that help them connect with readers.

On Virtualized Geek, IT expert and blogger Keith Townsend holds court on how organizations can most effectively use emerging technologies to meet their missions and stay ahead of the curve. Along with written posts, he has a regular Tech Talks feature — his own op-eds on tech questions, with the occasional video tutorial.

Interested? Hear Keith explain why he thinks OpenStake isn’t enterprise-ready yet, learn how to work with virtual appliances, or consider his take on Cisco’s latest offerings.

On Feven & Helena, the twin sisters, best friends, and self-described “curators of all things affordable and fabulous,” share their favorite finds from the worlds of fashion, decor, food, and entertainment:

When they travel for work — in the interior design and film industries — their camera comes along. Readers can take a peek at their holidays, get the inside scoop on a music video shoot they worked on. or get a personal tour of their closets on their “Videos” page.

No matter what topic you blog on, there’s a way to enhance your content with media!

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Michelle Weber

October 4, 2014

Community

Blogging, fashion, technology, VideoPress
Publishing a Magazine? Video Adds Personality to Interviews and Profiles
Pittsburgh Music Magazine is an online journal dedicated to spreading the word about heavy metal, in Pittsburgh and beyond:

Like many music publications, Pittsburgh Music Magazine features interviews with and profiles of favorite bands and their new albums — but they make them even more engaging with video.
- Instead of just read about the new album and upcoming tour from Florida’s Iced Earth, you can hear about it directly from lead vocalist Stu Block.
- Sit down with PMM for a chat with Jill Janus, the charismatic lead singer of Huntress.
- Spend a full hour with editor-in-chief Alan Welding as he dives deep with The Misfits’ Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein.
Reading about music is one thing, but hearing and seeing passionate musicians talk about the art form they love lends an entirely new depth to an interview.

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Michelle Weber

July 3, 2014

Community

interviews, magazines, VideoPress
Travel Bloggers: Send Readers on an Armchair Vacation with Video

In our last post, we checked on three food bloggers using video to bring their dishes and personalities to life for their readers. Food blogs aren’t the only sites that can easily use video to create a richer experience for readers — travel bloggers can add video to their sites to take readers on an armchair vacation. Here are two of our faves:

The name of their site — Everywhere Once — says it all. Full-time nomads and part-time bloggers Brian and Shannon are on a quest to see everything in the world at least once.

Their cameras go where they do, so you can hop into their kayak for a spin around Blackstone Bay, Alaska, join them in a helicopter flying over the Grand Canyon, or find yourself 10,000 feet over Moab, Utah, getting ready to skydive.

Katie and Jessie’s header also immediately lets you know what their blog is about: they’re on a boat, sailing America’s Great Loop on the SS Lovely Louise.

Documenting the entire trip in photo and video means you can cruise down the Inter-coastal Waterway with them, spend an afternoon lolling on the deck somewhere off the Bahamas, or see what life really looks like for two people, a dog, and a cat on a 27-foot sailboat.

The next time you’re on a grand (or even not-so-grand) adventure, whip out your camera phone, grab a few seconds of footage, and give your readers a whole new level of experience!

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Michelle Weber

April 2, 2014

Community

travel, travel blogging, Video, VideoPress
Your Own Food Network: Food Bloggers Bring Dinner to Life with Video

With so many of us walking around carrying mobile devices capable of shooting video, it’s easier than ever to add a multimedia component to your blog. There’s one group of bloggers who’ve already embraced the way video can enhance a post: food bloggers.

Check out the ways these high-tech foodies are using VideoPress to give their dishes new life:

Eggton uses video to illustrate techniques and recipes, give her readers the opportunity to get to know her, and as an excuse to shoot footage of dancing fish. We love seeing the woman behind the blog — now, when we read her posts, we can hear her sitting with us, talking about her food.

Celia, the blogger behind Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, uses video to give her posts more context, making them about more than just food. Footage of Flamenco dancers adds another dimension to a post about Spanish tapas, while clips of her family round out posts about everyday cooking. We enjoy these glimpses into the world beyond the plate.

Chef and writer Sean, creator of skinny girls & mayonnaise, adds video that take us along on his food journeys, like fishing trips to Boca de Tomatlan, Mexico and Copper River, Alaska. His clips give us the flavor of the location, along with tips on cooking techniques — you’ll need to know how to smoke your freshly-caught salmon.

Next time you wish you could speak directly to your readers, pull out the little video camera you’ve probably got in your pocket and go for it, the way these three bloggers do!

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Michelle Weber

January 15, 2014

Community

food, Video, VideoPress
Creating a Multimedia Experience: The Daily Quirk

Bloggers use video to enhance their sites’ content in all kinds of ways, including everything from clips of films they review to instructional videos demo’ing DIY projects to home videos of family and friends. Adding visuals adds clarity to what you’re writing and helps explain complex concepts by helping your readers engage in a different way.

The Daily Quirk is a collaborative magazine-style blog covering everything from film to fashion to fitness. We love its look, its tone — and the way it uses VIdeoPress.

Scrolling down The Daily Quirk’s home page soon brings you to a sidebar widget highlighting featured videos that are uploaded and displayed using VideoPress. (The Daily Quirk is a WordPress.com blog, so it’s using the VideoPress upgrade; self-hosted sites can sign up for VideoPress and then use it via a plugin.)

The Daily Quirk is able to show sneak-peaks of upcoming films and insider interviews, like these pieces with the stars of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy taken at the most recent San Diego Comic-Con.

Sure, The Daily Quirk could explain why the new Jason Sudeikis movie is so funny or paraphrase an actor’s description of what made a role challenging to play — and it’d be fun to read — but it’s even more powerful when we can see and hear for ourselves.

Best of all, they’re using VideoPress, which means no bandwidth limits and no ads. When one of their posts goes viral, their hosting will never go down, and they never have to worry that an inappropriate ad that doesn’t mesh with their site will appear at the end of an embedded video. Great for them, and great for their readers!

Want to take control of your video? VideoPress is a $60/year upgrade for WordPress.com users, or the upgrade plus this free plugin for self-hosted WordPress sites.

Michelle Weber

August 7, 2013

Community

Multimedia, the daily quirk, Video, VideoPress