Website Video Uploading 101

Article source: http://www.articledeshboard.com/. Used with author's permission.

As the future of website design unfolds and as more people become internet-savvy daily, it has become clear that in order to maintain an edge in the web market you must at least consider implementing video content on your sites. Video is responsible for the rise of many of today's hottest websites, which is proof that users really appreciate having multimedia content at their fingertips. While hosting video on your website may help you drive traffic by way of viral marketing, it can also have a positive effect on your search engine rankings as well.

Your audience expects certain things from your website and it's your job to deliver or risk losing your visitor base. Most internet surfers, particularly the more savvy ones, hesitate a great deal when faced with the necessity of downloading frivolous software just to watch a video, no matter how entertaining, funny, or informative it may be. Many internet users' computers are already filled to the brim with manufacturer-stuffed software as well as additional unnecessary downloads that they have been required to obtain over the web. While software like this may have been eagerly downloaded when users were less savvy, the rise in awareness of malware, spyware, and adware has made Web browsers much more fickle about allowing programs to be installed on their computers.

It is your job as a responsible webmaster to walk the fine line of ensuring that your visitors have a positive multimedia experience while making that experience as easy to obtain as possible. However, many webmasters believe that uploading video to their websites is difficult and frustrating. Fortunately with the right tools to assist you, video uploads are no more treacherous than the simplest of FTP uploads.

There are a few variables to consider when uploading video content to your website, each just as important as the other.

The first is bandwidth. As a webmaster, you probably already know that the amount of bandwidth that you are allotted from your server is very important. However, unlike text and picture graphics web video content utilizes a great deal of bandwidth when downloaded to the users' computer. 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. Make sure that you are prepared for this surge when you select a hosting package for your website.

The second variable is that of video format. The type of file that is used in uploading and thus downloading video content may attract some users but may isolate others. For instance, AVI is one of the oldest and most popular video formats available but is notorious for sound/picture synchronization problems. MPEG video format files are easily watched by PC users but not by Mac users. Finally, WMV files will work on both Mac and PC but not on the Linux platform. The Flash format is probably the most reliable in this respect as it works problem free on each of the above operating systems.

The third and probably trickiest variable for webmasters is choosing the appropriate software to upload videos to their websites. As mentioned earlier, the responsible webmaster must always carefully choose the best route that will offer convenience to the user while also ensuring as high quality of video as possible. With some video uploading applications that are available, too many glitches can occur that will frustrate your sites' visitors and may cause you to lose repeat traffic. Additionally, if the videos that are uploaded successfully take too long to buffer, which can happen if the files are too large, impatient browsers may just click away.

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.

Seamus Caulfield invites you to check out www.easywebvideo.ws for a user-friendly solution to video uploading. This unique software allows anyone to put video on the 'net in 4 minutes flat.

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