Now that we have defined a blog and determined a niche for the blog, it’s time to figure out what will be the primary type of content.  Notice I wrote primary type of content not just content in general.  By primary type of content, we refer to what media, if any, will be used most often in the posts.  Will video, photos,  PDF documents, audio or other media types be used to convey the message or story?  Most likely,  there will be a combination of items but focus should be given to the primary for several reasons.

Reason #1: Your Skill Level

I have a saying that I use jokingly when I’m being pushed beyond my limits to do something and that’s “I know my limitations and I live with them”.  This statement is not restricted to technical geekdom but everyday life when life is pushing me beyond what I believe I can handle.  Well, the same became true with video editing.  When I began blogging, I quickly fell in love with videography. I had grand ideas of creating wonderful screencasts^W to teach people how to use technology in easy-to-understand terminology. Unfortunately, I am not a video editor nor have I had any training and as a result, my learning curve was huge. I can do basic editing but it wasn’t long before I realized that it was taking far too long to produce and edit a video which caused my blog postings to be infrequent. In short, my blogs failed.

However, I would not give up. I stepped back and realized that I could still create screencasts^W but the method would be different. Essentially, my videos would be short, simple to create and edit without compromising easy-to-understand, step-by-step tutorials. Voila!!! I could live within my video editing limitations without shortchanging my blog. Do you have the skill set to create various content types? If not, perhaps hiring resources or even bartering for skills amongst friends.

Reason #2: Time

Now that editing was not preventing me from blogging, I needed to carve out time to produce the videos and publish them.  Finding that quiet time to create and edit the post plus any media will be essential.  You may require extra time if your media requires any special processing.  Even after video recording and editing, time to render^W and upload^W the video is necessary. For a 3-5 minute video clip,  it can take anywhere from 4-6 hours to complete a post that includes writing, recording, uploading, rendering and testing.

Reason #3: Resources

The proper resources that suit your needs will be key also.  A computer or at least access to one with internet connectivity is a must.  Most likely, some type of computer software will be needed even it is free.  There are plenty of free, online resources that allow photo and video editing plus document creation and editing and so do not assume that major purchases are necessary.   Software maybe necessary for better “quality” media, special effects and more control but it is not necessary to get started.  Did you know that Google offers Picasa for photo editing and sharing, Google Docs for creating and editing (Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations and Forms), Google Video for uploading and sharing videos and a blogging platform, namely Blogger?  Now, just so you know, I do not work for Google nor are they paying me to write this but I think Google is the place to start.  Everything is available and since all the services are owned by Google, integration is easier.  All that is needed is one account and that provides the key to the kingdom…..Google’s e-mail or Gmail, analysis tools for blogging plus all the previously mentioned items.

Whatever content type is included in the blog, take some time to research which sites meet your needs.

Video Hosting Resources: Youtube, Google Video, Vimeo, Viddler, Blip, Libsyn,

Photo Hosting Resources: Flickr, Picasa, PhotoBucket

Document Hosting Resrouces: Google Docs, Acrobat and Scribd