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Videos are a great way to connect with readers, but hosting videos on your servers consumes many resources. And, locally hosted videos tend to take longer to load and have poorer performance compared to videos hosted on third-party platforms.
Video hosting for bloggers allows you to store your videos on separate servers and then embed them on your website for your audience to view. You might not realize how common this process is because the experience is so seamless for viewers.
To guide you in setting up a great video viewing experience for your readers, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the best video hosting sites.
What are the Benefits of Using a Video Hosting Site For Bloggers?
Video blog hosting sites offer many great benefits for bloggers. Here’s what you can look forward to when you use one of these third-party hosting sites.
Faster load speeds
Videos tend to be large files, which means they can really slow down your website. When a website visitor goes to a page on your website, their device has to download the webpage content to show it to the visitor. The larger the media is on your website, the longer it will take to load it.
Additionally, a slow website will struggle to rank well for search engine optimization (SEO) and will be a poor experience for your website visitors.
Clear analytics
While hosting videos on your website locally might offer some analytics, your insights will likely be limited. Video hosting websites are experts at telling you more about who is watching your videos, for how long, when and if they’re returning users.
Improved searchability
If you make your videos public on a third-party video hosting website, your videos are more likely to show up in web searches. This practice helps grow your audience to reach new users who might not be familiar with your blog yet.
Easier for your audience to share
Videos hosted locally on your website are a bit more challenging for your users to share. The only way to share those videos is to share the link to the webpage where you’ve posted the video. However, using a third-party site would allow your audience to embed your videos on their website too or share a link directly to the video using their social media channels.
Greater website bandwidth
Many website hosting plans include a set amount of storage and bandwidth. Video can consume that bandwidth very quickly, requiring that you upgrade your hosting plan. Using a video hosting service can help you keep that website bandwidth for other uses to ensure your website runs smoothly.
Increased revenue through ads
Some video hosting websites offer you the option to allow pre-roll advertisements on your videos. If you use these services, you can increase your blog’s revenue by turning on ads. You’ll need to have many video views and good standing with the video hosting service for this to be an option, but it can further monetize your blog.
What to Look for in the Best Video Hosting Sites for Bloggers
Some video hosting sites lend themselves more to bloggers than others. When considering which host to use, consider these essential features.
Server reliability
Video hosting websites use remote servers to house your video files. If those servers are unavailable, it means your videos will be unavailable as well. Be sure to select a hosting service with good uptime and reliability to make sure your videos are available when your users go out to view them.
Integration with blogs
The embedding experience will vary from one service to another. Be sure you read up on the video hosting service’s integration with blogs. You might even be able to find one that connects seamlessly with your blogging platform to make it simpler to add to your website.
Security
Using third-party services can open you up to security concerns. Before hosting videos on another site, be sure that it has impeccable security to protect you and your users. Because you’re embedding the content on your website, you could face security concerns for your website where you embed the videos.
Search engine optimization
Adding video to your website can bolster your blog’s SEO. But hosting through a service can also make your content easier to find.
Video hosting services often offer the option to make your video public or private. Public videos can offer even greater SEO. For example, on Google, there’s a tab just for videos so that users can view what they’re searching for in video format if that’s better for them.
Ease of sharing
Providing your audience options as far as how they can share your videos will help encourage people to spread the word about your great content. Look for a hosting service that allows for various ways to share your content, either by linking to it or embedding it.
The Best Video Hosting Sites for Bloggers
You’re ready to start reviewing your options for video hosting sites for bloggers. Benzinga has created this list of the best video hosting sites for bloggers to help you get started.
YouTube has more than 2 billion users, making it the largest video-sharing service. And because Google owns YouTube, it’s not surprising that the platform can do wonders for your SEO. You won’t be limited to a specific storage capacity or bandwidth for hosting through YouTube, and it is one of the private video hosting sites available. Select how public you want to make your videos to match your distribution needs or exclusivity.
Pros
- Unlimited video cloud storage with no subscription fees
- Excellent SEO value
- Greater ability for your target audience to discover your content
- Options to make your videos private or unlisted
- Simple video embed options
Cons
- You cannot select whether ads play on your videos.
- At the end of your video, YouTube will recommend further viewing, which you have no control over.
Best For: Blogging beginners with little video experience
Pricing: YouTube is a free service for video hosting.
Vimeo offers an outstanding video hosting experience. In contrast to YouTube, which is more of a social media video platform, Vimeo targets businesses and commercial users. Because of its audience, it’s no big surprise that Vimeo’s free plans are limited, so be prepared to pay a monthly subscription for the service.
Pros
- Ad-free experience for your audience
- Ability to enable the option for video downloads
- Simple and easy-to-use embed options
Cons
- Vimeo has a limited user base, which means your videos won’t easily be discovered.
- Plans have limited upload limits per day.
Best For: Creative professionals and filmmakers
Pricing: Prices start at $7 a month. You can get started with a 30-day free trial to see if the service is right for you.
Wistia is a digital marketing solution that allows users to set up lead forms within videos or calls to action to add further value to their videos. You have a maximum video length of 2 hours, and you’ll be limited to 8 GB per file.
Pros
- Ad-free viewing experience
- Customizable embed video player
- Limit other suggested videos to content from your channel
- Ability to brand the video viewing experience and set up lead forms to get more value out of your videos
Cons
- Extremely expensive compared to the competition.
- You won’t expand your audience using this service as it does not have a user base that can discover your content.
Best For: Bloggers looking to use video as part of their marketing
Pricing: You can get started with Wistia for free for up to 3 videos. The next pricing tier is $99 per month for 10 videos, and you can customize the branding of your channel. Additional videos cost $.25 per video per month.
Jetpack offers an outstanding video hosting service for WordPress users. While you don’t have to be a WordPress user to subscribe to Jetpack, you’ll reap the greatest rewards when you use the two together. Subscriptions are affordable and you’ll be able to manage your blog and video hosting in one central location.
Pros
- Customize the video player
- Unlimited storage capacity
- Review video analytics from your WordPress dashboard
Cons
- Branding options are limited.
- Offers no established audience to help grow your following through video hosting.
- While convenient to access, the analytics are fairly basic.
Best For: WordPress users
Pricing: Subscriptions start at $4.77 per month for the first year when paid annually. After that, it’s $9.95. While the platform doesn’t offer a free trial, it does provide a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Most video hosting services don’t go head-to-head with YouTube. However, Dailymotion attempts to compete with YouTube as a video-sharing platform. It boasts 300 million users, making it a great place to expand your audience through the already established user base.
Pros
- Unlimited free video hosting
- Several options for how public your videos are
- Audience-building opportunities through a large user base
Cons
- Similar format to YouTube but a smaller audience and less SEO value
- Max file size more limiting than competitors
- Videos have ads before, during and after even when embedded on your website
Best For: Video bloggers looking for an alternative to YouTube
Pricing: Much like YouTube, Dailymotion is a free video-hosting and sharing website.
SproutVideo is designed for businesses and commercial use. You’ll find great sharing and collaboration features to help you grow your audience and capture leads through the service.
Pros
- Lead capture directly from a video
- In-depth analytics
- Role-based permissions to set up your entire team
- Playlist creation
Cons
- Navigating the platform is complex.
- You can’t tap into a user base since it doesn’t function like YouTube or Dailymotion.
Best For: An affordable way to capture leads through video marketing
Pricing: Get started with a 30-day free trial. After that, plans start at $24.99 per month
Engage Your Blog’s Audience with Video
Video is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience in a personal and meaningful way. Bloggers benefit from adding video to their content strategy. Whether you’re looking to use video to expand your audience by tapping into a hosting platform’s user base or grow through lead capture forms on your video, a video hosting service can help you achieve your goals.
