BlogTV is a website which lets you watch user-generated ‘video blog’ videos live online. Many You Tubers use the service as their audience can chat in the chat section as the video is going on live, giving suggestions, answering questions, and normally making the experience more fun than simply watching a YouTube video.
The website, which was launched in 2006, is available in English, Russian and Hebrew. Although there are some pesky ads, it is free to use the website. As well as being able to watch videos, those who have accounts on Blog TV are able to easily make their own broadcasts. Other bonuses include being able to subscribe to videos by certain people (the subscriber can then choose to get emails either a few minutes before the broadcast starts – if it is a scheduled one- or an email when the broadcast starts). Yes, it is possible to earn money from BlogTV, but it’ll take some time.
If you are going to try a BlogTV show, here are some tips:
– Tell your friends. Not only will they want to watch you, but they’ll also tell others. You’ll even be able to pick a reliable co-host. Sites such as facebook and twitter are great ways to advertise.
– Have something planned. Unless you have hundreds of viewers who are able to give you sensible things to talk about (highly unlikely) you should always be ready to talk about a certain topic, do a live review of a game etc.
– Keep it interesting. If you notice your ratings starting to slip or the number of viewers of your broadcast beginning to decline try asking your viewers for tips. Add a co-host to your video or liven up the chat by mentioning an interesting topic.
– Try to get featured on the site’s homepage. This will bring lots more viewers to your shows. If you think your show is worth watching, email community@blogtv.com
– To gain subscribers, broadcast at frequent scheduled times. Always have something new in a video. Imagine that you are watching your own show. Would you subscribe?
– Have reliable Internet, web cam and a microphone. Just like making a channel on YouTube, if you are serious about it, you’ll need a good web cam and microphone. The Internet speed you will need to broadcast smoothly is at least 400kb/second- more than that is highly recommended, especially when watching videos. Have sufficient lighting.
– Make tags of your keywords and make a colourful banner for your show. Record some broadcasts so that if someone visits your page while you aren’t live, they’ll still know what kind of broadcasts you do.
Chat tips:
– You can kick spammers and haters from the chat room by clicking on their names on the list of chatters and clicking ‘kick’. You will need operator privileges to do this.
-If it is too hard to control the chat room on your own, give people you trust operator privileges. This lets them kick people. Simply click their user name and then ‘add operator’. It is easy to block private messages when you are busy.
Have fun on BlogTV.com whether you’re broadcasting or just watching!