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by Robert Vonau
Out of the many decisions that await you when you first start video marketing, one of the most pressing is to decide on exactly where you intend to host all your videos. Just in case you didn’t realize, there are two main options that you can choose from, and they are whether you should self host those videos, or not. Don’t jump into this decision just yet because there is more to it than you probably think.
For starters, while it may seem to be logical to self host your videos, you need to be aware that hosting videos is no small effort. When you host your videos by yourself, it not only takes up storage space on your server, but it also takes up bandwidth. Any videos that hardly get views won’t be that big a problem, but if your videos are being viewed in large numbers then it could strain your bandwidth and server resources and the result would be sluggish videos that load slowly.
Needless to say, this is something that you very much want to avoid – and it is the main reason why so many people opt to host their videos elsewhere, for the most part on video sharing websites such as YouTube, Veoh, MetaCafe, and so on. Basically, these websites exist and allow people to put up and share videos – but are subject to a few restrictions.
Unfortunately, because these websites are fully public, you’re not going to be able to limit the people who view the videos. As such, any videos that you intend to only be viewed by certain people (i.e. those who made a purchase or joined your membership site) are instead going to be freely available to all through such websites.
Of course, there are advantages to hosting on video sharing websites as opposed to your own server – and the main one lies in the fact that these sites have their own internal traffic that will increase the exposure your videos are able to obtain. Some videos may even go viral, and bring with them a ton of exposure, traffic, and possibly even sales.
End of the day, the decision to self host your videos or not is largely a question of preference. If you intend your videos to only be viewed by a select few, then self hosting them and setting up permissions is really the only option. On the other hand, if you want your videos to be viewed by as many people as possible then video sharing websites should be your first port of call.
Bear in mind also that there are various intricacies to self hosting videos and if your technical knowledge isn’t up to scratch just yet you may not want to make the attempt to do so!
About the Author
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