How to add a youtube video to your blog

I realise you might be expecting a guide on how to monetize your blog. However, following my guide on Learning How To Write For the Internet, I had a few requests to explain exactly how one adds a youtube video to your blog. This is a quick guide on adding a youtube video to your blog, using HTML. Expect the monetizing guide soon!

How To Add A Youtube Video To Your Blog

1. Go to the video on youtube. Just open the link of the video in your browser.


2. Look for the word 'embed' in the 'About this video' box, to your right.


3. Copy the code in the text box next to it. It is important to get all the code. Get everything between the object tags.


4. Place this code on your page. Place the code wherever you want it to appear on your page.

This is a screen shot showing you where you should get the code:



This is an example of the code you should copy. Note that your code would obviously look different to mine if you want to put a different video on your blog:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iu1RikQPJHE&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iu1RikQPJHE&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

How to resize the youtube video for your blog

Note that some layouts would prevent the youtube video from displaying properly. If you do not want to mess up your layout, just resize the youtube video.

1. Don´t be scared by the code. It is pretty straightforward.


2. Find the object and embed tags. Tags are HTML markers that help your browser to identify what it should display. You can also paste this code in a text editor before you paste it on your blog to make things easier.


3. Note that each tag has width and height attributes. Attributes are used to specify to HTML tags what they should look like. In other words, attributes specify to tags how they should display.


4. Both widths should be the same and both heights should be the same. Note that your widths may differ from your heights. The object tells your browser that you want to display an object like a video. The embed tells your browser where to find the video.


5. An easy way to find the correct width and height values is to open a new document in Photoshop or GIMP. Make this document the size of the youtube width and height tags. Ensure that the size is locked, that is when you adjust the width, the height also changes. Now compare this document with the area on your blog where you want to put the video. If it fits, you have the values for your width and height tags.
   
   The values which work on my blog are 425 for width and 355 for height.


6. Replace the values between the inverted commas directly after width and height in your text editor. Note that these are the only things you need to change. The inverted commas need to stay there.


7. Copy and paste the modified code onto your blog.

Finally, this is what it looks like after you add the video to your blog:



Now you know how to add youtube videos to your blog. Expect some tips on how to monetize your blog soon!

Special thanks to memyselfandjuvy for requesting the video help.

Special thanks to Navin for asking how to resize your video.

How to let search engines find your blog - introduction to SEO

You can let search engines find your blog with search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. This may seem like fancy jargon, but it is really quite simple. A page rank is the order number of a page when it appears when someone searches for the topic of the page. Basically, search engines have spiders or crawlers that look for a few criteria when giving a page rank. These may include:

• the number of keywords


• the number of links to your blog


• the amount of hits or the popularity of your site

These could be divided into on site and off site factors, number of relevant keywords being the on site factor. The amount of links to your blog and the popularity of your blog are off site factors. As you can imagine, you are directly in control of the amount of keywords on your blog. You have indirect control over links to your site and the amount hits you get, but there are ways you can achieve these goals.

How Do You Let Search Engines Find Your Blog?

• provide quality content


• submit your blog to search directories


• include many keywords in your posts


• join a few blogging communities


• link to other blogs

Providing Quality Content
If you are passionate about your blog topic, you should have no problem in coming up with quality content. You can improve the quality of your content by providing a unique user experience, and utilising the inverted pyramid style of writing for your posts. It might be a good idea to search for other blogs in your topic of interest, just to compare apples with apples, so to speak.

As an example, I am very passionate about horror movies and heavy metal. These are the topics of my main blog, The Necro Files. When I started out, my posts were condensed and straight to the point. This is because I had reviews written for an entirely different format. I googled a bit and found similar blogs (few and far between, but they excist) and they gave me ideas on how to improve my blog.

To use a comparison, see the review I wrote for The Crimson Idol by W.A.S.P. Compare this with an older review I wrote for Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath. Notice how the layout has changed. Also note how I added more multimedia to improve the user experience. Always work at improving your content.

Submit Your Blog To Search Directories
Quite simply, you just add the URL (the link) of your blog to a directory. For google, just add your URL to google. If you have a Yahoo account, you need to add it as one of your sites. You can also comment the URL with keywords when you submit it.

Include Many Keywords In Your Posts
This is easier said than done. For instance, I write heavy metal and horror reviews, but when I learnt about keywords I realised that I do not have the word "review" in a single one of my posts! Imagine how dumb I felt.

Learning how to add keywords to your post is something that takes a little time and effort to master. The main tips I have learnt are:

• choose the correct keywords. This is a matter of using search engines, along with good old trial and error.


• add the keywords in your URL. This means adding the keywords to the title of your post.


• add the keywords in the body of your post, preferably close to the top.

You might want to try a more in-depth DIY guide to SEO techniques.

Join A Few Blogging Communities
Yahoo has a built-in blogging community service. Other blogging communites include BlogCatalog, MyBlogLog and BlogRush. These are the main ones I use. Note that some of these communities won't accept your blog immediately. Don't give up! Do a few more posts and try to submit your blog again.

Of course, you could probably count digg and StumbleUpon as blogging communities too. These two are excellent for generating traffic to your blog.

Link To Other Blogs
There are two options here, namely linking to small blogs and linking to big blogs. The advantage of linking to small blogs is that you build up loyalty. Someone who is appreciating a little ego stroking is more likely to return your links. You should give comments, and make sure that you can receive comments on your blog. Many blogs don't allow links in their comments, which I don't really understand. I suggest you allow links.

Linking to bigger blogs also has advantages, but don't expect much loyalty from the big guys. I ride on the backs of the big guys by posting an URL to my blog in my comments. While this does not amount to a substantial amount of traffic, I get the occasional hit from them.

It is more worthwhile to build a good rapport with blogs of similar size. It is also more fun, and easier to do a link exchange. A link exchange is when you post a link to a blog, and that blog posts a link to you. Scratch their back, they scratch yours.

Now you know how the basics of getting those hits. Please feel free to add your comments. Within the next few posts, I will explain how to monetize your blog.

Suggested SEO Links
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