A Blog About A Vlog, I'm The Next Dr. Seuss!

Its become a revolution for our generation that making yourself cyber famous is the next best thing to being actually famous. I mean, there are even WIKIHOW instructions on How To Become Famous On The Internet. But let's take a step back. Why is it so appealing to become famous, no matter what kind of famous it is? The problems with fame are many: Loss of trust, because people value what you can do for them, rather than the person you truly are; The fishbowl that come with fame; You can’t not be noticed by the public in certain situations; The loss of being able to be anonymous in public is huge; The impact on your non-famous friends and family; The fickle nature of fame, you never fully control what the public thinks of you. We want to be known, because we want others to accept us. We want to be accepted, because we want other to truly value us. We want to be valued, because we want to be loved.

Back to what I was saying. There's a big wide cyber world audience out there just waiting for the next big thing to entertain them. We'll go over the up's and down's of Blogging Vs. Vlogging and how to get started through each of them! But first, we can try to define what each of these mean.

Pros of Blogging and Vlogging
Blogging and vlogging are very effective strategies for brands and individuals who want to generate the maximum amount of traffic for their websites. Be it amateur blog owners, beauty gurus on YouTube, or experienced professionals in the field of social media marketing – everyone is trying their hand at promoting their businesses, or promoting themselves through the two mediums. For many well-known bloggers and vloggers, it is their primary source of income, and way of making a living. You can see for yourself how the top vloggers attract huge numbers of views and subscribers on their YouTube channels. However, how does one decide on the perfect medium to convey their thoughts and impart their knowledge? Well, first it is important to know which method of communication is right for you or your business.

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Blogging, in the most simplest terms, is like an online log where the author can document their experiences, share thoughts and information, and give advice. Publishing blogs has become a norm for business owners, corporates, and professionals, as they provide a great platform for engaging with potential consumers. 

Starting a blog is easy. The steps to beginning a blog are dead simple. You can choose a template from websites like Blogger (Ford's choice), WordPress (Wolf and Henderson's pick), or Tumblr. Adding posts is almost as easy as sending e-mail.

A blog gives people a reason to visit your website. "For the most part, your business website is pretty static, unless you're constantly adding new projects," says Ford. "A blog gives you an opportunity to add more depth and dimension to your voice." Because it's updated frequently, it can keep people coming back.

It can help create a sense of community. "Our industry is very closed, and designers are usually very isolated from one another," says Wolf. "My blog puts subjects out there for people to discuss. I'll also use it to address problems that we have in the industry." Reader responses—both from other designers and the general public—can help generate new ideas. "You get feedback on things that make you think," says Wolf.

A blog is a living archive of personal sources of inspiration. "It's a place to gather the things that inspire you," says Henderson, pointing out that, unlike printed photos, blog posts don't clutter up your desk. And, you can quickly find past posts via Google.

The outreach can be incredible. You never know who might land on your blog, including potential new clients and press. "On Facebook, I have almost 6,000 people that like my blog," says Ford. "So, when I post something, all of those people see it. Even if just a fraction of them re-post it, suddenly their followers see it, and who knows who may end up coming to my website."

Blogging does not require a vast array of equipment. The only things you might require are a laptop or a desktop and a working Internet connection. If you can write well, and convey your thoughts through written words – blogging can really work for you. By using techniques like affiliate marketing, or by optimizing your blogs using proper search engine optimization [SEO], you can make a living through writing blogs.

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Vlogging involves the same process of sharing information, experiences and giving advice, but it is done in a video format as opposed to a written one. Setting up a good vlog is not very difficult if you have the right kind of equipment. Many vloggers set up YouTube accounts, using which they can easily record, edit and publish video content online. The vlogger need not have professional writing skills, as vlogging is more inclined towards giving the audience a more conversational experience. As long as the topic or issue being discussed is interesting and engaging, vloggers and their respective vlogs can become very successful and popular. Hank and John Green of the Vlogbrothers are the kings of vlogging and their YouTube channel has over 2.3 million subscribers.

63% of people are more likely to buy a product if they have seen it in a video. Apply this to your company and through the use of video, you could increase your customers, investors and audience. The options are limitless really.

It can set you apart from the crowd. Yes, using video may fast be becoming the norm, but corporate “vlogging” is still in its infancy so it will definitely make you stand out from the crowd. It’s important to remember that videos don’t just have to be about someone sitting in front of a camera, they can include animation, drawings, infographics...(the list goes on).

You can use vlogging as a visual aid. For example, if you’re trying to teach someone how to bake a cake, you can physically show them a step by step guide, rather than writing one. This proves more than useful, as people can follow your guidelines in a step by step fashion. Plus, they can see what to do rather than read what to do. A picture is worth a thousand words after all!

Since Google bought YouTube, videos have been a key part of search engines. So, you can incorporate SEO into your videos by including subtitles, an appropriate description, as well as a catchy title. Therefore, you don’t need to rely on wordy articles to push you up that all important list, video works just as well.

 

Cons of Blogging and Vlogging

If you own a blog, and are looking to gain a loyal readership, it is vital to have a good knowledge of SEO. Learning about keywords, meta tagging, and adding an appropriate description is necessary to ensure that your blog shows up among the higher searches on search engines. Along with having good SEO knowledge, you will have to keep your blog updated on a consistent and regular basis. Once your readers start to enjoy reading your blog, they will want to come back for well-written posts. However, if your blog posts are spread far apart from each other, readers may start to lose interest in reading. Being a blog owner also means that you would have to be able to write in a captivating manner. The issues, themes and topics you write about need to be appealing and substantial for them to get the reader’s attention.

A good blog requires regular updates. Although starting a blog is easy the more difficult part is being disciplined enough to stay on it with frequent posts. For some, that means a more formal commitment.

Being too honest can lead to trouble. "You might expose yourself too much," with regular posts about your daily work. "If I'm bitching about a client, a prospective client may read that," and be put off.

Because it's a reflection of your business(or yourself), a blog shouldn't be done haphazardly. Some use it as another facet of their business, so you have to make sure it's done professionally. That means taking the time to make sure that the grammar and spelling are correct and that you have really good-quality images.

Unexpected technical issues can require extra time. Technical issues sometimes crop up, and that's probably the most time-consuming thing. For instance, some posts may have disappeared, your platform may have technical issues, your layout may look different when viewed on different devices. Anything is possible.

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People who are contemplating about starting a vlog should know that vlogging needs a lot of equipment. To produce a high quality vlog, an advanced video camera that records in high-definition, and professional editing software is a must. All the equipment required for vlogging can cost some extra dollars, which might be a concern if you are not a pro vlogger yet. Another disadvantage of a vlog is that it does not provide a chance to edit it after publishing it online. Unlike blogs, which can be edited easily, vlogs have to be either taken down, or re-made to correct the error. Vlogs are also quite time-consuming to make. It can take anywhere from two to four hours to record, edit and publish a vlog.

 

 

 

It can be time consuming. No one wants to look like an idiot, so recording, re-recording and, maybe even, a 60th directors cut is required to perfect your blog. And the recording comes after writing the script, getting the timing right and before all of the editing.

Vlogs don’t work for all subjects. You can’t use videos for everything (the irony isn’t lost using a written blog about a vlog). You need to be selective on your video topics and perhaps integrate them within a written blog. For example, an animation of the latest digital statistics could work well but a written blog about trending campaigns would work better.
Getting the speech right. It may seem easy, but getting the tone and approach to a video blog is often a lot more difficult than a written blog. You need to understand how to make your voice, mannerisms and dialect understandable as well as speak in a manner that correctly represents your brand and company. Simple things such as slang, umming, erring, etc, can make or break a vlog. It may sound obvious, but it’s hard to do right.
Short attention spans. The joy of having a written blog is that it’s easy for the user to skim read it in their lunch break, quickly scroll down to see what relevant and so on. However, with a video blog this isn’t as easy to do. Yes, the user can fast forward, but how are they supposed to know which part in the vlog is going to be relevant? Furthermore, you could miss out on vital information, whereas if you were reading it, the information could be in bold, or red, or underlined or….(you get the gist).


Successful Blogs and Vlogs of 2017
AgoraPulse consistently provides content several times a week, using screenshots to show readers how to use social media.

Tyler Oakley - 25-year-old Tyler is an American YouTube personality and advocate for LGBT youth and gay rights. On his YouTube channel he vlogs about hard-hitting topics including queer politics, but also discusses pop culture and makes his fair share of silly videos too.

Buffer Social publishes strong content with lots of value and original angles. This blog has the right balance; it’s valuable and interesting.

Jackson and Finn Harries - Attractive twins Jack and Finn Harries vlog and blog about ‘the world around them’. They launched JacksGap, an online blog and video project, on Youtube in 2012 as a way of recording their gap year.

Dustn.tv publishes extremely thorough content that looks good, sounds good, and reads well for the best social media management tools.

Dan Howell - a professional vlogger and radio personality. He is best known for his YouTube channel danisnotonfire, known as The Internet Support Group For People That Hate People, which has reached four million subscribers.

Socially Sorted has a nice focus on all things visual, helping businesses leverage visual content as much as possible.

Charlie McDonnell - Charles Joseph “Charlie” McDonnell is an English vlogger, musician and filmmaker from Bath. In 2011, his YouTube channel became the first in the UK to reach one million subscribers, and in May 2013, his channel reached two million subscribers.

The Social Media Hat stuffs posts with quality information. The content approaches social media from interesting angles so the reader doesn’t feel like everything’s been done before.

Weylie Hoang - Weylie describes herself as “the sister you never had.....or the sister you never wanted”. Predominately a beauty blogger, her YouTube channel I Like Weylie has over one million subscribers and nearly 100 million views. Her video How To Put On A Tampon has had over seven million views.



Conclusion
Do you think that this is for you? I recommend it! Believe me, despite all the cons I've mentioned, all you really need is something that you're passionate about!  If its just that simple, anyone can do it!  If I can do it, so can you!

What Does It Mean To Have Faith? The Non-Religious Sector

Don't freak out. This isn't some long article expressing God-this, religion-that. This isn't going to encourage you to start attending church or even to become a better person, though the idea of those types of things could be seen as something positive. Regardless, that's not what I'm here to discuss.

I've spent a lot of time really trying to focus on positive energy in my life, and its that positive energy that I've become accustomed to believing is my version of faith. But how do other people view faith? What exactly is it? And why is it perceived the way it is?


Faith is trust, assurance and confidence in God. Living faith is shown by service and obedience to God. God will increase our faith if we fervently ask and draw close to Him.
Or at least that's what some people think it is. But what really is faith? Simply, faith is putting complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It doesn't necessarily have to be a God or Higher Power, but something. The expression “just have faith, it will work out” is often used by people to encourage and comfort someone facing serious problems or stressful situations.

It’s important to point out that faith doesn’t necessarily have to involve religion – as indicated by the definition mentioned above – and can just indicate a close affiliation or trust in someone, some organization, or some movement, such as a parent, a political party, or even a football team.

Belief is a product of the mind, but faith is not. Faith is a product of the spirit. The mind interferes in the process of faith more than it contributes to it. To have faith in the worst of times will no doubt require us to silence, or at least quiet, the mind. Faith is what happens when our beliefs run aground. The spirit can be buoyed by our beliefs, but can also be brought down by them when they prove inadequate, as they most certainly will at some point in the journey. Even the beliefs humans have held most closely have come and gone over the course of a lifetime or a millennium. Think of Galileo.

We can believe an abstract truth, but as a result of our human limitations, we can never really know. And even our individual experiences with the same truth can collide. In time, as new spiritual and cultural information is revealed, former so-called truths can be revealed as arbitrary, false or irrelevant; i.e., slavery, polygamy, gender and race inequality, and previously sanctioned abuses by social, political and religious authorities. Beliefs come and go, but real faith is not so fickle. Real faith is not a statement of beliefs, but a state of being. It is living life midair — standing commando on a tightrope fifty stories up with no preconception of the outcome. It is trusting beyond all reason and evidence that you have not been abandoned.

Since faith is conceptual until it is put into play, it is best achieved through commitment. To commit to faith is not the same as committing to a set of beliefs. In the throes of crisis it is impossible to know what the unknowable God and/or universe is really asking of us. But in the void of not knowing, we may ask: Is it God at all who asks this of me? Or circumstance? The answer of faith: It doesn’t matter. You don’t know now and you may never know. To not know in the context of faith is to remain humble and teachable. To toss away the conflicting and unusable beliefs of the mind is to be free of human chatter and hubris and a step closer to the divine. Where faith does not fill in the cracks, fear will. Faith is an attitude of acceptance of not knowing.
Knowing does not create faith. Unknowing does.

We've All Got Options

Catholic, Born-Again, Reformed, Jew, Muslim, Shiite, Sunni, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist . . . .  Religions give people labels. The downside can be tribalism, an assumption that insiders are better than outsiders, that they merit more compassion, integrity and generosity or even that violence toward “infidels” is acceptable. But the upside is that religious or spiritual labels offer a way of defining who we are.  They remind adherents that our moral sense and quest for meaning are core parts of what it means to be human.  They make it easier to convey a subset of our deepest values to other people, and even to ourselves.

For those who have lost their religion or never had one, finding a label can feel important.  It can be part of a healing process or, alternately, a way of declaring resistance to a dominant and oppressive paradigm.  Finding the right combination of words can be a challenge though.  For a label to fit it needs to resonate personally and also communicate what you want to say to the world.  Words have definitions, connotations and history, and how people respond to your label will be affected by all three.  What does it mean?  What emotions does it evoke?  Who are you identifying as your intellectual and spiritual forebears and your community?  The differences may be subtle but they are important.

If, one way or another, you’ve left religion behind, and if you’ve been unsure what to call yourself, you might try on one of these for size

          1. Atheist.

The term atheist can be defined literally as lacking a humanoid god concept, but historically it means one of two things. Positive atheism asserts that a personal supreme being does not exist. Negative atheism simply asserts a lack of belief in such a deity. It is possible be a positive atheist about the Christian God, for example, while maintaining a stance of negative atheism or even uncertainty on the question of a more abstract deity like a “prime mover.” In the United States, it is important to know that atheist may be the most reviled label for a godless person. Devout believers use it as a slur and many assume an atheist has no moral core. Until recently calling oneself an atheist was an act of defiance. That appears to be changing. With the rise of the “New Atheists” and the recent atheist visibility movement, the term is losing its edge.  

          2. Anti-theist.

When atheist consistently evoked images of Madeline Murray O’Hare, hostility toward religion was assumed. Now that it may evoke a white-haired grandmother at the Unitarian church or the gay kid on Glee, some people want a term that more clearly conveys their opposition to the whole religious enterprise. The term anti-theist says, “I think religion is harmful.” It also implies some form of activism that goes beyond merely advocating church-state separation or science education. Anti-theism challenges the legitimacy of faith as a moral authority or way of knowing. Anti-theists often work to expose harms caused in the name of God like stonings, gay bating, religious child maltreatment, genital mutilation, unwanted childbearing or black-collar crime. The New Atheist writers including Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins might better be described as anti-theists.

          3. Agnostic.

Some atheists think of agnostic as a weenie term, because it gets used by people who lack a god-concept but don’t want to offend family members or colleagues. Agnostic doesn’t convey the same sense of confrontation or defiance that atheist can, and so it gets used as a bridge. But in reality, the term agnostic represents a range of intellectual positions that have important substance in their own right and can be independent of atheism. Strong agnosticism views God’s existence as unknowable, permanently and to all people. Weak agnosticism can mean simply “I don’t know if there is a God,” or “We collectively don’t know if there is a God but we might find out in the future.” Alternately, the term agnosticism can be used to describe an approach to knowledge, somewhat like skepticism (which comes next in this list). Philosopher Thomas Huxley illustrates this position:

Agnosticism is not a creed but a method, the essence of which lies in the vigorous application of a single principle... Positively the principle may be expressed as ‘in matters of intellect, do not pretend conclusions are certain that are not demonstrated or demonstrable.’

These three definitions of agnosticism, though different, all focus on what we do or can know, rather than on whether God exists. This means it is possible to be both atheist and agnostic. Author Phillip Pullman has described himself as both.

The question of what term to use is a difficult one, in strict terms I suppose I'm an agnostic because of course the circle of the things I do know is vastly smaller than the things I don't know about out there in the darkness somewhere maybe there is a God. But among all the things I do know in this world I see no evidence of a God whatsoever and everybody who claims to know there is a God seems to use that as an excuse for exercising power over other people, and historically as we know from looking at the history in Europe alone that's involved persecution, massacre, slaughter on an industrial scale, it's a shocking prospect. 

          4. Skeptic.

Traditionally, skeptic has been used to describe a person who doubts received religious dogmas. However, while agnostic focuses on God questions in particular, the term skeptic expresses a broader life approach. Someone who calls him- or herself a skeptic has put critical thinking at the heart of the matter. Well known skeptics, like Michael Shermer, Penn and Teller, or James Randi devote a majority of their effort to debunking pseudoscience, alternative medicine, astrology and so forth. They broadly challenge the human tendency to believe things on insufficient evidence. Australian comic Tim Minchen is an outspoken atheist who earns a living in part by poking fun at religion. But his most beloved and hilarious beat poem, Storm, smacks down homeopathy and hippy woo.

Even though I don’t have faith in a particular god or religion, I think it’s important for everyone, regardless of belief system, to have faith. I believe that in a world with so much darkness and evil, sometimes we need faith to get through that. As we watch hours of tragedy and crime on the news, we need to cling to the idea that there is still happiness and love in the world. We need to cling to it like our lives depend on it, because they kind of do. As we hear the names of victim after victim of shootings and bombings and death, faith is the thing that keeps us from locking ourselves in our rooms.

There is a possibility of death at any moment, if you really think about it. Whether on accident or on purpose (your purpose or that of someone else), there are millions of times each day that you could die. But you haven’t, and you most likely will keep living. Even with the huge threat of sadness and hurt that constantly looms, we have faith that there is something bigger that will beat out the sadness. And even if it doesn’t beat out the sadness, it’s big enough for us to have faith that it might.

We have faith that the sun will rise each morning, even though there are millions of reasons it couldn’t. We have faith that the people we love will continue to love us back, despite all the things we do to annoy them. We have faith that even in a time with so much hate, there are enough good people to make love worth it. I may not have faith in a god, but I have great, abounding amounts of faith in life and love and art and so many other things around me. Even when life sucks worse than I could ever imagine, and I can’t see anything good through my cloudy vision, I have faith that if I stumble through it, there is something wonderful coming up.

Notice here that faith isn't a 100-yard dash or a quick sprint around the track. No, the race of faith is a marathon. It requires a steady, daily dependence on trust. When you put the positive energy out into the world it does repay you back. That's the beauty of faith. Staying uplifted makes it so much easier to see the good in people, society, and the world. Do you think that you that you're practicing good faith?  Here are a few tips on how to start!

Practice Makes Perfect

Everyone has heard this age old phrase, "practice makes perfect", but does it really apply to literally everything? OF COURSE IT DOES! I mean, how else do you expect to get good at things? It takes 21 days to create a habit. If you can commit to positively practicing for 21 days, soon it will be 2nd nature! Don't know where to start? Good thing I'm here to help.

          1. Look For Something Positive

We recognize that what we look for is what we tend to see. So, instead of looking for an outcome that is negative or some flaw, look for something positive that can be beneficial or add to your life, rather than diminish an area of its worth. By shifting to search for happiness, you can create it.

          2. Think Of The Bigger Picture

Consider the bigger picture when forming a perspective on something, says Goldberg, and think of how this one perspective or area of focus and hold up within the larger picture or real-world effects. "By widening our lens to the bigger picture we begin to see things more clearly. As if instead of seeing the individual walls in a maze, we suddenly see it from above in it’s entirety," Goldberg says.

          3. Show Gratitude

According to a 2005 study from the University of Pennsylvania, showing gratitude can make you feel more satisfied with where you are in life and the people and situations you surround yourself with. If you're feeling negative, think of something that you're grateful for in order to focus on something that gives you joy and can banish the worries and moodiness.

          4. Write Down Negative Thoughts

Take a look at the beliefs and thoughts you focus on and how they impact your mood. Take note of the ones that make you feel sad, negative or stuck. Writing down these thoughts can be therapeutic, as it's a way of distancing them once written (you can even throw out the paper when done!). Its an easy step to learn how to let go.


Even if you don't know it, you most likely have faith in something, even if you can't admit it. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you have faith. Whether it be in a higher power, in a person, or in yourself, that faith is what helps everyone drive on. And THAT is all that it takes to get through this crazy world that we live in.