Video hosting is much like candy; it comes in many flavors, but you'll probably prefer a specific type based on your tastes. When you're shopping for the right video hosting service, ask these questions to help determine whether a service meets your needs.
Who Should See Your Video?
Audience is one of the key factors when shopping for video hosting. Who is the audience for your video? Do you want it to get widespread exposure, or be privately viewed by only a few individuals? Are you marketing to a specific niche? Popular Web video hosting services, like YouTube, have the biggest audiences, but if you're looking for a specific audience, a niche Web hosting service might serve you better. Consider who you're trying to reach when you select your video host.
Where Will You Use Your Video?
If you want to provide users a link to your video, pretty much any video hosting service will do. But if you want to embed your video in another Web site, such as a blog, a social networking profile or a company Web site, you'll need to shop around for Web video hosting that offers file sharing or embedding.
What's the Cost?
If you don't need a lot in terms of features, look for a video hosting service where the price is right. YouTube has a remarkably good interface for a free Web hosting provider. Additionally, YouTube brings you an automatic audience for your content, and is one of the most widely recognized Web video hosting providers. If your budget is free, consider YouTube.
Do You Want to Make Money with Your Video?
Some video hosting services share a portion of ad revenue with people who host videos on their sites. Other video hosts offer content creators the ability to sell the content they upload. If you're out to make money on your video, evaluate a video host's money-making structure. Most video hosting providers don't offer any revenue-generating possibilities, so if that's important to you, shop around to find the right provider.
What Are the Limitations?
Size. Compression. Price. Video hosting limits the content you can upload, even if it's only in terms of the amount of space you can use. Plan ahead to accurately estimate your requirements, and think about the amount of storage space you'll need for your videos. You may need to use a paid video hosting service if only for the sake of getting the space you need.
Carefully Read the Terms of Service
Web video hosting services sometimes have tricky terms of service. Read the fine print carefully to see what you might be giving up when you choose a specific service. Make sure you retain rights to all content you post. If they claim copyright or a portion of usage rights from your content, you might want to choose a different provider. Also, make sure your content won't violate the terms of service, so that you won't get your content pulled or have your account revoked.
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