At a blogher11 "Vlogging U" session yesterday, the entire audience applauded a conference attendee who shared a tip about how to keep your video content—and your audience—on your blog. Pardon my French, but that’s a load of crap.
YouTube is the #2 search engine. Only Google has more drawing power. So unless you’re Huffington Post, limiting your readers’ ability to watch your content is limiting your reach.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t let readers watch your video content on your blog. Or that you shouldn’t try to monetize that content via ad impressions.
But if your goal is to reach the greatest number of people with your message (which will ultimately increase your content’s value and your value) stop thinking of your blog as the center of the universe and start thinking of it as a jumping off point.
So let people watch your video (and all of your related videos) on YouTube. Distribute your content to where they already are instead of making them always come to you.
Blow up the walls that separate your blog from the rest of the digital world and you may just blow up your readership—in the best possible way.