Has YouTube/Social Media Killed Small Websites?

MadMaverick wrote on 6/2/2016, 5:01 AM

I really want my own website. The problem is I feel like there'd be a lack of exclusiveness, or reason for people to visit it. What I specialize in is humorous videos, but I have YouTube for that. If I feature website exclusive videos, they could easily get stolen from the site (via online video downloader) and uploaded onto YouTube. I also fear that they'd just never get seen on my site.

I could write articles and do updates, but I could also do that same kinda thing in vlog form on YouTube... and that brings me back to my main problem/concern. It seems like information in video form is more likely to reach more people. It's sad, but so many people don't seem to read these days. I can't tell you how many great articles I've ran across that appear to be abandoned, and the comments section is barren... or if there are comments, they'll be from around the time period that the article was written. Then it goes dead after just the first few days. Videos generally seem to have greater longevity... which is sad, because there's a lot of things that are best served with simple text.

I'd really like a website kinda as my main base of operations, with YouTube being a way to reach people and direct them to my site. I'd like for them to co-exist, but I fear that it'd be lop-sided, with most people frequenting YouTube, thus making my website a waste of time and money.

Any fellow YouTube Channel/Website Owners have any advice?

Comments

Larry Clifford wrote on 6/2/2016, 6:09 AM

"A picture is worth a thousand words" is not just a group of words. It is true.

Also, remember reading a book written on paper? Today is is e-books. They are less expensive, more portable, and unfortunately pirated. In many cases videos have taken over.

You talked about YouTube being dominate. Yes it is. There is more video content and it is easier to search in one site than when it is spread over many sites. It is like Walmart putting the small mom-and-pop stores out of business. Also it has instant recognition.

There are many forums on many different topics. that is one media where there is no dominate site.

I think you talked yourself out of setting up your personal Internet site in your original post.

VidMus wrote on 6/2/2016, 7:58 AM

YouTube is one haystack and a website is another haystack. A needle can get lost in either one of them.

I have both and am doing fine.

Just like publishing a book, no one knows about it until you promote it.

You got to get the word out!

www.dannyfye.com

Dach wrote on 6/2/2016, 9:23 AM

It's a good question. The answer is yes, you should have a web site to present your work. Allow it to be your foundation, the one thing that you have absolute control of. Then use YouTube and other platforms to compliment your effort.

This is the approach I have taken with my web series Transitions. I originally started with Blip.tv and they in due process were acquired and shut down. I have since had to reboot on YouTube.

When YouTube make changes or becomes less popular, as well as when Facebook implodes on itself, your work will still have its foundation to rebuild.

The bigger challenge with the platforms and to evolve VidMus analogy. YouTube is a pile of needles and our work is just the tip of any one needle.

- Chad

DrLumen wrote on 6/2/2016, 9:52 AM

It really depends on your market and what you want to achieve. A website is almost obligatory these days for a business. Just like a phone is a necessity. But you should target the strength of the platform. For example, walmart is not going to put a catalog on youtube and try to get people to buy there.

But, I have found most people really don't want to read articles. It's like trying to get people to read the manual. Some do; most don't. When I have put up websites I have found most of the traffic is to the forums with few people venturing into the static pages of the site.

In short, create a site. Put whatever you want there. Embed/mirror your youtube videos on the site as well. I say embed because if you serve videos stored on your website you will likely start having to pay for bandwidth. Youtube is free bandwidth.

NickHope wrote on 6/2/2016, 10:56 PM

Yes, have a website as well as YouTube for the reasons stated above. If you're starting from scratch then base it on something like Wordpress and a nice video-orientated template so it's quick and easy to set up and it's SEO-friendly. Whatever you use, make sure it's mobile-friendly. A few months ago I had an email from Google telling me that bubblevision.com was being demoted in search-results because it's not mobile-friendly. There's not a great deal I can do about that without huge effort because I coded the whole site from in static HTML. I guess one day I might re-launch it in Wordpress etc..

MadMaverick wrote on 6/3/2016, 4:48 AM

Thanks for the encouragement and insight guys.

I forgot to include that I also write short stories. I suspect that most people would be as disinterested in those as they are with articles. I've always wondered if there was this big site devoted to short stories (like what videos are to YouTube). The closest thing I can find is shortstories101.com... a pretty cool site, but it's sadly not all that populated. Then there's fanfiction.net, which doesn't look like it's for original stories. I have done a few Star Trek stories though, albeit ridiculous comedic ones lol.