How to Publish Videos of Sermons and Homilies Online

I compiled this information for my Church in Paris, Texas. We do not have a full-time dedicated webmaster so I wanted to help. We needed an easy to use publishing method for a small staff.

Many reasons exist for religious organizations to publish Sunday sermons and homilies for parishioners. For example, travel plans might interfere with attendance, injured and housebound members cannot leave their homes. Your organization might want to create an archive of sermons or presentations from retreats.

The following material outlines the processes needed to establish a presence on the Internet.  If the following instructions appear difficult, consider reading them more than once. You can also contact me if you need help.

Video Posting on the Internet for Religious Organizations

This information assumes that you have a way to capture sound and video of your sermons, homilies and so forth.

YouTube

YouTube offers free video publishing. We can edit and upload the video recordings of homilies or an entire Mass or service. You need a Google account to access YouTube and upload content.

With a Google Account, you can watch and like videos and subscribe to channels. However, without a YouTube channel, you have no public presence on YouTube. Even if you have a Google Account, you need to create a YouTube channel to upload videos, comment, or make playlists. You can use a computer or the YouTube mobile site to create a new channel.

Start by Creating a personal channel (we can also establish an organizational account).

Follow these instructions to create a channel that only you can manage using your Google Account.

1. Sign in to YouTube on a computer.

2. Try any action that requires a channel, such as uploading a video, posting a comment, or creating a playlist

3. If you don’t yet have a channel, you’ll see a prompt to create a channel.

4. Check the details (with your Google Account name and photo) and confirm to create your new channel.

Create a channel your name

1. Prepare the File

Before you upload the video to YouTube, make sure you make your final edits and finishing touches, and then convert it into a proper format. Most programs that can edit video, can export to multiple formats.

YouTube stopped providing a free editing suite in September 2017. Many free programs emulate the YouTube suite. Shortcut provides an easy to use an alternative. http://www.shortcut.com

YouTube supports most formats. The most popular:

.MP4 A very common file type that works on most mobile devices and computers.
.WMV (Windows Media Video) A more modern Windows video file that is very common on a PC.

2. Log in to your YouTube account.

3. Click the Upload button.

The Upload button is located to the right of the Search bar near the top of the page.

4. Choose a video file.

5. Click the Open or Choose button.

If your account is unverified, you are limited to 15-minute uploads. You can upload longer videos by verifying your account via text message. You can find the verification link in the Upload page ().

6. Add the details.
Required information includes the title of the video, the description of the video, and any tags that you want to add. Enter a useful description and accurate tags so your video shows up better in search.

Create a blog

Sign in to Blogger.

On the left, click the Down arrow Down Arrow.

Click New blog.

Enter a name for your blog.

Choose a blog address or URL. (Either buy a new URL for $10 a year or use the blogger.com address such as mychurch.blogger.com)

Choose a template

Change the design of your blog from the default layout

You can change your blog’s layout, color scheme, and more.












Change your blog using gadgets

You can use gadgets to do things like display your blog’s archive, show blog labels in a list on every page or put your profile on every page.

Add a gadget to your blog

Managing your blog

You can manage who can edit and read your blog. Learn how to control access to your blog.

Sign in to Blogger.

Choose the blog to update.

Create a new post or edit a post to add a video.

On the Post Editor, click Insert a video with the video icon.

Choose the video you want to use.

Click Upload.

YouTube offers you the ability to embed videos on your blog on Blogger (also referred to as Blogspot).

WikiHow provides a 12 step process at https://www.wikihow.com/Embed-a-YouTube-Video-in-a-Blogger-Blog

Blogger Post

Blogger makes posts straightforward and simple. You can customize the posts if you want. Below is a screenshot of the standard post. You simply click “NEW POST” on the main screen.

Posting Screen

You will find an intuitive screen for creating a new post. I put a screenshot below and below that, a complete page from one of my blogs.

 Blank posting screen.

Conclusion

You should find using the free Google tools – Blogger and YouTube – the simplest way to publish videos online. I have blogger accounts and have turned them into websites.

If you need any assistance, please contact me and I help.