Modern times bring modern occupations with them. Today, fewer and fewer younger people have desires tosucceed as actors, singers, or sports stars, at least in the classic sense of the word “entertainment”. But what they want to be instead are bloggers and vloggers, or more popularly called – YouTubers.
In fact, a career on YouTube is what many dream of because they find it easier than writing a blog, or learning the whole script, or training until your legs fall off, after all. Why go through all this trouble when you can simply film yourself?
Whoever remembered to launch anything on the internet about 10 years ago was a visionary. It wasn’t easy then either, but it was much easier. There was less content, fans were eager to see any content, and paying for promotion and visibility on social media was an unknown concept, which, albeit, changed soon enough.
However, just because it’s harder today (the content is plenty and the audience is surely more picky, just to name a few), doesn’t mean you have to give up before you even start. If you have the will, desire, and a good idea (or any idea) – then, by all means, go ahead and start. Develop it, make an effort, and who knows – maybe you will become the new star of YouTube. Everything is possible with hard work and a little bit of luck.
What is a Vlog?
A vlog is a way of communicating with a target group or audience, by recording a video of yourself. It’s actually a blog only in video format disguise. Instead of writing articles, the author in the role is filmed while addressing the audience on camera and posting that content on a social media platform – most usually YouTube.
The author can stand or sit still and just talk to the camera, or record himself driving a car, doing a certain job, showing how to do something, talking about how to gain experience in some field (being an online guru), etc.
What Do Vloggers Do?
Depending on the wishes and will of vloggers in the world, they often deal with topics related to current political events, various new technological devices, and so on, thus allowing others to be more informed about the topic that currently interests them.
Well-known vloggers are always interested in current trends, fashion, going out or makeup tips, they often share their partner choices, but also quite ordinary things like describing a regular purchase, what’s on sale, etc.
Vloggers allow their followers to be informed about topics that interest them, but not through a classic reading of articles, but via recorded video. Video content is much more valuable for visitors because it animates more of their senses and leaves a stronger impression on them than written articles.
And it is often more practical because it allows viewers to see what is being described or what is the subject of the role, how it is used. and whether is it quite worth buying it. Vloggers express their views and valuesthrough vlogs and thus animate their audience who agree with them and follow them.
Without further ado, here is a simple guide, or rather vlogging tips beginners can use when starting their career.
Vlogging Tips Beginners Must Follow
So let’s start with the basics info to consider when starting a vlog.
The idea is golden!
The most important thing about an idea is to make sure that it is something you know enough about and that interests you, and not just look to see if it is a niche that is easy to monetize. There is nothing easy to make money on if the content is bad and amateurish.
The YouTube audience is not stupid. They watch hundreds of videos every day and know the difference between good and bad quality, and they are also overwhelmed with content and will not waste time on what they judge does not satisfy their tastes.
Also, you need to take care of brands if you want someone to become your sponsor in the future. Study the famous YouTubers, see how they work and how they create content. It’s not bad to learn from the best because they’ve already succeeded in what you’re currently striving for.
1. Motivation is Key
By motivation, I don’t mean that driving force that will force you to open and maintain a YouTube channel, record and edit content, and advertise it– this is simply the part of the work process. By motivation, I consider your why. Why do you even want to open a YouTube account and start recording videos in the first place?
If the reason is purely financial, I hope you have at least a little love for content creation and what you plan to do because you will need more than you think. Especially when you find that making money is not as quick and easy as you expected.
2. Pay Attention to Style and Branding
Everyone who is or wants to be involved in some kind of online business already knows that content is what attracts the people, but content without style and branding is not worth much. The internet has become a stuffy place full of good and bad content. YouTube, being the most popular platform for posting and watching videos, is a corner of the internet where you will have to stand out in some way, or no one will notice you.
Some YouTube statistics for 2017:
- The total number of people using YouTube is 1,300,000,000.
- 300 hours of video are posted on YouTube every minute.
- Nearly 5 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every day.
- 30 million people visit YouTube every day.
- 6 out of 10 people prefer video platforms to TV.
- More than half of visitors watch YouTube on their cell phone or tablet.
- 20% of people who open your video will leave in the first 10 seconds.
The last one is extremely important for vloggers. Of course, this will not happen if you manage to attract their attention and interest them in some way. Without style and branding, you can shoot superb and interesting content, but if you fail to grab the viewer’s attention in the first 10 seconds and tie them to a chair, there’s no use for your video.
YouTube is a purely visual platform where audiences consume content mostly through the eyes and somewhat less through the brain. Whether you’re giving your audience something nice, enjoyable to watch, or something that holds your attention, you have a chance to make your videos successful and watched.
Just like lunch – whether it’s delicious or not is less important if it looks disgusting, at least at first. So, if you want people to want to consume your content make sure it is visually appealing. Don’t forget the taste either. If that magical spice called quality, visually beautiful video, and great branding are missing, it will not help those who once clicked on the video and lasted longer than 10 seconds to come back for more.
3. Get the Right Equipment
Here’s the fun part – the equipment you need to start recording and posting videos on YouTube. You don’t need expensive equipment to get started with YouTube vlogging. For a start, it is enough to have quality but cheaper things, which you will easily replace with the latest and more expensive technology once your YouTube channel starts bringing in some cash.
What Do You Need?
- Camera
- Tripod
- Laptop/PC
- Microphone
- Lighting
- Video processing software
- Monitor recording software (especially if you play video games)
- Green canvas (optional, but if you want to change the background of your videos and make them cooler then you will find this item quite useful).
Related: Best Starter Kit for YouTube
I know this sounds like a lot of equipment but actually most, if not all, you already have at home!
The camera doesn’t need to be expensive and I don’t advise you to heavily invest in it, at least not in the beginning. Any webcam will suffice for a start, and most laptops already have one. Plus, for a few tens of dollars, you can buy a quality webcam to install on your computer.
Most phone cameras can do a great job of recording video, especially if you have a slightly better and more expensive phone model. Such cameras, for example, Samsung, or Google Pixel devices, or iPhones, and other flagship models, are better than most average and cheaper cameras for beginners. Even on cheaper devices, the image quality will not lag far behind those recorded by the average DSLR camera.
A tripod or camera or cell phone holder can be found at incredibly low prices. The old saying “the more you pay the better you get” is not valid here, because all that is important to you for recording a video is that the camera does not shake and that it stands still, which is necessary for a quality video.
The laptop or PC to which you will transfer the video for processing does not have to be expensive, top-notch, and professional to do a good job. Of course, state-of-the-art equipment will help make everything better and faster but you don’t need to invest in it in the beginning.
Whatever you have at home that is possible to connect to the internet and have free memory to transfer videos will be fine.
Every mobile phone and camera have a microphone, although of different qualities. And while it’s not bad to invest in a special microphone to make the tone better, you don’t even have to do it at the very beginning of video recording.
Get closer to the device that is recording you, speak a little louder, and make sure that there is absolute silence around you and that there is no background noise. If you want to record your videos outdoors, invest in fur protection for a microphone that will minimize wind noise that adversely affects sound quality. It’s an add-on that you can find on eBay for as little as a few bucks.
Lighting is paramount to quality video recording and you’ve probably noticed how professional vloggers and YouTubers have those great makeup lights. As nice as it would be to have them, you don’t need them in the beginning. Take care of your own lighting. Sit by the window but not in direct sunlight, shoot outside during the day and nice weather, or adjust the lighting you have in the house so that you are well lit and not in the dark.
Related: Best Lighting for YouTube Videos
When it comes to video editing, if you have a Mac laptop then iMovies will do a great job. For those on Windows who switched to Windows 10 – I have bad news, if you don’t already know it yourself – Windows Movie Maker no longer exists because Microsoft shut it down. However, things are not so black because there are a handful of great and free video editing programs that will do a great job. The one I would recommend to you as the best is the Lightroom. It comes in free and Pro versions, and everything you need is free. If you want to get serious about YouTube, you’re going to have to master the art of video editing, whether you like it or not, and Lightroom is the best option.
When it comes to recording what happens on the monitor, there are great free options. The one I would recommend to you is OBS Studio, a great program for Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you are a gamer or want to do tutorials of any kind, you need this software for life.
All those who understand video editing a little better and are not absolute beginners will sooner or later want to change the background of their videos, and this will require a green canvas. Professional equipment can be expensive and for a basic package you will often have to shell out more than $50 but why would you do that when you can make a green canvas yourself?
Get a green sheet or take a white one that everyone has at home and add a little dye to the fabric. 10 minutes of work and you will get what you need at the minimum price.
4. Decide on Frequency of Publication
It’s not easy to write a blog, and shooting quality videos is even harder. The best videos are those that are carefully planned, well-shot but most important of all – well-edited. If you plan to record a video in one piece and post it on YouTube, it won’t be good. If you plan to dedicate time to editing and processing the video, keep in mind that it will take you a few extra hours.
If you want to get a chance to succeed at all, you will often have to offer new content. People like to consume content they like, and if they don’t get it from you, they will get it from someone else.
How Often Should You Post Videos?
If it’s about deposits without some specific theme then every day would be a good idea. If you are doing product or video game reviews, once a week to get the job done right and test the product quite well. Whether you are giving advice, motivation, or tutorials (guides), twice a week is a reasonable time to publish.
As with everything, be careful not to disappear for a long time because, the harder it is to gather an audience, the easier it is to lose it. Don’t let a beginner’s failure demoralize or deter you from recording a video. You will be bad in the beginning but remember that in the beginning, everyone is bad, even the ones who are the best now. Practice to perfection.
5. Have a Promotion and Marketing Strategy
When it comes to the internet, those who wait are simply just waiting. If you think people will be thrilled with the fact that you’ve started a YouTube channel and are recording bits, you’re wrong. No one cares what you do. Truth hurts.
What you need, if you want someone to notice you and start getting traffic to your channel, is to engage in marketing and promotion. Open social networks for your channel or start promoting it on your existing social networks.
Connect with other YouTubers and help each other promote. Leave comments below other people’s videos, but make sure they are a little more meaningful and original than the classic “I have a YouTube channel too, go check it out!”
Be persistent and don’t be ashamed to promote yourself and your work. It’s marketing, and marketing is what you need more than you think.
6. Learn From the Best and the Worst
It’s always good before you start dealing with YouTube, to study how others do it. You can and must learn from both the best and the worst, as well as for everyone in life. There are certainly several YouTubers that you like. Don’t copy them, but write down what you like about them and then apply those traits to yourself in your content.
There are also bad YouTubers as well as those who have relatively high-quality content but few subscribers and views. Study them too, they are doing something wrong but they don’t even know what that is. If you discover what they are doing wrong and why no one cares about their content, you will learn not to make those same mistakes and save yourself the stress.
7. Be Patient
It’s perfectly fine to want success but it’s not realistic to expect it to happen overnight. It may never happen, there is no guarantee of success and not everyone is PewDiePie and can’t make millions on YouTube.
After all, what do you consider as a success?
- Earnings?
- A large number of views?
- Lots of subscribers?
- Or maybe all together?
Whatever you want, it’s not bad to write down goals, make plans, and stick to them. Every plan can be achieved and every goal can only be measured if it is realistic.
If you open your YouTube channel today and set a goal to post 10 videos and gather 100 subscribers by Christmas, that is a realistic and achievable goal. If you set out to post 50 videos and gather 10,000 subscribers by Christmas, it’s not very realistic and you’ll have a hard time accomplishing that. Needless to say, that could demotivate you instantly.
Therefore, let the goals be achievable and the plans good. Also, initially focus on learning about videos, editing videos, and using the equipment. The better you are, the better your videos will be, which the audience will surely appreciate.
Related: What Camera Do YouTubers Use?
Free Quiz: Find Your Ideal Gear Setup in 1 Minute or Less 📷
A Final Word From Run Gun Shoot
10 years ago it was much easier to succeed on the internet and those who then recognized the potential of blogs and social networks could have reached their goal much faster and easier. The was incomparably less content, and people were eager for it and therefore, ready to consume anything.
Today, things have changed. There is more content than audiences, and top content creators can be found online, especially on platforms like YouTube. This does not mean, however, that one cannot succeed today. Of course, it can only be a little harder.
Don’t let anything discourage you. Don’t let a beginner’s lack of quality stop you from being better at what you want to do. And don’t compare yourself to others. Develop your own personality, don’t be someone’s bad copy.
It’s not hard to start a channel on YouTube, it’s hard to succeed on it. But if you are persistent and want to learn and improve daily, you are not sensitive to bad comments, and you do not want to be compared to others, there is no reason for you to fail in what you do.
What distinguishes the successful from the unsuccessful is pure persistence, nothing else. Keep this in mind when you decide to your own YouTube channel.
Finally, if you’re unsure of what video to start with then consider trying one of the many YouTube Challenges just to kick things off and fight the initial “stage fright.” What are you waiting for? Get started today!
