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The Blogger’s Ultimate Guide to YouTube Success

This guest post is by Hasan of MarketingTheInternet.

YouTube, the second largest search engine right after Google, in 2010 broke the record of uploading more than 24 hours of video per minute! YouTube has also shattered the millstone of over 700 billion video views.

YouTube is an excellent platform for bloggers to build a brand, connect, and provide value to millions of people at once. It can ultimately help you increase traffic to your blog while quickening the process of building loyalty and trust between you and your audience.

After knowing all the stats and the potential, why don’t bloggers use YouTube more to build our blogs and to reach out to millions of people, free? It’s because most blogger are afraid to get behind a camera and show their faces, and share their voices with such a big audience.

Overcoming the fear of rejection

Most bloggers are afraid to create videos because of the fear of rejection—the fear that people will not like your video or think its not good enough.

The nasty thing about life is that you can’t be liked by everyone. Likewise, there are people in life who bring others down just because they don’t have the guts to do something themselves.

So to find success, you have to break away from this millstone and start believing in yourself and your work. Only then will you start seeing the fruits of success. There will always be a majority of people who will find your video interesting and will benefit from and eventually spread and share your work.

But how do you create an awesome, relevant, and interesting video that people share with their social connections, friends, and family? It all starts with brainstorming ideas that provide value to your viewers and get them to spread and share.

Step 1. Brainstorm and mind-map topics

To create a successful video that people will love and benefit from, you first need to sit down and grab yourself a piece of paper and a pen to start brainstorming topics you want to create a video on in the relevant niche you’re in.

Next, decide which format style you want to record your video on. For example: if it’s a screen cast recording, PowerPoint slides presentation or you talking in front of the camera.

After figuring out what topic and which type of recording you choose to use for your first video, you need to create a mind map of all the key points you’re going to talk about in your video. To create a productive mind map, first write down your topic in the middle of the paper and show arrows pointing outwards with all the key points you’re going to talk about.

Once you’ve drawn a simple, clean mind map of your main topic with the headline and all the key points you’re going to talk about, it’s time to gather the equipment required to record your first video.

Step 2. Gather your equipment

Depending on which type of video you’re creating, whether it is a screen cast recording, PowerPoint slide presentation, or you talking in front of the camera, these are some of the basic equipment you’ll need.

A video camera

To record your video, you need a camera. Any video camera should do the job.

A web cam

If you don’t have a video camera to record with, you can use a web cam to get the job done.

A microphone that’s compatible with your computer

You need a microphone to speak into for a clear recording. Microphones help block out all the background noises in your video.

Camtasia for screen casting

For a video tutorial or PowerPoint slides presentation you need screen casting software to record your computer screen from. The best software for the job is Camtasia. This is easy-to-use software with a very friendly interface for both beginners to advanced users.

Step 3. Record your video [draft version]

After deciding on the topic and equipment you need, it’s time to record your video! When recording your video, keep these tips in mind:

Rehearse your video

It’s a good habit to rehearse the whole video before actually recording, as it will eliminate the chances of things going wrong when you actually start recording.

Focus and speak clearly

Speak clearly into the mic while recording, and don’t go too fast. Take your time and speak with confidence.

While recording any video, it’s easy to get distracted and lose focus on what you’re saying. If your viewers realize that you’re loosing your focus and attention, viewers will loose interest in your video and end up leaving. So stay focused while recording.

Don’t be a perfectionist

Don’t think your video will be perfect. Nobody’s perfect and this is definitely not a “job interview”, so keep your video simple and just provide valuable content to viewers who can benefit from it.

Step 3. Edit your video [final version]

Once you’ve recorded your video, it’s time to edit it and create the final version. For Software editing I recommend:

  • Windows Users: Windows Movie Maker, which is an excellent free tool to edit and create high quality videos on windows.
  • Mac Users: iMovie, which is the best software for editing videos on your Mac. It’s easy and simple to create professional looking videos with ease in no time!

Three quick tips for video editing

  1. Create a simple Intro to capture the attention of your audience.
  2. Tweak and fix any mispronunciations and “muck ups” in your video.
  3. Create a logo of your brand on the top left or right corner of the video to get brand recognition (optional).

Step 4. Upload your video to YouTube

The final step is to upload your awesome creation to YouTube for full exposure.

First, log into your YouTube account and click on the Upload Button on the top right.

The Blogger’s Ultimate Guide to YouTube Success

Now, click the Upload Video button to upload your video.

The Blogger’s Ultimate Guide to YouTube Success

As the video starts uploading, fill in the form below it, describing your video with the relevant keywords.

The Blogger’s Ultimate Guide to YouTube Success

Choose your keywords carefully—they’ll be used to rank your video in searches on YouTube. Don’t use any spammy keywords in your video, as this can violate YouTube’s terms and conditions, which could result in your video being suspended from YouTube.

Three tips for success

  1. Call to action: In your video always ask for people to comment, rate and subscribe your video as this will help your video to rank higher in searches on YouTube.
  2. Be active: Reply to every comment you get on the video to start conversations, as this will encourage more comments and interaction on your video resulting in a higher ranking on YouTube.
  3. Connect with others: After you have uploaded your video, connect and ask your social network, friends and family to watch, comment and share your video. Also start connecting with other YouTubers and ask them to watch your video to spread and share with their friends and subscribers on YouTube.

People love videos because it shows real people and real emotions, so start creating videos that people will benefit from, and build your online presence on YouTube by reaching out to millions of people who spread and share valuable content each day. Video is by far the best way to build your brand and increase traffic to your blog.

Share your experience with video marketing in the comments below!

This guest post is written by Hasan from MarketingTheInternet, Internet Marketing and Make Money from Websites Tips Blog. You can get started with his free Email “Make Money with Websites” Series. Stay in touch with him on twitter @Hasan_tw.

About Guest Blogger
This post was written by a guest contributor. Please see their details in the post above.
Comments
  1. Nicely done! These are excellent tips for people who want to beef up the power of their blog using media other than text! I find you can really push the envelope of the influence factor in video, and can really compel people to do better through teaching with video.

    I actually need to improve in this area (well, get started actually), and this will be a great reference for me.

    Wonderful job, and thanks for the tips you’ve provided!

  2. Putting videos on to YouTube can be an effective way to reach a wider audience, but I recommend people to put their videos on their blogs whenever possible. If you combine self-hosted videos along with a video sitemap, you bring visitors to your site instead of on YouTube’s.

  3. Thanks for all the tips. Haven’t tried youtube yet in my marketing campaign because to be honest I’m a little bit stumped for creative ideas in my niche. I will be soon though, have to get it up and running and get some traffic from it.

    • Hey Hasan,

      Thank you for your post regarding Youtube.

      I have a lot of videos there however I have never thought to create a call to action.

      What an awesome tip!

      John Gilliat is Ottmar with a twist! Passionate and Fiery Instrumental Guitar.

    • Its tough to come up with something new and worth while – Seems like everything has already been done, huh?

  4. Good run down on adding a video. I like the rehearse part. I need to make more use of that instead of being in a rush to finish my video.

  5. Great Post! I have wanted to make video tutorials for my how-to blog website. I think it would be a good idea to include what you say on your video tutorial in your post so that search engines can pick it up and so that users who aren’t into the whole video style of learning can read and learn.

    I’ve been using screenshots right now but I’m about ready to step it up to video tuts.

    • Hey Man,

      Thanks I appreciate it, You make a great point about search engines picking up your content, another great way to rank higher and quicker for SEO.

      I wish you the best for your video tuts, love to check ’em out;)

      Cheers,
      Hasan

  6. I’ve never even thought of using YouTube as a way to market my blog (and myself). You’re completely right about the fear of rejection – the first thing that pops into my head are questions like, “What if everyone hates my videos?” and worse, “What if no one even watches them?!”

    But, as you also mention, you can’t be liked by everyone. In fact, if everyone does like you, well… I can’t help but think you’re not being your true, authentic self and instead just pandering to everyone you meet.

    Thanks for the tips, Hasan. I will seriously consider doing some brainstorming and testing out a few YouTube videos in the future.

    • Excellent! I wish you the very best for your videos, I will be looking forward to watching it myself, if you like to share it in future? – Maybe once you’re done that is ;)

      Regards,
      Hasan

  7. Thanks for the post Hasan.

    Coming from a travel blog point of view, I’ve always thought of using YouTube just to show off my homemade videos, but I’ve never thought about actually getting in front of the camera and speaking directly at it.

    It’s something I’ll be thinking about though. Thanks again.

  8. Great beginner’s guide; thanks! Life’s too short to be afraid of doing things such as this.

  9. Thanks for the great tips. I’ll really love to have my videos uploaded on Youtube, but yet to create one. It’s a thing one needs to be patient and careful when doing it, do you think so? Not trying to betray #3.3 there. lol
    Thanks again.

  10. Nice clear tutorial, Hasan.

    I have not done anything on you-tube so far. I think if it is done well it could be a very helpful avenue for Bloggers to use in gaining greater exposure. I do see a wide variation in the number of views(And comments) between different info videos. Sometimes videos with far better production qualities do far worse than others. Other times I seen videos in which the speaker mumbles through the whole thing, and/or does not explain clearly the information they are trying to convey. Also, the audio is done poorly(Sound comes and goes). The big views(And comments) are in the Music realm. A single music clip can run in the tens of millions, with mountains of comments. That sort of traffic would catapult a blog or website into the stratosphere.

    • Hey Daniel

      You’ve have a great point, yes music does tend to sky rise to tens of millions than other videos, but that’s because people aren’t creative enough, or don’t provide great value and deliver clearly with confidence as you said.

      Another reason why people don’t find much success with YouTube is because people don’t put the time and the effort to think it through, and mostly rush in their videos. Like an blog post you craft, a video NEEDS to be valuable to the viewers, and since YouTube is the Second biggest search engine, it doesn’t matter what niche you’re in, you will always find an audience for your niche.

      Another mistake people make is that they don’t think from the viewers perspective, how will make a heavy first impression on the first timer? Is it the intro, middle part, or the end? etc

      Small things like these will make the big difference from getting greater views/comments than none.

      Blogging or creating videos, both convert, and both require time and effort.

  11. Thanks Hasan. You really had me at “overcome your fear of rejection” – you hit the nail on the head with why I haven’t created videos as yet. Your practical ‘how to’ tips were then the icing on the cake. Have now also picked up some excellent further tips amongst these comments, so thanks to all :)

  12. I think you raise some very good points. I have often wondered why more people do not use video to present a blog; I would agree with most of the reasons you have provided, here, as to why bloggers steer away from this option, although I think the time to do a good video presentation vs writing it out has to be at the top of the list of reasons to procrastinate. I also think that it is usually not OK to use just any video device and/or microphone. If bloggers are to get a good reputation as vbloggers then the presentation needs to be as polished as possible, and the quality of equipment can make a very big difference.

  13. if you have windows 7 get windows live movie maker not windows movie maker. Live is so much better than the old version. Better performance. Easier editing. Instant upload to YouTube or other services.

  14. Just when I need it – an article about video posts on YouTube, right now I’m building my “background”, it’s hard to make a good video in a small room when you have no access to any clear wall behind your back :). Don’t be a perfectionist, but don’t forget about details, too… :)

  15. Thanks Darren for sharing the information to take the blog to the next level.

  16. I never used videos as a promotion method for any of my blogs, but I definitely plan to. It has been on my “to do” list for a long time now, so this post comes in very handy.

    Thanks!

  17. Hi Hasan,

    Super helpful breakdown here.

    Youtube is an instant connecting type medium. Connecting a face with a name, and your content, can help develop trust in what you have to offer, which builds a quick connection.

    We are emotional creatures. Hearing the spoken word, injected with real energy, appeals to us. This is why youtube is so popular. We see someone, feel their energy and we can get hooked in a short period of time.

    Video creation offers us an instant fix, where digesting written content might take a little while longer to satiate us.

    As for the haters, don’t sweat them. Don’t fear shooting videos. Have faith your videos will change the lives of other, because they do. I have over 700 uploaded on my account and I can’t begin to tell you the positive impact I’ve had on other’s lives by overcoming my shyness. I remember doing like 10 – 15 takes for my first few videos. The last 600 or so have been one shot deals. I forget the edit, show how human I am, and this realness resonates strongly with my viewers.

    Thanks for sharing your insight!

    Ryan

    • Hey Ryan, Great Comment Buddy!

      I strongly agree, if we focus on creating MEANINGFUL videos for the people, that is the ultimate success that will convert on YouTube.

      Cheers,
      Hasan

  18. Putting videos on youtube is really a way to branding yourself, but still the fact remains that many people do not want to show their face in the public. It might be ht e fear of rejection and also a major fact that mostly people use an anonymous identity on the internet thus risking exposure. This kind of work will require self confidence and a team work. After all there must be one person to hold the camera as all videos cannot be created while sitting on a couch. This stuff is really advanced and not many are in position to accomplish it. The idea is simply great but this requires more than just brainstorming ideas.

  19. Really nice guide, I’ve just started youtube channel & it’s going nice :) youtube.com/iNiyant

  20. Hi Hasan. Nice article and collecting information. Keep blogging.

    Greetings
    Manickam

  21. You have just inspired me to start creating videos again, and not think about what people are going to say. Thanks!

  22. Great job Hasan! Video marketing is really a great way to increase visitors and simultaneously building your brand.

  23. Great work hasan bro..
    I’m not sure whether ths is d right place to ask ths qns..
    Few months back my youtube adsense a/c gt terminated (which i came to knw recently) due to posting some copyright video.. lol..
    is there any way i cn get a new youtube a/c with the same publisher id..?
    Thanks.. appreciate..

  24. A very good guide to Youtube videos Hasan. I have only recently started doing videos. Fear of rejection was the main thing that was holding me for this long. I have done only 3 videos so far. I will increase the numbers soon.

    Cheers,
    Jane.

  25. Nice work!, I was going to try the camtasia software for a video. YouTube is by far my best source of traffic. I should hit 1 million views this year!…

    All the best,

    David Edwards

  26. Very informative article. YouTube is really effective to drive traffic back to your website. One of my videos got 15,000 views in a single day. Amazing right?

  27. This was a great post. It encourages me to keep trying videos. I am so out of my league with you big guys and all your traffic, but I do think that our personalities come over in video far better than just in our writing. I think readers feel closer to bloggers who put themselves out there occasionally and post a movie instead of just text. Best wishes from germany, tj

  28. I really need to incorporate this into my site but it is definitely outside my comfort zone.

  29. Hi Hasan,
    I totally agree with you opinion that “Action, Activeness and Connection” are three basic and important tips for success. And it’s a great post regarding you-tube and its true that People love video because it provides information through audio and visual mean.This also benefits in retaining the information for a longer period of time so, ultimately it helps to increase the traffic to your blog and also results for increasing average time on site.

  30. I just wanted to share with everyone that I have some powerful video marketing secrets on my site. Check it out!

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