- This video is sponsored by Camtasia,
the easy-to-use screen recording and video editing software.
More about them later in the video.
If you're new to making YouTube videos,
or if you're considering starting a YouTube channel,
I put together a 10-step process
that's gonna help you make better videos.
More importantly, I've also added some additional tips
to each one of these steps based on my experience
of uploading over 500 videos to this channel,
over 80 videos to another channel,
all the collaboration videos that I've done
and all the content that I've made for other people as well.
In other words, I've made a lot of videos
and I've learned a lot along the way.
And I want to share that information with you
if you're just getting started.
And we're starting right now with step number one,
coming up with video ideas and researching video ideas.
So if you're gonna be making videos
over a long period of time, which most of us aspire to do,
then in that situation,
the very first thing that you gotta get really good at
is coming up with video ideas
for the type of content that you make.
The very first way to come up with video ideas
is of course, going up to the YouTube search bar,
typing in the type of content that you make,
and then seeing what YouTube auto-completes
from the search that you're making.
For example, if you're making gaming content,
you would start with the name of the game that you play.
If you're making cooking content,
and you might start looking around for some recipe ideas.
Sport content, start typing in the name of the sport
and so on.
But what you wanna do
when you are using the auto-complete on YouTube
is you wanna make sure that after you put in the topic
that you make videos about,
that you put a space and then you do letter a for example,
and then you'll see all the different things
people are looking for around the letter a.
Do a backspace, and then you hit b
and then you're gonna see all the things
people are looking for around your type of content,
the letter b and so on.
The reason that this is a great method
is because it helps you uncover things
that people are actively looking for
around the type of content that you make
so that you can make sure that you're publishing things
that people are already proven to be interested in.
Next of course, you wanna make sure that you are coming up
with just random ideas that happen to be in your head,
because that's usually
where the most unique content comes from.
Another thing that you can do
is you can also look at other people
that make content like yours
and see the type of content that they're making
and use that as inspiration for additional ideas
on top of the ideas that you already have.
When doing this,
you don't wanna necessarily copy all of their videos,
but what you do wanna do is you want to say,
"Hey, they made a video on this,
is there something complimentary
that I could make a video on
or something that would contrast this in some way?"
But the idea is that you use their content for inspiration
since they're serving the same audience that you are.
The next thing that you can do on the video idea side
is you can go to Google Trends
that will help you be able to uncover things
that are trending around the type of content that you make,
which is a really important thing to be aware of
if you are making content in a particular niche.
You can also use Google Trends
to research the popularity of a topic over time.
So for example, if you're like,
"Hey, this was popular a while ago,
I want to see if it's something that's still popular now
or something that's rising in popularity
or maybe falling off in popularity,"
Google Trends will show you that as well.
The next part of the video making process is of course,
planning the actual content.
Now, depending on the type of content that you make,
this can go in a bunch of different ways.
And what I mean by that is,
if you're just on talking head videos
where you're sharing general information, like I am,
then in that situation, it's relatively easy
because then all you have to do
is you just plan out your script
or you plan out your bullet points
and then you move forward from there.
However, if you're doing cooking videos
or you're doing filmmaking content,
or you're doing vlogging content,
you're trying to level it up a little bit,
then in that case, you might use this opportunity
or this section of the process
in order to plan out your shots and things like that.
If you are doing really high-level stuff
to where you're going to specific locations
and things like that, then in that case,
this is also where you do some of that scouting.
Now, the next part of this planning process
is really important because it's going to make a difference
on if people are going
to end up staying in your video or not.
If they're gonna click on it and then leave instantly,
or if they're gonna click on it
and they're gonna stick around for awhile.
That part of the planning is actually writing out your hook.
And what your hook is,
is basically, when your video first starts,
you have to be able to grab the viewer's attention.
And we call that the hook.
And you can do that verbally
depending on the type of content that you make.
Depending on the type of content that you make,
you might need to do it visually
in terms of starting to build up the story
through the footage that you're showing, things like that.
But what you do with the very beginning of your video
is extremely important
for the overall performance of your video.
So because of that,
spend some time really working on your hook
and making sure that as soon as your video opens up,
you're really trying to compel people
to keep watching your video.
And you don't do this by saying,
"Hey, just watch to the end of this video,"
you do it by thinking about the people
that are coming into the video
based on the type of content that you make and thinking:
What does this person really care about?
What can I use here in terms of:
What can I show them?
What can I say to them?
In order to make them interested enough in my content
to want to watch longer in the video.
When you're planning out your content,
you also want to make sure
that you're thinking about the structure
that you are applying to your video,
because you don't wanna just record a video willy-nilly
and put it out there.
You wanna have some type of structure
that you're taking people through.
So for example, that structure could be a listicle video
to where, these are 10 different steps
on making a great video, for example.
It could also be a story arc
that you're gonna take people through and so on,
but the idea is really thinking through
the structure of your video
and how a viewer is going to experience your content.
That's a really big part of the planning process.
Step number three is to set up your recording environment.
This one of course is the dependent on the type of content
that you're making.
But what you wanna do is you want to make sure
that if you do have a background in your videos,
which pretty much every video,
unless you're using a green screen does.
So you wanna make sure that the background is cleaned up
and that you don't have anything
that's distracting in the background
and that you have the viewer focusing
on the thing that's most important for your type of content.
When it comes to your recording environment,
you might also want to consider adding personality items.
And what a personality item is,
is it's items in the background
that show things that you're interested in
that helps viewers connect with you
based on the things that you're interested in.
For example, if you watch my videos on a regular basis,
you might've noticed this storm trooper helmet
that I have in the background.
That is a personality item.
And the overall vibe of your space
can set the tone for your video,
but it can also just kind of share a little bit
about what it is that you like things to look like
or what it is that you're into or your own vibe.
And that can be something that people can connect with.
The next step in the process,
number four, is recording the actual content.
And it's only number four,
we've got six more of these to go.
But using everything that we've talked about so far,
you want to record the actual video content.
But here are some things that you want to make sure
that you keep in mind
when you're recording your video content.
The first part of this
is to make sure that you have at least decent lighting.
So if you're on camera,
you wanna make sure that you're lit well.
If you're showing objects
or whatever it happens to be in your videos,
you just wanna make sure that there's enough light on
to where when people are watching the video,
they can clearly see whatever it is
that you're talking about.
And as a quick side note,
you don't need all these lights and stuff
that you see going on here.
I mean, of course,
that's like a certain way of doing things,
but at the very least, if you just sit by a window,
that window, as long as it's daylight, of course,
will give you enough light
to help you fully be able to see what's going on
if you're recording indoors.
As part of the recording process,
you also want to make sure that you get really good audio
or really good sound in your videos.
And one way to do that
is to turn off any fans that you have running,
turn off any air conditioners that you have running
so that you can make sure that all of the audio devices
are focusing solely on your voice
without a bunch of additional things
going on in the background.
And this is especially important
if you don't process your audio after you've recorded.
When recording your video, you also want to make sure
that you keep your framing in mind.
Framing is essentially how things are positioned
within the space that you have to work with here
in the video.
For example, if I'm making videos
and I'm just kind of down here like this,
it makes the whole thing kind of awkward,
and it would just be kind of weird to watch a video
where this is going on for the entirety of the video.
Wouldn't you agree?
The easiest way to do this is just to simply make sure
that your subject or you are centered in the frame.
That's the easiest way to do it.
If you're showing yourself on screen,
you can also put yourself in a left or right third.
And by doing that,
you are also positioning yourself properly in the frame.
And look, as one additional tip
when you're recording your video, I want you to know,
if you're just getting started,
or if you're considering starting a YouTube channel,
I want you to know that when you're recording your videos,
if you are speaking to the camera like I am,
or if you have anything where you're talking to camera,
then it's normal to mess up your words,
to mess up what it is that you're saying,
to lose your train of thought,
to have to record the same clip a nice handful of times,
to have to repeat things a lot.
That's part of the process.
So if that happens to you,
you're not dumb, you're not messing up.
It's not something like, oh gosh, this is so hard.
You're not doing anything wrong, that's normal.
All of us do it.
You just don't see it
because of the editing that we apply to our videos
that removes all of that stuff
and the way that we record the videos
also makes it easy for us to hide those kinds of things.
So you don't see it, but we do it on our end as well.
So rest assured that that frustration that you might feel
when you're recording your content, it's a normal thing.
Again, you're not doing anything wrong.
The next part of the process,
which you could also put this one in front of the recording,
if you would want to, but either one, it works fine,
whichever position that you place these in.
But the next part of the process is creating
or sourcing any additional items
that you're gonna be using in your videos.
Foe example, if you want to use any screen recordings,
you can do that using Camtasia,
which I mentioned at the beginning of this video.
All you have to do is open Camtasia,
choose the option to record your screen and do your thing.
In addition to screen recording, Camtasia is also
a really easy-to-use video editing software
that lets you zoom in and out of your clips,
add text to your videos, add graphics to your videos.
You can even add additional footage
called B-roll to your videos
to make them more dynamic and interesting.
They also have music and stock graphics that you can use
if you're a Camtasia user.
There's a link in the description
to a free trial of Camtasia
so you can give it a shot for yourself.
And I'm gonna put a coupon code right next to that link.
So if you do decide to upgrade, then you'll save 10%.
And a shout out to the staff over at Camtasia
for hooking us up with that discount.
The next thing that you want to do
in the process of making a great video
is you want to organize all of your files.
Your screen recordings,
any additional graphics that you're gonna use,
any music that you're gonna use, additional footage,
any of that, you organize it into folders
so that you can make sure
that it's easily and quickly accessible
when you get into the actual edit of the video.
This right here is the structure that I use for this.
It may or may not suit your needs,
but you might find it helpful.
Okay, so now that you came up with a great idea,
you've planned everything, you got everything recorded,
you've got all the additional stuff
that you're gonna be adding to your videos,
the next thing on the list of course,
is editing the actual content.
For this, like I mentioned before, you can use Camtasia.
It is fantastic if you're just getting started making videos
as a video editor,
because it doesn't have all the complicated stuff.
Everything is really easy to do.
But on the tip side of editing,
you wanna make sure that you cut out anything
that doesn't add value to the viewing experience.
So if somebody is watching it and you think,
nah, I don't know,
this is kind of doesn't really add much to the viewer,
for example, like a big, long fancy logo intro,
cut it out if it doesn't add value to the viewer.
Also cut out any excessive ums and uhs,
because the last thing that you want in your video
is uh, um, is you know, um
a bunch of filler words and you know, um,
like uh, you know...
You see how it just kind of...
It just slows the video down and makes everything...
You know what I mean.
The reason that you wanna take out all those ums and uhs
and other filler language
is because it takes away from the viewing experience.
It makes the videos hard to watch,
and it just makes things a little bit confusing.
In fact, I put out a video recently
when I crossed 800,000 subscribers that I edited myself
instead of The Guard editing it.
He's a much better editor than I am.
And because of that, when I put out that video,
I was just cutting everything relatively quickly
to get that video out.
And when I did that,
it was just filled with a bunch of filler words
and I even had people mentioning it in the comments.
So in terms of how distracting it can be,
it will be so distracting
that you'll have people mentioning it in the comments.
So it's best to just cut that stuff out of there.
When you're editing your videos
and you're choosing your graphics and your music
and how fast you're actually cutting
and how much you're jumping around
and all of those types of things,
you also want to make sure that you're editing
in a way that's appropriate for the audience
that you're trying to reach.
Here's what I mean.
If you're editing for a younger crowd,
faster pacing, intense music, all that good stuff,
it can be really effective for keeping them watching.
Some of that can also be effective for the older crowd.
But as you start getting into the much older crowd,
then slowing things down just a little bit,
because as older folks, we can't comprehend things
at the speed that you younger folks can.
But you know what I mean.
When you're editing your content together,
you just want to make sure that you're doing it in a way
that's appropriate for the audience
that you're trying to reach.
The next thing that you want to do in this process
is of course upload your video to YouTube.
But wait, there's more 'cause I've got tips on this one.
And then we still got two more to go.
When uploading to YouTube,
make sure that you upload your video as unlisted.
This allows you full access to everything that you need
in order to fully prepare your video for publish.
As an example, you can even go in and pin a comment
when your video is unlisted
versus if you upload it as a private video.
Make sure you fill out your video description
with a paragraph or two,
and make sure that you put links to a few relevant videos
in your video description also.
Make sure that you use everything;
titles, tags, descriptions, in-screens, all of it,
because it's there for a reason,
it's there for you to use it.
When choosing videos that are gonna go in your in-screens,
make sure that you're linking to relevant content.
And what I mean by that
is when a viewer is watching your video,
they clicked on that video for a reason.
It's because it's something that they're interested in.
So as they get to the end of your video,
what you wanna think about is you wanna think about
the people that are watching this video,
what are they likely to be interested in
in terms of something they might want to watch next?
And that is what you wanna link to.
And if you have a whole playlist of relevant content,
then of course it's even better to link to that.
The next thing that you wanna do in this process
is, of course, you wanna optimize your video
for discovery on YouTube,
so that you can actually get views
on what it is that you're doing.
Here's what I mean by that.
Make sure when you are writing your title,
that the thing that is most important for the viewer
that you are trying to reach,
the thing that would be most important to them,
make sure that that's as close
to the front of your title as possible.
And the reason for that is YouTube cuts titles off
in different places on YouTube.
So you want to make sure
that the thing that's going to help the viewer
identify how your content is important to them,
you want to make sure that that's visible for those people.
You of course want to add a thumbnail to your video.
And when you're adding a thumbnail to your video,
what you wanna think about is you want to think about,
if somebody were to log onto YouTube right now,
somebody that I'm trying to reach,
and they don't expect to see my content,
what about this thumbnail
would grab that person's attention.
And what about the title that I'm writing
would be compelling enough for that person to say,
"Hey, this grabs my attention.
This video titles compelling enough
that I actually want to click on this
and go in and watch the video."
Because when it comes to grabbing attention
from the homepage and suggested videos,
these are called the recommendation features,
when it comes to grabbing attention
from YouTube recommendations features,
then you have to make sure
that you're thinking from that perspective,
because if your video show up in search,
it's really easy to get people to click on those
because people are looking for your videos.
However, when it comes to
where the majority of the traffic is on YouTube,
the recommendation features,
you have make sure that you're thinking
the people that are gonna be seeing these videos
aren't expecting to watch them.
So because of that, I have to get really good
at understanding the people that I'm trying to reach
so that I can make sure
that I'm making thumbnails and titles
in a way that will help those people be compelled
to click on my video
based on the things that they're interested in
or the things that they're curious about.
In addition to that, when it comes to your thumbnail,
you wanna make sure that you're focusing on the thing
that would be the most important to the viewer.
So you wanna make sure that you're not just filling it
with a bunch of distracting stuff,
you wanna make sure that you're focusing your thumbnail
on the thing that would be interesting or compelling
to the person that you're trying to reach.
And of course, the next thing that you want to do
is hit the Publish button.
Now look, if you're watching this video,
there's a good chance
that you're getting started on YouTube.
If you wanna learn how to become a successful YouTuber,
click into this playlist right here.
And if you haven't yet, make sure you subscribe.
Thank you so much for watching.
I'll see you next time.