- I really don't want to do this with sunglasses on
but it's kind of bright out here, sorry.
Should I take them off?
So I'm in one of my favorite places to relax
which is Las Vegas Nevada.
I don't know why I love it here so much,
maybe there's something like dry heat that I'm
just not used to whatsoever.
I'm also a huge fan of the Cosmopolitan Hotel so
that's where I am right now.
Let's see if we can do this.
If you've been following me on social you know that
I just got done presenting at Creative Live which is
and incredible production in San Francisco and Seattle.
And they basically allow you to teach something
to their community for a whole day,
or sometimes multiple days, live.
You can probably guess that this production is
so much work.
It's funny because I actually thought after the book
Vlog Like A Boss came out that I was going to create
my own course.
I think I've had this talk with you guys before,
I just decided naw, I don't want to.
And I especially felt that way when they came to me
and said that they were willing to help me make a class.
Because that level of production was exactly what I wanted
for Vlog Like A Boss and I don't know that I could have
just done all of that on my own.
They really have it streamlined there,
they've been doing this for years and it was just an
absolutely perfect fit.
You know, just as much as I would have,
hello, hello back there...
We're gonna go back and forth here.
So just as much as I would have my own course,
I put a lot of time and energy and planning into
the Creative Live class and I'm really happy
with how it turned out.
One of the things I talk about that I know you're
familiar with is the Authority Video Formula.
I teach this everywhere I go, every stage I walk on,
anytime I work with a client or anybody that wants to
know how to vlog better,
I've made basically this formula that helps you do
a better job from start to finish in your videos.
And this has come up recently online and it definitely
is something I thought about as I was teaching this
at Creative Live, you know,
I put on this formula that the end of the timeline,
which is essentially the length of your video,
should be about two to five minutes.
So I've gotten questions online and things like that
because you know, today with video,
long form is a really really really good idea.
These platforms like Facebook and YouTube,
they want lots of watch time.
So if you make a longer video,
which you've probably seen I've been doing here lately,
you will essentially get more watch time because
every minute one view, one person,
gives you over the duration of that video,
I mean obviously that's a lot of watch time with this
very powerful thing to help you with your channel growth.
So I've obviously gotten questions about this because
if my Authority Video Formula says
your video should only be two to five minutes long,
but watch time is the key to everything these days,
what's the balance there?
Oh my gosh the Bellagio fountains are gonna,
no they're cleaning them right now
there's no way that those are gonna go off right now.
Oh my god, that would not be good,
they're very loud.
So here's my answer to this:
watch time is a beautiful thing when people are watching.
That's the key to it.
But if people are not watching,
then the length of your video might be holding you back
from the potential of that growth.
Viewers, more watch time.
So that's why, you know I kind of wanted to talk about this
because it also answers another question of like
why my videos have been different.
Yes motorcycle, get it.
You've probably seen in the last few weeks,
and definitely over a period of time that
my videos have gotten significantly longer
than where they were,
you know especially when I first started
but in recent years as well.
I sort of showed up on the scene as like the quick tip
will give you advice and something you can do right now
in less than five minutes.
That's how people sort of knew me.
And the jump cut style that I use too was certainly
helpful because it even made any video,
no matter what the length feel even more fast paced.
That's why I still recommend that two to five minute length
of a video when you're getting started.
And the Authority Video Formula is very useful for everybody
but I think that's a critical piece.
And a lot of it too, there are a lot of things there
that are helpful for someone that's like
literally got nothing going on.
They're just trying to get a good product out there.
They want people to watch their content
but they're not really sure what the flow is that should be
taking place to make that happen.
Once you get to a certain point
and you press publish, let's say on YouTube.
You go, alright this is going public.
The fact that you have somebody that's going to show up
to that video as it goes live to watch it,
things start to change a little bit.
When you're first getting started
that's not always the case.
Like yeah, you might show up in the subscription feed
of a couple of hundred people,
but the likelihood they'll be there as soon as it goes
live to watch is not very good.
When I hit publish on a video,
I see hundreds of people come in,
in that first hour.
I feel that that is how you know
you can take certain liberties when you are
publishing content because when you know people are
going to show up and help you if a video is good,
or let you know if a video is bad,
immediately that's an incredible opportunity.
Certainly one where you can try new things,
big time.
I'm sorry if this is getting wobbly but like,
we don't have the tripod because
this is our day off.
That's why I wanted to talk about this,
why my videos have been different,
is because I want to be able to offer more
in every single project.
If I'm going to publish less than I used to,
because right now it's about two times a week
instead of three days a week which is where I was
in, you know the last number of years
and very religiously so.
If I'm going to post less I want to be able to
give more in each project.
And because I've kind of pulled you in and proven myself
at least that base level audience,
I can try new things because of that.
So I actually got a tweet about this recently
where someone said you know,
if watch time is more important these days
do you think that your Authority Video Formula
max number of two to five minutes needs to be updated?
And to that I said,
if no one's watching your two minute video,
then they're definitely not going to watch
your 20 minute video.
You have to remember like,
those time stamps are really really useful for people.
Especially if they're seeing you in search
and they don't know who you are.
They're going to look at that and go,
that's a long time.
When are they gonna get to their point?
If they don't know you,
if they're not committed to the brand yet.
That's like, that could be a huge,
a huge deterrent of viewers, big time.
Like who are you?
You're going to give me a piece of content to watch
and it's literally going to take a half hour of my life
and I don't even know what you do well yet?
I gotta get there.
So that's why I'm telling you that the short form,
although I do think you should balance it
and try new things and see if you can say,
okay here's a couple of short videos
but I'm going to throw in
one that's a little bit more lengthy,
whether it's more podcast style or something like that
every once in a while,
so that I can balance the watch time need that I have.
Because if the average amount of time that people
are watching a video percentage wise is 50%.
50% of two minutes is not good.
You know, you're talking about one minute of watch time
for one view.
50% of a 20 minute video is fabulous,
you're talking about 10 minutes for one view.
But if you can't even get them in
because of that time stamp,
that's where this is a problem.
Too many people are thinking,
my video is so bomb that's all I need.
On YouTube we are not even looking at video
when we decide to watch your video.
We're looking at a title and a photo.
Now I know that things are changing on the front page
of YouTube and we're starting to see like,
a couple of like teaser, gif, moving picture things
in order to decide if we want to watch a video or not.
But the thumbnail, that photo,
is still a huge visual thing
that is going to compel us to watch.
So that, and your title.
You can have the best 20 minute video of all time
but if those two things didn't help somebody click,
what does it matter?
And certainly if they see it's 20 minutes long
they're going to be like,
I don't even think this is worth it.
That's bad news.
So that's why my videos have been very different.
I'm now challenged to do the same job
that I've promised that I will do.
And that's show up, teach you something,
help you go after the life you want,
Vlog Like A Boss, all those things.
But now, with wanting to give you
a little bit more storyline behind it,
I have to show to tell.
And that is the world that we're living in today.
You have to show to tell.
You can't just talk to a camera all the time
and think that people will want to sit there
and listen to you.
I'm very grateful
if you wanted to sit here and listen to me today,
but I'm making it more interesting in a lot of my content
by taking you along for the ride so you can actually see
what I'm trying to teach.
That's a huge difference, that's a huge difference.
Talking head video is not enough to carry somebody
to a higher brand these days.
It's too competitive in 2017
and definitely in the coming years.
So anyway, that's my story.
I'm very very happy to be getting questions like this
because I think it's really a huge sign of the fact
that you are getting smarter about this.
You're making more conscious decisions
about all of these things when they come to
your brand and your video and all of these things.
And so,
I love that we're having this conversation right now.
Even if this hasn't occurred to you yet,
it's definitely a very good thing to be thinking about.
Because we don't think how someone's going to receive
our video in certain ways sometimes.
We forget that the little things like,
what's the number length of time on a video,
that this thing says.
Or what's the title?
Maybe they didn't phrase that quite right.
Maybe the thumbnail is a little bit too obscure.
All these little things can be taking away from the fact
that you did this amazing project.
This is a very important topic for us to discuss.
I'm sorry it's like loud out here and there's helicopters
and all that but I just was feeling,
all right we gotta shut it down,
was feeling very inspired in one of my favorite
vacation spots.
We came out here actually
to try some restaurants for the wedding
which is in September
and actually it couldn't have been better timed
because I really needed like down time
after the wild ride that was Creative Live.
So anyway, I'm just like so grateful
if you tuned in for that, thank you so so much.
I think they were really stoked to see
how many of you showed up and were tweeting
and live in the comments and things like that.
So I mean like that means the world.
That's something that I don't want to take for granted,
and I want you to know that
I don't know what I would do without you.
If I wanted to achieve that, it wouldn't be possible.
It just absolutely would not be possible without you.
I have got to finish this coffee
before we try to
take a few minutes to go to the pool,
before we have to rush to the airport.
That's for all for today socials,
thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate it as always.
Make sure you subscribe for good vibes.
Thank you so much for being here for me
I appreciate it so much.
And I'm definitely looking forward to showing you
in the next video,
more behind the scenes of how Creative Live went.
I'm enlisting the help of our new cinematographer at
After Mark, Blake Guidry.
He did a lot of filming of me that day
because I was not in my right mind to film myself.
It was just not gonna happen.
So that one's going to be a little bit different than usual.
So subscribe so you don't miss that coming up this week.
Don't forget, go after the life you want
cause it is so freaking much fun.
Am I right?
Oh yeah, I'm right.