Are you a YouTube vlogger working to grow your channel? Or are you thinking about starting a YouTube channel and wonder what are the best vlogging tips to consider so you create amazing content?

In this post, you'll find tips on how to make great YouTube videos, how to gain more exposure for your channel, and, overall, how to become a successful vlogger.

To make it easier to navigate through the list, I spread the tips into more sections.

Know what you want

The first tips on vlogging you should not overlook is to know what you want to achieve by starting a YouTube channel. Maybe you want to build a community around a topic you enjoy, make money with your channel, or promote your business. Whatever reason you have behind vlogging, it's best to have some goals set up from the beginning so you know how to approach growing your channel.

Niche choosing

The best way to start a YouTube channel is to decide from the start what niche your vlog is targeting. It's true that there are successful vloggers who don't have a certain niche. But it's way harder to grow an active following when your channel mixes up different topics. It can be confusing for your audience. You can take a look through the most popular vlog niches and see if you relate to any of them.

Leverage your passions

Those who pour their heart into the creative process will always see better results than the ones pretending. There is a notable difference between a vlogger who is passionate about what he does and a vlogger who approaches certain subjects just for the sake of popularity. There's nothing wrong with wanting to become popular, but the best way to become a successful vlogger is to choose a niche that will keep you excited for a long time.

Choose the topics

Do you know what topics you're going to address in your vlogs? Getting used to brainstorm possible topics and make a content calendar to keep track of your ideas falls into the crucial vlogging tips beginners need to consider when starting a YouTube channel. By doing this, you won't be caught without content to publish and will serve you as an additional source of inspiration.

Know your audience

To come up with the best content for your audience you first need to know who your potential audience is. After you picked up your niche look at other vloggers in the same niche. Who is watching their YouTube videos? How old are they? Where are they from? What kind of content do they enjoy best?

Pick your tone

One thing you need to be a YouTuber is to find your own, authentic voice. To find the most suitable tone for your vlogs, refer to the above tip about knowing your audience. Some want to hear lots of jokes, while some prefer to hear a more conventional tone. Learn what's most fitted for your own audience.

Quality

Wondering how to be a good vlogger? Create quality content that brings value to people's lives. Ask yourself what problems your audience might have and how you can help solve those problems. Coming up with qualitative content is not just a vlogging tip, is a MUST if you want to grow a successful YouTube channel.

Consistency

Becoming a vlogger means adopting a schedule to come up with videos on a regular basis. To grow a sustainable base of YouTube subscribers, it's best to let your audience know when you're going to upload new content and keep up with your promises. Consistency is one of the most important factors of a successful vlog.

Stay on trend

To come up with fresh and appealing content, you must always stay connected with what's new. People enjoy being part of trends, and your audience is no exception. It's not about jumping on any trend that's hot in the world but keeping up with the trends gaining traction in your niche.

Have decent equipment

Although you don't need the latest vlogging camera for YouTube, your content must have decent video quality. Most importantly, you want to make sure that the microphone you choose lets you record high-quality audios. If you can't be heard properly, viewers will immediately step away from your channel.

Try out scripts

One of the most powerful vlogging tips for good content is to script your videos. This way you'll make sure that you won't forget to address important points. Also, following a script keeps you away from that unnecessary rambling stuffing the videos.

Recording a video

After you decided on your first vlog ideas, it's time to put it into practice. Make sure that the place you pick for recording gets enough light. To make the best of video quality try to choose a spot with generous natural light. You can set up a fun background so your videos are more pleasing to the eyes. Also, avoid recording when there's much background noise around you.

The first 10 seconds are crucial

Most abandons occur in the first 10 seconds of a video. If people click on your YouTube video and their curiosity is not triggered from the beginning, they won't stay around to see more. To keep viewers watching, you can come up with an engaging intro. Or you can address the question your video responds to and give people a hint of the benefits they'll get by watching your video.

Be genuine

Don't try to be someone else in front of the camera. A good vlog is about the vlogger's authenticity. Pretending only works for a short amount of time, while being yourself empowers the growth of a sustainable YouTube channel.

See the camera as a friend

Talking in front of a camera doesn't come naturally for everybody. One of the best YouTuber tips to consider so you speak like a professional is to imagine yourself talking to a friend instead of concentrating on the camera.

Look into the lens

One important vlogging tips for beginners is to get used to looking directly into the lens while talking. If you have a camera with a flip screen, you might be tempted to look into the screen instead of the lens. It'll not only be a bit weird if you look elsewhere, but you also lose the opportunity to fully connect with your audience. When you look into the lens, people perceive it as looking to them, which creates a more personal interaction.

Edit the video

After you're done with recording, it's time to jump to one of the vlogging essential – editing. Take advantage of the free video editing tools out there because they have all you need to come up with professional looking vlogs. Stay away from the clutter of too many effects. Simple is usually better.

Learn the hotkeys

The less you use the mouse, the faster your video editing will go. It may take a couple of video edits to get the hotkeys right, but once you master it, the efficiency of the process will increase exponentially.

Master a few editing tricks

Learn how to make a couple of video effects to stimulate the engagement. It doesn't have to be something super complex, but some easy to do tweaks that can make your videos more entertaining. Don't go overboard with the effects as they can be annoying when overdone.

Optimize your video

The main part of how to get exposure on YouTube for your videos is to use the right keywords in the text surrounding your video. Meaning the title, tags, and video description. Using the right keywords guarantees a high ranking in YouTube search which is crucial to get traffic to your videos.

Title and thumbnails

The title and the thumbnail are the first things people see when your videos are displayed in search. One of the best tips for YouTube to increase the click-through rate is to use intriguing titles which trigger the curiosity. Think about your title as a click bait, but don't make it overstating.

Customized thumbnails

As I said above, the thumbnails play a huge role in viewers decision to click on a YouTube video. Always take a couple of minutes before uploading your vlogs to also create a customized thumbnail. Images with people's faces tend to get the best clicks through rates. You can also overlay some text related to your video title.

Don't forget about the description

One mistake both beginner and more experienced vloggers tend to make is to oversee the power of the video description. Don't stay away from explaining the content of your video in the description and to use related keywords naturally in the text. This will give your videos a boost in ranking and a better chance to show up in the “Up Next” section.

Closed captions

Besides helping deaf people to enjoy your content, using closed caption also boosts your YouTube video ranking. YouTube's algorithm reads the transcript if it's provided, and considers the keywords used in its content. So also make sure you say your main keyword out loud in the video when recording.

Playlists

Organizing videos on YouTube with playlists increases the audience retention rate which is an important factor in YouTube video ranking. When you have more videos related to each other, make dedicated playlists so you make it easier for your followers to go through your content.

Encourage viewers to use playlists

If someone ads your video to one of their playlists, it means that he will come across your video in the future and remember enjoying your YouTube channel even if he hasn't been an active follower. Encourage your viewers to add your video in their own playlists for future reference.

Calls-to-action

The best way to get more engagement to your YouTube channel is to ask people to engage. People might not remember to like your videos or to subscribe if you don't remind them to do it. One important YouTube tips for beginners is to get used to always add a call-to-action at the end of the videos inviting people to subscribe, like, or share.

Ask for subscribes

In order to get more followers to your YouTube channel, one vlogging tip is to give people something to subscribe for. You can say something like “don't miss the next week's episode where I'll give you the best tips for…”. Trigger their curiosity for your future uploads.

Encourage commenting and likes

One important aspect of how to make a good vlog is to create an engaged community who interacts with your content. The best way to stimulate comments is to address questions to your followers.

Take advantage of the YouTube ending screen

With the help of YouTube ending screen, you can make viewers who watch your video until the end take further actions. You can add a button to subscribe, a link to your website, or add end cards to your other videos.

Connect with other vloggers

Vlogging on YouTube means becoming part of a community of creators who share the same passion as you – vlogging. Find vloggers in the same niche who are at the same level as you are and reach out to them for cross promotion. Focus on channels with the same number of subscribers so you both have something to gain from the collaboration.

Comment on vlogs and blogs

Commenting on other creators' videos is one way on how to get exposure on YouTube. Find related YouTube channels and blogs and give feedback on their content. If your comments are interesting, funny, or insightful, other viewers will see them and become intrigued by you. They'll check out your channel and maybe subscribe if they enjoy your vlogs. Don't waste time on spamming and self-promotion, nobody likes it. Leave only genuine comments.

Promote on social media

Even though the biggest part of YouTube traffic comes from internal search, you can boost the traffic to your channel by leveraging social media. Make an Instagram account. Find relevant Facebook groups where you can share your vlogs with a possible audience. See which social platforms your audience uses most and chose accordingly.

Get feedback

To keep improving and growing it's important to know what to improve, isn't it? The feedback you receive in the comments from your audience is the most valuable source of vlogging tips to improve your content.

Become part of the vlogging community

To get more tips for vlogging and even more feedback on your videos from other content creators, you can join Reddit. There, you can find subreddits dedicated to YouTubers, where content creators help each other out with tips, feedback, and promotion.

Have a complete profile

Some notable tips for a successful YouTube channel are to take care of how your whole channel looks like. Meaning you should have a great icon, a neat channel art, and a compelling channel description. Also, don't forget to add links to your social profiles on your channel.

Use royalty free music

Music can make videos more engaging and you should be taking advantage of it. But never use copyrighted music. YouTube will mute your videos, you won't be able to monetize them, and can also ban you after three slips.

Add a watermark

Besides helping you claim copyrights for your videos, watermarks are also a great way to gain more exposure for your brand. You can do it either by using the branding feature from YouTube creator studio or by overlaying the logo yourself on the video before uploading. The latest approach is more preferred as if someone downloads the video, the logo placed on by YouTube won't stay.

Make Q&A videos

Q&As are a great idea for YouTube videos to get closer to your audience and to stimulate the engagement on your videos. You'll get more comments, and your followers will appreciate you for answering their queries.

Try popular video formats

If you're wondering how to start vlogging on YouTube for money, popular video formats are your best bet. The most popular kinds of YouTube videos are entertaining (i.e. pranks, challenges, fails), informational (i.e. news, reviews), educational (i.e. how-tos, tutorials).

Be nice to your audience

By being nice and friendly with your audience they will perceive you more as a friend and you'll be building a closer connection that will keep your followers by your side in the long run.

Use something unique

To set yourself apart from the rest of the vloggers, you can add something unique to your videos that people will associate with your channel. It can be a catchphrase, a “one unexpected fact about me” in each video, or even a song recommendation. For example, some vloggers answer one question from the comments in every video.

Make themed videos

One way to make your followers come back for more is to make a special segment for your vlogs. You can choose a theme that you will make a video about every week besides your regular vlogs.

Tell stories

People will be more than happy to hear interesting facts about you. Sharing stories with the audience makes them feel more connected to you because they can see a personal side of you they can relate to in their own lives.

Brand your videos

So you make it easier for people to recognize and remember your YouTube channel, add your logo to each vlog. It can be by displaying it at the beginning or end of the video, by wearing T-shirts with the logo on them, or by having a branded object beside you when you vlog. This also opens a door to sell branded merchandise to your audience in the future.

Make Analytics your best friend

The best way to be a successful vlogger is to learn what is good about your videos and what needs to be changed. Relying solely on intuition is not a sustainable strategy. Learn how to use YouTube Analytics and collect real data. You'll find out what makes your viewers go away, what they rewatch because they enjoyed it, and you'll also learn more about who your audience is.

Cut useless shots

Nobody likes a YouTube video full of unnecessary shots that brings no value to the viewers. When you get down to editing your vlogs, don't be afraid to harshly cut out everything that's out of topic or the parts where you ramble too much. Keep your videos short and on point.

Keep learning from others

Improving your skills means constantly seeing what others do and learning from them. You don't have to reinvent the wheel in order to become a successful vlogger. You just have to pay attention to what other vloggers are doing right, and adapt their approach to your own channel. Learn, don't copy.

Improve with each video

So you enhance the quality of your vlogs, make a habit of choosing one aspect to improve on every time when you're recording a new video. This week, you may want to work on your intro. For the next video, you could focus on creating a better thumbnail. By taking it one step at a time you'll work more efficiently and won't become overwhelmed by too many changes.

Do something different

When you feel your audience might get bored by your regular content, try doing something different and see how it goes. You don't have to give up on your regular vlogs. You can add a special vlog one week to try it out. If you don't know what to talk about on YouTube to make a different video, take a look at our YouTube video ideas list for some inspiration.

Test without fear

Especially in the beginning, a great vlogging tip is to play around with more kinds of videos so you can see what people enjoy watching more. And it's not just about the video format. Test different titles, thumbnails, intros. Some will do better than others, you'll collect data from YouTube Analytics, and you'll keep going on with what works best.

Make mistakes

If you're hoping for a journey without any mistakes, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's no growth without mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them and avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Create a vlog

Are you overwhelmed by the beginning and worry about any detail about how to start making YouTube videos? Stop obsessing about what to do for a YouTube video. Just pick a video idea and hit record. It's your first video so there are little chances for it to be perfect. The more content you'll create, the more you'll improve as a vlogger. Stop waiting for perfection and get started.

Start in not so crowded places

One of the best tips for vlogging in public is to start low and build your way up. You can go outside in parks, or even try recording in the evening when there are fewer people left outside. It's easier to get used to vlog in public if there are not so many people around to fuel your anxiety.

Take a friend with you

If, in the beginning, going solo seems like too much, convince a friend to go out with you. He/she doesn't necessarily need to show up in your video. But just having someone by your side will help you feel more confident about vlogging outside.

Work on your confidence

One of the most important vlogging outside tips to get over the camera shyness is to work on your mindset. You can start by doing little things in public that you feel anxious about. Wearing something you feel people might judge you about, having a video call with a friend outside. By doing something that triggers anxiety, no matter how small it is, you'll feed your confidence and build up.

People don't care

One of the best vlogging tips is to stop thinking about what others might think about you recording outside. I know you feel that people will be judging you walking around and talking to the camera. But in reality, people don't really care that much. It's true that some will probably notice you, but that doesn't mean they actually care and judge. And, after all, those are people who don't even know who you are and you probably won't see them again. Those who know you are on your channel, and they will enjoy your YouTube videos and appreciate you for the courage to step outside and create.

Approach a larger group of people

If part of your vlogging content is approaching people on the street, you can start by going after a group of people instead of individuals. Individuals might experience the same anxiousness as you do, while people being part of a group will be more open because they are comfortable around each other.

Keep your content quality and your audience in mind

When you go vlogging outside, instead of thinking of the people passing by, keep your audience in mind. After all, they are the ones that matter and you do it for them. Strangers on the street are just, well, strangers. Remember that if you go past your fear, you'll come up with quality content your audience will highly appreciate.

Go where no one knows you

Vlogging outside in an area where you might bump into someone you know is even more terrifying in the beginning. Start by going to places where there are fewer chances for someone to know you. You can even travel to another city if you want to make sure you're safe of familiar eyeballs.

Record, record, record

This is one of the main vlogging tips if you are camera shy. And not just about vlogging outside, but shy of being in front of the camera in general. Record a lot at home until you build more confidence in your skills. You don't even have to worry about uploading those vlogs on YouTube. Do them for yourself as an exercise. If you like what comes up, you can publish them. If not, you can delete or keep them safe on your computer. You're in control of who gets to see what.

In the end, force yourself to just do it

If you embrace your fears, step out of your comfort zone, and just do it, your confidence will get a consistent boost. It's like ripping off a band-aid. After all, what's the worst that could happen? Having some people looking at you? After you'll upload the vlog on YouTube and have your audience enjoying it, do you think you'll remember those looking at you on the street?

Get used to vlogging in public

Take a look at the above outside vlogging tips because you will need them. Daily vlogging means you have to record a consistent part of your day, including times when you are on the road.

Have spares for equipment

Daily vlogging calls for always being prepared to do the job. Unlike weekly vlogging, you don't have so much time to adapt to unexpected situations like a dead battery or a lack of memory space. One of the best tips for daily vlogging is to have a spare battery, memory card, and even an external hardware. They can save you from unpleasant situations.

Make templates for thumbnails

So you don't have to work on your thumbnails every day, you can choose a template in advance where you only have to change the text and image. This will save you a lot of time and will ensure you keep a visual consistency for your dailys.

Make a special playlist

People may not have time to watch your daily vlogs every day. Or some may prefer to see more vlogs at once. Make it easier for your audience by organizing all your daily vlogs in playlists.

Think about the video format

You don't need to know beforehand how your video will turn out, but it might help to have a general idea of what you want. Set a length for the vlogs, they can be anywhere between 5-30 minutes. Part of daily vlogging tips to enhance the productivity is to also shot non-talking footage to make it easier for you to edit.

Don't get into it if you can't come up with quality

Daily vlogging just for the sake of it won't do much for your YouTube channel if the videos are not also qualitative. The most important tip on vlogging is having quality videos. Before you take the decision to jump into releasing new vlogs on a daily basis, make sure you have enough time to put the work into it.

Add personality to your videos

Don't be that boring vlogger who just talks about what he/she ate in the morning. No one cares about it unless you add some spice to the story. So your YouTube vlog becomes successful, you have to stimulate peoples emotions with your videos.

Be more specific with your niche

Yes, starting a traveling vlog is niched. But it's hard to grow a YouTube channel in the general traveling niche as it is highly competitive. Make it more specific: traveling on a budget, traveling while freelancing, single mom travels.

Keep it short

When you're traveling, you come across numerous amazing places you want to share with your audience. And you might want to show too much of it. In reality, you don't need more than a couple of seconds from a place to make your viewers enjoy and want to see more. Keep in mind this tips for vlogging while traveling and make your videos short instead of boring your audience with long footage.

Learn how to use stabilization equipment

When recording outside, it's hard to keep your camera steady with your bare hands. Which will end up in a shaky video your viewers won't appreciate. Make sure you have some equipment to help you out with stabilizing your shots. Besides tripods and shoulder mounts, one trick for vlogging while traveling is to use the camera strap to apply additional tension.

Get a quality microphone

There are tons of noises outside which can ruin your video. If you're also gonna record yourself talking outside, make sure that the audio quality is good enough and your followers can clearly hear you. Poor audio can wreck an otherwise great video.

Don't just share places

It's true that people are watching travel videos to find out amazing places, but they also want to feel part of the experience. And they choose what traveling vlogs to follow based on the person running the channel. Your personality is important to your viewers and they enjoy interacting with you. Don't stay away from the camera.

Look for hidden places

Everybody thinks about the most common places to visit when traveling. But how about the not so mainstream spots where you find amazing insights into a culture? One of the best tips for travel vlogging so you build a successful YouTube channel is to go beyond what's popular and easy to find. Sharing uncommon places will give your channel lots of authenticity.

After going through this list, I'm confident you found enough vlogging tips you can apply to build your way up to becoming a successful YouTube vlogger.

Constant progress is key to success. Keep referring back to these vlogging tips so you always come up with new ways to improve your videos.

I suggest you bookmark this list so you have it handy the next time you're wondering what tips successful vloggers are using.

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