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With the continued rise of the video blogging culture, it’s completely understandable for any tech-savvy millennial or young adult to be enticed by the idea of starting a YouTube channel. After all, it’s a fun and interactive hobby with the potential to turn you into a popular online personality—with the added benefit of helping you meet new people, get free stuff from companies, and of course, earn a pretty impressive income.

But if you want to gain a steady increase in followers or at least publish decent content that gets a good number of views and likes, you’ll need to do more than just become a contributing member on YouTube. Here are a couple of helpful tips to ensure that you make the most out of your venture into the world of vlogging and content creation.

1. Plan your content

Before even creating your YouTube channel, you’ve probably already decided on the kind of video content that you want to show. The best way to increase your views and gain followers is still to keep your content interesting and engaging; the more people can relate to it, the more they’ll want to click on it and watch until the end.

It also helps to stick to your theme, if you have one. For example, many successful YouTubers have dedicated channels for travel, tutorials, or their daily lives. Viewers like living vicariously through the people they watch, so let them know what they can expect and deliver interesting material that they can enjoy.

2. Arm yourself with the right equipment

Using your smartphone is certainly an acceptable way to record videos, but if you want viewers to enjoy your content, it really helps to invest in the right equipment. Most YouTubers use DSLRs or mirrorless cameras, along with other essential accessories for videography such as tripods, lenses, and studio lighting. For those who normally vlog on-the-go, a mirrorless or action camera, and a good monopod or handheld gimbal stabilizer are typical gear staples.

Remember, though, that a good vlogging camera is not everything. If you neglect other things like audio quality and lighting, your viewers may still lose interest in your videos after the first few seconds and won’t subscribe to you at all.

3.Look for inspiration

As you go along, it may be more challenging to come up with fresh, new content that will match the hype of your first few videos. But don’t worry—even established YouTube artists go through the same thing every once in a while. The secret is to look for inspiration everywhere—even when you’re out and taking a break from recording. List down your ideas. Check out other videos and build upon their ideas to make them your own.

Avoid comparing yourself to others and focus on your own channel. As long as you like and enjoy the concepts you come up with, your viewers will sense your sincerity and love for your craft, and this will help pique their interest. While you’re at it, take every opportunity to improve and evolve in other areas. Explore other camera filming techniques, editing styles, and approaches to your presentation.

4. Start with simple editing software

Just because you’re creating videos doesn’t mean you need advanced software (like Final Cut Pro) to edit your content. These software programs don’t necessarily improve your content, particularly if you’re going to be struggling with it a lot during the first few weeks.

If you’re new to video editing, you’d do much better with simple programs like Windows Movie Maker or Apple iMovie. These are a lot more user-friendly and are easily downloadable (for free), if you don’t already have them on your computer.

5. Optimize your videos

Another secret to giving your videos more visibility is to optimize your content to help it rank on YouTube. As soon as you upload your first video, give it a good, descriptive title that viewers are likely to write on the search bar—and make sure to include your main keyword or key phrase. Also, make sure to use relevant tags that will help put your video under multiple related categories. When in doubt, scope out the competition and check what tags other similar videos are using. Finally, write a good description with at least 200 words, and include your target keywords, synonyms, and long-tail keyword variations. Not only will this help viewers figure out exactly what your video is about, it will also help your video rank in search engine results pages.

6. Upload videos regularly

Another important tip is to be consistent with your uploads. No matter how imperfect you think your content is, it’s important that you keep getting your videos out there, as it is with podcasting. Some YouTube channel owners publish videos once or twice a week and they let their viewers know about this schedule (usually at the end of each video) so viewers know when to check back. This gives a channel a bigger chance of getting a steady flow of views, especially once it gains a number of active subscribers. Once you figure out a convenient schedule that works for you, stick to it. You should be improving and getting more attention in no time!

Source: adorama.com