Hello YouTube - I finally published a video to my channel

Thanks to the encouragement of a few members of WA, I finally got my head around how to create a video for my channel.

After setting up the lighting, suitable background and so on, it took about fifteen minutes to record and an extra hour to add callouts, subtitles and transitions to it.

I've now uploaded it and to be honest, it wasn't the traumatic experience that I thought it would be.

I've already discovered some VERY cool things about publishing to YouTube.

Within a day of posting my video, I've already had 12 views. These are people finding my video on their own. My website isn't getting that kind of attention yet.

I've not had any visits to my website from YouTube yet but I only added my website to the description a few hours ago (I'm still figuring all of this out).

I'm not expecting to get subscribers for a channel with one video but it's exciting that people are watching my first attempt and three people have actually liked it.

My set up

Some of you may be curious about what I used to record it.

You don't need much but here's what I'm using (with some tips that I had to figure out):

• A photography background (I didn't use it for my first video as that was a how-to video mainly showing my hands but I will need it when I create videos for my Bootcamp. You might have a nice blank wall you could use. I didn't so I got the background.
• LED lighting panels (really important - they don't flicker when you're recording video. I had a terrible time with those low-energy bulbs creating banding on earlier videos). You might have bulbs that don't cause flickering so experiment before spending money on lighting!
• A mobile phone mount. My mobile records video at 4K (it's a P20 Pro) so it made sense to use that to record the video isntead of a dedicated camera. The mount is like a posable lamp but where the lamp would be, there's a mobile phone mount.
• A hands-free kit for the phone - I just used the one that came with mine as it provides pretty decent sound quality. Just be careful to keep the wire out of the frame (which I didn't in my first video). On review, I didn't see the need for a dedicated microphone.
• Video editing software - you'll need this for adjusting brightness, colour, adding titles and callouts before uploading it to YouTube. I used Camtasia for my first video but I'll be using iMovie for the next one.

What next

Now that I've created one video, I'm already looking forward to creating the next.

I can't believe I just typed that. I hate the sound of my own voice but I've heard worse voices on YouTube that have attracted thousands of subscribers so I can't let that hold me back.

So yes, now I've done it, I'm really excited to create my next video which will look much better that the first because I've already identified some things that went wrong the first time around.

The fantastic thing is that my niche is ideal for videos so I have a lot of scope for topics to expand my channel.

Ideas for your own videos

If you're racking your brains, trying to think of a reason to create videos for YouTube, you don't need to.

These ideas are the ones I've written down for my own use, based on the advice of experienced Tubers - and you're welcome to them too. :)

Your existing blog posts

If you've written content for your website, many people would love to watch a video of you talking about it.

If you're worried about your face being on camera, create a PowerPoint presentation with the key points of your blog post.

I wouldn't read the post verbatim as that might sound a bit mechanical - try to put your own words into, er, your own words, if you know what I mean?

In other words, talk about each point of your blog post as if you're explaining it to a friend.

By the way, I don't to alarm you but some crooks on the Internet are actually taking other people's blog posts and converting them to YouTube videos using text-to-speech technology. Why not beat them to it?

Reviews

Seriously - how can you NOT do review videos? YouTube is crammed with them because people love watching them! If your site has a lot of reviews, it seems natural to use video too.

My first video was part review, part demonstration.

Demonstrations

Besides reviews, people are always hungry for videos that show them how to do something. If you've explained how to do something in a blog post, imagine how much easier it would be to show them how to do it?

Good lighting is quite important for this - I have a ring LED light set above my camera to provide good all-round lighting onto the work surface below the camera.

You might also need supplementary lighting on the side to reduce any shadows your hands might cast.

If you're demonstrating software, it's much easier - you just need some screencasting software to record your screen. By the way, Mac users can do this for free with Quicktime but ideally, you'll want specialist software like Camtasia so you can highlight the mouse position and add keystrokes to the screen.

Vlogging

Vlogging is basically you talking about your day, your life experiences, or your progress in something. You could talk about your affiliate marketing progress, your opinions about something in your niche (e.g. the June Google Core Updates), or, well, pretty much anything.

I've been amazed at some of the dullest of people having huge numbers of subscribers for their vlogs.

To be honest, I am highly unlikely to do this myself. I've made progress by publishing my first video but not that much progress! ^_^

Just do it

If you've been thinking about recording videos for your own YouTube channel, I recommend that you just stamp on your fear and do it.

That's the only way I've been able to do it and now I've done it, I feel like I've crossed over a threshold and I'm rearing to make more.

I can't ignore the fact that the extremely niche video that I just recorded has already had 12 views. I didn't expect any, to be fair.

Don't discount the camera in your pocket, either. I was very surprised at the quality of video my mobile phone produced.

What do you think?

If you have any tips to help me on my YouTube journey or any comments about this article please leave a comment!