Are you interested in video blogging and looking for a guide on how to start a video blog? And more important thing is that you are looking for a guide on where you can start within budget video blogging.
As you know, visuals have always had a significant impact on video blogging. These days video content is gaining more attraction as compared to content without video. According to the studies, videos containing blog posts have three times more the number of inbound links as compared to blogs with flat writing. Moreover, 82% of online traffic comes from video blogs.
If you are still wondering, whether you can create successful video blogs like famous vloggers within your budget or not. Yes! You Can! And you do not even need expensive tools for this.
Well, I know the start is always a bitter reality, and it can be a daunting task, especially if you have had no practice with this before. Even if you have no high-end tools, do not be discouraged you can still start your blogging career.
In this article, You will get an authentic guide that will help you to start your vlogging right away and earn a pretty huge income. Then you can invest that income in purchasing tools and become a successful video blogger.
So without wasting your time, let’s begin!
How To Start A Video Blog In 2023?
- Choose the Platform
- Choose the Niche
- Find And Understand Your Target Audience
- Be Unique
- Create Quality Content
- Video Quality
- Edit the Content
- Promotion
- Be Consistent
1. Choose The Platform:
Most of the vlogging happens on Youtube. And it’s one of the most used social media platforms. But it is not the only place where you can establish yourself as a vlogger. There are also other platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, and Facebook.
YouTube:
Choose YouTube, as it is one of the largest and the highly preferred video platforms in the world, with over 2.3 billion monthly active users. It offers a wide range of features and tools for vloggers, including monetization options, analytics, and a large audience.
This means that your vlog content can potentially reach a huge audience.
Many popular Vloggers use YouTube for vlogging. Vlogging on YouTube can help you to build a loyal audience and connect with your audience through personal storytelling.
Additionally, YouTube allows vloggers to monetize their channels by placing ads in their videos, which can generate huge income for them.
Instagram:
If you want to stay away from Youtube, then try out Instagram which offers several video features, including Instagram Stories, Reels, and IGTV. If you want to create short videos, then it is a great platform.
Vloggers can earn money on Instagram by partnering with brands, using affiliate marketing, IGTV ads, and through various brand partnerships.
Facebook:
As you know, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms with over 2.7 billion monthly active users. If you choose this platform for vlogging, then you will get direct engagement on your vlogs. If you already have a Facebook page with some followers, your followers can also see your live vlogs.
It is a superb platform for you if you want to reach a large and diverse audience.
This platform also provides marketing tools that are powerful enough to turn your videos into attractive advertisements.
Vimeo:
Vimeo mainly focuses on high-quality, professional content. It offers advanced privacy settings, custom branding options, and the ability to sell videos through its on-demand service.
If you want to showcase your business’s work or creatives’ ideas in a professional setting, It is a great platform for you.
2. Choose The Niche:
First, be clear about what type of content you want to share and promote with your audience. As you cannot talk about all kinds of things unless you are a well-known person with huge followers.
So first, choose the niche in which you have an interest, and there is also a wide audience present who is looking for the type of content you choose.
Let’s say, You have an interest in traveling and want to do vlogging on it, So this is your niche, and all of your content should be related to traveling.
One thing to keep in mind: Choose a niche that you are passionate about and that you enjoy creating content around. It will make it easier for you to consistently produce content and stay motivated.
Avoid niches that are too trendy with a limited lifespan. Instead, choose those niches that you can easily create content on that help you earn income for the long term.
3. Find And Understand Your Target Audience:
After choosing a niche, the next step is to find your target audience and understand them. Well, for now, you have no followers. Initially, Check out your competitors’ performance who make vlogs in the same niche as you and analyze their audience interests, preference, and engagement. It will also give you an insight into how to make your audience stick to your content.
Your audience will be one who will make your video blogging journey a successful one. Now you might start wondering how to understand your target audience. After getting some followers, start taking their opinions on what kind of content they most like.
Well, for this, I can give you an example. Do you know about the YouTube polling option in which the audience shares their opinion in real-time? Use that knowledge to your advantage. Utilize this polling option and ask about your existing audience’s interest, then create content on it.
Look at which of your videos have the most views, likes, and comments, and try to understand why they are popular.
It will also give you an insight into how to make your audience stick to your content.
4. Be Unique:
But be sure, DO NOT BE A COPYCAT! Otherwise, it will lower your content value. Maybe you are saying in your mind, “there is already so much content present on all things, “how can I make a different content”? What I am saying is that make your own unique style of content.
The content can be old, but with new vibes. Incorporate your personal touch like if your sense of humor is good in real life, you can add unbiased jokes to make your content more lively.
5. Create Quality Content And Deliver Value to the Audience:
Create content that provides value to your audience, meets their needs, answers their questions, or entertains them.
First, know your audience, their pain points, and their preferences. And for this, you need to analyze your competitors’ audiences. Find your competitors in your chosen niche and look for what style of content works well for their audience. Evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. Look for ways to differentiate yourself and provide a unique perspective on your chosen topic.
Whatever type of content you are creating, whether it is related to educational information or entertainment, it should provide value to your audience. If your content is kind of boring, then try to add humor and make it digestible for the audience.
So when they start watching your vlogs and your content is compelling enough to adhere your audience with your vlogs till the end. Moreover, it leaves a good impression on them, and they will be willing to come again to see your vlogs.
6. Video Quality:
You do not need the expensive gear and tools to start your video blogging journey, just choose the right tools. And these are only three things, Camera, lighting, and microphone.
These days, you can make high-quality videos with an Android phone. So you have no excuse for poor-quality videos. Videos should be clean and attractive visuals and clear audio with no disturbing sound in the background. And that’s enough.
There are many free tools that you can use to make the best quality audio that removes all background noises and generates a clear and better audio experience for your audience.
Another important thing that you cannot neglect in your video quality is Lighting. Always look for natural light and look for the best angles and locations where your camera captures the perfect angle of you.
If you’re shooting indoors, try to position yourself near a window or other natural light source. Avoid harsh overhead lighting or bright, artificial light, as it can create unflattering shadows and make your footage look washed out.
You may need to adjust your lighting setup depending on the time of day or the location you’re filming in.
7. Edit The Content:
Video editing is always a crucial step in vlogging. It’s where you can take your raw footage, and turn it into a polished final product.
To make your vlogs more engaging, focus on the underlying tips.
- Remove any segment of your raw video that you find irrelevant to the topic.
- Different social media platforms have different requirements for video dimensions. Resize your video to fit the platform you want to upload it to.
- Add English Captions in your video blogs, so a wider audience can see your content who does not know your language can also understand and enjoy your content. Moreover, captioning is also quite helpful for deaf audiences.
- According to the survey, 92% of phone users like to read captions with sounds off. The high percentage means your captioned video will get a high probability of getting high views.
- A catchy title and descriptive text can help your vlog stand out and give viewers a clear idea of what the video is about.
In short, before becoming an independent video blogger, you have a certain skill level in editing. These days there are many free video editing software available that you can use to make your video blogs attractive.
Although the number of features is more in paid software, as you are starting, free tools are perfect for you. So after getting some earnings, get the best software tools if you consider the need for them.
8. Promotion:
Have you ever read the word cross-promotion? It is actually a reuploading of content on other platforms.
There are billions of social media active users in the world. Not all of them are fans of all social media platforms so when you reupload your content on another platform, it will get the wider audience’s attention.
So promotion of your content is always crucial, especially when you are doing the start of video blogging. Otherwise, people cannot find your content without promotion.
9. Be Consistent:
Ever read the phrase out of sight, out of mind? The same happened here. Audience mind memory is momentary. If you do not appear before them regularly, they might start forgetting you.
So make a content schedule and always make a list of valuable content on which you have to make a video blog and follow your plan strictly.
How To Make Money Through Vlogs?
You might want to share your content with your audience along with making money. If you seriously start vlogging, you can also make a pretty good income after establishing your content.
For this, you don’t need to become an open advertisement banner,
you can do it by following underlying tips.
Make Your Video Blogs Discoverable:
SEO(Search Engine Optimization) plays an important role in increasing the visibility and discoverability of your vlog content. Add relevant keywords and phrases on which you are making vlogs in your titles, tags, video description, and thumbnails of your videos.
For Example, you are making vlogs on online earning or earning advice, etc. Add the relevant keywords and links, resources, etc.
Like in the above example, a Vlogger incorporates keywords in the YouTube video description.
Make attractive and compelling thumbnails that make your audience click on your video. For this, you don’t have to be a skillful graphic designer. Use free thumbnail design templates that give your content a more professional look.
Your Vlogs Watch Time:
Although there is no exact time duration of vlogs, whether short or long one creates more engagement. Actually, it depends on the content and platform.
Studies show that shorter videos tend to perform better on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where audiences typically have shorter attention spans and are looking for quick, entertaining content.
On the other hand, longer videos can be more successful on platforms like YouTube, where viewers are often looking for more in-depth and educational content.
So it depends on the platform that you choose for vlogging. But even on YouTube make one video long enough that does not bore people but keeps them engaged. For this, you can also analyze your competitors.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What Is Video Blogging?
Video blogging is actually an extended form of a vlog in which a person creates and shares video content with the audience. Vlogs can cover a wide range of topics, including lifestyle, travel, beauty, cooking, technology, education, and more.
2. Is Vlogging Worth Considering?
Yes, It is definitely worth considering. Vlogging can be a powerful tool for you to connect with your audience and build a great following, along with earning money through advertising, sponsorships, and product endorsements.
3. What Things You Should Have For Vlogging?
These are the basic things that you should have for vlogging.
- Video Camera or smartphone that supports HD 1080 footage
- Tripod to avoid making shaky vlogs
- Light Source, can be a natural light source
- Microphone if you are using a camera instead of a phone
- Editing Software
Final Thoughts:
In this article, I gave you an idea of how to start a video blog. Use these tips and start your journey right away. Because building a loyal audience is time taking procedure, you cannot become a popular vlogger overnight.
After your hard work and patience, you can make yourself a professional video blogger. Make your first vlog and introduce yourself. And take your start and keep analyzing your work and incorporate your audience’s interest in your content.
Always remember! no one starts from a high audience, everyone has to walk through the trails and errors to understand audience interest. After consistent hard and smart work, they grab the audience’s attention and gain high followers.
Good Luck!
