This is a guest post & video by Andy Havard.
Welcome to the online video masterclass. Today we’ll be looking at how you can better your video blogs through 8 simple steps, which will really make your vlog stand out from the crowd.
Video Transcription
1. Know What You’re Talking About
Before you even think about recording your videos take some time to work out what you’re going to say, how you want to say it and who you’re saying it to. By drafting the key points you want to get across, you will eliminate any hesitating noises, off-topic musing and give you a boost in confidence.
2. Engage Your Audience
You might be sat talking to the lens of a camera, but when your video goes online you’ll be face to face with members of your audience who are watching your video. These viewers may be engaged with or completely closed off to what you have to say in your video but it’s up to you to connect with them. You should aim to build a one-to-one relationship with them through your video and encourage them to interact with you and your video content.
3. Research Other Vlogs
Researching other vlogs is a great way to gain insight into your vlogging competition, but also provides a good learning tool for you to utilise when creating your own videos. Take some time to look at popular video blogs and vlogs that are just starting up. By learning from the pros do it and viewing the work of fellow vloggers, you can help improve your own content.
4. Short & Simple Wins The Race
Each of your video blogs should talk about one particular topic concisely. A typical video should aim to be between 2-5 minutes, which allows plenty of time to tackle your subject, without taking up too much of your viewers time. If you really can’t condense your topic into that time frame consider creating more than one video.
Simple content is also essential as you can connect with your audience more effectively and really hit home with your topic. This simplicity should be felt not only in what you talk about on camera, but also in your shooting location, on-screen graphics and music choices.
5. Videos Are Best Served Fresh
Online users are always searching for current content. Google’s real time SERPs provide the latest updates around a user’s search, which your vlog can capitalise on. Being the first to discuss breaking headlines can bring in traffic from casual searchers and your current audience, as everyone is interested in hearing about the latest news in your niche.
6. Be Informative, Educational Or Entertaining
When you start thinking about how to present your video blogs always bear in mind the three golden genres of online video; entertaining video, informative video and educational video. These three genres are the most popular forms of video on the web and are areas your video blogs should try to hit in every episode.
7. Practice At Every Available Opportunity
Practising your video blogs will improve your confidence, making you a much stronger on-screen personality. Also practising your vlog will help you to film and edit your episodes quicker. There is no substitute for practice and doing so will make your episodes as good as possible.
8. Assess Yourself
It’s helpful to receive constructive feedback from peers, but nothing compares to examining your own work and being self-critical. You should aim to do this after each and every vlog in order to assess your content and delivery. Then improvements can be made and you will feel more comfortable with how you appear and act on screen.
That’s it for today’s online video masterclass, be sure to share your knowledge and your thoughts in the comments section below.
