If you’re ready to be serious about video blogging it’s time to say cheese, step in front of the camera and let her rip.

I’ve been video blogging for a couple years now and, along the way, I have learned a few tricks!

These tricks have allowed me to get more viewers, more subscribers, and more people to buy into by brand.  Let’s take a look at the seven secrets to successful video blogging.

1.  Keep Them Short

When I first started vlogging a lot of my videos were very long.  Seven, eight, nine, and in one case fifteen minutes.  Can you say BORING?!

You have to realize that viewers have a very short attention span.  Once they hit play and see the length of the video is greater than five minutes, or even worse ten minutes, you’re immediately going to lose a lot of people that don’t have the ability to devote all that time.

Ideally you want your videos to be two to three minutes in length.  

If it is four to five minutes the content better be good.  You also want to make sure that in the beginning of the video you get them hooked.  Start off by asking a question.  For example, in a personal finance video you may ask…

Do you struggle with paying off credit card debt?

If you are a yoga instructor you might say…

Are you looking to get in to better shape in a short amount of time?

By asking these probing questions you’re getting your audience to relate to you and making them curious to find out what you’ve got to say.

2.  Be Engaging

Going with what was stated above, by asking questions, you’re engaging your viewers.  You’re getting them to think and you’re getting them to relate to you which will make them want to watch your video.

What also helps is sharing stories.  People love to hear stories.  If you can turn that story into a life lesson that the viewer can walk away with? Winner winner chicken dinner, you’ve just found the magic formula.

3.  Decent {But Not Great} Editing

You don’t have to be a professional editor to have a great video for YouTube, but you need to have some type of editing.  If you press play on the camera and it takes fifteen seconds to get adjusted as you clear your throat, you’ve just lost the viewer.

Luckily there are tons of choices for easy and cheap editing software.  If you have a Mac then iMovie is your best bet.  That’s what we currently use and absolutely love it.  We’ve even filmed a quick tutorial on the basics of using iMovie if you are interested in learning.

We also bought Camtasia, which is a screen capturing tool but can also do good video editing.  It starts off at $99, which is still reasonable, or you could also look at Cam Studio as a free version.

On a PC you have Windows Moviemaker or don’t forget YouTube has a new and improved basic editor that you can use on your videos.  Spend some time editing your videos and it’s a surefire way to get more views.

If you’re not quite sure what that “means” to have good video editing techniques, watch some of the more popular YouTube channels.  You can see how they transition from different scenes, add text, and insert pictures. Then you can play around with it and find what works best for you.

4.  Overact

When I first started doing videos I did a lot of pure talking head videos, just giving good information.

As I have progressed in making videos and also got my wife involved, she made me quickly realize that while all of my videos had a lot of good information, they are also the equivalent of overdosing on Nyquil.  Don’t be afraid to talk loud, use your hands, or use a motion to get your point across.

Demonstrating something is another good technique. If you’re doing a video on Crossfit Principles show them how to do a push-up, sit-up, pull-up, etc. Or better yet, use props. Nothing will grab the viewers attention more than props.

If you can add humor, even better.

5.  Use Keywords

Most people don’t view YouTube as a search engine, but it is the SECOND largest search engine right behind Google.

You can have a highly-engaging, awesome edited, overacted video, but if you want more than your parents and friends sharing it, you need to understand the concept of using keywords. You also want to make sure that you are not overusing keywords during your video to where it would sound like spam.

6.  The $5 Bumper

One of the easiest things that you can do is to add an introduction bumper to your video to make it look that more professional.

An embarrassing confession is that I knew a bumper was necessary but I opted to pay, and pay I did, for a super expensive bumper.  The bumper looked good and, at $200, I thought it was a steal.  I thought this because I had no idea how to do it myself and just figured it was easier to pay someone then to buy the software and spend hours upon hours trying to figure it out.

Little did I know that a site, which happens to be one of my favorite sites now, Fiverr.com, has tons of different things that you can buy for five dollars, one of which is video introduction bumpers.  The video bumper that you see below cost me a whopping five bucks.

Compare that to the $200 I spent on the previous bumper and you can see that I definitely overpaid.  I have gotten so many compliments on the bumper that they are amazed when I confess the actual cost.

This is just one of the many bumpers that you can find on Fiverr.  I have purchased three or four others and they are just as good.

7.  Get People To Share

One of the little tricks that many people don’t realize is something that we like to call “CALL TO ACTION”.  What does that mean?  It means at the end of the video ask them to do something.  Is it subscribe to your newsletter? Is it to like your video? Is it to share your video?

Don’t assume that people will do what YOU want if you don’t tell them.  Currently we’re working on adding a video directory at the end of each video that encourages just this.

So, are you ready to start vlogging? Use these 7 secrets and you will be on your way to successful videos.

If you have any questions please be sure to comment below.