In yesteryears, advertising products or services were limited to television, radio, and newspaper. But as technology grows, it continuously offers new methods and tools to make it easier for everyone.

In the early 2000s, a new method has been introduced and that is through content creation using videos. Later on, everyone calls it vlog.

Up to this date, vlog’s popularity continues to rise and become one of the most effective methods to spread brand awareness and gain more traffic on websites.

Due to this new trend, mostly everyone (particularly bloggers) jump in from blogging to vlogging to level up their marketing game. If you’re a new blogger who wants to do vlogging as well, here are 5 tips you can follow to start a YouTube channel.

5 Tips for bloggers starting a YouTube channel for vlogs

Note: There are plenty of choices when it comes to video sharing platforms and they all offer simple-to-navigate design and operation. But we focused on YouTube because it’s blogger’s most popular choice.

1. Start your video blog with a short branded intro

One of the vlog’s benefits is to get your brand be known. For you to achieve that, you have to include branding on all of your videos.

The most common branding element every blogger do is a short branded intro. I include the word “short” because this branded intro must only play within the video for around 3 seconds. If it played more than that, your audience will eventually get bored and move on to other videos.

Branded intro must contain your logo (if there’s any), a catchy tagline and music in the background to make it livelier.

2. Optimizing your video metadata

Just like in any other search engine platform, YouTube created their own search optimization solution for the videos to be seen easily. And these optimization are based on the following:

• The title is the most important detail of your video because this is the first thing audiences will see. So, make sure you created a clear and captivating title to ensure people will engage with it.
• The description contains a brief summary of the video. Though YouTube allows 1,000 characters in the description, it’s better to keep it less. Just include the information that you think can pique your audience’s interest.
• The tags are where your keywords will be indicated. This will help your audience (as well as YouTube) know what your video is all about.

Important Note: YouTube allows up to 12 keywords per video but make sure it’s all relevant to your video. Once YouTube finds out that you’re just using those tags for added visibility, they will penalize your channel.

• The category may look like simple organization management. But the truth is this is a great way to give your audience the option to view more of your videos of the same type. So, if they like one of your videos, there’s a higher possibility that they will end up watching all the videos under that category.

3. Link your YouTube channel to your social media pages

Boosting your channel’s discoverability can be done in many ways. But the simpler, and yet the most effective, way is by linking your YouTube channel to your social media pages.

This is beneficial for your brand because you’re widening your audience range. At the same time, you’re giving your audience an opportunity to get to know you and your brand more, making your community’s bond much closer and real.

4. End your YouTube videos with a call-to-action

If there’s a beginning, there will always be an end. For your YouTube video, the best way to end it is by including a strong call-to-action.

After people watched your videos, there are no guarantees that they will communicate with you through the comment section. Unless, of course, you give them a reason to stay and interact with you.

One of the best ways to engage your audience is by leaving a strong call-to-action. A call-to-action can be written in many ways. Here are some good examples:

• It can be in the form of a question. You can ask them about their opinion on your recent video episode, or if they have any questions for you.
• It can be in the form of news updates of your channel. Updates like if you’re running a contest, publishing a new video and so on.
• Or it can be in the form of a simple instruction, guiding your audience on what to do next. For example, ‘don’t forget to like and share this video’.

5. Getting involved with your YouTube viewers

A YouTube channel is not just about video quality, optimization and gaining popularity. It’s also about building a community and, at the same time, maintains it intact.

Some people think that this is a difficult task since people’s interest can constantly change. But the truth is it can easily be done just by involving yourself with your audience.

Involvement in terms of replying to their comments, giving them shout-outs once in a while during the video and so on. In short, always make your audience feel appreciated. Once your audience feels that, they will reciprocate it by supporting you with more shares and likes.

Conclusion

Following these 5 simple tips will make your YouTube experience easier and fun. Not to mention the trust your channel is going to earn from your audience.

But remember, these 5 tips are just helping tools for your YouTube channel to succeed. The most important element in vlogging is still creating noteworthy content. Content is the main reason the audience visited your YouTube channel. So, make sure that you’ll always provide your audience the content they are looking for, or what you promised to deliver.

The characteristic of good-quality content is originality, 100% free from plagiarism and error, and it should always be helpful, interesting and in high-quality. Include these all and it will guarantee you great results every time you post a video on your channel.

About the author

Hi, I’m George. I have been a camera enthusiast from 2008. Cameraseals is my personal blog where I share most of my interests and experiences from using cameras. You will find helpful topics even if you’re a beginner or long-time user.