What to Include in a Vlog

Starting a Vlog is very intimidating for many and I can totally relate to that. Even today after having had made many vlogs, Vlogging is something which makes me a bit unnerved.

The best way to start a vlog is to take a camera or your smart phone and film as soon as you get the idea. That is how I started. If I had waited for the perfect time, I would never had made a vlog.

What to Include in a Vlog? A vlog can be formal or informal. You can include personal stories, or share an experience, share How to Videos,
Pranks,Tutorials, Document an event or a Disaster and Rare Events.

Once you let reasoning set in, you start getting nervous, anxious and feel scared. In the next few sections we cover some basics of Vlogging.

If you are fearful of starting a vlog here is something which worked for me. You might be afraid because you feel you might look like a fool.

I tell myself, its okay. I am okay with not looking and sounding professional. I am excited to share my message. For every small bit of information we share, there is someone who will benefit.

Since I started vlogging there are so many people who have thanked me, for the ideas share, even though the lighting was bad, video quality was bad and I had zero editing skills.

Another important tip is to prepare in advance. While I personally do not do that often, but initially when I did prepare, it made things easier. I no longer felt scared and vlogging eventually got to be fun.

First Vlog Ideas

The first Vlog is always very precious. My first Vlog was just a random vlog. I just wanted to challenge myself to make a vlog.

When I started a new vlog in another niche, I decided to be more intentional in my approach.

Tips for making your first vlog

The first vlog is always exciting, here are some ideas for the first vlog. Usually it is best to keep it simple.

Introduce yourself

Just introduce yourself, who you are and why are you vlogging.

If you know your vlogging schedule you could mention that as well.

So Something like “Hi This is… I love baking. I will be sharing traditional recipes which….. A new baking video will uploaded every Monday at 11:00 am on this channel. In my first video I will be sharing grandma’s favorite cookie cupcake recipe which has only 3 ingredients and is super easy to bake.”

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Post Videos

Some people simply upload 5 to 10 videos in their area of interest and then make an intro video.

The reason being no one actually cares about you or knows your channel. Once people start watching your videos, they might then be interested to lean more about the creator, the behind the scenes.

It might be more than 20 videos before you start seeing traffic. Some get lucky and their first few videos get a lot of traction.

the important thing to remember is to not compare yourself or your progress with other Vloggers. Every Vlog has its own journey.

How to Prepare for a Vlog

Here are some ways to prepare for a Vlog in advance. I have found preparation does remove anxiety and it also makes the flow very smooth and easy.

Some people find that preparing in advance helps. Sometimes it actually puts a lot of stress and can cause anxiety. Do what suits you best.

#1 Study your Topic

Study just like in school will help easen the process and make it more structured. If you could write down all what you want to cover on a notepad, it helps.

I quickly jot down points in my bullet journal. This helps streamline my thoughts and when I sit in front of the camera, I know what to say and do.

#2 Understand Your Audience

If you can make a persona in mind, for example “moms with toddlers who are looking to adopt minimalism with their kids“, the process gets simplified.

Knowing who you are targeting makes it easy to step in their shoes and understand their problems and fears.

This means you can make videos to help solve those problems. Even if it a baking video, if your persona is a mom who has wants traditional baking recipes which are quick to bake, you can make such videos and target that niche.

Sometimes narrowing the niche too much down like this can mean very few interested people. Strike a balance. We are just trying to figure out the ideal person. There definitely many other people watching our videos.

#3 Identify Your Goals

What is it you want to achieve with your vlog? I was naive enough to put a target like thousands of views as my goal.

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While this is achievable but it seemed very daunting for me. For my other Vlogs, I have set achievable goals and metrics. My main aim in some is simply to generate leads.

This removes the stress of getting views and subscribers. Thsis helps me focus on the content and not the vanity metrics such as views and subscribers.

#4 Gameplan

Once we identify our aim, our audience, we know exactly what type of videos to make. Now it is just a question of sitting down and scripting the video.

Our next steps are to prepare a video script and film the videos.

#5 Script

Some people write down verbatim everything they plan to say. Some sketch out a few points on what they want to see, when the video would show products and when the video swings back to the presenter.

We need to decide the length of video as well. Youtube loves watch time, hence longer videos get us more views and Youtube suggests some of them, taking them viral.

But people might like to consume short videos and might not want to watch a 30 minute video.

For this you must look at your analytics after uploading a few videos. If you notice people dropping off at a certain timestamp, that means people are bored by whatever it is you mention at 3 minutes or it is just too long.

#5 Lighting & Location

I struggled a lot with this. My lighting wasn’t good at all and I did not have the budget for the umbrella lights.

Lighting is very important. People are forgiving if the lighting is not that great, but eventually they stop watching the videos.

I decided on my locations based on lighting. So I chose

Some videos are shot best indoors, some at the desk, some in backyard. Decide where you want to shoot the videos.

#6 Shooting Schedule

If you can discipline yourself to stick to a filming schedule, it will help your channel growth, and makes vlogging very easy.

You could dedicate every Tuesday for filming and Wednesday for editing and scheduling videos.

Ideally you should publish videos on the same day at the same time every week.

#7 Put together the Materials

Having a script in hand and your schdule in mind, you are now ready to collect all the materials which might be required for filming the video.

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Keep them in one place, maybe in a box or on a shelf. On filming day, you just need to grab the materials and filming equipment, your script and you are ready to go.

This post first appeared on indianmomvlogs.com and is a part of the vlogging series.

Related Questions

Daily Vloging Tips

Daily Vlogging can be hard. I know this because I tried it and failed miserably. I am in awe of daily vloggers who film, edit and upload on time, everyday no matter what.

My first tip is decide if you really want to do this, it is tough and time consuming and can be stressful.

Tip #2 – Have a storyboard in mind, this makes vlogging fun, it also makes your channel popular,

Tip #3 Stick to your schedule, upload everyday at the same time

Tip #4 Learn some Video SEO and keep templates ready for thumbnails and some tags saved.

Tip #5 Schedule videos in advance. If you can, schedule videos 7 to 10 days in advance, this will keep you on track and even if you are sick or having a baby or cannot make a video, you have videos lined up. You can play catch up and make more videos on days you are feeling energized.

How To Make a Vlog Intro

Vlog intros can be really crucial and if done right can help boost viewership and your channel. Keep the intro short 3 to 5 seconds max, incorporate your brand colors, your channel name and tagline and show users what they can expect in the video. So you could show a footage of a haircut gone wrong or kids crying, so that it generates interest and people stick on in order to able to watch that incident occur.