In my previous post, I discussed the ins and outs of video-blogging (or vlogging) for authors and why this can be a great way to keep your readers interested.
These days almost anyone can create a great video blog!
All you need is a decent internet connection, a laptop or desktop computer purchased in the last several years and a YouTube account and you can become a star.
Ok, it takes a bit more time and effort than just that, but it has never been easier to begin your vlogging career. Are you ready to make the plunge? If so, here is a guide on how to get started.
Step 1: Record your vlog(s)!
It is always good practice to begin with a few good bits of original content (rather than just one). There is a lot of information on the web and if you “launch” your career with more than one video, you probably have a greater chance of obtaining subscribers right off the bat. This shows that you intend to keep vlogging.
You can film yourself with a built-in webcam on your desktop or laptop computer. Here is a simple guide on how to record your first video blog!
Make sure that the subject matter is engaging and interesting to your audience. I know… easier said than done! If you aren’t sure just what to start talking about when you get in front of the camera, one good piece of advice is to think about some of your favorite video blogs. What makes these interesting? What type of content really grabs you?
Here are some good ideas for authors if you need a good starting place:
- Upcoming book tours
- The meaning behind certain events or characters in your books
- Current events related to your genre
- Ideas inspired by themes in your book
- Other books you are reading and why you enjoy reading those authors
- Potential future releases
Step 2: Start Your YouTube Career
Ok. Why YouTube?
There are endless reasons, but I explained one of the biggest in part 1 of this article. It just allows a huge degree of flexibility and makes it easy for you to track who is following your videos.
Once you have recorded your first videos, you can create a YouTube account and channel. This process is also very simple. You will be asked to link your YouTube account to you Google account, and then you will be asked to create a channel. Your channel name should be the name you go under as an author, even if it is a pen name. It needs to match what is on your book covers. This is because it makes you easy to find on YouTube via search. It would not be helpful if readers were looking for Michael Crichton’s YouTube channel and he has called himself Peyton Manning, for example. You get the idea.
YouTube’s video upload system is extremely simple, and from a technical perspective, it’s functionality is kind of amazing. You literally just need to drag your video file into the box that appears from your desktop and it will compress your video (pretty much any file type under the sun) into a viewer-friendly YouTube video which can be seen in multiple sizes across the web in many languages. Isn’t technology amazing?
The next screen (once your video has completed uploading) will encourage you to add keywords, a video title and a description for the video, all of which you should do.
It is important that your video can be discovered not only through your website, but through your YouTube channel as well. All the videos you upload are stored on your channel, and others can subscribe to your channel with ease.
The little red “subscribe” button is a key element to watch on your channel, as when others subscribe this number will continue to go up!
Step 3: Embed Your Videos on your site
The final step is to cross-post your vlogs onto your website. YouTube makes this EXTREMELY simple. This is all you need to do:
- Click on the main URL of your YouTube video you would like to embed on your WordPress author website, which will look something like this (just an example)
- Below the video click the “share” button (underlined in the image above)
- Click the “embed” button which appears beneath the row with the “share” button.
- If you want to size your video appropriately you can select a different video size from the dropdown menu beneath. This will determine how large the video will appear on your website after embedding
- You will see a few lines of code appear once selecting “embed”. Go ahead and copy this code, then go to your WordPress author website.
- Open your vlog post and click on the “Text” tab that appears above and to the right of the post editor (if it is not already selected), as you need to be in text move to embed videos
- Paste this code directly into your editor in the place you would like your video to appear.
That’s it! You are done!
You have just created a YouTube channel, added a video to YouTube’s system, and then cross-posted it to your website.
I hope this was a helpful guide in getting started adding videos to your repertoire of blogging. It really as a great way to reach your audience and is a very good way to jumpstart your traffic numbers in the early going.