7 Steps to Make High-Performing Youtube Videos Even if you are a Beginner

We’re in the unprecedented times when Online Reality is replacing Actual Reality in our lives, especially after COVID-19. Interacting with friends, family, and followers using virtual channels makes them feel closer to you. Video is the next best thing to actually being there. And if you are a Marketer or a Content Creator, YouTube can be the best place to reach out to your audience using video. And if you know how to make Youtube videos, you’re all set to leverage this changing trend

You must have heard and read that Videos are already here to stay. There are enough statistics to back this up.

• Youtube is amongst the top-3 websites in the world today.
• The number of Monthly Active Users on YouTube is approx. 2 billion people.
• One billion hours of YouTube content is viewed per day.
• 500 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube every single minute.
• 250 million hours of YouTube content is viewed per day on TV screens

These numbers are insane! And so would we be if we aren’t taking Youtube seriously and aren’t learning How to make Youtube Videos.

All this points to the direction that Videos have made a place in every marketing strategy.

Why should Youtube be a part of your Content Strategy?

Whether you are a brand, a Marketer or a Content Creator – Video will make your message more effective than ever as compared to any other format.

And Youtube is the best platform to use for your video marketing strategy for various reasons:

• Youtube video helps in your SEO efforts.
• Youtube works very well for Branding.
• People come to Youtube for seeing Product Explanations, Demonstrations and Reviews. It’s a great medium to increase trust.
• Youtube videos reach out to a wider audience for a longer time (unlike Facebook or IGTV where the videos get pushed down in feed quickly and can’t be searched like on Youtube)
• Youtube Videos are mobile friendly – Videos get optimized to be played on any device.
• Monetization – Youtube allows creators to monetize their content by showing ads in the videos. It is a substantial revenue stream for a lot of Youtubers.

Youtube is clearly an important marketing channel for Marketers and Content Creators in any vertical.

I have leveraged it for a lot of Brands that I have consulted over the years and see amazing results.

This is one reason I have started giving more attention to Young Urban Project’s Youtube Channel.

I have been implementing a lot of things for my Youtube Channel (that I recently started from Zero) that have been showing results. And I believe they will work for you too.

The most important part of your Youtube Strategy is the actual Content. The video.

If your Video content is good and valuable for the audience that you are targeting, a lot of other things will become easy for you.

And that is why I am sharing these 7 Steps to Make Youtube Videos the right way.

Step 1: Plan Out how to make YouTube Videos Strategy before Anything Else

Before you begin it’s imperative to have a strategy in place.

The two essential elements that you need to decide beforehand is a strong TOPIC and an IDEAL AUDIENCE you want to reach out to.

No matter how textbookish this sounds these two elements sound, they are going to be the foundation of your work ahead.

If you want to optimize your YouTube strategy, it’s essential to have a precise and focused goal in mind.

Your Strategy is basically the answer of these questions:

• What will be your niche (the area of expertise you will talk about)?
  For example, Let’s say you want your videos to be about the best mobile apps on iOS and Android. And in each video, you will talk about an app that helps in productivity or entertainment or something else. This niche is the reason an audience will follow you.
• Who will be your Target Audience?
  As per the above example, what kind of viewers do you want to attract? Are these only Android phone users or iOS users or both? What age range are they in? What geographies are they from (so that you can decide to do content in English or a certain language).
• How frequently would you post a video?
  Will you post once a week or once a month or daily? This is important so that you can plan your production accordingly. This is called the Content Calendar.
• What will be the content buckets?
  This includes the topics you will cover – will there be App reviews, New Discovery of apps, Interviews, brand collaborations etc.

Your video cannot be made for everyone. It needs to be made specifically for the audience that you have decided.

Step 2: Your videos should be discoverable on Youtube & Google Search

While it’s true that YouTube is a great social platform it follows all guidelines of a typical search engine.

This makes it important to optimize your video for search.

You need to understand what your ideal audience is looking for: something for inspiration, an instructional video, or just entertainment.

Ultimately you need to learn how to make Youtube videos and make content that is good for your users.

This is my approach on how to make Youtube Videos:

• First I identify the Topic that I want to make a video on (A lot of times I ask my followers on Young Urban Project Instagram Account about what topic they would like to see a video on).
• Then I go to Youtube and see what videos are ranking on top for this topic.
• I go through the content of these videos and try to see how I can adapt that content for my audience or what are the gaps in these videos that I can fill in my video.
• I write my video content script accordingly and then product it.
• While uploading, I make sure to enter the ideal title and thumbnail that will get people to click on it.

You content needs to be dedicated on a specific niche, which will give an edge to your content to be more searchable.

Step 3: Do your Content Research on Youtube itself or Ask your Audience

The comments section is where you can do so. A lot of videos and articles serve as a great resource for YouTube Video making topics.

After watching a video people often suggest further topics or ask questions that suggest areas of interest for creation of additional content.

Another option is finding a group (on Facebook) where you can bounce off ideas and ask questions.

These forums may even help you come up with some different and better video topics to start with.

If you already have an existing audience (like I have on Young Urban Project Instagram) even if it’s not a huge one it’s always worthwhile asking them what type of content they would enjoy or prefer to watch.

This is a sure way to figure out what your audience wants to know, learn, and watch. And this will give you a new perspective on how to make Youtube videos in a more strategic way.

Step 4: Get the Right Equipment for making your Youtube Videos

While expensive equipment can increase the production quality of your videos, it’s definitely not a prerequisite to starting out.

With the growing popularity of online videos, the scale has tilted towards content quality instead of production quality. This means that good content will mostly compensate for the lack of high-end equipment.

Remember that highly specialized equipment can be complex to run, and requires significant time and training to understand, let alone master.

It’s good to start with baby steps. Start with your phone, and then move to professional gear (only if you want that).

A lot can be done with things like screen recording software, a simple video editor, or a smartphone and a little bit of creativity.

Some equipment that you can consider getting to begin your Youtube journey is:

• A Smartphone (even the entry-level smartphones will do)
• A Basic Tripod with a phone holder – to keep your videos steady.
• A ring light (optional). You can use any artificial light in your home. If you don’t have one, shoot outdoors in natural light.
• A Lavalier microphone because Sound can make or break your video’s performance. You can get some really inexpensive ones from Amazon.

Step 5: Editing your Videos for Youtube

Once you have shot your video, it is time to focus on making a well packaged (edited) product.

The first thing to start with is trimming the mistakes. It is normal to have fumbles and breaks in your Youtube video. Because you can always edit them out.

You can edit your video using Desktop software or even Mobile Apps. Below are some tools you can use:

• Windows Movie Maker – A free simple Windows-based video editing tool.
• iMovie – A free simple Mac/iOS based video editing tool.
• inShot – A free/freemium video making app for Android & iOS
• Kinemaster – This Freemium app has a lot of powerful features and is available for both Android & iOS

Once you have your smooth video without overlaps and mistakes in place the next step is to add titles, transitions, annotations, and more. You will be surprised to learn how a simple video can be turned into a masterpiece with the right editing.

If you are serious to learn how to make Youtube Videos and want to learn how to make Stunning and High-Performing videos right from your Smartphone, I have put together a highly valuable online course that teaches you both – the detailed strategy and the practical execution of making Videos from just your smartphone. If you want to find out how to do that, click on the banner below to learn more about our Video Making & Marketing Mastery (V3M) Course:

There are 3 elements that I strongly suggest you to focus on:

1. The Video Thumbnail: When your prospective viewers are in search mode and are skimming through search results and recommendations the thumbnails are a major factor of how they decide which video they want to watch. In the video below, I have shown how to make an awesome thumbnail. Check it out.
2. A gripping Intro: You have a few seconds to grab the attention of the viewer and make sure they don’t go away from your video. Quickly put up the Hook in the first 5-6 seconds and describe what the viewer will learn if they watch this video till the end. This will greatly improve retention.
3. A Persuasive Outro: This is essential for brands because this is where you add a Call to action. If you want your viewers to do something (Like/Share/Subscribe), visit a webpage, download a resource, they need to be specifically told so.

It is also a good idea to add a Chyron or lower thirds. As the name suggests a Chyron or Lower-Third is positioned on the lower third part of the screen and is a simple way to provide your audience with information. It may be used to display a name, place, or other useful information. Below is a sample of what a Chyron looks like.

While focusing on the aesthetics of your video, don’t forget about the audio quality. Adding appeasing background music to your video can make all the difference.

In our V3M Course, you will find everything about making online videos using just your smartphone. Check it here.

There are multiple free music options available online and you can take your pick.

Step 6: Uploading your Video on Youtube

The first thing you will want to do is to log in to YouTube.  Then choose the upload arrow button near the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Next proceed to set your desired privacy settings. There are 4 types of privacy setting:

• Public: This means anyone can see your video
• Unlisted: This means that only those people will be able to watch your video you have that specific video link.
• Private: These videos can only be seen by you or the people you choose.
• Scheduled: This is an option where you can upload the video now and schedule a time and date when it will be visible to the audience.

While the video uploads to your channel, you can see its progress on a status bar. Once uploaded, the video then has to process. You can see the progress for that in the status bar as well.

After this it is important to add title, an appropriate description and tags. You can also check off Facebook and twitter option in privacy setting if you have set it on Public to automatically post on these platforms too.

Step 7: Optimise your Video to make it Perform better

Now that you know how to make Youtube videos and are done uploading your video it is time to optimize it. Target keywords that list videos on Google.

I use a Chrome extension called VidIQ (their free version) to help a lot with the optimization.

Another useful tip is to make longer videos. Longer videos normally rank higher than the shorter ones.

Another thing to keep in mind is that to ensure your keyword is spoken in the video. A minimum of 2-3 times in the script will help when YouTube transcribes your content.

The first 6-10 seconds are extremely important. You need to incentivize your users to watch as long as possible. Give your audience a reason to stay and watch your entire video.

If there was one critical tip on how to make Youtube videos, this would be it: If you give your viewers the answers they seek, they will be retained.

You don’t need to be a professional video maker to succeed at how to make Youtube Videos like a Pro. All that you require is to keep the engagement on, understand your audience, and create valuable content.

These few basic tips and tricks will surely give a boost to your video making skills and contribute in the growth of your brand or business.

If you think this article helped you with how to make Youtube videos and added value to you, please drop a comment and let me know.

If you want, you can also link to this article from your own blogs 🙂

See you in the next article!