The online content world has started to become more focused on video than ever. YouTube used to be for watching cats on skateboards, and now you can find hundreds of tutorials. Interviews were predominantly done in written form, now you will get more hits if you post a video interview. Overall the shift has gone to video, and I am trying to get to grips with how to become a great vlogger.
In my journey I have identified a few essential elements that I believe to be the secret to vlogging success. I want to share with you top three things.
1. Get A Vlog Centric WordPress Theme
The most important thing in getting yourself set up is finding a WordPress theme that will without hassle handle all of your video content and display it elegantly. You need to be able to upload all types of video with one click, create a homepage that can showcase your content, and make sure your website has great performance.
Here is an example. I have tested a few themes and have settled on Vlog by Meks. With the Vlog theme you get a “video carousel” that will display your latest and most popular videos. Your users can slide through all of your videos, and with one click watch your clips. There is also a “watch later” button that will save your video for later watching, and my favourite a “cinema mode” that allows your users to watch your videos distraction free.
Why is all of this important? Well you can import the demo with one click, embed videos just by pasting the URL, and be sure that the theme will display your videos properly to fit all layouts wherever your videos are hosted, YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, JWPlatform, Wistia, Twitch etc. This also ensures that your content won’t be lost when switching to the Vlog theme or from it.
Rather than reading more about how fantastic this theme is, I suggest you go and sign up for a free three day trial that gives you access to all of the features. The Meks support is unparalleled, so you can email them with any questions you have, and they will get back to you.
2. Don’t Worry About Having Something Interesting To Say
At WordCamp London, my colleague Heather Dopson, held a lighting talk about vlogging, and she talked about how one of the main worries people have is if they are interesting enough. But, we primarily forget that,
Both recorded video and live broadcasting are HOT ways to increase your visibility, share information and solve problems.
Video allows you to interact on a whole new level with your users, how can that not be interesting?
Nonetheless people worry about “what should they talk about”, especially if it’s a live stream. Did you know that live streaming gets prioritized on Facebook? So, here is the truth, you can literally talk about anything and you will be interesting enough! If you are passionate about what you do, the enthusiasm will spread, and it will spread twice as fast if you are on video. By recording yourself or live streaming you become “alive” in the eyes of your user, they meet you and get to know you, allowing you to gain their trust. A user that trusts you is a user that stays with you.
This applies to all types of businesses and/or hobbies. Record a tutorial, do a live demo of your product, talk about what makes your product special, why you like it, or simply show us something that you like to do in your spare time. We can’t wait to watch you and learn from you.
Here are a few examples of vlogs that are widely different, but all powered by the Meks Vlog WordPress theme.
- Joanie Simon and her cooking vlog.
- Amazing Work System instead of having a blog, they have a vlog
- The Cinematographer, who uses his own website to showcase his work.
3. Like Connecting With People
This is perhaps an obvious one, but a lot of people will do something just to get more views, and increase their customer acquisition and retention. With most things doing something systematically works, like A/B testing or link building, but it’s a little bit different when it comes to the creative side of marketing (as I like to call it).
A vlogger needs to like people, and talking to them. Otherwise it won’t take off.
Like with anything that directly involves interacting with an audience from paintings, music, theatre plays, presentations, books to your vlog the key is to want to talk to people, to have something that you want to share with them and teach them.
Your viewers and subscribers want you to “be real”. They want you to “be you”. So you need to be comfortable talking to your audience as if speaking to a friend. The more you engage with your audience the better you will do, so ask them questions and get feedback about what they want to hear from you. One final thought, a vlogger by default does not mean you need to be an extrovert. Actually a lot of introverts are better on video, because they happen to be more natural.
Conclusion
The trend in marketing is moving toward video, and to be on track you need to get on that video train. To do that successfully you only really need 3 things, a great video focused WordPress theme like Vlog, to let go of the fear that you are not interesting, and to want to connect to people.
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