5 Steps to Start Your Vlogging Career for Success

If you are thinking of starting a vlogging career, then you should go for it.

Long gone are the days when careers like vlogging and blogging were considered not practical and were even frowned upon. Today, you can earn a comfortable living through vlogging with just your creativity, patience, and some technical skills.

Becoming a vlogger is something that is coveted a lot these days, and it has become very lucrative too. Many vloggers are earning millions of dollars each year just through their social media videos. 

Once a vlogger has a big enough following, many different brands and companies reach out to collaborate with them and advertise on the vlogger's channel. This presents a great opportunity to earn money from your videos, and is something that you can focus on as well.

So, how do you start and grow your vlogging career to the point where large audiences and advertisers come knocking on your door?

Well, vlogging is something that demands a lot of energy and time investment. But there are some pro tips and tricks you can use that will ease your journey to vlogging success.

Top Tips to Start and Succeed at Vlogging

So, whether you are a casual vlogger and want to up your game, or you don’t know much about it but you want to get started and maybe turn it into a successful career, the following tips will help you on your way to realizing your vlogging dreams:

1. Determine the type of content you’ll create

The first thing you need to decide on is your content. Of course, without any content there won’t be a vlog to begin with. So, what are you interested in vlogging about?

These days people vlog about anything and everything. But only those who explore their passions (what they’re truly into) give themselves the edge to achieve success at vlogging.

Whenever someone asks me for tips for successful vlogging, I ask them about their interests and passions. Are they interested in travelling? Or are they more passionate about a variety of food? Yes, you can make your vlogs about food as well!

There are many people who want to travel and are hungry for travel information. Your travelling vlog can help them discover new places they can visit, and more. However, for this, you need to travel to different places, or you might run out of content.

Are you good at making skits? Because you can do that as well!

Or are your friends impressed by your speaking skills? You can make motivational videos and construct the vlogs around the speeches you give. The possibilities are endless.

Whatever you do, something you need to keep in mind is that your content needs to be fresh, compelling and different to what’s already out there. Which set us up nicely for the next tip.

2. Study other vlogs to find inspiration and your competitive edge

Content creators sometimes run out of ideas and are not sure what to create next. One thing that helped me was looking at other people’s vlogs, in and outside my niche. You can do likewise.

The purpose of checking out other vlogs was not to copy anyone, but to get inspiration. Do this when you are not sure what to do, or your muse is nowhere to be found.

Looking at other people’s vlogs can sometimes give you random and creative ideas, as well. You’ll be surprised at how your mind will start working and your creative juices flowing.

You may even find an angle to do something people want to see that other vloggers aren’t addressing. Do not blatantly copy, but study and learn from other vloggers to improve your skills and content.

3. Get good equipment to shoot professional videos

Of course, you cannot start vlogging without a camera. If you are thinking of using your mobile phone's camera, it is not going to work in the long run. You can start with your smartphone’s camera, but soon or later as your vlogging grows you’ll need a high quality, pro camera.

Using a professional camera instantly makes you stand out from the crowd. Most people making videos use their smartphones. So, to get an edge over a chunk of your competition, get a good quality camera. It will show that you are not a casual vlogger but take this task very seriously.

Don’t forget to get a tripod because no one wants to see a shaky video. No matter how skilled you are at holding a camera or using it, you’ll find that you really need a tripod. All professional videographers and photographers use it, so be sure to get one and use it when filming.

A tripod will help you get great steady shots with ease, and you will definitely notice the amazing results. Some of the best tripods for vlogging include GorillugaPod Hybrid, Manfrotto MTPIXI-B PIXI mini tripod, Gostellar universal flexible Mini tripod and Magnus VT-4000.

Shoot your video from a variety of angles. Be thorough and pay attention to detail. Your professionalism must be evident, shine through in all the videos that you create and upload.

4. Develop (and keep honing) your video editing skills

A good camera is not going to save you if you have no editing skills. You always have the option of hiring someone for editing your videos, but I would not recommend that, especially if you are just starting out on this career. The reason is, it is not cost-effective.

That being said, when you build enough following, and once the money starts coming in, you will have so much work on your hands that you may need an assistant editor after all.

However, I always recommend to all vloggers (no matter their level of experience) to keep learning and improving their editing skills. As a vlogger, it is something that is expected of you. This way, you’ll always be able to clearly capture and bring out your creativity and personality, and nothing works better than that.

When editing your videos, have good lighting and use cuts wisely. The standard cut is the most common. Connect frames together into a simple, straightforward flow. Also, keep the background clean and simple so that it does not distract viewers from the content of your videos.

Among the most popular video editing programs vloggers use for video editing include Adobe Premiere Pro CC, iMovie, and Final Cut Pro X. You can start with any of these to edit your videos.

5. Maintain a regular schedule and stick to it

Consistency is key to success online. It’ll be difficult to build an audience if people don’t know when you upload new content, or even the quality they can expect from you in your videos.  

Another mistake that many vloggers make is that they start off well, but become inconsistent with time. That is a big No-No. Your followers need to be able to have faith in you.

If you are not going to post regularly, why should viewers even follow you? I always prefer quality over quantity. So, it’s better to post one vlog per month, but then it should be worth all the wait.

To maintain a regular schedule, list vlogs you will make in a given period ahead of time, which means you pen down your ideas. Also plan how and when you are going to shoot and edit those ideas so that your videos are ready on time. A production calendar can help.

If you want vlogging to become a career, you’ll need to put in some time, effort and thought into everything. A predetermined project plan and shooting schedule for each day, week or month's shooting is, therefore, essential to maintain consistency.

Bonus Tip:

Master the Art of Using Social Media for Marketing

These days, social media is vital for marketing and promoting your videos. People today hang out on social media and you need to go where they are and convince them to check out your videos. That’s one of the most effective and obvious way to build an audience.

One of the popular, fast-rising social media platforms today is TikTok, and many vloggers are using it to expand their reach and follower base. You can start leveraging Instagram too for lead generation, directing users there to your video channel.

Reaching people on Instagram is relatively easy than, say, YouTube when starting out. You can, therefore, try different tricks and hacks to reach an audience on Instagram and other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to increase your viewership and subscibers.

Once you have mastered the skills of driving social media traffic to your videos, the rest of the journey to vlogging success will be easier.

Also don’t forget using paid advertising on social media, search engines and video sharing sites like YouTube, too. Paid advertising can help you build awareness faster than other methods.

With these tips, you'll be well on your way to vlogging success. All the best to you in your vlogging journey and career!