 Hey guys, my name is Sonali welcome back to my channel today I'm gonna be teaching you guys how to be a vlogger and I'm gonna share some of my secret tips and tricks I kind of just wrote random things and I also asked you guys to ask me questions on a little short video that I made So I will be doing like a little Q&A part if I don't answer the questions in my notes that I have written down So let's get started the first thing I want to cover is should you actually make a vlog channel? Is it worth your time? Is it worth your money type thing? You really need to decide if you're in it for the right reasons and you know You always hear this on the bachelor and the bachelorette, but I'm telling you guys now it is very time-consuming and Sometimes a little bit stressful Obviously, it's fun if you enjoy it, but you have to make sure you enjoy it I think vlogging is so awesome not only to share, you know Your life and your experiences with others but to have them for yourself to look back on sometimes I find myself binge watching some of my old vlogs because it's similar to watching home videos just like reliving those memories So I think that's a really cool part about it And honestly, I wish I started vlogging a lot sooner because I love just looking at those blogs and it always makes me smile So if you're a sentimental person like me, maybe that is something you could look into starting So personally, I don't have a separate vlog channel and I don't plan on making one just because I like to have it All on one channel So maybe decide that from the start Are you only going to be making vlogs or are you going to be making advice videos lifestyle videos? And do you want that on a separate channel because it would stuff to have like 50 vlogs on your main channel and then start a vlog channel and Not have all those vlogs like transferred onto there because there's no way you can transfer a video onto another channel Unless you like upload it again, I would just kind of be inconvenient So from the start you need to decide whether you're gonna have two separate channels or one channel a pro to having one Channel for it is that you will have all the followers that watch your main videos And you won't feel it disconnect from your main channel viewers from your vlogging viewers because they're kind of the same But I feel like people that have like a second channel always say like oh you guys don't really know me If you don't watch my blogs, you know So that's just kind of like another thing that they have to do like go to their vlog channel subscribe to that and get to Know them more so that's like a big pro in my eyes of having it all on one channel So when you start off, I really really highly recommend Having at least five videos already up before you start promoting your channel because maybe your friends family and even some random people on Instagram will click the link and be like oh this is cool But like maybe they aren't getting like sucked in enough if that makes sense So you need to provide more content so that they will subscribe Vlogs are a lot more personal they take you through an everyday life-typing or maybe an experience to show you what that was like It's definitely way more personal than one of these high produced high quality videos So I would recommend having a few of your first videos be something like a get to know me type thing So maybe you can do 50 facts about me or something of that matter So that your viewers can write off the bat know who you are and kind of get a feel for your personality Your channel should always always grow with you So if you're in high school, maybe you're doing high school videos Experiences showing them like your weekend in my life So maybe if you make a tutorial for prom or something like that But when you get to college, you should definitely try to like switch over because that's a new niche for you to work on This applies to all sorts of channels So it's not only vlog channels, but I just think if you're 24 years older something like that You should be doing videos more geared to your age group because remember your viewers grow with you So if you're 18 sharing stuff about getting into college those subscribers are probably 18 as well And they're gonna grow with you. So as you grow up, maybe you like mature your content This also does not apply to vlog channels only But it's okay not to go with the trendy videos that everyone's making try to make your channel different And I think the biggest advice I can tell you guys is to find your niche I feel like I've talked about this maybe in a blog maybe in a live stream before But I personally found my niche in college videos sorority videos and just sharing my experience to help others in that situation So they can be more prepared than I was so now that I know that I get a lot of interaction on those blogs I make more blogs about college stuff and about sororities and Greek life and stuff like that So just make sure you kind of track your progress and look at your analytics sometimes So you guys have probably heard this a lot of times that YouTubers will be like you guys don't see everything We only put out like 15 minutes of our day type thing and that is so true because Obviously you want to always look happy on camera You don't want to bring anyone else down with you if you're having a bad day So I think it's really important to know when to not shove the camera in someone's face or even your own If you're having a bad day if you're in a bad mood Maybe just continue the vlog the next day because that's happened to me so many times where I think I'm gonna have an adventurous day And then I just get in a bad mood something happens And then I'm like honestly like I don't need to blog this right now I don't need to fake my happiness and I can just continue the vlog tomorrow and everything will be okay So that way I'm not faking anything I'm just not showing you guys the bad parts in my life if that makes sense And I know I said vlog channels are more personal than main channels But it doesn't mean you're forced to share your hard times through life You can definitely not show that and that is all up to you It's whatever you feel comfortable with another thing is to be unique And that's really where you're gonna stand out from all these vloggers nowadays You might think that using the same song or title transition is gonna get you as many subscribers As the youtuber you're trying to copy but trust me That's not how you do it you need to be unique and find your own style Obviously, it's okay to get inspiration from other youtubers, but just don't copy them personally for me I get weirded out if like two youtubers kind of use the same songs if that makes sense like for example Everyone uses Casey Neistat's music and I probably used like two of his songs too But like they'll literally search like Casey Neistat music vlogs And that's like just not the way to go about it if you hear a song and Casey Neistat's vlog And then you hear it in someone else's blog You're just gonna think of Casey Neistat and just be like oh like they're copying them Or just not think of the youtuber as a unique person You're just gonna kind of merge them into every other youtuber. So be unique is what I'm trying to say I'm definitely guilty of this next one But sometimes I only vlog in the car and I won't take my vlog camera out in the store in public because one I forget which is the main reason and two I'm maybe embarrassed Maybe I think of vlogging, but I'm just like maybe not here Maybe it's an open store and you're just like kind of uncomfortable vlogging But I think it's so important just to get as much footage as you can out of the car Because I personally don't enjoy like the car vlogs as such as I do the vlogs that actually take me in Public or show me around your city or show me what you're doing outside of your car And I get that there's this new trend of doing car vlogs like that's totally okay Because they actually have topics to talk about but if you're just like driving to places and you're like Okay, I'm going to target and you don't take us in target like girl I wanted to see what you've got in target. You know what I mean? Trust me It will make a big difference in your vlogs if you have that type of content and not just car vlogging content and another tip to go along with that if you have friends around you Make sure they hold you accountable whenever I'm in the car going to like the beach or something I tell them don't forget to tell me to vlog when I get there because sometimes I will forget and they will Remember if you both forget you're shut out a lot But most of the time one person will remember get a tripod for your vlogging camera because you can hold It by the legs and it actually makes it a little bit more stabilized Then just holding the camera itself with your hands and also by getting a tripod You can set it down wherever you want and you can get like cool Timelapses or just set it down and talk to the camera and not have to make a makeshift tripod wherever you are So going into cameras. I use the Sony a5 100. I love this camera so much I'm pretty sure the first vlogging camera I had was a Canon G7 X. I'm pretty positive about that I just personally didn't see anything great about it. The Sony a5 100 actually has interchangeable lenses So for example, one of mine is a wide lens and the other one is just like a little tighter of a lens with a blurrier background So for just casual talking parts, I'll usually use my wide-angle lens, but for the more cinematic shots I will use my tighter lens with the blurrier background the Sony a5 100 actually comes with a kit lens itself And it's really awesome. It actually does blur the background a little bit But I got one that just blurs it a little bit more just because I'm you know obsessed with that blur Who isn't really sometimes if I am carrying around my Canon 70d on my neck just for taking pictures It's easier to use that lens on there than switching my lens on the vlogging camera So sometimes I will use that one for my art to your shots So now you guys might be feeling a little bit intimidated because I threw all those lenses and camera names that you guys But if you don't have a camera that you can use for vlogging It's not a big deal The newer iPhones have really good quality on the back of the cameras the front camera not so much But you can definitely still use it when I was starting to get into vlogs I personally use my iPhone 2 and then when I realized I actually want to do it more consistently I took that next step and rewarded myself to buy an actual vlogging camera I'm such an impulse buyer. So if I want to start a vlogging channel that day I go out and get a camera that day, but the thing is sometimes it's a phase So maybe that day I wanted to start a channel, but like a month later I'm over it then you might have just wasted all that money on a camera and it might be past the return deadline Obviously having a camera is awesome Even if you're not using it for vlogging you can use it for pictures and all that stuff So it's not a complete waste, but you get what I mean I personally think music and blogs is so important. It brings the feels to your blogs It gives you your blogs meaning and it just brings it all together and it just makes it a lot more cinematic I used to search instrumental versions and just non copyrighted songs, but then I found this awesome website This is not sponsored at all. It's called epidemic sounds and there is a monthly payment It might be like $15 or something like that and you might think that's crazy But for me it's something that I use on the daily basis So you can get unlimited song downloads for $15 a month Which I think is a really good deal because they have such cool selections like they actually have like albums for YouTube halls or YouTube pranks or YouTube vlogs or travel videos They have it all sectioned off already to go so it's easier for you to go in and pick your music I also think it's important to switch up your songs and get new music every now and then Because if you use the same instrumental music in every single vlog It's just a little too much and kind of zones me out to be honest And even if you're a beauty guru just wanting some beats in the background for your tutorial It's still important to get new and updated music because it's so easy to tell if you're using the same song in every tutorial And then that kind of like loses the interest of the viewer just because she's heard it so many times And it feels like she's watching the same video over music definitely brings emotion into these clips So if you're vlogging about a road trip, maybe you'll pick more like Fulky music or something like that just to tie in the emotion Or if you're doing travel videos, maybe you'll pick a song with a cool beat drop to showcase your best clip Really quick I wanted to talk to you guys about b-roll and kind of give you the definition of it B-roll is the extra footage captured to enrich the story You're telling and to have greater flexibility when editing instead of featuring only talking heads on video You want to have other images you can cut away to that will add dimension to your story Maybe you guys can tell from my summer vlogs that I have been adding a lot more b-roll than I used to And I really think it's kind of changed my game of vlogging because It definitely adds a more cinematic feel so with that being said It's really important for you to shoot to edit and what I mean by that is if you're going to a restaurant You know, you're gonna have a bomb ass meal Maybe you want to do a really cool slow-mo clip of your meal and your significant others meal And maybe them eating and maybe the ambiance of the restaurant All those clips will help you tell your story a little bit better rather than just saying the food is really good Here's my steak k bye. I think it's so much more entertaining If you say that you're having a really good meal then show your really good meal in an artsy way And you might feel a little bit weird doing this in public, but trust me It's so worth it when you get those slow-mo clips and you can add it to your vlog It just adds so much with that being said you don't need b-roll to have a great vlog Make sure you stay relatable too. I mean your life doesn't have to be Super crazy and adventurous every day people want to relate to you People want to see you have those lazy days and you can even make b-roll pouring your coffee or just editing on your computer Sometimes so it's awesome to have those adventurous days, but just make sure to stay relatable when editing Know how loud is too loud I use final cut pro and when i'm actually going into edit you can see the audio on the clip And if it shows like yellow patches on the audio that means it's way too loud And when you export it to youtube it might have like some buzzing noises and sound just really weird So usually i'll select all the clips and just bring it down to negative like Three four or five just in case I just want to make sure that I don't hurt anyone's ear drums if they're wearing headphones or anything Also when you're adding music to the vlogs it's important to fade it in and fade it out because if you go from a talking part To really loud music. It's just gonna blast your ear drums Especially when you're wearing headphones and you might lose interest in the video So it's very important to keep the flow and sometimes you'll notice this on youtubers videos Maybe at the end of their video They'll have an end card and they'll have subscribed to me a picture of them and then like social media icons And their music just like blasts in your ear and it's so loud It's because they didn't fade it in and out and bring it down a little bit So just make sure to keep the music at the same volume or close to it as your talking clips Sometimes I even make my music a little bit lower than my talking clips just to be safe So that's all of the notes that I have written down So we can get into some of the questions that you guys commented on my video Some of these questions I actually did answer already so i'm not going to add them in But let's get started with Is it hard to vlog in public and then another one is tips on vlogging in public? Yes, it is extremely hard to vlog in public But whenever I do I always try to say do it for the vlog and might have like a hundred times while I'm doing it Because I do get embarrassed sometimes But it is so worth it when you do have that footage in public because it just makes it a little bit more real And tips on vlogging in public if you are in a store with a lot of aisles For example target go in an island vlog not in like an open space where everyone can see you That's what I usually do and sometimes I tend to whisper on my blogs Which I really need to stop just make sure you are using a normal voice like even if it seems like you're talking to yourself Like just like Fake it on the phone for a little bit. Maybe I don't know and a piece of advice I have for vlogging in public is just to play it off cool If you think it's awkward then everyone around you is going to think it's awkward So just play it cool be confident about it And if somebody does ask you are you like videotaping that be like, yeah, I am I'm I'm vlogging it Just be confident about it and you'll forget they even asked What is a good editing software to use for starting out for max and other types of computers? So I So when I started my youtube channel, I had a max So I don't really know what the other video editing softwares are for other computers, but for max Please please use iMovie at least for the first year or so of you getting into video editing It's really not worth it to spend $300 on final cut pro If you're just going to be doing like simple cuts and adding music and stuff like that And if you are vlogging really constantly for maybe like six months or like a year or something And you know, you're going to continue to vlog then maybe reward yourself with final cut pro I'm pretty sure I use iMovie for like the first two years or so and both of the softwares are pretty similar I just kind of taught myself or looked up youtube tutorials on how to do certain things Next is does your arm ever hurt from holding up the camera for so long? And yes it for sure does especially when i'm just holding the camera itself But when I am holding the camera from its tripod legs, it tends to like not hurt as much So again, I recommend that tripod because it will save you some pain So the last question is how do you decide what to edit out of your vlogs and what to keep in When you are putting all of this content out on the internet It's important that you keep your brand protected and that you portray yourself in the best light So for example, if your friend makes a really bad joke Then you need to edit that out because you don't want other people just assuming things or just commenting bad things and getting hate for that And some people choose not to cuss in their vlogs, but I do keep it real with you guys I feel like a lot of my viewers are of my age or older So they kind of can relate and like everyone cusses so and then sometimes I do edit out some things that are just like Not vlog worthy like sometimes I'll just be talking in my bed for like literally 10 minutes straight And then I'll just like cut it all out because I'm just like it is not relevant to this vlog No one would want to hear about it. I'm literally just ranting So definitely make sure the clip kind of like pertains to your vlog or it's going to be helpful information for somebody else So I hope you guys enjoyed this video and found it super helpful Do you guys have any more questions about this topic leave them in the comments down below and I'll be sure to answer them So I will see you guys in my next video. Bye guys