From Bites to Blocks: Top 10 Video Editing Principles

YouTube Video Editing Tips for Beginner Editors

Marion Dubois

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Creating good-quality videos regularly can be difficult, especially when you are a beginner. The most crucial part of making a video is editing. This is the part where you have to look at every intricate detail. This is the part where you remove unwanted footage and place useful shots in their position. Every creator has their editing style by which they put their mark on their videos.

Editing can be a long and tedious process. It takes time, patience, and an immense amount of creativity to create a video good enough to impress the viewers. Here are few tips that will make your editing process easier and cut your editing time in half.

Top 10 Video Editing Tips for YouTube Beginners

The following will not tell you how to edit your YouTube videos, but will surely make editing a little more convenient.

1. Choose a Good Video Editor

One of the first things you have to do is make sure that you have chosen a video editor that is best for you.

Using either too complicated or too basic a video editor can only create problems for you. An advanced video editor may create very high-end, professional videos, but it will take months just to get the hang of the software. Whereas a free basic video editor may not give as many options as you’d need to edit your videos properly.

2. Use Fast Computers

Being a video creator, you’ll have to store numerous huge files on your computer. To improve your current PC, you can invest in an SSD, which is a lot faster than the traditional hard disk.

SSD will not only improve your export, loading, and rendering time but it will allow you to access files and editing software much faster. Another improvement you can make to make your editing process faster is to increase the RAM of your computer (it should be at least 8 GB). Also, make sure to get the recommended video card and processor for your video editor.

3. Invest Your Time in Video Editing Tutorials

You can watch video editing tutorials to learn and perfect the art of video editing. You can easily find free tutorials online, visiting websites like Skillshare and Red Giant tutorials to access free video editing tutorials. Search for tutorials that are specific to the editing software you use. You can also search for tutorials that will help improve your content.

4. Use Keyboard Shortcuts

Learn the keyboard shortcuts for various functions in the software, especially the ones that are usually repeated throughout the process like undo, redo, delete, etc.

You can also invest in an Editing keyboard, they are software specific and already have keyboard shortcut icons in them.

5. Add Good Music

Another important tip to keep your audience all ears is to add good music to your videos. Whether it is background music or a soundtrack in between shots, it has to pair well with your video.

If you are on a budget and don’t want to spend money on music, there are royalty-free options available. But, know that good music only comes at a price.

6. Add Text, Titles, and Graphics

You can choose from a wide variety of text and titles. You’ll also have tools to enhance the graphics of your video. When you have so many options, choosing the right one can be difficult. It is better to keep the font of the text simple.

You can also use video editors to add flashy motion graphics to your videos. You can either create your graphics by hand or you can also choose from a variety of ready-made graphics templates.

7. Don’t Forget to Color Correction

Not color correcting your videos may render them looking dull and lifeless. Color is one of the major elements that play a crucial part in setting the mood of your video. Depending upon the type of content you’re portraying in the video, you can use a color scheme to highlight specific aspects or to evoke certain emotions in the audience.

Color correction is used to make your video appear consistent throughout the scenes. Whereas color grading is used to make videos stand out. Both are essential to differentiate certain scenes from others.

8. Learn Important Terms

Learn the terms commonly used in video editing. It will help you become proficient with the software and the process of editing. Some common terms used in the editing sphere are:

• Cutaways
• Jump Cuts
• Match Cuts/Match-Action Montage
• J and L Cuts
• Cutting on Action

9. Store Your Video Files on an External Drive

Storing your huge video files on an external drive will free up a lot of space on your computer. This will help speed up your device so you don’t have to worry about slow rendering.

10. Make Copies of Your Files

Always make more than two copies of your files. You can use the 321 rule. The rule is to make 3 copies of your files, store them in two different places, where one place should be physically separate from the other.

The Best YouTube Video Editing Software for Beginners

There are many video editing software available in the video editing market, but Wondershare Filmora is the best video editor for beginners and professionals alike. It has a beginner-friendly interface, contains advanced editing tools, and is available at a reasonable price.

Here is a list of few features offered by Wondershare Filmora.

1. AI Portrait

It helps make your videos vibrant and colorful

2. Visual and Audio Effects

Visual and audio effects can be added to improve the image and sound quality of the video

3. Audio Ducking

You can layer one sound on top of the other.

4. Cool Texts

You can add cool texts and titles from the library.

5. Screen Recording

You can record the screen activity of your device.

Final Word

As a beginner, the time and effort required to make a good video can be reduced to half if you follow a few simple tricks that professionals use daily. It’s all about working smart and not hard. You can save time by learning the editing term and keyboard shortcuts. You can save your files in an external drive to save storage and make backup in case of any mishaps. Remember to color grade, add cool texts and good music to make your videos distinct.

Marion Dubois

Marion Dubois is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Marion Dubois

Crafting a Viral Video Journey: 6 Key Strategies on YouTube

How to Get Your YouTube Video Seen - 6 Easy Steps

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

With an estimated 60 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute you might be left wondering how to get your YouTube video seen in the huge sea of content. The good news is that a large number of these videos are not optimized in the correct format and taking some extra time to make sure that every video you post is well optimized for YouTube’s search engine can give you an instant advantage.

Here’s how you can get your YouTube video ranked higher in search results and attract more views in 6 easy steps.

• Step 1: Find Good Keywords for Your YouTube Videos
• Step 2: Make Full Use of Your Video’s Tags
• Step 3: Post a Transcript in Your Video Description
• Step 4: Write Searchable YouTube Video Titles
• Step 5: Optimize Your Video Description for YouTube SEO
• Step 6: Use Custom Video Thumbnails

1. Find Good Keywords for Your YouTube Videos

The keywords that you choose to use with your video will be the greatest factors in determining whether your video will actually be found by viewers searching for content like yours on YouTube. You need to be intelligent and choose strong keywords that are highly related to both your video and your niche on YouTube. Without the use of good keywords, your video will simply become lost in the endless stream of content being uploaded to YouTube, and audiences who might enjoy it will never get a chance to see it.

Consider doing some keyword research into your video’s subject using the Google Keyword Planner in or a variety of other keyword tools . Make sure the most important keywords are in your tags, title, and description.

2. Make Full Use of Your Video’s Tags

Tags are essential. A lot of creators either skip tags or only put in 1-5, and their actions will benefit you if you choose to use a lot.

Loading up your tags with keywords that are relevant to your video and genre will help your video appear in the viewer’s search results, which will earn you a lot more views. When users are looking for specific information, like how to recover lost data, just including things like ‘lost data’, ‘data recovery’, and even the full phrase ‘how to recover lost data’ in your video’s tags will give you a greater chance to actually appear in search engine results.

Including the maximum amount of tags possible will help to give YouTube the maximum amount of information to use in order to place your video in the results of different searches or to have it come up as ‘related’ to other videos. Users that only post 3 or 4 tags with each video could be missing out on countless amounts of traffic for their content.

3. Post a Transcript in Your Video Description

If you have a script or a transcript for your entire video you should consider posting it in the description of your video in order to improve your search engine ranking. This can also help for users that would like to have a written article to accompany your video and for indexing your video in search engine results. There are so many people that don’t make proper use of their video descriptions on YouTube that doing so will give you an advantage.

4. Write Searchable YouTube Video Tiles

By including your 1 or 2 most important keywords in the title of your video you will help YouTube sort your video into the correct search results. Generally, your most important keywords will be things like the name of the game you’re playing or the brand of makeup you’re reviewing.

Try to write titles that are searchable and which also get potential viewers excited about your content. Do not try to be mysterious or clickbait-y in your video title. Big channels can be very successful with those strategies because they’re already guaranteed a certain number of views, but this will almost always backfire for small channels.

Phrases such as ‘review’, ‘how-to’, and ‘tutorial’ get searched for a lot, so always include them in your titles when they apply to your videos.

5. Optimize your Video Description for YouTube SEO

Video descriptions should generally include around 4000 characters (about 900 words) in which you describe the content of your YouTube video, include important keywords, provide links to your other social media accounts, and ask viewers to subscribe. Using up all the space in your description is a good way to ensure you’re getting the maximum search value out of it.

If you use a lot of products in your videos (i.e. you make cooking videos, so your favorite frying pan is in a lot of shots) then it is a good idea to look into affiliate programs. Amazon has one of the best. If you become an affiliate you can post links to the products you use in your video description and, if a viewer follows one and buys something (even if it’s not the thing you liked to) you’ll earn a commission. This won’t help you with search rankings, but it’s a nice bonus.

6. Use Custom Video Thumbnails

A custom thumbnail is an excellent way to make your videos stand out (check out these awesome thumbnail makers ). A good thumbnail is its own piece of quality, customized, visual content that has the power to draw in audiences from search engine results. Make sure to take thumbnail-specific photos and perfect those images with text and graphics in Photoshop or a free alternative like Canva.

Custom thumbnails come with new metadata for your video and they can often be indexed in Google image searches along with the video content that you create. This means that you will have access to a text search via Google (your video title and description), video searches via Google, a video search via YouTube, and an image search via Google too.

In order to create a thumbnail that stands out and attracts more views, you should first search for your video’s title on YouTube and see what kinds of thumbnails come up. You want your thumbnail to be enough like the results that viewers recognize it as being on the same topic, and different enough that it doesn’t fade into the crowd (a good strategy is to use a splash of color the other creators haven’t included).

If you are interested in generating more traffic to any YouTube video be sure to follow these 6 steps for how to get your YouTube video seen (and check out 4 more here! ).

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett