Gaining Ground on the Groundswell of Online Viewers

8 Tips on How to Vlog Confidently Like Popular YouTubers

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

For most people, vlogging is not something that comes naturally. Like any skill, it takes practice to improve. When someone is good at vlogging, they make it look easy.

When we watch the most popular YouTubers, the traits that make them successful are often invisible, because we are so consumed by their vlog. In this article, I’ll highlight 8 tips from the most accomplished vloggers on the Internet, so that you can vlog confidently and make the best YouTube videos.

1. Be Authentic

People opt to watch vlogs because they want to see something real.

Vlogging is about honesty, telling a story that is truthful and showing your personality. The most popular vloggers are likable because they don’t deceive the audience, they befriend them. Vloggers treat their audience with respect and that comes from being honest.

There will be an urge for you to mimic other vloggers, talking and acting the way they do, but savvy YouTube viewers will be able to see your faux personality pretty quickly.

Don’t focus on your image, but instead focus on your voice. What makes you different? That is how you will build a proper reputation.

2. Tell A Story

A vlog is not an assortment of footage haphazardly put together. A successful vlog must have a story: a conflict told with a beginning, middle, and end.

When you are casually telling a story to a friend, you are not thinking about the structure or the plot. You are focused on what happened and you want to communicate it as accurately as you can. While vlogging, you should approach it much the same way. Ad-libbing is fine. Stumbling is fine. Going back and repeating a part of the story is fine. By simply getting your story on camera, you now have all the pieces.

Once all the pieces of the story are captured — including your storytelling, b-roll, and other supportive footage — you must now cut out all the irrelevant or repetitive parts and edit it so it can be enjoyed as one cohesive tale.

Take a look at this example from Tiffany Alvord and notice how there are jump cuts both to skip information that can be assumed by the audience and add the tension to the story she’s telling.

3. Surprise and Delight Your Audience

There is a saying that a great ending to a story is that it is surprising, yet inevitable .

The ending needs to be justified even if there is a twist. Everything before that had worked to build up the tension and when it concludes it needs to be logical. However, the ending cannot be something that the audience can guess. Remember those mystery movies where you know who the murderer is after the first few scenes? Yeah… those aren’t satisfying. A good story ends with a surprise, and with everything prior leading up to it.

The gold standard example of a surprising, yet inevitable end is Casey Neistat’s bike lane video. Everything in the video is leading up to the end, but when you watch it the first time it’s unexpected, and that’s why it’s so good.

4. Be Inviting

A common trait of successful vloggers is that they are welcoming. They share their passion and encourage others to join in. Vlogging is about being a guide. It doesn’t matter if you are leading a tour of your home or showing your viewer an interesting new skill, it is important for you to approach the whole process with open arms.

Unlike being invited to a party, there is no obligation when it comes to YouTube. Your viewers can continue to live vicariously through you or they may be inspired by your experience and dare to try it themselves.

The opposite of inviting is rejecting, and when you are a vlogger, you don’t want to reject anyone from enjoying your videos.

5. Compose the Shot

Vlogging is a visual medium, and while the story is important, what is captured in the frame will play an impactful role in the video as well.

In a way, every vlogger needs to have a director’s eye for cinematography. I’m not saying that you need to be Wes Anderson to be an awesome vlogger, but knowing what is in the frame with you, the angle of the shot, the movement of the camera, and the quality of light will help the product look better.

The great thing about vlogging is that you will get a lot of practice framing shots, so I encourage you to learn the basics of video editing .

Check out this example from Rosanna Pansino , where she gives a tour of her bedroom.

The camera follows her fluidly throughout the video, but it is her eyes that guide both the camera moves and what she wants our attention to be directed to. Don’t hesitate to let the viewer know what you want them to see.

6. Be Prepared

While you can pick up a camera and start vlogging on the fly, being prepared enables you to produce the best video possible. Take a few minutes before you hit record simply to outline the key points you want to talk about and how the video will end, ensuring that after filming you haven’t forgotten a crucial part.

Additionally, knowing what to say makes you a better host for your vlog. Watch your favorite vlogger, I bet when they are speaking on camera, their speech is not littered with umms and ahhs…

Good preparation includes having all your gear ready for filming when you need it. There is nothing worse than being set to shoot and running out of battery or memory.

Take a look at Ashley Nichole in this vlog and notice that although she sounds spontaneous, it is also evident that she knows what she is going to talk about next.

7. Be Expressive

Remember those teachers that drone on and on, without adding any expression or passion to what they are lecturing? While they might have been perfectly suitable as teachers, they wouldn’t make good vloggers.

If you speak on camera in a monotone voice, you are not being expressive. Your facial and body language will match your lackluster performance. Even if you are talking about something you are excited about, if your demeanor doesn’t match that, then the video is going to be lifeless. Vlogging is a presentation, a performance. There needs to be energy.

Consider your audience: they are coming home from school or work, where there were classes and meetings, and the last thing they want to watch is a video of your speaking without energy.

Want to see a vlogger that is awesome at being expressive on camera? Check out Emma Chamberlain , if you haven’t already. Every word she says in her video is layered with emotion. We know exactly how she feels.

8. Stay Organized

The same way you should prepare before filming, it’s also important to be organized comes the editing phase. Editing is arguably the most time-consuming part of the vlogging process, so have a system for categorizing and finding your footages.

This is especially important when you have multiple video and audio files and if you are capturing footage over a number of days or in different locations.

Additionally, while filming your vlog, you are going to mess up. It’s also helpful to add a cue after you messed up, this can be a sound cue that causes the levels to spike (clapping or snapping your fingers work) or a video cue such as a dramatic gesture to the camera. When skipping through your footage to find the part where you messed up, later on, it’s easier to have a mark to help you locate it.

Vlogging is hard, so don’t make more work for yourself. Learn little tricks to make life easier for yourself at every step.

The more organized you are the more attention you can put into the creative aspect of vlogging, and less time finding a video file or syncing audio to video.

There you have it, 8 tips to help you vlog like the pros. Anyone can vlog. But only until you point a camera at yourself in public for the first time, do you realize how uncomfortable vlogging can be.

Even filming yourself in your room with the door closed — and nobody is in the house with you — can be a challenge for beginning vloggers. If you find watching your first few videos to be cringy, don’t be discouraged. There are fears of vlogging, but you can overcome them .

Take a look at some of the first videos from popular YouTubers and you can see that everyone had a starting point.

Do you have any vlogging tricks of your own? Leave a comment below.

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora, which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps you to make money by making videos much easier.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Streamline Your iPhone/iPad Video Upload Process

Create High-Quality Video - Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful YouTube video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

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Initially, iOS users had the option to load videos directly to YouTube via the tap-to-upload feature. However, this option is missing in the recent iOS devices versions. Therefore, many users search for possible ways to post a video on YouTube from iPhone. For this, you have to put some considerations into place before moving on. The video title length should not exceed 100 characters, while the description is maintained at 5,000 characters. Also, ensure the video length doesn’t exceed 15 minutes. Let’s roll out the best ways to upload your videos and make that big catch on subscribers.

How to upload a video to YouTube from iPhone or iPad

Are you ready to start on that big adventure and share your videos on YouTube? Follow these steps to learn how to upload a video to YouTube from your iPhone.

Method 1: Upload using the YouTube iOS app

Using the YouTube app is the simplest way to upload your YouTube videos. The YouTube app should be installed on your iOS device.

Step 1. Launch the YouTube app on your device, then sign in to your account. If you don’t have an account yet, you will need to “Sign up” for a new one before continuing the upload process.

Step 2. Click on the “+” icon found at the bottom of the screen.

Step 3. Then choose the “Upload a video” option from the populated list of options.

Step 4. Check out the pop-up that appears and “Allow access” to it.

Step 5. Edit your video to your preference by trimming or cropping as you desire. Then click on the “Next” option.

Step 6. Add “title and description” to your video. Remember, the title should contain less than 100 characters and the description no more than 500 characters.

Step 7. Then set the visibility mode as “Public” to enable you to share your video over the internet.

Step 8. Click on the “Upload” button to finally upload your video to YouTube.

Method 2: Upload using Photo App

The Photo App has a “Share” option that you can use to upload your videos to YouTube. Here is the guide.

Step 1. Go to your iOS device and tap on the “Photos” app.

Step 2. Then tap on the “Videos Folder” to locate the video you wish to upload to YouTube.

Step 3. Next, tap on the video that you want to upload.

Step 4. Then tap on the “Share” icon located at the bottom left of your iOS device screen.

Step 5. You’ll then access a “Share” menu from where you have various share options for your video.

Step 6. Choose the “YouTube” option to continue to share your video there. At this juncture, ensure you have logged in to your Google Account.

Step 7. You need to provide a “Title” and “Description” of your video. Then go to the “Privacy” Options and make your video “Public.”

Step 8. Finally, tap on the “Publish” tab found at the top-right corner of your screen to make your video viewable by the public.

Method 3: Upload video to YouTube using Safari

Safari is another alternative method to upload a video to YouTube.

Step 1. First, go to “youtube.com” on Safari and sign in.

Step 2. Then tap on the “account” icon at the top right side of the screen.

Step 3. Hit on the “Upload” icon and wait to be redirected to the YouTube Studio desktop site.

Step 4. Click on the “Select Files” option.

Step 5. Choose the video you wish to add to YouTube from the “Photo” library and tap on the “Add” button.

Step 6. Add your video’s “title and description” and hit the “Next” button.

Step 7. Tap on the “Next” button once more to go to the “Visibility” page.

Step 8. Select the “Public” option to upload your video to the public.

Why your phone doesn’t post videos to YouTube

Despite learning how to upload to YouTube from iPhone, you may be perplexed to realize that your phone refuses to post videos to YouTube. What could be the reason?

1) YouTube issues

In most cases, the problem doesn’t arise from your phone but from YouTube. This streaming app may also experience some hitches along the way. Remember that even if your phone sync with your YouTube account to upload videos from the “Camera Roll,” YouTube isn’t managed from the Camera Roll but the YouTube app directly. You can solve the issue by signing out of your YouTube account and signing back in.

2) Connection Strength

Some videos may appear quite large and cause a time-out during the upload process. Check your Wi-Fi or internet connection strength to determine if it needs a boost or wait until the streaming strength is strong for a quick upload. Test your internet speed by searching “internet test speed” on Google. Then click the “Run Speed Test” in the search box. A window will open and give you an estimate of the Mbps that your connection is operating at. If too low, switch to other alternatives.

3) Verify your YouTube account

Verifying your account will help you to enjoy YouTube’s full features. It’s then that you’ll manage to upload videos without any drawbacks. Also, that’s when you’ll manage to upload longer videos that go beyond the 15-minute duration.

4) Pay attention to the video size

There is a limit for videos to post to YouTube. If it is too large or long, the upload will cancel before completion.

5) Be patient

YouTube can save your partial upload for 24 hours. So, you can continue to upload from where you left. Learn to be patient as there could be a surge of user traffic, especially during evenings.

Make your YouTube video better with Filmora

Good video quality will make you go miles ahead of your marketing gig. You can use Filmora mobile application to make your videos look better before uploading them to YouTube. This intuitive video editing app has advanced features and several ways to compose creative videos.

Stunning video effects that let you add animated text to video
Easily record your voice-overs with its perfect sound effects
Split functionality that allows you to slice your video footage into two or more separate video clips
Playback your clips in reverse and adjust the speed for fast or slow motion
Select the best aspect ratio for your video
Advanced camera to create emoji selfies and other video beautification
Directly share your videos to social media sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Check out the steps to edit your video with Filmora on your iOS device

Step 1. Download and install Filmora
For iOS devices, go to the “Apple Store” to download and install the app. Also, allow it to access your videos, camera, and pictures in the process.

Step 2. Import video
You may already have a video in your library that you wish to upload to YouTube. Nonetheless, you can shoot a video afresh to add. To shoot one, you need to settle on a topic before recording and downloading other images you may need. Ensure you watch what you are filming and use adequate lighting during the shooting process.

Next, begin to import your video file. Just open the application and select the “Create new video” option. Then choose the “Video” icon and select a folder that contains the video to be added. Hit the “Add” button from the bottom right corner.

Step 3. Edit video
Filmora has several editing features to make your video better. Use the “Edit tools” feature to turn your video into an impeccable piece. Easily add filters, adjust the speed, or create subtitles, among other functions. You can also split, trim, or delete the unwanted clip parts.

It is important to add a title and description to your video. Just use the “Titles” button to add the title. Other precepts that you can add include transitions, sound like voice-over,

Step 4. Export and share
You’ve just finished creating and editing your video. Click on the “Save” tab and let the application export your video. Then select the “Save to Camera Roll” option to save the video to your iPhone. Finally, you can upload and share the video directly to your YouTube account.

Conclusion

● However, it appears to be a difficult task; you must have found relief after going through these procedures. You don’t need prior knowledge on how to upload a video to YouTube from your iPhone. Several options are at your disposal. You can use the Safari, YouTube app, or the Photo app to upload your videos. The better part is that you can create top-notch videos with Filmora. This mobile video editing app has a lot to offer, ensuring quality content.