If you’ve had a pulse in the last 4 months, you’ve probably heard a little buzz around the marketing tip world: video, Video, VIDEO! Everyone on the planet is trying to convince you to. get. on. video. But what if you are Grade A terrified? Girl, I get it. Almost everytime I go live on Instagram I have a mini panic attack just thinking about all the what-ifs. I hate to jump on the bandwagon, but I think “they” are right. The internet is changing. The way people consume information is changing. As we get more connected than ever online, people want to be able to see you. To connect with you. And video is the best way to achieve that! So let’s break into this video thing easy, okay? Today we’re going to talk about how to turn your blog posts into videos.

 

But since I’m no savvy video biz woman, I have invited the queen of YouTube in the creative world herself, Trena Little, to share with us her best tips and advice on how to use the blog posts you already have into videos. Don’t freak! Read on. She’s breaking it down easy peasy!

 

Let’s do this!

 

 

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By 2020, 80% of all internet traffic is going to be to video… With that being said, do you have video on your website?

 

If you don’t, you’re probably not sure where to get started. Am I right?  

 

I want to share with you the easy steps you can take to get started with video so you can capitalize on all that traffic going to video.

 

If you are a blogger or maybe you’ve dabbled a little bit into video, but you haven’t gone all in yet. Let’s talk about that.

 

Let’s just address the giant elephant in the room, the tech involved with video.

 

I know we all think we need to have a perfect background, we need to have the perfect camera, we need to have the perfect mic, but you don’t.

 

You’re smartphone and your earbuds are a perfect place to start, because those earbuds have a microphone already in them. What you need to do is plug them into your phone, set your phone on a window seal and now you have audio and video.

 

And if you really want to get fancy and edit out any mistakes that you make, just download the iMovie app if you have an iPhone for absolutely free, and you can edit your video right on your iPhone and upload it to YouTube.

 

Now, as far as lighting, natural sunlight is the best light you can get.  But if you can’t film in front of sunlight or film during the day the easiest thing you can do to get started with better lighting is to buy daylight balanced light bulbs.  You can buy them from Amazon or you can get at a hardware store. And what these light bulbs actually do is emit this white, kind of clean light. Normally light bulbs have a yellowish tint to them so daylight balanced light bulbs really help you have that white light.

 

Okay, now you’re convinced that you can film with what you’ve got.

 

Now, what are you going film?

 

The first thing I want you do is not recreate the wheel. Head on over to your website and check out the analytics on your website to see which blog posts are getting the most traffic. That’s what you’re going to create a video on. Take the first four to five blog posts that are getting a lot of traffic, whether it’s coming from Instagram or Pinterest or Facebook, and create a video to embed onto that blog post.

 

You already have the content to share. Just turn it into a video.

 

 

Now, just a few tips on how to set up that video so it’s also successful on YouTube. Because if you’re going to do a video, why not maximize the reach you’re going to get out of it?

 

1. When you create a YouTube video, it’s very important to have a hook at the beginning of your video.  In the YouTube video I used for this post my video opened with the statistic, “80% of website traffic was going to be to video in 2020.”That piques my viewers’ interest and makes them want to stick around to hear what I’m going to talk about. So what is a hook that could lead into your blog post content?
2. The next step is to introduce the view to you with a personal introduction.  The viewer may not know who you are, so just briefly introduce yourself similar to what I do.“Hi, I’m Trena, and I started my YouTube channel to help creative entrepreneurs like you get on YouTube to grow your business.”
3. Then it’s time to dig into that content, right? You definitely want get to that content within the first 30 seconds of your video, especially if you want to capitalize on the traffic on YouTube.But how do you deliver it? Do you write a script? Do you read a teleprompter?
4. Here’s an easy tip for you. If you have your script or your blog post on your desk or on your computer, memorize two to three sentences. Look at the camera. Deliver those sentences. Take a break. Look at your blog post or your script. Remember the next two to three sentences. Look at the camera. Deliver. Take a pause. And keep going back and forth.
5. Then you can edit those spaces out when you edit your video, and it will look streamless and you also have jump cuts to make the video seem like it’s faster-paced than what it is.The reason why I don’t suggest using teleprompters is because for me I get really wrapped up on reading those words perfectly. When I can go off the cusp and just talk freely without concentrating on reading words, I can show more of my personality and I end up connecting better with you viewers.
6. Once you deliver your content in the video, then you’re going to wrap it up.But here’s the secret to YouTube: If you’ve got other videos or you want people to subscribe to your video, you don’t want to signal to people that you’re wrapping up your video. Don’t say, “Thank you for watching,” or “That’s all I have.” Keep talking. Make sure you wrap up your video in that last 20 seconds because in YouTube you can add end screens that direct people to another video or to subscribe to your channel.
7. In that last 10 seconds of your video is when you are going to say, “Thank you for watching. Please make sure you subscribe, and I’ll see you in the next video.”

 

Now, I know this all seems kind of confusing and you’re not sure what to do, so here’s my best tip for you: Just post a video on YouTube. Just rip off the band-aid because here’s the added bonus of YouTube video; by putting a video on your website, you’re boosting your website SEO because Google loves video. By posting a YouTube video on your website, you’re boosting your YouTube video in search because YouTube loves having their videos embedded into websites. PLUS YouTube videos can show up in Google search.

 

Still feeling stuck? Watch Trena share 5 Video Ideas for your channel!

 

 

There you have it!  It’s not that difficult to get started on YouTube and the benefits are amazing!  If you are interested in hearing more YouTube tips and strategies you can subscribe to my YouTube channel!

 

Thank you so much for having me, Megan!

 

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Are you ready to take the plunge and try video? Comment below and we can keep each other accountable!

 

Thank you, Trena, for coming on to help us all! Can’t wait to keep learning from you on YouTube! XO!