How are you all handling lighting when setting up to record? I do like natural light, but it can be a little unpredictable on partly cloudy days (the brightness in the room will ebb and flow as clouds roll past the sun outside). I picked up a set of video lights with stands on Amazon that have performed well for the last year. I typically only use one at a time (as a key light, up and to the side), but sometimes it’s useful to have the second one as a fill light or rim light. Here is the link to what I use: https://amzn.to/46E4kh0 FYI I do usually throw a thin white sheet or T-shirt over it to soften it up a bit! What is your lighting solution? Let us know in the comments!

With every video comes an opportunity to improve something from the previous video. What are you trying to improve in YOUR next video? It can be one thing, or a few things. Here are some examples: Lighting Framing of the shot Audio quality Delivery / camera confidence Script writing / storytelling Title Thumbnail Editing techniques Better SEO when uploading And anything else you can think of that you would like to improve!

Sometimes I need to remind myself that a video may not take off right away. It’s hard when you see established creators getting tens or even hundreds of thousands of views within a couple days of posting their videos. But that’s not the only definition of success on YouTube. If you create videos on a topic people care about, with quality content, that have the potential to rank in search, you may end up with a “successful video” in the long run (see photo attached). I posted a video about the 7 habits of highly effective people over 600 days ago. It was slow to start. The video and audio quality are just so-so. I was new to long form and I think my delivery is also so-so. But I put a lot of time into making sure the script reflected the chapter of the book I was covering, and I delivered that script nearly word for word. And then I edited the heck out of it with motion graphics and text and sound effects. It didn’t take off right away. But as you can see, it’s earned 156 watch hours, 64 subscribers, and 2500+ views since being published, and that trend is only increasing. I know this isn’t a viral video, but I point it out because if we can just make 50 to 100 videos that end up performing like this one, the channel will grow, and one of those might even go viral in the process 😉

Have you ever considered mimicking other videos that are proven to do well? Sometimes it can work, and sometimes it doesn’t, but I think mimicking is a great way to learn when you’re just starting out. Attached is a screenshot from my analytics of a video where I mimicked the video idea, title and thumbnail of other videos. I actually did these things separately. The video idea came from one YouTuber, the thumbnail from another, and the title from yet another. This isn’t a viral video by any means, but it did pretty well compared to some of my others. What do you think about mimicking? Is it a useful practice or should we strive for originality?