One of my favourite ways to drive traffic to websites and engage with audiences is blogging and the newest marketing trends on the rise is video blog. Trends show that today  80% of the global Internet traffic is videos. Digital marketing executives say video content is most profitable.

Videos combined with Blog posts have triple the amount of inbound links compared to blog posts without videos.

However,establishing yourself as a prominent video blogger can be a daunting task for an ameteur. Here are some facts you need to consider.

Your behavior in front of the camera.

The way you promote your new video blog?

You’re not the only one in the fray.

A good microphone adds to your video blog

One of the most important aspects of your video blog is audio. Your audience needs to hear from you. So, first, get hold of a quality microphone that can help make sure you’re not wasting any time recording your video.

You may even salvage the audio and use it for something like a podcast. May be you would like to use the audio to voiceover a presentation.

Remember cheap cameras don’t have the best microphones.

Investing in high quality microphones should be your priority as certain microphones are meant for different things. Different microphones are suitable for different environments.

You need proper lighting

Unprofessional videos can be anything from those low-budget local commercials to your family home videos. You must keep the basic three point lighting setup.

The three point lighting to be kept in mind are:

• Key light
• Fill light
• Back light

Your primary light is the Key light and it is mostly placed on the left side of the camera at roughly three feet higher than your eye level.

As the key light is the brightest of these three lights, you should angle it at a downward angle so it replicates the sun and has a natural lighting effect.

Fill light is placed to fill the  shadow created by key light.It is placed on the opposite side of the camera.The back light is placed behind you so the lighting looks natural and minimises shadows.

It is better to invest in good lighting as it will pay of in the long run down the road.

While doing outdoor shots you must use  the sun to your advantage. Just position your camera so that the sun is at the same angle as your key light would be in a studio setup.

Caption your videos

You need to add captions to your content as it increases engagement rates.

If you go by statistics you will notice that 85% of videos on Facebook are watched on mute. Therefore captions make sense. Captions allow viewers to watch videos without disturbing others.

Decent camera is a priority

You do not need to spend thousands of dollars. Just make sure you take certain factors into consideration before choosing a camera. Consider the power source. Battery life of your camera is really important if you’re filming on the go.

Next you should also consider the size of your storage cards as you can’t  run out of space in the middle of a shoot. Buy a camera that is snug and easy to operate. Learn about the  video format that your camera records.

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Right screen capture software

Sometimes you want to show your audience how to do things on your computer so you’ll need to be able to record your actions with software such as ScreenFlow.Their are many options, simply choose one that suits your needs.

Be engaging

As far as video blogging goes there are  no rules. Just don’t be boring and let your inner light shine. Play safe and  stay away from controversial topics. It is good to mix up your content so it’s engaging.

Create reasons

Build up your brand that is your own personality. Why would anyone watch you if you are not engaging enough? You have to present a bait of a valid reason to your audience to listen to you talk about your day.

Edit effectively

Editing is most important and you need to learn it. You should use a basic software to get your editing done. Movie Maker is the free software for Windows users. Such  tools are necessary to accomplish basic tasks such as trimming clips and piecing videos together.

Encourage users to comment

Start a conversation and ask for comments and do respond to comments. This will keep the flow of traffic.

Distribute your content

Just upload your content to many platforms and YouTube should be your best bet.YouTube allows you to always repurpose your videos after you add them to your channel.

Make sure you post these videos on social media and add video blog links to your website.  

Keep recording

It is good to record always and filter through the content later and discard it if it’s not that great. Carry your equipment and always be ready to record so that you don’t miss any opportunities.