A Guide For Making Your First YouTube Video

January 18, 2022
Contents

Not sure which type of video to create for your first upload? stressing over what should you include, should you reveal your face or not, should it be a VLOG type or a video of you preparing the ingredients for a dish? You don’t know what to do and where to start from. As cliche as it may sound, the answer would be Youtube. It has almost every and any videos that contain a wide variety of content that allows users to select and find almost everything. It also allows users to share their videos online as well as a digital community that is united by a common thread.

Here, we will be guiding you with a list of best practices to shape and lead you to the right direction of how your first YouTube Video should be.

The Inception Of YouTube

A guide for making your first YouTube video
Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash

YouTube has become an integral part of the cyber universe, having over 2 billion monthly users, with approximately 500 hours of video content being uploaded here every single minute. In its 15 years-long journey, it has grown leaps and bounds, making it the best in the online business. But In fact, many people still don’t know how this started.

The concept of YouTube originated in the brains of Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, who were the employees of PayPal. Subsequently, on valentine’s day in 2005, YouTube was founded with a motive to allow anyone to post video content they wished to. Furthermore, the founders believed that the platform would enable users to upload, share, and view content without any limitation. Currently, it is the de facto video sharing platform on the Internet, allowing many content creators to earn a living out of it.

What was the first video on YouTube?

First YouTube Video Uploaded
by Jawed Karim from YouTube

The founders of YouTube initially planned on making it a platform for letting users upload videos by introducing themselves and talking about their interests. Since this did not shape up, the founders shifted their focus on ideas to make it more of a general sharing site.

On April 23, 2005, “Me at the Zoo” became the first youtube video to be uploaded on the site by Karim himself, which was a 19-second long clip, where he can be seen in a zoo standing in front of elephants and talking about their trunks. The youtube video was posted on the platform a month before the beta launch in May 2005. We can clearly see Co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo with no hair and makeup, no editing, no fancy locations, no professional film crew but just him who is talking about elephants, about 15 years ago. Since then, it has acquired over 100 million views, but no second video was seen on his channel, and this was shot by Yapov Lapitsky. This was the first youtube video released by Co-founder Jawed  Karim himself.

The Growth:

Shortly after the site opened in May 2005 on a beta basis, it is said to have attracted some 30K visitors per day. Moreover, in July 2005, video HTML embedding was added to the site for the very first time. It was followed by the inculcation of a 5-star rating system to Youtube in August 2005. By September of 2005, a Nike ad went viral and was the first video to garner one million views. A youtube video of Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho receiving a pair of Golden Boots was the viral youtube videos. Subsequently, the playlist function was added to YouTube to help creators make their content more interesting and sorted; also, the fullscreen video was added along with the subscription function enabling the creators and users to upload and promote their art in a much better way, in October 2005. Finally, in December 2005, YouTube officially launched out of its Beta status, when in November of 2005, Sequoia Capital invested $3.5 million in the business to help them upgrade their servers with enhanced bandwidth.

After almost a year in October 2006, Google acquired the company for $1.65 billion. Gradually many creators made money out of uploading videos, which made people think that they can finally earn profit by following their passion and hobbies. Year after year, additional features have been introduced on the platform to change it for the better. The platform has turned out to be really powerful and influential in the digital world. Every day, hundreds of videos are uploaded each minute, with over one billion users, spreading over 75 countries in the world and available in 61 languages.

The popularity:

Many creators now enjoy success on the platform when their videos are viewed numerous times. In this competitive world, all of the creators want their content to get the maximum views possible, to make a profit as well as be popular. Therefore, the creators give in their best to gain views.

Which YouTube Video has the most views?

Despacito Youtube Video
by Todd Splanger from YouTube

The song ‘Despacito’ featuring Puerto Rican artists Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ranked number 1 in the list of the most viewed YouTube videos. It racked up more than a billion views in 97 days, and currently, it stands at 6.92 billion views. Now that’s quite a feat for a song of non-American origin to achieve it. The most viewed videos on youtube could be anything. This has made it clear that popular songs can also top the list of most-viewed YouTube videos. In addition to popularity, creators earn a considerable sum of money from it. So, anybody who is thinking about starting your own YouTube channel this article is for you.

As we all know, every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. For this reason, we need to understand certain things that have to be taken into account before making your first video.

What should my First YouTube Video be about?

Plato leadership quote
by Plato from Leadershipquote.org

As Plato said, “The beginning is the most important part of the work,” a beautiful beginning can lead to a much perfect journey. For starting a channel, you have to figure out what your first content should be about. If you are sure about that in terms of theme and purpose, you can undoubtedly captivate a wide audience. But, beginnings are not easy. So don’t be disheartened if you don’t get results as expected. For this purpose, the first time you upload something, it should be introductory, about you and your channel and describing people what your channel would be. Hence, a beautiful trailer would be the best way to start the journey. Create a promo video and convey the basic idea that will resonate with your viewers. Many channels started their journey years ago with a few resources but are now the most sought after people. Earlier, there were not this many options of creating your own videos online by using minimum resources at your fingertips. So now that you have that opportunity, your immediate step should be to create an appealing trailer or introductory video to capture someone’s attention and shine through it.

Here are some other necessary considerations that you may wish to ponder over when you make your first video. We would call them the Dynamic Ds.

  1. DEFINING GOALS: To begin with, it’s very crucial to ask a few questions to yourself, such as why do you want to be on YouTube and what is it that you want out of it. Once you have answered the questions, you need to set a niche for yourself, select an area to center your content. However, also make sure your ideas are specific and not general or broad.

  1. DISCOVER IDEAS: Great content always gives great results. Therefore try to improve your ideas, which are fresh and inspirational. There might be many people who have the same content as others, but you can always give it a new perspective to attract more viewers.

  1. DEVELOP A STYLE: Each YouTuber should have his own, unique style and setup that can entice the audience. Plan your content in a way that can showcase your talent and engage more people. Thus delivering material that sets you out if the crowd is the key.

Keeping these three Ds in mind can give you an excellent impetus, to begin with. Therefore, let us now look at the steps that are involved in making a video, which can help any aspiring YouTuber to record their first video.

Best Practices for your First YouTube Video

1. Choose an area of interest

Now that you’ve decided you want to make an entry on YouTube, you ought to be sure about your topic. It is always advisable to target smaller topics rather than broader ones, as it helps in reducing the competition gap. In addition to that, you will need to prepare a script before you want to start shooting. The key to a good video is to make it short and straightforward, as people often tend to skip the video as it fails to put an impact on the viewers who also lose interest. So be clear and realistic in what you say.

2. Check your equipment

Having a smartphone can undoubtedly help you record, but if you invest in a high-quality camera and accessories for videography, it can amp up the quality. Thus, here are some tools that can assist you in making a great video.

Recording Tools – There are a wide variety of video recording tools in the market, but we will just look at the basic equipment that you need to start.

Camera – As a beginner, any camera that can record high-quality stuff would suffice. But if you want to upgrade and invest in something better, camcorders are a great option. Secondly, you can also purchase a good webcam if you need to record in front of your computer. Thirdly, action cameras are also the right choice for their durability and video quality. Mirror fewer cameras and DSLRs are highly favored among creators for their useful nature in providing high-quality results.

Tripod – This tool enables you to record your video by stabilizing the videos easily. These are a good investment and a necessity also, as no viewers would like to watch something that makes them dizzy. These are affordable and also provide safety to your cameras.

Microphones – Audio quality should always be in sync with the video. It is essential to purchase a good microphone that provides clear audio quality. Noise cancellation feature is also an extra advantage if you get a good microphone as it reduces ambient sound and focuses on the speaker’s vocals.

Lighting – If you are recording indoor lighting, equipment is a prerequisite. Among various options, we have softboxes, umbrella lights, ring lights, and on-camera lighting.  

3. Edit your video

Once you have got all the equipment you need for recording, you have to select a useful editing tool that helps you modify and improve your work according to your liking. Good editing software can guarantee you a wide range of editing options that can help you turn an ordinary video into something professional.

Do you want an eye-catching video? Try editing your videos with OFFEO’S free online video maker that helps you to create stunning videos.

Offeo works like magic, providing you with a user-friendly interface, so if you are worried about how to edit, drop your worries as this makes it all so easy. There are a lot of features that are all loaded into this interface. The template library is very extensive and catchy at the same time. Moreover, the dashboard is very cool. It includes the design, text, graphics, backgrounds, music, files, and layers. The timeline allows you to customize it and the after-effects, making your material amazing. You can add transitions, animations using geniemate, which is an effortless way to do it. You can also customize your templates by adjusting the hues, saturation, and apply any filter that you wish.

Apart from this, adding text and your own colors is also possible. Lastly, add an exciting soundtrack from the audio library that has. A whole lot of collections suited for various moods.  If you require more functionality to edit your videos, consider checking out these Youtube editing software platforms.

4. Save and upload

Once you are done editing the video, save it in MP4 format and then upload it, by creating a YouTube channel, which can be easily done if you have a google account, if not, then you can create a brand new account and Voila!! you are ready to set it up. Always remember a few things when you set up your channel.

  1. An Interesting channel name
  2. An attractive profile picture and
  3. A fascinating description

You can always have a fantastic idea, but to convert it into reality, it must be driven into practice. With the due course of time, your skill sets will improve, and you will have countless opportunities. Do make sure to optimize your title and description with YouTube SEO, which helps you to be found much more easily on the platform. You can always create a good intro to keep people hooked onto it and make their experience enjoyable.

Conclusion

If you are interested in getting started with your own Youtube channel, Offeo Online Video Maker can help you with intros and graphics. Remember, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started” Sally Berger. This digital platform gives you a chance to inspire and build a YouTube channel that can shape your future as well as a useful tool to aid you in making quality videos that you can be proud of.

Other Interesting Reads

How to create a playlist on YouTube

YouTube Video Ideas

YouTube advanced channel settings

How to add YouTube Subtitles to your videos

Marketing your business with YouTube videos.

Written By
OFFEO Team

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