Get Rich Blogging. Zoe Griffin
rights. If you’re musical, you may want to create something yourself. If you’re not, the easiest option is to use YouTube’s audio library. This is a massive database of free music and sound effects.
You can find the audio library by logging into YouTube and selecting the Creator Studio menu. Click on Create and you’ll see a link for Audio Library. There you will see options for free music, ad-supported music and sound effects. Ad-supported music means that ads will play before your video when you use one of these songs, and the ad revenue will be given to the artist who made the track. In general, it’s not a good idea to choose ad-supported music, as you want to monetise your videos with your own ads.
It’s best to make use of YouTube’s free music when making a theme tune, but be aware that you can’t always use it without any attribution. If you see a circular symbol with a person standing in it to the left of the popularity bar and the download link, you need to make sure you mention the author of the song somewhere in the video or the description box when you upload the vlog to YouTube. Usually, there will be a full description of what attribution you need to give when you click on the song file’s name.
Take your time picking a piece of music. If you settle for the first thing you hear, you may be missing something better. YouTube’s audio library is vast, so have fun exploring it. Just make sure you keep a list so you can easily go back to songs you like. Ask friends and your target market for feedback once you’ve made a shortlist. After all, they’re going to be listening to it a lot when your vlogging career takes off and you start to make several videos a week.
PERSONAL IMAGE
One of the best things about vlogging is being free to reinvent yourself. Zoella has talked many times about how she was shy at school and suffered from crippling anxiety, but talking to the camera helped her build confidence. The on-screen Zoella that she created was a cooler, more confident version of young Zoe Sugg. It doesn’t matter how popular you are in real life or how many people you have annoyed or fallen out with; vlogging allows you to start again and create a new persona. Zoella isn’t the only one to have done this. Jim Chapman appeared on camera in the BBC documentary The Rise of the Superstar Vloggers, saying: ‘When I first started, I was twenty-two. I didn’t have many friends. I was miserable. I’d say I started vlogging as an antisocial way of being sociable because you’re just talking to a camera; you’re not talking to real people. I felt I had more control. Straight away, I knew I loved it.’
Look carefully at some of the better-known vloggers and you’ll see they have something else in common – super-high energy levels. In the majority of their videos, they are happy and enthusiastic. This energy is infectious, making viewers feel uplifted after watching the videos. Viewers are more likely to return if you’ve cheered up their day, watching more of your videos in the hope you’ll do the same again. Remember that your viewers already have gloom and misery in their lives, and they’re watching your videos for escapism. They don’t want to waste time watching a video that projects negativity and, if you can’t make upbeat and positive videos, viewers will start to look elsewhere and find other vloggers that can.
This doesn’t mean you can only talk about positive subjects. Bad things happen to most people at some point, so you’ll have to cover some tricky issues if you’re being open and honest in your vlogs. But how you talk about the difficult subjects is important. If you act as if the world is against you, people won’t warm to you. You have to come across as though you want things to get better, or hope they will.
Don’t worry if you’re not naturally enthusiastic and upbeat. It’s hard to remain bright and sparkly for the duration of a YouTube video, but you can incorporate small things into your vlogging style to create a more energetic persona. Have you heard of the phrase ‘telephone voice’? Some people talk differently when they’re on the phone to when they’re with someone face to face. This is because we use our facial expressions to help us communicate when we’re in person, but not when we talk on the phone. As a result, our telephone voice has to be loud and clear. We enunciate our words more and speak more slowly, so the other person on the line can follow the conversation. In the same way, we need to think about our ‘vlogging voice’, because communicating with someone through a vlog is very different from communicating with someone face to face. When you’re vlogging, you’re talking to a viewer with a short attention span. Your viewers may be multi-tasking and watching a video while they do several other things. It’s very different from having a conversation in real life, when the person you’re talking to is alert and aware that they’re expected to respond. There is no such pressure on a viewer. Once they’ve listened to you, they can walk away. They don’t even have to wait until you’re finished, and can switch off at any point. That’s why you need to develop a vlogging voice that draws viewers into your video and captivates their attention so that leaving before the end is not an option.
One trick is to modulate your voice and place emphasis on key words. This will help you avoid sounding monosyllabic, which is the worst possible way to speak on camera if you want to attract an audience. Nobody wants to listen to someone drone on. It’s boring and annoying!
You can practise modulation through repetition. Turn on your camera, place it in position and start talking. It doesn’t matter whether what you’re saying makes sense or not – just talk! When you’re speaking, keep the pace high but enunciate every word. After you’re comfortable with this, start placing emphasis on words that need emphasising while making sure to enunciate the rest of the words clearly.
You can also project energy through movement. Cast your mind back to watching TV as a child. Children’s TV presenters are renowned for their energy and enthusiasm. Look closely, and you’ll see they’re always moving around. At times it seems like they’re bouncing on the spot. They’re also leaning in and leaning out of shot, and they pick up props or products with exaggerated movements. Look again at some of your favourite vloggers and you may see they use the same tactics!
You might also notice that your favourite vloggers always appear groomed and well-presented in their videos. Does this intimidate you? It shouldn’t. You may think you’re not as pretty or handsome as the vloggers you love to watch, but I’ll let you into a little secret: it’s easier to look good on camera than it is in real life. This is because you’re in charge of the set and you can control the elements. You won’t ruin your hair by getting rained on, and you don’t have to hide behind frumpy, baggy jumpers in winter because you can adjust the heating on set.
When it comes to hair and fashion, you should take a bit of time to think about your target audience. How do they dress? Who are their style icons? What do these style icons wear? Your clothes should be similar, because you are aiming to make your viewers both relate to you and aspire to be like you.
I’m not suggesting you spend a fortune on the latest designer-clothing brands or get the most expensive haircut money can buy, but do look at what other people in your field are wearing and try to find similar items on the high street or online.
When it comes to hair, the current trend is long hair for both boys and girls, and you can style it yourself with no more than a hairdryer and some good hairspray. Alternatively, you could get a blow-dry once a week and film the videos when your hairdo is salon-fresh. The rest of the week you’ll be editing and publicising the videos, and won’t need to look as groomed.
If you’re vlogging about a more serious subject, you may want to wear smart clothes or a suit. You wouldn’t turn up for a job interview looking scruffy, would you? First impressions count. People will judge whether they like you or not before you’ve even opened your mouth – in interview situations and when they’re watching your vlogs.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
A lot of vloggers don’t realise that creating a backdrop for their videos is almost as important as thinking about the theme that runs through them. This is because nobody will notice the theme if they can find fault with the setting. Viewers will notice if you’ve left dirty laundry lying around your room or if you haven’t made the bed.
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