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"[Updated] Behind the Scenes Top Tactics for Consistent Vlogging"
Behind the Scenes: Top Tactics for Consistent Vlogging
The Dos and Don’ts of Daily Vlogging
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
If you are making videos on YouTube, you’ll have come to a point where you feel daring enough to take on the ultimate challenge: daily vlogging.
You might have been inspired by other creators on YouTube or you might have heard of VEDA: Vlog every day April (or August). You might have also watched some videos from influencers telling you that the ruthless YouTube algorithm demands daily content if you aspire to grow an audience.
There are many reasons why you may want to try your hand at becoming a daily vlogger, but here are 3 motivating reasons to conquer your vlogging fears and get started.
Bonus Tip-The Best Daily Vlog Maker- Wondershare Filmora
Vlogging is an art and people use vlogging to upload videos daily to their YouTube channel. This is natural if you are recording videos daily, you will need a tool like Wondershare Filmora to edit your videos with precision. To make your task easy, Wondershare Filmora has all the features and effects that are required to edit a daily vlog video that you can upload directly from Filmora itself. You can make use of features like add text, background music, filters & effects, etc if you are a daily vlogger as it would help you a lot in making the video look professional in less time.
Why Daily Vlog Anyways?
Build discipline: Like exercising and eating healthy, you have to commit to it and do it regularly in order to see any lasting results. Vlogging is the same. However, if you’re a creator, making videos whenever you feel like it and want to give yourself a kick in the behind, daily vlogging is a practice that will keep you accountable. You have to do it every day. No excuses.
Practice more: How do the best become the best? They practice… every day. If what you want to do is become the greatest video creator you can be, make the best videos you can make, and build the largest following that you can, then let daily vlogging be your boot camp to reach those goals.
Please the YouTube algorithm: It’s true, YouTube wants to see that you are consistently posting fresh content. Every new video you upload will have a day or two to impress the algorithm, this metric is often referred to as view velocity . YouTube will give your video a lift, suggesting it to new viewers, if they see that it is being enjoyed. By publishing daily, you increase your chances of attracting more viewers.
Now that you know the benefits, how should you approach it?
The Dos and Don’ts of Daily Vlogging
1. Do Get Some Experience First
If you are starting out on YouTube, as in, you made one or two videos make sure you can vlog weekly for a few months before moving to daily. You wouldn’t run a marathon without training; you can hurt yourself if you do. Have an idea of what you are getting yourself into, otherwise, it can burn you out and ruin the joy of video creation for you completely.
2. Don’t Film Everything
Having a daily vlog does not mean always having the camera on. Every minute you film is a minute of footage you will have to watch later, a minute you will have to decide whether to cut from your final video. Every second of recorded footage is multiplied in the editing room and it would be impossible for you to meet your daily deadline if you have too much. The key is to start editing as you film, that way, you only film what you need. It doesn’t hurt to have extra footage, but being excessive can waste your time and add little to the final product.
3. Do Plan Out Your Day (Not Your Night)
Knowing where you need to go, who you are going to see and talk to, where you are going to have lunch, which route you are going to take home, and any other occurrences that can happen during the day will greatly increase your chances of success. A day is long and can be made longer when you have a video on your mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to save some of your decision making energy by having it all planned out? And if you are worried that over planning will reduce serendipitous moments that you want, don’t, your day won’t always go as planned… that’s just life.
Additionally, avoid filming at night. It will become a major stress to your health. Filming at night means pulling all-nighters to publish the next day, and then repeating that daily (nightly).
4. Don’t Spend too Long On a Script… Or Your Video
The beauty of daily vlog is to speak your mind and show your personality, not to perform a Shakespearean sonnet by heart. You shouldn’t try to memorize a whole script every day. That would be brutal! What you can have is an outline of the key points you want to hit, certain things you want to say, convey, or record to tell your story, knowing where you want certain cuts to happen helps too, but don’t workshop it too long, because tomorrow will be another show and done is better than perfect.
5. Do Use Templates, Presets, Hotkeys, and Shortcuts
Any chance you have to cut down on your editing time, use it. This means creating and properly storing templates of visuals you want to incorporate into your video. This means adding presets for effects that you feel you would use again. This means learning the editing hotkeys so you can streamline your process. Here are Filmora’s hotkeys .
6. Don’t Forget to Label Your Content
Staying organized is so important, especially as you begin to accumulate more and more footage. It might seem tedious initially, but this good habit can save you a lot of wasted hours later on when you need to find that specific shot that you swore you had…
7. Do Have A Goal
Have an idea of how long you are going to be going daily. Will it be one month, two months, or a year? Or will it be until you reach a certain amount of views, subscribers, or watch time? While it might feel liberating to venture into the great unknown without a clear destination, having a goal will allow you to keep motivated even when times are hard. After all, once you’ve hit your goal and still feel like there is more fuel in you, keep daily vlogging. There is no better feeling than exceeding your own expectations.
8. Don’t Worry About Equipment (But Be Aware of Bad Audio)
You’ve heard it before: you don’t need anything fancy to be a vlogger. If you are looking to increase your toolbox, we have a helpful YouTube gear starter guide for you. But look at it this way, there will be days when you realized that you forgot to charge the battery on your camera or that you left your tripod at home. Don’t abandon the whole project simply because you don’t have what you need.
The important thing is to film, tell a story, edit, and upload. You can do all that on your smartphone or computer webcam if you have to, so don’t let your equipment or lack thereof break your streak. If there is one thing you should put attention on is audio, if you don’t have excellent gear, try to avoid filming in loud places, such as construction sites, dance halls, or highway overpasses.
9. Do Bring a Camera With You Everywhere
Although you shouldn’t worry about your equipment, it is still a good habit to carry your camera with you everywhere. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep you are a daily vlogger, you never know when something will happen. Always be prepared. Your camera is to you, as a gun is to a soldier. It’s what sets you apart from all the civilians, so keep it close at hand.
10. Don’t Neglect Your Health
Earlier I compared daily vlogging to running a marathon, and like a marathon, there is a point where you need to be aware of yourself. You want to push yourself, but you don’t want to overdo it to a point where you damage your physical or mental health. Only you know when you have gone too far. If you feel like daily vlogging is ruining your life and the goal you set for yourself isn’t something you desire anymore, ask yourself: can I take a week off and decide if video creating is something I want to continue?
11. Do Watch Other Daily Vloggers
By seeing how other YouTubers have done daily vlogs, you can get ideas, see what aspect of their videos you like or dislike, and learn from their presentation, content, and community engagement. By watching daily vloggers, you can also start interacting with their content as well. It is always easier to stay motivated when you have support. By watching and reaching out to the daily vloggers you enjoy, you can build a network of people who are going through the same journey as you.
12. Don’t Forget About Your Audience
Remember that in the end, you are creating videos for someone else to enjoy. Even though you might be doing the daily vlog for yourself, if you want your viewers to return every day, you have to have an overall mission for your project. Is your message one that is aimed to motivate or do you want to document a journey? Don’t create your content in a vacuum, ask your viewers for feedback so you know how to improve.
Embarking on your daily vlogging adventure is not one to take lightly, but after 1 month, 1 season, or 1 year, you will be able to look back and see all that you have accomplished and feel proud. With the advice from this article, you can properly prepare yourself and enjoy each step of the process. Don’t overthink it, have fun!
Are you thinking of starting your daily vlog? Let us know what’s stopping you from the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
If you are making videos on YouTube, you’ll have come to a point where you feel daring enough to take on the ultimate challenge: daily vlogging.
You might have been inspired by other creators on YouTube or you might have heard of VEDA: Vlog every day April (or August). You might have also watched some videos from influencers telling you that the ruthless YouTube algorithm demands daily content if you aspire to grow an audience.
There are many reasons why you may want to try your hand at becoming a daily vlogger, but here are 3 motivating reasons to conquer your vlogging fears and get started.
Bonus Tip-The Best Daily Vlog Maker- Wondershare Filmora
Vlogging is an art and people use vlogging to upload videos daily to their YouTube channel. This is natural if you are recording videos daily, you will need a tool like Wondershare Filmora to edit your videos with precision. To make your task easy, Wondershare Filmora has all the features and effects that are required to edit a daily vlog video that you can upload directly from Filmora itself. You can make use of features like add text, background music, filters & effects, etc if you are a daily vlogger as it would help you a lot in making the video look professional in less time.
Why Daily Vlog Anyways?
Build discipline: Like exercising and eating healthy, you have to commit to it and do it regularly in order to see any lasting results. Vlogging is the same. However, if you’re a creator, making videos whenever you feel like it and want to give yourself a kick in the behind, daily vlogging is a practice that will keep you accountable. You have to do it every day. No excuses.
Practice more: How do the best become the best? They practice… every day. If what you want to do is become the greatest video creator you can be, make the best videos you can make, and build the largest following that you can, then let daily vlogging be your boot camp to reach those goals.
Please the YouTube algorithm: It’s true, YouTube wants to see that you are consistently posting fresh content. Every new video you upload will have a day or two to impress the algorithm, this metric is often referred to as view velocity . YouTube will give your video a lift, suggesting it to new viewers, if they see that it is being enjoyed. By publishing daily, you increase your chances of attracting more viewers.
Now that you know the benefits, how should you approach it?
The Dos and Don’ts of Daily Vlogging
1. Do Get Some Experience First
If you are starting out on YouTube, as in, you made one or two videos make sure you can vlog weekly for a few months before moving to daily. You wouldn’t run a marathon without training; you can hurt yourself if you do. Have an idea of what you are getting yourself into, otherwise, it can burn you out and ruin the joy of video creation for you completely.
2. Don’t Film Everything
Having a daily vlog does not mean always having the camera on. Every minute you film is a minute of footage you will have to watch later, a minute you will have to decide whether to cut from your final video. Every second of recorded footage is multiplied in the editing room and it would be impossible for you to meet your daily deadline if you have too much. The key is to start editing as you film, that way, you only film what you need. It doesn’t hurt to have extra footage, but being excessive can waste your time and add little to the final product.
3. Do Plan Out Your Day (Not Your Night)
Knowing where you need to go, who you are going to see and talk to, where you are going to have lunch, which route you are going to take home, and any other occurrences that can happen during the day will greatly increase your chances of success. A day is long and can be made longer when you have a video on your mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to save some of your decision making energy by having it all planned out? And if you are worried that over planning will reduce serendipitous moments that you want, don’t, your day won’t always go as planned… that’s just life.
Additionally, avoid filming at night. It will become a major stress to your health. Filming at night means pulling all-nighters to publish the next day, and then repeating that daily (nightly).
4. Don’t Spend too Long On a Script… Or Your Video
The beauty of daily vlog is to speak your mind and show your personality, not to perform a Shakespearean sonnet by heart. You shouldn’t try to memorize a whole script every day. That would be brutal! What you can have is an outline of the key points you want to hit, certain things you want to say, convey, or record to tell your story, knowing where you want certain cuts to happen helps too, but don’t workshop it too long, because tomorrow will be another show and done is better than perfect.
5. Do Use Templates, Presets, Hotkeys, and Shortcuts
Any chance you have to cut down on your editing time, use it. This means creating and properly storing templates of visuals you want to incorporate into your video. This means adding presets for effects that you feel you would use again. This means learning the editing hotkeys so you can streamline your process. Here are Filmora’s hotkeys .
6. Don’t Forget to Label Your Content
Staying organized is so important, especially as you begin to accumulate more and more footage. It might seem tedious initially, but this good habit can save you a lot of wasted hours later on when you need to find that specific shot that you swore you had…
7. Do Have A Goal
Have an idea of how long you are going to be going daily. Will it be one month, two months, or a year? Or will it be until you reach a certain amount of views, subscribers, or watch time? While it might feel liberating to venture into the great unknown without a clear destination, having a goal will allow you to keep motivated even when times are hard. After all, once you’ve hit your goal and still feel like there is more fuel in you, keep daily vlogging. There is no better feeling than exceeding your own expectations.
8. Don’t Worry About Equipment (But Be Aware of Bad Audio)
You’ve heard it before: you don’t need anything fancy to be a vlogger. If you are looking to increase your toolbox, we have a helpful YouTube gear starter guide for you. But look at it this way, there will be days when you realized that you forgot to charge the battery on your camera or that you left your tripod at home. Don’t abandon the whole project simply because you don’t have what you need.
The important thing is to film, tell a story, edit, and upload. You can do all that on your smartphone or computer webcam if you have to, so don’t let your equipment or lack thereof break your streak. If there is one thing you should put attention on is audio, if you don’t have excellent gear, try to avoid filming in loud places, such as construction sites, dance halls, or highway overpasses.
9. Do Bring a Camera With You Everywhere
Although you shouldn’t worry about your equipment, it is still a good habit to carry your camera with you everywhere. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep you are a daily vlogger, you never know when something will happen. Always be prepared. Your camera is to you, as a gun is to a soldier. It’s what sets you apart from all the civilians, so keep it close at hand.
10. Don’t Neglect Your Health
Earlier I compared daily vlogging to running a marathon, and like a marathon, there is a point where you need to be aware of yourself. You want to push yourself, but you don’t want to overdo it to a point where you damage your physical or mental health. Only you know when you have gone too far. If you feel like daily vlogging is ruining your life and the goal you set for yourself isn’t something you desire anymore, ask yourself: can I take a week off and decide if video creating is something I want to continue?
11. Do Watch Other Daily Vloggers
By seeing how other YouTubers have done daily vlogs, you can get ideas, see what aspect of their videos you like or dislike, and learn from their presentation, content, and community engagement. By watching daily vloggers, you can also start interacting with their content as well. It is always easier to stay motivated when you have support. By watching and reaching out to the daily vloggers you enjoy, you can build a network of people who are going through the same journey as you.
12. Don’t Forget About Your Audience
Remember that in the end, you are creating videos for someone else to enjoy. Even though you might be doing the daily vlog for yourself, if you want your viewers to return every day, you have to have an overall mission for your project. Is your message one that is aimed to motivate or do you want to document a journey? Don’t create your content in a vacuum, ask your viewers for feedback so you know how to improve.
Embarking on your daily vlogging adventure is not one to take lightly, but after 1 month, 1 season, or 1 year, you will be able to look back and see all that you have accomplished and feel proud. With the advice from this article, you can properly prepare yourself and enjoy each step of the process. Don’t overthink it, have fun!
Are you thinking of starting your daily vlog? Let us know what’s stopping you from the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
If you are making videos on YouTube, you’ll have come to a point where you feel daring enough to take on the ultimate challenge: daily vlogging.
You might have been inspired by other creators on YouTube or you might have heard of VEDA: Vlog every day April (or August). You might have also watched some videos from influencers telling you that the ruthless YouTube algorithm demands daily content if you aspire to grow an audience.
There are many reasons why you may want to try your hand at becoming a daily vlogger, but here are 3 motivating reasons to conquer your vlogging fears and get started.
Bonus Tip-The Best Daily Vlog Maker- Wondershare Filmora
Vlogging is an art and people use vlogging to upload videos daily to their YouTube channel. This is natural if you are recording videos daily, you will need a tool like Wondershare Filmora to edit your videos with precision. To make your task easy, Wondershare Filmora has all the features and effects that are required to edit a daily vlog video that you can upload directly from Filmora itself. You can make use of features like add text, background music, filters & effects, etc if you are a daily vlogger as it would help you a lot in making the video look professional in less time.
Why Daily Vlog Anyways?
Build discipline: Like exercising and eating healthy, you have to commit to it and do it regularly in order to see any lasting results. Vlogging is the same. However, if you’re a creator, making videos whenever you feel like it and want to give yourself a kick in the behind, daily vlogging is a practice that will keep you accountable. You have to do it every day. No excuses.
Practice more: How do the best become the best? They practice… every day. If what you want to do is become the greatest video creator you can be, make the best videos you can make, and build the largest following that you can, then let daily vlogging be your boot camp to reach those goals.
Please the YouTube algorithm: It’s true, YouTube wants to see that you are consistently posting fresh content. Every new video you upload will have a day or two to impress the algorithm, this metric is often referred to as view velocity . YouTube will give your video a lift, suggesting it to new viewers, if they see that it is being enjoyed. By publishing daily, you increase your chances of attracting more viewers.
Now that you know the benefits, how should you approach it?
The Dos and Don’ts of Daily Vlogging
1. Do Get Some Experience First
If you are starting out on YouTube, as in, you made one or two videos make sure you can vlog weekly for a few months before moving to daily. You wouldn’t run a marathon without training; you can hurt yourself if you do. Have an idea of what you are getting yourself into, otherwise, it can burn you out and ruin the joy of video creation for you completely.
2. Don’t Film Everything
Having a daily vlog does not mean always having the camera on. Every minute you film is a minute of footage you will have to watch later, a minute you will have to decide whether to cut from your final video. Every second of recorded footage is multiplied in the editing room and it would be impossible for you to meet your daily deadline if you have too much. The key is to start editing as you film, that way, you only film what you need. It doesn’t hurt to have extra footage, but being excessive can waste your time and add little to the final product.
3. Do Plan Out Your Day (Not Your Night)
Knowing where you need to go, who you are going to see and talk to, where you are going to have lunch, which route you are going to take home, and any other occurrences that can happen during the day will greatly increase your chances of success. A day is long and can be made longer when you have a video on your mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to save some of your decision making energy by having it all planned out? And if you are worried that over planning will reduce serendipitous moments that you want, don’t, your day won’t always go as planned… that’s just life.
Additionally, avoid filming at night. It will become a major stress to your health. Filming at night means pulling all-nighters to publish the next day, and then repeating that daily (nightly).
4. Don’t Spend too Long On a Script… Or Your Video
The beauty of daily vlog is to speak your mind and show your personality, not to perform a Shakespearean sonnet by heart. You shouldn’t try to memorize a whole script every day. That would be brutal! What you can have is an outline of the key points you want to hit, certain things you want to say, convey, or record to tell your story, knowing where you want certain cuts to happen helps too, but don’t workshop it too long, because tomorrow will be another show and done is better than perfect.
5. Do Use Templates, Presets, Hotkeys, and Shortcuts
Any chance you have to cut down on your editing time, use it. This means creating and properly storing templates of visuals you want to incorporate into your video. This means adding presets for effects that you feel you would use again. This means learning the editing hotkeys so you can streamline your process. Here are Filmora’s hotkeys .
6. Don’t Forget to Label Your Content
Staying organized is so important, especially as you begin to accumulate more and more footage. It might seem tedious initially, but this good habit can save you a lot of wasted hours later on when you need to find that specific shot that you swore you had…
7. Do Have A Goal
Have an idea of how long you are going to be going daily. Will it be one month, two months, or a year? Or will it be until you reach a certain amount of views, subscribers, or watch time? While it might feel liberating to venture into the great unknown without a clear destination, having a goal will allow you to keep motivated even when times are hard. After all, once you’ve hit your goal and still feel like there is more fuel in you, keep daily vlogging. There is no better feeling than exceeding your own expectations.
8. Don’t Worry About Equipment (But Be Aware of Bad Audio)
You’ve heard it before: you don’t need anything fancy to be a vlogger. If you are looking to increase your toolbox, we have a helpful YouTube gear starter guide for you. But look at it this way, there will be days when you realized that you forgot to charge the battery on your camera or that you left your tripod at home. Don’t abandon the whole project simply because you don’t have what you need.
The important thing is to film, tell a story, edit, and upload. You can do all that on your smartphone or computer webcam if you have to, so don’t let your equipment or lack thereof break your streak. If there is one thing you should put attention on is audio, if you don’t have excellent gear, try to avoid filming in loud places, such as construction sites, dance halls, or highway overpasses.
9. Do Bring a Camera With You Everywhere
Although you shouldn’t worry about your equipment, it is still a good habit to carry your camera with you everywhere. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep you are a daily vlogger, you never know when something will happen. Always be prepared. Your camera is to you, as a gun is to a soldier. It’s what sets you apart from all the civilians, so keep it close at hand.
10. Don’t Neglect Your Health
Earlier I compared daily vlogging to running a marathon, and like a marathon, there is a point where you need to be aware of yourself. You want to push yourself, but you don’t want to overdo it to a point where you damage your physical or mental health. Only you know when you have gone too far. If you feel like daily vlogging is ruining your life and the goal you set for yourself isn’t something you desire anymore, ask yourself: can I take a week off and decide if video creating is something I want to continue?
11. Do Watch Other Daily Vloggers
By seeing how other YouTubers have done daily vlogs, you can get ideas, see what aspect of their videos you like or dislike, and learn from their presentation, content, and community engagement. By watching daily vloggers, you can also start interacting with their content as well. It is always easier to stay motivated when you have support. By watching and reaching out to the daily vloggers you enjoy, you can build a network of people who are going through the same journey as you.
12. Don’t Forget About Your Audience
Remember that in the end, you are creating videos for someone else to enjoy. Even though you might be doing the daily vlog for yourself, if you want your viewers to return every day, you have to have an overall mission for your project. Is your message one that is aimed to motivate or do you want to document a journey? Don’t create your content in a vacuum, ask your viewers for feedback so you know how to improve.
Embarking on your daily vlogging adventure is not one to take lightly, but after 1 month, 1 season, or 1 year, you will be able to look back and see all that you have accomplished and feel proud. With the advice from this article, you can properly prepare yourself and enjoy each step of the process. Don’t overthink it, have fun!
Are you thinking of starting your daily vlog? Let us know what’s stopping you from the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
If you are making videos on YouTube, you’ll have come to a point where you feel daring enough to take on the ultimate challenge: daily vlogging.
You might have been inspired by other creators on YouTube or you might have heard of VEDA: Vlog every day April (or August). You might have also watched some videos from influencers telling you that the ruthless YouTube algorithm demands daily content if you aspire to grow an audience.
There are many reasons why you may want to try your hand at becoming a daily vlogger, but here are 3 motivating reasons to conquer your vlogging fears and get started.
Bonus Tip-The Best Daily Vlog Maker- Wondershare Filmora
Vlogging is an art and people use vlogging to upload videos daily to their YouTube channel. This is natural if you are recording videos daily, you will need a tool like Wondershare Filmora to edit your videos with precision. To make your task easy, Wondershare Filmora has all the features and effects that are required to edit a daily vlog video that you can upload directly from Filmora itself. You can make use of features like add text, background music, filters & effects, etc if you are a daily vlogger as it would help you a lot in making the video look professional in less time.
Why Daily Vlog Anyways?
Build discipline: Like exercising and eating healthy, you have to commit to it and do it regularly in order to see any lasting results. Vlogging is the same. However, if you’re a creator, making videos whenever you feel like it and want to give yourself a kick in the behind, daily vlogging is a practice that will keep you accountable. You have to do it every day. No excuses.
Practice more: How do the best become the best? They practice… every day. If what you want to do is become the greatest video creator you can be, make the best videos you can make, and build the largest following that you can, then let daily vlogging be your boot camp to reach those goals.
Please the YouTube algorithm: It’s true, YouTube wants to see that you are consistently posting fresh content. Every new video you upload will have a day or two to impress the algorithm, this metric is often referred to as view velocity . YouTube will give your video a lift, suggesting it to new viewers, if they see that it is being enjoyed. By publishing daily, you increase your chances of attracting more viewers.
Now that you know the benefits, how should you approach it?
The Dos and Don’ts of Daily Vlogging
1. Do Get Some Experience First
If you are starting out on YouTube, as in, you made one or two videos make sure you can vlog weekly for a few months before moving to daily. You wouldn’t run a marathon without training; you can hurt yourself if you do. Have an idea of what you are getting yourself into, otherwise, it can burn you out and ruin the joy of video creation for you completely.
2. Don’t Film Everything
Having a daily vlog does not mean always having the camera on. Every minute you film is a minute of footage you will have to watch later, a minute you will have to decide whether to cut from your final video. Every second of recorded footage is multiplied in the editing room and it would be impossible for you to meet your daily deadline if you have too much. The key is to start editing as you film, that way, you only film what you need. It doesn’t hurt to have extra footage, but being excessive can waste your time and add little to the final product.
3. Do Plan Out Your Day (Not Your Night)
Knowing where you need to go, who you are going to see and talk to, where you are going to have lunch, which route you are going to take home, and any other occurrences that can happen during the day will greatly increase your chances of success. A day is long and can be made longer when you have a video on your mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to save some of your decision making energy by having it all planned out? And if you are worried that over planning will reduce serendipitous moments that you want, don’t, your day won’t always go as planned… that’s just life.
Additionally, avoid filming at night. It will become a major stress to your health. Filming at night means pulling all-nighters to publish the next day, and then repeating that daily (nightly).
4. Don’t Spend too Long On a Script… Or Your Video
The beauty of daily vlog is to speak your mind and show your personality, not to perform a Shakespearean sonnet by heart. You shouldn’t try to memorize a whole script every day. That would be brutal! What you can have is an outline of the key points you want to hit, certain things you want to say, convey, or record to tell your story, knowing where you want certain cuts to happen helps too, but don’t workshop it too long, because tomorrow will be another show and done is better than perfect.
5. Do Use Templates, Presets, Hotkeys, and Shortcuts
Any chance you have to cut down on your editing time, use it. This means creating and properly storing templates of visuals you want to incorporate into your video. This means adding presets for effects that you feel you would use again. This means learning the editing hotkeys so you can streamline your process. Here are Filmora’s hotkeys .
6. Don’t Forget to Label Your Content
Staying organized is so important, especially as you begin to accumulate more and more footage. It might seem tedious initially, but this good habit can save you a lot of wasted hours later on when you need to find that specific shot that you swore you had…
7. Do Have A Goal
Have an idea of how long you are going to be going daily. Will it be one month, two months, or a year? Or will it be until you reach a certain amount of views, subscribers, or watch time? While it might feel liberating to venture into the great unknown without a clear destination, having a goal will allow you to keep motivated even when times are hard. After all, once you’ve hit your goal and still feel like there is more fuel in you, keep daily vlogging. There is no better feeling than exceeding your own expectations.
8. Don’t Worry About Equipment (But Be Aware of Bad Audio)
You’ve heard it before: you don’t need anything fancy to be a vlogger. If you are looking to increase your toolbox, we have a helpful YouTube gear starter guide for you. But look at it this way, there will be days when you realized that you forgot to charge the battery on your camera or that you left your tripod at home. Don’t abandon the whole project simply because you don’t have what you need.
The important thing is to film, tell a story, edit, and upload. You can do all that on your smartphone or computer webcam if you have to, so don’t let your equipment or lack thereof break your streak. If there is one thing you should put attention on is audio, if you don’t have excellent gear, try to avoid filming in loud places, such as construction sites, dance halls, or highway overpasses.
9. Do Bring a Camera With You Everywhere
Although you shouldn’t worry about your equipment, it is still a good habit to carry your camera with you everywhere. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep you are a daily vlogger, you never know when something will happen. Always be prepared. Your camera is to you, as a gun is to a soldier. It’s what sets you apart from all the civilians, so keep it close at hand.
10. Don’t Neglect Your Health
Earlier I compared daily vlogging to running a marathon, and like a marathon, there is a point where you need to be aware of yourself. You want to push yourself, but you don’t want to overdo it to a point where you damage your physical or mental health. Only you know when you have gone too far. If you feel like daily vlogging is ruining your life and the goal you set for yourself isn’t something you desire anymore, ask yourself: can I take a week off and decide if video creating is something I want to continue?
11. Do Watch Other Daily Vloggers
By seeing how other YouTubers have done daily vlogs, you can get ideas, see what aspect of their videos you like or dislike, and learn from their presentation, content, and community engagement. By watching daily vloggers, you can also start interacting with their content as well. It is always easier to stay motivated when you have support. By watching and reaching out to the daily vloggers you enjoy, you can build a network of people who are going through the same journey as you.
12. Don’t Forget About Your Audience
Remember that in the end, you are creating videos for someone else to enjoy. Even though you might be doing the daily vlog for yourself, if you want your viewers to return every day, you have to have an overall mission for your project. Is your message one that is aimed to motivate or do you want to document a journey? Don’t create your content in a vacuum, ask your viewers for feedback so you know how to improve.
Embarking on your daily vlogging adventure is not one to take lightly, but after 1 month, 1 season, or 1 year, you will be able to look back and see all that you have accomplished and feel proud. With the advice from this article, you can properly prepare yourself and enjoy each step of the process. Don’t overthink it, have fun!
Are you thinking of starting your daily vlog? Let us know what’s stopping you from the comments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
From Basics to Blockbusters: Building an Audience on Gaming Channels
The Guide to Starting a Successful YouTube Gaming Channel
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.
Table of Content:
- Have a Greater Purpose
- Create an Identity
- Type of Gaming Videos
- Have a Budget
- Optimization Matter
- Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:
- Patience
- Consistency
- Creativity
If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.
The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor
- Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
- Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
- Built-in plentiful templates and effects
- Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats
For Win 7 or later (64-bit)
For macOS 10.12 or later
Secure Download
It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.
The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.
1. Have a Greater Purpose
According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.
Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.
If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.
Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).
Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.
Here is how you find your greater purpose:
1. Give Value
You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.
But… what makes good YouTube content?
Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:
Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.
Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.
Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.
This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?
2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual
YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.
At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.
But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .
It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.
However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.
Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.
3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step
There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.
If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.
In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .
You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.
You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.
Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.
2. Create an Identity
Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?
1. Be Original
Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.
Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.
Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.
If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?
2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game
Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.
Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.
Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.
Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:
3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It
Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.
The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.
This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.
To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.
Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.
This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.
Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.
3. Type of Gaming Videos
There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.
1. Let’s Plays
Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).
Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.
2. Reviews
When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.
3. Walkthrough
Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.
4. Reactions
Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.
5. Skills
Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.
4. Have a Budget
When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.
What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.
What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.
Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.
Here is what you will need to get the best results:
- Microphone (Average cost: $100)
- Webcam (Average cost: $100)
- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)
- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)
If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.
Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.
I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.
There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.
You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.
1. Many Games Are Free
Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.
If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.
2. Some Software Are Free As Well
OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.
Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.
GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.
5. Optimization Matters
Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?
The answer: with a good optimization strategy.
1. Tags and Title
When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.
You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.
If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.
However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.
Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”
This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.
Few more tips to improving your titles include:
- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”
- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.
- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.
- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.
2. Create Awesome Thumbnails
It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.
What makes a good thumbnail image?
- Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
- Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)
Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.
- Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.
Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.
- Use readable text or emojis
If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.
3. Engage with Other Gamers
Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.
It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.
Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
1. Cause for Demonetization
The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:
- Excessive or gratuitous violence
- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)
- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters
- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group
2. Avoiding Copyright Strike
Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.
However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.
If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.
Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:
- Is your content creative or educational?
- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?
- Is your video benefiting the original content?
I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.
Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
- Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
- YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
- Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
- Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
- Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .
What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!
Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers
If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.
Table of Content:
- Have a Greater Purpose
- Create an Identity
- Type of Gaming Videos
- Have a Budget
- Optimization Matter
- Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:
- Patience
- Consistency
- Creativity
If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.
The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor
- Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
- Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
- Built-in plentiful templates and effects
- Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats
For Win 7 or later (64-bit)
For macOS 10.12 or later
Secure Download
It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.
The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.
1. Have a Greater Purpose
According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.
Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.
If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.
Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).
Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.
Here is how you find your greater purpose:
1. Give Value
You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.
But… what makes good YouTube content?
Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:
Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.
Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.
Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.
This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?
2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual
YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.
At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.
But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .
It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.
However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.
Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.
3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step
There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.
If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.
In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .
You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.
You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.
Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.
2. Create an Identity
Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?
1. Be Original
Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.
Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.
Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.
If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?
2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game
Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.
Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.
Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.
Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:
3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It
Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.
The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.
This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.
To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.
Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.
This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.
Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.
3. Type of Gaming Videos
There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.
1. Let’s Plays
Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).
Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.
2. Reviews
When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.
3. Walkthrough
Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.
4. Reactions
Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.
5. Skills
Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.
4. Have a Budget
When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.
What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.
What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.
Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.
Here is what you will need to get the best results:
- Microphone (Average cost: $100)
- Webcam (Average cost: $100)
- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)
- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)
If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.
Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.
I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.
There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.
You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.
1. Many Games Are Free
Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.
If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.
2. Some Software Are Free As Well
OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.
Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.
GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.
5. Optimization Matters
Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?
The answer: with a good optimization strategy.
1. Tags and Title
When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.
You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.
If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.
However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.
Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”
This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.
Few more tips to improving your titles include:
- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”
- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.
- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.
- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.
2. Create Awesome Thumbnails
It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.
What makes a good thumbnail image?
- Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
- Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)
Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.
- Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.
Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.
- Use readable text or emojis
If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.
3. Engage with Other Gamers
Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.
It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.
Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
1. Cause for Demonetization
The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:
- Excessive or gratuitous violence
- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)
- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters
- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group
2. Avoiding Copyright Strike
Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.
However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.
If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.
Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:
- Is your content creative or educational?
- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?
- Is your video benefiting the original content?
I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.
Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
- Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
- YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
- Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
- Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
- Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .
What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!
Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers
If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.
Table of Content:
- Have a Greater Purpose
- Create an Identity
- Type of Gaming Videos
- Have a Budget
- Optimization Matter
- Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:
- Patience
- Consistency
- Creativity
If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.
The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor
- Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
- Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
- Built-in plentiful templates and effects
- Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats
For Win 7 or later (64-bit)
For macOS 10.12 or later
Secure Download
It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.
The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.
1. Have a Greater Purpose
According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.
Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.
If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.
Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).
Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.
Here is how you find your greater purpose:
1. Give Value
You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.
But… what makes good YouTube content?
Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:
Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.
Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.
Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.
This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?
2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual
YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.
At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.
But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .
It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.
However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.
Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.
3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step
There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.
If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.
In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .
You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.
You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.
Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.
2. Create an Identity
Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?
1. Be Original
Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.
Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.
Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.
If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?
2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game
Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.
Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.
Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.
Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:
3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It
Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.
The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.
This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.
To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.
Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.
This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.
Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.
3. Type of Gaming Videos
There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.
1. Let’s Plays
Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).
Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.
2. Reviews
When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.
3. Walkthrough
Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.
4. Reactions
Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.
5. Skills
Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.
4. Have a Budget
When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.
What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.
What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.
Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.
Here is what you will need to get the best results:
- Microphone (Average cost: $100)
- Webcam (Average cost: $100)
- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)
- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)
If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.
Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.
I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.
There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.
You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.
1. Many Games Are Free
Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.
If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.
2. Some Software Are Free As Well
OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.
Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.
GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.
5. Optimization Matters
Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?
The answer: with a good optimization strategy.
1. Tags and Title
When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.
You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.
If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.
However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.
Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”
This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.
Few more tips to improving your titles include:
- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”
- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.
- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.
- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.
2. Create Awesome Thumbnails
It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.
What makes a good thumbnail image?
- Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
- Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)
Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.
- Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.
Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.
- Use readable text or emojis
If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.
3. Engage with Other Gamers
Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.
It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.
Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
1. Cause for Demonetization
The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:
- Excessive or gratuitous violence
- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)
- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters
- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group
2. Avoiding Copyright Strike
Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.
However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.
If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.
Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:
- Is your content creative or educational?
- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?
- Is your video benefiting the original content?
I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.
Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
- Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
- YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
- Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
- Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
- Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .
What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!
Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers
If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.
Table of Content:
- Have a Greater Purpose
- Create an Identity
- Type of Gaming Videos
- Have a Budget
- Optimization Matter
- Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:
- Patience
- Consistency
- Creativity
If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.
The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor
- Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
- Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
- Built-in plentiful templates and effects
- Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats
For Win 7 or later (64-bit)
For macOS 10.12 or later
Secure Download
It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.
The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.
1. Have a Greater Purpose
According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.
Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.
If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.
Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).
Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.
Here is how you find your greater purpose:
1. Give Value
You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.
But… what makes good YouTube content?
Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:
Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.
Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.
Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.
This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?
2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual
YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.
At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.
But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .
It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.
However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.
Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.
3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step
There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.
If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.
In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .
You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.
You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.
Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.
2. Create an Identity
Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?
1. Be Original
Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.
Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.
Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.
If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?
2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game
Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.
Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.
Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.
Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:
3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It
Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.
The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.
This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.
To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.
Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.
This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.
Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.
3. Type of Gaming Videos
There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.
1. Let’s Plays
Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).
Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.
2. Reviews
When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.
3. Walkthrough
Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.
4. Reactions
Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.
5. Skills
Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.
4. Have a Budget
When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.
What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.
What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.
Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.
Here is what you will need to get the best results:
- Microphone (Average cost: $100)
- Webcam (Average cost: $100)
- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)
- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)
If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.
Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.
I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.
There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.
You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.
1. Many Games Are Free
Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.
If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.
2. Some Software Are Free As Well
OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.
Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.
GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.
5. Optimization Matters
Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?
The answer: with a good optimization strategy.
1. Tags and Title
When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.
You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.
If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.
However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.
Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”
This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.
Few more tips to improving your titles include:
- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”
- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.
- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.
- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.
2. Create Awesome Thumbnails
It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.
What makes a good thumbnail image?
- Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
- Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)
Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.
- Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.
Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.
- Use readable text or emojis
If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.
3. Engage with Other Gamers
Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.
It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.
Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization
1. Cause for Demonetization
The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:
- Excessive or gratuitous violence
- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)
- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters
- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group
2. Avoiding Copyright Strike
Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.
However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.
If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.
Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:
- Is your content creative or educational?
- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?
- Is your video benefiting the original content?
I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.
Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
- Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
- YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
- Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
- Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
- Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .
What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!
Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers
If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
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- Title: "[Updated] Behind the Scenes Top Tactics for Consistent Vlogging"
- Author: Steven
- Created at : 2024-05-25 20:46:09
- Updated at : 2024-05-26 20:46:09
- Link: https://youtube-clips.techidaily.com/updated-behind-the-scenes-top-tactics-for-consistent-vlogging/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
