5 reasons a youtuber needs a graphic and web designer

If you want to be legit on YouTube, it’s not about filming and uploading anymore. With all the competition, users are looking for high-quality content to consume. Everyone knows that audio and video quality are important. In fact, it’s easier than ever to record high-quality content with just your phone. So what’s the next step? Design. To look professional, you need a brand and a website. Here are 5 reasons a Youtuber needs a graphic and web designer.

5 reasons a Youtuber needs a graphic and web designer

It’s time to look professional. I’m not talking about wearing a suit and tie. I’m talking about looking like a legit business, or an authority in whatever content you’re creating. It has to look like you have a production team producing your video, even though it’s just one person. Besides saving you time and energy to focus on creating your videos, here are the ways that a designer can help elevate your YouTube channel.

01. Logo and branding

One of the first things you must have to look professional is a logo. Your logo will be everywhere and help with brand recognition. You’ll use your logo on your YouTube channel in the channel art, your YouTube video, on your website, media kit (if you plan to apply to affiliates), business card (if you plan to network), and so on.

Besides your logo, you also need a graphic designer to research and develop your brand. Why is branding important? You can think of it as creating a signature style for your channel and other assets. It keeps everything consistent. You’ll use the same fonts, colors, imagery, and so on. Sounds boring, right? Well, this helps with brand recognition. If you keep using the same style, people will start to know you for it. Not only that, but it saves you time in content creation. You’ll never have to guess which font and colors to use because it’s already decided.

02. Title graphics and channel art

A graphic designer can design your channel, title, and thumbnail graphics for your videos. If you already have an established brand, this will help with brand recognition. For your YouTube channel, the cover art is the main graphic on the page. It should showcase the important details of your channel.

Another thing you might not think about is the branding watermark on the bottom right side of the video. This graphic is usually the logo, but it could be a submark or an icon that’s relevant to your brand.

Thumbnails are the first thing people see when they’re browsing videos. Great thumbnails will obviously get more click-throughs. Not only that, but some people will also use title graphics in their videos to showcase what the video is about. Check out this video from Jenn Im for an example of cool title graphics. You’ll see that her thumbnail video and title graphics are completely different.

03. Social media graphics

If you’re on YouTube, you’re definitely on other social media channels to promote your videos. I’m guessing you’re using mostly Twitter and Instagram. No matter which social media platform you’re using, graphics are important.

According to Brain Rules, “vision trumps all other senses.” So, if you’re using just text, you’re not getting as many views as you could. Every platform has a visual aspect. You can probably get away with posting your YouTube video on Twitter, but you’ll definitely need an image on Instagram, Instagram stories, Pinterest and Facebook.

With these social media platforms, graphic dimensions are important. For Instagram, a 1 to 1 ratio is best, Pinterest is all about height to get noticed, and Instagram stories usually uses the dimensions of 1080px x 1920px. Facebook has their own videos, so if you post your YouTube link in your post, your video will be cropped weird. It’s better to create a graphic and upload it to Facebook to catch viewers attention. Then add your link in the Facebook post.

04. Opt-in and other video graphics

If you’re smart, you’re growing an email list. This list can be used to help get information on what content you can create next or list of potential customers. Usually, if people sign up for your list, they’re fans that love your content and want to support you.

If you’re trying to create and grow your list, one popular way to do this is to create an opt-in that people are willing to sign up to your mailing list to get. This can be a worksheet, workbook, planner, an exclusive video, and so on. These can all be designed by a graphic designer.

For your videos, you might want to create an intro and outro. You can also have a designer create buttons, icons, and other graphics that you want your viewers to click on.

If you decide to create digital products or actual products that you want to start selling to your audience, you’ll want a designer to design the final product. Products can include planners, books, ebooks, notebooks, mugs, and so on.

Note: If you want an intro video like logo animations or you need something that requires more than just a still graphic, you need someone (like me) with experience in multimedia.

05. Website graphics

If you don’t know why you should have a website, read here. When you do set up a website, you’ll need images. High-quality images are really important because it makes your website look like a professional site. When you see low-quality images on websites, you know you think that the website might be a scam, so you click away.

What types of images will you need for a website? Images for the header of each page, images of your opt-ins, products, featured images for your blog post, and etc.

Since websites are changing and updating every day, it’s great to have a designer to make these changes.

Summary

Don’t have time to read this post? Here’s a list of the 5 reasons a Youtuber needs a graphic and web designer:

To create a high-quality logo and brand.
Design the channel art, thumbnails, and title graphics for videos.
Create social media graphics to promote new videos.
Create opt-ins and other graphics needed for videos.
Update and create website graphics.

Are you a YouTuber? Have you thought to hire a graphic designer for your channel? Let me know in the comments below.

-Paigon

YouTube

What should you put in your YouTube description?

August 27, 2018September 17, 2018

Are you typing in a description for your YouTube videos? If not, you definitely should be. Why? Because it’s important for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It helps your videos get in front of your target audience. As an added bonus, you can also add important links and information to your description. So what should you put in your YouTube description? Keep reading to find out and I’ll also show you the easy way to add all the information you want to put in your description and never have to think about it again.

What should you put in your YouTube description

The #1 thing

The first 2 sentences in your description should be relevant to your video. These sentences are important for SEO. Because of this, you should create sentences that include the keywords that your target audience is searching for. For example, if I was creating a video on branding specifically for YouTube, I would write something like:

Are you an entrepreneur who wants to attract their target audience on YouTube? Check out this video on how to brand your YouTube channel to look like the AUTHORITY in your niche.

This sentence has all the keywords I need. I’m targeting entrepreneurs and the video is about ‘how to brand your YouTube channel’. You can get even more specific than this depending on your audience and what your goals are. For example, if I’m targeting female entrepreneurs, I would add that instead of just entrepreneurs.

Utilize the default

After the first 2 sentences, you should put in other information that is helpful to your audience or links that you want your audience to click on. Here is a list of items that you can add to your description.

Links to your opt-in or freebie
Affiliate links
A link to your Facebook group
Subscribe link
Email newsletter link
Links to your social media channels
An about you section

If you’re going to reuse the same information in your description, then you should create a default description. This will automatically add the information to your video every time you upload a new video. This is what I do for my videos and also my clients’ videos. The first 2 sentences are the only sentences that change in the description.

Here’s an example of my default description:

Multimedia · YouTube

How to record better YouTube videos

August 13, 2018September 17, 2018

As a video editor, it’s my job to make you look good. That makes sense right? I mean, your success equals my success too. Because I get the raw footage of your videos, I see your best and your worst (don’t worry, your secrets are safe with me). I know how nerve-wracking it can be to be in front of a camera, so I think being prepared and knowing what to do on camera will definitely help make your videos look better and the editing process easier. If you want to learn how to record better YouTube videos, here are the 5 mistakes you’re making when recording a video.

How to record better YouTube videos

01 Slow it down

Talking too fast. This is a nervous habit. I’m guilty of this too! When you talk too fast, you tend to run your words together. It’s also not flattering to your audience. If you edit your own videos, you’ll also see that it’s hard to edit out mistakes because words will get cut off or force you to keep parts that should have been edited out.

If you’re nervous, stop and take a breath. Those pauses will be edited out anyway. If you’re still nervous, just stop recording and do a dry run. Usually, if I’m nervous, it’s because I’m not prepared so I like to practice and be aware of myself. When I say practice, don’t just read through what you want to say. You have to practice like it’s real. If you practice at 50%, then the real performance will be 50%. Always practice at 100% so you’ll do it naturally at 100%.

02 And cut

Just like talking too fast, you need to take a break between thoughts. I have a client who goes from one thought to another without pausing. When you keep plowing through your thoughts, you’re bound to make mistakes and get flustered. You might think that you’re doing a good job because you know your subject and you’re finishing your video quickly, but it doesn’t look good on camera.

It’s kind of like singing. Professional singers don’t just randomly take breaths during a song. If they did, they would destroy the rhythm of the song. Same thing for acting. You don’t see them taking random breaths during a scene. It would be distracting. Well, that’s exactly what happens when you plow through your words.

When you keep talking without pausing, you start randomly taking breaths, or worse, swallow because your mouth is dry, and keep going. When it comes to editing, it’s hard to edit out these random breaths and swallows if you keep talking without a break. Instead of being like the energizer bunny (do you remember him, he just keeps going and going), take a breath, regroup, and then finish your thoughts. It’s all about looking natural on camera.

Energizer bunny

03 Being too perfect

No one likes making mistakes. We all want to put our best face forward. No one wants to show their worst side, but in this case, do it. I’m here to edit them out. Even celebrities make mistakes. Do you think they can act out their character perfectly on screen? No, they get to have do-overs. That’s how we get to watch awesome bloopers.

bloopers

Your main focus should be knowing your subject and being natural. Even though your audience will likely fall in love with you because they want to emulate you or you’re helping them with your content, they still want you to be human just like them. Read More “How to record better YouTube videos”

YouTube

Why you should create a script for your YouTube videos

July 23, 2018September 17, 2018

Should you create a script for your YouTube videos? The short answer is yes. The long answer is also yes. If you’re not creating scripts for your YouTube videos, then you’re not being efficient. If you think about it, every content has a script. TV shows, movies, news programs, interviews, radio shows and blog posts have scripts. This blog post has a script too. The script for this post is the outline I create before I start the rough draft.

I’m not telling you to write out a whole play. Just at least have an outline of what you’re going to talk about in your video. Here are the reasons why you should create a script for your YouTube video and how you’ll create awesome YouTube videos every time.

Why you should create a script for your YouTube videos

Saves time and energy

For me, this is the number 1 reason you should create a script for your YouTube video. You save so much time and energy. This is why I create an outline for everything I do. Whether that’s writing a blog or giving a presentation, I have one prepared in advance.

For a script, I would recommend having a template so that you can use it over and over again. We’ll go over this rinse and repeat method later because you’re not creating a template with the same exact words, unless you have some signature line you want to use over and over again, like ‘This is Paigon signing off with the Natasha Lane Design Co. daily report. Until the next time’. Cue cheesy wink and finger-pointing. That would be hella awesome!

When you create a template for your script, you’ll just create an outline of what you need for your video, but you’ll still have to think of new content every time.

Building a brand

When you create a script, you’re actually helping to form your brand (Ah, everything relates back to branding *wink wink*). By creating a script, especially if you have a template, you’re creating consistency in your video. Even though the content is different in every video, you’re still keeping elements of your video consistent.

When you create consistency within your script, your audience will know what to expect when you release your videos. It’s kind of like watching those Marvel superhero movies. First, something bad will happen, maybe a villain origin story or a revenge plot, then the superhero (a male lead) will be born or face some adversity to ‘supposedly’ become stronger, and then the superhero beats the villain.

*Warning, useless rambling that has nothing to do with the blog post* Can we take a moment to realize that all the superheroes are men and that the character, Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson is only a normal woman. If a normal woman can keep up with superheroes, then how awesome would a female superhero be. If I had my way though, I would create a female super villain character with awesome character development. Maybe like a female version of Lex Luthor.

*Getting back on track*

Every television show, live or scripted, follows a format, and we the viewers expect it. It’s part of the brand created for that show. As someone who’s creating video content consistently, you should treat your channel like a real television station. This alone will help you stand out from other channels who are creating random things and don’t have any type of format.

How to create a script for your YouTube videos

When you’re thinking about creating a script or template for your script, you need to keep it simple. All you have to do is think of the important aspects you want to add to every video. Don’t think about the actual content, but make sure you have a beginning, middle, and end. If you create content without a beginning, middle, and end, you still have content, but it’s probably bad content. Here’s what you need to know to create a script for your YouTube videos.

Get more confident on YouTube

Get Your YouTube Script Template for Free!

Grab your script here!

Portfolio · Process · YouTube

Video Editing and Design for The Virtual Savvy

December 3, 2018

I’ve been dragging my feet updating my portfolio, but I’m excited to present some of the work I’ve been doing.

Bragging aside, I was excited to work with Abbey Ashley from The Virtual Savvy. The actual video was already edited, but she wanted to add graphics.

This’ll sound lame, but at first, I wasn’t going to take on the project, but I changed my mind for 2 reasons.

Number 1, I try to say yes to projects as much as possible because I think everything is an opportunity to learn and grow as a person. Number 2, I watched Abbey’s video and fell in love with Abbey’s personality.

I continued to be impressed by Abbey during this project because of her professionalism. It struck me that this must be the essence of being a VA. This excited and inspired me to go all out for this video.

For this project, I used Adobe After Effects because (this is my personal opinion) the graphics tend to have a more high-quality look. I also envisioned using text and wanted to animate them.

In the end, I loved the overall look of the video. Watch the video below to see the finished product.

Package: Video Editing

YouTube

How to upload and schedule your YouTube video

January 14, 2019January 11, 2019

So you’ve filmed and edited your video, but now you need to upload it to YouTube. In this video, I’m gonna show you how to upload and schedule your video to YouTube.

Before we upload the video the first thing we need to do is, of course, log in to our YouTube account.

So, I’m already logged in. Now I’m gonna go to this little camera icon with the plus button. When you hover over it, it says ‘create a video or post’. So you just click on it. Then you have the option of uploading a video or going live. So we’re just gonna upload a video. Then you just need to select a file to upload. I’m just gonna pick this video right here.

So then we’re gonna go to the right where it says private. You can either make the video public or you can schedule the video. When you make the video public it’s gonna go live as soon as this video finishes uploading.

But I’m gonna schedule the video.

I’m gonna choose January 10th at 10:00 a.m. Then you see this little button right here, ‘publish on Thursday, January 10th’, and then click, and it’s scheduled. That’s how you upload a video to YouTube.

So now you know how to upload your video, but don’t hit publish yet. In the next video, I’m gonna show you the five things you need to do before you hit publish. So if you’re not subscribed go ahead and subscribe, and hit the little bell notification, and you’ll be notified when the new video comes out. I’ve also created a checklist for you.

Grab your checklist here.

Are you launching a YouTube channel this year? Let me know in the comments below.

– Paigon

YouTube

Save time and create default descriptions and tags on YouTube

January 28, 2019January 25, 2019

Want to save time typing in the same YouTube description and tags? Create a default description and tags.

Do you copy and paste the same details for your description and tags for every video you upload to Youtube? Or worse, do you type it in every time you create a new video? Well in this video, I’m going to show you how to create a default description and default text so you don’t have to do that anymore.

Create default descriptions

The first thing you’re going to do is open up a document and write out all the details that you want to include in every video you upload. So, I like to use Google Docs.

Okay so first, we have to make sure that we’re logged into Youtube of course. So we’re going to go to Youtube Studio (beta) and if you’re not in this beta mode, it should be Creator Studio.

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