best youtube tips and tricks – Alan Spicer

I had a coaching call with a lady called Samira Alexander, and she was worried about being on camera. It’s something that many of you suffer from. So, I thought I’d take this clip to educate you, to hopefully reassure you the same way I do with Samira.

Scared To Be On Camera? [WATCH THIS!]

It’s time for you to get on camera.

Here we go.

I’ve said this so many times and this is the thing that people need to pay attention to, and you specifically.

When you’re recording, there’s no one around to judge you. It’s just you in here and it’s in here, right?

If you’re editing the video, who sees the video?

Just you, nobody else.

The difference is that I’ve been able to talk for hours and hours on end for years. Right?

My mom couldn’t get me to shut up when I was a toddler, I just kept going.

And the difference is that there is an element of my persona. There is my humor, right? And then, there is my professional point, so that the professional videos, there’s the quirkiness and no weirdness.

I’m not the thing that you get in a video that you can’t get into a top down.

I bet you, the only way you’re going to get used to being on camera is to be on camera.

You may say, “I just don’t feel comfortable.”

I’ve got a few videos, like the one’s called, “One’s flat out.” It just says, there’s no excuses, right?

This is literally titled that, it’s in red, it’s in white, it’s obnoxious.

And there’s another one of me walking along my local canal. Exactly the same reason, you know, “The audio is bad…”

Fine, get a different audio.

“Oh, my camera’s shaking.”

Well, at least you’re on camera. Right?

People connect with the human face. You can get my quirkiness and my funniness and my sense of humor.

You can see the white of the eyes, it’s not perfect.

You’re an attractive lady, there’s nothing to worry about. So just have faith in yourself, remember that you can edit it anyway. If you fluff up, you fluff up. You just edit it.

Samira:

It’s just that I am going to be talking about something that’s going to be valuable, and things like that, but I think I just have to speak from my heart.

I know that I’m right. There are always things that I talked to my clients about. There are always things that we need to talk about, and even if these people have heard this before, then maybe they resonate with me better than when it comes from somebody else or vice versa.

But I have to put myself out there because we’ve been forced to, and I always wanted, my dream was always having an online business. Right?

I live in Dubai, but I wanted an all global online business because that’s where I want to be. I wanted to be free. I didn’t want to be beholden to any place, and it hurts me right now when I hear, but I’m happy for everyone who’s got an online business and presence and they’re doing really well. So I’m not, and it’s pissing me off.

Alan:

You can’t be the face of a brand if you’re not willing to show the face for your brands. If I’m promoting Alan Spicer...

You want to promote Samira?

I promote Alan Spicer.

If I didn’t have Alan the brand, if I didn’t have Alan the face, then I can’t do anything.

Samira:

I know.

Alan:

Gary Vaynerchuk about it. He’s got Gary Vaynerchuk, right? Still he promotes the person, the persona, the brands, the motivation.

I keep wanting to trust and rely on you make that connection with you, and the more you do it, the better you’ll get.

Samira:

Yeah, okay. Thank you. You’ve been really amazing and I really appreciate this. Sometimes I get nervous about, because sometimes we’ll reach out to people we don’t know, but I just thought, “I’m going to reach out to this guy. I think he’s going to help me.”

I just googled, “I need a YouTube coach.”

Because I need someone to help me.

Alan:

And then YouTube searching wins. It just goes to show that if you’re able to balance the two and do a blog and your video is brilliant.

In fact, you make your blogs, you write a fantastic blog of 1,500 to 2,000 words long, and you put a video that echoes that sentiment.

They both work with each other. Google suggests that video for YouTube, and people that want to read it, because some people read, some people don’t, some people listen, some people don’t, that’s why there’s a podcast, which is fantastic.

So yeah, take it to your full advantage.

Now, you know the brand: You.

You know that you need to be on camera. The only way you’re going to do that is by practice.

Right now, it’s a fantastic picture, the sound is great. That’s fine. It doesn’t matter. It’s better that you’re on camera than not at all.

There’s nothing wrong with that. The headphones are fine. If you have to, right?

This is a lapel mic that costs me 15 quids. The webcam, which before the world turned to crap was about 50 pounds. I’ve now, no word of a lie, 50 pounds on Amazon. Now, you have to pay $180 for that camera.

Samira:

Oh my God!

Alan:

It’s because they are like “Uhm… people need webcams.”

And it’s a Logitech C 920 Pro.

Samira:

Yeah. I know that one.

Alan:

It was 50 quids because my old one died. In fact, if you flip through some of my really, really old YouTube videos, the frame rate is like 15 frames per second, it’s because the old version of this started dying, so when I did my hands, it was a bit, and I’m very handsy.

Even then, even with the camera shaky, I was recording off a laptop that was on 17 books on a table and every time I stepped forward, it bounced, right?

I still delivered value. It should be first.

Now this, I’m sat in the corner of an office, which is a bedroom. The shelves are there, that I recorded. The light is the window. There’s no technical trickery.

And hopefully, I’m even gonna record a video after I’ve done this because I’m sat here anyway.

Any chunks you get, know that you’re creating content. Any chunks that you can create value, whether it’s on your phone and shaky, that’s fine.

Because if you have a look at my no excuses Vlogs where I’m walking on the canal because I felt like it, right?

Value first.

And it doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as I can see and hear okay without painfully hurting them, and you’ll be fine.

Samira:

Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Alan. I really appreciate it.

Final words

Now, if you are really helping to not being on camera, there’s 25 channel ideas right here that you can do without your face, or if you want to make your videos better, so you can be on camera, then there’s a playlist here: How to improve your audio, your shaky camera, just generally make better videos.

9 BEST Tips For Small YouTubers – (YouTube Basics For Beginners) // In this tutorial I touch upon all the important basics for small and new Youtubers from framing yourself in videos, b-roll, youtube ranking tips for youtube video seo and more.

1 – Framing – Are you framing yourself in your videos properly? I mistake often done by new and small YouTubers. Make sure you take up a large part of your video screen and not hidden in the bottom corner of your screen.

2 – Camera Shake – If you are out and about or if you are new and haven’t figured out a way to aim your camera at yourself…. try and think about camera shake. Tripods are great for static shots, or slow your walking speed down if you are vlogging on the go.

3 – Audio – YouTube Audio is important. Most people will forgive bad footage but they will NOT forgive bad audio. Avoid background noise and try to invest in a lapel microphone or shotgun microphone for static environments.

4 – Camera / Webcam – You don’t have to spend and arm and a leg on a camera. You can record videos on a webcam or even your smartphone. In fact these days a mobile phone might be better quality than most cheap webcams you can find online.

5 – Lighting – This can be a life safer and a time winner. For years I struggled with the sunlight and had to fight the clouds or the early dark evenings in autumn. But if you have your own lighting you can record whenever you want and without needing to be at the fickle mercy of the weather.

6 – Channel Name – This is an important part of branding. With a channel name you can establish a niche and/or a focal personality within your content. My channel name is my name, Alan Spicer, which means I will be the core focus. But if your username is something silly and childish with bad spelling, it might be hard to be taken seriously should you want to be in a more business focused mindset for your channel.

7 – Notes vs Scripts – I personally use bullet points to help me make my videos. This is a good way to structure your videos, stay on topics and help you learn Youtuber video content as a small or new youtuber. Scripts can be good as well, but try to avoid sounding like a robot as you read word for word from the script.

8 – Trim Your Videos – You might have an okay 14 minute video but its filled with gaps, ers and ums. These can ruin the flow of your videos and turn your viewer off. As a new youtuber or small youtuber you need to deliver your point as quickly and cleanly as possible so why not edit that 14 minute video into 7 minutes without the mistakes.

9 – Titles, Descriptions & Tags – For you to great search results and pull people into your content you need to title your videos with keywords and intrigue. Imagine what YOU would click on if you wanted to find your video in search and then use that title to inspire a long description. Marry it to an eye catching thumbnail and you’ll soon be less of a new youtuber and more of a rapidly growing small youtuber!

5 EASY Ways To Get More Subscribers – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbGyNOPrT-Q
How To Get 6K Subscribers in 20 Months – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IqqUqSyAQE