Chart Your Course to YouTube Success with These Techniques

25 Smart & Proven Tactics to Get Your YouTube Channel Noticed

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

If you’re wondering how to get your YouTube channel noticed - how to finally start standing out - then you’ve come to the right place.

Here are 25 of the best, smartest, ways to get your YouTube channel noticed and start growing:

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently
2. Provide Value in Each Video
3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’
4. Spend time building your YouTube Community
5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them
6. Find a Niche for Your Videos
7. Build a Strong Personal Brand
8. Create Custom Channel Art
9. Practice Makes Perfect
10. Add a YouTube Intro Video
11. Use Video Effects and Transitions
12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails
13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags
14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time
15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media
16. Interact With Your Viewers
17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre
18. Do Collaboration Videos
19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video
20. Use Keywords that are Searchable
21. Make Your Thumbnails Consistent
22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos
23. Make Titles That Get Views
24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer
25. Give Each YouTube Video a Memorable Ending

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently

In order to consistently draw viewers back your page and get the most out of your content, you need to be able to keep posting constantly . Only posting sporadically when you feel like it – three times one month, then just once the next – will not encourage viewers to subscribe. If you develop a schedule and regularly post content each week (or every day if you’re really ambitious), your viewers can start to expect when a video will be released. Some of the best content creators will continue to release videos at least a few times a week in order to continuously draw an audience back to their channel.

2. Provide Value in Each Video

Before you turn your camera on and start making a new video, ask yourself what value you want your viewers to take away from it. Will they come away from your video with knowledge, a new skill, or a feeling of amusement? Be sure to have a clear objective in mind with every video.

3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’

Asking viewers to do anything (like, subscribe, etc.) is called a CTA, or ‘call to action ’. Asking for subscribers is a call to action that needs to be included in every video.

One of the objectives of every video you produce should be to try and appeal to brand-new viewers for your page. Something as simple as asking the viewer to subscribe if they liked your video can really help you grow faster. Sometimes people who really love your content still need to be reminded to subscribe. It is important to attract subscribers – not just viewers – in order to make sure that you have reliable, ongoing, support for your videos.

4. Spend Time Building your YouTube Community

YouTube is a large community and consistently interacting with other creators will help you to gain support for your videos . It helps a lot if the people in your genre know you. You can watch each other’s videos, give each other constructive feedback, and there may even be opportunities for collaboration.

Many video creators draw inspiration from each other’s videos and even spend time working with each other and promoting each other’s content. If you consistently comment on someone’s videos, without asking them to check out your channel (most people find this annoying), they will probably decide to go look at your videos too. Eventually, you might even find an opportunity to appear in one of their videos or have them appear in one of your videos so that you can each be exposed to new potential viewers.

5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them

Setting goals for yourself – i.e. reaching a certain number of subscribers – and letting your viewers know is a great way to meet your goals faster.

Sharing your goals helps your community feel more engaged and like they are a bigger part of your channel. This can be an excellent marketing tactic. When you share your goals, they become your follower’s goals too and they will help you reach them. Creating a payoff where your subscribers can help you reach 2000 subscribers or 1000 likes on a video can help you accomplish more goals to sustain the longevity of your channel. It also fosters a feeling of community by uniting everyone together and allowing them to share your feeling of accomplishment. This works especially well if you offer a reward – i.e. ‘I’ll do a special video when I reach 2000 subscribers’.

Contest now closed.

6. Find a Niche for Your Videos

Many creators on YouTube have found success by carving out very specific video types and niches for themselves. When you are hoping to grow your subscribers on YouTube you really need to find your niche. When you can start to create videos that have predictable subject matter (predictable in the sense of ‘reliable’, not boring), this will attract more regular viewers because people will know what they can expect from your content. Having a niche can also help you find brand deals because you’ll grow a very specific audience that might be interested in very specific products. A smaller, targeted, the audience can be more valuable to an advertiser than a larger, more general, audience.

Your niche will generally be a combination of your larger genre (i.e. gaming, comedy, beauty, food) and something else you are passionate about. For example, reviewing vintage video games or creating desserts based on movies are both potential niches.

7. Build a Strong Personal Brand

Building a brand on YouTube is one of the best ways to generate a devoted following. Building a brand is very important because it makes you more memorable and familiar to viewers. In order to successfully build a brand, you need to think about the image you are trying to create and the culture you want to create for your community. The values you express, the types of videos you do, the clothes you wear, and your channel art are all parts of your brand. The grand total of all of these elements will form your brand and the way you are perceived.

Having a strong, unique, the brand will make viewers feel more attached to you and make your content more recognizable.

8. Create Custom Channel Art

To differentiate yourself from your competition you’re going to need to have custom Channel Art that reflects the vibe of your content. Work at creating or sourcing some graphics for your cover photo, your profile photo, and all of your thumbnails. Having a set color scheme or even a branded style of artwork for your page will help you to look more professional. Differentiating your page from others will create a feeling of familiarity and support your brand.

9. Practice Makes Perfect

In order to start producing more professional content, you need to practice your filmmaking technique. Regardless of the type of video that you are producing, a little bit of practice goes a long way.

Rehearsing what you are going to say can make you feel much more confident. Playing with the video editing software that you’re working with willsave you time when you’re actually polishing a video . Practicing taking photos and videos with your camera outside of making YouTube videos will help you feel familiar with its features. As you start to get more dedicated and practice with your video creation, your videos will gain more viewers and you can grow more subscribers on YouTube.

Simply making more videos is a great way to get in more practice.

10. Add a YouTube Intro Video

A professional-looking intro clip (learn how to make one here ) supports your brand and makes your videos seem more polished. Intros capture attention and let viewers know the type of video that they are watching almost immediately. Building a 5-10 second introduction (no longer) with your name or the name of your channel will go a long way to improving the professionalism of your video.

Contest now closed.

11. Use Video Effects and Transitions

Adding transitions between clips or topics is a great way to keep viewers engaged with your videos.

Using simple color effects, like filters, can help each of your videos look much more professional.

It can take some time to add these kinds of effects to your videos , but it isn’t really very difficult (many editors, including Filmora, let you drag and drop these effects into your timeline) and it will help your videos hold viewers’ attention for longer. It can also garner much more engagement and many more subscriptions for your YouTube channel.

12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails

A thumbnail that grabs a viewer’s attention will get more clicks. Take a photo of yourself making an expression relevant to your video and edit the image in Photoshop or using a free service like Canva (or one of these other YouTube thumbnail makers ). Add graphics, like emojis, to give your thumbnail a pop of color and include large, simple, text if you feel like your thumbnail needs to be given context (i.e. ‘fall makeup look’, as opposed to just another makeup video).

13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags

Tags are essential to helping people actually find your videos on YouTube. Tags should include keywords/search terms people might be looking up in order to find videos like yours. Looking at the tags of some of your past videos and seeing how well they performed will give you an idea of what kinds of tags you should target in the future. Looking at the tags of some of your competitors will give you an idea of what tags you should be using for your own videos.

Services like the Google Keyword Planner can also help you with finding new keywords/tags. Making your tags with search engine optimization in mind will help ensure that people can find your video when searching for those specific keywords. YouTube has an algorithm very similar to the Google search engine for helping people locate videos they may be interested in.

14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time

Playlists are great for increasing your channel’s watch time , an essential metric for ranking in YouTube’s search results. If someone enjoys your video enough to watch to the end, and then a related video starts to play right after, it’s much more likely that the user is going to stick around and view the second video. When you start to link videos together you will start to see your views grow.

Playlists are also important because they help to organize your channel and make it easier for viewers to find content they are interested in.

15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media

Improving engagement as well as the notoriety of your brand often means branching out beyond YouTube. By creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram for your channel you will gain more ways of engaging your followers. Often the promotion that you do through social media can equate to a large number of viewers and subscribers. The key to expanding into other social media platforms is to choose the sites your existing audience is already on. For example, Instagram is essential for a beauty YouTuber, but not for a gamer.

Contest now closed.

16. Interact with your Viewers

Spending time interacting with your viewers via comments and social media is important. Taking suggestions and paying attention to what your viewers like most about your videos will make your viewers feel more included in the process of creating your videos. This will make them much more loyal to your channel. A great way to interact with your viewers is by doing shout outs or Q&A videos.

17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre

Spending time examining your competition is very important. By looking at the popular channels in your genre you can learn what kinds of videos are popular and what types of video titles and tags you should be using.

18. Do Collaboration Videos

When you collaborate with other YouTube creators it leads to mutual success. You can cross-promote some of their content and they can promote some of your content in the process. It’s amazing how much your channel can grow when you’re exposed to other people’s audiences. Even if you might view another content creator is your competition, sometimes uniting together on a project can help you to mutually prosper.

Make sure your potential partner makes the kinds of videos your own audience would like. Then you’ll know that your videos are something your partner’s audience will like.

19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video

The description box is one of the most commonly underutilized tools on YouTube. Make sure that you use the space to write a full description of each video. In the first three lines of every video description, use the keywords most relevant to your content, provide links to your other social media accounts, and ask viewers to subscribe. Lower down in your description, under the ‘read more’ tab, write a detailed summary of your video. This will improve your SEO/search engine optimization.

20. Use Keywords That Are Searchable

In your titles, descriptions, and tags you need to use the words or phrases that viewers are most likely to type into YouTube’s search bar when looking for content like yours. Doing a bit of keyword research will help you gain more subscribers on YouTube and more viewers on almost every video.

For example, if you do a product review of a new smartphone, you will get a lot more views titling it ‘iPhone X Review and Unboxing’ than ‘You won’t BELIEVE this phone’ because iPhone X, review and unboxing are all keywords that people might search for.

Contest now closed.

21. Make your Thumbnails Consistent

The thumbnails that you choose for your videos can be an extension of your brand. By using similar layouts, colors, and fonts for every thumbnail you will create a familiar look and viewers will recognize your videos when they see them. If someone can instantly recognize your video thumbnails it will strengthen your brand and encourage repeat viewership.

22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos

If you can plan out a script or outline (whichever you’re comfortable with) for your video, or even plan out a series of videos that you could shoot over time, it can lead to far better content. Taking the time to create a plan for every single video will lead to much more polished results that will generate far better responses from your viewers. Planning takes time, but not as much time as trying to edit the content that had no clear plan.

23. Make Titles that Get Views

Writing great titles that are optimized for search engines is one of the best ways to see some huge improvements in your channel’s growth rate. Your titles need to be able to draw in an audience and get them interested in your content. They also have to set expectations for your videos and contain the right keywords to make them searchable. Big channels can get good results with titles that build suspense or ask questions, but while you’re small it’s better to avoid clickbait and make your titles as direct and literal as possible.

24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer

Your channel page on YouTube might be where a viewer makes the decision to subscribe, or not to subscribe. YouTube allows you to set a featured video that will autoplay in this space, and a lot of the most successful creators use this as an opportunity to post a channel trailer . Your channel trailer welcomes new viewers and tells them what to expect from your content.

You can create a trailer quickly by filming a quick introduction and combining it with clips from your previous videos.

25. Give Each of Your Videos a Memorable Ending

Ending every video on a high note – with some kind of joke or surprise – will leave viewers with a good feeling, which will make them more likely to keep watching more of your videos.

Be sure to share your own tips on how to get your YouTube channel noticed.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

If you’re wondering how to get your YouTube channel noticed - how to finally start standing out - then you’ve come to the right place.

Here are 25 of the best, smartest, ways to get your YouTube channel noticed and start growing:

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently
2. Provide Value in Each Video
3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’
4. Spend time building your YouTube Community
5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them
6. Find a Niche for Your Videos
7. Build a Strong Personal Brand
8. Create Custom Channel Art
9. Practice Makes Perfect
10. Add a YouTube Intro Video
11. Use Video Effects and Transitions
12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails
13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags
14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time
15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media
16. Interact With Your Viewers
17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre
18. Do Collaboration Videos
19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video
20. Use Keywords that are Searchable
21. Make Your Thumbnails Consistent
22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos
23. Make Titles That Get Views
24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer
25. Give Each YouTube Video a Memorable Ending

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently

In order to consistently draw viewers back your page and get the most out of your content, you need to be able to keep posting constantly . Only posting sporadically when you feel like it – three times one month, then just once the next – will not encourage viewers to subscribe. If you develop a schedule and regularly post content each week (or every day if you’re really ambitious), your viewers can start to expect when a video will be released. Some of the best content creators will continue to release videos at least a few times a week in order to continuously draw an audience back to their channel.

2. Provide Value in Each Video

Before you turn your camera on and start making a new video, ask yourself what value you want your viewers to take away from it. Will they come away from your video with knowledge, a new skill, or a feeling of amusement? Be sure to have a clear objective in mind with every video.

3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’

Asking viewers to do anything (like, subscribe, etc.) is called a CTA, or ‘call to action ’. Asking for subscribers is a call to action that needs to be included in every video.

One of the objectives of every video you produce should be to try and appeal to brand-new viewers for your page. Something as simple as asking the viewer to subscribe if they liked your video can really help you grow faster. Sometimes people who really love your content still need to be reminded to subscribe. It is important to attract subscribers – not just viewers – in order to make sure that you have reliable, ongoing, support for your videos.

4. Spend Time Building your YouTube Community

YouTube is a large community and consistently interacting with other creators will help you to gain support for your videos . It helps a lot if the people in your genre know you. You can watch each other’s videos, give each other constructive feedback, and there may even be opportunities for collaboration.

Many video creators draw inspiration from each other’s videos and even spend time working with each other and promoting each other’s content. If you consistently comment on someone’s videos, without asking them to check out your channel (most people find this annoying), they will probably decide to go look at your videos too. Eventually, you might even find an opportunity to appear in one of their videos or have them appear in one of your videos so that you can each be exposed to new potential viewers.

5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them

Setting goals for yourself – i.e. reaching a certain number of subscribers – and letting your viewers know is a great way to meet your goals faster.

Sharing your goals helps your community feel more engaged and like they are a bigger part of your channel. This can be an excellent marketing tactic. When you share your goals, they become your follower’s goals too and they will help you reach them. Creating a payoff where your subscribers can help you reach 2000 subscribers or 1000 likes on a video can help you accomplish more goals to sustain the longevity of your channel. It also fosters a feeling of community by uniting everyone together and allowing them to share your feeling of accomplishment. This works especially well if you offer a reward – i.e. ‘I’ll do a special video when I reach 2000 subscribers’.

Contest now closed.

6. Find a Niche for Your Videos

Many creators on YouTube have found success by carving out very specific video types and niches for themselves. When you are hoping to grow your subscribers on YouTube you really need to find your niche. When you can start to create videos that have predictable subject matter (predictable in the sense of ‘reliable’, not boring), this will attract more regular viewers because people will know what they can expect from your content. Having a niche can also help you find brand deals because you’ll grow a very specific audience that might be interested in very specific products. A smaller, targeted, the audience can be more valuable to an advertiser than a larger, more general, audience.

Your niche will generally be a combination of your larger genre (i.e. gaming, comedy, beauty, food) and something else you are passionate about. For example, reviewing vintage video games or creating desserts based on movies are both potential niches.

7. Build a Strong Personal Brand

Building a brand on YouTube is one of the best ways to generate a devoted following. Building a brand is very important because it makes you more memorable and familiar to viewers. In order to successfully build a brand, you need to think about the image you are trying to create and the culture you want to create for your community. The values you express, the types of videos you do, the clothes you wear, and your channel art are all parts of your brand. The grand total of all of these elements will form your brand and the way you are perceived.

Having a strong, unique, the brand will make viewers feel more attached to you and make your content more recognizable.

8. Create Custom Channel Art

To differentiate yourself from your competition you’re going to need to have custom Channel Art that reflects the vibe of your content. Work at creating or sourcing some graphics for your cover photo, your profile photo, and all of your thumbnails. Having a set color scheme or even a branded style of artwork for your page will help you to look more professional. Differentiating your page from others will create a feeling of familiarity and support your brand.

9. Practice Makes Perfect

In order to start producing more professional content, you need to practice your filmmaking technique. Regardless of the type of video that you are producing, a little bit of practice goes a long way.

Rehearsing what you are going to say can make you feel much more confident. Playing with the video editing software that you’re working with willsave you time when you’re actually polishing a video . Practicing taking photos and videos with your camera outside of making YouTube videos will help you feel familiar with its features. As you start to get more dedicated and practice with your video creation, your videos will gain more viewers and you can grow more subscribers on YouTube.

Simply making more videos is a great way to get in more practice.

10. Add a YouTube Intro Video

A professional-looking intro clip (learn how to make one here ) supports your brand and makes your videos seem more polished. Intros capture attention and let viewers know the type of video that they are watching almost immediately. Building a 5-10 second introduction (no longer) with your name or the name of your channel will go a long way to improving the professionalism of your video.

Contest now closed.

11. Use Video Effects and Transitions

Adding transitions between clips or topics is a great way to keep viewers engaged with your videos.

Using simple color effects, like filters, can help each of your videos look much more professional.

It can take some time to add these kinds of effects to your videos , but it isn’t really very difficult (many editors, including Filmora, let you drag and drop these effects into your timeline) and it will help your videos hold viewers’ attention for longer. It can also garner much more engagement and many more subscriptions for your YouTube channel.

12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails

A thumbnail that grabs a viewer’s attention will get more clicks. Take a photo of yourself making an expression relevant to your video and edit the image in Photoshop or using a free service like Canva (or one of these other YouTube thumbnail makers ). Add graphics, like emojis, to give your thumbnail a pop of color and include large, simple, text if you feel like your thumbnail needs to be given context (i.e. ‘fall makeup look’, as opposed to just another makeup video).

13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags

Tags are essential to helping people actually find your videos on YouTube. Tags should include keywords/search terms people might be looking up in order to find videos like yours. Looking at the tags of some of your past videos and seeing how well they performed will give you an idea of what kinds of tags you should target in the future. Looking at the tags of some of your competitors will give you an idea of what tags you should be using for your own videos.

Services like the Google Keyword Planner can also help you with finding new keywords/tags. Making your tags with search engine optimization in mind will help ensure that people can find your video when searching for those specific keywords. YouTube has an algorithm very similar to the Google search engine for helping people locate videos they may be interested in.

14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time

Playlists are great for increasing your channel’s watch time , an essential metric for ranking in YouTube’s search results. If someone enjoys your video enough to watch to the end, and then a related video starts to play right after, it’s much more likely that the user is going to stick around and view the second video. When you start to link videos together you will start to see your views grow.

Playlists are also important because they help to organize your channel and make it easier for viewers to find content they are interested in.

15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media

Improving engagement as well as the notoriety of your brand often means branching out beyond YouTube. By creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram for your channel you will gain more ways of engaging your followers. Often the promotion that you do through social media can equate to a large number of viewers and subscribers. The key to expanding into other social media platforms is to choose the sites your existing audience is already on. For example, Instagram is essential for a beauty YouTuber, but not for a gamer.

Contest now closed.

16. Interact with your Viewers

Spending time interacting with your viewers via comments and social media is important. Taking suggestions and paying attention to what your viewers like most about your videos will make your viewers feel more included in the process of creating your videos. This will make them much more loyal to your channel. A great way to interact with your viewers is by doing shout outs or Q&A videos.

17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre

Spending time examining your competition is very important. By looking at the popular channels in your genre you can learn what kinds of videos are popular and what types of video titles and tags you should be using.

18. Do Collaboration Videos

When you collaborate with other YouTube creators it leads to mutual success. You can cross-promote some of their content and they can promote some of your content in the process. It’s amazing how much your channel can grow when you’re exposed to other people’s audiences. Even if you might view another content creator is your competition, sometimes uniting together on a project can help you to mutually prosper.

Make sure your potential partner makes the kinds of videos your own audience would like. Then you’ll know that your videos are something your partner’s audience will like.

19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video

The description box is one of the most commonly underutilized tools on YouTube. Make sure that you use the space to write a full description of each video. In the first three lines of every video description, use the keywords most relevant to your content, provide links to your other social media accounts, and ask viewers to subscribe. Lower down in your description, under the ‘read more’ tab, write a detailed summary of your video. This will improve your SEO/search engine optimization.

20. Use Keywords That Are Searchable

In your titles, descriptions, and tags you need to use the words or phrases that viewers are most likely to type into YouTube’s search bar when looking for content like yours. Doing a bit of keyword research will help you gain more subscribers on YouTube and more viewers on almost every video.

For example, if you do a product review of a new smartphone, you will get a lot more views titling it ‘iPhone X Review and Unboxing’ than ‘You won’t BELIEVE this phone’ because iPhone X, review and unboxing are all keywords that people might search for.

Contest now closed.

21. Make your Thumbnails Consistent

The thumbnails that you choose for your videos can be an extension of your brand. By using similar layouts, colors, and fonts for every thumbnail you will create a familiar look and viewers will recognize your videos when they see them. If someone can instantly recognize your video thumbnails it will strengthen your brand and encourage repeat viewership.

22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos

If you can plan out a script or outline (whichever you’re comfortable with) for your video, or even plan out a series of videos that you could shoot over time, it can lead to far better content. Taking the time to create a plan for every single video will lead to much more polished results that will generate far better responses from your viewers. Planning takes time, but not as much time as trying to edit the content that had no clear plan.

23. Make Titles that Get Views

Writing great titles that are optimized for search engines is one of the best ways to see some huge improvements in your channel’s growth rate. Your titles need to be able to draw in an audience and get them interested in your content. They also have to set expectations for your videos and contain the right keywords to make them searchable. Big channels can get good results with titles that build suspense or ask questions, but while you’re small it’s better to avoid clickbait and make your titles as direct and literal as possible.

24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer

Your channel page on YouTube might be where a viewer makes the decision to subscribe, or not to subscribe. YouTube allows you to set a featured video that will autoplay in this space, and a lot of the most successful creators use this as an opportunity to post a channel trailer . Your channel trailer welcomes new viewers and tells them what to expect from your content.

You can create a trailer quickly by filming a quick introduction and combining it with clips from your previous videos.

25. Give Each of Your Videos a Memorable Ending

Ending every video on a high note – with some kind of joke or surprise – will leave viewers with a good feeling, which will make them more likely to keep watching more of your videos.

Be sure to share your own tips on how to get your YouTube channel noticed.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

If you’re wondering how to get your YouTube channel noticed - how to finally start standing out - then you’ve come to the right place.

Here are 25 of the best, smartest, ways to get your YouTube channel noticed and start growing:

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently
2. Provide Value in Each Video
3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’
4. Spend time building your YouTube Community
5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them
6. Find a Niche for Your Videos
7. Build a Strong Personal Brand
8. Create Custom Channel Art
9. Practice Makes Perfect
10. Add a YouTube Intro Video
11. Use Video Effects and Transitions
12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails
13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags
14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time
15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media
16. Interact With Your Viewers
17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre
18. Do Collaboration Videos
19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video
20. Use Keywords that are Searchable
21. Make Your Thumbnails Consistent
22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos
23. Make Titles That Get Views
24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer
25. Give Each YouTube Video a Memorable Ending

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently

In order to consistently draw viewers back your page and get the most out of your content, you need to be able to keep posting constantly . Only posting sporadically when you feel like it – three times one month, then just once the next – will not encourage viewers to subscribe. If you develop a schedule and regularly post content each week (or every day if you’re really ambitious), your viewers can start to expect when a video will be released. Some of the best content creators will continue to release videos at least a few times a week in order to continuously draw an audience back to their channel.

2. Provide Value in Each Video

Before you turn your camera on and start making a new video, ask yourself what value you want your viewers to take away from it. Will they come away from your video with knowledge, a new skill, or a feeling of amusement? Be sure to have a clear objective in mind with every video.

3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’

Asking viewers to do anything (like, subscribe, etc.) is called a CTA, or ‘call to action ’. Asking for subscribers is a call to action that needs to be included in every video.

One of the objectives of every video you produce should be to try and appeal to brand-new viewers for your page. Something as simple as asking the viewer to subscribe if they liked your video can really help you grow faster. Sometimes people who really love your content still need to be reminded to subscribe. It is important to attract subscribers – not just viewers – in order to make sure that you have reliable, ongoing, support for your videos.

4. Spend Time Building your YouTube Community

YouTube is a large community and consistently interacting with other creators will help you to gain support for your videos . It helps a lot if the people in your genre know you. You can watch each other’s videos, give each other constructive feedback, and there may even be opportunities for collaboration.

Many video creators draw inspiration from each other’s videos and even spend time working with each other and promoting each other’s content. If you consistently comment on someone’s videos, without asking them to check out your channel (most people find this annoying), they will probably decide to go look at your videos too. Eventually, you might even find an opportunity to appear in one of their videos or have them appear in one of your videos so that you can each be exposed to new potential viewers.

5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them

Setting goals for yourself – i.e. reaching a certain number of subscribers – and letting your viewers know is a great way to meet your goals faster.

Sharing your goals helps your community feel more engaged and like they are a bigger part of your channel. This can be an excellent marketing tactic. When you share your goals, they become your follower’s goals too and they will help you reach them. Creating a payoff where your subscribers can help you reach 2000 subscribers or 1000 likes on a video can help you accomplish more goals to sustain the longevity of your channel. It also fosters a feeling of community by uniting everyone together and allowing them to share your feeling of accomplishment. This works especially well if you offer a reward – i.e. ‘I’ll do a special video when I reach 2000 subscribers’.

Contest now closed.

6. Find a Niche for Your Videos

Many creators on YouTube have found success by carving out very specific video types and niches for themselves. When you are hoping to grow your subscribers on YouTube you really need to find your niche. When you can start to create videos that have predictable subject matter (predictable in the sense of ‘reliable’, not boring), this will attract more regular viewers because people will know what they can expect from your content. Having a niche can also help you find brand deals because you’ll grow a very specific audience that might be interested in very specific products. A smaller, targeted, the audience can be more valuable to an advertiser than a larger, more general, audience.

Your niche will generally be a combination of your larger genre (i.e. gaming, comedy, beauty, food) and something else you are passionate about. For example, reviewing vintage video games or creating desserts based on movies are both potential niches.

7. Build a Strong Personal Brand

Building a brand on YouTube is one of the best ways to generate a devoted following. Building a brand is very important because it makes you more memorable and familiar to viewers. In order to successfully build a brand, you need to think about the image you are trying to create and the culture you want to create for your community. The values you express, the types of videos you do, the clothes you wear, and your channel art are all parts of your brand. The grand total of all of these elements will form your brand and the way you are perceived.

Having a strong, unique, the brand will make viewers feel more attached to you and make your content more recognizable.

8. Create Custom Channel Art

To differentiate yourself from your competition you’re going to need to have custom Channel Art that reflects the vibe of your content. Work at creating or sourcing some graphics for your cover photo, your profile photo, and all of your thumbnails. Having a set color scheme or even a branded style of artwork for your page will help you to look more professional. Differentiating your page from others will create a feeling of familiarity and support your brand.

9. Practice Makes Perfect

In order to start producing more professional content, you need to practice your filmmaking technique. Regardless of the type of video that you are producing, a little bit of practice goes a long way.

Rehearsing what you are going to say can make you feel much more confident. Playing with the video editing software that you’re working with willsave you time when you’re actually polishing a video . Practicing taking photos and videos with your camera outside of making YouTube videos will help you feel familiar with its features. As you start to get more dedicated and practice with your video creation, your videos will gain more viewers and you can grow more subscribers on YouTube.

Simply making more videos is a great way to get in more practice.

10. Add a YouTube Intro Video

A professional-looking intro clip (learn how to make one here ) supports your brand and makes your videos seem more polished. Intros capture attention and let viewers know the type of video that they are watching almost immediately. Building a 5-10 second introduction (no longer) with your name or the name of your channel will go a long way to improving the professionalism of your video.

Contest now closed.

11. Use Video Effects and Transitions

Adding transitions between clips or topics is a great way to keep viewers engaged with your videos.

Using simple color effects, like filters, can help each of your videos look much more professional.

It can take some time to add these kinds of effects to your videos , but it isn’t really very difficult (many editors, including Filmora, let you drag and drop these effects into your timeline) and it will help your videos hold viewers’ attention for longer. It can also garner much more engagement and many more subscriptions for your YouTube channel.

12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails

A thumbnail that grabs a viewer’s attention will get more clicks. Take a photo of yourself making an expression relevant to your video and edit the image in Photoshop or using a free service like Canva (or one of these other YouTube thumbnail makers ). Add graphics, like emojis, to give your thumbnail a pop of color and include large, simple, text if you feel like your thumbnail needs to be given context (i.e. ‘fall makeup look’, as opposed to just another makeup video).

13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags

Tags are essential to helping people actually find your videos on YouTube. Tags should include keywords/search terms people might be looking up in order to find videos like yours. Looking at the tags of some of your past videos and seeing how well they performed will give you an idea of what kinds of tags you should target in the future. Looking at the tags of some of your competitors will give you an idea of what tags you should be using for your own videos.

Services like the Google Keyword Planner can also help you with finding new keywords/tags. Making your tags with search engine optimization in mind will help ensure that people can find your video when searching for those specific keywords. YouTube has an algorithm very similar to the Google search engine for helping people locate videos they may be interested in.

14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time

Playlists are great for increasing your channel’s watch time , an essential metric for ranking in YouTube’s search results. If someone enjoys your video enough to watch to the end, and then a related video starts to play right after, it’s much more likely that the user is going to stick around and view the second video. When you start to link videos together you will start to see your views grow.

Playlists are also important because they help to organize your channel and make it easier for viewers to find content they are interested in.

15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media

Improving engagement as well as the notoriety of your brand often means branching out beyond YouTube. By creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram for your channel you will gain more ways of engaging your followers. Often the promotion that you do through social media can equate to a large number of viewers and subscribers. The key to expanding into other social media platforms is to choose the sites your existing audience is already on. For example, Instagram is essential for a beauty YouTuber, but not for a gamer.

Contest now closed.

16. Interact with your Viewers

Spending time interacting with your viewers via comments and social media is important. Taking suggestions and paying attention to what your viewers like most about your videos will make your viewers feel more included in the process of creating your videos. This will make them much more loyal to your channel. A great way to interact with your viewers is by doing shout outs or Q&A videos.

17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre

Spending time examining your competition is very important. By looking at the popular channels in your genre you can learn what kinds of videos are popular and what types of video titles and tags you should be using.

18. Do Collaboration Videos

When you collaborate with other YouTube creators it leads to mutual success. You can cross-promote some of their content and they can promote some of your content in the process. It’s amazing how much your channel can grow when you’re exposed to other people’s audiences. Even if you might view another content creator is your competition, sometimes uniting together on a project can help you to mutually prosper.

Make sure your potential partner makes the kinds of videos your own audience would like. Then you’ll know that your videos are something your partner’s audience will like.

19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video

The description box is one of the most commonly underutilized tools on YouTube. Make sure that you use the space to write a full description of each video. In the first three lines of every video description, use the keywords most relevant to your content, provide links to your other social media accounts, and ask viewers to subscribe. Lower down in your description, under the ‘read more’ tab, write a detailed summary of your video. This will improve your SEO/search engine optimization.

20. Use Keywords That Are Searchable

In your titles, descriptions, and tags you need to use the words or phrases that viewers are most likely to type into YouTube’s search bar when looking for content like yours. Doing a bit of keyword research will help you gain more subscribers on YouTube and more viewers on almost every video.

For example, if you do a product review of a new smartphone, you will get a lot more views titling it ‘iPhone X Review and Unboxing’ than ‘You won’t BELIEVE this phone’ because iPhone X, review and unboxing are all keywords that people might search for.

Contest now closed.

21. Make your Thumbnails Consistent

The thumbnails that you choose for your videos can be an extension of your brand. By using similar layouts, colors, and fonts for every thumbnail you will create a familiar look and viewers will recognize your videos when they see them. If someone can instantly recognize your video thumbnails it will strengthen your brand and encourage repeat viewership.

22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos

If you can plan out a script or outline (whichever you’re comfortable with) for your video, or even plan out a series of videos that you could shoot over time, it can lead to far better content. Taking the time to create a plan for every single video will lead to much more polished results that will generate far better responses from your viewers. Planning takes time, but not as much time as trying to edit the content that had no clear plan.

23. Make Titles that Get Views

Writing great titles that are optimized for search engines is one of the best ways to see some huge improvements in your channel’s growth rate. Your titles need to be able to draw in an audience and get them interested in your content. They also have to set expectations for your videos and contain the right keywords to make them searchable. Big channels can get good results with titles that build suspense or ask questions, but while you’re small it’s better to avoid clickbait and make your titles as direct and literal as possible.

24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer

Your channel page on YouTube might be where a viewer makes the decision to subscribe, or not to subscribe. YouTube allows you to set a featured video that will autoplay in this space, and a lot of the most successful creators use this as an opportunity to post a channel trailer . Your channel trailer welcomes new viewers and tells them what to expect from your content.

You can create a trailer quickly by filming a quick introduction and combining it with clips from your previous videos.

25. Give Each of Your Videos a Memorable Ending

Ending every video on a high note – with some kind of joke or surprise – will leave viewers with a good feeling, which will make them more likely to keep watching more of your videos.

Be sure to share your own tips on how to get your YouTube channel noticed.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

If you’re wondering how to get your YouTube channel noticed - how to finally start standing out - then you’ve come to the right place.

Here are 25 of the best, smartest, ways to get your YouTube channel noticed and start growing:

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently
2. Provide Value in Each Video
3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’
4. Spend time building your YouTube Community
5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them
6. Find a Niche for Your Videos
7. Build a Strong Personal Brand
8. Create Custom Channel Art
9. Practice Makes Perfect
10. Add a YouTube Intro Video
11. Use Video Effects and Transitions
12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails
13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags
14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time
15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media
16. Interact With Your Viewers
17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre
18. Do Collaboration Videos
19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video
20. Use Keywords that are Searchable
21. Make Your Thumbnails Consistent
22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos
23. Make Titles That Get Views
24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer
25. Give Each YouTube Video a Memorable Ending

1. Post YouTube Videos Consistently

In order to consistently draw viewers back your page and get the most out of your content, you need to be able to keep posting constantly . Only posting sporadically when you feel like it – three times one month, then just once the next – will not encourage viewers to subscribe. If you develop a schedule and regularly post content each week (or every day if you’re really ambitious), your viewers can start to expect when a video will be released. Some of the best content creators will continue to release videos at least a few times a week in order to continuously draw an audience back to their channel.

2. Provide Value in Each Video

Before you turn your camera on and start making a new video, ask yourself what value you want your viewers to take away from it. Will they come away from your video with knowledge, a new skill, or a feeling of amusement? Be sure to have a clear objective in mind with every video.

3. Ask Viewers to Subscribe with a ‘CTA’

Asking viewers to do anything (like, subscribe, etc.) is called a CTA, or ‘call to action ’. Asking for subscribers is a call to action that needs to be included in every video.

One of the objectives of every video you produce should be to try and appeal to brand-new viewers for your page. Something as simple as asking the viewer to subscribe if they liked your video can really help you grow faster. Sometimes people who really love your content still need to be reminded to subscribe. It is important to attract subscribers – not just viewers – in order to make sure that you have reliable, ongoing, support for your videos.

4. Spend Time Building your YouTube Community

YouTube is a large community and consistently interacting with other creators will help you to gain support for your videos . It helps a lot if the people in your genre know you. You can watch each other’s videos, give each other constructive feedback, and there may even be opportunities for collaboration.

Many video creators draw inspiration from each other’s videos and even spend time working with each other and promoting each other’s content. If you consistently comment on someone’s videos, without asking them to check out your channel (most people find this annoying), they will probably decide to go look at your videos too. Eventually, you might even find an opportunity to appear in one of their videos or have them appear in one of your videos so that you can each be exposed to new potential viewers.

5. Set YouTube Goals and Announce Them

Setting goals for yourself – i.e. reaching a certain number of subscribers – and letting your viewers know is a great way to meet your goals faster.

Sharing your goals helps your community feel more engaged and like they are a bigger part of your channel. This can be an excellent marketing tactic. When you share your goals, they become your follower’s goals too and they will help you reach them. Creating a payoff where your subscribers can help you reach 2000 subscribers or 1000 likes on a video can help you accomplish more goals to sustain the longevity of your channel. It also fosters a feeling of community by uniting everyone together and allowing them to share your feeling of accomplishment. This works especially well if you offer a reward – i.e. ‘I’ll do a special video when I reach 2000 subscribers’.

Contest now closed.

6. Find a Niche for Your Videos

Many creators on YouTube have found success by carving out very specific video types and niches for themselves. When you are hoping to grow your subscribers on YouTube you really need to find your niche. When you can start to create videos that have predictable subject matter (predictable in the sense of ‘reliable’, not boring), this will attract more regular viewers because people will know what they can expect from your content. Having a niche can also help you find brand deals because you’ll grow a very specific audience that might be interested in very specific products. A smaller, targeted, the audience can be more valuable to an advertiser than a larger, more general, audience.

Your niche will generally be a combination of your larger genre (i.e. gaming, comedy, beauty, food) and something else you are passionate about. For example, reviewing vintage video games or creating desserts based on movies are both potential niches.

7. Build a Strong Personal Brand

Building a brand on YouTube is one of the best ways to generate a devoted following. Building a brand is very important because it makes you more memorable and familiar to viewers. In order to successfully build a brand, you need to think about the image you are trying to create and the culture you want to create for your community. The values you express, the types of videos you do, the clothes you wear, and your channel art are all parts of your brand. The grand total of all of these elements will form your brand and the way you are perceived.

Having a strong, unique, the brand will make viewers feel more attached to you and make your content more recognizable.

8. Create Custom Channel Art

To differentiate yourself from your competition you’re going to need to have custom Channel Art that reflects the vibe of your content. Work at creating or sourcing some graphics for your cover photo, your profile photo, and all of your thumbnails. Having a set color scheme or even a branded style of artwork for your page will help you to look more professional. Differentiating your page from others will create a feeling of familiarity and support your brand.

9. Practice Makes Perfect

In order to start producing more professional content, you need to practice your filmmaking technique. Regardless of the type of video that you are producing, a little bit of practice goes a long way.

Rehearsing what you are going to say can make you feel much more confident. Playing with the video editing software that you’re working with willsave you time when you’re actually polishing a video . Practicing taking photos and videos with your camera outside of making YouTube videos will help you feel familiar with its features. As you start to get more dedicated and practice with your video creation, your videos will gain more viewers and you can grow more subscribers on YouTube.

Simply making more videos is a great way to get in more practice.

10. Add a YouTube Intro Video

A professional-looking intro clip (learn how to make one here ) supports your brand and makes your videos seem more polished. Intros capture attention and let viewers know the type of video that they are watching almost immediately. Building a 5-10 second introduction (no longer) with your name or the name of your channel will go a long way to improving the professionalism of your video.

Contest now closed.

11. Use Video Effects and Transitions

Adding transitions between clips or topics is a great way to keep viewers engaged with your videos.

Using simple color effects, like filters, can help each of your videos look much more professional.

It can take some time to add these kinds of effects to your videos , but it isn’t really very difficult (many editors, including Filmora, let you drag and drop these effects into your timeline) and it will help your videos hold viewers’ attention for longer. It can also garner much more engagement and many more subscriptions for your YouTube channel.

12. Make Eye-Catching Thumbnails

A thumbnail that grabs a viewer’s attention will get more clicks. Take a photo of yourself making an expression relevant to your video and edit the image in Photoshop or using a free service like Canva (or one of these other YouTube thumbnail makers ). Add graphics, like emojis, to give your thumbnail a pop of color and include large, simple, text if you feel like your thumbnail needs to be given context (i.e. ‘fall makeup look’, as opposed to just another makeup video).

13. Use Lots of YouTube Tags

Tags are essential to helping people actually find your videos on YouTube. Tags should include keywords/search terms people might be looking up in order to find videos like yours. Looking at the tags of some of your past videos and seeing how well they performed will give you an idea of what kinds of tags you should target in the future. Looking at the tags of some of your competitors will give you an idea of what tags you should be using for your own videos.

Services like the Google Keyword Planner can also help you with finding new keywords/tags. Making your tags with search engine optimization in mind will help ensure that people can find your video when searching for those specific keywords. YouTube has an algorithm very similar to the Google search engine for helping people locate videos they may be interested in.

14. Use YouTube Playlists to Increase Watch Time

Playlists are great for increasing your channel’s watch time , an essential metric for ranking in YouTube’s search results. If someone enjoys your video enough to watch to the end, and then a related video starts to play right after, it’s much more likely that the user is going to stick around and view the second video. When you start to link videos together you will start to see your views grow.

Playlists are also important because they help to organize your channel and make it easier for viewers to find content they are interested in.

15. Promote Your YouTube Channel on Social Media

Improving engagement as well as the notoriety of your brand often means branching out beyond YouTube. By creating accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram for your channel you will gain more ways of engaging your followers. Often the promotion that you do through social media can equate to a large number of viewers and subscribers. The key to expanding into other social media platforms is to choose the sites your existing audience is already on. For example, Instagram is essential for a beauty YouTuber, but not for a gamer.

Contest now closed.

16. Interact with your Viewers

Spending time interacting with your viewers via comments and social media is important. Taking suggestions and paying attention to what your viewers like most about your videos will make your viewers feel more included in the process of creating your videos. This will make them much more loyal to your channel. A great way to interact with your viewers is by doing shout outs or Q&A videos.

17. Check Out the Big Channels in Your Genre

Spending time examining your competition is very important. By looking at the popular channels in your genre you can learn what kinds of videos are popular and what types of video titles and tags you should be using.

18. Do Collaboration Videos

When you collaborate with other YouTube creators it leads to mutual success. You can cross-promote some of their content and they can promote some of your content in the process. It’s amazing how much your channel can grow when you’re exposed to other people’s audiences. Even if you might view another content creator is your competition, sometimes uniting together on a project can help you to mutually prosper.

Make sure your potential partner makes the kinds of videos your own audience would like. Then you’ll know that your videos are something your partner’s audience will like.

19. Write a Detailed Description for Every Video

The description box is one of the most commonly underutilized tools on YouTube. Make sure that you use the space to write a full description of each video. In the first three lines of every video description, use the keywords most relevant to your content, provide links to your other social media accounts, and ask viewers to subscribe. Lower down in your description, under the ‘read more’ tab, write a detailed summary of your video. This will improve your SEO/search engine optimization.

20. Use Keywords That Are Searchable

In your titles, descriptions, and tags you need to use the words or phrases that viewers are most likely to type into YouTube’s search bar when looking for content like yours. Doing a bit of keyword research will help you gain more subscribers on YouTube and more viewers on almost every video.

For example, if you do a product review of a new smartphone, you will get a lot more views titling it ‘iPhone X Review and Unboxing’ than ‘You won’t BELIEVE this phone’ because iPhone X, review and unboxing are all keywords that people might search for.

Contest now closed.

21. Make your Thumbnails Consistent

The thumbnails that you choose for your videos can be an extension of your brand. By using similar layouts, colors, and fonts for every thumbnail you will create a familiar look and viewers will recognize your videos when they see them. If someone can instantly recognize your video thumbnails it will strengthen your brand and encourage repeat viewership.

22. Always Have a Plan for Your Videos

If you can plan out a script or outline (whichever you’re comfortable with) for your video, or even plan out a series of videos that you could shoot over time, it can lead to far better content. Taking the time to create a plan for every single video will lead to much more polished results that will generate far better responses from your viewers. Planning takes time, but not as much time as trying to edit the content that had no clear plan.

23. Make Titles that Get Views

Writing great titles that are optimized for search engines is one of the best ways to see some huge improvements in your channel’s growth rate. Your titles need to be able to draw in an audience and get them interested in your content. They also have to set expectations for your videos and contain the right keywords to make them searchable. Big channels can get good results with titles that build suspense or ask questions, but while you’re small it’s better to avoid clickbait and make your titles as direct and literal as possible.

24. Create a YouTube Channel Trailer

Your channel page on YouTube might be where a viewer makes the decision to subscribe, or not to subscribe. YouTube allows you to set a featured video that will autoplay in this space, and a lot of the most successful creators use this as an opportunity to post a channel trailer . Your channel trailer welcomes new viewers and tells them what to expect from your content.

You can create a trailer quickly by filming a quick introduction and combining it with clips from your previous videos.

25. Give Each of Your Videos a Memorable Ending

Ending every video on a high note – with some kind of joke or surprise – will leave viewers with a good feeling, which will make them more likely to keep watching more of your videos.

Be sure to share your own tips on how to get your YouTube channel noticed.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Essential Guide to Mounting a Tripod for Vloggers

How To Use a Tripod for Vlogging

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

As you grow into a serious vlogger, a tripod will become an essential piece of equipment. You can get by for a long time setting your camera up on a stack of books, or an upside-down laundry hamper, but not forever. While these setups are great for a beginner, an intermediate vlogger will start to find them limiting. Even if you are an amazingly creative person who can create any camera setup without a tripod there will come a point where you will decide your creative energy is better spent on your video content.

This article will explain how to use a tripod and then introduce you to four different types.

Part 1: How To Set a Tripod for Vlogging

1. Setting Up Your Tripod

Step 1 – Pull out all three legs of your tripod and make sure it is standing stably. There will be tensioners on the legs which you can release in order to adjust your height. Once your legs are extended to the height you want continue adjusting them until your tripod is level. Some tripods have a built in bubble level, but if yours does not you can use a separate bubble level or make a guestimate.

Make sure when you are setting up your tripod that you point one of its legs towards your subject. This will give you room to stand behind your camera, in-between the other two legs. If you have one leg pointed directly behind your camera then you may trip over it. Or, you may knock over and damage your camera.

Step 2 – On the top of your tripod there will be a plate with a small hole and a screw. Remove this plate using either a clip or lever, depending on your tripod. Once your plate is detached screw it into the bottom of your camera. It should be tight, but not too tight or you risk damaging your camera.

Step 3 – Attach your plate, which now has your camera mounted to it, back onto your tripod.

Your tripod comes with a ‘head’. Your tripod’s head is what your camera is mounted on top of. There are several different types of tripod heads and mounts which are all useful for different things.

Ball Heads and Pan/Tilt Heads are the two most common types of tripod heads. Ball Heads allow you to adjust your camera’s position quite a bit before you start shooting. They are not good for adding in camera movements while you are filming, however, because you need to lock them in place. Pan/Tilt heads are great for creating camera movement. Most Pan/Tilt heads have a handle which you can use to make a smooth panning motion.

Part 2: Why Do You Need a Tripod: Benefits of Using Tripod

Why can’t you just hold a camera in your hand while shooting vlog entries for your YouTube channel? Honestly, you can, but the camera may shake a lot and your footage might end up being unusable. Putting a camera on a tripod reduces the probability of camera shake to the minimum and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

A huge amount of vlogs can be described as sit down videos, in which the host of the video sits in front of a camera and talks to the audience. Holding a camera while talking or trying to present a product to the viewers is next to impossible, so in order to avoid having to deal with a camera, you can simply put it on a tripod, find the best angle, and push the record button.

On the go videos, are recorded at exterior locations, and a lot of YouTubers choose to shoot these types of videos handheld, but this approach makes it difficult to maintain the same shot composition for long. A Monopod, Gorillapod or just a simple selfie stick can make your job much easier because they stabilize the camera. In addition, shooting smooth panning shots without a tripod is as difficult as it sounds.

Part 3: A Few Things You’ll Need to Consider Before You Buy a Tripod

There are thousands of different tripod models you can use for vlogging, but which model you’re going to choose depends mostly on the type of vlog you want to make. If you are planning on shooting all of your videos in the studio-like conditions, then portability isn’t such an important feature, while quite the opposite is true if you intend on filming all of your footage on outdoor locations.

However, there are certain traits you have to consider when choosing a tripod you’re going to use while recording your vlog entries.

Sturdiness: There is absolutely no point in spending money on a tripod that breaks easily. Although if your plan is to shoot vlogs at home or in a studio, then buying a cheaper plastic tripod isn’t such a bad option, since the clamps and joints won’t have to endure a lot of wear and tear. Consider buying a more durable tripod if you are going to be traveling a lot while working on your vlogs.

The Type of Camera: A number of factors can contribute to the weight of a camera, including battery grips or lenses, so before you buy a tripod make sure that it can support the weight of the camera you want to use to record your videos.

The Maximum Height: Most vloggers don’t really have to worry about how tall their tripod is, because they are not on their feet in any of the shots featured in the video. Vloggers working on DIY videos, cooking tutorials or any other type of vlog that involves movement and action should pay attention to this trait.

Photo or Video Tripods: Do you want to take beautiful panning shots? If the answer is yes then you should get a video tripod that enables you to move the camera smoothly in any direction. Photo tripods are a great option for static shots that don’t involve a lot of camera movement.

Mobility: The heavier a tripod is, the more stability it can provide, but carrying a tripod that weighs over 10 pounds to shoot sports or adventure vlogs can be a tiring endeavor. Although portability is a factor, it shouldn’t prevent you from buying a high-quality tripod that will ensure your footage is perfectly smooth and stable.

Part 4: 4 Types of Tripods

Full-Sized Tripods: are very sturdy, and as a result can be fairly heavy. Although you can take them a lot of places they are not convenient to carry for extended periods of time. They are the most reliable way to ensure you have absolutely no camera shake.

Compact Tripods: appear to be the same size as Full-Sized tripods, but they are actually much lighter. You can get the same height with a Compact Tripod as a Full-Sized tripod and it will be much easier to travel with. However, Compact Tripods are not as stable. If you are shooting for an extended period of time you may need to weigh your Compact Tripod down with sandbags to keep it steady.

Gorillapods: have flexible legs which can be wrapped around posts, fences, or anything else you may want to mount your camera on. They are also lightweight enough that you can carry them around while you shoot. If you bend it right you can essentially use your Gorillapod as a heavy-duty selfie-stick for your camera.

Table-Top Tripods: are very small and easy to travel with. You can leave one in your camera bag or your glove box. Table-Top Tripods are meant to be set up on top of desks or other stable surfaces and may not be ideal for heavier cameras.

Part 5: The 5 Best Tripods For YouTube Vlogging

Even if you know everything there is to know about tripods, the selection process can be daunting. That’s why we’ve shortlisted the top 5 tripods on the market, in an effort to make finding the right tripod for your vlog videos as quick an easy as it can possibly be. Let’s have a look.

1. CamRah Smartphone Tripod

Price: $24.99

An increasing number of Smartphones features powerful cameras that can record videos at high resolutions. Unfortunately, most iPhones and Android devices are lightweight, which makes it difficult to hold them perfectly still while shooting a video. CamRah Smartphone Tripod offers a perfect solution to this problem because it is easy to pack and you can carry it wherever you go, without needing the extra space.

It weighs just 0.6lbs and it is 10.8 inches tall. The tripod has a maximum load of 11lbs which means that besides Smartphones, you can also mount action cameras, webcams, or even smaller DSLR cameras onto it. The flexible legs made from high-density foam offer stability even when the CamRah Tripod is placed on an uneven surface.

Pros:

• Easily portable
• Affordable
• Jaws technology provides an extra strong grip of the camera

Cons:

• The tripod’s legs can’t be extended
• Can’t be used with professional cameras

2. Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod

Price: $34.99

Yet another great option for shooting vlogs with a Smartphone. The Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod kit is also an excellent choice for all vloggers who shoot their videos with compact cameras. The tripod weighs just 0.51lbs and it is 5.31 inches tall, which makes it a perfect travel companion. However, it can’t support cameras heavier than 2.2lbs, so you have to carefully choose the camera you want to put on this tripod.

The tripod’s rotatable head features a lock button that enables you to fix the camera at a certain position and to shoot a video from an angle you selected. You can’t extend the legs on this tripod so shooting high angle shots is not an option.

Pros:

• Small and durable
• Allows you to mount almost any Smartphone model
• Compatible with compact cameras

Cons:

• Limits your shot selection
• Tripod’s legs can’t be extended

3. Joby Gorilla Pod

Price: $22.50

This tripod is a superstar in the vlogging community because it is flexible, easy to set up and it fits into a pocket. Joby Gorilla Pod’s legs are segmented, so you can freely choose an angle from which you want to shoot, without having to worry about the camera’s stability. You can use this tripod on flat and uneven surfaces equally effectively.

Joby Gorilla weighs just 1lbs and its maximum height 11.6 inches, which makes it perfectly suited for talking heads videos. Using this tripod while you are on the go is also an option if you have a camera that weighs less than 3lbs.

Pros:

• Highly adjustable
• Sturdy and Lightweight
• Made from stainless steel

Cons:

• Can’t be used for panning shots
• Legs can be extended for just one inch

4. Manfrotto Compact Action Tripod

Price: $64.49

If you love shooting your vlogs at night or if you simply want a tripod you can use in the studio an outdoor conditions, then Manfrotto’s Compact Action Tripod is one the best options you have at your disposal. The ergonomic head features a mounting plate that is easy to use and which provides a perfect grip of a camera.

This tripod is designed to be used with consumer-level DSLR cameras, but you can use it to shoot videos with almost all types of cameras. The Compact Action Tripod has a maximum height of 51.57 inches, and it can’t hold cameras heavier than 3.30lbs.

Pros:

• Suitable for both photography and video
• Great for outdoor use
• Allows you to take a wide variety of shots

Cons:

• Can’t support a lot of weight
• Not perfectly suited for professional-level cameras

5. Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod

Price: $159.95

Experienced vloggers who record their videos with professional cameras, will enjoy using the Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod. The 59-inch tall tripod can support as much as 8.8lbs of weight, and it is designed to help you create perfectly stable shots. The superb panning and tilting option enable you to move your camera freely while recording smooth shots, free of camera shakes.

The quick release mounting plate is compatible with a wide range of cameras, so you can experiment and work with several different cameras while using the same tripod. You can hardly make a mistake if you choose to buy this tripod because you’ll be able to use it to record vlogs at interior and exterior locations.

Pros:

• Easily adjustable to any surface
• Perfect for high angle shots
• Heavy-duty locks

Cons:

• Weighs 7.9lbs
• Not the best choice for action and adventure vlogs

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

As you grow into a serious vlogger, a tripod will become an essential piece of equipment. You can get by for a long time setting your camera up on a stack of books, or an upside-down laundry hamper, but not forever. While these setups are great for a beginner, an intermediate vlogger will start to find them limiting. Even if you are an amazingly creative person who can create any camera setup without a tripod there will come a point where you will decide your creative energy is better spent on your video content.

This article will explain how to use a tripod and then introduce you to four different types.

Part 1: How To Set a Tripod for Vlogging

1. Setting Up Your Tripod

Step 1 – Pull out all three legs of your tripod and make sure it is standing stably. There will be tensioners on the legs which you can release in order to adjust your height. Once your legs are extended to the height you want continue adjusting them until your tripod is level. Some tripods have a built in bubble level, but if yours does not you can use a separate bubble level or make a guestimate.

Make sure when you are setting up your tripod that you point one of its legs towards your subject. This will give you room to stand behind your camera, in-between the other two legs. If you have one leg pointed directly behind your camera then you may trip over it. Or, you may knock over and damage your camera.

Step 2 – On the top of your tripod there will be a plate with a small hole and a screw. Remove this plate using either a clip or lever, depending on your tripod. Once your plate is detached screw it into the bottom of your camera. It should be tight, but not too tight or you risk damaging your camera.

Step 3 – Attach your plate, which now has your camera mounted to it, back onto your tripod.

Your tripod comes with a ‘head’. Your tripod’s head is what your camera is mounted on top of. There are several different types of tripod heads and mounts which are all useful for different things.

Ball Heads and Pan/Tilt Heads are the two most common types of tripod heads. Ball Heads allow you to adjust your camera’s position quite a bit before you start shooting. They are not good for adding in camera movements while you are filming, however, because you need to lock them in place. Pan/Tilt heads are great for creating camera movement. Most Pan/Tilt heads have a handle which you can use to make a smooth panning motion.

Part 2: Why Do You Need a Tripod: Benefits of Using Tripod

Why can’t you just hold a camera in your hand while shooting vlog entries for your YouTube channel? Honestly, you can, but the camera may shake a lot and your footage might end up being unusable. Putting a camera on a tripod reduces the probability of camera shake to the minimum and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

A huge amount of vlogs can be described as sit down videos, in which the host of the video sits in front of a camera and talks to the audience. Holding a camera while talking or trying to present a product to the viewers is next to impossible, so in order to avoid having to deal with a camera, you can simply put it on a tripod, find the best angle, and push the record button.

On the go videos, are recorded at exterior locations, and a lot of YouTubers choose to shoot these types of videos handheld, but this approach makes it difficult to maintain the same shot composition for long. A Monopod, Gorillapod or just a simple selfie stick can make your job much easier because they stabilize the camera. In addition, shooting smooth panning shots without a tripod is as difficult as it sounds.

Part 3: A Few Things You’ll Need to Consider Before You Buy a Tripod

There are thousands of different tripod models you can use for vlogging, but which model you’re going to choose depends mostly on the type of vlog you want to make. If you are planning on shooting all of your videos in the studio-like conditions, then portability isn’t such an important feature, while quite the opposite is true if you intend on filming all of your footage on outdoor locations.

However, there are certain traits you have to consider when choosing a tripod you’re going to use while recording your vlog entries.

Sturdiness: There is absolutely no point in spending money on a tripod that breaks easily. Although if your plan is to shoot vlogs at home or in a studio, then buying a cheaper plastic tripod isn’t such a bad option, since the clamps and joints won’t have to endure a lot of wear and tear. Consider buying a more durable tripod if you are going to be traveling a lot while working on your vlogs.

The Type of Camera: A number of factors can contribute to the weight of a camera, including battery grips or lenses, so before you buy a tripod make sure that it can support the weight of the camera you want to use to record your videos.

The Maximum Height: Most vloggers don’t really have to worry about how tall their tripod is, because they are not on their feet in any of the shots featured in the video. Vloggers working on DIY videos, cooking tutorials or any other type of vlog that involves movement and action should pay attention to this trait.

Photo or Video Tripods: Do you want to take beautiful panning shots? If the answer is yes then you should get a video tripod that enables you to move the camera smoothly in any direction. Photo tripods are a great option for static shots that don’t involve a lot of camera movement.

Mobility: The heavier a tripod is, the more stability it can provide, but carrying a tripod that weighs over 10 pounds to shoot sports or adventure vlogs can be a tiring endeavor. Although portability is a factor, it shouldn’t prevent you from buying a high-quality tripod that will ensure your footage is perfectly smooth and stable.

Part 4: 4 Types of Tripods

Full-Sized Tripods: are very sturdy, and as a result can be fairly heavy. Although you can take them a lot of places they are not convenient to carry for extended periods of time. They are the most reliable way to ensure you have absolutely no camera shake.

Compact Tripods: appear to be the same size as Full-Sized tripods, but they are actually much lighter. You can get the same height with a Compact Tripod as a Full-Sized tripod and it will be much easier to travel with. However, Compact Tripods are not as stable. If you are shooting for an extended period of time you may need to weigh your Compact Tripod down with sandbags to keep it steady.

Gorillapods: have flexible legs which can be wrapped around posts, fences, or anything else you may want to mount your camera on. They are also lightweight enough that you can carry them around while you shoot. If you bend it right you can essentially use your Gorillapod as a heavy-duty selfie-stick for your camera.

Table-Top Tripods: are very small and easy to travel with. You can leave one in your camera bag or your glove box. Table-Top Tripods are meant to be set up on top of desks or other stable surfaces and may not be ideal for heavier cameras.

Part 5: The 5 Best Tripods For YouTube Vlogging

Even if you know everything there is to know about tripods, the selection process can be daunting. That’s why we’ve shortlisted the top 5 tripods on the market, in an effort to make finding the right tripod for your vlog videos as quick an easy as it can possibly be. Let’s have a look.

1. CamRah Smartphone Tripod

Price: $24.99

An increasing number of Smartphones features powerful cameras that can record videos at high resolutions. Unfortunately, most iPhones and Android devices are lightweight, which makes it difficult to hold them perfectly still while shooting a video. CamRah Smartphone Tripod offers a perfect solution to this problem because it is easy to pack and you can carry it wherever you go, without needing the extra space.

It weighs just 0.6lbs and it is 10.8 inches tall. The tripod has a maximum load of 11lbs which means that besides Smartphones, you can also mount action cameras, webcams, or even smaller DSLR cameras onto it. The flexible legs made from high-density foam offer stability even when the CamRah Tripod is placed on an uneven surface.

Pros:

• Easily portable
• Affordable
• Jaws technology provides an extra strong grip of the camera

Cons:

• The tripod’s legs can’t be extended
• Can’t be used with professional cameras

2. Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod

Price: $34.99

Yet another great option for shooting vlogs with a Smartphone. The Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod kit is also an excellent choice for all vloggers who shoot their videos with compact cameras. The tripod weighs just 0.51lbs and it is 5.31 inches tall, which makes it a perfect travel companion. However, it can’t support cameras heavier than 2.2lbs, so you have to carefully choose the camera you want to put on this tripod.

The tripod’s rotatable head features a lock button that enables you to fix the camera at a certain position and to shoot a video from an angle you selected. You can’t extend the legs on this tripod so shooting high angle shots is not an option.

Pros:

• Small and durable
• Allows you to mount almost any Smartphone model
• Compatible with compact cameras

Cons:

• Limits your shot selection
• Tripod’s legs can’t be extended

3. Joby Gorilla Pod

Price: $22.50

This tripod is a superstar in the vlogging community because it is flexible, easy to set up and it fits into a pocket. Joby Gorilla Pod’s legs are segmented, so you can freely choose an angle from which you want to shoot, without having to worry about the camera’s stability. You can use this tripod on flat and uneven surfaces equally effectively.

Joby Gorilla weighs just 1lbs and its maximum height 11.6 inches, which makes it perfectly suited for talking heads videos. Using this tripod while you are on the go is also an option if you have a camera that weighs less than 3lbs.

Pros:

• Highly adjustable
• Sturdy and Lightweight
• Made from stainless steel

Cons:

• Can’t be used for panning shots
• Legs can be extended for just one inch

4. Manfrotto Compact Action Tripod

Price: $64.49

If you love shooting your vlogs at night or if you simply want a tripod you can use in the studio an outdoor conditions, then Manfrotto’s Compact Action Tripod is one the best options you have at your disposal. The ergonomic head features a mounting plate that is easy to use and which provides a perfect grip of a camera.

This tripod is designed to be used with consumer-level DSLR cameras, but you can use it to shoot videos with almost all types of cameras. The Compact Action Tripod has a maximum height of 51.57 inches, and it can’t hold cameras heavier than 3.30lbs.

Pros:

• Suitable for both photography and video
• Great for outdoor use
• Allows you to take a wide variety of shots

Cons:

• Can’t support a lot of weight
• Not perfectly suited for professional-level cameras

5. Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod

Price: $159.95

Experienced vloggers who record their videos with professional cameras, will enjoy using the Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod. The 59-inch tall tripod can support as much as 8.8lbs of weight, and it is designed to help you create perfectly stable shots. The superb panning and tilting option enable you to move your camera freely while recording smooth shots, free of camera shakes.

The quick release mounting plate is compatible with a wide range of cameras, so you can experiment and work with several different cameras while using the same tripod. You can hardly make a mistake if you choose to buy this tripod because you’ll be able to use it to record vlogs at interior and exterior locations.

Pros:

• Easily adjustable to any surface
• Perfect for high angle shots
• Heavy-duty locks

Cons:

• Weighs 7.9lbs
• Not the best choice for action and adventure vlogs

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

As you grow into a serious vlogger, a tripod will become an essential piece of equipment. You can get by for a long time setting your camera up on a stack of books, or an upside-down laundry hamper, but not forever. While these setups are great for a beginner, an intermediate vlogger will start to find them limiting. Even if you are an amazingly creative person who can create any camera setup without a tripod there will come a point where you will decide your creative energy is better spent on your video content.

This article will explain how to use a tripod and then introduce you to four different types.

Part 1: How To Set a Tripod for Vlogging

1. Setting Up Your Tripod

Step 1 – Pull out all three legs of your tripod and make sure it is standing stably. There will be tensioners on the legs which you can release in order to adjust your height. Once your legs are extended to the height you want continue adjusting them until your tripod is level. Some tripods have a built in bubble level, but if yours does not you can use a separate bubble level or make a guestimate.

Make sure when you are setting up your tripod that you point one of its legs towards your subject. This will give you room to stand behind your camera, in-between the other two legs. If you have one leg pointed directly behind your camera then you may trip over it. Or, you may knock over and damage your camera.

Step 2 – On the top of your tripod there will be a plate with a small hole and a screw. Remove this plate using either a clip or lever, depending on your tripod. Once your plate is detached screw it into the bottom of your camera. It should be tight, but not too tight or you risk damaging your camera.

Step 3 – Attach your plate, which now has your camera mounted to it, back onto your tripod.

Your tripod comes with a ‘head’. Your tripod’s head is what your camera is mounted on top of. There are several different types of tripod heads and mounts which are all useful for different things.

Ball Heads and Pan/Tilt Heads are the two most common types of tripod heads. Ball Heads allow you to adjust your camera’s position quite a bit before you start shooting. They are not good for adding in camera movements while you are filming, however, because you need to lock them in place. Pan/Tilt heads are great for creating camera movement. Most Pan/Tilt heads have a handle which you can use to make a smooth panning motion.

Part 2: Why Do You Need a Tripod: Benefits of Using Tripod

Why can’t you just hold a camera in your hand while shooting vlog entries for your YouTube channel? Honestly, you can, but the camera may shake a lot and your footage might end up being unusable. Putting a camera on a tripod reduces the probability of camera shake to the minimum and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

A huge amount of vlogs can be described as sit down videos, in which the host of the video sits in front of a camera and talks to the audience. Holding a camera while talking or trying to present a product to the viewers is next to impossible, so in order to avoid having to deal with a camera, you can simply put it on a tripod, find the best angle, and push the record button.

On the go videos, are recorded at exterior locations, and a lot of YouTubers choose to shoot these types of videos handheld, but this approach makes it difficult to maintain the same shot composition for long. A Monopod, Gorillapod or just a simple selfie stick can make your job much easier because they stabilize the camera. In addition, shooting smooth panning shots without a tripod is as difficult as it sounds.

Part 3: A Few Things You’ll Need to Consider Before You Buy a Tripod

There are thousands of different tripod models you can use for vlogging, but which model you’re going to choose depends mostly on the type of vlog you want to make. If you are planning on shooting all of your videos in the studio-like conditions, then portability isn’t such an important feature, while quite the opposite is true if you intend on filming all of your footage on outdoor locations.

However, there are certain traits you have to consider when choosing a tripod you’re going to use while recording your vlog entries.

Sturdiness: There is absolutely no point in spending money on a tripod that breaks easily. Although if your plan is to shoot vlogs at home or in a studio, then buying a cheaper plastic tripod isn’t such a bad option, since the clamps and joints won’t have to endure a lot of wear and tear. Consider buying a more durable tripod if you are going to be traveling a lot while working on your vlogs.

The Type of Camera: A number of factors can contribute to the weight of a camera, including battery grips or lenses, so before you buy a tripod make sure that it can support the weight of the camera you want to use to record your videos.

The Maximum Height: Most vloggers don’t really have to worry about how tall their tripod is, because they are not on their feet in any of the shots featured in the video. Vloggers working on DIY videos, cooking tutorials or any other type of vlog that involves movement and action should pay attention to this trait.

Photo or Video Tripods: Do you want to take beautiful panning shots? If the answer is yes then you should get a video tripod that enables you to move the camera smoothly in any direction. Photo tripods are a great option for static shots that don’t involve a lot of camera movement.

Mobility: The heavier a tripod is, the more stability it can provide, but carrying a tripod that weighs over 10 pounds to shoot sports or adventure vlogs can be a tiring endeavor. Although portability is a factor, it shouldn’t prevent you from buying a high-quality tripod that will ensure your footage is perfectly smooth and stable.

Part 4: 4 Types of Tripods

Full-Sized Tripods: are very sturdy, and as a result can be fairly heavy. Although you can take them a lot of places they are not convenient to carry for extended periods of time. They are the most reliable way to ensure you have absolutely no camera shake.

Compact Tripods: appear to be the same size as Full-Sized tripods, but they are actually much lighter. You can get the same height with a Compact Tripod as a Full-Sized tripod and it will be much easier to travel with. However, Compact Tripods are not as stable. If you are shooting for an extended period of time you may need to weigh your Compact Tripod down with sandbags to keep it steady.

Gorillapods: have flexible legs which can be wrapped around posts, fences, or anything else you may want to mount your camera on. They are also lightweight enough that you can carry them around while you shoot. If you bend it right you can essentially use your Gorillapod as a heavy-duty selfie-stick for your camera.

Table-Top Tripods: are very small and easy to travel with. You can leave one in your camera bag or your glove box. Table-Top Tripods are meant to be set up on top of desks or other stable surfaces and may not be ideal for heavier cameras.

Part 5: The 5 Best Tripods For YouTube Vlogging

Even if you know everything there is to know about tripods, the selection process can be daunting. That’s why we’ve shortlisted the top 5 tripods on the market, in an effort to make finding the right tripod for your vlog videos as quick an easy as it can possibly be. Let’s have a look.

1. CamRah Smartphone Tripod

Price: $24.99

An increasing number of Smartphones features powerful cameras that can record videos at high resolutions. Unfortunately, most iPhones and Android devices are lightweight, which makes it difficult to hold them perfectly still while shooting a video. CamRah Smartphone Tripod offers a perfect solution to this problem because it is easy to pack and you can carry it wherever you go, without needing the extra space.

It weighs just 0.6lbs and it is 10.8 inches tall. The tripod has a maximum load of 11lbs which means that besides Smartphones, you can also mount action cameras, webcams, or even smaller DSLR cameras onto it. The flexible legs made from high-density foam offer stability even when the CamRah Tripod is placed on an uneven surface.

Pros:

• Easily portable
• Affordable
• Jaws technology provides an extra strong grip of the camera

Cons:

• The tripod’s legs can’t be extended
• Can’t be used with professional cameras

2. Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod

Price: $34.99

Yet another great option for shooting vlogs with a Smartphone. The Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod kit is also an excellent choice for all vloggers who shoot their videos with compact cameras. The tripod weighs just 0.51lbs and it is 5.31 inches tall, which makes it a perfect travel companion. However, it can’t support cameras heavier than 2.2lbs, so you have to carefully choose the camera you want to put on this tripod.

The tripod’s rotatable head features a lock button that enables you to fix the camera at a certain position and to shoot a video from an angle you selected. You can’t extend the legs on this tripod so shooting high angle shots is not an option.

Pros:

• Small and durable
• Allows you to mount almost any Smartphone model
• Compatible with compact cameras

Cons:

• Limits your shot selection
• Tripod’s legs can’t be extended

3. Joby Gorilla Pod

Price: $22.50

This tripod is a superstar in the vlogging community because it is flexible, easy to set up and it fits into a pocket. Joby Gorilla Pod’s legs are segmented, so you can freely choose an angle from which you want to shoot, without having to worry about the camera’s stability. You can use this tripod on flat and uneven surfaces equally effectively.

Joby Gorilla weighs just 1lbs and its maximum height 11.6 inches, which makes it perfectly suited for talking heads videos. Using this tripod while you are on the go is also an option if you have a camera that weighs less than 3lbs.

Pros:

• Highly adjustable
• Sturdy and Lightweight
• Made from stainless steel

Cons:

• Can’t be used for panning shots
• Legs can be extended for just one inch

4. Manfrotto Compact Action Tripod

Price: $64.49

If you love shooting your vlogs at night or if you simply want a tripod you can use in the studio an outdoor conditions, then Manfrotto’s Compact Action Tripod is one the best options you have at your disposal. The ergonomic head features a mounting plate that is easy to use and which provides a perfect grip of a camera.

This tripod is designed to be used with consumer-level DSLR cameras, but you can use it to shoot videos with almost all types of cameras. The Compact Action Tripod has a maximum height of 51.57 inches, and it can’t hold cameras heavier than 3.30lbs.

Pros:

• Suitable for both photography and video
• Great for outdoor use
• Allows you to take a wide variety of shots

Cons:

• Can’t support a lot of weight
• Not perfectly suited for professional-level cameras

5. Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod

Price: $159.95

Experienced vloggers who record their videos with professional cameras, will enjoy using the Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod. The 59-inch tall tripod can support as much as 8.8lbs of weight, and it is designed to help you create perfectly stable shots. The superb panning and tilting option enable you to move your camera freely while recording smooth shots, free of camera shakes.

The quick release mounting plate is compatible with a wide range of cameras, so you can experiment and work with several different cameras while using the same tripod. You can hardly make a mistake if you choose to buy this tripod because you’ll be able to use it to record vlogs at interior and exterior locations.

Pros:

• Easily adjustable to any surface
• Perfect for high angle shots
• Heavy-duty locks

Cons:

• Weighs 7.9lbs
• Not the best choice for action and adventure vlogs

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

As you grow into a serious vlogger, a tripod will become an essential piece of equipment. You can get by for a long time setting your camera up on a stack of books, or an upside-down laundry hamper, but not forever. While these setups are great for a beginner, an intermediate vlogger will start to find them limiting. Even if you are an amazingly creative person who can create any camera setup without a tripod there will come a point where you will decide your creative energy is better spent on your video content.

This article will explain how to use a tripod and then introduce you to four different types.

Part 1: How To Set a Tripod for Vlogging

1. Setting Up Your Tripod

Step 1 – Pull out all three legs of your tripod and make sure it is standing stably. There will be tensioners on the legs which you can release in order to adjust your height. Once your legs are extended to the height you want continue adjusting them until your tripod is level. Some tripods have a built in bubble level, but if yours does not you can use a separate bubble level or make a guestimate.

Make sure when you are setting up your tripod that you point one of its legs towards your subject. This will give you room to stand behind your camera, in-between the other two legs. If you have one leg pointed directly behind your camera then you may trip over it. Or, you may knock over and damage your camera.

Step 2 – On the top of your tripod there will be a plate with a small hole and a screw. Remove this plate using either a clip or lever, depending on your tripod. Once your plate is detached screw it into the bottom of your camera. It should be tight, but not too tight or you risk damaging your camera.

Step 3 – Attach your plate, which now has your camera mounted to it, back onto your tripod.

Your tripod comes with a ‘head’. Your tripod’s head is what your camera is mounted on top of. There are several different types of tripod heads and mounts which are all useful for different things.

Ball Heads and Pan/Tilt Heads are the two most common types of tripod heads. Ball Heads allow you to adjust your camera’s position quite a bit before you start shooting. They are not good for adding in camera movements while you are filming, however, because you need to lock them in place. Pan/Tilt heads are great for creating camera movement. Most Pan/Tilt heads have a handle which you can use to make a smooth panning motion.

Part 2: Why Do You Need a Tripod: Benefits of Using Tripod

Why can’t you just hold a camera in your hand while shooting vlog entries for your YouTube channel? Honestly, you can, but the camera may shake a lot and your footage might end up being unusable. Putting a camera on a tripod reduces the probability of camera shake to the minimum and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

A huge amount of vlogs can be described as sit down videos, in which the host of the video sits in front of a camera and talks to the audience. Holding a camera while talking or trying to present a product to the viewers is next to impossible, so in order to avoid having to deal with a camera, you can simply put it on a tripod, find the best angle, and push the record button.

On the go videos, are recorded at exterior locations, and a lot of YouTubers choose to shoot these types of videos handheld, but this approach makes it difficult to maintain the same shot composition for long. A Monopod, Gorillapod or just a simple selfie stick can make your job much easier because they stabilize the camera. In addition, shooting smooth panning shots without a tripod is as difficult as it sounds.

Part 3: A Few Things You’ll Need to Consider Before You Buy a Tripod

There are thousands of different tripod models you can use for vlogging, but which model you’re going to choose depends mostly on the type of vlog you want to make. If you are planning on shooting all of your videos in the studio-like conditions, then portability isn’t such an important feature, while quite the opposite is true if you intend on filming all of your footage on outdoor locations.

However, there are certain traits you have to consider when choosing a tripod you’re going to use while recording your vlog entries.

Sturdiness: There is absolutely no point in spending money on a tripod that breaks easily. Although if your plan is to shoot vlogs at home or in a studio, then buying a cheaper plastic tripod isn’t such a bad option, since the clamps and joints won’t have to endure a lot of wear and tear. Consider buying a more durable tripod if you are going to be traveling a lot while working on your vlogs.

The Type of Camera: A number of factors can contribute to the weight of a camera, including battery grips or lenses, so before you buy a tripod make sure that it can support the weight of the camera you want to use to record your videos.

The Maximum Height: Most vloggers don’t really have to worry about how tall their tripod is, because they are not on their feet in any of the shots featured in the video. Vloggers working on DIY videos, cooking tutorials or any other type of vlog that involves movement and action should pay attention to this trait.

Photo or Video Tripods: Do you want to take beautiful panning shots? If the answer is yes then you should get a video tripod that enables you to move the camera smoothly in any direction. Photo tripods are a great option for static shots that don’t involve a lot of camera movement.

Mobility: The heavier a tripod is, the more stability it can provide, but carrying a tripod that weighs over 10 pounds to shoot sports or adventure vlogs can be a tiring endeavor. Although portability is a factor, it shouldn’t prevent you from buying a high-quality tripod that will ensure your footage is perfectly smooth and stable.

Part 4: 4 Types of Tripods

Full-Sized Tripods: are very sturdy, and as a result can be fairly heavy. Although you can take them a lot of places they are not convenient to carry for extended periods of time. They are the most reliable way to ensure you have absolutely no camera shake.

Compact Tripods: appear to be the same size as Full-Sized tripods, but they are actually much lighter. You can get the same height with a Compact Tripod as a Full-Sized tripod and it will be much easier to travel with. However, Compact Tripods are not as stable. If you are shooting for an extended period of time you may need to weigh your Compact Tripod down with sandbags to keep it steady.

Gorillapods: have flexible legs which can be wrapped around posts, fences, or anything else you may want to mount your camera on. They are also lightweight enough that you can carry them around while you shoot. If you bend it right you can essentially use your Gorillapod as a heavy-duty selfie-stick for your camera.

Table-Top Tripods: are very small and easy to travel with. You can leave one in your camera bag or your glove box. Table-Top Tripods are meant to be set up on top of desks or other stable surfaces and may not be ideal for heavier cameras.

Part 5: The 5 Best Tripods For YouTube Vlogging

Even if you know everything there is to know about tripods, the selection process can be daunting. That’s why we’ve shortlisted the top 5 tripods on the market, in an effort to make finding the right tripod for your vlog videos as quick an easy as it can possibly be. Let’s have a look.

1. CamRah Smartphone Tripod

Price: $24.99

An increasing number of Smartphones features powerful cameras that can record videos at high resolutions. Unfortunately, most iPhones and Android devices are lightweight, which makes it difficult to hold them perfectly still while shooting a video. CamRah Smartphone Tripod offers a perfect solution to this problem because it is easy to pack and you can carry it wherever you go, without needing the extra space.

It weighs just 0.6lbs and it is 10.8 inches tall. The tripod has a maximum load of 11lbs which means that besides Smartphones, you can also mount action cameras, webcams, or even smaller DSLR cameras onto it. The flexible legs made from high-density foam offer stability even when the CamRah Tripod is placed on an uneven surface.

Pros:

• Easily portable
• Affordable
• Jaws technology provides an extra strong grip of the camera

Cons:

• The tripod’s legs can’t be extended
• Can’t be used with professional cameras

2. Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod

Price: $34.99

Yet another great option for shooting vlogs with a Smartphone. The Manfrotto Mini Travel Tripod kit is also an excellent choice for all vloggers who shoot their videos with compact cameras. The tripod weighs just 0.51lbs and it is 5.31 inches tall, which makes it a perfect travel companion. However, it can’t support cameras heavier than 2.2lbs, so you have to carefully choose the camera you want to put on this tripod.

The tripod’s rotatable head features a lock button that enables you to fix the camera at a certain position and to shoot a video from an angle you selected. You can’t extend the legs on this tripod so shooting high angle shots is not an option.

Pros:

• Small and durable
• Allows you to mount almost any Smartphone model
• Compatible with compact cameras

Cons:

• Limits your shot selection
• Tripod’s legs can’t be extended

3. Joby Gorilla Pod

Price: $22.50

This tripod is a superstar in the vlogging community because it is flexible, easy to set up and it fits into a pocket. Joby Gorilla Pod’s legs are segmented, so you can freely choose an angle from which you want to shoot, without having to worry about the camera’s stability. You can use this tripod on flat and uneven surfaces equally effectively.

Joby Gorilla weighs just 1lbs and its maximum height 11.6 inches, which makes it perfectly suited for talking heads videos. Using this tripod while you are on the go is also an option if you have a camera that weighs less than 3lbs.

Pros:

• Highly adjustable
• Sturdy and Lightweight
• Made from stainless steel

Cons:

• Can’t be used for panning shots
• Legs can be extended for just one inch

4. Manfrotto Compact Action Tripod

Price: $64.49

If you love shooting your vlogs at night or if you simply want a tripod you can use in the studio an outdoor conditions, then Manfrotto’s Compact Action Tripod is one the best options you have at your disposal. The ergonomic head features a mounting plate that is easy to use and which provides a perfect grip of a camera.

This tripod is designed to be used with consumer-level DSLR cameras, but you can use it to shoot videos with almost all types of cameras. The Compact Action Tripod has a maximum height of 51.57 inches, and it can’t hold cameras heavier than 3.30lbs.

Pros:

• Suitable for both photography and video
• Great for outdoor use
• Allows you to take a wide variety of shots

Cons:

• Can’t support a lot of weight
• Not perfectly suited for professional-level cameras

5. Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod

Price: $159.95

Experienced vloggers who record their videos with professional cameras, will enjoy using the Magnus VT-4000 Fluid Head Tripod. The 59-inch tall tripod can support as much as 8.8lbs of weight, and it is designed to help you create perfectly stable shots. The superb panning and tilting option enable you to move your camera freely while recording smooth shots, free of camera shakes.

The quick release mounting plate is compatible with a wide range of cameras, so you can experiment and work with several different cameras while using the same tripod. You can hardly make a mistake if you choose to buy this tripod because you’ll be able to use it to record vlogs at interior and exterior locations.

Pros:

• Easily adjustable to any surface
• Perfect for high angle shots
• Heavy-duty locks

Cons:

• Weighs 7.9lbs
• Not the best choice for action and adventure vlogs

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Also read: