I’m going to show you my YouTube video process (or creating any video) from start to finish. I give you the information step by step and later I’ll give you my strategies to becoming visible across your platforms.

You can then follow my YouTube video process and create yours …

So let’s start with the first step, I decide what I’m going to make my video about …

For me to decide on my video topic, it has to sit under one of my 5 content pillars which are video, social media, content creation, self development or business building.

These are my content pillars that I produce content around. I go into this in depth in this blog right here where I tell you how I choose my topic and where I research plus places to look for inspiration.

I keep a spreadsheet of all of my ideas …

… and every time that I think of or see something, I put it in there to keep a running list of ideas.

Step 2 – I do some keyword research, using Keywords Everywhere. This is a Chrome extension and a paid tool but is reasonably prices and super useful. Start with a $10 credit and it should last you several months and make sure that you have the toggle slid over to off when you’re not using it,  as not to use up your credits in other generally daily searches.

Keywords everywhere gives me a search volume figure of monthly searches when I put in my relevant keywords. I like to keep the search volume fairly small, under ten thousand, as my channel is currently only small and cannot compete with the larger ones when ranking for some keywords.

So don’t be afraid of choosing smaller search terms that the larger channels won’t bother going for, as long as the keywords are relevant to your channel.

I’ve been on my own business building journey so I give you information that I’ve found to work for me and cutting out the steps that didn’t, so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes that I did. Of course it’s all trial and error so treat it all as a test and do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. You’ll soon have a YouTube video process that works for you.

Step 3 – When I’ve decided on my keywords, I start to create content on that that subject. I then put that content into my script template, in a format that I follow every time. Again, I go deeper on how to create this script format in that same blog here.

Typically I tell the viewer what they’re going to learn with a juicy hook then I get straight into giving them the content. I ask for micro actions along the way, wrap it up with a summary and give a call to action. I type out my script in a ‘pages or word’ document so that I can amend it to stay on point and keep it concise.

When people ask me how long should their videos be, I say keep it under 10 minutes if you can but your videos should be as long as they need to be to give all of the relevant information and value, without fluff and fill. So if that takes longer, so be it.

Step 4 – when I’m happy with what I’ve written, I’ll read it out and get a rough time for how long it takes, which I record with the stopwatch on my phone. This just gives me an indication as to whether I should maybe split the video up into 2 parts if I feel it’s too long or add other relevant information if I think it’s too short.

Step 5 – I then copy and paste the script into the Teleprompter app on my phone. This is a free app for up to 750 words I think, but the full version isn’t expensive and that way you’re not limited for the length of your script.

I use a teleprompter for my videos because I like to stay on point and not waffle off on a tangent. There’s no right or wrong here, it’s whatever you prefer to do. The Teleprompter takes practice like everything, so see how you go with it. Give me a YES in the comments below if you fancy using a Teleprompter and think it may be more suitable for you or let me know what works for you.

Step 6 – I decide where I’m going to film, inside or out and prepare my background. I then wear comfortable clothes, put on some make up and brush my hair. I prepare my equipment and get it all ready to use. I’ve listed my equipment below in the description. I film my videos with my smartphone for ease and speed, because it’s all about creating content and getting the job done for me and I don’t want roadblocks to stop me for being consistent.

Step 7 – I put my iPhone into my smartphone rig, I open up the Teleprompter app to show my script on my screen and I check that the lighting and view on screen is good. Here’s my equipment list that I use.

I give you my 10 tips to filming like a pro with your smartphone in my free guide HERE. This guide covers camera settings, audio, lighting, framing and much more so grab that before you start.

Once I’m happy with the view, I hit record and film, as I read the script. The beauty of the teleprompter is that if you make a mistake you can roll the words back and set off again.

I tend to record the script over 2 videos so that when I send the video to my desktop to edit, the file’s not too large and can be sent quickly.

Depending on the size of the files, I’ll either air drop or send by Wetransfer, which is free to use for sending files up to 2GB.

Step 8 – Editing. I like simple editing so I generally use iMovie because I have a Mac. Sometimes I use Screenflow, I have also used Filmora which have a free and paid version and is for Windows too, and Davinci Resolve is also free for Windows and Mac, which has brilliant reviews.

Most of the softwares are similar to use so just start by dropping your video into the timeline, trimming out the bits you don’t want to clean it up and get fancy later.

If you want to edit direct from your phone, I suggest  using the app Inshot, I use this a lot especially for social media videos. Adobe Rush also has great reviews and both have a free version and are available on iOS or android.

Step 9 – When I’m happy with my video that it’s ready for YouTube, I upload it to my YouTube channel. I then give it a title that piques curiosity to click, I put in the keywords as tags and in the description,  add any relevant links mentioned in the video, upload my thumbnail and then I make the video public.

Step 10 – Now to get seen everywhere. Within the first 24-48 hours I want to drive as much traffic as possible to my video to boost the YouTube algorithm. I first send a link to the new YouTube video out to my email list. I also create a blog on my website, using the script that I put on the teleprompter and embedding the YouTube code into my blog to show the video on here too (see above). I then make teaser videos using parts from the video to add to my Instagram stories and feed. Each posts encourages the viewer to go and watch the video and I tell them that the link is in my Instagram bio. I can then make a Reel for Instagram too on the same topic. I also post the video or teasers on Facebook, using the YouTube link, not uploading the video natively. I sometimes post the video natively to Facebook and IGTV a couple of weeks later, depending on the content of the video.

I then make posts in Canva …

… using quotes from the video or relevant comments, check out this blog here for more scroll stopping social media ideas to create in Canva. You can also tweet quotes from the video if Twitter is a platform of choice. I also make a video pin in Canva for Pinterest, check out this video here where I show you how to do that and the crazy results I got. I use sections of the videos for Facebook ads when relevant and if you wish, you can strip out the audio from your video and create a podcast or audio files.

So to summarise …

• 1) I come up with a topic,
• 2) I do keyword research
• 3) I write out a script
• 4) I time myself to see how long the video is
• 5) I put the script into the teleprompter
• 6) I prepare to film,
• 7) I film and send recordings to my desktop
• 8) I edit the videos
• 9) I upload it to YouTube and
• 10) I create content and drive traffic across all platforms back to my YouTube videos.

This may sound like a lot of work, and yes it does take time and effort but when you get a system going like I have, you streamline the YouTube video process and get slicker the more you do it. If there’s one thing I could change is that I should have got started sooner using video, because the effort is worth it.

So if you want to get started creating videos for your business with your smartphone, then grab my free download ’10 tips to filming like a pro with your smartphone HERE, to help you get started today …