So, it’s time to make your first video and you have no idea where to start. Your last memory of video was the giant VHS recorder your family had when you were a child, or possibly an 8mm. So, the thought of creating, editing and uploading your own video seems a bit daunting.
Luckily for you, technology takes most of the guess work out of video creation these days. YouTube videos don’t have to be complicated, and with more software and hardware available than ever, designed to create video, it should be a breeze.

Recording Your Video

You can use any number of tools to record video for YouTube. First up, there’s a webcam – standard on almost all laptops and only a few dollars for your desktop computer. They vary in quality, so try to find one with at least a 30 FPS recording rate – this will result in TV quality video.

If you don’t have a webcam, you can also use a traditional video camera that has digital capabilities. MiniDV, and hard drive based cameras work well for this. Even your digital camera probably has video recording capability if you flip the switch from still to video.

Avoid cell phone video recording unless you have at least a 3 megapixel camera. The quality will be too low otherwise.

Types of Videos

The type of video you want to create will determine what you do next. If you want to record yourself discussing an important niche topic, a web cam very well may be good enough. However, mobile videos where you move around will usually require you to get some kind of hand held miraclepianist youtube converter.

Right now, my camera of choice is a Flip Mini HD video camera. They cost less than $200, record in 720p HD video and can upload directly to YouTube through a USB cable. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

There is of course PowerPoint as well – a very useful video creation tool that will allow you to record audio over the top of slides in a presentation. Microsoft Office has a screen recording tool, but I would recommend Camtasia for this purpose. It will also allow you to record your browser.

Editing and Compiling Video

When it comes time to edit video, simple sit down and talk webinars can be edited with free video editing software included with the operating system. Windows has a free movie editor, as does Mac OSX. If you are creating something more advanced, Camtasia is once again a great tool.

It allows simple transitions, watermarks, and text overlays that will allow you to advertise your site throughout the video. If you want even more control, Adobe Premier is a high end movie making software, though it is rather expensive for most beginning marketers.

Getting it on YouTube

Once you’re done, convert your video into MPEG4 format at a resolution of 640×480 with MP3 audio. YouTube can convert lots of formats, but to keep from losing quality in transition, this will work best.

You can also upload HD quality videos to YouTube now as well, but make sure you have the bandwidth and space to manage it. Once you have your videos on YouTube, make sure to add the necessary tags and descriptions to your video to be sure it gets the right traffic.

YouTube is a very useful tool that allows users to reach millions of viewers almost instantly. The technology is easy to learn and video recording is less expensive than ever. If you’re a marketer interested in taking the next step, make sure YouTube videos are a part of your plan.