Day 18: Using Video To Boost Content and Why I've Been Dropped as a Youtube Partner--25 Days To A Better Beauty & Fashion Blog #SBBC / by Erin Baynham

This post is part of the Scandalous Beauty 25 Days To A Better Beauty And Fashion Blog Challenge! For even more tips, be sure to check out Erin's Guide to Better Beauty Blogging. Ah, video. Supposedly it's taking over, I don't see it happening. Either way, I think it's great to have. The most common platform is Youtube. In fact, Youtube is now such a massive force that it is a search engine. When people want to know things, they don't always 'google' them, they 'youtube' them. You can learn how to do everything there. This doesn't mean that the information is accurate, but it's really up to the viewer to decide.

Creating video can give your readers a more personal experience with you. Plus, it's sometimes easier to just make a video instead of taking individual pictures. It's totally up to you. When you get a chance, take a quick look at two other articles I have written: Youtube Subscribers: Beneficial or Overrated? and Four Ways to Get More Youtube Views.

Things to remember when you create your videos:

  • Use relevant titles. If you need more help with this, re-read day 1 of the blog challenge.
  • Use the "about this video section". The first two lines are vital. They are the lines that the viewer sees even if you don't expand the section. Be sure to have hyperlinks of any information that you might want viewers to see.
  • Lighting is fundamental and necessary. I look back at a lot of my videos and cannot even believe I would put out such crappy videos. Three years in, I still don't have the right equipment to make great videos.  I get complaints about lighting all the time. Just like in photography, natural light is an asset to video. If you can get it, use it.
  • The best video length time? Short and sweet. It has been said that most people have an attention span of 3 minutes. Rambling is boring as hell, and you're likely to bore many people when you do so.

Personalize your content

Intros: I think these are a great way to personalize your videos. Long intros can be annoying to some (me included). My intro was about 10 seconds. I've seen some that are one minute long. Seriously, stand still and stare at a wall for one minutes. It's a long time.

Editing: Videos can be dramatically shorter with a bit of editing. This also makes videos a bit more thrilling. I've posted videos directly to my account before, but there can always be a little bit of extra attention to detail to polish things up a bit.

If you're a Google Adsense member, you can even make money from your videos! If you get thousands upon thousands of views per video, you might even be able to make a living this way! With that being said....

The Story of How I was Dropped from Google Adsense and as a Youtube Partner

Note: I'm telling this story after my rage had subsided. Trust me, there was rage. I've only told a couple of people about this, so here's my rant story.

Google Adsense suspended my account a few weeks ago. In the blink of an eye, I was no longer making money from my videos and on my blog. Google made it quite clear that they don't have to tell me why they disabled the account. I know that clicking my own ads wasn't tolerated, so I never did it. I filed an appeal, which was denied. I ran through it over and over in my mind, wondering what I did wrong. And then, the even bigger blow came. Within a few days, my Youtube Partnership was also taken away. All of the hard work that my brother and I spent making banners and customizing my channel had vanished. I've lost 80% of the drive that I had to make videos. The only 20% that actually makes me want to do it are the messages that I get about my absense.

Let me clarify this. Google Adsense didn't provide enough money for me to quit my  day job, but it did help pay the bills. It also helped me purchase products to review, equipment to film with, and the other things that happen to come up in life. I had to put it into perspective. I still have other streams of income as a blogger (which we will discuss on day 24 of this challenge) and I still have a day job. Either way, (although I was still pissed) I was able to feed myself and have shelter. This is a lesson to never, ever keep all of your eggs in one basket. If I depended solely on Adsense, I'd be poor right now.

Again, I stress, I still want to make videos. I want to edit my videos better and make them look more polished. However, I'm not sure that I want them all on Youtube. I'd love to do most of them on Vimeo.

Edit: Latoya commented and asked why I chose video instead of other platforms. Great question.  The video quality is far better at Vimeo. I've posted a Vimeo video below. The filmmakers are definitely using a higher quality of equipment than I'll probably ever use, but I've always loved this platform. There is a more design-focused community there. Either way, there's always been a sharpness to Vimeo videos, so I'd like to implement them more. I still have a few decisions to make, and once they are all figured out, I'll definitely blog and post a video about them.

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