How to Start a Vlog and Make Money: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

Posted by Elma Mrkonjić

If you’re good at putting your words together and building up a website, then blogging may be the best career for you. However, this is not a suitable job for everyone—but not all hope is lost.

If you still want to talk about your interests or daily life and feel comfortable being on camera, vlogging, or video blogging, can be a fun and engaging way to earn some income. If you’re a beginner and don’t know how to start a vlog and make money, our guide will help you get off on the right foot.

Key Points

Why Start Vlogging
How to Start a Vlog
How to Make Money as a Vlogger
- YouTube Ads
- Sell Merchandise
- Sponsored Posts
- Affiliate Links
Key Takeaways

Why Should You Start Vlogging?

In our digital world, vlogging can be a lucrative career that comes with a set of benefits. First of all, it’s a great way to build an audience around your interests. Whether you’re passionate about fashion, beauty, gaming, or something else entirely, vlogging gives you a platform to share your passions with the world.

Not only can vlogging be profitable, but it’s also a fun and creative outlet. If you love making videos and connecting with people, vlogging is definitely worth the effort.

How to Start a Vlog

Whether you start vlogging for money or as a hobby, here are a few steps you might want to consider before shooting your video.

Identify Your Niche

The first step in becoming a successful vlogger is finding your niche. What are you passionate about? What topics do you enjoy discussing?

Although it’s not required to be an expert, make sure you’re at least a bit familiar with the subject matter. If you’re not sure what you want your vlog to be about, try brainstorming a list of potential topics.

Get Inspiration from Other Vloggers

A great way to come up with video ideas is to watch other vloggers in your niche. See what’s trending and how these creators structure their content. If you find a vlogger whose style you like, try emulating their format.

Get Acquainted with the Platform

Before you start shooting your video, it’s important to get familiar with the platform you’ll be using to host your content.

As of today, YouTube is the most popular video-sharing site, with more than a billion users uploading videos every minute. You can sign up for this platform entirely for free and start posting immediately.

Thanks to their popularity, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok are also excellent platforms for beginner vloggers.

Invest in Quality Equipment

When you’re first starting out, you don’t need to invest in the most expensive equipment. But it’s important to have a few items to ensure good video quality. Even though it’s not necessary to purchase a professional-grade camera, you want to shoot clear, HD video. A good microphone and basic lighting gear can also make a big difference in how your videos will look. The last thing you need is to upload low-quality videos with terrible sound and light.

In addition, consider purchasing a tripod to keep your camera steady while you shoot. Nothing’s worse than watching a shaky video. So, a tripod will help ensure your videos are smooth and professional-looking.

Record and Edit Your Vlog

Now that you have all the equipment you need, it’s time to start recording your vlog. If you’re a beginner, don’t worry about making perfect videos—just focus on getting comfortable in front of the camera and creating content you’re proud of.

Once you have your raw footage, it’s time to start editing. Again, you don’t need to be a professional editor to create great vlogs. In fact, there are a variety of affordable and easy-to-use video editing programs on the market.

Upload and Optimize Your Vlog

Now, your video is ready to go. If you’re thinking about vlogging on YouTube, make sure to fill in the title, description, and tags fields—this will help ensure your video comes up in relevant searches.

You should also create a custom thumbnail for your video. A high-quality thumbnail will help entice users to click on your video.

Promote Your Vlog

If you want to make money vlogging, promoting your content is the best way to do so. First, make sure to share your videos on social media. This is a great way to reach new audiences and get more people to watch your videos.

Collaborating with other vloggers and running ads are also great ways to engage with your audience and earn views and revenue from your content.

Keep Track of Your Performance

Unfortunately, your vlogging journey doesn’t stop here. If you want your vlog to be successful, it’s important to track its performance. Check how many views your videos are getting and how much revenue you’re generating.

For YouTube, you can check your channel analytics. As for other video platforms, you can use third-party tools, such as Google Analytics, to track your performance. Thanks to these metrics, you can see what’s working and what’s not and adjust your vlogging strategy accordingly.

How to Make Money as a Vlogger

Can you generate revenue from uploading vlogs alone? Many of the most popular content creators earn their vlogging income from additional sources. Let’s take a closer look.

YouTube Ads

As a YouTube vlogger, you can make money through YouTube Ads. Thanks to this feature, you can run pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll ads on your videos.

YouTube Ads will pay you based on how many views your video gets. Of course, the more views you have, the more money you can make.

Sell Merchandise

If you have a loyal following, you can sell merchandise to your fans. This can be anything from T-shirts to coffee mugs. You can choose to create your website or sell your products through a third-party platform like Etsy.

Affiliate Links

Including affiliate links in your videos and posts is another common way of earning revenue. Simply put, when someone clicks on one of your affiliate links and makes a purchase, you will earn a commission.

Key Takeaways

Before shooting your vlog, make sure to find your niche, familiarize yourself with the platform, and invest in high-quality gear.
After uploading your vlog, remember to promote it and track your performance.
You can earn more revenue from your vlog thanks to YouTube Ads, merchandise, sponsored posts, and affiliate links.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do vloggers earn?

A vlogger with a large following can earn a significant amount of money through sponsorships, advertising, and merchandise sales. On average, they can earn anywhere between $750 and $1,500 a month from their content.

For instance, the most followed YouTuber, PewDiePie, earns revenue of about $49,000 to $800,000 every month.

So, it’s safe to say that some vloggers can generate a significant amount of money through their videos.

Is vlogging worth it?

Many people enjoy watching vlogs but wonder if the effort required to create them is worth it. After all, vlogging requires a significant time investment, as well as access to equipment and editing software.

However, there are several reasons why vlogging can be a worthwhile endeavor. Besides connecting with like-minded people from all over the world, it can be an effective marketing tool that promotes products or services.

While there’s no guarantee of success, vlogging can be a rewarding experience for those who are willing to put in the effort.

Can you vlog with your phone?

Many people think they need a professional camera to start vlogging, but this is not the case. With the right phone and some basic editing skills, you can create high-quality vlogs.

What skills do you need in vlogging?

To run a successful vlogging channel, it’s crucial to know how to start a vlog and make money off it. However, there are a few skills you need to master.

First, you need to feel comfortable in front of the camera. This means having the confidence to talk about a range of topics. Not to mention, you should have a good grasp of technology. Using editing software to edit your videos is a crucial step if you want your video to look polished and professional.

5 comments

Pamela Dennis March 05, 2023, 7:36 am

Thank you for posting this information, I have decided to be a Volger. My goal is to get started by reading as much on the topic as possible.as Again, thank you.

Tamara December 03, 2022, 4:08 pm

Thank you!

Sangita November 15, 2022, 3:39 am

Thank you for the information , i have decided to do daily vlogs from now. I want to experiment this on my channel cus other time i used to vlog once a week. Wish me a luck💕

1 Replies

Aria July 16, 2023, 6:00 pm

Good luck!!!!

Sophia November 09, 2022, 3:55 pm

Thank you so much for this I’ve learnt a lot from this 🥰