[Start-it-up] How To Become a Vlogger Essentially blogs in the form of videos, the format allows for experimentation with different styles and is far more easy to monetize.
By Debroop Roy
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If you are great in front of the camera and can match it up with good narration skills, there's something out there in the gig economy for you. Vlogging, short for video blogging, is one of the latest fads that have come about with the advent of cheap internet and smartphone availability.
Essentially blogs in the form of videos, the format allows for experimentation with different styles and is far more easy to monetize.
Who Can Become a Vlogger?
To be a good and successful one, it would take someone who is good at spontaneity in front of the lens and has the ability to keep the audience engaged with how they talk or narrate something. It is also not necessary to always put your face in front of the camera, considering there are vloggers out there who only have their voice running in the background.
Apart from a good camera and voice presence, what you also need is to be good with making videos and doing research. With so much competition cropping up everyday, you would really need to differentiate yourself in terms of what you put out there.
Your topics may range from talking about comic books and tv shows to everyday things such as cooking and making delectable delicacies.
What It Takes
The first thing you would need for vlogging is a camera that captures high-resolution videos. You would also be needing other camera equipment such as a tripod and a good lapel mic.
Secondly, you would need to have a computer system and the requisite software to help you edit these videos. Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition are a good place to go to if you want high quality output. There are also free video makers out there, and if you are budget constrained, they can help you build your base before you move on to these paid applications.
Investing and Earning
A basic handycam will cost you upwards of INR 30,000 while adding the additional equipment may cost an addition INR 10,000-INR 20,000. A decent computer system which will be your workstation may cost about INR 70,000.
Buying the video software from Adobe will cost you INR 1,400 per month for each of the three apps but if you take the entire suite of products that includes several other apps, it would come to about INR 3,500 a month.
Do you need to spend on marketing? Perhaps. Since your earnings will depend on the number of people who see your videos, spending about INR 3000-INR 5000 on ads initially is not such a bad idea.
In terms of earnings, your primary source of earning would be from in-video advertisements. YouTube is still your best bet for this as they start paying you on a per thousand views basis after you have reached a certain threshold. On average, a channel can earn $3-$5 per thousand video views. This is based on the fact that not everyone viewing the video will see the advertisement for more than 30 seconds - the metric to consider one ad view.
If and after you are large enough in terms of subscriber base, you can also do sponsored videos by approaching brands as well as open an account on a service like Patreon, where your loyal viewers can contribute to keep you going full-time.
