A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating & Recording Awesome Videos Online

This is part 1 of 5 of my Crushing It With Video series on how to create awesome videos for your online business.

1. A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating & Recording Awesome Videos For Your Business
2. How I Got Over My Fears & Recorded My First Video
3. The 5 Best Microphones Recommended By Entrepreneurs For Online Video Creation
4. Blue Yeti Tutorial: How To Use The Blue Yeti Microphone To Get Clear Audio For Your Videos 
5. How to Edit Your Videos With Screenflow 

I regularly find questions in my inbox about video creation.

“What mic are you using?”

“What camera are you using?”

“What do you use to edit your videos?”

So, I have decided to create a value-packed 4-part video creation series that’ll turn you into a master of creating good videos for your online business. You won’t have another question about video creation after this.

Here’s What You’ll Learn:

• How to get started with video
• What are the best, dollar-friendly tools to create high-quality videos
• My step-by-step tutorial to creating videos for your online biz

Should You Even Bother Recording Videos?

As online entrepreneurs, we are constantly searching for ways to be visible and stand out from the crowd (and of course, make sales). But should we record videos online?

Here’s why you should create videos. Lots and lots of videos.

• Youtube is the second largest search engine after Google, and creating videos gives you more leads from Youtube.
• The crazy number of blogs online mean that creating videos will give you an edge over them.
• Videos are personal. People who watch videos are more likely to connect and buy from you.
• You appeal to visual-audio learners.
• People spend a longer time on your website, giving you more SEO juice and a larger portion of their precious time.
• It’s easy to make (note: once you get used to it). Videos can range from screen shares, casual videos of yourself or even full blown professional promotional videos for your brand.

To shoot videos you’ll need some equipment:

A man can’t work to his full potential without proper (and not crazily expensive) tools. For instance, if you’re a blogger, you’ll need to know what are the best blogging tools & resources, right?!

Hence, the first thing I did when I wanted to do video was to get some good equipment. Some people will tell you to “just get started and stop caring about how good you look and be real.”

For me, I do not want videos that looked really amateur – they’re only going to let people have a bad impression of my brand! It’s about putting your best foot forward and providing a good experience for your audience.

Behold, the technical stuff!

Disclaimer: Some of these may be affiliate links. I’ll earn a small commission that’ll go towards financing my Starbucks addiction (at no cost to you).

I’m a tech noob, so this tutorial is pretty idiot-proof. As a result, this will be the best tutorial you can find on the internet that you can actually follow & implement.

1. Camera

If you’re gonna be making videos of your face, you’ll need a camera.

I use a Logitech c920 for all videos of me in front of my computer. I loooove it for so many different reasons.

It works for my Macbook Pro, and it works for PC. I absolutely adore it as it plugs directly into the USB port of my computer. Yes!

Another reason why I love it is because it turns your videos from looking like this:

To this:

There’s a later version (Logitech C930) as well, which works as good if not better than the C920. I bought the C920 because it was what was available when I was looking for a camera. Both works really well.

As you can see from the 2 screengrabs above, one looks DIY-ed and amateurish, while the other looks professional.

For videos where I’m not sitting in front of my computer, I use a Canon t3i DSLR camera.

My Experience Using The Logitech C920 Camera

The Logitech C920 camera comes in a nice box and allows you to plug the camera into your computer directly.

It’s pretty straight forward, just plug and play.

It works perfectly well on my Macbook Pro.

If you use a Mac, I highly recommend this app (which I bought and happily use) to get extra control over its features: WebCam Settings

It allows you to control extra settings like brightness, contrast, saturation, noise reduction, white balance, zoom, anti-flicker, etc.

2. Microphone

You could get away with choppy lighting and look like a mess if you’ve awesome value to give. But if your sound is off, people will click exit before you can even say “hi.”

Don’t hurt your audience’s ears. Invest in a good microphone. If you could only buy ONE thing out of everything, it would be a microphone.

I use a Blue Yeti Mic, and I love it. It plugs directly into the USB port of my computer.

Check out the Blue Yeti Microphone here: Blue Yeti Microphone

It’s so indispensable that I even brought it with me from Singapore to Texas when I travelled.

The only complaint I have about it is that it is highly sensitive and absorbs in loads of unnecessary background noise. This can be easily fixed in your editing software later, so no worries.

If I’m using my Canon camera to film, I use the Rode Microphone (which gives a fabulous sound!) that connects directly to the Canon camera.

99.999% of all my videos are recorded with the Blue Yeti. I’ll include a Blue Yeti Microphone tutorial later in this series.

As for sound quality, you can listen below and judge for yourself if the audio is up to your standards or not.

I also have a complete A-Z Blue Yeti Microphone Tutorial that will help you get good audio (part 3 of this series).

3. Lights

Dark videos instantly shout amateur. Find somewhere with good lighting, or purchase some good lights if you are gonna be filming in a home studio.

Personally, I find that lights are more useful to have if you’re gonna be filming at night. In bright daylight, the Logitech/ Canon camera allows in more than sufficient lighting.

I recommend this lighting kit: Fancier 2400W Lighting Kit. Hello, bright and beautiful videos! I personally use a lighting kit that’s only available in Singapore. But the one below is highly recommended by many online entrepreneurs.

4. Editing/ Screensharing Software

After filming / recording, you will end up with raw footage.

At this point, I would finish up my video by editing. This includes reducing any background noises, adding transitions, adding annotations, zooming in/ out and cutting out irrelevant parts of your video.

There are loads of different editing software, and I have spent hours on research on which are the best.

I’ll save you the trouble right now… and tell you what’s the most value for money while giving you the best functions. For PC, use Camtasia. For Mac (hurray to Mac users), use Screenflow.

For me, I use a Macbook Pro, so Screenflow is a life saver. I’ll talk more about editing videos with Screenflow later.

Putting it all together, my video setup

Disclaimer: It’s so easy it may just blow your mind.

Video Type 1, Filming Yourself in Front of Your Computer:

1. Make sure you’re in a quiet and bright place where your dirty laundry isn’t showing.
2. Set up lights
3. Plug in camera (the Logitech c920 plugs into the USB port of your computer directly)
4. Plug in the Blue Yeti Microphone (plugs into the USB port of your computer directly too)
5. Open Screenflow/ Camtasia on your computer (which records stuff too, aside from editing your videos) and hit record.
6. Record your video.
7. Edit video with Screenflow/ Camtasia to remove all errs and erms and add in words/ transitions if need be. (We’ll go through how to edit your videos later)
8. Publish!

After plugging in your computer & microphone, here’s how to open screenflow on your computer and record something (part 5):

Find the screenflow icon at the top and click on “Record.”

Upon clicking record, you’ll be given 5 seconds before recording starts.

Here’s an example of what you’ll end up with using this set-up:
*yes! this set-up can be used for webinars too.

Video Type 2, Recording a Screen Sharing:

1. Plug in the Blue Yeti Microphone (it plugs into your computer’s USB directly)
2. Open Screenflow/ Camtasia on the computer and hit record (same as step 5 above)
3. Record your video.
4. Edit video with Screenflow/ Camtasia to remove all errs and erms and add in words/ transitions if need be.
5. Publish!

Here’s an example of what you’ll end up with using this set-up:

*This video was for one of my paid courses years ago which has since been retired

Video Type 3, Filming videos that aren’t in front of your computer (Eg in your garden, outdoors, etc.):

1. Set up Canon Camera/ a different DSLR camera (camera on tripod, battery fully charged, makeup & clothing ready)
2. Plugin Rode Microphone for DSLR cameras (some use the Rode smartLav+ Lavalier Microphone for iPhone and Smartphones instead. i.e., microphones attached to your shirt)
3. Record your video.
4. Plug in SD card of camera into computer, open file in Screenflow
5. Edit video with Screenflow/ Camtasia
6. Publish!

Now that you know the general video setup process, let’s get into the details of how you’re going to use some of the equipment I mentioned above.

Yes, I have you covered. 😉

Click Here to Access My Free Resource Library For A Ton Of Goodies to Skyrocket Your Blog + Biz Growth >>

Another pin design:

Continue to part 2: How I Got Over My Fears & Recorded My First Video 

This is part 1 of 5 of my Crushing It With Video series on how to create awesome videos for your online business.

1. A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating & Recording Awesome Videos For Your Business
2. How I Got Over My Fears & Recorded My First Video
3. The 5 Best Microphones Recommended By Entrepreneurs For Online Video Creation
4. Blue Yeti Tutorial: How To Use The Blue Yeti Microphone To Get Clear Audio For Your Videos 
5. How to Edit Your Videos With Screenflow 

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