Do you find the thought of going live on YouTube scary?
In the video below, I share my top YouTube live streaming tips for beginners so you can
get started right now.
You’ll learn what to do before, during and after your live stream so you can get more
views on YouTube channel.
Here’s what you need to prepare before you go live.
- Prepare your topic and content.
Create a list of bullet points on a specific topic so you’ll stay on track throughout the live stream. Usually, I put these in a Google document so I can refer to them while I’m live. This helps me to stay on track so I don’t just waffle on about a particular topic. - Prepare graphics.
Instead of talking all the time and maybe boring your viewers, add some graphics to spice up your presentation. I use Ecamm Live for my live streams so I can just drag and drop any graphics or pre-recorded video onto the screen. Click here to watch my review of Ecamm Live.
Another way to present your live stream is to use a series of slides. I sometimes prepare a number of slides in keynote which helps the viewers take notes during the live stream. - Set up your watch page.
This is the page that you can schedule for your live streams. Your watch page may rank in the search engines. It’s a good idea to share your streaming link 48 hours before you go live. Subscribers will be notified about your live event on the YouTube homepage at youtube.com.
Subscribers will also see the live stream appear on the What To Watch Next. You can notify your subscribers through the community tab, you can email your list, you can notify people on your social media sites. - Optimize your watch page for SEO.
Make sure you add a great title and description for your live stream. Add your title in the tags as well as related keyword phrases. This will help it to be discovered in the search engines. You can also re-optimize your title description tags after you finish going live. - Test your set-up.
Make sure your lighting, camera, backdrop, microphone, and internet connections are all set up correctly. If you’re going live from your mobile phone, set your phone to Do Not Disturb so your live stream won’t be interrupted. Also if you’re going live from your mobile phone, make sure it’s in landscape mode otherwise you get the black bars in the portrait mode.
If you want to know how to go live from your mobile phone, whether it’s an iPhone or Android device, click here.
Here’s a big tip to overcome the fear of going live. Focus on your message instead of thinking about how you look or how you sound. Okay, you’re all set now, you’re ready to go live.
Here are my tips for when you’re live….
- Introduce your topic.
Resist the urge to greet viewers at the beginning of your live. Most of your audience is going to come from the replay, so you want to get straight into the media content by introducing a hook at the beginning of your live. You can ask a question or state right away what to expect during the live. You can also tease viewers about what they’ll receive at the end of the live if they continue watching. This will help keep viewers engaged while watching a replay.
If your live stream is 20, 30 minutes to an hour long, you’ll get a lot of watch time from your video. This will help you to speed up the process of getting 4,000 watch times on your channel so you can monetize it. - Introduce yourself and your channel.
The purpose of doing this is for the replay. First-time viewers want to know who you are and what your channel’s about so they’ll be motivated to subscribe, and you want to get more views and subscribers, right? - Greet your viewers.
Spend a few moments greeting your viewers so they’ll know that you’ll be engaging with them during the live. Invite them to ask questions on the chat or in the comments and that you’ll answer questions after you’ve given your presentation. - Present your content.
Try to keep on topic during the live by following the bullet points that you prepared ahead of time. You can monitor the questions on the chat and if it relates to the topic you can answer them right away. Questions that are unrelated to your topic, you can answer after your presentation so you can stay on track. - Tell viewers to like the stream.
When viewers like the stream, it sends a signal to YouTube to promote your live. You can also remind viewers to leave a comment particularly for those that are watching the replay. You can also ask your viewers to share the content with their friends on social media sites so you might get more viewers attending the live. - Add a moderator.
If you get a lot of people on the live, it might be hard to keep track of the comments. You also might encounter spammers and trolls in the comments, which will be hard to get rid of if you’re just doing it by yourself. If you get a moderator to assist you, it’ll help keep the chat stream clean and you’ll be able to focus on your content. - Give a call to action at the end of your live.
Now that you’ve presented great content to your viewers, give a call to action such as recommending your products or your services. Tell them to check out your Facebook group or recommend one of your products. You can also ask suggestions for future live streams. You can also recommend a playlist that’s related to your live stream topic so you can binge-watch more videos on the YouTube channel.
What do you do after you’ve finished your live stream?
- Optimize your title description tags based upon the content that you just delivered. If it’s different to what you prepared before you went live, you can do it now.
You can also add cards and end screens that link to other videos related to the topic you covered. If there are any segments on your live that you want to remove, you can remove them using YouTube’s video editor. You can edit the beginning, end, or little sections of your video. The great benefit of doing this on YouTube is that it doesn’t affect your comments and rankings. - Promote on social media. Promote your live stream on your social media sites outside YouTube so your content will be exposed to a different audience.
- Add it to a playlist. Wait a day or two then add your live stream replay to a playlist that’s related to the topic you covered.
- Create a blog post. Get your video transcribed and create a blog post with your transcription in the embedded video. You can use a service like GoTranscript to get your videos transcribed. The great benefit of creating a blog post from your live stream is that it can be found in Google. You not only have the possibility of your video ranking in YouTube search but also your blog post ranking in Google search.
Let me ask you a question….
What is your greatest fear of going live on YouTube?
Post your answer in the comments below. I’d love to read them, and I’m sure others would too.
Here are a few important things to keep in mind when going live.
- Don’t worry if you don’t have an audience.
When I first went live on my channel I had no audience, but I just kept going. The key is to just do it because videos on YouTube can get found in the search engines. The live video that you did several weeks ago will get ongoing traffic month after month, year after year. - Communicate as if you’re talking to your best friend.
One of the easiest ways to overcome the fear of going live is to imagine you’re talking to your best friend over a cup of coffee. This will help you to keep relaxed during the live so everything goes smoothly. - Have fun.
Choose a topic that you enjoy, know a lot about, or your viewers have requested. If you enjoy a topic and engaging with your viewers, time will pass by really quickly. You may have thought you’re only on for 10 minutes but it easily became an hour.
One of the greatest benefits of going live is that no editing is needed. After you finish going live you don’t have to spend hours editing your video. That’s a huge time saver.
If you want to know how to go live from your mobile phone, whether it’s an iPhone or Android device, click here to learn more. You’ll also be able to watch my other live stream videos.
Download my Free YouTube Mobile Live Streaming Checklist. You’ll learn the secrets to live streaming from your iPhone or Android device
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