How I Made My First Promo Video For YouTube

How You Can Make One, Too

I was recently inspired to make a promotional video for ILLUMINATION to post on Twitter. Coincidentally, ILLUMINATION’s own YouTube channel became active at just about the same time I finished it.

The ILLUMINATION YouTube channel can be found from the attached link.

Making videos for YouTube or any other types of promotional, informational and entertainment videos can be a lot of fun. There are many programs available these days, free and paid, that can make video creation a whole lot easier.

I am not affiliated with any of the websites and programs mentioned in this article, nor do I receive any type of compensation from them. I only wish to inform you of a few tools that I have used in the past, for my video-making adventures.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here is my first promotional video for ILLUMINATION:

I used the website promo.com for the clips and music for this video. I used one of their paid services for reasons I will share in just a moment, but they also have free tools you may use. Most programs have free options, but they come with limitations, including a limited number of clips and music available. The programs may also render your video with their website’s logo or watermark visible throughout.

Personally, I wanted to have as many choices as possible for video clips and music, and I did not want their watermark on my video — this is why I chose to pay for their services, but you certainly don’t have to do that. In fact, I recommend you not pay for the more elaborate services until you have grown comfortable making videos with their free services. And furthermore, you shouldn’t pay for services until you have developed some strong habits of commitment and follow-through in video-making.

Another reason that I chose to use professional website tools is the availability of the licensed clips and music. I don’t want to accidentally infringe on another creator’s rights to their own work. Just like the images we use in our articles that are attributed and licensed for use, I want my videos to be legal, within guidelines, and worry-free.

My history with video clip making goes back farther than I thought before writing this article. Here is the United Way video posted on YouTube that inspired me to attempt my own video in the early 2000's using PowerPoint. The video also happened to introduce me to the music of Enya.

Yes. When I first saw this video sometime around 1997, it was on videotape. I’m glad it was posted on YouTube.

My first video was actually a PowerPoint presentation with words against a black screen, just like the video above. It is a simple format that you can copy with your first video attempts. Just a video clip or a black screen with captioning across, set to a nice piece of music that fits your words. This format draws on your strength as a writer and keeping the video-making-complexity to a minimum. Later on, you can even practice doing voice-overs and narrations for your videos.

Using the program I mentioned above, or this one, renderforest.com, introduced to us by Besom & Bletherskite, you can have a video ready in a relatively short amount of time.

Of course, the more you practice, the better you will become. The thirty-three-second promo video took me several hours to complete. Much of the time was spent looking for just the right video clip, just the right piece of music, just the right words, just the right timing of the captions. You see, it can easily get more and more detailed, but if you work on it too long, you may lose motivation and never finish.

For your first video, just keep it simple.

So if you want to make your own video presentations, there has never been an easier time than now. With so many options available and so many tools, you’ll be surprised by just how much you can do, and how great your videos can look.

Here are some other online video-making options that I have used in the past: Powtoon, Videoscribe, and Wondershare Filmora. YouTube itself also has video-making tools available for you to use. Just remember to practice with them a lot before you decide to purchase anything. My action-orientedness has oftentimes had me buying subscriptions for tools I later decided I didn’t like or didn’t ever use. Don’t do that.

I have discovered that making videos can be fun, while simultaneously learning new video-making and video-editing skills. You never know when they will come in handy.

I hope this was enough inspiration and information to get you started. I can’t wait to start seeing videos from our writers from all over the world on our ILLUMINATION YouTube channel.

Since you’ve stayed with me this long, here is a little treat. The promo video I posted for ILLUMINATION above was actually the second video I made. The first one was only about eleven seconds long, and it was my practice video. Here it is below for your viewing pleasure. Thank you for reading.