Michael
I Love YTtalk
YouTube Video Intro Guide
In this guide I am going to share with you some tips on getting yourself an intro clip for your YouTube videos, encourage you to plan and consider things before creating an intro and share some tips with you on creating effective intros.
Planning, Branding and Considerations
When you are thinking about making an intro clip to have at the start of all of your videos it is a good idea to plan it out before going ahead and hiring someone to make you one and make several considerations.
If you don't already have a logo or symbol or something that represents your channel well at this point it is a good idea to get this sorted out first so you can work this into your branded intro. You will usually want to include this in your intro.
If you do have something already great!
Now you can begin to think about what is important in an intro for your audience and how the intro will add value to your videos when it is complete, ask yourself questions such as will the intro enhance and reinforce my branding, will it remind my viewers of my videos well or could I be better spending my time on another aspect of my channel and do I need an intro? What will they think when they see it? How will it make them feel? Does it provoke any kind of response? Try and think about the viewer as much as you possibly can and try your best to make your intro into something that will be good for them to see each time they tune in.
I suggest taking a look at other channels within the same niche and see what they do for their intros, find out if they use an intro at all and what they tend to include in theirs and think about how you can do something original and better than theirs even if that only means making yours shorter than theirs as theirs is far too long. See what is working for them and think about how you could make something similar yet original work for yourself without copying of course, use theirs as inspiration.
One of the main purposes of having an intro clip is to reinforce your brand by showing your logo and message briefly at the start of your videos and then to deliver your promise successfully with your great video content right after. If you deliver this consistently your viewers will keep coming back for more again and again and your branding will be working effectively. You will also notice that when you dont promise too much that when you do deliver well with excellent content you often see very positive results.
Get yourself a pen and piece of paper or open up notepad for the planning stage and plan how you would like your intro to look, plan colours for any texts, positioning of logos, how they will move within the intro and think about how it will all come together, the more time you think about this and plan it, usually it will come out better for it.
Think about the audio that will be included within your intro, many people don't like having to credit in all of their descriptions for a few seconds of audio they used in their intro but to keep things legit it is advisable. Visit a website such as http://audionautix.com/ to get yourself some music for free for your intro and leave them credit in each description by adding it to your upload defaults or get yourself a piece licensed from a site which sells royalty free music such as audiomicro.com. Sometimes it can be hard choosing audio for an intro which is why sometimes a simple sound effect could be put to good use. For example if your logo was to flash up briefly for the intro and it had fire around it you could use an explosion sound effect which would compliment the logo, reinforce your brand more and fit in well with the general theme of it. Even if you dont choose an audio piece right away note your resources for now and bookmark any pieces you might like to use.
Consider how long you will want your intro to last, remember that in these days of technology and fast and ready media we are quick to move onto the next thing that grabs our attention and you want to do your best to keep your viewers attention, if they are already watching you have them now keep them there by keeping your intro clean, short and concise. I recommend keeping your intro well under 10 seconds, any longer and you will be lucky to have hooked them especially if they're not a regular viewer already. I personally choose to make intros that are no longer than 5 seconds, 2 seconds is ideal for me and you can create a very brief but powerful intro to display in that time with careful planning.
Have a think whether the intro will be shown immediately at the start of your videos or if it will be shown later in the video, I personally recommend telling the viewer what the video is going to be about briefly, displaying the intro briefly and then jumping right into the video, this means you get to hook them first with your brief intro to your video and then show them your branding before delivering the content and I find that this works well for me, this wont work for everyone of course but have a think what might work best and fit in with how you do your videos.
Once you have thought about how it will look, how it will come across to viewers and reinforce your branding you can move yourself onto the next step.
Getting an Intro/Creating an Intro
You have two choices when it comes to getting/making an intro and that is either you make it yourself or you hire someone else to make it for you and I will help you with both now.
Hiring For an Intro
There are a few places online you can find designers to create an intro for you one of them is YTtalk, we have a forum dedicated to Graphics, Intros and Music where you can post a request for someone to make you an intro or any other graphics you need for your channel/videos.
http://yttalk.com/forums/graphics-intros-music.39/
To show service offerings only:
http://yttalk.com/forums/graphics-intros-music.39/?prefix_id=15
When deciding who to go with try your best first to check that they have a portfolio and display at least some of their previous work, find out from others what their experience has been like getting their services and do your best to make a well informed choice about who to go with.
Shop around before paying anyone or asking them to start making your intro, see if they are on your level when you show them your design plans for the intro, not everyone will be able to make the intro you have in mind the exact way you picture it so get a feel for their skill level or ask them directly if they can achieve it properly or not to avoid any disappointment.
Set out the payment terms early on and make sure you trust them 100% before handing over any money to them. I recommend trying to find a seller who is willing to create some of the work first before payment is made and then paying once you know work has begun to avoid potential scams.
Making Your Own Intro
If you are interested in making your own intro you certainly can but there will almost always be a learning curve involved. I recommend making your first intro in Sony Vegas rather than the more complex software and following guides on making intros and that should set you on the right tracks. If you dont have Sony Vegas Adobe Premiere will work great too.
Here are some resources to get your started in Sony Vegas which will help you when it comes to making your first YouTube video intro:
#1 - Sony Vegas Tutorial - The Basics
How To "Split" Clips in Sony Vegas [Tutorial 1]
How to make the bra productions intro!
When making your own try and stick to your original plans but deviating a little can always help if you find something a little too tricky to do yourself. Remember that as long as its clear, short and concise it is likely to be fine.
There are some free intro makers out there online that allow you to add your own text and style but these intros are not always a good idea for most YouTubers as they're not unique to your channel and your branding should be unique to you, your channel and your content.
Intro Quick Tips
Thanks for reading.
In this guide I am going to share with you some tips on getting yourself an intro clip for your YouTube videos, encourage you to plan and consider things before creating an intro and share some tips with you on creating effective intros.
Planning, Branding and Considerations
When you are thinking about making an intro clip to have at the start of all of your videos it is a good idea to plan it out before going ahead and hiring someone to make you one and make several considerations.
If you don't already have a logo or symbol or something that represents your channel well at this point it is a good idea to get this sorted out first so you can work this into your branded intro. You will usually want to include this in your intro.
If you do have something already great!
Now you can begin to think about what is important in an intro for your audience and how the intro will add value to your videos when it is complete, ask yourself questions such as will the intro enhance and reinforce my branding, will it remind my viewers of my videos well or could I be better spending my time on another aspect of my channel and do I need an intro? What will they think when they see it? How will it make them feel? Does it provoke any kind of response? Try and think about the viewer as much as you possibly can and try your best to make your intro into something that will be good for them to see each time they tune in.
I suggest taking a look at other channels within the same niche and see what they do for their intros, find out if they use an intro at all and what they tend to include in theirs and think about how you can do something original and better than theirs even if that only means making yours shorter than theirs as theirs is far too long. See what is working for them and think about how you could make something similar yet original work for yourself without copying of course, use theirs as inspiration.
One of the main purposes of having an intro clip is to reinforce your brand by showing your logo and message briefly at the start of your videos and then to deliver your promise successfully with your great video content right after. If you deliver this consistently your viewers will keep coming back for more again and again and your branding will be working effectively. You will also notice that when you dont promise too much that when you do deliver well with excellent content you often see very positive results.
Get yourself a pen and piece of paper or open up notepad for the planning stage and plan how you would like your intro to look, plan colours for any texts, positioning of logos, how they will move within the intro and think about how it will all come together, the more time you think about this and plan it, usually it will come out better for it.
Think about the audio that will be included within your intro, many people don't like having to credit in all of their descriptions for a few seconds of audio they used in their intro but to keep things legit it is advisable. Visit a website such as http://audionautix.com/ to get yourself some music for free for your intro and leave them credit in each description by adding it to your upload defaults or get yourself a piece licensed from a site which sells royalty free music such as audiomicro.com. Sometimes it can be hard choosing audio for an intro which is why sometimes a simple sound effect could be put to good use. For example if your logo was to flash up briefly for the intro and it had fire around it you could use an explosion sound effect which would compliment the logo, reinforce your brand more and fit in well with the general theme of it. Even if you dont choose an audio piece right away note your resources for now and bookmark any pieces you might like to use.
Consider how long you will want your intro to last, remember that in these days of technology and fast and ready media we are quick to move onto the next thing that grabs our attention and you want to do your best to keep your viewers attention, if they are already watching you have them now keep them there by keeping your intro clean, short and concise. I recommend keeping your intro well under 10 seconds, any longer and you will be lucky to have hooked them especially if they're not a regular viewer already. I personally choose to make intros that are no longer than 5 seconds, 2 seconds is ideal for me and you can create a very brief but powerful intro to display in that time with careful planning.
Have a think whether the intro will be shown immediately at the start of your videos or if it will be shown later in the video, I personally recommend telling the viewer what the video is going to be about briefly, displaying the intro briefly and then jumping right into the video, this means you get to hook them first with your brief intro to your video and then show them your branding before delivering the content and I find that this works well for me, this wont work for everyone of course but have a think what might work best and fit in with how you do your videos.
Once you have thought about how it will look, how it will come across to viewers and reinforce your branding you can move yourself onto the next step.
Getting an Intro/Creating an Intro
You have two choices when it comes to getting/making an intro and that is either you make it yourself or you hire someone else to make it for you and I will help you with both now.
Hiring For an Intro
There are a few places online you can find designers to create an intro for you one of them is YTtalk, we have a forum dedicated to Graphics, Intros and Music where you can post a request for someone to make you an intro or any other graphics you need for your channel/videos.
http://yttalk.com/forums/graphics-intros-music.39/
To show service offerings only:
http://yttalk.com/forums/graphics-intros-music.39/?prefix_id=15
When deciding who to go with try your best first to check that they have a portfolio and display at least some of their previous work, find out from others what their experience has been like getting their services and do your best to make a well informed choice about who to go with.
Shop around before paying anyone or asking them to start making your intro, see if they are on your level when you show them your design plans for the intro, not everyone will be able to make the intro you have in mind the exact way you picture it so get a feel for their skill level or ask them directly if they can achieve it properly or not to avoid any disappointment.
Set out the payment terms early on and make sure you trust them 100% before handing over any money to them. I recommend trying to find a seller who is willing to create some of the work first before payment is made and then paying once you know work has begun to avoid potential scams.
Making Your Own Intro
If you are interested in making your own intro you certainly can but there will almost always be a learning curve involved. I recommend making your first intro in Sony Vegas rather than the more complex software and following guides on making intros and that should set you on the right tracks. If you dont have Sony Vegas Adobe Premiere will work great too.
Here are some resources to get your started in Sony Vegas which will help you when it comes to making your first YouTube video intro:
#1 - Sony Vegas Tutorial - The Basics
How To "Split" Clips in Sony Vegas [Tutorial 1]
How to make the bra productions intro!
When making your own try and stick to your original plans but deviating a little can always help if you find something a little too tricky to do yourself. Remember that as long as its clear, short and concise it is likely to be fine.
There are some free intro makers out there online that allow you to add your own text and style but these intros are not always a good idea for most YouTubers as they're not unique to your channel and your branding should be unique to you, your channel and your content.
Intro Quick Tips
- Keep it concise (clear and to the point), short (not too long so to send viewers away) and clean (presentable and without too much unimportant elements that distract from the intro)
- Use your intro as a way of getting your brand across quickly, if you have a catchy slogan or message for your viewers use it in your intros too.
- Make sure the intro reflects your content well, it wouldn't make sense having a formula one car race by with a man shouting out the window with your channels name placed over the top when your videos are primarily about cooking. You want it to make sense to the viewer.
- If suitable you can use your intro to tease viewers and entice them to continue watching, as a comedian for example you could crack one of your most popular jokes or show the viewer a glimpse of your amazing personality.
- Don't overuse special effects, sometimes more simple intros are more effective than the flashy ones that often become more distracting and a hindrance to keeping your viewers engaged.
- Remember that your audience differs to those who watch TV, they expect quick and fast intros and are not usually willing to watch 20-30 second introductions as they would on the sofa waiting for Coronation Street or The Simpsons to start, they want the meat of your content and now not later.
- Get a family member to watch your intro an then the content after, ask them for their thoughts on the intro and if it works well with your content or not and ask them to be honest, if in doubt ask a friend or even better someone you dont know in our Reviews forum.
Thanks for reading.
