YouTube is changing and if you're still vlogging like it's 2019 you're going to get left behind Sam solic is the epitome of like the perfect blogger it doesn't even seem like he's trying to do anything he's Lally just talking like that's like the magic you're using this new style of vlogging on your current channel that channel has gotten more views more subscriber growth and more monetization in the last 6 months that my channel did arguably in a 10-year period before that and it's because of this new style of vlogging the format that I use to come up with Vlogs that actually get views I call it the three T's if you follow this method every single Vlog you don't need to do a lot you got to just press record I'm so fired up because we're going to be talking about why most vloggers fail and how you can succeed with the new style of vlogging my special guest today Benji Travis is actually a like almost lifelong friend now co-author of a book we wrote to together YouTube secrets and some people might not know that we built up a whole Channel together called video influencers what in your definition is the old way of vlogging versus the new way so the old way of vlogging birthed from a necessity for extra content behind the scenes content we're talking 2010 my wife I'll use as example she was a beauty Guru doing makeup looks haird built up an audience around that very specific need but they also started getting closer to my wife like wanting to get to know her beond the makeup so because of it she wanted to do content that had nothing to do with beauty and at first she was putting it on her main Channel I said hey maybe should start a secondary Channel I didn't even call it a vlogging Channel because that wasn't a thing yet and then by 2012 it became daily vlogging and it became its own Niche the thing about the old way of vlogging is you needed a large audience like my wife you needed you vlogged your whole day so it was about making it entertaining or creating an entertaining day for the sake of the Vlog but ultimately it led to really high production lots of editing crazy travels drone shots at the height of that old style vlogging Casey neistat comes in right his entry into daily vlogging was when I think vlogging became the niche that was recognized not only by the viewers but also by YouTube and creatives all around but people got burnt out including Casey neist now funny enough guess who kept on vlogging right me and my wife we just always stayed in our lane We Didn't Start vlogging to become vloggers it was just something that Judy wanted to do as an extension of her normal content fast forward to 2020 people were yearning for something more they wanted longer content they wanted more relaxed content they wanted to connect with something they didn't even know I saw inside of there vlogging coming back the difference is the new style of vlogging is taking advantage all the things that we talk about in YouTube Secrets right taking advantage of the power of search ranking and suggestions by focusing on the topic so why I'm obsessed with this new style of vlogging it's not just for people with a big audience it's for literally anybody that wants to start creating content and connecting with a community by being more focused thinking about what could Rank and ring on the power of suggestion to do it to be able to get views even when you're just starting even if you've never created content before I love that breakdown you've been back for about 6 months 140 episodes of the new style of vlogging describe what it is exactly that you're doing yeah and I'll bring it back to what my channel was you were actually in the very first video which is kind of crazy you can even May me show it and it was just supposed to be an opposite of Judy doing very you know female Centric content Beauty Rel and it's called Benji Man TV I was going to do manly stuff and L the first episode was about a steak right cooking a steak so it quickly became a cooking channel but at one point I basically stopped uploading to that channel that was I want to say 2019 so about 3 to four years nothing it was dead in the water cold Channel now there was still an audience but no one knew what was going on in terms of my food stuff so last year after seeing this new wave of content creators seeing this vlogging come back to the surface I was like okay this is not only something that people want again at a high level but I've learned so much between us writing the book starting video influencers interviewing so many other great content creators I want to apply the best practices to vlogging style content so last December December 1st I decided hey I'm going to do 30 days vlogging by the way that's how me and Judy's Channel started we're just going to do 30 days and then ended up being for you know 12 years or whatever and so I was like hey but I'm going to start vlogging in a way where rather than vlogging from when I wake up to nighttime which would be hard to do because I was already I'm already doing that still to this day with Judy right in our family Vlog I was just going to isolate it to one topic or takeaway so whether it's me going to the grocery store shopping for a recipe or me actually cooking the recipe all you're going to see in my Vlog is that one thing and it's going to be isolated and focus to that long story short that video that channel has gotten more views um more subscriber growth and more monetization in the last 6 months than my channel did arguably in a 10-year period before that and it's because of this new style of vlogging which is a lot more focused and it's taking advantage of what we both know is powerful about YouTube search and suggestion you did a video called what's inside a business Costco you pick one topic one idea and you Vlog you film it Vlog style you narrate through it Vlog style but you start you stop and it doesn't include like I'll get to Costco later but first i'm brushing my teeth and doing a cold plunge or whatever but it's just all about that one Title One Promise so there's Focus there that video though is 4 months old and it's getting 281 views per hour which is wild because and still growing and still growing Yeah couple hundred, views so really you've ranked a vlog but it's interest based it's topic based it's search based and in a way it's a vlog style of video creation is kind of what you're talking about this new way of vlogging is that accurate there's a whole Community out there that loves Costco content and I know the creators that do the best Costco content they're showing up you know sometime multiple times a week to Costco they're doing tutorials about Costco they're like top 10 best sells of Costco this week and those guys are the first place guys okay they are specifically trying to rank for Costco related Search terms so this is what I talk about we talk about on YouTube Secrets the power of search so they're trying to rank their videos you are amazing at teaching that right what happens once they watch their videos the next time they come to YouTube is there a high chance that YouTube wants to suggest more content like it not only is there a high chance that they'll be suggested other Costco content from other creators but we just did a survey seven out of 10 people are seeing small and new creators being recommended around Niche topics so to your exact point watch a big Costco video about anything and you could be recommended multiple different creators talking about Costco not just that though the longer version of it see think about this logically if you go and search for something and YouTube gives you the video and it gives you the answer or satisfies your need you're done you don't actually need to see another video like that but next time you go on guess what you might want the Deep diversion so my business Costco right by the way I do a lot of Costco videos I've done Costco in different countries I've done Costco at regular Costco but they're longer they're a little more relaxed they go deeper into the aisles no pun intended like I'm literally like vlogging everything and these videos instead of these more optimized ones that are perfect for search for a quick answer right and they can be like 2 to 10 minutes mine are 20 to 30 minutes long sometimes and a lot easier to create and in fact because the way I Vlog it it's not as optimized and not as ADD not like like jump cuty right it's it's like you're talking to a friend so you've already seen the video you want to see but then next time you come on to YouTube everybody can relate to this you open up your phone app you know you go on to YouTube Boom there's a suggestion for another Costco video you go on to youtube.com bam there's this what is this guy showing up 30 minutes he's at a business Costco is that a 5 gallon bucket of soy sauce like I'm curious about this you don't have to compete against the guys that are very produced that got teams that have amazing editors I'm not trying to compete against ranking I'm taking advantage of suggested videos post Rank and viewed so then how do you think about your videos and really outline them okay the format that I use to come up with Vlogs that actually get views I call it the three T's theme take away our topic and telling stories so the first thing is have a theme for your channel so you mention this my channel is all around my passion for food why the theme is important is because you're going to connect with other people that also are passionate about that same theme the theme could be real estate the theme could be gardening the theme could be cameras we would uh call this a niche back in the day but the the nice thing about the new style vlogging it doesn't have to be super nichy right it can be a little more broad like mine is super broad the second part is the takeaway or topic that's more applied to the video so you still want a topic or takeaway that you're focus on on the your Vlog every single Vlog I never get tempted to go the old style which is like let me start with brushing my teeth right it's almost like a joke like who would want to watch you but vloggers did that in the old way of vlogging so when I get new uh vlogging students a l like hey after taking my course they'll like show me their first Vlog and it's exactly that they're like waking up all Casey nice stading they're like brushing their teeth trying to make it look all interesting not necessary if you have a takeaway or topic that you're focused on you don't need all the fluff of the rest of your day so that takeaway your topic the quickest way to understand what that should be within your theme right mind being food what is a question you can answer so if you can create a 100 questions that people that in that theme have you can create a topic or a takeaway so the topic being like how to cook Philipino chicken adob right I'm going to answer that question in my Vlog I might go to the grocery store and show me picking up the uh ingredients I don't have to right it you know the canvas for this is really wide or the takeway you can have a topic and a takeaway a takeway is really answering the question right you might Vlog about like a food Centric video the takeway is more about huh I learned a new technique within the chicken adobo recipe right so the topic was the chicken adobo recipe but what you're focus on is this like really crazy hack that you learn from doing a 100 chicken adobo recipes and that is the takeaway see that's what's going to set you apart from all the other videos are just like you know Food Network style teaching in the videos so a topic and a takeaway or a topic or a takeaway right the video just have to be focused on this and the last element is tell stories why telling stories is important is number one that's what makes Vlogs relatable cuz you're just talking about whatever your opinion is your experience your perspective that's what makes Sam suik really interesting enough to watch for 40 minutes cuz literally the guy just talks like almost awkwardly like he's like okay so guys I just thought about the reason I pull this cable this way is because you know the the angle that this cable goes across your chest it's like activating this muscle he's not even thinking or talking like an instructor he's just talking like a guy you'd work out with at the gym he's just telling a story the same way you would tell your family or friends when you're hanging out with them but it's within the topic or takeaway so chicken right a story I might tell and I did this L the other day I told this story about man I never really made chicken adobo myself is because mama always made the chicken adobo that's why this is the first time I'm actually making it for the kids man mama's chicken Adoba was amazing maybe that's why I didn't that's like a kind of small story maybe more relevant for my audience because you know I have that thing but again it's a story that I'm integrating because the old way of not just vlogging but the old style uh YouTube that we would teach is you chop all that out you're chopping all the personality out of the thing to get to this optimized rankable thing when you tell stories you're sharing the unique thing that nobody can compete with no one can replicate that no one's lived your life and seen the world through your eyes and if you tell a story you're sharing maybe the same Chicken ad doable recipe that a hundred or a thousand other creators have made recipes about but you're doing it in your own unique way and that's why you have to add that so have a theme for your channel the first te take a topic for your video and tell stories within your Vlogs if you follow this method every single Vlog you don't get tempted to become casy nice that have a drone chase you right or be my wife we l like Vlogs from morning to night time nothing wrong with those things right but if you do those things you don't need to do a lot over time you'll get better because in addition to actually getting views and building audience what I'm trying to get people to do is do the Reps so this gives them kind of like a format to follow to do the Reps to actually get the experience you need to move up a level cuz all the courses all the coaching you and I know people have read that thing four or five times and they're not putting up videos until you put up the videos you don't learn anything it's brilliant and it's such a great fra framework the three T's so do you a lot of times like maybe you're lying in bed and thinking about your video for the next day or are you driving on your way and thinking about okay I'm going to Costco what's kind of like the packaging of this what's going to be the theme but I'll give you a good example of one right because I L just did it yesterday I've gone to Costco like 30 times I do once a week because we need stuff five kids lots of milk drink right but how do I make this different okay you know what I always spend a lot of money you and I both know inflation's a problem so I was like what would happen if I just forced myself to spend $100 you gave you gave yourself a challenge gave myself a challenge right like like like a a box to get inside got it got a box and why this is like starting to brew and you're probably already seen where this is going I was like oh that would be an interesting title so I need to go to Costco to shop but I also know that there's a lot of people that watch my videos because they know they want to know what's a good deal what's a good value so like okay now the title is starting to show up in my brain I went even farther than that I it's like what $100 buys you at Costco versus Safeway because I don't like getting eggs at Costco right so I was like oh the the the thumbnail could be me in the middle Costco on one side and then Safeway on the other now I'm not advocating for people do over optimized or overly produced thumbnails but the point is as you do this more and more you start getting the Instinct and the Rhythm I was like okay I'm going to go in there I've got this list of uh things I'm going to go in the first thing I'm going say is hey you guys you know I was thinking how much does a $100 buy you at Costco I'm going to challenge myself to see if I can keep this under $100 because it's always like $200 or $300 and I I'll just give it away I actually hit 100 bucks which is kind of crazy but meant that I wasn't tempted by snacks or whatever I went to Safeway afterwards I showed what $100 buys there which surprise surprise was a lot less and that was the takeaway yeah on top of the topic within my theme and guess what the story is this the story I told remember that telling the story is a third te I'm always spending so much money or like I'm always tempted to buy this so other people would have done that and Mr beasa fied it and made it like a quick thing a challenge or whatever I relax it and like even in the middle of the thing oh by the way this detergent right here never buy the pods right get the powdered stuff I'm telling like a little mini story within it that is related to somebody that is like thinking about Valley or whatever but wouldn't be optimized for like a rankable video that is just something that came up yesterday and that that is my process every single time that one was just like a little bit heightened I was like I'm going to show you that's that's super strong I and it's not out yet but I bet that actually really crushes well let's just see what are you using for gear and why so for me I'm using the DJ osmo pocket 3 it's got some accessories I'm using the Creator bundle I like that camera because it's light it's small I like that it has like a low profile tripod so I can put it on a shelf when I'm at a grocery store I use it for my regular Vlog too my family Vlog and the microphone it directly connects into the camera so you don't need a receiver so for all the like techies out there you know the benefit of it but to have a second one also connect directly to the camera whenever I have a second guest on right maybe sometimes my kids on there I'll tell you this even if you don't use a mics the onbo mic is good enough too because part of the appeal of Vlogs is it's casual like my wife she doesn't like it when I use a mic for vlogging for our family channel because she wants it to have this certain feel which is more casual feel you want the creation process to be easy and the editing process to be easier and it's seamless on the DJ osmo but not necessary yeah and the osmo is so nice cuz because of the gimbal could be smooth when you're walking it's a really beautiful shot check out show notes and we'll U link to our videos and reviews of that if you want to see some tutorials and whatnot so we've touched a lot on monetization let's just isolated it around what are you doing and what are you thinking in terms of your Benji Travis channel New Era vlogging monetization what's the approach what's happening with it so number one before any kind of monetization it's really important there is no monetization without influence okay there is no monetization without views and there's no monetization without videos so when I set off to do this this new style vlogging this new era that I'm in for my food Vlog I was purely just thinking about what's content that people want to watch that I can create that I have fun doing so that was my focus because I know that the money will follow now you and I both also understand because we talk about this YouTube Secrets having kind of a general plan is going to be good so you know where you're going towards and I knew that AdSense is going to be thing brand deals is going to be thing and I could potentially sell my own products but the thing about the new style vlogging a lot of it leans on longer videos well guess what loves longer videos YouTube and Google AdSense because they can run multiple ads so what happened that I didn't expect my AdSense went way up my monetization I made more from AdSense in 6 months more than 6 years okay that's crazy yeah because not only am I get do I'm making Vlogs that people want to view but also I'm doing longer ones so I'm guessing multiple ads I'm not even an expert at ads right but I just know generally how they work they watch a video they get an ad the longer the video the more ads that can play okay secondly when you're focus on a theme right M being food it's going to be easier to get brand deals now I've been doing brand deals lit since the beginning of our YouTube I just knew inevitably guess what would happen I wouldn't even have to pitch brands that would come to me so guess what happened I start getting more DMs I start getting email inquiries like hey would you guys have this in your food Vlog this is the first time they're coming to me direct but guess what it's because it's Neville it's going to happen because there's products there's businesses there's companies that need advertising and I I say this kind of bold influencer marketing will be the only Marketing in my opinion even if it's an ad it'll be like an influencer right whether it's a celebrity or Creator that's doing the ad and that is a form of influencer marketing so my point is this I knew that would happen without me having to go pitch it or like pursue it people were pursuing me pitching me and so I did a brand deal not too long ago and went really well and funny enough too I'm Vlogging in a way that I knew would be good for Brands but better for my viewers and I knew that I wouldn't change anything so when I do brand deals I'm very like hardlining about it I'm not going to create a commercial for you you're going to be integrated so inte I don't do Standalone so like just the lingo is Standalone versus integration Standalone is where you almost become like a commercial versus integration they get to integrate their product or brand into my content and I get full creative even if that means I have to say no to things so that will happen and that is happening for me and I've got a whole bunch lined up and then third for me longterm would be selling my own product because what happens after you get enough views you're going to get subscribers and you're going to get fans okay just a little funny last story about this this guy came up to Benji I appreciate what you're doing for me on your channel thank you so much and I know it was a Costco viewer because he was at Costco and he just went on because when I think about the topic or takeaway for Vlogs what am I thinking how can I help somebody because even though my food if food is my theme ultimately I'm thinking like what is something they're going to walk away from that they're going to benefit you do that enough times people appreciate you and he literally said this so what's the next logical step when I ask for something they probably will reciprocate by buying merch buying my cookbook buying whatever I put put out there but what I knew in the beginning this is why I started the answer with this I'm starting with the value first and everything else will follow and guess what even to this day when I wake up I'm not thinking how do I monetize that video I'm like how do I make the best Vlog that's going to help somebody today and if you keep doing that not only should your views go up but also your ability to make money goes up we don't have enough time right now to talk about it but yes all those other things AdSense brand deals selling your own products can happen even like selling courses by the way well I have one more question for you but this has been an amazing conversation so Greatful you came on and I want to encourage uh listeners a few things one if you love this idea of the new era of vlogging Benji's class will break down what we've talked about and even more totally free you can go to vlogger academy.com or just click the link in the description down below and that's a free uh deep Dive Master Class to tap into this I really am excited because this is the easy vlogging method that really every Creator could do to have more views not that you're just aspiring to be a vlogger but if you want to incorporate this style in real estate in business in education in Niche it actually Benji is inspiring me because I want to get away from my desk I've just at my desk so much and I recognize that with my phone I got to get an osmo can I say one thing yeah after doing this for 16 years you and I have different eras one of the number one questions is it too late it's definitely not too late in fact I think that YouTube has legs to go on for much longer than I've ever thought but more importantly if you're a Creator and you know how to create content that people want to watch man the future looks bright for you because one thing we didn't talk about is cable cutting people not signing up for satellite TV even canceling their streaming services and the default app that they're opening up and watching content on is YouTube and that's what's crazy about YouTube secrets we wrote it in a way that it would be timeless YouTube is growing so I believe that planting your flag on YouTube which is crazy because we changed the title of our book because we saw this is going to be a good place to do it and YouTube If you do what I'm talking about you build up a core audience you could be doing this for the next 10 years and it's going to be all upside As Long as You Follow Your fun and you always think about what's good for the viewers and I think YouTube will be the best place to do it for the next decade Benji Travis uh links in the description to check out Benji on Instagram and everything else that we talked about share this out my name is Sean canell you're guide to building a profitable YouTube channel we'll catch you in the next one