Ep #36: Tips for Building a YouTube Channel with Ashlee Marie

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Video is the new black in the food blogging world. Everyone’s talking about it! So, have you thought about adding video to your site? It can feel like a big decision to make because video can be really time consuming. And you may be worried you don’t have the right equipment. And there’s still everything else you’re doing for your blog, like recipe development, SEO, social media, and more. Well, if you need a little inspiration to help you along the video pathway, today’s interview with Ashlee Marie is loaded with it! Ashlee shares her best tips for building a YouTube Channel, along with with her personal experience. Let’s just say Ashlee’s YouTube channel provided a pretty amazing boost to her career. Listen on for all the details!

Ashlee Marie is the next guest on the Chopped Podcast and we're talking about Tips for Building a YouTube Channel for food bloggers

If Ashlee could share one message with you about video, it would be: just do it!

If you’re hesitating to add video to your site because you’re worried about how much work it will take or whether your kitchen is pretty enough, or whether you chop onions the right way or not, put all that worry aside and just do it.

Ashlee speaks from experience here because she put off adding video to her site for at least two years and wishes she would have started sooner. Because after only 7 months of regular, consistent video on her site, some pretty great things have happened for her,  including an appearance on the Food Network’s Halloween Baking Championship (see link below)!

Just start. If I had started two years ago when I first thought about adding video and just messed up and did a horrible job, but just started and kept at it, I would have probably been larger than I am now, even though there would be old videos that I wouldn’t be necessarily happy with. So I would say, ‘Don’t wait, just start. Learn from what does well and what doesn’t.’ But no matter what you do, just get on video. — Ashlee Marie

Ashlee does all her own shooting and editing. She confesses it can be a lot of work. And she also talks about her strategy for getting started, which involved working really hard at the beginning to build up a library of video content. Now she’s working on streamlining her shooting and video editing processes. But no matter what, her goal, which should be yours as well, is to be consistent. Producing videos on a schedule that your audience can expect is what really matters.

I think consistency with YouTube is a key. Once a week is a really great goal. — Ashlee Marie

Ashlee talks about her process for creating video, including storyboarding, shooting, and more. She explains how storyboarding can help the editing go faster. Besides, it can prevent you from missing key shots in your video process.

Ashlee isn’t shy about sharing her career goals. And she describes how having these goals has helped her make decisions about various opportunities that have come her way. When you’ve got a master plan, saying no to a sponsored post that doesn’t fit in that plan gets a lot easier!

I love sharing what I've learned with other people! — Ashlee Marie #choppedpodcast Click To Tweet

Ashlee and I also talk about food blogging in general, including social media and food photography. Learn more about tips for building a YouTube channel as a food blogger today!

Featured Content – Tips for Building a YouTube Channel as a Food Blogger with Ashlee Marie

Here are some of the highlights of my discussion with Ashlee, where we discuss:

  • Why Ashlee started her food blog, and it has a lot to do with cakes!
  • Ashlee talks about her international travels which caused her to make homemade versions of her favorite back-home dishes
  • Ashlee describes how she took a cake decorating class and her life just blossomed!
  • You won’t believe what Ashlee says is the least favorite part about food blogging!
  • Ashlee has a passion for the technical side of food blogging and has even presented about google analytics!
  • Why Ashlee wishes she would have started building her YouTube channel sooner than she did
  • The equipment Ashlee uses for her videos
  • Ashlee uses A/B testing to help understand what her audience wants
  • Ashlee shares what she believes to be the most important part of building a YouTube channel, and it’s not what you think it is!
  • Ashlee talks about how she uses Periscope as part of her video development strategy
  • We talk about authenticity, of course!
  • We even talk about parenting advice, and Ashlee has five kids so she has a lot of expertise!
  • Ashlee shares about how her YouTube presence helped create some amazing opportunities for her career.

Show Notes

This episode includes references to some resources you might find interesting. Here they are:

Announcements

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Posted in Food Blog Resources, Food Blogging, Podcast