Mike MurphyAI Handyman
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Episode 86

The Vlog Show

April 28, 2017 ·

EP86: THE VLOG SHOW Vlogging 101 Episode Summary: What is a vlog? What are the benefits of vlogging? What vlogs do I watch? How do you start a vlog?

Episode Summary: Vlogging 101 — what a vlog actually is, the vloggers worth watching for inspiration, the real business benefits, and exactly what gear and software it takes to start one.

What You’ll Learn

  • What separates a vlog from a blog, and why video content was projected to explode
  • The vloggers Mike actually watches, and why
  • The real business benefits of vlogging: exposure, community, sales, and authority
  • The gear and editing software needed to start a vlog from scratch

What Is a Vlog?

A blog is a regularly updated site or page, often informal and written by an individual or small group. A vlog is the video equivalent — regularly posted, conversational stories told through video instead of text.

Mark Zuckerberg predicted Facebook would be over 90% video content within 5 years — a strong signal for where content was heading. Vlogs are a genuine marketing tool in the broader content toolkit, alongside the other two pillars covered in Episode 81: The Content Whiteboard Show — audio (podcasting) and writing (blog, Medium, LinkedIn Pulse).

Vlogs, Defined

A vlogger creates vlogs; vlogging is the act of making one. General characteristics: personal and documentary in nature, current and dynamic, built around a behind-the-scenes/day-in-the-life storytelling style, uploaded on a frequent and consistent schedule, and built around a community that follows the journey. It’s genuinely hard work and requires real skill — not for everyone.

Why watch vlogs at all? Entertainment, creative inspiration, and learning — and only from vloggers whose skill and style earn real interest.

Vloggers Worth Watching

Casey Neistat, Gary Vaynerchuk, Mr. Ben Brown, Fun For Louis, and Sara Dietschy — not a personal style match, but a genuine respect for her Adobe and video skills and hustle.

Benefits of Vlogging

Brand exposure, repurposable content, community and audience building, stronger relationships and networks, client attraction, sales and lead generation. People are often more curious about how something works than the finished product itself — vlogging leans directly into that. It can also open up brand sponsorships, and it builds self-awareness, confidence, creativity, and authority over time — all essential ingredients for a strong personal brand.

How to Start a Vlog

Start with a rough plan and a clear sense of what the content actually is — behind-the-scenes of a business or operation is a solid starting point. 5–10 minutes is a reasonable episode length.

Ask first: why do you want a vlog? More clients, more brand exposure, more podcast listeners, more newsletter signups? Does it sound genuinely fun and creative? Technical basics: a YouTube channel and video editing software.

Gear:

Video editors (Mac): Adobe Premiere Pro (favorite), Camtasia/ScreenFlow work fine too, along with iMovie or the YouTube video editor.

The cons: genuinely hard work, a degree of vulnerability, and video/editing is time-consuming.

Current status: Instagram Stories currently fills the vlog role and builds community in the meantime — a more permanent home on YouTube is the plan once time allows, with vlog-style videos on the way soon.

Show Notes & Links