How to Make a Compelling Vlog in 5 Simple Steps

Vlogging has grown at breakneck speeds since YouTube started in 2005. Today, there are more than 37 million YouTube channels with around 1 billion hours of video consumed daily. And GoPro has become a favorite camera for capturing vlogging thanks to the small size and go-anywhere design.

But there's more to making the perfect vlog than a camera. Below, we've listed five simple steps to help you create compelling vlog content, followed by some GoPro product recommendations that can help.

We've also included one of our favorite vlogs filmed on our newest camera, HERO11 Black Creator Edition, to provide some vlog-spiration above.

5 Tips to Vlogging Success

1. Find your niche. If you’re looking to tap into a new audience, you need something they want to watch. Though it may sound counterintuitive, being mainstream is not an absolute necessity. Sometimes vlogging about daily life is enough to pique people’s interests, but more often, creators find their niche like extreme sports, travel vlogging, cooking and even eSports. The internet has made it easy to find your even far-out-there audience. No matter where, GoPro is designed to go there, whether by land, sea or air.

2. Get a high-quality, durable camera. Vloggers love using GoPro for quick monologues on the go because the small camera offers a wide lens and a front-facing display that are perfect for turning the camera are to talk to a vlogging audience, while still being light and easy to hold. And when you're moving fast, GoPro’s in-camera HyperSmooth stabilization captures cinematically smooth video so your audience focuses on the overall experience instead of the bouncing horizon.

PRO TIP: For the ultimate stabilization experience, you can swap out the HERO11 lens with the Max Wide Lens Mod to get unmatched Max HyperSmooth image stabilization, 360-degree horizon lock and ultra-wide field of view options.

3. Think about audio. Once you step outside the confines of your indoor studio setup, practical problems like wind, ambient noise and sound interference may arise and could interfere with how the camera you’re using captures your audio.

HERO11 Black is loaded with advanced wind-reduction settings and three microphones that are designed to reduce interference by shutting off the most impacted mics when wind picks up. If you’re looking to upgrade, HERO11 Black Media Mod (Camera Microphone Attachment) provides a weather-resistant case and features a built-in directional mic to capture immersive sound and directional audio, all while providing top quality stereo playback.

4. Choose an interesting location (see inspiration above!). For many vloggers, location is key to creating the ambiance that really brings their story to life. If that’s important to your vlog, a quality high-resolution camera like a GoPro, which now can shoot up to 5.3K resolution at a blistering 60 frames per second (fps), ensures you’re capturing the best video.

PRO TIP: Speed up fps to slow down time and deliver more WOW factor to your fans—trust us, there’s something truly mesmerizing about watching water drops, dogs running or even kids playing in ultra-slow motion. Get up to 8X slo-mo with 240fps capabilities on the HERO11 Black camera.

5. Compose your video in post-production. Some vlogs incorporate the same techniques we see on the big screen – but to pull that off takes time and a computer setup. Or does it? The GoPro Quik app is our on-the-go editing app that you can access right from your phone. Edit with the same precision you would on a computer and send it to your viewers as you finish edits.

What Is The Best Camera for Vlogging?

Don't just take our word for it. CNET named GoPro the “Best camera for vlogging wet-and-wild YouTube videos." Aspiring vloggers can build their ultimate vlogging camera setup with the following:

• HERO11 Black Creator Edition: The latest GoPro is prepped and ready to rock any vlog straight out of the box—complete system features pro-quality 5.3K video, Emmy® award-winning HyperSmooth 5.0 video stabilization, enhanced audio, powerful LED lighting and 4 hours of 4K recording per charge.

  
  

  HERO11 works with all the same Mods as previous models but employs the new GP2 processor as its engine to deliver 2X the speed and ease.

  
  

• Vlogging Camera Mods: For an all-around amazing vlogging experience, load up your HERO11 Black with The Mods, which are designed to enhance your vlogging setup. The Media Mod adds a directional mic and two cold shoe mounts perfect for attaching Light Mod, which gives you that extra fill light, or Display Mod, which adds an extra-large 2-inch vlogging display screen. Max Wide Lens Mod unlocks the widest field of view ever on a camera with powerful horizon lock capabilities. Throw it on Volta (Extended Battery Grip) to complete the ultimate rig.

• GoPro MAX: MAX is an amazing all-in-one vlogging camera. The first of its kind, this 3-in-1 camera is a vlogging device, a 360 camera, and a classic GoPro HERO camera all in one compact package. MAX is a complete solution with its unbreakable Max HyperSmooth image stabilization, four digital lenses for the ideal “look”, front-facing touch screen for easy framing, and six mics that enable shotgun-mic-like audio performance.