14 YouTube Video Editing Tips and Mistakes to Avoid

Are you an aspiring YouTuber or a video marketer looking to add more videos to your YouTube channel? Then you must be aware of the importance of YouTube video editing.

Do you know editing is the first and foremost step in video post-production? As a video marketer, if you cannot stitch your shots together or fit them in the right frame, all your efforts on videos will disengage your audience. Agree?

Video editing makes your videos look more professional and watch-worthy – so that people find it interesting to watch your videos.

Can you believe that over 500 hours of videos are uploaded on YouTube every minute?

While that being said, you must know at least the basics of YouTube Video editing before uploading on YouTube so that people consider watching your videos.

To make your videos more compelling to the viewers, you must edit them the best way possible – Adding up effects, managing the color combinations, the making up a compelling storyline that would attract the users to view your videos.

Here, let’s dive into the best video editing tips for your YouTube marketing!

1. Use high-end computers and robust technologies

   Use a computer with an SSD (solid-state drive), which will enhance your export and loading times compared to any traditional hard drive. Use at least 8 GB of RAM to make your editing process smooth and fast.

   Useful Article: Best digital storage solutions for video editors

2. Import and organize your footage

   Generally, you will have to import your footage to your computer for editing. While importing, try to organize the files so that it becomes easy to retrieve your files whenever required.

3. Placing the video clips

   Once you complete the footage import, you have to place the clips into the video and arrange them to make a story out of it. You may also have the option to add “markers” to the clips to identify exactly where you need to insert sound effects.

4. Cleansing your timeline

   After selecting the clips, the next step is to delete or trim the clips that are not required. You may neglect long pauses, remove unwanted or filler words, etc. To get a classy output, try fading effects when you stitch the clips together. Now, you have a video that conveys the right story.

5. Visual and sound effects

   Once you get a single video by adding the required clips together, you can improvise it with various transition effects. Split-screen views, graphic enhancements, and background music can be some of the sound effects that you can try.

6. Manage to mix your sound

   Once you have videos enhanced with music and sound effects, the next step is to ensure that the audio, sound, and music sync properly. If needed, you can adjust the sound levels in the video to ensure a proper video output format.

7. Visual corrections

   Adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation levels of the video. You can also incorporate particular moods and adjust the contrast and saturation to fit the shot.

8. Know the right resolution

   Maintain the necessary video aspect ratio of 16:9 widescreens and render it in 720px or 1080px high definition.

9. Know the right format

   Follow the correct format that YouTube will support such as AVI, MPG, MP4, MOV, WMA, FLV, WebM, and more.

10. Use handy shortcuts

    Learn and try a few handy shortcuts (delete, undo, redo, etc.) to save time. Also, an editing keyboard can be used that has all the shortcuts.

11. Know a few useful terms

    If you want to be a pro at video editing a few useful terms you have to know, like:

    • Jumpcuts
    • Cutaways
    • Matchcuts
    • J and L cuts
    • Cutting on action

12. Do proper color corrections

    Try to present your video in a vibrant and intensified form with proper color correction techniques. Color schemes and color grading techniques can also be used to highlight different aspects of a video.

13. Use the latest software

    Leverage the latest software for editing a video. The more advanced your software is, the higher the editing quality. You can access unlimited new features and programs for editing purposes that will make your video more professional and offer the best viewing experience.

    • If you have very basic and minimal editing, opt for Windows Moviemaker which is free and easy to use.
    • For advanced needs, go for Adobe Premiere elements or Pinnacle Studio – It might cost you below $100, and you will benefit from special effects and transitions for your compelling videos.
    • For high-budget videos, it is advisable to invest in Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.

    Apart from all these options, if you have little or no budget, you might not be able to opt for video editing tools for YouTube marketing videos. Fortunately, YouTube offers its own free web-based video editor, YouTube Studio – which is easily accessible. Thereby cutting down the cost of editing

14. Watch tutorial videos

    To gain expertise in video editing, you can watch free online tutorials. You can also visit some of the websites, like Udemy, Coursera, and Skillshare to upgrade your editing skills.

1. Using long intro

   Using a long intro of a video means it is too lengthy to focus on the main content.

   How to avoid it: Make your YouTube video introduction short and crisp (not more than 10-15 seconds) to retain first time viewers as well as regular viewers.

2. Using wrong music which is not creating any emotions

   Background music plays a very important role in capturing the emotional attention of viewers. Wrong background music is a BIG NO for any video.

   How to avoid it: Add music that creates emotions according to the context of your video not just the sake of background music.

3. Slow pacing

   Sometimes a video is too slow to be engaging. You can shorten the duration of a video speed it up entirely or speed up the slower scenes.

   How to avoid it: The pace of a video is the key. If it is too sluggish you will lose audience. So in this case you should speak faster or make the video speed faster or better do both.

4. Not utilizing J and L cuts

   You must know about J-cut and L-cut techniques if you are in the video editing business to give a better dimension to each frame and dialogue of a video.

   How to avoid it:  If your video has any rough cut it can annoy viewers. To get a smooth transition you can use the combination of J-cut and L cut. J-cut means that is when the audio of the second shot plays first before the change of the image and L-cut means audio from the previous scene carries over then the visual will appear.

5. Stretching the video

   When any portion of a video presents extra information, it will become dull and out of content for viewers.

   How to avoid it:  Don’t add unnecessary information to make it lengthy. Present your content to the point so every viewer can understand and enjoy it.

6. Copy someone’s video

   There is so much beautiful original content are there in your brain. Believe in yourself and give a chance to your own creativity to flourish.

   How to avoid it: Try not to copy the content from any other video which eventually lose your originality. You can refer many videos while researching on a particular topic but can put your creativity to make your content unique.

7. Ending videos too slowly

   Sometimes you lose your energy, especially in the last part of a video, which can be a little boring to hold the viewers’ attention.

   How to avoid it: Maintain a consistent speed for the ending portion of your videos, otherwise viewers’ attention may lapse and they can skip it at any moment. To make your video ending interesting by using zoom in or zoom out technique, summarize the content is a wonderful option.

Editing your videos for YouTube may seem a bit stressful if you stare at them for a long period continuously. It might become easy if you step out a while, take a break and come back fresh to edit the final cut. Now as we understand that editing videos for social media channels is essential, it is equally important for us to accept that edited videos must be transformed into a final version that your audience will engage with, or else reuploading videos will be a difficult task. Keeping in mind the tips we have covered in this blog; you can come with best videos for YouTube.

If you need any assistance in video editing services for YouTube get in touch with us.