I haven't been able to blog for a very very long time. But things in life are about to change. So I have been debating if I should get back at this Blogging thing. Why? Well I want to help promote my other avenues of Social Media. I have my 2 YouTube Channels (1 for automotive, 1 for eBay Listings with moving parts), 2 Facebook Pages (1 for automotive, 1 for eBay listing promotion), as well as my Personal Account, 2 Instagram Accounts (1 for automotive, and 1 for my Music Media Collection). I do not use any other Social Media sites as I just don't want to due to how much time I don't have to work with just what I have already mentioned.
My main goal lately is that I would like to get my YouTube channel more eyes, and for a longer period of time. I have just over 220 videos as of this writing, with many more scheduled to go live over the next 2 months. That's 4 videos per week at the moment. And this includes Shorts. But doing this hobby really is a lot of work. What I would like to mention is this - The viewership is a huge issue! It seems that the viewers have left the video within 30-60 seconds. It Sucks as I have videos with some amazing cars in them. Yes I know my editing isn't all high and mighty as so many have been able to do. I don't have the luxury of paying someone to edit my footage. Besides, I shoot in a way where I visualize my editing style. Yes that changes too, but it is still my style. I don't like the idea of someone else doing it and not doing it the way I would like it to be. Anyways! Back to the viewership issue. Why is it that people today have such a short attention span? I watch videos beginning to end like I would a TV Show or a Movie. It's just how I prefer to watch. And the fact that I know it benefits the person that is the creator of those videos.
Let me go back a bit here though. And when I say back, I mean I need to go back to late 2019. I had decided sometime in the last few months of 2019 that I wanted to get my Channel up and running, but running hard. I had purchased a new PC. After some research, I decided to make a switch away for my second hand Mac, and get back to a PC. Yes! I was abandoning APPLE! And hat included my phone too. Like I said, I did some research. I won't get into that though. That's not what I am writing about. Back to what I am writing about though. With that purchase, I had planned to go to several events to get new and current video footage even though I have a ton of old footage that I could build up with. But I wanted to get fresh content, and then dive into my archives to add that in the mix when I needed to do so. I started off on January 01, 2020 by attending an awesome local Grudge Match Arm Drop Drag Racing event. With that, I was ready to begin. And then as we all know, the world took a dive and went south into Viral Chaos. MY PLANS DIED! So now that footage has been set in the archives now to be addressed at a later date.
So now with a change in every day life, I just didn't want to push my channel. So I switched my gears and went full on into house projects. Another thing I am not going to get into as it's a different subject. This Blog is for Automotive Content Only! It wasn't until we went on a vacation to Southern California that I then decided to do a little bit of video taking again. It wasn't much, but it got me a little kick to get back at it. It wasn't for the channel though. I was putting these short videos on my Instagram feed. But one day, a few months later, and in the new year, I was looking at my channel and had noticed that things were changing. I was getting more views, and I was closing in on that 1000 Subscriber minimum. So again I got another kick to get myself restarted and moving forward.
I had already been thinking of some ideas to add better content to the channel. Long before my Vacation to Southern California I had the hamster running on the wheel in my brain. However, I need to stay focused on building it up before I get to where I can begin to film and add those ideas in. I had to figure out what to do though. My computer is still somewhat new, my camera gear is well over 10 years old, and I don't have the money to update it. With the computer being new and had the plans to get running in 2020, I had downloaded DiVinci Resolve to use as my editing software. But man is it not anywhere as simplified as iMovie. I didn't know where to begin. But the Viral Chaos helped me to avoid that. Well at least for a while anyways.
So 2021 rolls around, and I have a little fuel to get me going again. I got into watching YouTube Content Creator advisors, and decided to just GO BACK TO BASICS. Yes! BASICS! So I went to only using my cell phone. When I switched from my iPhone, I bought an at the time low end phone. a Pixel 3. After all, the technology in my Pixel 3 was better than my old Sony 1080p camera, and my iPhone. With that I searched out some apps to review so that I could figure out what one to download to the good 'ol Pixel 3. After a while of searching, I decided on YouCut. And So far I have to say it is pretty easy to use. Even for this not too keen to technology, lost in space fool. But the app has really been great for me. I am learning a lot with every video I edit and upload to my channel. Now to get the time to learn more on Divinci Resolve. WHY?
Early on in the year I had made plans to attend the Mini Truck Showdown out in Las Vegas. The plan was to meet up with one of my older brothers to attend the event. But as things always happen, he bailed out on me. but I just could not back out from attending my first car show in well over a year. So I kept the plans in play and went. The show was awesome! I will have to share more on that later on in another BLOG. Also, another local deal kicked into play to help me out as well. A local Club had made arrangements with a Pizza Restaurant to have a hang out on Friday evenings during the Daylight Savings Time Season. So I started hitting that. And I am still going. Just not every Friday though. I have also been to 1 other local show that was awesome too. A local builder I had met a while back was putting on a show to help a dance studio to pay for a trip to an event they were to be competing at. There were some awesome rides at this show. Another one I will be sharing down the road too.
Even though things have been working out a little better for me, I am still having issues with getting views on the channel. I still follow recommendations from teachers, but it just isn't enough. I want this hobby to turn into something more. But I guess I will just have to play it out and let it ride its way up in the manner it has done. I will just continue to upload my content and do my best to enjoy the creativity of it. That is why I do it in the first place. Until next time, THANK YOU for reading my gibberish.
TODD
