Chapter 8
How to Guest Vlog on YouTube and Get More
Channel Views
One way to grow your YouTube channel’s audience is to exchange guest vlogs with other vloggers in your niche. Although it’s a marketing strategy that bloggers have been successfully implementing to expand their presence for a while now, can YouTube vloggers also do the same? Yes, definitely! We’re going to look at exactly why that is, and how you can use guest vlogging to grow your YouTube channel.
What Is Guest Vlogging on YouTube?
Guest vlogging is pretty much just like guest blogging. The basic idea is that you provide content for another YouTube channel, possibly in exchange for a guest vlog from your partner for your own channel. There are many ways to achieve this – you can collaborate on a single video idea together, make separate videos for each other to upload to your own channels, and more!
Growing Your YouTube Channel with Guest Vlogs
Much like YouTube collaborations, guest vlogging can potentially increase your channel’s
reach if done correctly. 
Their viewers will follow the guest vlog back to your channel, earning you more viewers in the long run. In addition, the same process occurs when you host your partner’s guest vlog – their viewers will visit to your channel to watch one of their favorite creators, and some will likely stick around to see what else you can offer them.
How Do You Guest Vlog on YouTube?
After determining what you want to get out of guest vlogging (solidifying your position as a
niche authority? Growing your own audience? Getting more exposure for your website or
product?), you can then begin finding the right collaborator, and reach out to them about
guest vlogging.
The most straightforward method for guest vlogging is to create your own video, just as if
you were creating it for your channel, and send the video to another YouTube vlogger to be
published on their channel. Your collaborating partner will also do the same. We’ll cover a
few important key points for success when making a guest vlog, shortly below
• Collaborating with the Right Partner
Your guest vlogging partner’s viewership should be similar to your own. Perhaps you don’t want to target your own niche, but you can find another YouTube vlogger who targets a related sub-niche. Additionally, it’s a good idea to work with a partner that has a style that goes well with your own. Someone who creates relevant content with a similar format can be a great fit. Why? Well, because they’ll also be creating a video for your audience, and having an audience with similar interests will really help bring results!
• Understand Each Other’s Audience on YouTube
If your audiences are similar, but different, then you’ll need to do some basic research to learn who you’ll be speaking to on YouTube. A great way to do this is to watch their previous videos, putting yourself in the shoes of their audience.
Take a look at their most popular YouTube videos and content that has the most interaction. You don’t want to copy their format, but this should give you a good idea of what their audience is interested in. It will help you understand what to focus on in your video to best engage their viewers.
• Create Content
That is Relevant to Viewers On that note, it’s important that your content is relevant to their viewers, specifically. Find a way to relate your channel to their interests, and decide on how it will connect to the typical focus of the host channel. Be sure you aren’t repeating a topic of conversation that your host channel has already covered before.
• Add Branding to Your Guest Vlog
It’s also important that your content makes it easy for new viewers to find your YouTube channel. In other words, be sure to add branding to your guest vlogs.
Put your channel name and social media handle(s) in your video intro or as in-video graphic(s). End the guest vlog by mentioning where viewers can best keep up with your content and updates (keep it short and avoid too much self promotion).
A great strategy is to include a link in the video description that directs the host channel’s viewers to a custom playlist containing videos that you have grouped together specifically based on their interests. It’s much more effective than just linking to your YouTube channel’s home page.
• Make the Guest Vlog Engaging
For YouTube Viewers Of course, all videos that you create for YouTube should be engaging, and the guest vlog is no different. Not only do you want an engaged audience, so does your host.
Your clicks and likes are theirs as well, in a sense. If you create engaging content that encourages conversation and interaction, there’s a good chance you’ll have more guest vlogging opportunities in the future.
• Just Be Yourself
Even though you’re guest vlogging on someone else’s channel, be sure to showcase your unique personality. It can sometimes be tempting to try out a new persona for a new channel, but this will probably only disappoint, for two reasons.
The first is that viewers who enjoy your guest vlog will want to see more of the same on your own channel. The second is that the YouTube creator hosting you probably agreed to do so based on your channel;
if you change your style now, they may feel blindsided. However, it should be noted that, for the most part, you should focus first on targeting the host’s audience, and second on maintaining your own style. If your host always offers quick, bite-sized list videos, their viewers probably won’t want a 20-minute long unboxing video. Check out their usual format, and then insert your own style and personality into an appropriate vlog type. Be creative!
• Avoid a Sole Focus on Self-Promotion
As mentioned earlier, don’t just spend the video talking about your own channel and why people should subscribe to you on YouTube. Instead, focus on creating a high quality video that viewers will enjoy, and that will encourage them to visit your channel naturally to see more great content. The best way to do this is to film the vlog as if you were creating it for your own YouTube channel.
• Don’t Let Guest Vlogs Disrupt Your Schedule
Your YouTube viewers have come to expect and look forward to videos on your channel. When you’re hosting content from your guest vlogging partner, don’t sacrifice an upload of your own unless your uploading schedule is normally flexible. Keep your own schedule consistent to keep your YouTube channel growing, but add in the guest vlog as additional content on your channel.
This will allow your regular viewers to continue getting the content they want, but also provide them with “something extra”. It also ensures that any new visitors from the guest vlogger’s channel will see brand new material when they visit your YouTube channel.
• Build Buzz with Your Viewers Beforehand
Finally, it’s important for both partners to let their audiences know about the guest vlog content beforehand, and to encourage them to support and share the guest vlogs they watch. You can explain why you’ve decided to guest vlog and what you enjoy most about your partner’s channel and content, and get excitement built up before the vlog is uploaded.
It’s also a great strategy to help benefit your partner and their host channel, as it brings
more viewers to their content. Your partner should be excited to do the same when guest
vlogging on your YouTube channel.
Just remember, the key to guest vlogging on YouTube successfully is for both partners to create great vlogs for each other, while hosting and promoting the guest vlogs published on your channels to your respective audiences. If done right, it can help both collaborating vloggers grow their YouTube channels.