How do I Choose the Best Instructional Videos Online?

Before there were instructional videos online, people had to rely on print instructions and complex diagrams. Today, there’s no shortage of instructional videos to choose from on the web, but this overload of information can also cause confusion. If you’re looking for the best instructional videos online but don’t know where to start, there are sites out there that specialize in these types of videos and vary in their content, style, and intended audience.

Sites that offer how-to content in the form of step-by-step instructional articles are a good place to look for instructional videos online, especially if you’re a novice in the topic you’re searching for. Many of the Internet’s most popular how-to websites and advice sites have expanded their portfolios in recent years and now offer video content that’s compatible with their instructional articles. Just some of the many categories covered in the videos section of these types of sites include computers, cars, home & garden, finance, parenting, business, and legal. How-to sites are experts in creating clear and concise content which acts as a guide to beginners.

If you’re already familiar with the basic steps of a certain process and are simply looking for instructional videos online to help you streamline that process, try a site that specializes in tips and tricks rather than basic instructions and tutorials. To find a website that’s most likely to ensure quality in its instructional videos online, target one that features videos made by the site’s own staff as well as, or in addition to, videos made by the site’s users. In this instance, at least some of the videos are likely to be quality-assured if the site itself produces some of the video content instead of relying on user–generated videos exclusively.

If you’re seeking videos with instructions for very specific processes or activities, you’ll likely have a fairly limited range of resources to choose from. Rather than using the search function in a how-to or tips site and combing through their collection of videos, try performing a simple Internet search first to see if any videos are revealed in the search results. If that doesn’t work, try searching YouTube using the words in the topic plus the keywords “DIY” or “how to.” Although the volume of videos on YouTube can often be overwhelming, if your topic is relatively obscure then there will likely be a manageable amount of videos to choose from.