Tell a story Every great video should be telling some kind of story to the viewer to keep them engaged in your content. It doesn't matter what the story is, as long as there's something for the viewer to follow while watching.
Find your rhythm This is one of the hardest things for new editors and quite frankly took me a long time to figure out myself. Having good rhythm will not only result in a higher quality video, but will make editing future projects even easier. What is the overall 'feel' you are trying to achieve with this video? Does each cut feel intentional, or does it look like a mistake? Do cuts happen to the beat of the background music? Rhythm is personal to each editor, and the more practice you have the more you'll get a sense of what feels right.
Utilize graphics This might be a no-brainer, but graphics are a great way to incorporate more information into a video without needing a voiceover or plain text on the screen. Creating fun and engaging graphics will add some diversity to the video while delivering necessary information to the viewer.
Get feedback, and incorporate it! Never underestimate the power of a fresh set of eyes. Especially if you are someone who shoots AND edits their own content, it's easy to get tied to certain shots because of how much time/labor was spent creating it (guilty). Having someone watch your video who hasn't seen it yet will be able to tell you what is and isn't landing. Being able to receive and incorporate feedback is crucial and the best way to grow as an editor!
Revise, revise, revise! A video should never be 'finished' after the first cut. If anything, there should be 3, 4, 5 versions of a video before delivering it to a client. Taking the time to go back and get nit-picky will result in a beautiful video, and the work will speak for itself!
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