There's a saying in real estate which is the three most important things are location, location, location. To adapt that to making "good" videos nothing beats a good source file. Any editor, no matter how good can't overcome bad footage. A sow in a silk dress is still a pig. :-)

Ok, I'll try to be serious, try to avoid adding too many special effects. Less is more. Most beginners are afraid to "cut" too much from a scene. The result if you are afraid to cut can be boredom and just another ho-hom video. Don't get carried away with transitions. Pick one, maybe two per video then don't over use them. Save the special effects for special spots in the video. Add too many and they get old fast. Experiment with pan and zoom, can add interest. Dare to be different. Taking a shot of your son learning how to drive? Compress that otherwise "boring" 30 second shot of him backing out the garage or parking between two cars by speeding up the action to two/three times normal. I've learned a lot watching some old classic commericals. If you're old enough, who could forget the plop, plop, fiz, fiz of those Alka Seltzer spots, or the more recent frogs and assorted lizards in those Budwizer ads. I remember them because they were well shot, crisp and told a story. If someone were to ask me to describe the typical home video in a dozen words or less I would respond, too long, boring and disjointed. While much of that can be improved with VV, the key still is shooting decent footage in the first place. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.