Category: DEEP DIVE ARTICLE

Is it Dangerous to be a YouTuber?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 2 August 2020

Doing anything online these carries with it an inherent amount of risk, whether it is risk in the form of identity theft or risk in the form of abuse and harassment.

YouTube is a fantastic platform, but it is not exempt from these dangers.

Indeed, anyone who has spent enough time in a YouTube comments section could be forgiven for feeling that YouTube might be one of the worst examples of online dangers. At least when it comes to abuse and harassment.

The dangers a platform like YouTube poses are not only varied by their intent, but also by the person using YouTube. For example, an eleven-year-old child faces a largely different set of risks compared to an adult.

Is it dangerous to be a YouTuber? As with many things on the Internet, all but the most sinister of dangers can be mitigated by or avoided entirely by your behaviour. To borrow an example from email etiquette—you can’t get a virus from an unknown link if you don’t click on unknown links.

In this post, we’re going to look at the various ways in which YouTube can be dangerous, explore what YouTube do to prevent this, and look at how you can keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

Is it Dangerous to be a Child YouTuber?

We’re starting with children because, despite the sensitive nature of online safety for children, this is actually the most straightforward aspect of this topic to cover.

Firstly, children under the age of thirteen are not allowed to have a regular YouTube account under YouTube’s terms of service.

The only way a young child could be a YouTuber (without breaking the rules) is if they are YouTubing with an adult, such as their parent.

The child could appear in the adult’s videos, or the child could entirely run the channel while the adult manages things from behind the scenes. Either way, there will be an adult there who can guide the child through various Internet pitfalls they might otherwise have fallen down. Most social media platforms have similar rules regarding age, meaning you shouldn’t have to worry about your child being exposed to the less savoury denizens of the web.

They could lie about their age, of course. Sites like Twitter don’t have any kind of age verification, how you handle that will be down to your own parenting style.

Once your children are older than thirteen, however, they are allowed to sign up for a wide range of platforms, like YouTube and Facebook. However, they will still be a minor under your care, and you would still be legally within your rights to prevent them from doing so.

Again, this is a decision that would have to be made by you based on your parenting style. You an read my blog on setting up a YouTube channel for your child here.

If you choose to allow your child onto the Internet, you must prepare them for what they may find. Have a real conversation with them about the risks, and about how people on the Internet can be less than pleasant sometimes.

Give them a thorough grounding in the basics, such as not giving usernames and passwords out, and how to spot a shady site. These are all things that your child will need to learn regardless, so getting a head start can’t hurt.

Is it Dangerous to be an Adult YouTuber?

The dangers of being a YouTuber as an adult are not much different from the general dangers of being on the Internet. Things like identity theft, fraud, and general mental well-being are all things to look out for.

If, however, you become a famous YouTuber, you should be prepared for the responsibility that brings. A person with a few thousand subscribers can make an ill-advised statement or be rude to someone, or let a bit of personal information slip out, and the world will keep turning.

A YouTuber with perhaps a few hundred thousand subscribers may see significant consequences from such behaviour. And a YouTuber with a few million subscribers could make mainstream media headlines from it.

While we understand the desire to rush to success, building a following as you would have with a successful YouTube channel is best done slowly for several reasons, not least of which is it gives you time to grow and adapt to your newfound popularity.

Another way in which being a YouTuber can be dangerous is in the real world implications of your content.

Granted, this probably won’t affect someone who is making inoffensive life hack videos, but if you have opinions of a controversial nature, and you are voicing them in your videos, it could have harmful side effects. In today’s reactionary world, your job could literally be at stake. And, while we might all have the dream of going full time with our YouTube channel, most of us still have to work a day job in the beginning.

What Can YouTubers do to Keep the Negativity Away?

Beyond simply ignoring negative comments, there are things you can do as a YouTuber to keep yourself, your channel, and your community as safe as possible.

Obviously, shutting down comments entirely and not having a presence on other social media platforms will all but eliminate the opportunity for bad faith actors; however, it will also hamper your ability to grow as a channel since community involvement is crucial in the early stages of your YouTube adventure.

So, with that in mind, we’re going to assume that you don’t plan to lock your channel and social media down altogether.

Set the Tone From the Start

Think of unwanted audience behaviour like a bad habit. It is much easier to cut it off at the start than it is to deal with once it has had time to take root and become ingrained. If you make it clear from the beginning that particular behaviour will not be tolerated, and enforce those standards wherever you can, it will be far less likely that you will have a problematic audience when you start to grow as a channel.

Of course, what one channel considers unacceptable may be fine for another channel. Swearing is an example of something that can be fine depending on the channel and the community.

The point is that by setting the tone early on, you’ll have less to deal with as you grow. You may even reach a point where your community polices itself.

If it is established that you do not allow profanity in your comments section, your audience will likely start letting newcomers know when they are behaving in a manner that is not in keeping with your community.

This also applies to behaviour that, while perhaps not offensive in nature, is nonetheless a bad precedent to set. For example, while getting involved with your community is a great way to grow your audience early on, it’s important to establish boundaries.

If you make yourself too available—beyond any reasonable expectation your viewers should have—you set the expectation that you will be similarly available in the future. And, as your audience grows, it will become more challenging to devote enough time to these kinds of interactions. This can lead to a negative reaction from your viewers, who feel they are being snubbed.

Separate Your Online Life From Your Real Life

Being a YouTuber can sometimes lead to problems in your real life. Those problems may be small, such as mild embarrassment over a family member seeing one of your videos, or very serious, such as your employer seeing you say or do something controversial that leads to your firing.

You may not feel like you have anything to hide from your real life, and you may be entirely correct. However, it can still sometimes be good practice to separate your YouTube personality from real life if possible. You can do this using a pseudonym, or being virtually faceless on your channel (though this can have longer-term branding implications).

You can also keep the two separate by not sharing YouTube things on your personal accounts, and not linking personal things to your YouTube account. A common practice is to have a private Facebook page where you can communicate with friends and family online, reserving places like Twitter for your “YouTube persona”.

Take Extra Care With Your Personal Data

There is a myriad of ways in which sensitive personal data can find its way into the public domain. For example, did you know that when you register a domain name, the details of the owner are publicly available unless you pay extra to keep them private? What’s worse is this data typically includes your address.

Another example would be giving out your address to receive packages from viewers, or sending a package to a viewer and having your home as the return address.

It is also worth putting a little extra effort into making sure your videos are free from any sensitive information. For example, if you do an unboxing video, make sure the packing label is removed or covered up before you start filming.

Preparing Yourself Mentally

While the material risks of being a YouTuber are very real, many dangers are less obvious and can creep up on you if you are not prepared for them.

Lack of Privacy

It may seem silly to think that a lack of privacy could be an issue for someone who chooses to put themselves online in a very public way, but as we mentioned above, there should be boundaries.

Still, even with firm boundaries in place, you are putting yourself out there, and there is an unavoidable degree of vulnerability about that.

Criticism

Following directly on from that, there is the criticism. There will always be a negative contingent online who are looking to say unhelpful and hurtful things. As a YouTuber, you need to become proficient at recognising the line between criticism and insults.

Legitimate criticism should be taken on board, as it can help your channel grow, whereas insults and general hurtful behaviour serve no purpose. If a person is looking to hurt you and nothing more, you won’t gain anything by attempting to mollify them, and their words should be dismissed as they have no objective merit.

Or, to put it another way, you wouldn’t ask a friend who hates Chinese food for recommendations on where to get Chinese, so why would you listen to opinions about your YouTube channel from someone who just doesn’t like your channel.

Lack of Understanding

While YouTube has become huge over the last decade or so, and made many people very rich and very famous, it is still covered by the shadow of scepticism when it comes to people who do not spend much time on the Internet. Unfortunately, for many of us, our families and friends will include a certain number of these sceptics.

Explaining what you do and gaining the understanding of people like this can be difficult. This is especially the case if you are hoping for a supportive reaction from your friends and family if you decide to move into YouTubing full time.

The best you can do in these situations is explain things as honestly as you can, let them know how important it is to you, and then try to move past it if they refuse to take it seriously. Try not to hold grudges—YouTube is relatively new, and the idea of a YouTube career is even newer. It’s not entirely unreasonable of them to have a little skepticism about it.

Lack of Patience

Unlike the last one, this one is on you. Succeeding on YouTube takes time. Attempts to cheat the system and speed things along usually end in YouTube redressing the balance—sometimes by deleting your subscribers—so there is no quick fix to success.

If you do not have the patience for the YouTube long haul, there is a very real danger that you will run out of steam and quit.

It can help to visualise your goals, but never be anything less than brutally honest with yourself about the rate of growth you can expect. That way, you won’t be disappointed when you aren’t an overnight success.

Tags data, data privacy, is it dangerous to be on youtube, is it safe to be on youtube, is youtube dangerous, is youtube safe, privacy, youtube privacy, youtube safety

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can I Create A Youtube Account For My Child?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 1 August 2020
1 Comment on Can I Create A Youtube Account For My Child?

A whole generation of kids are growing up with YouTube for the first time in history. Remember, there was no such thing as YouTube as little as fifteen years ago.

So while being a professional YouTuber may seem like an unusual and exotic career choice for those of us born… let’s say “a little earlier”, it is an established industry for today’s children. It makes sense, then, that kids might aspire to become a YouTuber.

At the same time, it is perfectly natural for you, the parent, to have concerns about the safety and legalities of setting up a YouTube channel for your child. The Internet has proven to be a very useful tool for those who are prepared to harm children, be it through written or verbal abuse, or something far more sinister.

If you find yourself asking, “can I create a YouTube account for my child?”, then you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to give you all the information you need about this topic. Unfortunately, we can’t give you a clear cut answer up top—something we like to do whenever possible—because the answer is yes… and no. It depends on the child.

Can I Create a YouTube Account for My Child?

Most people would agree that a thirteen-year-old is a child—they certainly are in the eyes of the law. YouTube may not see a thirteen-year-old as an adult, but that is the age where they deem a child old enough to have their own YouTube account, though they still require parental permission up to the age of seventeen.

So, yes, you can create an account for your child—if that child is over the age of thirteen. This applies regardless of whether your child will be just watching YouTube, or actively making videos.

If you are only looking to set up a YouTube account for your child so that they can watch content, all is not lost. YouTube Kids is designed specifically for this purpose.

As a signed-in parent, you can create a kids profile that will allow you to set viewing preferences and recommendations, which is great for families with more than one child. YouTube Kids profiles are not merely about keeping inappropriate content away from young eyes—though that is an important part of it.

It is also about COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule) regulations, and not storing specific data about underage users. That is why YouTube will not allow you to set up a full account for your under-thirteen child, even if you were willing to disregard any safety or privacy concerns that might arise. This also extends to the YouTube browser experience.

If your child is signed in and attempts to go to youtube.com, they will be told that they can only access YouTube Kids. They will also be told that YouTube Kids is not available in-browser, which can be irritating for some parents who don’t necessarily want their child staring at a tiny phone screen for too long.

If, on the other hand, you do want to set the account up so that your child can make videos, you will have to wait until they are over thirteen, as YouTube Kids accounts cannot upload video.

We wouldn’t advise lying about your child’s age to open an account early, as that could lead to the account being banned if you are found out.

Are Their Loopholes?

There are plenty of YouTube channels that do—or have in the past—featured under-thirteens. Depending on the situation, there are varying degrees of risk to these potentially grey areas.

The Sidekick

The first example we are going to use, and probably the safest in terms of running afoul of YouTube rules on underage YouTubers, is that of Andy Schrock. In this case, the channel is unquestionably Andy’s. The content revolves around him and his business, and there is no ambiguity that the channel belongs to an adult.

However, a good deal of the content on Andy’s channel involves his young children. In this manner, his children—his eldest son in particular—have been able to experience making YouTube videos entirely within the terms of YouTube’s rules on children.

This way of introducing your child to YouTube allows you to fully control your child’s exposure, while also being there with them to guide them as they get to grips with being on-camera.

The Family Model

Our next example is HobbyFamilyTV, formally HobbyKidsTV. The channel has been around for several years now, and features a range of video types involving the “HobbyFamily”, but as you may have guessed from the previous name of the channel, the focus of the videos used to be the children primarily.

In this case, the channel did not belong to the children, but the children nevertheless were the stars of the show.

The method of allowing your children to become YouTubers has the advantage of you being there to essentially chaperone their journey, while still giving them the independence of making their own content.

The Hands-Off Model

Understand that, when we say “hands-off”, we are not talking in a literal sense. If you have a YouTuber child, whether they are old enough to do it alone or not, we recommend maintaining a watchful eye over them, both to protect them from the unpleasantness of the Internet, and prevent them saying or doing things they might later regret.

Our example for this kind of YouTuber is EthanGamer, formally known as EthanGamerTV. Though he is now old enough to have his own YouTube account, Ethan joined YouTube at the astoundingly young age of seven years old. Clearly, that violates YouTube’s current rules on underage accounts.

The way Ethan’s parents handled this was to be hands-on in the management of the channel (along with any other social media) while leaving the actual content of the channel to Ethan. This allowed Ethan to essentially run the channel as though it were his (we can’t say how much editorial control his parents exercised) while technically not violating YouTube’s under-thirteen policy, because it wasn’t his.

Now, we class this one as a bit of a grey area. It clearly worked for Ethan, who is now a very successful YouTuber with over two and a half million subscribers, but YouTube’s rules were not so strict throughout most of his YouTube career. We can’t say with confidence that a similarly run account wouldn’t be shut down today.

Guidance Is Critical

However you choose to approach letting your child become a YouTuber, it is critical that you don’t leave them to do it alone.

The Internet is seemingly filling up with stories of influencers getting “cancelled” after some poorly judged joke or insensitive comment from when they were a lot younger surfaced. Children, by their very nature, are not good judges of things like proprietary.

They are still learning and need guidance as they learn. They should be allowed to make mistakes, but on camera in front potentially millions of people is not the place to make those mistakes.

YouTube Restrictions

Like any good parent, you’ll want to be fully informed about letting your child travel down the YouTube path, and that includes knowing how monetisation works for these kinds of channels.

Unless the content being produced by or with your child is being made for adults, it will likely fall afoul of YouTube’s COPPA restrictions. This means several things, among which are disabled comments and no targeted advertisements.

YouTube is not allowed to keep data on children, which means they cannot serve personalised advertisements to them. This, in turn, discourages advertisers from running their ads on these kinds of videos, since they want their ads to be as laser-focused as possible. After all, the more relevant the audience, the better the chance of their ads generating leads.

The restrictions on advertising do not mean your child’s channel cannot be monetised, but the potential revenue that monetisation can generate is significantly reduced when compared to a channel whose content is not aimed at children. There are other options for monetisation, of course, but that is a substantial topic in its own right.

Keeping Your Child Safe

The dangers of the Internet as it pertains to young children is well known, and it is no different for YouTubers. There is also emotional wellbeing to consider, as YouTube is notorious for having many commenters who are not exactly positive and full of praise.

As it turns out, YouTube’s policies do a lot to mitigate this kind of problem by disabling comments on content aimed at children.

However, if your child is on other social media networks, you should consider keeping an eye on the interactions they have through those channels.

Naturally, you’ll want to ensure your child’s safety against online predators, but there are no YouTube-specific measures to take in that regard. All of the good practice and common sense that is recommended for other parts of the Internet apply here.

Is it dangerous to be on YouTube? – Check out my deep dive blog into all the things you need to thing about when becoming a YouTube.

Tip for Starting a YouTube Channel for Your Child

If you decide to let your child start their own YouTube channel, either with a full account as they are over thirteen, or using one of the methods mentioned above for under-thirteens, we have some tips for getting started.

Try getting them some kid friendly equipment to get them started – I have a list of all the equipment and software I use to run my youtube channel on my resources page.

Pilot Episodes!

Well, not actual pilot episodes.

We assume you’re not trying to get picked up by a TV network here.

But don’t feel like anything you film has to be put online.

Watch your content back as objectively as you can before it ever sees a YouTube upload box. Get close friends and family to cast their opinions on it. If you’re not happy, go again and try to fix the things that weren’t working.

If your child is going solo, insist they do the same.

Many people have had to learn to live with the stuff they put on the Internet when they were younger without fully understanding the implications; you don’t want your child to be one of them.

Talk About It

Perhaps one of the best things you can do if you intend to let your child use the Internet in any form, especially as a YouTuber, is to have a conversation with them about the risks and dangers of being online.

If your child is not yet at a point where they can grasp the things you need to talk about, it may be a sign that they are not yet ready for this kind of step.

Create a Plan

Things invariably go more smoothly when there is a plan guiding the process, and there’s no reason to think things work any differently when creating a YouTube channel.

If your child wants to do their own thing, have them develop a plan of action first. If they are too young to do it without your help, make the plan with them.

Talk about things like how often videos will be posted, who the intended audience is, what kind of content they plan to make. How will they go about learning the necessary skills to create, edit, and upload content by themselves?

If equipment is a factor, talk about money. Will you be helping them buy the equipment, and are there stipulations? If not, how do they plan to afford what they need?

Having a conversation like this not only ensures your child knows exactly what they are getting into, it also tests how much they really want to do it.

Find Your Balance

One of the hardest things to do as a parent of a YouTuber child—and in parenting in general—is finding the right balance between protecting your child and letting them spread their wings.

As they get older and more comfortable with their life as a YouTuber, you need to find a healthy balance between keeping an eye them as they continue to develop and letting them grow and explore without your presence bearing down on them.

It can be challenging to step back, but your child must gain a sense of independence as they grow, and that applies to YouTube as much as it does to life in general.

And, when they’re old enough to go it alone entirely, you will have prepared them as best you can.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.

Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the Shutterstock website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Tags can i make a channel for my kid, kid channels, kids on youtube, kids with youtube, youtube account for kids, youtube for kids

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

How to Make, Edit and Upload a YouTube Video Without a Camera

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 28 July 2020
1 Comment on How to Make, Edit and Upload a YouTube Video Without a Camera

You don’t like showing your face. I get it.

Appearing on camera for some is like being asked to roll over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

Not gonna happen.

But, you want to have a YouTube channel. You want to have your content out there for the world to see, and maybe earn a little (or a lot!) of extra cash from the YouTube Partner Program.

The good news is there are lots of YouTube channels with shy content creators who are making barrels of money without ever even appearing on camera. In fact, many of them don’t even use a camera to make their videos.

But how do you do it, and what kind of content could you make?

This article is perfect for you! I’m going to cover the types of content you could make, how to produce and edit it, then close with some finishing touches.

Ready? Read on.

Choosing a Content Niche for YouTube.

The most successful channels on YouTube produce content for a single, often narrow, niche.

Don’t make the mistake of producing random content on different topics. One day uploading a video on technology and the next day one about celebrities – it confuses viewers.

It’s easy to set up multiple channels on YouTube under the same Google Account. So if you have two passions you want to create content for, make two different channels.

Choosing your channel niche is a critical decision to make when starting out. It also helps if you have an enthusiasm for the topic, but it’s not essential.

Make sure you feel you can routinely produce content for it, without it becoming tedious. And what is most important is that the niche you choose has enough demand to make it worthwhile.

How do you measure demand on YouTube? You can use Google Trends tool to measure overall viewer appetite on YouTube and compare it against popular niches. Look at the image below – it looks like my Unicorn themed channel idea is a non-starter.

Another way to validate your idea is by searching for videos over the last month and sorting by view count.

Look at the view counts to see if there are lots of views for your chosen niche. How many views should you look for? Well, the more, the better, but you should be looking for several videos with at least 1 million views.

Once you have picked your niche, then decide next on the type of non-camera content you want to produce.

Content Types You Can Make For YouTube.

There is a wide range of content you can make that doesn’t require looking into a camera, fussing with lighting, or getting sound levels perfect.

Your chosen niche might already determine what type of content to produce. For example, if you want to start a tips and tricks gaming channel, then screen recording is the best way to go.

But for some niches will be possible to make different types of content, so let’s take a look at your options.

Compilation Channel

Editing together clips from other sources into compilations seems like an obvious choice for a no-camera YouTube channel.

There are some very successful channels making obscene amounts of money with this content type.

Here is a popular example. Fail Army have 14.6M subscribers and post compilations of funny videos collected from around the web.

There are plenty of niches to go at too, from comedy, gaming, and sports etc. But it is not as easy as finding a few clips, splicing them together and uploading a new video.

Copyright is the problem here. If you don’t own the rights to use the clips you select for your video, then you could face a copyright strike from YouTube.

Get three strikes, and YouTube could terminate your channel.

So how do the current compilation channels do it? There are online services like Jukin Media, where you can buy a distribution licence for clips, but these can be pricy.

There is a workaround, however.

Fair Use of Copyrighted Material.

You can use copyrighted material in your videos without the rights owners permission through a principle known as fair use.

Fair use is a legal concept that is common to many countries where you can use copyrighted material as long as your usage is transformative.

Transformative means that you change the work in a meaningful way. This could be by adding a commentary over it to explain, criticise, or to report on the clip.

One point to note is that YouTube doesn’t decide what is or isn’t fair use – only the courts can determine that. So fighting a copyright strike can be a thankless task, likely to cause stress and take a long time to resolve.

So if you do get a copyright strike, sometimes it’s better to simply remove the clip in question and move on.

Creative Commons

There is a filter on YouTube that returns content where the copyright on a video is creative commons.

Creative Commons means that you can freely re-use the content of the video as long as you link back to the source in your video description.

Watch out, though.

If someone has uploaded a video marked as creative commons but used copyrighted material from elsewhere, your re-use of it could still attract a copyright strike from YouTube – it’s a minefield.

Much better to create your own copyright-free content. So let’s look at some of your options.

YouTube Videos Using Images and Stock Video.

This type of content requires you to record a voiceover track on a video made up of images and stock b-roll clips.

An excellent example of a channel that uses this method is Alux.

Focusing on luxury items and the lifestyles of the mega-rich, Alux uses stock photos, manufacturers product photos, and stock b-roll footage to create their videos.

They are the kind of videos that are easy to make, and the topic niches are only limited by your imagination.

Now if you’re extra shy and you don’t even want to even do a voice over for your videos, then you can use free text to voice apps. If you feel they sound a bit robotic, you could hire someone from Fiverr to do the talking for you.

You can even keep it basic and produce a presentation in Powerpoint or Google Slides. If you’re good at explaining things to people, then this could be the method for you.

Many people also use this method to promote affiliate programs in the video description, and make money right out of the gate before they get accepted to the YouTube Partner Program.

YouTube Podcasting Videos

If you have something to say and are already thinking about starting a podcast, then publishing it to YouTube is another way to distribute your content.

You don’t have to be a Joe Rogan or Tim Ferris to make a success of this. If you know a niche inside out and are enthusiastic about a topic, you can build up an audience. YouTube’s viewers use the platform for more than just visual entertainment.

Whether they are at work, relaxing, or doing household chores, people like to have some background audio as they go about their daily lives. Meet this demand by uploading your podcast to YouTube and display a static image for the visual.

Tim Ferris does it, so you don’t have to show a studio feed as well, provided you have something to say that people want to hear.

YouTube Animation Videos

Starting an animation channel is a popular way to have a YouTube channel without needing a camera or showing your face.

There are several ways to approach an animation channel.

If you are already artistically gifted, then you can use one of the many animation software packages available to create engaging content.

You don’t even need to create long animations either.

OneyNG has over 2.37M subscribers and 10s of millions of views from uploading short, funny, animations, which often revolve around a single gag.

If you are not so artistically inclined, then you can use applications that help you create simplistic animations for use in your videos.

Better Than Yesterday is a good example of this type of content. They are near 1M subscribers and have simple narration over basic animation.

YouTube Screenshare Videos

There are thousands of people out there, right now, who want to learn how to do something, that you already know all about.

Whether it’s an Instagram hack, learning how to configure WordPress, or getting cheap insurance online, they look to YouTube for help. Can you create short videos to show them how to do it?

The example below shows only the phone screen as the user demonstrates Instagram hacks. There is not even a voiceover explaining the tricks!

YouTube Gaming Videos

Another screen share content type that deserves its very own section here is gaming.

Sharing sequences from games showing funny clips, how to’s, and competition footage is immensely popular on YouTube.

You may already know the famous channels like PewDiePie, Total Gaming, and more recently, Mr Beast Gaming. But don’t think it’s too late to enter this niche today – it’s enormous.

If you choose this type of content, it’s best if you focus on only one game for your channel.

Creating lots of videos all about one game helps YouTube to see your channel as an authority in the topic. This means a higher chance of your content getting recommended by the YouTube algorithm for people to watch next.

Vanoss Gaming is just a bunch of guys talking and laughing over screen recordings of them playing games. With over 21.5 million subscribers, they are obviously doing something right.

YouTube Sound Channels.

As mentioned previously, there are plenty of people who have YouTube running in the background as they go about their daily lives.

Some people like an ambient soundtrack as they study and others use relaxing music to create a mood for meditation.

These kinds of channels are attractive to run. If you can get viewers to start watching your videos, then it’s likely that they will view to the end – something that YouTube looks for when ranking content.

Yellow Brick Cinema is one of the biggest channels in this niche. They have an extensive back catalogue of videos with millions of views and likely as much in the bank from the YouTube partner program.

Producing Content for YouTube.

Producing video content without a camera means using software tools instead. Depending on the type of content you want to make the cost ranges from free of charge to paying a monthly subscription charge of up to $40+.

Screen Recording Software

Whether you plan on recording gaming action or want to show people how to do something on a computer, you are going to need a screen recorder.

There are loads of free options out there. Some good, some not so good. The top ones are:

OBS Studio. This one is open-source software, meaning it’s made by volunteers and is entirely free of charge. It can be tricky to get up and running, with some claiming it has a big learning curve and can be complex to use. It has plenty of features and will run on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Nvidia Shadowplay. Nvidia, the makers of graphics cards, also provides free software that makes it easy to record gameplay. You can record video, make short GIFs, and even live stream direct to YouTube. One to check out if you are thinking about a gaming channel. For Windows PCs only.

Icecream Screen Recorder. Another screen capture software that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It has a free version and is much easier to use than OBS Studio. The free version only lets you record for five minutes. But you can upgrade to Pro to get no time limits and more output formats for a one-time fee of $19.95.

Animation Software

Open Toonz. For 2D animation, Open Toonz is free software which is considered a good allrounder. There are plenty of tutorials available on YouTube, but if you’ve not used animation software before it will need time and practice.

It’s open-source software so you’ll never have to pay anything, and it works on Windows and Mac.

Doodley. Doodley is animation software more suitable to those who aren’t good at freehand drawing. You can quickly get up to speed and produce excellent and engaging how-to type videos.

The channel Philosophies for Life uses Doodley for all its videos and has nearly 300k subscribers.

You build screens with a drag-and-drop interface using the cloud-based software, which then animates the images together for you. It costs $39 per month to use, with an Enterprise version that gives you more templates and fonts for $69 per month.

Slideshow Software

There are lots of ways to put together a slide show — Google Slides and Microsoft Powerpoint to name two. Compiling images into a video is possible using inbuilt Windows software. But, to create a video slideshow, there are much better free alternatives.

Kapwing. Kapwing is an excellent tool for creating slide show videos for YouTube. Upload some images, add a few captions, and add an audio track easily. It also compiles the video for you in the right format for YouTube.

For shorter videos or if you are just getting started, then the free version will work just fine. To create longer videos and have a workspace that stores all your content then you can upgrade to the Pro version for $20 per month.

Vidnami. Vidnami is a good option for quickly building videos using little more than a text-based video script. Paste your text into the software, Vidnami reads it, then selects appropriate images and creates your video automatically.

It even creates an automated voice-over and on-screen captions. The voice is a little robotic but is an option if you don’t like to hear the sound of your own voice.

Editing Videos for YouTube.

Whatever kind of content you produce, it must look professional. There are many channels in most niches now all competing for digital eyeballs, so the content you create should be slick and polished.

YouTube Studio, the channel management platform provided by YouTube, does have a basic inbuilt editing tool.

It’s really best used for a little bit of trimming here and there. It’s not suitable for making the kind of high-quality videos you should be uploading.

There are, again, plenty of free options available, so don’t feel that you have to splash out for a high-end editing suite like Adobe Premier.

For those that have a Mac computer, the bundled iMovie is a really great option. Many successful YouTube channels use nothing more than this to edit videos.

With iMovie, you can use transitions to piece together multiple clips, add sound, titles, and backgrounds. It can do pretty much all you need.

For Windows and Linux users, and perhaps Mac users that want another option, OpenShot Video Editor is an open-source video editor, which is free to download and use.

Taking Your YouTube Content to the Next Level.

Along with proper editing, to make your videos as compelling as possible, add in extra touches. B-Roll clips, animated intros, and subtitles help make your content more engaging and accessible, and are all essential for growing a successful channel.

Let’s look at some tools you can use to add these kinds of extras to your videos.

B-Roll Content

B-roll is a term from the earliest days of the Hollywood movie industry. The A-roll reel was the main footage for the movie, and an identical B-roll reel was used for filler and cuts. Back then physical celluloid film was cut and spliced together to edit and make a movie.

Today, B-roll refers to any secondary material that you use for filler.

You can get free B-roll video from websites like Pexels and Pixabay. They offer short clips uploaded by amateur photographers which are copyright free and can be used by anyone.

The selection available is OK on these sites, but to have the best choice from an absolute mountain of B-roll clips, take a look at Story Blocks – I started using them in July 2020 and it has helped me level up my level game hugely, leading to great growth on YouTube.

Approaching 900,000 items of stock video, backgrounds, music, and video intros; there is plenty here for you to use to enhance your videos.

The cost varies from $10 to $80 per month on a subscription basis, depending on the amount and types of media you want to download.

Professional looking YouTube Intro/Outro

No self-respecting YouTube channel should be without a professional-looking intro/outro. It’s not just something to have for the sake of it either – your intro helps to develop and reinforce your brand.

Over time as your viewer subscriptions grow, your intro and brand serve to communicate trust.

If viewers like the content you produce, then as soon as they see your familiar branding, they will start watching your video with a positive view.

You can develop an intro/outro with Story Blocks mentioned above. But, if you don’t subscribe to that service, an alternative tool is Placeit.

I have used PlaceIt in the past for client branding – YouTube banners, channel intro and outros, even stock mock ups – I highly recommend you check out their templates.

With Placeit, you can create logos, animated intro/outros, and other branding graphics you can use on also use on sites like Facebook and Instagram. You can even generate slideshow videos for YouTube using the software.

Placeit costs $14.95 monthly for unlimited access to all the features. You could sign up for just one month and generate all the graphics you need. Alternatively, save 50% upfront with an annual subscription.

Add Subtitles and Captions to Your YouTube Videos.

First, we need some definitions.

Captions – These are the text displayed on your video that matches what is being said by the presenter or narrator.

Subtitles – These are like captions, but also carry additional information for the viewer, such as sound representations for the hard of hearing. They also refer to foreign language translations of the speech in a video.

Why might you add in captions or subtitles? It opens up your content to many more viewers.

Captions are useful for people who are consuming content on the go and aren’t in a position to listen to the audio. Or maybe watching on the sofa while their partner is glued to the TV.

If you subtitle your video into other commonly spoken languages, then you get to reach a wider audience from other countries.

Now you could add captions yourself, going through your content and painstakingly adding text one piece at a time. Or use a service like Rev.com.

They charge by the minute for speech that is captioned or subtitled, so you pay a variable fee per video.

I use Rev.com to help me caption my videos in bulk and I can even do it in multiple foreign languages to help maximise my international reach and get more views for my YouTube videos.

Conclusion

Setting up a successful YouTube channel without a camera is very possible. There are many people doing it already and achieving lots of views, subscribes, and Partner Program earnings.

But competition is increasing day by day, so to give your channel the best chance of success, you need to make sure that you produce high quality videos.

This means good editing, addition of intros/outros, b-roll, and adding captions too if applicable.

Get going with some of the ideas above and see what you can produce for your channel. Good luck.

If you need any more tricks, tips or software to make great videos without a camera, check out out resource page.

Tags edit youtube videos, faceless, make youtube videos without a camera, no camera, youtube channel ideas without showing your face, youtube videos, youtube videos without a face

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YouTube Equipment on a Budget

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 24 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTube Equipment on a Budget

Getting together the necessary equipment for YouTubing can pose quite a problem for those of us on a budget.

After all, cameras are expensive, and lighting rigs? What about acoustic treatment? All of these things cost money, and buying low-quality equipment most likely won’t improve the quality of your videos, and may even harm your channel overall.

Still, YouTube is far from a sure thing when it comes to generating an income, so spending significant amounts of cash on cameras and microphones can be hard to justify. Fortunately, “budget” doesn’t have to mean poor quality—you just need to know what you’re looking for. Of course, if it were that easy, there’d be no need for posts like this one!

Now as long as you have mastered YouTube Equipment for beginners – maybe you want some cost effective ideas for some upgrades – let’s get into our guide to the world of YouTube equipment on a budget.

Cameras

Let’s start with your primary bit of kit. Camera’s are not just essential if you want to record video, they can also be the only piece of gear you need if you are trying to make the most of your budget.

Here are three great options for YouTubers on a budget.

Logitech C930e

Starting our list off, we have the Logitech C930e, a webcam. Now, webcams are not the best option when it comes to YouTube… or any kind of video capture situation for that matter.

For reasons perhaps known only to webcam manufacturers, there has been very little improvement in the standards of webcam video quality for nearly a decade. In fact, the only thing webcams really excel at is live-streaming. Still, when it comes to budget video recording equipment, the C930e offers the best bang for your buck, and if you pair it with a decent budget lighting setup, you should be able to get some very respectable video out of it.

Obviously, there are some physical limitations with a webcam. If you want to shoot videos on the move, you’re going to need something that can operate standalone, and this isn’t it.

So, on to our next pick.

GoPro Hero6 or Hero7

GoPro has made a name for themselves in the sports footage market. They are typically the first name to come to mind whenever someone wants to strap a camera to their head and jump off a mountain, or something similar. What doesn’t always get as much attention is just how good it is as a pure camera.

You’re going to be looking at 3-4x the cost of the c930e, but that is still around half the half to a third of the cost of a Canon EOS 80D with a lens, which is a popular camera for YouTubers who aren’t on a budget. And the difference in quality is significant.

Furthermore, the Hero is much better at getting a great shot out of any environment and lighting situation.

Canon T7i

We’re stretching the definition of “budget” here. Still, given that the next tier of cameras easily crosses into the four digits in the price department, we think it’s fair to include this one as a higher-end budget camera.

The Canon T7i is a fully-fledged DSLR, which is the top dog when it comes to camera quality. While this may be a budget DSLR, it will still produce better results than just about anything you might find cheaper.

It should be noted that DSLRs are a little more involved than something like a webcam, or a GoPro. For one thing, you need to buy lenses for your camera. If you hit eBay and find a T7i that’s heavily discounted over the average price, you might be buying one without a lens. Like the GoPro, these cameras are standalone, so you can take them out for shooting on location.

Cameras like this are designed to handle a range of additional components, such as camera-mounted lighting, and external audio sources, making them ideal for portable filming setups.

Comparison Table

Product	Max Resolution	Standalone?	Approx. Cost
Logitch c930e	1080 @ 30fps	No	£100
GoPro Hero 7	4K @ 60fps	Yes	£280
Canon T7i	1080 @ 60fps	Yes	£500

For further cameras and equipment suggestions check out my equipment lists on my resources page – I list all my current equipment and some killer discounts on cheap starter gear.

Microphones

It’s important to remember that all of the above suggestions for cameras have their own built-in microphone. Now, these are far from the best audio ever recorded, but they are more than serviceable if you can’t afford to pair them with a separate audio setup.

However, if you are looking to maximise your quality, you will want to get yourself a microphone.

Unlike our camera picks, all of our microphones are approximately equal in price. They are, however, considerably different in execution. Don’t worry; we’ll explain as we go.

Blue Snowball

Our first pick goes to the Blue Snowball, a distinctive looking USB microphone that produces excellent audio quality. The advantages of the Snowball mainly lie in its simplicity of use. You simply plug the mic into your computer, let the drivers automatically install, and you’re good to go. This makes it an ideal pairing with something like the Logitech C930e we mentioned above.

The downside is that you cannot plug a USB mic into something like the Canon T7i. If you want to go portable with the Snowball, you’re going to need to take a laptop with you.

The Snowball is available in a few different variants and supports several pick up patterns. If your YouTube setup never leaves your desk, this is a great microphone to have.

BM-Condenser Microphone plus Preamp

The BM-800 is a little tricky to explain. This microphone is actually an unbranded Chinese product. Sellers in various parts of the world buy this product in bulk, often with their own branding, and resell it. We’re explaining this because if you Google “BM-800 Microphone”, you could get a dozen different brands selling identical looking microphones. It doesn’t make a difference, however; they’re all the same product.

But onto the mic itself. The BM-800 is a condenser microphone that uses an XLR connection. That XLR connection means you will need other hardware to get the mic up and running, but don’t worry, the mic itself typically goes for a third of what the Snowball costs. What’s more, it often comes with extras, like pop shields and shock mounts. Once you have coupled it with a cheap audio interface or microphone preamp, then the price will level out at around the same as the Snowball.

Like the Snowball, you won’t be able to connect this mic to something like a GoPro or T7i, and while it can be portable, it’s not ideal.

This kind of setup is ideal for YouTubers who make music since you can easily swap out your microphone for a different style, or get an audio interface with multiple channels for recording more than one mic at a time.

Rode VideoMic Go

The VideoMic is an on-camera mic. This is a particular kind of microphone that sits on top of your camera, making it ideal for portable setups. Unfortunately, that means it only works with compatible cameras. For reference, only the Canon T7i would be compatible out of the cameras we suggested above.

Still, if you do a lot of filming in different locations and tend to hold your camera rather than set it on a tripod, a microphone like this (on a compatible camera) is the only practical solution. If you do get a camera like the Canon T7i, there really isn’t a compelling reason to go with any other kind of microphone.

Lighting

After your camera and your microphone, lighting is probably the most significant piece of hardware you can buy for your YouTube setup.

If you feel your video quality isn’t what it should be, but you can’t afford to step up your camera game, take a look at your lighting. You’d be surprised at how much difference it makes.

Newer 18-Inch Ring Light

Ring lights, as the name suggests, are ring-shaped lights that are ideal for vloggers, and any situation where the subject is directly facing the camera. They cast a smooth, even light directly in front of them. This ring light comes with a stand and smartphone holder, as well as two different filters.

Newer CN-216

The CN-216 is a compact LED panel light that can be mounted on top of a compatible camera, making it an ideal camera for portable filming setups. Of course, you can still mount it on a stand or tripod. It has an adjustable colour temperature and a removable diffusion screen, and clocks in at a ridiculously low price.

Natural Light

It might sound like a bit of a cop-out, but natural light is one of the best lighting sources for your videos there is, and it’s free! Of course, it puts some limitations on when and where you can film, but if natural light is a practical option for your videos, it is by far the best option for YouTuber’s on a budget.

Your Phone

For those of us with a relatively modern smartphone—which is most people these days—our phone represents quite possibly the best quality video and audio for the cheapest cost: free. Well, not free, but unless you bought your phone just to film YouTube videos, it is effectively free.

The cameras in modern phones are something of a marvel, making use of various tricks on the software end to make up for the shortcomings of the hardware, a decent phone will blast most budget options out of the water. And some higher-end phones can even record in 4K at a full 60fps.

Of course, your phone isn’t ideal. You can’t see what you’re shooting unless you use the weaker camera on the front. You have to worry about the available storage space when most higher-end phones don’t accept memory cards anymore. Not to mention you may want to use your phone during filming.

But, for all of its shortcomings, your existing phone may well produce a better quality video than the best cameras you can afford. If you find that to be the case, use your phone for now and save up for a better camera, rather than wasting your money on something you can afford that is not very good.

And the Rest

There are plenty of other things you could be spending your money on when it comes to getting your YouTube setup ready, with varying degrees of importance.

For example – as I noted in my deep dive into soundproofing for youtubers blog – if the space you are recording in is extremely echoey, it might be worth a little of your hard-earned cash to put it right. Acoustic foam tiles are relatively inexpensive, and you don’t need to plaster the whole room with them to get the desired results.

With a bit of research and a little experimentation, you should be able to make a pack of twenty-four go a long way. Failing that, you could always borrow some thick blankets from the cupboard and put them to good use.

Another area that can sometimes get overlooked is the software department. If you are doing anything more than cutting up pieces of footage, you will need some software to do it in. There are free options available for several of the less complex tasks, such as transitions and titles.

However, Adobe is the industry standard for a reason, and its popularity ensures there will always be plenty of resources to help you get started. Before you panic at the thought of hundreds of pounds worth of software, Adobe has long-since switched to a subscription model, which is not as expensive as you might think.

Conclusions

Finding the best hardware is always a little tricky, as you might have noticed with some of our suggestions.

The Logitech webcam is by far the cheapest, but it lacks portability, which makes it unsuitable for YouTubers who like to film on the go.

Meanwhile, a GoPro is excellent for shooting action shots out and about, but not so great for streaming (though the Hero7 has added some limited streaming capabilities).

Be sure to weigh up all the features of any equipment you might be considering purchasing. Price is important, but even a cheap camera is too expensive if it is not suitable for your specific circumstances.

Tags budget youtube, budget youtube equipment, cheap youtube equipment, youtube, YouTube Equipment, youtube for beginners, youtube on a budget

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Is it Safe to Have a YouTube Channel?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 24 July 2020
3 Comments on Is it Safe to Have a YouTube Channel?

Internet security has never been as prevalent in the public consciousness as it is now. With significant data breaches a seemingly regular occurrence in the news, double factor authentication increasingly becoming a minimum requirement, and restrictions on how your passwords can be structured making them almost impossible to remember, it’s clear that security is important.

But staying safe online is not just about secure passwords. We have never been more visible than we are right now. We have pages and pages of tweets and Facebook posts and Instagram pics, and much of it is public. Now, be honest with yourself—do you consider the full privacy implications of your social media posts before you hit send?

This post is about YouTube, so you may wonder why we’re talking about Facebook and Twitter, but all will become clear soon enough.

Still, is it safe to have a YouTube channel? Yes, if you are careful. As you grow make sure you think of privacy long term. Always pick safe secure passwords and try not to post your entirely life on the internet – that’s when it gets extremely risky.

Let’s get into it.

How Can Youtube be Dangerous?

There are different ways in which YouTube could be considered dangerous to the YouTuber posting videos, and it is essential to understand what these ways are if you have any hope of avoiding them. Let’s start with the least sinister one.

Putting All Your Eggs in the YouTube Monetisation Basket

YouTube has a patchy history when it comes to monetisation. It has made a lot of people rich, but it is also notoriously unreliable as an income source. If you’ve been in the YouTube stratosphere for a while, you’ll have heard of the “adpocalypse”.

If you’ve been around long enough, you’ll have heard of multiple adpocalypses.

This is the label name given to the various times that YouTube has made profound, seismic changes to its advertising policies and algorithms. These changes tend to negatively affect YouTuber revenue across the board, and even wipe it out entirely in some cases. One of the more recent adpocalypse’s (the fourth one, if we’re counting) saw many political punditry channels lose all of their revenue more or less overnight. And we’re talking channels with millions of subscribers here.

More recent changes have hit channels whose primary audience is children, with offensive and hateful content being targeted quite early on.

Whether you feel YouTube is overreacting in any of these cases or not isn’t the point here. The point is that in each of these cases, YouTube made significant changes—often without warning—that wiped out entire revenue streams overnight, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t happen again. So what’s the danger here?

The danger lies in your YouTube success reaching a point where you can afford to go full time, and rushing into it. Many people would happily scrape by as a YouTuber rather than make a comfortable wage doing a job they don’t like, but if you take that plunge before you are ready, and YouTube makes changes that hit your channel, you may find yourself in a very sticky situation.

How to Avoid This

First and foremost, don’t rush into a fulltime YouTube career. Be sure to weigh up your options properly, and discuss things with anyone who is likely to be affected by your decision, such as a partner you live with.

If you decide to take the leap, take your time with the transition. Try to build up a reserve of savings if you don’t already have one—at least enough money to cover a few months of living expenses—and the more, the better. That way, if things go wrong, you’ve got a bit breathing room to decide what your next move will be.

Going forward, always be on the lookout for ways to diversify your revenue streams. If you are getting your income from multiple sources, then the sudden disappearance of YouTube monetisation will not hit you as hard. Consider things like Patreon and merchandise sales. Brand deals are another way to monetise your videos without having to worry about what YouTube is planning.

Affiliate marketing can be a great long term source of income but can be a little confusing. I wrote a huge deep dive into affiliate marketing for beginners which will help you with everything you need to know about to

Personal Data

While not strictly a YouTube problem, the opportunities to inadvertently give away potentially damaging personal data as a YouTuber are greater—especially if you are or become popular.

The kinds of personal data we are talking about here include any information that could be used to commit fraud against you.

Let’s look at an example.

You know those security questions you often have to fill out? Things like “What was your mother’s maiden name?”, and, “What was the name of your first pet?”. If you use the real answers to those questions, and you happen to mention that bit of information in a video, you could be providing someone with a vital piece of the puzzle if they want to break into your accounts. It is easily done. After all—what’s the harm in mentioning that your first pet was a cat called Fluffy, right?

Another example of this kind of danger would be inadvertently showing a password or other sensitive information in your video. One example might be doing an unboxing video and having a clear shot of the address label. Another might be signing up for something in the video and typing a password in clear text that you use for other accounts.

How to Avoid This

Try to avoid the possibility of situations like those mentioned above happening in the first place. If you are doing an unboxing video, make sure any labels are covered up, that way you don’t have to worry about whether they end up in the shot.

The best way to prevent any of this from getting to your channel, of course, it a watchful eye in the editing process. If you don’t have an editing process, it might be time to develop one. Even if you only watch the video through to check for problems like this, you should always give your footage the once over before publishing. If nothing else it is a matter of quality control, but it also allows you to make absolutely sure you haven’t inadvertently filmed a clear shot of your credit card!

Personal Safety

We mentioned the word “sinister” earlier on in the post, and with good reason. It is an unfortunate reality of the human experience that there are deeply unpleasant people out there. These may be people you know from your real life, such as abusive family members or people who have a grudge against you, but the Internet has its fair share of unpleasant strangers as well.

It is one thing receiving a threat of physical violence from a stranger on the Internet when they know nothing about you, but it’s an entirely different prospect when that stranger has managed to piece together your home address from the information you’ve sprinkled throughout your videos. This is something that the popular YouTuber and Twitch streamer Sweet Anita has had to deal with recently. Her situation has progressed to the point that she even had to take a restraining order out against one unhinged individual who figured out where she lived and even moved to her town permanently.

Of course, this is an extreme example, but it is not nearly as uncommon as it should be, and while most threats of violence are just that—threats—it is something that every YouTuber should be aware of going in.

How to Avoid This

The kinds of people who behave like this are not particularly prone to reason, so there is no sense in attempting to moderate your content so as not to attract the attention of dangerous individuals.

Unfortunately, the only way to really protect against this kind of thing is to keep an airtight lockdown on your personal information. Don’t let any private information become public. Doing this means careful consideration of your actions outside of YouTube, but that’s where our next topic comes in…

Keeping Your Private Information Private

Okay, most of us know not to go sharing bank details through random links, and to use a password that isn’t easily guessable, but there are many ways to inadvertently give away your personal data that are not as obvious.

For example, when you register a domain name, the name and address you register it under is publicly available and easy to find unless you pay for domain privacy protection.

Another way you might not have considered is geotagged information. For example; location data on your pictures, or routes from your latest run. It can be very tempting to share your latest Strava personal best but have you considered what information your route gives away. If you started and finished at your home, that’s not going to take much deciphering. Still, any run in your local area will allow nefarious actors to narrow down your location.

Do you use your real name on YouTube and also have a LinkedIn profile that lists your current employer? What about pictures from your home where distinguishable landmarks are visible in the shot?

Of course, there is such a thing as being paranoid, and there is only so much you can reasonably do to keep yourself safe before it becomes more practical just to stop being on YouTube altogether. A significant portion of this is knowing the risks, even if you don’t plan to mitigate all of them.

Tips for Staying Safe

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this post, so we thought it would be nice to break down some of the more actionable tips for keeping yourself safe as a YouTuber.

This is not necessarily a “bare minimum” situation since every action you take should be subjectively judged on what is best for you, but these are some of the more fundamental aspects of YouTube safety. In other words, make sure you have a good reason for not doing any of the following.

Keep Your Residence Private

For most of us, our home is our set. Having a separate “studio” is a luxury that many can’t justify. Still, that doesn’t mean your home has to be recognisable.

Try to limit filming to areas where nothing distinguishable is around. For example, if you live in an apartment in New York with the Empire State Building behind you, avoid shooting with the window behind you.

Of course, it should go without saying that you shouldn’t give out your address.

Do Not Let Trackable Information Become Public

We have mentioned avoiding things like packing labels being visible in your video, but there are other ways information like that can get out. For example, if you accept packages from viewers, do not use your home address for the delivery of those packages. PO boxes may cost money, but they should be considered essential if you want to give your viewers a mailing address.

Consider using services like Google Voice instead of any landline phone numbers.

And, finally, while it may not seem like a big deal, consider keeping your birthday private, especially if your full name is public. A lot of information can be uncovered about someone with just their full name and a birthday.

Do Not Make Travel Plans Public

This tip is more of a general Internet safety tip, rather than a YouTube specific one, but announcing to the world that your house will be empty for two weeks is not a great plan.

Especially if you are a notable figure on YouTube. If you’ve handled yourself carefully, it won’t matter because no one will know your home address, but it’s better not to run the risk and come home to a ransacked house.

Google Yourself

We know it’s generally considered vain and narcissistic to Google your own name, but you will be doing it for a good reason. Your aim is to try and stalk yourself and see what you can find out.

Remember, unless you’re a cyber-security expert, the chances are there will be people out there who can find more than you can. So, if you manage to uncover personal information about yourself through a bit of intensive Googling, you can bet others can as well.

Use this information to shut down any leaks in your online privacy, and keep you and your loved ones safe.

Tags how to be a private youtuber, is being a youtuber safe, is it safe to be on youtube, is youtube safe, youtube privacy, youtuber privacy

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

YouTube 4K Vs 1080p

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 18 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTube 4K Vs 1080p

In what might seem like something of a contradiction, 1080p has, for a few years now, been considered both the bare minimum and the peak of quality for YouTube videos. Brought about mainly by the plummeting costs of hardware capable of recording in 1080p, it is generally considered inexcusable to upload a video at a lower resolution.

But at the same time, so few people are viewing YouTube at a higher resolution than 1080p that it becomes impractical to move to something more.

But something more is on the table, of course. 4K video has arrived, and its popularity is growing. But how does 4K compare to our old friend, 1080p? And what does it mean for the future of YouTube?

What is Resolution?

Let’s start with a crash course in the basics. Both 1080p and 4K are resolutions. Resolution—in the context of displays, such as your phone screen, or computer monitor—is the number of pixels that screen can fit. A pixel is a tiny dot of light that represents the smallest thing that can be drawn on the screen.

The larger the resolution, the more detail you can fit on your screen. Think of it in terms of trying to create a picture using a fine pencil vs using a broad paintbrush, but both are on the same size canvas. You can get considerably more detail into your picture with a fine-tipped pencil.

1080p, also known as “Full HD”, has been the standard resolution for monitors and televisions for a number of years now, and we’ve come to expect it as a minimum. Many people who mostly grew up around 1080p are shocked the first time they see 480p—the resolution that televisions used to display.

4K, so-called because it has nearly 4,000 horizontal pixels (it also has exactly 4x the number of pixels as 1080p, but that is just a coincidence), is next standard that television manufacturers are hanging their hat on.

There are resolutions in between the two—2K is a thing, for example—but it is 4K that has been picked to succeed 1080p as the standard.

What is the Difference Between 1080p and 4K

Let’s start with the resolution since we’ve just explained what that is. 1080p is 1920×1080. That’s 1920 pixels across and 1080 pixels down, and it is the 1080 pixels down that gives this resolution its name. The “p” stands for “progressive scan”, which means all the horizontal lines of the pixels are drawn in sequence.

This an alternative to interlaced video, where every other line is drawn first followed by the remaining lines to give the impression of a higher framerate. Smaller resolutions are also labelled this way, with 720p and 480p being the main two resolutions below 1080p that you will find in televisions.

Let’s just briefly touch on aspect ratios. This is the relative size of the horizontal edge of the display vs the vertical. So for a 4:3 display, there will be four horizontal pixels for every three vertical pixels. This is relevant because it is possible to have a 1080p display that is considerably wider than 1920 pixels across. For the purposes of this post, however, we’re going to be referring to 16:9 aspect ratios unless otherwise stated, as that is the most common ratio found in televisions and monitors. Now, about 4K.

4K, on the other hand, is 3840×2160. If you’re wondering why it is not labelled 2160p, it’s purely a market thing. “4K” sounds cooler. There is a commonly used resolution (in PC monitors, not televisions) in between 1080p and 4K, which goes by both 1440p and 2K, depending on the mood of the person talking about it.

The numbers tend not to look too impressive when laid out as horizontal and vertical counts, but when you total up the number of pixels on screen, the difference is a little more apparent. A 1080p screen holds 2,073,600 pixels. That’s a lot of pixels. However, a 4K display holds 8,294,400 pixels.

That’s quite a difference.

In terms of direct differences, that’s about the start and end of it. However, there are further differences that come as a natural result of that difference in resolution. For one thing, the bandwidth needed to stream 4K content is considerably higher than that of 1080p, something that is particularly relevant when we’re talking about YouTube 4K Vs 1080p. The amount scales as you’d expect. Where 1080p requires somewhere between 8-12 Mbps to stream, 4K requires 40-70 Mbps. This is particularly important for the next section.

Another difference due to the increased size of the video is the computing power it takes to edit 4K content. Video editing is an intensive process at the best of times, and making that video 4x bigger requires a capable machine.

4K Compression

Compression is a complicated topic that would take a post the size of this one all of its own and probably still not do the subject matter justice.

To simplify it down to something we can fit in one section, it involves replacing repetitive information with more efficient ways of storing that information. For example, if the top row of pixels in a 4K picture is entirely black, that’s 3,840 pixels-worth of information, but each pixel is identical.

Rather than storing every single pixel, a compression algorithm might store data for the first of those pixels that include the colour, but then it would state how many pixels it repeats for. Using a simple method like this, the nearly 3,840 bytes-worth (1 byte per pixel) of information required for that top row of pixels could be reduced to something more like 24 bytes.

That’s 160x less memory being used to store the same amount of information!

Of course, when we’re talking about video footage, it’s not that common to get large areas of identical pixels, and as a result, the compression algorithms are far more complex than the example we just gave. Still, it helps to illustrate what is going on. But why is this relevant to YouTube?

Well, YouTube is in the bandwidth game, big time. In 2019, 500 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube every minute, with over 250 million hours of video being watched every day. When you are dealing with that much bandwidth, even a tiny improvement in your compression algorithms can represent millions of dollars.

So, here’s the kicker. As you might have guessed from the woefully inadequate explanation of compression above, the busier a picture is, the less it can be compressed. In fact, if you had a frame of 4K video where every pixel was a different colour, it would be impossible to compress it without losing information. Now, 4K captures a lot of detail, and for the most part, a lot of that detail goes unnoticed. YouTube knows this, and so they tweak their compression algorithms to be a little more… keen.

If there is only a relatively small difference between two pixels, such as you might get from film grain, then it won’t make a noticeable difference to the video, but it could save an extra megabyte of bandwidth per frame. When you consider that a typical video will have at least 24 frames per second—with some videos being as high as 60 frames per second—you can see why YouTube might be willing to sacrifice a little of that detail.

Size Matters… With Your Screen

There is a thing called “pixel density” which refers to the number of pixels in a physical area and is measured in “pixels per inch”, or PPI. To understand what this represents in practice, imagine an iPad-like device with a 1080p resolution. Now consider a standard 21″ computer monitor with the same resolution.

Both devices are displaying the exact same number of pixels, but one of them is packing those pixels into a much smaller space. The higher the PPI, the more pixels there are crammed in, and the clearer the image looks.

There is a point, however, where pixel density becomes so great that the human eye is no longer capable of discerning the increased detail. This translates to a little over 300ppi. What that means, in practical terms, is that once you get above that threshold, there is no benefit to increasing it further, as our eyes literally cannot tell the difference.

As we’ve established, 4K has around 4x the number of pixels that 1080p has. This means that the critical pixel density we mentioned, where the human eye stops being able to tell the difference, is on a screen size of around 13″ for 4K, but is down to 6.5″ for 1080p.

What does this mean for YouTubers? Well, mobile phones—which often have screens between five and six inches—are the most popular way to consume YouTube content. That means that the majority of YouTube videos are watched on devices where there is no benefit to being in 4K since the viewer can’t tell the difference visually. Furthermore, only a tiny portion of computers running a 4K resolution are currently active on the Internet, meaning that of the people looking at a big enough screen to do 4K justice, the vast majority of them are not using a screen capable of displaying 4K content at all.

Recording 1080p Vs Recording 4K

What about recording video? By now, 1080p is ubiquitous in the sense that it is difficult to buy a device that doesn’t support 1080p.

Even budget webcams offer 1080p, and phones have long since moved beyond that barrier. 4K, on the other hand, may require you to buy a specific device (though you might already have one capable of recording in 4K).

It also requires more effort in setting up your recording space, more time spent encoding and uploading, and more power in your computer to edit that enormous video file.

YouTube 4K Vs 1080p

When you factor everything in, 4K begins to look like a lot of extra work for not much reward. Still, when comparing it to 1080p, there is little argument to be made against it in terms of quality.

While our eyes may have maxed out when it comes to mobile phone screens, computer monitors and TVs still have plenty of room to expand, and it is here where 4K YouTube content will make the most difference.

We can’t, in all seriousness, recommend that you take any difficult steps to move to 4K at this moment in time, but there will come a time when it is a necessary move. And, given that YouTube automatically scales video down to suit the device, there’s no downside to uploading 4K content if you can.

But if you can’t, and if you’re not thrilled about the idea of investing more time and money in your channel at this stage, don’t worry about it. 1080p will do just fine for now.

Maybe you are a youtuber and you want to know if uploading in 4K vs 1080p is better for YouTube? I have a deep dive into this and youll be surpised how much impact it could have on your views.

Finally, there is the issue of streaming. Internet speeds may be increasing all the time, but many homes don’t have a fast enough connection to stream 4K content, and certainly not at higher frame rates.

For reference, here are the different standard resolutions broken down.

Resolution	Up to 30FPS	Up to 60FPS
2160p (4k) 3840×2160	35-45 Mbps	53-68 Mbps
1440p (2k) 2560×1440	16 Mbps	24 Mbps
1080p (Full HD) 1920×1080	8 Mbps	12 Mbps
720p (Std HD) 1280×720	5 Mbps	7.5 Mbps
480p (DVD) 720×480	4 Mbps	4 Mbps

Conclusions

4K represents something of an inevitability for YouTubers. Even if the majority of viewers didn’t care, PC gaming and television sales are bringing 4K displays into the mainstream, and once people have 4K, they typically want to use it.

Whether this represents any kind of significant opportunity to find new subscribers through providing that 4K content at a time when there isn’t much of it will remain to be seen. But it is undoubtedly something of a unique feather for your cap.

As for switching to 4K, there’s no rush. If moving to 4K for you would be a frictionless affair, it is certainly worth doing. As mentioned above, YouTube will scale your videos down when needed, so the only reason not to go to 4K is the added costs and inconvenience to you. If those inconveniences don’t worry you, make the switch. You’ll be giving your channel a certain amount of prestige while also future-proofing your content for such a time when 4K does become the standard resolution. When this happens, you will not only be providing 4K content for your viewers, you will be established as a channel which provides 4K content.

And, when you’re all set up and producing stunning 4K content for your YouTube channel, you can begin planning for the next big thing—8K

Tags 4k, 4k video, 4k vs 1090p, 4k vs hd, youtube 4k, youtube hd

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8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Zero

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 12 July 2020
1 Comment on 8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Zero

8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Scratch or Zero 13

Growing a YouTube channel from scratch can be challenging and frustrating.

All that time, planning, recording, and editing content, and when you finally upload it to your channel – tumbleweeds. You may as well have filmed paint drying for all the good it’s done you!

Fear not. There are techniques and tips for growing your channel from zero. Methods you can use to pull in viewers, get more subscribers, and turn those tumbleweeds into roses.

This article gives you eight handy tips you can apply today to grow your YouTube channel, even if you’re starting out from zero.

Let’s get going.

Tip 1 – Make A Start!

To grow a successful YouTube channel from zero means you have to shoot, edit, and upload engaging, entertaining videos regularly.

Thinking about your channel is not the path to success, you need to sit in front of the camera, hit record, and start talking.

You won’t know if you are on the right track for your channel until you’ve uploaded several videos to YouTube, monitored feedback, and made optimised changes to your content.

And don’t worry if you are not that polished at the start. If you take a look at the earliest videos of now successful channels, you’ll see how rough and they were when they first began.

Uploading videos regularly is an absolutely critical step. The crucial factor of feedback comes in several forms; likes and dislikes, comments, and some vital analytics found in your YouTube account.

When you find out what works, you can use the information to make better videos.

But when you start out, resist the temptation to go on a filming frenzy pumping out one video after another. Think about the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

Long term consistency wins over unsustainable short term intensity every time. Slow and steady progress is much better.

Tip 2 – Focus Your Channel on a Single Niche

YouTube channels that jump from topic to topic often confuse people. Viewers are used to channels being about one subject only. So make sure that you make videos that focus around one niche and compliment other content in your channel.

For example, If you like both football and scary videos create a separate channel for each. But if your channel is about beauty, then it’s OK to have videos for nail polish, hair, or skin cleansing, as they all fit under the beauty umbrella.

One of the significant benefits of making your channel about a single niche is the possibility of building viewer feedback loops. That may sound complicated but actually refers to how YouTube works to keep viewers hooked on the site and watching more videos.

As a user watches content, YouTube shows a list of recommended videos (even autoplay them) to keep viewers hooked. YouTube wants to keep people on the site and is good at guessing what a viewer wants to watch next.

If your channel is all about a single niche, then you can take advantage of this.

When a viewer is watching one of my videos, YouTube determines that the user will probably want to see more videos about YouTube education. So other videos from my channel are displayed for them to watch next.

Tip 3 – Model What Is Already Working

Learn the rules of what makes a video successful and stick to them. Over time, through trial and error, Youtubers have learned how to best combine content, editing and presenting styles into winning videos. Model your self on a popular channel and don’t get experimental – understand the rules before you break them.

Emulating a successful channel does not mean copying one though. This famous quote illustrates the point nicely.

Find 10 popular channels currently uploading in your chosen niche. Next, look at the 10 most popular videos for each of those channels and start writing down a list of content ideas. Just because the concepts have already been covered doesn’t mean you can’t take the same idea then do a better job.

Think about how those channels present their content. Is most of the presenting face on, or maybe they have footage of their hands from overhead? Perhaps they have lots of computer screen recordings?

Take the best bits of the successful channels, mix them together, then put your own spin on it.

And you must try to make evergreen content. Evergreen content is videos that will be relevant for a long time in the future. Your aim should be to build up an extensive back catalogue of content that viewers find useful and compelling, even when they discover your channel a year from now.

If you made a gossip style video about the latest spat between your two favourite singers, you might get a short-term spike in traffic. Still, no-one will care in a year when everyone’s moved on.

Most YouTube videos fall into one of two categories – education and entertainment. If you can manage to do both, even better.

Tip 4 – Work Out How to Keep People Watching for Longer

YouTube makes money when viewers watch adverts. So YouTube strives to keep audiences watching content for as long a possible. It follows then that a significant factor for YouTube in deciding how to rank and recommend videos is by a metric called watch time.

Most people won’t watch a video on YouTube all the way through. There are too many distractions nowadays, and attention spans are at an all-time low. So YouTube wants viewers to watch videos that are proven to hold their attention.

As a result, they serve up search results and video recommendations from channels with proven good watch times.

There are steps you can take to keep your viewers tuned into your content, and you’ll probably recognise a lot of them from your YouTube browsing. Everyone uses them because they work and play a big part in keeping viewers engaged.

Keep Intros short and sweet. Try to keep your intro screen and any welcome message under 20 seconds.

Signpost content in longer videos. If your content is over 10 minutes, think about telling people what’s coming up in the next segment to keep them hooked in.

Tease the most compelling part of your video. Place the highlight of your video towards the end, but let the viewer know what’s coming and why they must watch the whole video first.

If you can get 50 percent of your viewers to watch over 50 percent of your videos on average, then you will be doing well, and your channel could be on its way to success.

Tip 5 – Create Clickable Titles and Thumbnails

Your channel can only start to grow if people watch your videos. Yet, people will only watch your video if you have a snappy title and a compelling thumbnail for it. Let’s take a more in-depth look at both.

Titles

Your titles need to present a promise to the viewer, usually in one of the three following categories:

Intrigue – Don’t give the game away with your title, use phrases like ‘why was this’ and ‘might surprise you’ to build a compelling reason to click on your video.

FOMO – Fear of missing out. This usually works best with new information. This type of title plays on the human desire not to be out of the loop. Or even better, know something that no-one else knows.

Best Top Worst! – Another peculiar human trait is our need to rank things. Everyone does it. From Tennis players to chocolate cookies, we all have an opinion or would like to find out what is best, top, or worst.

Don’t use a title like ‘My favourite digital cameras’ – ‘The top 10 DSLRs ranked definitively and which one you should buy?’ will outperform it every time.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails need to be amazing too. It’s the shop window for your video. You’ll usually want to include a picture of yourself on the thumbnail, especially if you are going to be presenting on camera.

Add in text too – some people are more visual and won’t read your title. A short four or five-word headline that summarises the video helps people narrow down what to watch next. Avoid using fonts with fancy styles and keep your text clean and clear, so it’s easy to read.

Make sure you keep all the elements of your thumbnail big. Don’t forget that people also watch YouTube on mobile, so your thumbnail will still need to work on smaller smartphone screens.

If you need help in leveling up your thumbnails I have check you my YouTube Thumbnail Pack – 75+ easy edit YouTube Thumbnail designs to help you make eye catching, professional looking thumbnails – improve click through rates and get more views.

Tip 6 – Optimise Your Content Based on Analytics

70% of all the videos watched on YouTube are those recommended by the YouTube algorithm. YouTube understands what engages viewers and knows what videos to recommend next to keep them on the platform.

One of the significant factors for getting your videos recommended is how long the average viewer watches your content. Known as Watch Time, it’s an important metric that you should understand and keep a close eye on.

To improve average watch time, use audience retention analysis. This metric shows second-by-second when your audience stops watching your video. In the screen-grab below you can see the audience starts at 100% then quickly drops off to just around 55%.

This means that the video in question may have had a lengthy introduction that viewers found annoying, or the content didn’t live up to the promise of the title. So some users navigated away to find another video.

There are lots of ways you can use analytics to improve and grow your channel. Read this post to find out more about using analytics for channel growth.

Tip 7 – Build Traffic Funnels

When you start getting traffic to your channel, there are several ways to hold on to that traffic and funnel it to your other videos. It’s better than letting to go to other channels, right?

Create a series.

If you have a content idea that is relatively broad, think about creating a series of videos for the topic, like in the example below for a Microsoft Teams software tutorial.

As long as you don’t give away the lion’s share of the information in the first video, viewers are more likely to watch the next in the series. Set up teasers about what’s in the following video in the series to help funnel the traffic over.

Make sure that the content in a series of videos works on a standalone basis as well. Briefly recap the lessons from previous videos before you begin the content of the next in the series, so viewers know the context.

Create Playlists

If you don’t have content that works as a series but has a similar theme, consider building a channel playlist. 5-Minute Crafts’s channel has thematic playlists containing hundreds of videos with hours of watch time in each.

When a view hits play all, Youtube shows one video after another on the playlist – ensuring good watch time (and ad revenue).

Use Cards

Cards are the term given to grey boxes you can set to display in the corner of your video.

You can use cards to link to other channels, websites, or polls. But, perhaps the best use for them is to link to your other video content.

If you found a place in one of your videos that your audience retention analytics showed some viewers dropping out. Set up a card just before this point to funnel the traffic to other complementary content on your channel.

Find out more about adding cards in YouTube Studio.

Use End screens

When a viewer gets to the end of your video, use an end screen to promote another video. It’s best if you only suggest one video. Having a single call-to-action is better than adding multiple links to lots of your videos and hoping the viewer clicks one.

This tip works even better if you plan ahead. Trail the video you will link to in the end screen of the video you’ll place it on.

Find out how to add and end screen.

Tip 8 – Don’t Give Up!

It takes time and dedication to build up a successful YouTube channel. And when you get started, it can seem like you are trying really hard for little reward. YouTube is peppered with channels where the creator burned out and stopped after only uploading six or seven videos.

There is a concept for entrepreneurs that is illustrated by the ‘S’ curve. When a new venture begins, frustration builds as little happens. And it’s not uncommon to think that you’ve wasted your time and everything is destined to fail.

But there comes the point, known as the inflection point, where things start clicking into place. Suddenly the venture rockets away, and it becomes successful.

8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Scratch or Zero 12 — Image Source: innospective.net

Most people quit before the inflection point, which is why it pays to stick with your plan and keep on working hard. Commit yourself to upload at least a video per week for six months.

Monitor feedback from the comments and analytics and use it to improve and make better videos. Don’t give up!

Conclusion

Growing a successful YouTube channel isn’t easy – but it’s not impossible either. Those that are successful know that achieving success takes time. It requires careful planning, listening to feedback, and interpreting channel analytics.

There are tried and tested techniques you can use to attract and keep viewers watching your videos.

Experiment using the tips above in your videos, and see what difference it can make to your channel. There are tens of thousands of people making a living from YouTube. Will you become one of them?

Tags Grow a YouTube Channel, grow a youtube channel from scratch, how to grow a youtube channel from scratch, how to grow on youtube, how to grow youtube channel, how to grow youtube channel from zero, youtube, youtube channel grow

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YouTube Analytics Explained And How to Use Them for Channel Growth

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 10 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTube Analytics Explained And How to Use Them for Channel Growth

There are over five billion videos on YouTube. So, if you’ve been creating videos with clickbait titles in the hope of going viral, you may as well buy a lottery ticket – it’s no plan for channel growth.

Growing a YouTube channel is a long-term venture. Best achieved by regularly uploading quality videos that give your audience more of what they are looking for.

When you are trying to grow, it’s natural to want to compare yourself to other channels, but resist the temptation! YouTube channels exist in viewer bubbles – it’s your unique combination of content, presentation and production values that keeps your viewers watching.

But you don’t nail it every time. So how do you figure out what it is your audience likes most about your channel? Sure you can keep an eye on your likes, dislikes, and comments, but these don’t give you the full picture.

Fortunately, YouTube provides you with a sharper view, with lots of in-depth analytics about your channel.

This post looks at how you can use your analytics to better understand your audience and how you then use that knowledge to grow your channel. First, though, it’s crucial to know how YouTube ranks videos and why clickbait doesn’t work.

How YouTube Ranks Videos

Before 2012, YouTube ranked videos based solely on view count. It didn’t matter if a viewer watched one second or five minutes, both counted as a view.

This led to an increase in YouTubers using clickbait titles to try and game the system. YouTube had to do something – video content frequently wasn’t delivering on the promise of the title.

So after 2012, Youtube added in watch time and session duration to its ranking algorithm, resulting in an improvement of content quality. Today, YouTube also puts ranking weight on how engaged viewers are with content. Relying on things like watch time, likes and dislikes, and subscribes, amongst other factors.

YouTube wants to keep users on the platform, consuming content and viewing paid advertisements.

And did you know that 70% of all videos viewed on YouTube are those suggested by the YouTube ranking algorithm? If you want to grow your channel and appear more in the YouTube recommended video lists, then you need to find out what parts of your content users like most, and plan more of it.

But, before you use your analytics to make content decisions, make sure you have uploaded a minimum of 20-30 videos. Data on only five or six videos will not be helpful enough to draw conclusions from. So if you have only uploaded a few videos so far, first work on recording and uploading more videos.

Where to Find YouTube Analytics

To access your analytics, first, log in to your YouTube account. Next in the top right of the screen, click on the small circle showing your profile picture or first initial. Then, from the drop-down menu, select ‘YouTube Studio’.

When the channel dashboard loads, on the left-hand menu, select ‘Analytics’.

The main Analytics screen then loads.

How to Use YouTube Video Views Analytics.

You may think you know what your audience wants. But, until you see how viewers actually interact with your channel, you can’t be totally sure. To start the process on the main analytics screen, make sure you have the ‘Views’ tab selected and click ‘see more’.

This loads up a more detailed list of your videos and some headline analytics. First, make sure that you have all the ‘lifetime’ data of your channel showing by selecting the data function in the top right corner of the screen.

Then from the drop-down list, select the ‘Lifetime’ option, which will show all the analytics data from the time your channel started.

Next sort your videos in descending order of views so that your most-watched videos are at the top.

Use this list to gauge what your audience likes about your channel. Figure out why your popular videos are doing better than ones that fell flat. See if there’s a pattern. Are your most popular videos a hot topic? Maybe useful tutorials or when you live streams.

Whatever the reason, the content of those videos is the kind that your channel viewers find most compelling. Look for these trends then aim to make more videos like them.

For example, I made a video about how to make a playlist on YouTube which was well received. When my analytics showed me how popular it was, I created another one, this time showing three ways to make a playlist.

YouTube Impressions and Click-Through Rates Explained.

In the same analytics section as Video Views, further along there are two other columns titled ‘impressions’ and ‘impressions click-through rates’.

These data in those columns indicate:

Impressions. The number of times a video thumbnail has been seen, either from a search or by YouTube suggestion.

Impressions click-through rate. The percentage of times a viewer saw your thumbnail and clicked on it to watch your video.

Now, say that your click-through rate is 2%, if you can get that up to 4% then you will double your video viewers. So the impressions and impressions click-throughs measure how good your thumbnail and titles are.

Re-order your click-through rate column, again by descending order, and take a look at your best performing titles and thumbnails. What makes the top ones stand out from other titles and thumbnails? Perhaps a thumbnail was well composed, or it could be the title was snappy.

Use this feedback to improve your existing thumbnails and titles, then use what you’ve learned when you create them for your new content too.

If you need help getting started with Thumbnails, why not check out my Thumbnail Pack where I give you 75+ easy to edit psd template files to help you level up your thumbnail game and get more views!

Use Your YouTube Subscribers Analytics to Plan Content

Now let’s take a look at subscriber analytics and how you can use them to grow your channel. In the same ‘see more’ section you used for the video view count locate the column headed ‘Subscribers’.

Make sure the time period is showing the lifetime data again and order the data in descending order.

Follow the same process as before and examine the top videos to see what the common factors were. Did they have a certain length, content topic, or presenting style? Maybe you made a request or showed an extended caption asking viewers to subscribe in a different way to your other videos.

Whatever the factor, plan new content that replicates it. Whether it’s similar, updated, or complimentary, the analytics are telling you that certain content you make turns a section of your viewers into subscribers. Do it again.

If you make a successful video about knitting a jumper, make one for knitting a hoodie. If you made one showing how to find a weapon in a game, make one for how to use it.

YouTube Watch Time – The Most Important Metric?

Of course, views and subscribers are essential to understand. But an arguably more important metric for YouTube is watch time. Watch time is an estimation of total hours spent by viewers watching your videos.

On the main analytics screen, select the tab showing ‘Watch time (hours) then select ‘see more’ at the bottom.

As I mentioned earlier, YouTube ranks videos, in part, by how long viewers watch videos. Why do they do this? Because it demonstrates how engaging and useful your videos are to your viewers.

It makes sense when you understand that YouTube’s entire business model is to keep people viewing content and adverts on their platform. It follows then, that channels which get good overall watch time are more likely to show up for searches, or in a selection of videos that YouTube recommends.

So, if you are getting click-throughs and good view counts, but people aren’t watching many hours of your videos then (there is no way to sugar coat this) you need to make better videos.

Fortunately, YouTube offers data you can use to see precisely when viewers stopped watching your video; audience retention.

YouTube Audience Retention Metric Explained

The audience retention metric is shown as a percentage figure. If you upload a ten-minute video and your audience, on average, watches five minutes, then you’ll have an audience retention measure of 50%.

Select one of your videos to view the analytics screen shown below, then click ‘see more’ in the audience retention section.

As you can see, in the graph below, audience retention starts at 100% and over time gradually drops off as viewers stop watching the video. In the example below the overall retention rate is 30.4%

You can play your video and watch as it tracks along the graph so you can see what you were doing at the time when viewers stopped watching.

Did you lose a lot of viewers when your content got a bit dry or technical? Maybe you had a section you felt was amusing but turned your viewers off?

This is a powerful tool. It gives you feedback on what works and doesn’t work. You can use it to help you plan future content and give your audience more of what they want.

Also, did you notice the bump in the graph?

How can audience retention go up if viewers have gone away? This bump tells you that viewers are coming back to rewatch a portion of your video. Whatever you were doing at that part of the video is clearly of value to your audience, so it’s a good idea to do more similar content.

Conclusion

Getting to grips with your analytics shouldn’t be as scary as it sounds. Once you understand what they represent and how you can use them to understand your viewers, you’ll probably find yourself hooked on them.

And we’ve only scratched the surface here. There are lots of other metrics in your analytics that help you make better videos. There are also analytics for things like audience demographics and YouTube features like cards.

Explore the entire analytics section to see what other metrics you can use to fuel YouTube channel growth.

If you need more help to stand out, optimise and brand your videos better – check out my resources page where I list everything I use to grow my channel.

Tags analytics, how to use youtube analytics, How to Use YouTube Analytics for Channel Growth, youtube, youtube analytics, youtube analytics explained

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

How Much of a Song Can You Use on YouTube Without Copyright?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 4 July 2020

Music is a powerful tool in video editing. It can add emphasis, emotional impact, and generally change the whole tone of a scene or clip. There is a wealth of free music available, of course.

YouTube itself has a significant library of free-to-use music that you can choose from. But there are times when royalty-free music won’t do.

Whether you’re reviewing songs or you just need a particular song for your content, you’ll no doubt be aware of the minefield that is copyrighted music. You may even be aware of fair use, but don’t worry if you’re not; we’re going to get into all of that soon.

Most YouTubers are aware that you can’t just grab copyrighted music (or any content, for that matter) and put it in your video. At least, not without inevitable consequences. At best you will lose your ability to monetize that video, at worst you will get a copyright strike against your channel, and enough of those will lose your channel entirely!

So, how much of a song can you use on YouTube without copyright coming to bite you in the backside? – The short answer is none! You will need a buy a license to use popular tracks or will need to enter into revenue shares with some artists if they are part of the YouTube Audio Library. If you want music in your videos it is best to use royalty free services or make your own music.

The answer more honest answer is, it complicated – so if you’re with us, we’re about to dive a little deeper.

What is “Fair Use”?

As we’re about to get into a subject matter that strays a little close to legal advice, we must stress that is emphatically not legal advice.

Always seek the advice of a qualified law professional before doing anything that might potentially land you in legal trouble. Now, with that out of the way, let’s get into what fair use is.

Fair use is the name given to the use of copyrighted material in some instances where the use is limited or transformative. You may be wondering what “transformative” means, and you wouldn’t be alone. Inordinate amounts of money have been spent trying to find a clear definition of what constitutes transformative but to no avail.

Established examples of a transformative use of copyrighted material include commentary and criticism, such as news programs showing clips of something accompanied by commentary about that thing. Another example is parody videos.

There is a common myth or misunderstanding that you are allowed to use a certain amount of copyrighted content—a few seconds, say—and you will be protected by fair use. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Fair use covers how copyrighted content is used, not the amount of it.

While it is highly unlikely, it is theoretically possible that the use of copyrighted material in its entirety could be protected by fair use. It would be tough to justify, of course, and the less of a piece of copyrighted material you use, the easier it is to claim that you are using it for transformative means, rather than just stealing it.

It is here that the myth of using only a few seconds comes from; most successful examples of fair use on YouTube are short clips, but the shortness is not what makes them a successful example of fair use. We’ll get more into what these successful examples look like shortly.

To avoid falling into dangerous waters I always use licensing companies like LickD – I pay a small fee per track and know I am covered from all the legal potholes. Go check LickD out, they have a wide selection of popular song and chart music on their website and you can even get one track free!

Fair Use is Not Protection

The main trap people fall into when dealing with fair use is in thinking that it is some kind of protection against copyright claims or lawsuits, but this is not the case.

Fair use is a defence, not a protection. There is no one-size-fits-all application of fair use that a company like YouTube could apply to your usage of copyrighted material. As such, fair use is decided on a case-by-case basis…

…in court.

Yes, unfortunately, the only way to prove you are using copyrighted content within the remit of fair use is by going to court and having them agree with you. And, unless you have a lot of spare cash and time on your hands, the only way that is likely to happen is if you get sued by a copyright holder. Not ideal.

An unfortunate side effect of this is that large copyright holders tend to bludgeon smaller entities with copyright take-downs, knowing full well that the average YouTuber will not have the means to challenge the claim on a legal footing. Combine this with increasingly automated copyright infringement detection employed by YouTube, and you have a scenario in which it is very difficult to use copyrighted content in any capacity.

There are even instances of YouTubers creating cover versions of popular songs using household objects—such as couch cushions and doors—getting copyright claims against them by the owner of the song they are covering.

If you are struggling for places to find free to use and completely safe music – I made a deep dive video on all the places you can find music for free online.

How Much of a Song Can You Use on YouTube Without Copyright Issues?

Now that we’ve taken a deeper dive into how fair use works, we hope it makes more sense when we tell you that the answer to how much of a song you can use without copyright problems is, practically speaking, none.

The reason we say this is because the music industry is particularly aggressive when it comes to protecting its intellectual property. They are not interested in the fair use arguments and will go after any use of their music that they become aware of. Couple that with YouTube’s automated copyright infringement detection, and you have a situation where any attempt to use copyrighted music will likely get flagged.

If the infringement exists (that is, the copyright holder attributed does, in fact, own the copyright to the material in your video), then your only recourse would be to take that copyright holder to court.

It would be extremely unlikely to reach a point where the copyright holder would take you to court, however, as YouTube has plenty of mechanisms in place to protect their interests. From monetizing your video and sending them the proceeds, to removing your channel from the platform entirely.

YouTube will not allow you to infringe copyright continually, so it would take an extremely keen legal department at some music label to see you in taken to court before YouTube resolves the issue for them.

Examples of Fair Use

Copying works across a variety of different mediums, including broadcast, is permitted when the use is for examination or instruction, in an academic or industry setting, as long as it meets certain guidelines. Obviously, this is unlikely to apply to your average YouTuber.

An example more relevant to YouTube, however, is using copyrighted content for quotation, critique, or review. Of course, if you post an entire album with little to no commentary, you will struggle to make an argument for fair use. The amount of copyrighted content should be quite limited, and only just enough to get whatever point you are trying to make across.

Other criteria for this kind of fair use include the copyrighted material being publicly available and the source of the content being acknowledged

You can also use copyrighted material of reporting current news, though the situations in which copyrighted music would fit into this category are rare.

Parody, as we mentioned earlier, is also a form of fair use, but this is another area where the boundaries for what constitutes parody are far from clear. Any borderline case may need to be tested in court to receive any kind of definitive decision on the matter.

The final example of fair use involves text and data mining, which clearly doesn’t have any bearing on a discussion about using music in YouTube videos.

Can You Use Music in YouTube Videos at All?

There are certainly situations where you could use music—even copyrighted music—in your YouTube videos. If you were to obtain the permission of the copyright holder, for instance, you would be legally allowed to use that music as long as you stuck to whatever terms you agreed, of course.

As we mentioned earlier, there is also non-copyrighted music or music with an open license such as Creative Commons. YouTube provides an impressive library of such music for the very reason of helping YouTubers make their content without falling afoul of copyright strikes. Remember, they want you to succeed.

Finally, you could, of course, use your own music. If you make music and you have not given the rights to that music to anyone else, you are free to do with it as you please.

Should I Use Copyrighted Music in my YouTube Videos?

The only truly safe option when considering using music in your YouTube videos is to use royalty-free music that is licensed for commercial use.

The commercial aspect is important even if you do not monetize your videos, because you may decide to monetize them someday, and, in any case, some people may disagree with your idea of commercial. They may even be wrong, but you don’t want to have to go to court to prove that.

If you can get permission for the music you should be okay to use it in theory, however, it is worth noting that YouTube’s copyright infringement detection is something of a firehose when it comes to seeking out violations.

There are many examples in the past of YouTubers going to great lengths to obtain permission to use copyrighted material, only to have YouTube flag it as a violation.

In some case, copyright holders themselves have fallen afoul of this system. It has not been uncommon for YouTubers who are part of a content network upload a video of one of their own songs on a private channel and get flagged for copyright because their song was initially played on the content network’s channel.

It is far from a perfect system.

What Happens if I Get Caught Using Copyrighted Music?

The consequences vary depending on things like if you are a repeat offender, or how the copyright holder wants to handle the situation. If you are caught infringing copyright, and it is your first time, you will likely just receive a strike against your account. Enough of these strikes, however, and your account could be removed entirely.

In some cases, the copyright holder will opt to leave your video alone, but monetize it and claim the earnings. In those cases, you will not be able to monetize your video yourself, even if the offending music only makes up a small portion of your video. Unfortunately, this is a risk you will have to accept if you want to use copyrighted music.

As mentioned above, it is unlikely you would ever see a courtroom from infringing copyright on YouTube. But, as mentioned even further above, nothing in this post should be considered legal advice. The fact that it is unlikely that you will end up in court should not be seen as a guarantee that you will not end up in court.

Conclusions

The world of YouTube copyright is a bit of a minefield when it comes to knowing exactly what you can and can’t do.

The only way to be genuinely risk-free is only ever to use royalty-free music that is licensed for commercial use. Any time you use copyrighted material, even if it is as clear cut fair use as it gets, could see you receiving copyright strikes against your channel, or worse.

If you do have to use copyrighted music, however, remember the guidelines for what constitutes fair use. Only use the absolute minimum of copyrighted music required to get your point across. Make sure the focus of the video is not the content.

Even with some additional commentary, if the point of the video is very clearly just to listen to the music, it will not be considered fair use.

But, most importantly, remember that fair use is not a protection against legal action. If a copyright holder gets a bee in their bonnet about your use of their music and decides to get the lawyers out, you will not be able to hide behind fair use.

You will need to go to court and convince a judge that your use of the content was fair use. It may not be a likely scenario, but it is one you will have to consider if you insist on using copyrighted music in your videos.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Post feature image by Richard Clyborne of Music Strive

Tags fair use, fair use on youtube, how much, how to use music on youtube, music, music copyright, music fair use, use music on youtube, youtube fait use, youtube music, youtube music copyright

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE YOUTUBE

Should I Start a New YouTube Channel or Keep My Old One?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 27 June 2020
1 Comment on Should I Start a New YouTube Channel or Keep My Old One?

Building a successful brand is not an easy process, and doing it right often takes time. There are ways to buy subscribers, but any YouTuber who knows their business will tell you that buying subs is a shortcut to failure.

Unfortunately, building an audience organically takes time, so when you get the itch to start something new, it’s understandable to wonder whether you should use an existing channel if you have one, or start entirely from scratch.

Should I Start A New YouTube Channel Or Keep My Old One?

If you are looking to wildly change the type of content on your channel and the channel was inactive, it could be easier to rebrand and keep the channel. If the channel still gets lots of views and has a subscriber base it maybe best to start a new separate channel.

There’s no clear yes or no answer to this question, however. The best course of action for your situation will differ significantly from that of another YouTuber.

In other words, we can’t tell you which way to go, but we can help you make that decision – lets walk you through your options.

Channel Merging

The first and easiest situation to judge is when you have an existing and active channel, and you are considering starting some new content while still producing your original videos.

If your new content is in the same—or at least very close to—the niche your existing content is in, you should consider sticking with your current channel. As mentioned above, building a new audience is hard, and if your new content is similar enough to your existing content, there’s no sense in going through that process again.

On the other hand, if your new content is significantly different from your existing content, you could damage your channel’s discoverability by muddying its focus. If YouTube can’t make a clear decision over what your channel is about, it is less likely to recommend it to viewers, which is obviously less than ideal.

Repurposing Old Disused Channels

So, you have a channel from a previous project that you don’t use anymore? You wouldn’t be the first one.

If that channel has some leftover subscribers, it makes sense that you’d want to use it that rather than starting again. After all, they are your subscribers who you worked hard to gain.

This can work to your advantage, but again, it depends on your situation. If you just want the subscriber numbers, then it should be fine. If you are looking to build a meaningful, engaged audience, then using a channel with existing subscribers will not help.

Subscribers who are subscribed to your old channel won’t necessarily be interested in your new content. And any notifications YouTube gives may only serve to remind the viewer to unsubscribe as they are no longer interested in your content.

That being said, there is no real harm to re-using an old channel. You may find those original subscribers falling away, but it shouldn’t be a hindrance to you from gaining new subscribers.

Divergent Content

Something that happens to many YouTubers—particularly after long periods on the platform—is the organic divergence of your content into multiple distinct things. A typical example of this would be setting up a second channel to post vlogs to, or behind the scenes content of the videos from your main channel.

In these cases, you will need to weigh up the popularity of this additional content.

If it is significant enough to warrant its own channel, then go for it! If hardly anyone watches them, however, it may make more sense to keep them where they are.

Rebranding Your Existing Channel

Sometimes there is no new or extra content. It’s human nature to want to change things up every so often, and YouTubers are just as prone to this as anyone.

If you feel the urge to rebrand your channel, whether it is a considered and researched move or a whim, plain and simple, then whether you should start over with your channel depends on your current channel’s status.

If you have problems with that channel, such as copyright strikes (see below) or you have found yourself with a toxic subscriber base that you would rather distance yourself from, then a new channel would be an excellent option.

When I wanted to keep my channel and give it a face-lift I needed a new channel banner, end-screen and flashy intro. I am not the best with graphic design so I used PlaceIt to make them for me. They offer easy to edit templates from free to as little as $15 – go check out their website and give your channel a new look to wow your subscribers.

Reviving a Dead Channel

It doesn’t have to be a tale of two channels, of course. Perhaps you have an old channel that you abandoned for one reason or another but have since become reignited by the premise of that channel. In this case, the situation is mostly the same as mentioned in the above scenarios.

If your old channel is in good standing, you could look to reboot it, bringing in new viewers and getting things off the ground once more. If your channel has a spotty history, it might be best to leave that history behind.

Another thing to think about is your channel’s reputation with consistency. YouTube viewers like consistency; they like to know their favorite YouTubers are putting weekly or monthly videos out. And if you have a channel that started strong and then went radio silent for a long time, your viewers may be skeptical about whether any rebrand attempt will last.

Buying a Channel

The vast majority of the time, this should fall into the same bin as buying subscribers. It is possible to purchase channels that already have subscribers and a history behind them.

These can come in two primary flavors;

Legitimate channels that are no longer wanted
Channels that were created just to sell

With the latter, there will almost never be a case where this is a good idea. Subs for channels like this are typically unfocused. They will not translate into any kind of meaningful audience as their interests in no way align with whatever the channel was purported to be about.

On the other hand, you might be considering a legitimate channel in which the owner has decided to quit and is selling their channel. While subscribers on a channel like this will have matching interests with each other, you will need to find a channel with a similar niche to yours if you hope to translate that purchase to viewers of your own directly.

Other Things to Consider

There are some other things to consider that apply regardless of the state of your existing channel, or how the content of that channel compares to your new idea.

Is There Anything to Save?

If an old channel is completely dead; no subscribers, no links, no views, then there isn’t really any point to rebranding it. There might not be any harm, either, if the channel is in good standing. But there will likely be no benefit.

In this case, it is entirely up to you. It could come down to something menial, such as not wanting another YouTube account to manage. Whatever the reason or path you decide to take, you should be fine.

Copyright and Community Guideline Strikes

YouTube isn’t always the most forgiving of platforms when it comes to rule-breaking. If you have an account—even one with a lot of followers—that has some black marks on its permanent record, it is probably best to abandon that channel as a base for your new venture.

Of course, we’re sure you have no intention of breaking any rules going forward. But with a platform such as YouTube, where the rules are continually changing, accidents can happen. You don’t want to fall afoul of an unfortunate incident, only for YouTube to obliterate your channel because it has a history.

Link Authority

One of the main reasons you would want to rebrand a channel rather than start over is to take advantage of the established reputation of that channel in the eyes of search engines. There are two main things to consider here.

Firstly, if you are revamping the content of the channel, the authority of any links leading to old material may be weakened. Secondly, if you are entirely rebranding the channel and removing or making the existing videos private, you should completely disregard any existing link authority to this channel, as it will soon disappear.

In the latter case, not only will search engines stop viewing the channel as relevant to those links, but any people who click on those old links will be frustrated to find that the video they wanted isn’t there any more!

How to Revive a Dead Channel

If you do decide to bring an old channel back from the dead, the approach is largely similar to starting from scratch… but not exactly. The main differences lie in old channels that had something of a following. Re-engaging with subscribers after your channel has been AWOL is tricky business. Many subscribers will immediately forgive and forget. Others will have forgotten they were subscribed to your channel and immediately unsubscribe once you remind them with a new video.

Make sure you are up to date. Take a look at videos from competitors channels to see if anything has changed significantly since you were last making videos for this channel. If it has, consider incorporating these changes in your revived content.

If you still have an audience on this channel, think about talking to them, asking them what they would like from your new content. Again, you run the risk of merely reminding some people that they were subscribed, causing them to unsubscribe promptly, but there isn’t much you can do about that.

You should strongly consider giving your revived channel an overhaul when it comes to artwork, even if you still like the original design. By starting over with the design, you can do your into what YouTubers in the same niche are doing, and incorporate some of those elements into your branding. It will also help to give the channel a fresh feel.

Think carefully about how far you want to take any rebranding. For example, do you want to change the name of the channel you are reviving?

If so, are you at risk of losing out on any brand recognition that your channel’s old name might command? Similarly, are there any negative connotations to the old name?

This doesn’t have to mean universally negative, but rather negative in relation to the new content you plan to release. For example, a channel that covered political issues might struggle to attract a crowd from the gaming section of YouTube, as it is typically hostile to this type of content.

Content is King

It gets said a lot but it always worth reiterating; no matter how many times you rebrand a channel, no matter whether you are starting from scratch or reviving a popular dead channel; content is the ultimate dealbreaker.

If your content is poor, your channel’s performance will also be. There is simply no getting around this universal truth. A channel with little to no advertising can do really well with good content, whereas a channel with a hefty advertising budget will always be fighting a losing a battle if the videos it puts out are below par.

Always be prepared to put as much effort as you can spare into your content, as it will pay off in the long run. You don’t have to spend money to get seen just share your videos in the right places – I did a blog the the best places to share your videos for more exposure.

Conclusions

For the most part, any advantages you might think you’d get from using an established channel to kickstart a new premise will probably not apply, unless the channel happens to have the exact same kind of content as your new videos.

And, if that were the case, you would have to wonder if rebranding was necessary when you have the ideal set up already in place.

When you are sticking with the original premise of the content and are just looking to breath new life into a forgotten channel, overhauling the look of the channel can help. Still, ultimately it will be your content that will bring new viewers to the party.

Having said all of that, if you only take away one piece of advice from this posts, let it be this; buying subscribers—either outright or as part of purchasing an old channel—seldom works. Even if you get lucky and manage to find a channel for sale in a similar niche to you, there are no guarantees that the viewers will respond to you as favourably as they once responded to the previous owner of the channel.

And that’s assuming those viewers are real!

Get your viewers the old fashioned way. You’ll thank yourself later.

If you need help to pick the right titles, optimizing your descriptions, tags and giving your videos the best launching pad they need then check out VidIQ – I use them to optimize all of my videos and their browser plugin is free to download on their website.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Tags new, new brand, new channel, old, old vs new, old youtube chanel, reboot vs rebrand, rebrand, rebrand on youtube, rebrand your youtube channel, relaunch

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Good Places to Record Videos in Your Home

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 27 June 2020
5 Comments on Good Places to Record Videos in Your Home

YouTube might be an excellent medium for expressing your creative side, educating people, and even just making money.

Still, it is not exactly a low footprint medium when it comes to creating those videos. At least, not all of the time. We’ll get into that.

Finding a space to make your YouTube videos can be tricky, especially if you live with other people, or have a small home. Or both! Fear not, however, there are always options. They’re not always free options, but there are options.

In this post, we’re going to go into detail on how to choose and prep a place for recording your videos. What makes a great space—and what you need to do to prepare it—will vary greatly depending on the kind of video you make.

The right equipment can make a huge difference to how and where you can record – but it doesn’t have to cost the earth. That’s why I made a deep dive blog into YouTube Equipment on a Budget – spend a little, get a lot of freedom in your recording options.

Before we talk about the types of video, let’s go over some of the attributes that make good places to record videos in your home.

What to Look For

If you are lucky enough to be in a position where you have a large room to yourself, a spare room you can make use of, or even the ability to build something new, then you’re already most of the way there. For the vast majority of us, however, we have to make do with what we got.

The first thing to consider when looking for a place to record your videos is permanency. That is, somewhere you can set up recording equipment and leave it in place.

Granted, this might not be an option, but if it is, it should be a strongly considered option. A space that may seem far more appropriate for recording videos isn’t necessarily the best choice if you have another area that you could set up permanently.

For one thing, it makes the time required for recording a new video considerably shorter, because you don’t have to worry about setting up or tearing down your equipment.

An example of this would be a large room with nice acoustics and natural lighting that you could use, but couldn’t leave your equipment in versus a tiny room—even a closet—that you could claim for the long haul.

The larger room would undoubtedly be better, but you could make the small room work. As with many things in life, it is a matter of deciding what best suits your situation.

The next thing we would recommend you consider before moving your gear into a particular area is how much control you have over that area. Similar to the previous example, a space that you can modify may prove to be better for you than a space that you can’t, even if it doesn’t look that way, to begin with.

After that, the main things to consider are environmental. For example, areas that are subjected to a lot of noise, perhaps from traffic. There are things you can do to mitigate that, but if you have other options, maybe consider something with less noise.

Camera-less Videos

Not all YouTubers need a big, adequately lit set up. If you make software tutorials where you’re not on camera, such as list videos that consist of clips and still images, or any other type of video where you are not actually filming yourself, you have a higher degree of flexibility in terms of the areas you can record in.

As your primary concern will be the quality of your voice over recording, it will actually benefit you to record in a smaller space, such as the closet we mentioned before.

Your main goal for the recording space should be to cut down on acoustic reflection and in a smaller room. This is much a much easier prospect. For one thing, you can always coat the entire space in acoustic foam tiles, which will all but eliminate reverb and echo.

If you do not have such a space—a common situation for YouTubers is recording in their bedrooms—then you will need to be smarter with your preparation. Thick packing blankets can act as excellent acoustic insulation and can be draped over any number of household objects to create a capable acoustic screen around your recording area.

Having issues with echo? You’ll be amazed what you can do from home for next to nothing to make your videos sound professional. For a more comprehensive guide to soundproofing check out my deep dive blog.

Shared Spaces

Now, assuming you are on camera but you don’t have anywhere you can claim in the name of YouTube, what are your options? Firstly, if you are going to have to pack up your gear when you’re not using it anyway, you may as well opt for the best spot you can find.

This may mean recording at inconvenient times so as not to irritate family members or roommates. Not to mention avoiding having people walking through your shot in their dressing robe!

You will be a bit limited in terms of your “set”, as the people you share a the space with won’t necessarily be happy about you putting up acoustic treatment and set dressing while they’re trying to watch Netflix!

One thing you can do in these cases is to use the room as your set. It might require doing a bit of tidying up, but most people wouldn’t complain about that. Even a drab looking space can be a serviceable YouTube set with the right focus and a bit of lighting.

Dual Purpose Spaces

This is the kind of situation most YouTubers find themselves in; you have somewhere to yourself, but you can’t dedicate it to your YouTube exploits.

The most common instance of this being a bedroom. Sure, you have the bedroom to yourself, but you do have to sleep in there. The good news is it’s your space, and you can do as much to it as you can endure.

You’re probably not going to want to hang set dressing over your bed, forcing you to take it down anytime you want to go to sleep. But you can certainly put things on the walls, arrange lighting in a way that suits the video, and move furniture around.

The Attic

…or loft, depending on what you call it.

Unless we’re talking about a converted attic, the chances are you’re going to need to do a lot of work to get things going up there. You will need lighting, acoustic treatment, and you will probably be sharing your recording space with decades of accumulated boxes.

The good news is, if you can get all of that sorted, you have a secluded space all to yourself. Just bear in mind that you will have to climb in and out of the attic any time you need to record, which isn’t always the easiest prospect depending on how the is laid out property.

Of course, if we are talking about a converted attic, there is no reason to treat it differently to any other room in the property.

Garages and Sheds

Let’s face it; nobody uses garages for cars anymore. And garden sheds are being converted into secluded getaways all the time. If you have access to such a thing, it can make a great recording space. But there are things to consider that you wouldn’t have to think about in a regular house or apartment.

Firstly, in the case of a typical garden shed, it is considerably easier to break into. If you leave a bunch of expensive recording equipment in there, you will have to weigh up the risk of it being stolen.

You can add security to the shed, remove the equipment when you’re not recording, or just hope that you never face that problem.

Another concern to think about with garden sheds (and, to a lesser extent, garages) is things like damp. These structures are not designed for use in the same way a typical home is, and they are prone to things like condensation and leaking. As you can imagine, this isn’t ideal when you have a potentially expensive computer, and a bunch of recording equipment sat there.

The other problem you will face is acoustics and set dressing. Having your own dedicated little space is great, of course, but your typical garage or garden shed is terrible from an acoustic point of view, and not exactly pretty to look at. Be sure to factor all of this in before moving your gear in.

Think Outside the Box

While not strictly in your home, gardens can provide an excellent backdrop for a video (depending on the video, of course).

You will need to do a little research into your gear if you want to record outdoors, as getting the best video and audio in the midst of Mother Nature is not quite the same as getting it in your bedroom.

The weather may also be a factor. If you live in a particularly wet region, the garden might not be very practical when you have to wait for the one dry day a month to shoot a video!

And The Rest…

It is also essential to put some thought into the rest of the video-making process, as you will need somewhere to do this as well. If you have set up a nice little audio recording booth in a closet somewhere in your house, it may not be the best location for slaving over endless hours of editing. Assuming, of course, you edit your own videos, but things like scriptwriting can go down in this category as well.

If you can split the various aspects of YouTubing across multiple machines, it might be worth having a dedicated device for the recording that can be left in place. If not, portable devices such as laptops are always great for those times when it’s not possible or feasible to edit and record in the same place.

Of course, if your set up is a big, roomy desk with a nice, comfortable chair, there’s no reason not to use that same location for your off-camera work.

Essentials

Any space you choose can be made into a serviceable YouTube recording space with a few essential tools.

Firstly; lighting. The amount of difference lighting makes to a video cannot be overstated. It is often the case that a cheap camera with good lighting can do a far better job than an expensive one with poor lighting. Lighting doesn’t need to be expensive, and it can come in very portable form factors, and with the right placement, it can be used to effectively remove the background entirely. Perfect if you are recording somewhere with a less than ideal look for your videos.

Acoustic treatment is also essential, though a little trickier to make portable. If you have a dedicated space, consider getting some acoustic foam tiles on your walls and ceiling, and perhaps a thick rug for your floor.

If you need more help in soundproofing your newly discovered record set I have a deep dive in my blog on soundproofing tips for youtubers – this should get you started and can be amazingly cheap!

If your setup needs to be portable, thick packing blankets are always a good option. Draping them over something around your recording space will make a massive difference to the acoustics, and you will be able to easily take them down afterwards.

Finally, for those times when the space is just not fit for screen time—or just because you want to—there is a green screen. Green screens can be picked up relatively cheaply on Amazon, or sites like Wish, and there are free options for implementing Chroma Key (the name of the green screen effect) either live or in editing.

Don’t Be Discouraged

It is essential to remember that, ultimately, it is the content you produce that will make or break your YouTube career, not the space you are recording in. If you can’t make a great looking set to record in, do not let that stop you from making videos.

Just do the best that you can do with what you have and then set about creating great content. Always be on the lookout for ways you can improve your recording space, of course, but don’t wait until it is ready, because it may very well never be ready. Especially if you are a bit of a perfectionist.

Viewers will forgive you for less than perfect backdrops, or subpar video quality. And as you progress, if your content is good enough, you may well find that is financially practical to upgrade.

Tags film making, how to make better videos, how to make better videos on youtube, make videos from home, making youtube videos, youtube, youtuber

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Soundproofing Tips for YouTubers

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 26 June 2020
1 Comment on Soundproofing Tips for YouTubers

Soundproofing can be the secret weapon in a new YouTuber’s arsenal.

If you were to ask a significant sample of YouTube viewers whether they would prefer better video or audio from their YouTubers, the answer might surprise you for a video platform.

While there are undoubtedly channels where good video quality is essential (software tutorials spring to mind), there are a considerable number of channels where the video element really isn’t as important as you might think.

Vlogs, educational content, interviews, list videos, we could go on. The point is, for a vast chunk of YouTubers, sound quality is considerably more important than video quality (within reason, of course). This is because hearing is the primary sense being used.

Don’t believe us?

Think about all the times you’ve put a YouTube video on and ended up doing something else while it plays. Maybe browsing the web, writing an email, checking your phone.

Not only that, but think about how many times audible cues have grated on your last nerve. People chewing while they talk, tapping, distant car alarms—audible cues can be very annoying. This is especially true when it comes to unwanted echoes, artefacts, and overall poor audio quality in YouTube videos.

Many things contribute to poor audio quality, but we’re not going to get into microphones and audio interfaces here; that deserves a post of its own – or you can watch my deep dive video on my youtube channel.

So, before we get into some tips on soundproofing your recording space, let’s quickly go over why you might want to do this.

Why Soundproof for YouTubing?

The most obvious reason, of course, is to get rid of external noise. No YouTuber wants to have to edit out the sounds of planes flying overhead, cars driving by, the next-door neighbour engaging in some late-night DIY or anything else of that nature. And your viewers certainly don’t want to listen to those noises.

Soundproofing can significantly improve your recording if you record somewhere that tends to have a lot of noise going on. But the benefits to soundproofing are not one-way.

In almost all cases (the exception being ASMR videos) whispering or quiet-talking should be avoided. At best, it’s just a little difficult to hear, but at worst it can be very annoying to some viewers (think the opposite of ASMR).

This shouldn’t be confused with low volume—it’s not the level of your audio we’re talking about. When you whisper or talk quietly, your voice is different. The quality that some people find annoying is not remedied by turning the volume up in your editing software.

But what does this have to do with soundproofing? Well, the most common reason for unintentional quiet-talking is environmental. For example, if your recording setup is in the room next to your parents, partner, or roommate, and you record late at night. The chances are, there’s not a lot you can do about the when and where you record.

But by soundproofing the space you record in, you will be able to make much more noise when you make a new video without worrying about annoying anyone around you.

Soundproofing Tips for YouTubers

We should state upfront that a number of these tips relate to the construction of the space itself—things like the walls, and floorboards. We understand that most people will not be able to implement all of these tips.

You would have to be building a studio from scratch, or tearing a room down completely to do that. Just know that implementing any of these tips should improve your situation with regards to soundproofing.

Squeaky Floorboards

You might be thinking, “but I don’t walk around when I record YouTube videos.” That may be the case, but very few of us sit or stand utterly still when we make videos. A creaking floorboard can be extremely annoying mid-video.

Unfortunately, there are no products you can go out and buy that will fix this problem, so you’ll have to get the tools out if you want to put an end to it. The first thing to check is what is causing the squeaking. If it is just a matter of loose boards themselves, you can usually remedy the problem with a few screws.

We say screws and not nails—as is probably currently holding your floorboards in place—because screws will not slide over time as nails do.

If it is the joists and noggins (the big pieces of wood your floorboards are attached to), then you might need some professional help. You will certainly need to lift your floorboards. They can usually be fixed with some L shaped brackets at the corners. If you do have to lift your floorboards, you may as well take this opportunity to re-attach them with screws.

Dotting and Dabbing: Don’t Do It!

Unfortunately, this tip is only going to be useful to people who are doing some serious renovation or perhaps building from scratch. “Dot and Dab” is a method of attaching drywall (or plasterboard, depending on where you are from) to the outer structure of your room.

It involves dabbing a healthy amount of adhesive in places (this would be the dotting) and then pressing the drywall up to it. As a means of attaching the drywall, it is inexpensive and effective.

Unfortunately, it creates a significant amount of hollow space behind your walls. In a room that has been wholly drywalled, this would essentially mean one large continuous echo chamber surrounding the place!

Acoustic Insulation

If you are renovating or building a new space and the walls will be framed out, you can take this opportunity to fill the spaces between your studs with acoustic insulation.

Acoustic insulation is denser than regular thermal insulation. It will provide you with built-in soundproofing that will stop sound from getting in or out of your recording space. There are different thicknesses available, and the width you need will depend on the thickness of your studs.

Resist the urge to buy insulation that is too thick and cram it into your walls. That could cause problems later down the line, as well as reduce the acoustic insulation properties of the material.

Windows

Birds, traffic, police sirens, inconvenient helicopter flybys—there’s a lot of unwanted noise that can get in through your window. It may not be ideal in hotter parts of the world, but the first thing you should be doing is making sure that window is closed before you record.

The cheapest solution would be nice, thick blinds or curtains. They won’t cut out all the noise, but they will make some difference.

If you’ve got a little more money to throw at the problem, consider getting a secondary glazing system, which is essentially a second window inside your existing window. The cavity created between this window and your current window makes for excellent sound dampening.

Noisy Appliances

Washing machines are loud. We get it. Some washing machines could be at the other end of your home and still get picked up on a recording.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of us do not have the option to simply move the washing machine—or our recording space—to get around this problem. Though if you do, that would be the best solution.

Assuming you’re stuck, however, the first thing to consider is an acoustic mat under your washing machine. It will not cut the sound completely, but it will significantly reduce it. If your washing machine (or other noisy appliance) is not right next to your recording space, this might be enough.

If not, we’re sorry to say that your only practical option is to plan your recordings so that any noisy appliances are not running.

Change Your Microphone

You might also consider a new microphone that is less prone to picking up the background noise. It should be stated that any built-in or inexpensive USB microphone will likely need upgrading as a matter of course.

But if your mic is picking up a lot of background noise, there may be an alternative model with a tighter pickup pattern.

I use a Boya By-MM1 on my DSLR Camera and this is great when I am stood in front of it recording in stable environment – I did a hands on review video and blog of the Boya BY-MM1 microphone with some interesting facts about its pick up pattern – You’ll me amazed the difference you can make when you match the right microphone to your set up.

In the same realm as a new mic, you could also consider turning your microphone’s input level down and having the mic be closer to your face, or speaking more forcefully. Or both.

If you do decide to go down this route, be sure to have a pop shield on your mic. It’s good practice to have one anyway, but if you’re going to be putting the mic closer to your face and speaking louder, you definitely need one.

Use a Noise Gate

A noise gate is a term given to software or hardware that cuts off audio completely when it gets below a specific volume. Using this, you can cut away the background noise by setting the gate to just above the level of the noise. It will then let the audio through when you speak, pushing the sound level above the gate.

There are a few different ways to employ a noise gate on your recordings. The simplest—yet most expensive—is to get an outboard noise gate device. You would run your mic signal through the gate directly, where it would gate the audio before sending it into your recording software.

Another alternative is live VST (Virtual Studio Technology) noise gates—a software alternative that works as you are recording. This has the advantage of giving you that live feedback, but it also adds strain on your computer.

And, finally, you could apply the noise gate after the fact. This is the cheapest option—free audio editor Audacity has this functionality built-in—but also the most time-consuming.

It is worth noting that if you have unusually high levels of background noise, a noise gate may not be the best option. The louder the gate has to be to cut the noise out, the more obvious it is when it activates. Not to mention, the noise will still be present when you are speaking.

Acoustic Foam Tiles

The more initiated of you are probably yelling, “that’s not soundproofing!” right now. And you are right. Those eggbox-like foam tiles you see on YouTuber’s walls are not soundproofing. The job of acoustic tiles is to kill things like echo and reverb in a space.

Imagine you have a bouncy ball. If you bounce that ball on some smooth concrete, you’ll get some good height. If you take that same ball and bounce it on long grass, you’ll be lucky to get any height at all. Now imagine the ball is a sound wave, hitting the wall and bouncing off. Foam tiles work a lot like the grass.

By strategically placing foam tiles around your recording space (or just covering every surface if you can afford that many tiles), you reduce the amount of sound reflection.

If you can only get your hands on a limited amount of foam tiles, consider what kind of microphone you have before placing them. Many microphones have limited pickup around the back, so reducing reflections coming from that direction would be a waste of your tiles.

Carpets or Rugs (or Both!)

A good, thick carpet or rug can address issues raised both in the squeaky floorboards section, and the previous section on acoustic foam tiles. Like foam tiles, a thick carpet or rug will significantly reduce sound reflection, meaning less reverb and echo when you record.

It will also reduce the amount of noise made by you moving around the room. It won’t fix squeaky floorboards, but if you didn’t fancy pulling your floor up, a thick carpet or rug would muffle the noise it makes.

You could also take this one step further by installing some acoustic underlay, which will significantly reduce the amount of noise that gets through your floor.

Microphone Shielding

Our last tip is ideal for people who can’t (or don’t want to) attempt any of the previous tips. Using a product like Kaotica’s Eyeball (or one of the considerably less expensive Chinese alternatives) you can isolate your mic from the outside world significantly.

These products are essentially a hollow ball of acoustic foam that your mic sits inside, blocking noise from all directions except the front. You will still need to worry about reflections from behind you, but the amount unwanted sound getting to your mic is significantly reduced. Just be aware that these are not compact items. You will need plenty of space around your microphone.

If you need any help in finding some of these upgrades then check out my resources page where I have selected some great discounts on products, soundproofing, microphones and more.

Tags audio, better audio, free soundproofing, how to fix audio quality, how to improve sound quality, how to make my youtube videos sound better, how to soundproof for free, improve sound quality, sound, sound quality, soundproof your home, soundproofing for youtubers, youtuber soundproofing

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE LISTS TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

12 Youtube Channel Ideas Without Showing Your Face

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 25 June 2020
8 Comments on 12 Youtube Channel Ideas Without Showing Your Face

If you’re like many people then you don’t like having your picture taken. Never mind recording yourself speaking on video!

Yet you still want to launch a YouTube channel and earn cash while not showing your face. Don’t worry! There are plenty of ways to make videos for YouTube, even if the thought of speaking on camera makes you blush.

Many of the ideas only need you to record your voice over stock images or b-roll video. Others let you tap into a skill you already have.

Start Now – Get Good Later.

Don’t worry about being too polished when you start. Many of the following examples show how successful channels started out.

As you’ll see many of their first few videos have poor production quality. The critical thing to remember is that they stuck with it. You have to grind and persist in the early days while your channel grows.

You can always improve your production quality as you go along.

So let’s get started with 12 ideas for YouTube channels you can launch without showing your face.

Remember if you need help with graphics, banners, subtitles or many other of my secret weapons to grow faster on YouTube then check out my resources page – dozens of tools I couldn’t live without.

OR if you need help of thinking of youtube video ideas without showing your face – there are 13 direct examples of what you can make RIGHT NOW!

Gaming

With over 100 million subscribers, PewDiePie has one of the biggest channels on YouTube. Run by Swedish gamer Felix Kjellberg, he uploads a blend of comedy, gossip, and gaming content.

When Kjellberg launched the channel in 2010 though, he started with short, simple clips of him playing games like Minecraft.

Are you a gaming great? If you can do with your thumbs what others can’t, then you too could launch a channel demonstrating your skills. Not that good at gaming? Flip it around and show gaming fails instead.

Make your clips compelling by adding a funny commentary, or show how to defeat a tricky boss. Remember, it’s all about adding value to the viewer.

Here is the first video PewDiePie uploaded.

Cooking

People are always on the lookout for tasty new recipes and cooking guides. And as the focus is on the food, you can film from overhead only showing your hands.

It doesn’t have to be gourmet cuisine; you could create a channel based on quick meals to build muscle or easy breakfasts to make before work.

Below is the first video created by a popular channel showing how to make Nepali food. Yummy Food World has over 600k subscribers, and it looks like they shot their first videos on a smartphone.

They don’t even have voice commentary, just some basic captions. Below is the video they got going with.

Life Hacks

Do you think you could make a good living filming your hands doing some simple life hacks? That’s precisely what the owner of the channel 5 Minute Crafts has done.

Attracting over 67 million subscribers, they show how to use everyday items in canny ways. While their early videos don’t show any faces, they have more recently used models to demonstrate the hacks.

Take a look at one of the early videos from them, showing you smart ways to peel fruit. The production level is quite good for a first video, but nothing you couldn’t manage yourself with a little practice.

Restoration

Are you handy in the workshop? Another popular niche on YouTube is restoration videos. These types of videos film the process of repairing old, tired and worn out items. Some people find them therapeutic, almost a mindfulness practice and they have become are very popular.

Along with some filming equipment, you will need the tools and workspace to restore the items. One of the popular channels in this niche is Black Beard Projects. He restores knives and vintage tools to their former glory and has over 1.6 million subscribers.

Here is one of his first videos, with 133k views, it’s low production, and shows him removing rust off an old anvil.

Nail Art

Beauty has always been popular on YouTube – there are plenty of Youtubers making a good living doing makeup tips. If you are not ready to show your face, how about starting a channel demonstrating Nail Art?

Simply Nailogical is a channel that started with low budget how-to videos for nail art. A channel showing a mixture of pictures, static video, and simple captions, has grown to over 7.6 million subscribers.

When you show others how to do something, you also have other ways to earn money. Add in affiliate links in the video description for products you have used and make extra earnings.

Meditation

One niche that is very popular on YouTube is meditation videos. In today’s hectic world, many people seek out a moment of peace through mindfulness and meditation.

Meditation videos come in several different formats. Some have a voice guiding the mediation, and others have only calming music. Additionally, there are even some with only the sound of a bell marking the beginning and end of a timed meditation period!

So, you could create these videos with stock images and music, and could even outsource the writing and audio recording of guided mediation on Fiverr.

You can see from the first videos from Meditative Mind that they started with just stock photos and sounds. They didn’t even loop the videos into the longer lengths which are popular today.

Time-Lapse

Turn a camera on, point it at a piece of fruit, and let it rot. Whoever came up with this concept must have got a few blank stares when pitching the idea to a friend.

But this is precisely what Temponaut Timelapse did when they started their channel 11 years ago. To be fair to them, it’s not all rotting fruit; there are also time-lapses of clouds, flowers, and cityscapes.

But, the concept has proved to be popular, and the channel has grown to 1.2 million subscribers. You can even shoot your first videos on a smartphone or GoPro. Here is one of their earliest videos of a rotting Strawberries.

Animation

When faced with something we don’t understand, we often look for an ‘explainer’ video to quickly tell us what it’s all about.

If you can explain complex ideas in an entertaining way, then you could launch an animated education channel on YouTube.

Now, you might be thinking you could never create an animated video. But, you can make professional animations using a tool like Animaker for $30 per month. You could even outsource the whole job on Fiverr for very little investment.

Below is an early video from the channel CGP Grey. It explains the dull topic of a voting system using jungle animals to make it enjoyable. You can see that it’s mostly pictures, editing, and a little animation.

Now that the channel is a success, they have invested some of their earnings into better quality animation.

Luxury

When it comes to numbers of followers on Instagram, the rich and famous beat everyone else hands-down.

Tap into this hot niche by launching a channel that caters to the demand for knowledge about the lifestyles of the mega-rich. Don’t worry, you won’t need to own a Rolex or a Porsche; you can use content already freely available on the web.

One channel you can draw inspiration from is Alux. Launched in 2014, they edited some photos together and recorded a commentary over it. But as you can see from their first videos pictured below, they weren’t even that long either.

Today their videos have better production value but are still mostly stock video footage, text animation, and a voiceover.

Alux now has almost 3 million subscribers.

Unboxing & Reviews

Most of us enjoy the online shopping process. Checking out different products and making a final choice. We often look at reviews to help us make up our mind.

You may think the internet is awash with reviews, who needs yet another review channel?

But many reviews are poorly filmed or miss out on the necessary product information. And the injection of some personality can make you stand head-and-shoulders above other reviewers.

You don’t even have to show your face – you can film a product from above using only your hands.

Do you have specialist knowledge of certain products? It could be something as simple as emery boards or fountain pens. If so, start by reviewing the products you own, borrow others, and if they are cheap, buy a few new ones too.

As you grow your channel, companies will start to contact you and ask you to review their products which they might even send to you for free.

If you don’t have specialist knowledge film unboxing videos instead. Some people like to see exactly what’s in the box of a product they want to buy before they purchase it.

Unbox Therapy has 16.7 million subscribers built around the idea of taking items out of retail boxes. He does show his face today, but when he started, he used an overhead camera in a fixed position filming his hands.

Here is one of his first videos.

‘How to’ Tutorials

People ask the internet ‘how do I…’ millions of times per day. It’s the first place people go when they need help with a problem.

Use your knowledge to set up a how-to channel yourself on something you are good at. You’ll find there are plenty of niches out there where you can educate others without needing to show yourself on video.

For example, do you know a piece of software as well as anybody? Screen-record yourself doing something on your computer; there is always someone on the lookout for a helpful video.

Do you hand-make your own jewelry? That is something that many people would like to learn to do and is perfect for an overhead shot of only your hands.

The channel Beadaholique has 500k subscribers and shows viewers how to hand-make jewelry. And they started nine years ago with simple short videos like the one shown below—just a static camera showing their hands making jewelry.

Where to find stock images and video.

So, as you can see there are lots of ways you can make money on YouTube without showing your face. If you aren’t filming your hands doing something and want to create videos by editing together stock images and b-roll footage.

Then Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash offer images and video you can use free of charge and without attribution.

But if you are looking for engaging video that you can add voice overs to or to illustrate your points in a video I use storyblocks – For an example of how this could work check out my video with 25 More Ideas for Channels without showing your face.

Conclusion.

From voiceovers on stock images to filming quick and tasty recipes; there are many ways to launch a YouTube channel without showing your face.

Maybe you are camera shy and need a little boost to get started. Have you been thinking about making a YouTube channel for years but worry about putting your face on camera? I talked to one of my clients about this exact issue in a consultation call – the video below might help you too.

Most of the channels covered in this post started as one person, with basic equipment, recording a simple video. So there is no reason you can’t do it too.

Success won’t happen overnight. To make a lot of money, you need to upload compelling, fresh content regularly. But, don’t let the dislike of showing your face on camera hold you back.

Just remember you might want to make it easier for your audience to focus on the visuals you do give them. If they can’t read your lips they might want to read subtitles in situations where playing a video out loud isn’t possible – that is why I use Rev for my subtitles from as little at $1.50 per minute of video!

Find your niche and make a start. Good luck!

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Tags channel ideas, faceless youtube channels, youtube channel ideas, youtube channels who do not show their face, youtube ideas, youtube niches, youtune niche ideas

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 20 June 2020
1 Comment on Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?

As users of the Internet, we have something of a love/hate relationship with advertisements.

Most of us understand that the blogs we read, the videos we watch, the content we consume—is made possible by the revenue generated from ads. At the same time, we see those very same ads as an inconvenience and an annoyance.

Indeed, many people use adblockers to remove them from our screens altogether – and this might harm a YouTuber long term, as discussed in my deep dive article.

For creators of that content, it is a difficult concept to come to terms with. On the one hand, you want your viewers to watch ads on your videos. Still, it’s hard not to empathize with their desire not to be bothered by commercials for Fiverr, Monday.com, or whoever is turning the advertising firehose on your viewers lately.

In the case of YouTube, it’s not as clear cut as getting an ad view or not—YouTube often gives viewers the option to skip ads after the first few seconds. As welcome as this tool may be to viewers, it can leave YouTubers wondering if they get paid for those first few unskippable seconds.

We’re going to get into this subject in-depth, but do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads? Short answer is, no. However, the answer isn’t as clear cut as we might have liked. Generally speaking, no, YouTubers don’t get paid for skipped ads. However, there are situations in which a skipped ad will still result in some earnings for the YouTuber.

Let’s get into the details so you can understand when you are—and when you aren’t—getting paid.

YouTube’s Ad Options

Here, we are talking specifically about YouTube’s in-stream ads. These are ads that show up in your actual video, before (pre-roll), during, or at the end. There are other advertising options for YouTubers to monetise their videos, and we’ll touch on those later, but you can’t “skip” a display ad, so for now, we’re going to stick to the video ads.

YouTube has two options when it comes to in-stream advertising campaigns. The type of ad that gets shown on your video determines whether you get paid anything on skipped ads.

YouTubers may be able to choose what TYPE of adverts to show but there is a debate whether YouTubers can choose the ADVERT itself that is shown – you’ll be surprised with the facts outlined in my blog on choosing adverts.

TrueView for Reach Ads

For YouTubers who have been around for a while, this could be considered the “traditional” YouTube advertising model. In TrueView ads, the advertiser pays per engagement.

The definition of engagement (or “completion”) is watching at least thirty seconds or interacting with the ad. If the ad is shorter than thirty seconds, then the viewer will have to watch the whole thing for it to count as an engagement.

If your viewer doesn’t meet one of these requirements, the advertiser is not charged and you, the YouTuber, don’t receive anything for the ad.

These are the ads that typically allow the viewer to skip after the first few seconds, which tends to be what happens a lot of the time. There is no CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model for these ads. As such, the number of people seeing those first few seconds of an advertisement is of no benefit to the YouTuber whose videos they are being shown on.

Should a viewer click on one of these ads, however, it is typically worth more to the YouTuber than the non-skippable bumper ads that we’re going to cover now.

Non-Skippable Bumper Ads

Like TrueView ads, these can show up before, during, or at the end of your videos. Unlike TrueView ads, these are only ever six seconds long, and cannot be skipped by the viewer.

These ads are charged (and, subsequently, paid) on a CPM basis. That means that, rather than earning you money every time a viewer clicks on the ad, they earn money for every 1,000 views they receive. Bumper ads are designed to gain exposure, rather than encourage the viewer to perform a specific action. That makes the number of people who have seen the advertisement is the more critical metric.

It is still possible for a non-skippable ad to not count, such as if a viewer hits the back button when the ad starts. But YouTube is using the industry standard of two seconds for an impression to count. That means the viewer would have to immediately leave your video for their view to not count.

I you want more in-depth tips on how to increase your earnings and boost YouTube Channel and even blog CPM, I wrote a deep dive into what can positively and negatively effect ad rates and earnings in my blog.

Do YouTubers Get Paid if You Skip Ads?

Hopefully, the answer is a little clearer now.

Technically YouTuber’s get paid almost any time a bumper ad is played, however, these ads are unskippable. Also, as they pay per 1,000 views, the effective amount you earn for one view is tiny compared to engagement on a regular ad.

With the more traditional TrueView ads, a YouTuber will earn money if the ad is watched for at least thirty seconds, assuming the ad is longer than thirty seconds. So, a viewer can skip an ad and still count as an engagement.

For viewers that skip before those thirty seconds are up, however, no money is paid by the advertiser, and so no money is earned by the YouTuber.

Other Types of YouTube Ads

In-stream ads are not the only option for advertisers on YouTube, and, as such, not the only way YouTuber’s can earn money.

There are presently two other ways for advertisers to get their message across, so let’s take a look at them.

Non-Video Ads

Non-video ads are the ads that show up in the form of a small banner overlay in the video or a display ad in the sidebar. These ads are minimally intrusive, which is a double-edged sword in terms of viewer engagement.

On the one hand, they are less irritating to your viewers, meaning they are less likely to click away because of an ad. On the other hand, they are considerably easier to ignore, meaning there is less chance of engagement and, subsequently, less chance of revenue.

As a YouTuber, you can choose which kinds of ads you allow on your monetized videos, though not the content of those ads. So, it may be worth doing research and testing to find which ads work best for you and your audience.

Discovery Ads

Discovery ads, while they are clearly marked as an ad, show up in organic search results and watch feeds in the same style as the regular search results and recommendation videos around them.

This type of advertisement is ideally suited to YouTuber’s themselves, as it is designed to drive traffic to a particular video. The ad will show among related videos as though it were an organic result, meaning the people seeing the ad were already looking for that kind of content to being with. It is worth remembering that, as mentioned, the ads are marked as promoted content.

These ads are unobtrusive and, by their very nature, tailored towards the viewer’s interests because the viewer is already looking for the type of content being promoted in the first place.

Other Options for YouTuber’s to Earn Money

YouTube’s advertising platform has its strengths and weaknesses as a revenue source. Still, it’s not the only option for YouTuber’s to turn their channel into an income generator.

Brand Deals

For channels with enough interest, it is possible to cut out the middle man and go directly to the advertiser. Several brands have been open to making deals directly with content creators. That number continues to grow as the power of platforms like YouTube becomes increasingly evident.

With a brand deal, you will have to work out the details with the advertiser yourself, including price negotiations, but this added work comes with rewards. Namely: revenue.

The earning potential from brand deals is considerably higher than that of YouTube’s monetisation program. Of course, the barrier to entry is higher as well. You only need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours watch time to qualify for YouTube’s Partner Programme, but brands will require a considerably larger audience before they think about offering a channel a deal.

It should be noted that, if you do get a brand deal, you are required to inform YouTube via the “contains paid promotion” checkbox of your video details.

Getting started on YouTube can be hard so I wrote a deep dive step by step guide on how to start a YouTube channel on my blog – I even added pictures!

Crowd Funding

For YouTuber’s with an invested audience, crowdfunding is a great way to earn revenue from a relatively small audience. Traditional advertising does not pay very well with low viewing figures. Often earning pennies per 1,000 impressions, or more per click when only a small percentage of viewers ever click, you need a lot of views to make decent money.

With an engaged audience who like your content and are happy to send you a little cash to support you, you can earn considerably more revenue.

Crowdfunding suits smaller channels particularly well, as viewers are more likely to support a creator they feel connected with. It is easier to maintain that kind of relationship when you don’t have millions of subscribers.

Responding to every comment is feasible when you have a few thousand subscribers, but that’s not the case when you have a few million.

This dynamic extends to YouTube advertising as well. With a small, dedicated audience, you are more likely to receive ad revenue because your viewers are more likely to be interested in the ads. For larger channels with more casual viewers, this is not usually the case. It is this relationship that is why some YouTuber’s can go full time with an audience of around twenty thousand subscribers, while other YouTuber’s with ten times that amount of subscribers still have to work a regular job alongside their channel.

Affiliates

Affiliate marketing is usually thought of as a supplemental revenue source—rather than a primary earner—when talking about YouTube channels. Affiliate programmes will pay you a commission for actions carried out through your referral—a typical example of this being you sharing an Amazon affiliate link in your description. Amazon then pays you a percentage of the sale when one of your viewers buys something through that link.

Affiliate programmes are particularly useful for channels that feature products, such as unboxing videos and product or service reviews. If a viewer watches your video and decides they want to purchase the product or service being featured, they can click through your link, and you will earn a small commission.

Using affiliate marketing when it doesn’t organically tie into your content is unlikely to generate revenue, however. Worse still, it can sometimes be seen by your viewers as a cynical money grab and may turn some people off. And, on that note, always be upfront with your viewers about affiliates, brand deals, and product placements.

Most viewers won’t care if you are getting paid to talk about a product, but they will care if you aren’t honest with them about it.

Affiliate marketing has made me $1000’s over the last few years. It can be as simple as making content and picking the right links. But to help you get started I have written a Beginners Guide to Affiliate Marketing in this blog – It’s surprisingly simple once you get started!

Eyes on the Prize

At this point, it is worth enforcing the point that content is what matters. If you focus on making the best possible content for your audience, meeting a need they have, the opportunities to generate revenue will come.

If you are concerned over whether you earn money from skipped ads, you may not have your head in the right place for success. Many YouTubers consider the YouTube Partner Programme a poor option for revenue generation, and certainly not a good bet for your primary source of income. Obsessing on details such as whether you get paid for a few seconds of watch time on a skipped advertisement is not the best use of your mental energy.

Put that energy into your content. Find ways to expand your audience, or drill down further into your niche and become an authority. Consider other methods of monetisation when the time is right. There is no point in starting a Patreon with fifty subscribers, for example. Well, unless they are very dedicated subscribers.

YouTube monetisation has long been an unreliable source of income for its creators, with continually changing terms and multiple “adpocalypses”. The best way to approach this is not to think about it. Simply turn monetisation on when suitable, and forget about it. Focus on your content and other revenue sources. That way, any income you do make through YouTube’s Partner Programme will feel like a nice bonus.

And you won’t be caught short the next time YouTube changes their rules, and your revenue takes a hit.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Tags ads, adverts, how to make money, make money online, money, youtube, youtube ads, youtube faqs, youtube help, youtube money

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE YOUTUBE

Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 19 June 2020

In 2019, the YouTube video with the most likes was Despacito by Luis Fonsi. Although the video was uploaded in 2017, it has ridden the wave of competition and is still at the top of the list, unbeaten, in 2019. Currently, it has 6 billion views and 38 million likes. This is every YouTuber’s dream – to go viral.

When Fonsi wrote Despacito, he never dreamed it would be such a massive hit. He released the song anyway because he believed in it. You, as a creator, never know which of your videos will become a sensation. You just have to keep making videos and putting your best out there.

So, What is the significance of YouTube likes? Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes? – YouTubers do not get paid for likes. However, a like is a form of engagement that can help the video do better in the long term. The more likes, comments, and shares a video gets the higher it can rank. A good rank in search can mean more traffic to the video, more advert views and clicks.

How YouTube Likes Work

Up till 2012, videos on YouTube were ranked according to how many views they got – the view count.

This was a good metric, but if a video had a misleading title, people would only watch a few seconds of it then leave. A marketer who had attached their advertisement to such a video would feel short-changed, as their advert would not get watched. Marketers also objected to some of the content being uploaded.

A lot of the popular videos aired controversial topics like racism and terrorism. Marketers who didn’t want to be associated with such videos pulled out, leading to loss of revenue for YouTube.

This was bad for business. To stop this exodus, YouTube had to police the platform and suppress objectionable channels by not recommending them regardless of how popular they were.

YouTube then changed its metric to how much time viewers spent watching a video. Videos that captured viewer attention for longer time periods now got ranked higher. This was good for marketers as it would ensure that their product was seen by the viewer. This, however, meant that creators now had to spend more resources trying to make their videos longer while still retaining the viewers’ interest. Creators started delaying the core message of their videos for as long as they could without annoying the viewer.

They also had to change the frequency and content of uploads so as to make longer videos. This was not easy. An example of how this changed things for creators can be seen in this video. Longer-duration videos also meant more resources spent on making and editing new videos.

Ultimately, two main factors now determine how often a video will appear in search results and recommendations:

· Behavior

· User Queries

Behaviour

The YouTube algorithm tracks viewer behavior for the purpose of making recommendations based on what they watch.

This is why your YouTube homepage will never be similar to someone else’s homepage. Your activity determines what other videos YouTube recommends to you.

Factors determining how YouTube recommends and ranks videos that you need to know include:

· What people watch

· Consistency in uploading videos

· Time spent on watching a video (retention time)

· How fast a video gains popularity

· What videos don’t get watched

· How new a video is.

· How people engage with a video- likes, dislikes, shares, and comments

· Explicit feedback i.e. not interested.

User Queries

YouTube will rank videos according to how often users search for them. A commonly searched for video is obviously popular, so YouTube will rank it at the top of search results and recommend it as well.

This is because the goal of YouTube is to keep you on that platform for as long as possible because it increases your chances of seeing advertisements.

The goal of YouTube is to ultimately recommend videos that viewers want to watch. Its algorithm will, therefore, use the metrics above to determine whether or not to recommend a video and how often the video will appear in search results.

This means that your video not only has to be good, but it has to match keywords used in searches.

Can YouTubers Make Money from Likes? – Not directly. Likes show how good your video is, measuring its popularity. Depending on their number, the only effect is to increase the frequency of visits to your channel. When a viewer likes your video, they are ‘teaching’ YouTube that your video is good and should be recommended more often.

This is why YouTubers encourage their viewers to like, share, and subscribe to their content. The more the engagement, the higher the rank of the video, the more it will appear in results and the higher the number of viewers will increase.

So don’t underestimate the importance of YouTube likes. If anything, try to get as many as possible. Below you can see a number of things you can do to increase them.

How to Get More Likes on YouTube

Now that you know likes can be fuelling your channel growth, its time to start getting more of them!

Ask for them

At the end of your video, request your viewers to like your video. Don’t assume that they’ll like it anyway. Encourage them by also explaining how the likes will help your channel grow.

Make it easy

In addition to verbally asking for likes, include prompts at various points in your video to remind your viewers. Just be careful not to overdo it as your video will end up looking tacky.

Invite subscribers

Having subscribers means that your content is so good people want to receive more of it. In a way, you are assured that you will have a number of likes because your videos will have a dedicated pool of viewers.

It also teaches YouTube that your channel is popular and should be recommended frequently.

Social media

Promote yourself on other platforms- share your videos on other social media networks. People who may like your work may not be frequent users of YouTube, so go out there and look for them. Don’t wait for them to find you.

If you need help to promote your videos on social media I wrote a huge article on the best places to share your youtube videos for more views on my blog.

Advertise

If you can afford it, advertise. Some creators advertise their new uploads for a short period of time to increase their fan base. Cast your net wide.

Now that we have seen how important likes are and how they increase our chances of getting noticed on youtube, let’s see how we can turn that into money.

How YouTubers Make Money

The more money you make on YouTube the more you can invest back into content, growth and success. Making money on YouTube can be a burning desire but you don’t always have to use the YouTube Ads program.

I make a good chunk on my income from affiliate marketing and I wrote a huge deep dive into Affiliate Marketing for Beginners on my blog – it explains all the jargon and steps you through everything you need to do to get started.

Advertising Revenue

Channel owners can link their channels to advertisers and earn revenue based on how many people view the adverts. An example is Google AdSense.

This is a feature of the YouTube partner program, which enables you to monetize your channel. To make money from AdSense, you have to have at least 1000 subscribers and more than 4000 watch hours in the last 12 months.

This is why consistency in video uploads is important. Few uploads equal few watch hours. Lastly, you have to live in a country where Google AdSense is available. You can choose what ads will come with your video, and where they will appear.

When someone clicks on an ad or watches your video for at least 30 seconds, you earn revenue depending on the advertisers’ bid, the length of the video, and the type of content.

Affiliates

A company could approach you and ask you to endorse their product on your channel. You then talk about it, describe its features, and encourage your viewers to buy the product. You include a link in your video description where people can buy the product. To encourage a purchase and also reward their viewers, a number of YouTubers, in collaboration with the company, offer discounts for viewers who purchase a product through their channel.

Every time a purchase is made a percentage of that revenue goes to you as the owner of the channel.

Still, you don’t have to wait for a company to approach you. You could approach companies whose products are related to your content and make a deal with them. For example, if you have a food channel, you can advertise products for a company that produces spices.

Selling Merchandise

YouTubers with a substantial following and a well-developed brand also make revenue through selling merchandise. Once you have a dedicated base of subscribers, you can begin to make merchandise related to the subject content of your videos.

You can make branded t-shirts and caps or sell products like makeup kits. If you upload how-to videos, you can offer more information through a premium subscription service or sell a how-to manual in text form.

Ensure your products are unique and high quality, as disappointed customers will spread the word about you and this could affect your popularity on YouTube. You want to go viral, but not for controversial reasons.

YouTube Premium

Many people find it annoying to have a video they are watching interrupted by advertisements. Well, this is the price we pay to enjoy YouTube for free.

HOWEVER, if you really cannot stand constant interruptions, why not try YouTube Premium? This is a paid ad-free service offered by YouTube as a response to our grumblings against advertisements. Viewers can watch videos and listen to endless playlists without interruptions.

If you have a channel on YouTube premium, you earn revenue every time your video is watched. Viewers can also download your videos to watch offline, and this will still contribute to your watch times.

Donations

Donations are not necessarily a revenue stream, but they can support up and coming creators until they have enough views to generate their own revenue. When you make really good content, you gain many committed fans who wouldn’t mind supporting you financially so you can continue making more content.

To this end, MANY creators have a Patreon account through which fans make donations. Although Patreon takes 10% of this money, it can still be enough to keep your channel going.

Creators in turn offer their donors (patrons) extra content like behind-the-scenes footage as a reward or thank you for their support. Patreon is also a great platform for creators who need financial support for their work but want to maintain their independence.

So instead of signing contracts with commercial companies that will exploit their talent, they upload content on YouTube and earn revenue through their channel and the support of their Patrons.

Make Long Videos

Make your content as interesting as possible for as long as possible, at least for up to 10 minutes. The longer time people spend on your video, the higher the chances of earning more revenue, and the higher it will rank among search results.

Remember, YouTube wants people to spend time on videos so they can see adverts.

Collaborations

You can reach out to creators who post similar content to yours and suggest a collaboration. Not everything needs to be a competition, and we can also grow together. Collaboration will open up new horizons for your viewership and get your subscribers from a different niche category than the one you cater for.

A good example of collaboration was that of Lindsey Stirling, a violinist who dances while playing the violin and the Piano Guys, a group of men who make original instrumental music and do classical-style covers of popular songs. Their collaboration was actually demanded by fans and was a huge success, opening up new markets for both groups.

Targeted Content

Make your videos with a certain target market in mind. This will establish your niche, and also enable you to propose a brand endorsement to a company that targets that particular group of people. For example, if you have a food channel, you can focus on organic recipes and built viewership based on this.

You can then approach an organic food company and offer to advertise their products.

Use Targeted Keywords

Use top keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and video tags. Specific keywords attract different viewers with different interests. The type of viewer you attract will also determine the type of advertisers you attract.

Keywords that attract advertisers who pay more for adverts will also earn you more money.

Conclusion

In summary, likes will not directly earn you revenue on YouTube, but they will increase your channel’s visibility to raise your chances of earning marketing revenue.

If you need help in making better videos to get you more likes then maybe check out my resources page where I show you all my equipment, secret tools for amazing graphics and youtube seo tools!

You can follow these tips discussed in this article to get more subscribers and more likes. So keep creating!

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Tags how to youtubers make money, likes, making money, money, rank, rankings, youtube likes, youtube money, youtube rankings

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE YOUTUBE

How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 18 June 2020
3 Comments on How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel?

PewDiePie, Dude Perfect, Whinderssonnunes, and Badabun: what do they have in common? They are the world’s top four YouTubers.

Between them, they have over 50 million subscribers. Their success on YouTube has inspired countless people to want to start their own YouTube channels. Many people, however, stop at the ‘wanting’ stage, and never really get to do it. They’ll give excuses such as “I don’t have time” or “I don’t have money” or “I don’t have the equipment.”

Stories about successful YouTubers only tend to focus on where they are at present and don’t mention how they started out. Nobody starts out successfully in their career. Success comes after years of hard, anonymous and thankless work, until one day that one video that you make goes viral and you become a sensation.

Even so, this doesn’t happen for everybody. Most people will plod along that road to success slowly, but constantly, until one day they look up in surprise and find themselves at the finish line. The key is to start.

In this article, we will look at some basic aspects of YouTube, what you need to start a channel, and how much it costs.

So, How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel? – It can be surprisingly cheap. All you really need is a cheap device to capture video, this can be a smartphone, a webcam or a compact camera. This could start from as little as £30/$40 these days second hand. Video editing apps can be free, and uploading costs nothing!

YouTube – A Brief History

YouTube was started by three former PayPal employees after they were frustrated by their inability to find videos that they were looking for online.

It is a video-hosting platform that enables users to upload, view and share videos. True to YouTube’s mission to give anyone and everyone a voice, anyone could upload a video on YouTube.

YouTube’s popularity was such that Google noticed it and, with laudable foresight, purchased it for $ 1.65 billion. With the rise of terrorism and other hate crimes, this has changed, but only because hate crimes are illegal and no one should have the right to share videos about them anyway.

Why YouTube?

There are many reasons why you should have a YouTube channel. Some of these are:

Large audience- YouTube has a large and diverse audience, and is used by over one billion people all over the world.
Due to the wide-ranging nature of its content, YouTube also reaches a wide demographic of users, from teenagers looking for the latest musical sensation to middle-aged women looking for cooking recipes.
The ease of access of this platform also makes it desirable both as a search engine and a form of entertainment.
Uploading videos to YouTube is a simple process. All you have to worry about is producing the video.
Monetizing- Videos with enough views get monetized. YouTube has thus become a source of livelihood for many creators.
Marketing- Investors have also tapped into the business potential of YouTube. Organizations have started their own channels to market their products and penetrate new markets.

Who Can Start a YouTube Channel?

Anyone, and it’s free. If you have a Google account, you can sign into YouTube using your account details.

With these, you can watch videos, subscribe to them, and save videos to watch later.

However, to upload a video, you need a YouTube channel. You can easily create one while signed in to YouTube. Just attempt an action that requires a channel, like commenting on a video. You will get a prompt to create a channel.

If you need help in starting a YouTube channel and opening an account I wrote a full deep dive tutorial in my blog.

For your viewers to know more about you, complete your profile and description. Market your brand in a simple, attractive manner. You can also include additional links about yourself or your content here. Make sure your profile picture is clear and appealing.

In addition to a cover photo, you can also add cover art as a background for your profile picture. Again, it has to capture attention. Your channel is now ready to use.

So far, all you’ve spent creating your channel is the cost of your internet connection (if any) and time. We will now look at the basic items you need to run your channel.

What You Need To Run A YouTube Channel?

A Camera

Since YouTube is about making videos, you need some form of video recording equipment. If you are starting out, you probably don’t have a lot of money. Due to the growing population of video bloggers, or vloggers, a number of companies now produce cameras specialized for vlogging. This website gives a list of cameras you can get for not more than $100. Not to worry.

Start with what you have. Many YouTubers began their channels with nothing but a smartphone camera. Don’t wait until you can buy a good camera to start creating, because your channel will remain dormant. For your channel to grow, you need views.

If you need help in picking a some good starter equipment check out my resources page where I list my equipment and give you a few tips on tools you may find helpful too.

Tripod Stand

In addition to a camera, you need something to hold it steady while making your videos.

Shaky videos can be quite disconcerting to watch. A tripod stand is a three-legged piece of equipment with a head for mounting a camera. It helps to keep the camera steady during filming and maintains the right angle and height for optimal results. A suitable tripod stand can cost about $170 including shipping.

However, if you don’t have one yet, never fear! You can improvise with a stack of books placed on a desk or a table.

A Microphone

People lose focus when they can’t hear a speaker properly. No matter how good your camera is, without good sound, it will not hold your viewers’ attention.

Aim to own a good external microphone as mobile phones and laptops don’t have very good ones. A good microphone can cost upwards of $150. However, in the meantime, use your phone or laptop microphone. Remember, consistency is key!

I use the Boya BY-MM1 for filming on my camera. Its easy and cheap, great quality sound. I did a deep dive blog into the Boya BY-MM1, its features and how it works, youll be amazed how different microphones work.

Lighting

Lighting can make a great difference to your video. With good lighting, even videos and photos shot from a smartphone can look highly professional. Simple lighting equipment can go for about $110, with the cost rising as the equipment becomes more complex.

If you’re starting out, you probably won’t be able to afford quality lighting. Work on making your videos outside, during the day, as the quality of natural lighting is far better than the lighting in your room.

Video Editing Software

Established YouTubers have professional teams of video editors. Video editing can turn a simple mundane video into a piece of art. You won’t start out with a team of experts, but you can do your video editing yourself using video editing software available online. A good place to start with this is Movavi, an easy to use video editing software that comes with features like color filters, animated transitions, and captions.

I use however use, Adobe Premiere Pro. Its reliable, top of the industry tool with some great, easy to use features. I am not a video editing pro but I can make some great looking videos. The software starts from as little as $10pm and they even offer discounts. Why not check out their website for more details, discounts and deals.

A Screen- Capture Tool

This is software that enables you to take a screenshot of your entire screen or a part of it. If you plan to make how-to videos, this would be a useful investment to make.

A good screen capture tool is Camtasia, which enables you to record an audio as you capture the screen. You can get it at a one-time cost of $249. It also comes as a 30-day free trial. Alternatively, you can use the inbuilt screen-capture feature inn your PC, although the effect won’t quite be the same.

What if I can’t afford to make videos? Or what if I want to have a YouTube channel but I don’t want to use videos of myself? Well, enter Doodly.

Doodly

Depending on the content of your videos, you may not even need a camera, to begin with. For example, if you plan to upload explanatory videos, instead of making a video of yourself talking, you can use video tools.

A good tool you can start with is Doodly. This is a desktop software that allows you to create explainer videos using existing templates that you can suit your needs. It comes with a number of features that can turn you from a YouTube amateur to an expert.

Features that make Doodly an ideal companion for beginners on YouTube include:

Drag and drop- You can add images simply by dragging them onto the application.
Variety- Doodly uses a variety of boards as a background for the function of explaining. You can choose between whiteboard, blackboards, green board, and glass board.
Quality- Doodly offers low to high-quality videos so you don’t have to worry about how your videos look.
User-friendly- Doodly is designed to be used by people with little or no technical knowledge about making videos, so you don’t have to worry about lack of IT or video editing experience.
Voice recording- You can record your own voice while making the video, or upload a pre-recorded voice.
Extensive music and Image Library- Music and images can turn a dull video into a masterpiece. Doodly has a large library of free music and images that you can use to make your video more attractive. You can also add your own images to your video, which Doodly incorporates seamlessly into the presentation.
Different hand styles- Doodly has both right and left-hand styles to cater for everyone.

You can purchase a standard Doodly version for $39 per month with basic features. A yearly plan is cheaper and goes for $20 per month. A more advanced version, Enterprise, goes for $ 69 per month, or $40 per month for a yearly plan.

Reaching Your Audience

You now have basic knowledge of how you can start a YouTube channel. You can make high quality, entertaining and educative videos. How will your audience know about you?

First, you have to link your YouTube channel to all your other social media accounts, so that every time you upload a video it is seen on multiple platforms. As you consistently upload videos, more and more users will see your channel, and YouTube will begin to recommend it frequently.

You can also amplify your visibility on YouTube using Search Engine Optimization Tools. These are tools that increase your chances of getting more views by optimizing your presence online.

Successful YouTubers have made use of these tools to grow their audience and penetrate niches they would never have been able to reach. A good SEO tool you can use for this is TubeBuddy.

TubeBuddy

This is an extension you can add to your browser to help you manage your channel, is used by more than 3 million creators. It enables you to know the trending keywords relevant to your channel and how to maximize their use to amplify your channel visibility. With TubeBuddy you can ‘spy’ on your competitors and learn which keywords they use, search for relevant keywords, and constantly update your channel with the best selection.

Using numerous inbuilt templates and tools, you can also save time spent in publishing your videos. TubeBuddy comes with tools that amplify your channel presence across the web, making you rank higher in search results.

Thumbnails are crucial in getting your video quickly noticed. TubeBuddy has a feature that improves them to make them more appealing. The best thing about TubeBuddy is that it is free.

Conclusion

We have looked at the basic items you need to make a video for YouTube. We’ve seen that you don’t really need much money to start your own channel.

You don’t even need a formal location, like a production studio. You can do this from your basement or any other spare room in the house. We’ve seen why you should have your own channel and even how you can optimize it to increase your views and rank high on search results.

There is no shortage of easy to use tools to help you make professional, appealing videos. If you have your ideas ready and you know who you want to target, there is no reason why you shouldn’t have your own channel.

Investing in the items listed here will only bring you positive results quickly but it’s also possible to start your own channel even if you don’t have these things yet.

Start creating.

Tags how much, how much does youtube cost, income, money, youtube income, youtube money, youtuber

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE SEO TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Are YouTube Tags Important?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 7 June 2020

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, after Google. Over 3 billion searches are processed by YouTube in a month, with up to 500 hours of videos being uploaded every minute.

This means that if you have a YouTube channel and you want to get viewers, you have to work really hard to make sure your video appears at the top, or near the top, of search results.

You may have better content than your competitors but success is not just about working hard. It’s about working smart. In addition to producing quality content, you also have to make sure your channel is visible. With so many people uploading content all the time, this can prove daunting. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.

So do YouTube Tags Matter? – YouTube Tags are a throw back to the old days of Website SEO. Tags used to be used to summarize a web page’s content. YouTube tags are not as important as they used to be BUT can be valuable meta data for smaller channels to help categorize content when they first upload videos.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your content such that the search engine, in this case, YouTube, ranks it as one of the top results in search results.

This makes your video visible and increases the quantity of traffic to your site.

Why is it Important?

According to a State of Inbound report in 2018, 45% of marketers invested more in YouTube that year than in any other channel. This means that for you to attract marketers, you have to attract many users who will actually spend time looking at your content because they are interested in it, and are not just passing through.

This is why SEO for YouTube is important. Different search engines have different optimization techniques and YouTube is no different.

We are interested in YouTube tags here but some other techniques are also worth mentioning because they are related to tags.

Finding Relevant Video Keywords

For you to create content that will attract viewers to your site, you need to know what your audience is interested in and how they talk about it. You can do this by simply typing a keyword in the YouTube search box. As you do so, the autocomplete feature will suggest popular searches related to what you’ve just typed in.

You can also use different tools for this like TubeBuddy and Ubersuggest – Tubebuddy can help you deep dive into keywords and maximize your titles for better breakthroughs – you can download the plugin on their website.

You can also compare how frequently different keywords are used so you can know which keyword is most likely to appear at the top of search results.

A free, accessible tool you can use for this is Google Trends, which has a YouTube search option for specific keywords for YouTube. Once you know what your target audience is interested in, you can then create your content to suit their needs.

Choosing the Title

While your title should communicate what your video is about, it should also grab attention. Use concise, catchy phrases that resonate immediately with your audience.

Remember to incorporate keywords as naturally as possible into your title without deceiving your viewers.

YouTube Video Description

The description helps you expand on what your video is about and enables you to add additional links and information about you.

Like the title, it should be concise and attractive. Keep in mind that while Google allows up to 1000 words in the description, only the first about 100 words will appear above the “show more” link, so you have to make the first part of your description compelling and convince the viewer to look at the rest of your description.

Include relevant keywords here as well.

Using Thumbnails

This is the image that appears with your video. A great video could lose potential views if it has an unappealing thumbnail. A thumbnail is just as important as a title in grabbing and holding attention.

YouTube has auto-generated thumbnail options that you can use, but for better results, a custom thumbnail would be more effective. 90% of the best performing YouTube videos have custom thumbnails.

Note that for you to use a custom thumbnail your channel has to be verified by YouTube.

Putting Your Video in a Category

You can link your video to others with similar content by adding a category to your video in the Advanced Settings.

This increases its chances of winding up in different YouTube playlists and will in turn increase your channel’s visibility. Do some research to see who else is in the category you’ve picked. In addition, check whether your target audience also follows those creators.

Finally, check how the creators in that category make their videos to know whether your content is a good, or better than theirs. The Creators Academy at YouTube takes users through a comprehensive process to help them determine what best category to put their video in.

Renaming Your Video File Using A Target Keyword

Before you upload your video, you can incorporate your top keyword in the video file. Because YouTube won’t actually watch your video to know its content, it will use your keywords, so you want to put them in places they can be detected by YouTube.

This way, the YouTube algorithm will read your keyword in your video’s file name along with the code.

Encouraging Subscription

Make it as easy as possible for your viewers to subscribe to your channel, or to watch similar videos by you by having the option very clearly displayed in the video.

Using Video Tags

Finally, we come to YouTube, or video tags. These are words or phrases which you can use to give more context about your video and let YouTube and your viewers know what your video is about.

Using video tags helps to rank your videos higher in search results. They are thus an important search SEO tool.

Although some studies have shown that tags play a small role in ranking a video, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spend some time on them. For famous celebrities who have constant streams of visitors to their pages, tags may not be necessary.

However, for creators with a niche audience, or who are just starting out on YouTube, tags can effectively boost the ranking of the video, leading to more visitors, which in turn raises the ranking of the video further.

Tags are also important if your name as a creator, or your subject content, constantly gets miss-spelled.

Finally, tags teach YouTube that you belong to a certain category.

This will remove you from the large number of anonymous creators constantly uploading content and place you in a smaller niche which will increase your chances of visibility as there will be less competition in your category.

How to Add Tags to YouTube Videos

Beginning in the channel dashboard, where things like your subscribers and revenue appear. On the left-hand side of the screen, click on settings.

Click on channel below settings. This where your tags are. To add a new tag, click on the white empty space, type something and click enter to make it a new tag.

Now we’ll look at some tips on how you can tag your videos for better visibility on YouTube.

Make Your Primary Keyword Your First Tag

The tags you use have to actually relate to your video, otherwise you’ll be deceiving your viewers.

Therefore, since YouTube pays a lot of attention to your first tag, try as much as possible to have it as your primary keyword.

Use Common Keywords from High Ranking Videos

If you want to know how your keyword ranks online, you can search for your keyword on YouTube. Open the top 3-5 videos that are most closely related to your content.

The videos you pick don’t have to rank at the very top, but they have to be relevant. Check the tags on these videos and pick the ones that most relate to your content.

Having tags similar to top ranking videos will increase your chances of visibility.

If you find it difficult to think of keywords, you can use different online tools to generate keywords. Here are some examples.

Keyword Keg

This tool gives different statistics like search volume, competition, SEO difficulty, trends, keyword power, suggested keywords, off-page, and on-page difficulty.

Once you enter the target keyword these different parameters come up. It also has the option of filtering results according to country and language.

VidIQ

This tool shows keywords related to your target keyword, the related score, the search score, search volume, and overall score, which is a combination of all these.

A powerful plugin that combines productivity tools with deep dive stats to super charge your rankings and views.

VidIQ is creator focused and continues to add and improve its tools including recent add-ons like fast title and description translations to help you rank in foreign languages. You can get their free plugin by going to their website.

Keyword.io

This tool gives you other related keywords once you’ve typed in your target keyword.

In addition to these, it also provides their search volume, trends over the past 12 months, and suggested hashtags and prepositions you can use with your keyword.

Use Keywords with a High Search Volume

Some keywords are more commonly used in search for particular content. Using commonly used keywords for your tags can serve to amplify your visibility to YouTube. Of course, they have to be relevant to what you’re creating.

You can use Ahref’s Keywords Explorer for this. Simply set the search Engine to YouTube and type in some keywords.

The estimated search volume for the month for each keyword will be displayed in percentages in descending order. From the list, you can pick out relevant keywords with substantial search volume.

Use Specific Categories of Tags.

I tackled this is a video before – You can can categorize your tags to get the most out of them.

Video Specific Tags – Your first tag should be very specific and should have the aim of describing exactly what the video is about.

This will directly place you in the niche your target audience are interested in.

Video Category Tags – Your next tag can be slightly broader and describe the category your video falls under. This will relate it to videos that talk about the same thing and will widen the base of your audience.

Your video can then be recommended along with other videos in a similar category, hence increasing your chances of being seen by more people.

Channel Level Tags – Lastly, you should have a tag that directly mentions your name or the name of your channel. This will link your video to other videos you’ve done that may not be related to your current video but will still be of interest to your viewers.

It will introduce your viewers to other work you’ve done.

Use Phrases Instead of Words

Keywords by themselves are important but sometimes they may be so general that they still hide your video in a long list of other related videos. Using a phrase that is more specific to your content together with the keyword increases your chances of standing out.

This is because your video will now be in a less competitive category. For example, instead of just using the word “make-up” for your video, you can use “how to do make-up” instead.

Don’t be too wordy

Although the maximum characters you can use for tags is 500, you don’t have to use all of them.

You don’t want to look spammy. The optimum number of characters, according to Briggsby, is about 200-300.

Be Relevant

The fact that a keyword has a high search volume doesn’t mean it should be used indiscriminately. Use tags that are relevant to your content.

Don’t Be Deceptive

Avoid using unrelated keywords to trick users to view your content. This could actually get your content removed by YouTube. For example, don’t use the names of famous celebrities or brands just to get people to watch your video.

Don’t Place Your Tags in the Video Description

This is another violation of YouTube policy that could get you in trouble as it can be considered as an intention to mislead users.

Tracking Your Progress

Finally, did you know that you can track your ranking in search results?

You can use different tools for this, and you can track your progress and see how the different SEO techniques are working for your channel. This is an important step to see which of your efforts are actually bringing positive results.

In conclusion, tags alone may play a small role in substantially increasing your views, but, when used together with other SEO techniques, can boost your channel’s visibility.

Upload content consistently and see your rankings rise. After all, even famous celebrities started small before they blew up.

Tags do tags matter, do youtube tags matter, seo, tags, video seo, video tags, youtube seo, youtube tags

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE LISTS TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways)

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 4 June 2020
1 Comment on How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways)

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about videos; I’d say they are worth a trillion words.”

You cannot deny it anymore; videos are now everywhere and video marketing is on the rise. It has grown even more prominently than just a few years ago and is convenient for brands to reach their customers.

You can argue that popular social media sites like Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter, and others are good places to promote your content, but the truth is YouTube reigns supreme. People spend trillions of hours every day looking at videos.

I’m going to share with you 30+ proven tactics, tips, tricks, and hacks that are going to help you grow your YouTube channel.

Know Your Audience

One of the first things to do before you go about making your videos is to know what your audience, viewers, or customers want. You should be asking yourself questions.

Asking questions will help you to understand and make better videos for your audience, customers, consumers, or viewers.

Keywords & Research

Now that you’ve had a chance to know their requirements, you can start with subject / content research and gather keywords. When YouTube is concerned, keyword research is important. I cannot stress this enough.

Choosing the CORRECT keywords skyrockets your videos to the top. Choosing the WRONG keywords buries in heaps of search results.

Engaging Titles

This is another one of the important factors that make-or-break your YouTube video’s popularity. Literally, titles are what makes or breaks your video’s engagement and performance.

You have to craft engaging titles and grab your viewer’s attention without using “clickbait” headlines. People want entertaining content, and not one that says something but delivers something else.

Trailers, Trailers, Trailers

Before you run off and make your first YouTube video, create a video introducing yourself, your brand, and what your channel is about. This is a mini trailer to show to non-subscribers and persuade them to stick about and even subscribe to your content.

Need help with make a good trailer? I make a video all about that on my YouTube channel – check it here.

Content – Quality, Reformatting, Sustainability, Trending

Rule #1 – Quality, Quality, Quality; Content, Content, Content

Rule #2 – Read Rule #1 Period.

You know your audience, done your research, and have gotten that optimized video title, but now what? Now, you start to form the content of your videos.

If your video is not what people want, they’ll be lost in the infinite sea of other videos that nobody wants to see.

You have to create content that lures viewers, meaning videos on trending content. You can also repurpose an old article or blog post and create an engaging video your viewers will love.

Make Eye Catching Thumbnails

YouTube grabs a screenshot of your videos and uses these as thumbnails. Most times the image is blurry or you do not want this. Use specific fonts and styles so that it’s consistent with your brand’s look and feel. Use tools like Canva to create thumbnails.

Also, don’t make thumbnail to clickbait. You’ll lose subscribers in an instant. Thumbnails give a good first impression to your viewers of you and your channel, so make it eye-catching.

Put Yourself On Camera

Are you running your YouTube channel yourself or as a small business or start-up, then it’s better to put yourself in front of the camera. Putting a face to the brand lets your viewers easily associate with you.

This is particularly true for solo entrepreneurs; business, fitness, or life coaches; and bloggers. Also, use your photo instead of your logo on your YouTube channel if you are one of the above.

Win The Click

If your video is based on a project, show the final result at the start. A stunning result makes people more interested to see how you achieved it. This is a winner for makeover, beauty, home improvement, and DIY videos.

Telling stories is another fabulous way to tempt your viewers’ emotions. We all want to hear stories.

Viewers want to know what happens at the end of a story, so start with one.

Also, a personal story will endear you to your viewers.

Upload Videos Consistently

Just making videos with great content and then not doing it anymore is not enough. You have to be sustainable, meaning you have to do it regularly.

Doing it once is GOOD, doing it again is GREAT, but doing it again and again is FANTASTIC for you (brand or otherwise) and your viewers.

Stay Focused

AVOID nonsense and ramblings, don’t take long pauses, jump around topics, or be boring. This makes your viewers look at the recommended video section for interesting stuff. Make sure your videos are engaging visually or use stories.

Do not give your audience a chance to click away.

Engage Your Audience

Make sure the content you make is what your viewer wants. Ask your viewers for suggestions. You need to engage your subscribers and reply to their queries and comments on your videos.

Don’t forget to reply to negative comments also. It shows you are listening and active. You can use this to convert your audience into possible leads.

Brand Yourself and Your Channel

Don’t make your video look fake as this affects your viewers’ perception of your channel and you. Also, make sure your channel is visually appealing. You have to make it look authoritative. Branding a channel helps users to recognize it in a sea of content.

Be sure to match your channel to your website or blog’s look and feel; do not differentiate between them.

Cross Promote Your Videos

Cross promoting make you look more professional and uniform. You don’t know the subscribers you’ll get just by promoting on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, etc

Use the following tips to cross promote on social media:

Make and promote teasers
Release behind the scenes videos.
Alert your subscribers to new video uploads
Links in video description to nudge viewers to take a look (call-to-action)

End Screens and Info Cards

You might be thinking what is a Card? It is nothing but an interactive “panel” that slides in and out as your video is nearing the end. This is to nudge viewers with interesting content that they might like.

You’ll be able to add 5 panels, make the most of this. You can add text, images, or clickable links.

Subscribers, Subscriptions & Newsletters

Use your site’s email newsletter to grow your channel. Send embedded preview videos or links to new content and bring them back to your channel. You can always ask your audience to subscribe to your channel.

Do not ever pay for subscribers. This brings down the engagement and your authenticity is at risk in the long term.

End Screen Promotions

Use interactive graphics to link to another playlist, video, web page, or channel, or prompt them to subscribe to your channel.

You’ll be able to add them at then end 20 seconds of the videos. Plan this out, and make sure you know where they will appear.

Chase Trends

Check out your competitors and see which videos are ranking higher with better engagement. Keep checking out and refining the topics and workflow until you have a process that is well-oiled.

There isn’t any replacement for hard work. Always search for patterns like subject, editing style, or delivery system and create videos like those.

Improve Your “Watch Time”

Make your video as long as your topic requires. Nowadays, longer videos result in more watch time. This boosts your videos in YouTube’s algorithm.

Do not make videos longer just to make them longer. You will lose viewers. Generally, 7-15 minute videos perform better.

Content Mix Strategy

Always try to make videos that serve you channel’s community, perform well in search, and are shareable. You can post regular videos for your product, service, brand, or other things.

You need to mix the types of videos as well.

Along with the regular ones you can have videos that contain responding to comments, answering questions, interacting via live video as well.

Make Bingeable Videos Series

Make a video series so you can convert one time viewers into subscribers. Find specific keywords or topics and optimize your content for search.

These help you in establishing yourself as a thought leader or an influencer.

Creator and Brand Collaborations

Collaborating with another YouTuber will help you grow your channel as it helps in doubling your audience.

You will have two channel’s subscribers seeing your videos meaning more subscribers, viewers, and reach. Collaborate with guests or co-hosts that fit your niche only.

YouTube Video Optimization

Don’t only do SEO for your site, blogs, or articles. Use it to rank your videos on YouTube.

To get subscribers and growing your channel, you need SEO. YouTube results actually pop-up before other traditional blogs, articles, or websites.

Some fantastic tools for YouTube SEO are TubeBuddy and VidIQ – They help with keyword research, ranking and even your thumbnails – check out my resource page for more tools to help with SEO & Branding.

Search Engine Results Page (SERPs)

YouTube is making a killing when SEO is concerned. You shouldn’t just create videos for search engines and not people.

Do how-to’s, product reviews, and long-form (7-15+ minute) videos covering specific topics to rank higher.

Giveaways and Contests

Hosting giveaways is a one of the quickest ways to gain subscribers. Base your giveaway on your channel’s niche.

YouTube viewers love giveaways. Host giveaways or contests and encourage people to subscribe and engage with your channel.

Embed Your Videos

YouTube does not give you options to promote videos. This is why you need to have a website. Make a detailed blog or article that coincides with your channel and gives people the ability read, watch, or do both.

Embed your videos in your website or blog post and promote it to your email subscribers. Add a video widget to your blog post or website as well.

Creating, Organizing, & Promoting Your Playlists

With the increase in videos you’ll create, people will find it more difficult to navigate your channel.

This is why playlists are critical. Playlists allow you categorise and organize your channel. This allows your viewers to binge watch all videos in that category increasing watch time.

Be Interactive – Go Live!

This is a great option to boost engagement without spending much time. Live-streaming does have a learning curve. After you have learned it properly, it is the easiest way of creating video content. On YouTube, live-streaming is called YouTube Live.

It provides splendid engagement opportunities as you can communicate directly with your viewers. You can so some live streams on topics such as Q&A Sessions, Webinars, Tutorials, Product Demonstrations, etc

Should I Try Paid Adverting?

Just using organic growth is good, but you’ll have to add paid promotion at one time or the other to speed things up. Create an ad campaign and help drive subscribers and viewers to your page.

This is similar to Facebook Ads, but is tailored towards YouTube.

Deep Dive Into The Community

Other than promoting your videos to grow your channel, you need to be active in the community. This allows you to get feedback, network, and share interests with people having the same goals.

Attend events like Content Marketing World or VidCon and meet other creators like yourself and promote your videos.

Analytics, Analytics, Analytics & There’s Data Too

YouTube’s analytics and reports are crucial to your success. Your analytics are tailored to your channel and provides an opportunity for you to improve.

Do not stay away from analytic because it feels overwhelming. If you avoid it, it will not help you to understand it.

Publish to Social Media

Last, but not least is publishing to social media and promoting the hell out of it. This is no secret that video kills it with engagement and boosting performance in terms on social media.

Regularly promote your channel and videos to your followers and encourage them to become subscribers.

As soon as you upload your video, let your followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn know. Create previews or snippets for each social media platform and link it to an accompanying blog post or article on your website.

Conclusion

Driving participation using quality content is what makes up for engaged followers who advocate your brand to others. Always be true to yourself and your brand, and be in constant communication with your viewers.

Develop quality content, make thumbnails to grab viewer’s attention, deliver as promised, start videos using a strong hook, and keep things interesting. Overall, you’re creating an experience to keep your viewers’ engaged.

Did you like my post on “How to grow a YouTube channel?” Did you try any of these in your videos? What results did you get?

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

That is why I could not live on YouTube without someone like PlaceIT. They offer custom YouTube Banners, Avatars, YouTube Video Intros and YouTube End Screen Templates that are easy to edit with simple click, upload wizard to help you make amazing professional graphics in minutes.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

5. StoryBlocks helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the StoryBlocks website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

Tags Grow a YouTube Channel, how to grow a youtube channel, youtube, youtube growth