Whether you’re looking for ways to make extra money online or on your PC, or heck — even your cellphone! Stick around, your 2022 is about to get a whole lot better.
1. Leveraging the gig economy
There are tons of websites out on the internet that provide you the opportunity to earn some extra money — using skills that you already possess and equipment you may already own.
I’m talking about the gig economy here. It’s a great way for people to make money and earn a steady and passive income — all in the comfort of your own home. These sites only require that you sign up, with some offering premium subscriptions to boost sales and grant access to features like bidding on more proposals.
Some of these include
Freelancer
Upwork
Fiverr (⭐ my personal favourite)
TaskRabbit
2. Writing
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”. Alright, alright, I admit, not all writing is Shakespearian. But you’ll definitely need some strong lingual skills to be able to qualify as a copywriter. Luckily it’s not like in the olden days, using typewriters, amiright?
But seriously though, there’s a chance you’ll make some really good dough (👏 3 claps for the rhyme) writing as a skill.
Here are just some of the ways you’d be able to get some moola typing away on your fancy keyboard or whatever:
to some degree, you’ve probably done some coding before. Coding, programming or developing, as some may call it, would stand the test of time (at least for now) to be one of the most lucrative ways to earn extra money, or even as your main source of income.
There are plenty of resources out there that use low-code/no-code to build you an app or website, and then of course, there are the hardcode coders (like me) that write everything line by line, binary di — okay fine, that last part is definitely over exaggerating a bit.
But on a more serious note, you can make money writing websites, apps, making cloud platforms, or using low code or no code platforms.
Pretty cool, right?
4. Content Creation
The internet has gifted us many platforms that we can leverage to gain unfathomable wealth and extra money out of this world — if we use them correctly. This one’s a bit tougher than the rest, though. It requires a LOT of upfront time investment, unlike some of the other items on this list.
I’m talking about platforms like YouTube, or writing your own blog using Medium. It’s an incredible way to generate an income — both passive and active. YouTube, for one, have birthed many millionaires with the likes of Jake- and Logan Paul, PewDiePie (a.K.A. Felix Kjellberg) in the last decade and a half of it’s existence, and it’s never too late. New YouTubers are always on the rise, making it to the top with high quality content.
5. NFTs and Cryptocurrency
NFTs and Cryptocurrency exchanges have become one of the fastest ways to amass some great deal of money through the owning and selling of digital assets. Binance’s Initial Game Offer promises great rewards for those who invest early and yield the best results.
One game that’s pretty awesome (and that’s had a piece of it’s plot essentially sold for at US$7.2 million! That’s crazy!) is Axie Infinity. It’s downloadable via the Google and Apple stores, and it’s free!
6. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a company pays others (e.g bloggers) to advertise their products and services and generate sales. Here, I’ll use an example. I write a blog (like this one) and I post a link to an item I’d recommend buying — say, a camera — through Amazon’s Affiliate Program, and if you end up buying said camera, I’d get a portion of the sale as commission!
Here are some high paying programs:
Elementor
AWeber
Sendinblue
ConvertKit
Leadpages
GetResponse
SEMRush
Fiverr
7. Create a blog
Now folks, if you’re an avid writer, or you are just really passionate about a specific thing or niche, then, as an expression, blogging could potentially monetize said passion!
Think of something — anything — and start a blog on that. Heck, you can even start right here on Medium like I did!
8. Try Drop-shipping
And I do mean this in the best way possible — drop shopping is stupidly easy to set up, but would, for some, be quite challenging to keep the ball rolling.
Luckily, Shopify has made it incredibly easy to create and run an online store. Drop-shipping from China’s biggest, like AliExpress and DHGate are quite common. But if you can manage to score a local distributer that’s willing to let you drop ship their product — you’ve got a winner!
9. Set up an Online Course
If you have a skill, and you can articulate said skill, then look no further than online education.
Online education, with the likes of Skillshare, Pluralsight and Coursera have made inroads in the last couple of years, upskilling individuals from courses that YOU can create and earn from.
Facebook pages can easily be seen as Facebook’s attempt to break out of the personal headspace that Facebook occupied for so long, and, if that was Facebook’s goal, it’s been quite effective. Pages have become an almost essential part of any online presence, be it an individual, company, or brand. But, like any too for promoting something, Facebook pages are only effective if they are used correctly.
Simply creating a page and calling it a day might be the kind of thing someone with millions of followers on other platforms can get away with, but if you are trying to build up a following from, shall we say, more modest numbers, you’re going to have to work a little harder than that.
This brings us to the purpose of this post. We’re going to look at a number of methods to grow Facebook page followings, but before we do, we’ve got a little crash course on Facebook pages for you.
What Are Facebook Pages?
The easiest way to think of a Facebook Page is as a public-facing profile alternative. Now, if you are a public figure and make no attempt to keep your Facebook profile private, this may seem a little strange to you, but you should try to remember that Facebook is mostly used as a platform for keeping in touch with friends and family.
The vast majority of Facebook users have a friend list full of people they know in real life, such as colleagues, friends, and family members. They don’t necessarily want their posts and comments to be visible to the wider world. Especially if they have any kind of notability. This is why a large number of Facebook users make their profiles and content only visible to people they are friends with.
Facebook pages allow those users to maintain that separation between the wider world and their private lives, but still have a public presence on Facebook—the largest social media platform in the world.
Do I Need a Facebook Page?
If you’re a reader of this blog, there’s a good chance you need a Facebook page. If you’ve stumbled here from a search engine looking for information on Facebook pages and are not looking to promote anything or boost your online presence, you probably don’t need a page.
For the people who are promoting things—perhaps a YouTube channel, or a podcast—we would recommend having a Facebook page even if you don’t feel the need to separate your private life from the public eye. You may feel that way now, but things can change. And there’s nothing stopping you from sharing anything you would have put on your Facebook wall onto your page as well.
That’s the key element here. You will be making a conscious choice to share something publicly, and that should protect you from unintentionally sharing anything that you wouldn’t want public, such as personal matters, or controversial opinions.
10 Tips to Grow Facebook Page Followings
And now to the meat of the article. Please note that our tips are in no particular order. Let’s go!
1. Post Regularly
One of the biggest tips we can offer for growing a Facebook page’s following—or any following on a social media platform—is to post regularly. This is especially true for smaller pages.
There are two main reasons that regular and consistent posting helps grow your Facebook page. The first is that it will mean anytime a new person arrives at your page, they are going to be seeing relatively recent content. If they get to your page and the last thing you posted was eight months ago, they might understandably conclude that the page is inactive and move on.
The other reason is that every post you make on your page increases the chances of someone new discovering your page. Whether it’s through your content being shared or through Facebook organically showing it to users, the more posts you have, the more things there are for people to stumble across.
Just be careful not to let your drive to post regularly affect the quality of what you’re posting.
2. Share Inherently Useful Content
Continuing on nicely from that last sentence, it’s not enough to just post anything on a regular basis, you also need to make that content worthwhile for your potential followers. For most of us, that rules out just posting links to your latest show/video/song/book/etc.
Of course, if you are already an established personality or brand with a huge following, just having a Facebook page that posts updates like that is useful and will get plenty of engagement. If you’re trying to grow a brand, however, you need to give those users a reason to come to your page other than… well, you.
An example of this might be an author who writes books on interior design. They could post tips on interior design, giving people a reason to follow your page for that content. Then, that author has a new book out, they’ll not only have a following but one that is primed for that product.
3. Focus on a Niche
Once again following on nicely from the end of the last point, we have your niche. While this may not be possible for everybody—it’s hard to stick to a niche if you’re a pop musician, for example—if you have an area that your content or services revolve around, make sure the posts on your page stick to that niche.
Being more focused with your content will undoubtedly lower the number of potential users coming to your page, but it will ensure that the users who are interested in what you’re posting are more likely to find it. It will also make those users far more likely to stick around, and increase the chance of them engaging with your posts because they are truly interested in the subject matter.
The trick is finding a balance between narrowing you’re niche so far that the audience is minuscule, and broadening it so far that your page has too much competition to make an impact.
4. Invite People to Like Your Page
We often don’t like to bother people, but inviting people to like your Facebook page is something that not only yields good results but can be done with the click of a button thanks to Facebook’s “Invite People to Like This Page” button. The like invite will show up in their notifications, and they will be free to ignore it if they don’t want to.
5. Promote Your Page Outside of Facebook
Facebook is big. It can be easy to forget there’s a whole Internet out there, and it’s important that you don’t neglect to use that Internet when you’re trying to grow your Facebook page.
Obviously, we’re not suggesting you start spamming comment sections or tweet threads, but promote responsibly wherever you can. Sometimes simply letting followers know you have a Facebook page is enough.
6. Use Facebook Live
If you have it in you to make video content, Facebook Live is an excellent tool for garnering more interest in your Facebook page. These videos not only get put into various feeds when they are live, but they also remain up (if you allow it) after the fact, acting as lasting content for your page.
As per our above tip about niches, try to keep this content in line with the subject matter (or matters) that your page represents. There’s no sense attracting people who won’t be interested in what you do.
7. Run Giveaways and Other Promotions
There are no hidden tricks here, this is exactly what it sounds like. If you are in a position to run competitions or promotions… or just give stuff away, it’s an effective way to generate interest for your page. Just be careful not to violate any local or international laws with any contests you run. Always check the law.
8. Join Relevant Facebook Groups
We’ve talked about getting off of Facebook to promote your page, but what about on Facebook? Finding relevant groups and participating can be a great way to generate interest. Like with anywhere else, be sure not to spam, and adhere to the rules of any group you join.
9. Utilise Calls to Action
If you’re writing blog posts, recording podcasts, posting videos, or generally making content elsewhere on the web, don’t be afraid to use a call to action. It could just be a line at the end of your article, a polite nudge at the end of a video, or really any mention. You’d be surprised how much of a difference it makes.
10. Advertise
You can advertise away from Facebook, but we’d suggest using Facebook’s own advertising platform if you want to advertise a Facebook page. It is more likely to land in front of a user who will be interested, as the very fact that they are seeing it means they are a Facebook user, whereas a Google AdSense ad could easily wind up in front of a person who is not on Facebook and has no intention of joining.
People today understand more than ever the importance of diversifying when it comes to your source of income. After decades of financial crisis’ and global pandemics, younger generations are acutely aware of how risky it is to put all your eggs in one employment basket.
This has always been the case for YouTubers, of course. Since the beginning of YouTubers making money from their content, it has always been the advice for smart YouTubers not to rely solely on YouTube to pay their bills. Adpocalypses, changes to personal situations, and much more can make YouTube earnings evaporate in no time.
Of course, telling you that it’s important to spread your wings a bit financially is all well and good, but we want to go that extra step and give you a few ideas on where you can spread your wings!
With that in mind, we’ve put together our top 10 side hustles for YouTubers to dip their toes into (click here for side hustles for students). Never heard of a “side hustle” before? Don’t worry…
What is a “Side Hustle”?
A side hustle is defined as any job or occupation that is not your main job or occupation. In a traditional sense, an example of this might be someone working in a factory through the week and then doing a few shifts tending bar on the weekend. In this case, the bar work would be a side hustle.
Of course, things are a little more fluid these days, with the lines between side hustles and a “main job” being a little blurrier, but there is an emotional component that is strong these days than it once was. It is not uncommon for people who make their money online to have something that they consider a side hustle actually be their primary source of income!
Still, whether you classify something as a side hustle based on the money it makes you or how important that activity is to you, the basic premise remains the same; it’s a way of earning money that you consider secondary to another way of earning money.
How Much Money Can You Make With a Side Hustle?
The amount of money you can make with a side hustle will, of course, vary tremendously depending on several factors, such as what the side hustle is, how good you are at it, how much time you put into it, and more.
As mentioned above, how much money it makes does not necessarily affect its status as a side hustle. If you consider YouTube your “primary” hustle, you may well find one of your side hustles overtaking as your largest source of income. Our advice would be to not think too much about things like the exact amounts. As long as you’re making enough (whatever “enough” means to you), it doesn’t matter which hustle is making the most money.
Don’t Think of it as a Side Hustle!
While you should get too hung up on the specific amount being made by any form of hustle, it’s important not to think of things as secondary, or unimportant. If your job involves making money on the Internet, you should consider all of it your job, whether it’s making the most or not.
If you start thinking of legitimate income sources as unimportant, you run the risk of letting them slip until they stop being legitimate income sources. You may think of yourself as a YouTuber, but if you have half a dozen side hustles, they will quickly amount to a significant portion of your income, so you probably literally can’t afford to neglect them.
Top 10 Side Hustles for YouTubers
That’s enough about what side hustles are, it’s time to get to our top ten side hustles for YouTubers. Of course, if you simply searched for side hustles and found this post, you aren’t a YouTuber, don’t stop reading. We’ve picked these ten side hustles because they work well with YouTubing, but they are perfectly viable side hustles for other walks of life, too.
In fact, if you see your main hustle on here (blog writer, or podcaster, for example), just swap that one out for “YouTuber” and keep on reading!
Oh, and a little side note about the YouTube Partner Programme, we haven’t included that in this list because we assume that if you’re looking to add side hustles to your resume, you’re already making money from YouTube.
#1 Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is perhaps one of the most well-established means of making money on the side for YouTubers. This is the process of promoting something in the course of your usual content and making a little money on the actions taken by your viewers.
The most well-known example of this is, of course, Amazon’s affiliate program. When enrolled as an Amazon affiliate, you will be able to get a personal affiliate link from any Amazon product. Viewers who happen to buy that product will not pay any extra—indeed, they wouldn’t even know it was an affiliate link if you didn’t tell them (more on that in a second)—but you will make a small commission on anything they buy through your links.
There are many forms of affiliate marketing available, as well as services designed specifically to facilitate linking companies with people like you. It should be noted, however, that you should always give some sort of indication to your viewers that a link you have put in the description or a product you are promoting in your video is something you are promoting as an affiliate. It’s not hard to find out, and viewers will be turned off by this kind of dishonesty. It could also get you in trouble with YouTube.
#2 Merchandise Seller
Whether you have some kind of merchandise that exists independent of your YouTube channel, or you start releasing merchandise that ties directly in with your YouTube channel, having that channel can be a great way to promote it.
Naturally, if your merchandise is tied to the channel (for example, t-shirts with the channel logo on them), you’re going to want to promote it from that channel. Alternatively, if you want to start (or already have) a small clothing line, you sell artwork, or you sell pretty much anything on a site like Etsy, you can leverage the popularity of your YouTube channel to give that side hustle a bit of a kickstart.
#3 Course Instructor
Many YouTubers have some area of expertise, even if their channel is not about imparting that expertise. These days, the administrative side of creating and hosting an online course to teach other people things is relatively painless. There’s still a lot of work in putting the course together, of course, but there’s a lot of work in running a YouTube channel, as well, and you’re not letting that stop you… are you?
Of course, if your channel is centred around educating, such as a DIY channel, or tutorials on coding, it will be much easier to translate that audience into an online course. But even channels that are not about teaching viewers something can take advantage of this side hustle, as long as the course is teaching a skill that is on display when you make your videos.
#4 Channel Manager
If you have a particular flair for handling YouTube channels, you might consider turning your attention to becoming a channel manager. Essentially, you would take on the management of other people’s channels, and handle almost everything except for the content itself.
Many people don’t have the time or desire to effectively manage their channel themselves, but proper channel management can make an enormous difference. As you will no doubt be aware of this is a side hustle you are considering.
The main thing to beware of here is letting this side hustle take over. A good channel manager will typically have several clients. And, while managing a channel doesn’t take nearly as much time as making content for it, it all adds up if you keep adding clients to your roster.
#5 Blogger
Bloggers may resent seeing their profession listed as a side hustle on a YouTube blog—especially since blogging was a viable source of income before YouTube—but don’t be mad; YouTube can just as rightly be called a side hustle for bloggers. And the good news is this makes sense whichever way round you look at it.
Essentially, you have something to share with an audience, and you are currently doing it in video form. By translating that content to written form, you can reach a whole new audience. Or you can make it supplemental, giving your YouTube audience something else to consume.
#6 Podcaster
In a very similar vein to being a blogger, you can get more of your message out in audio-only form through podcasts. And, again, if you are a podcast, you can easily look at this suggestion in reverse, with YouTube being the side hustle.
This suggestion works best for channels that already have a podcast-like feel, such as panel show channels, or interview channels. If you regularly put out hour-long videos that are mostly talking, you’re going to miss out on a lot of viewers purely because of the time requirements. Not everyone has that much free time to sit and watch YouTube.
Those same people might have an hour’s worth of commuting to do every day, or regularly go for a job and like to listen to something while they do. They might just want something to put on while they do a bit of cleaning around the home. If your content is already podcast-like, putting it out as a podcast will involve negligible work. And, if it succeeds, it could drive more traffic to your YouTube channel.
Of course, you can still make a podcast if your channel isn’t the kind of channel described above. As long as you have something interesting to talk about, you can find an audience.
#7 Produce Video Content
This one is a little trickier. As we mentioned above in the channel manager section, creating content for a channel is the most time-consuming part, so the idea of producing video content for others might not seem like the best plan.
While you could certainly produce video content for other YouTube channels, we’re suggesting something more specialist, such as making animations idents, or infographic clips. If you have a skill for this kind of thing, there will undoubtedly be plenty of people and companies that are happy to pay for your services.
#8 Stock Trader
This one doesn’t really tie in to you being a YouTuber unless your YouTube channel revolves around you being a stock trader, or talking about stock trading in some form. If this isn’t you, you can still get into stock trading (or currency trading), to earn a little (or a lot) extra on the side, just be sure you know what you’re doing. We categorically do not recommend anyone dabbling in the stock market without knowing what they’re doing beforehand.
#9 Become a Consultant
You don’t have to make content to take advantage of your expertise. Consultancy work is a great way for you to exploit your own knowledge while helping others. One example of this could be helping other YouTubers grow their channel (assuming you have proven yourself able to do this in the first place of course!), but it could just as easily be any other area of expertise you have.
#10 Champion a Cause
This one is kind of cheating. You won’t necessarily make any money from championing a good cause, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Whether it’s planting trees or donating to charities, you have the power to make an impact.
Final Thoughts
YouTube is undoubtedly a great platform for launching other projects, whether they are passion projects, side hustles, or even new careers. The list above is a relatively small selection of the possibilities for adding new hustles to your game, so don’t worry if none of the above work for you.
Of course, if all else fails, your side hustle could always be other YouTube channels.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Given the body of work on this website and the YouTube channel, this topic may seem a little unexpected. It shouldn’t be, however, as knowing your alternatives allows you to make the best of any situation. There are times where YouTube isn’t the best platform for a particular piece of content, and it’s not necessarily a failing on YouTube’s part.
In this post, we’re going to look at some of the top YouTube alternatives, outline what makes them different (if anything), and talk about when and why you might want to use them over YouTube in some cases. But, before we get into the alternatives, there’s something we need to address.
Online Platform Competition
It’s perfectly normal to think of comparisons like this as a competition, but that’s not really applicable most of the time. When you consider services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, you can make a direct comparison because the services are essentially offering the same thing. They can enter into this kind of battle because there is a lot of subjectivity about who is better. If you like the shows on Netflix more, you’re going to prefer that service. In this manner, both services can co-exist.
Things are a little different for platforms like YouTube. Essentially, everyone is striving to offer something a little different, because going into direct competition is dangerous. If one platform manages to get a significant upper hand, it can spell the end for the other platform.
So, what does this mean for this post? Simply put, when directly comparing YouTube to an alternative, the “best” platform will often come down to how you are using it.
Anyway, enough of the caveats, let’s get to the alternatives!
Top YouTube Alternatives
Bear in mind that these alternatives are in no particular order. We’re not saying the first on the list is the “best”.
Twitch
Probably the most widely known user-generated video streaming service out there is Twitch, the Amazon-owned gaming platform. Now, if you know anything about Twitch, you will already know an important difference here.
Twitch is primarily a live streaming service.
While YouTube has recently started moving into the live streaming business in a big way, Twitch is mostly focused on it. There is some functionality to upload videos to Twitch as you would with YouTube, but you need to have Partner or Affiliate status to gain access to that functionality. Additionally, the service really isn’t intended for this kind of content, so don’t expect anywhere near the levels of engagement (or revenue) as you would get from a YouTube upload.
For live streaming, however, Twitch is really the only other game in town. In fact, it’s more than fair to say (for now) that Twitch is the top dog when it comes to live streaming. If your content is heavy on the live streaming, you won’t find a more ideal platform with as large a potential audience as Twitch can offer, other than YouTube that is.
DailyMotion
When talking about direct competition for YouTube, DailyMotion is probably the closest thing you will get to a service that tries to beat YouTube at its own game. It even has a similar layout and many of the same features, such as playlists, recommendations, and categories.
The main appeal of DailyMotion is the restrictions, of which there are fewer. Of course, there are still limitations on what you can upload, but you are far less likely to run into trouble with DailyMotion over things like graphic content and nudity than you are with YouTube.
There are also fewer users, which in turn means less money to be made. The flip side of this is that the general quality of user-generated content tends to be higher. Another downside is that users are limited to 4GB of uploads unless they are a pro user, which means paying a subscription fee.
Metacafe
Metacafe, like DailyMotion, offers a recognisably YouTube-like service, though it actually predates YouTube having been around since 2003. The focus for Metacafe is on shorter content (imagine some kind of lovechild between TikTok and YouTube), and tends to be of a lighthearted nature.
As a creator, you can get paid making content on Metacafe, with the going rate being about $5.00 per 1,000 views.
Vimeo
Vimeo started out very much a YouTube competitor, but over the years has grown into a more specific niche that has worked very well for it. If we could offer a single phrase to compare Vimeo to YouTube, it would be “quality over quantity”.
Don’t get us wrong, we love YouTube, but there is a lot of low-quality content on there. Vimeo isn’t going to give your fill of funny animal videos, but you will find award-winning shorts, premium events, and a range of other high-quality types of content.
Vimeo enforces strict quality guidelines to ensure that this level of quality is maintained. They also place quite heavy restrictions on their users, such as a 500MB per month upload limit, though you can pay to upgrade to a 5GB per month limit.
Final Thoughts
If you were looking for an alternative to YouTube that offers exactly the same service, the closest thing you’re going to find is DailyMotion, though the service isn’t identical, and the userbase is far smaller. For users making independent movies or other types of higher-quality content, Vimeo is probably the way to go. Streamers need look no further than Twitch.
Ultimately, every service has its strengths and weaknesses, but for the service offered by YouTube, you’re not going to find a like-for-like alternative that does things as well. It’s all about deciding what you need and looking for the service that does that the best.
Of course, these are certainly not the only alternatives online, so we thought we’d include a few honourable mentions that didn’t make the cut;
Vevo
9GAG TV
DTube
Crackle
Internet Archives Video Section
Some of these are alternatives in a purely viewing sense, but again, it’s all about what you need from your video streaming service.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Vlogging is all about your brand. You need people to recognize you on other socials as well as YouTube and post your videos out from them. Branding yourself carefully at the beginning is a great way to set yourself up for success. Here are five free branding tools that every YouTube vlogger should know.
LogoCreator
LogoCreator is a free logo maker that is full of hundreds of templates that you can use and alter to suit your needs. You can convert your logo into a variety of formats for free download and use it in any way you like.
Why Use It?
When you brand your vlog with a logo, you show your fans who you are and the style of your brand personality. Give people something to easily recognize when they watch your vlogs. This way, when they see another pop up on YouTube or your logo head a photo you post for content on Instagram, they will know that it is you. This is how you develop a brand following for your business.
Canva
Canva is an online design tool that allows vloggers to use customizable templated videos to create content for their socials and vlogs. They offer hundreds of templates for free and you can alter them to suit your brand.
Why Use it?
Using a video template can be a great way to ensure your vlog looks professional every time. You can use it to put across your branding in your video, which makes your business easier for consumers to follow and associate with.
Biteable
Biteable offers a vast array of customizable videos. Much like Canva, but with more features. Biteable is a dedicated video site, offering free video templates as long as you have their watermark on the vlog. If you want to lose their logo and add your own, price plans start at just under £14 per month.
Why Use it?
If you want to set up a vlog but don’t have the technical or creative know-how to create videos yet, then a template can help get you started. Once you are a master vlogger, you might want to move to a different tool, but for the beginner, Biteable has almost no competition.
Open Broadcaster
Open Broadcaster, or OBS is a great piece of software for the more experienced vlogger. It is a free open-source piece of software that is designed for video streaming and recording. Many people use it to stream themselves playing games or vlog about certain topics. It is sponsored by Twitch, Facebook and YouTube so you can rely on it to be updated fairly often. You can add graphics and overlays to your OBS to sync it with your brand.
Why Use It?
OBS offers an enormous amount of guidance with how to use their software. They have a downloadable quick start guide, a more detailed OBS Studio overview and a Discord community forum. All of this assistance means that vloggers can feel supported and get the help they need when creating their videos.
Shotcut
Shotcut is an open-source video editor that can be used cross platforms. It offers an incredibly detailed repertoire of features. Shotcut offers wide-angle support, device transfer options and a sleek, intuitive interface. They offer an astounding amount of video and audio options that can help you brand your vlog. They also have an option to add a watermark which can be great for branding if you use your logo.
Why Use it?
Shotcut has all of its previous versions available for download and a detailed site map available with FAQs, contact options and an active forum. It is a great bit of kit if you are looking do get in deep with vlogging.
When vlogging it is important to brand your videos to create a direct link between your socials, emails, website and videos. Your brand is also the first point of contact for most of your audience so branding your vlogs is a sure-fire way to get viewers acknowledging you brand and building a relationship via association.
We give a lot of advice on this blog about how you can make it as a YouTuber in a huge variety of ways, and one of those ways is being a YouTuber who doesn’t show their face.
But, while we stand by our advice, we know that sometimes examples are more effective. Which brings us to this post!
We’ve pulled together a selection of successful YouTubers who never (or very rarely) show their face in their videos. We’ve also tried to pull YouTubers from a wide range of niches, just to show that it can be done no matter what your content is about.
So, with that in mind, and in no particular order, here are eight YouTubers who don’t show their face!
Mediation Mindfulness
A meditation channel dedicated to self care, mindfulness, meditation and music to study to. An ever increasing niche on YouTube of channels that offer useful content without showing their face.
The Meditation Mindfulness channel uploads videos of relaxing scenery, sounds, locations and black screen videos to help people study, sleep and relax.
SovietWomble
SovietWomble is a British gaming YouTuber who is just a little shy of four million subscribers at the time of writing this post. His videos show highlights from his gaming sessions—often with a cast of regular gaming buddies—accompanied by humorous subtitles and other visual elements.
While Soviet puts a lot of variety into his channel (within his overall niche) by trying different games, he does not show his face on camera.
Kizuna AI
At a little under three million subscribers (on one of her three channels), Kizuna AI is proving that it is possible to achieve massive success as a VTuber.
VTubers are YouTubers who present themselves as a digital character. Sometimes this character is animated, sometimes they are controlled by real-time motion capture techniques.
Kizuna AI is essentially a vlogging channel, though what she is vlogging is the fictional life of the Kizuna AI character.
CodeBullet
CodeBullet is another channel sitting a little under three million subscribers. This channel could technically be classes as a VTuber as well, as the person behind the channel never shows his face, with a hand-drawn animated character taking the spotlight instead.
What makes this different from Kizuna AI is the niche. CodeBullet—as the name suggests—is a channel about coding. Often involving random experiments in AI, such as training an AI to win Tetris tournaments.
Daily Dose of Internet
Daily Dose of Internet is a clip channel, essentially curating funny and interesting clips from around the Internet and showing them in daily videos with a little commentary. The channel currently has just under twelve million subscribers.
Of course, the beauty of a clips video is that there is no need to have your face onscreen if you don’t want to, and the person behind Daily Dose of Internet takes advantage of that fact. While Daily Dose of Internet pulls generally popular clips from all walks of life, this channel model could be applied to any niche that is sufficiently popular.
It’sAGundam
Fair warning; this channel falls well into the “controversial” side of YouTube, so bear that in mind if you decide to check it out. It’sAGundam is an online drama commentator channel. It could be thought of as a mix of a clip channel and a VTuber, but the content of the videos is about various things that have happened in the news, culture, and online, accompanied by the YouTuber’s sometimes-controversial takes on the situation.
It’sAGundam is currently sitting on over half a million subscribers, and never shows their face on camera, instead using a 3D avatar when needed.
Ridddle
Ridddle is a channel that delivers interesting hypothetical scenarios that are backed up with various facts and informed speculation. Things like “what if the sun went out for 24 hours?”, and “what if you detonated a nuke in the Mariana Trench?” They also make videos on other interesting topics, such as the world’s most dangerous acid.
The videos are accompanied by a range of thought-provoking visuals, and the YouTuber’s distinctive voice for narration, but the YouTuber themselves is never on camera.
HowToBasic
HowToBasic is a quirky channel that gives its viewers “how to” videos that… well they’re not meant to be taken seriously. Don’t follow the instructions in any of these videos! What typically follows is absolute chaos, often creating a lot of mess in the process.
Interestingly, the HowToBasic channel YouTuber not only keeps their face off camera, they also use computer-generated voices to narrate the video. This may be an appealing prospect for someone who is looking to keep their face out of the video for privacy reasons or security concerns.
Planet Dolan
Planet Dolan is a channel that delivers a variety of content along the theme of conspiracy theories, unsolved mysteries, scientific oddities, and even countdowns of some of the weirdest things on the web.
What makes Planet Dolan different from a channel like Ridddle? Well, Planet Dolan is entirely animated, with the YouTuber behind it just narrating. Granted, this is a labour-intensive way to go about making faceless YouTube videos, but, for someone with a bit of artistic flair, this could be a really good option to let those creative juices flow and keep your face off of the screen.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully there’s something in the examples above that shows you that you have the tools to succeed on YouTube without showing your face. We’ve done our best to ensure every faceless YouTuber we picked is different, either in the style of their video or the niche they make content in.
This is an important point because, while we’ve only given you eight YouTubers here, there are far more that are hugely successful without showing their faces. The gaming and VTuber niches alone are full of YouTubers who stay off-camera, and there are plenty more in other niches.
Whatever your interests, whatever style of video you want to make, there is probably a way of doing it without being on-camera, so don’t let anything stop you from giving it a go!
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.
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.
We’ve talked on this blog before about the possibilities YouTube presents to make content in a variety of situations. You don’t need a thousand dollar camera and a professional lighting rig to make videos. In fact, some YouTubers don’t even use a camera at all.
Of course, it’s all well and good insisting that these YouTubers exist, but it would be better to show you some of those YouTubers. Not just so you know they really do exist, but so you can see them in action, and take cues from them where needed if you are planning on embarking on a camera-less YouTube career.
So, without further preamble, here are 5 YouTubers who make videos without a camera.
Stimpee
Stimpee is a gaming YouTuber whose visual content is entirely made of game footage, with the occasional graphic or text element for added colour. Stimpee streams his gaming sessions and then edits together humorous videos from the footage, none of which requires his face to be on the screen at any point, which in turn means there is no need for a camera to record said face.
Sebastian Lague
Sebastian Lague is technically a coding YouTuber, though in recent years his content has strayed more into coding concepts than pure coding content. The important point for this post, of course, is that he is not on camera at any stage. The visuals for his video are a mix of the code he is writing, the results of said code, and occasional additional graphical elements to help with understanding the things he is discussing.
Primer
Primer is a YouTube channel that features videos explaining complex concepts like natural selection, herd immunity, and really anything that can be analysed from a statistical point of view. It does this with the help of visuals from a series of 3D animated “blobs”.
The blobs act out the thing that is being explained, helping the viewer to understand, and all of this takes place without the YouTuber being onscreen or stepping in front of a camera at any point.
Kurzgesagt
Like Primer, Kurzgesagt is a channel that explains complicated premises, though the scope of Kurzgesagt is a little broader, and not restricted to things that can be analysed statistically. For example, Kurzgesagt have produced videos on the Big Bang, depression, and a minute-by-minute timeline of the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Kurzgesagt doesn’t use 3D animated blob creatures, however, they use regular 2D animated graphics to show the concepts they are explaining. The animated style is quite distinctive, and does not require anyone to step in front of a camera at any stage of the recording process.
How it Should Have Ended
The name of this channel is pretty self-explanatory, but How it Should Have Ended is a YouTube channel dedicated to making comedic alternative endings to popular films and TV series. They do this by animating the ending they think should have happened.
Though the videos do seem to require quite a bit of voice acting, nothing actually requires anyone to be in front of a camera.
A Brief Note on VTubers
You might notice that we didn’t include any VTubers in this list.
While some VTubers don’t use cameras, many do use cameras for the motion capture element of their recording process. If this is not a dealbreaker for you—if it’s just having your face onscreen that you’re worried about—check out this video on ideas for YouTube videos without showing your face.
Why Might a YouTuber Not Want to Use a Camera?
If you’re thinking of starting a YouTube channel, and you can’t wait to get in front of a camera, or you’re already running a channel, and you’re perfectly fine with being onscreen, you might be wondering why there would be any problem with being on camera.
Naturally, every YouTuber is different, but it’s not always mere personal preference that leads someone to shy away from being in their YouTube videos.
Privacy Concerns
There are many situations where a YouTube might want their privacy protected, ranging from avoiding awkward conversations at work to not avoiding your children! There might even be situations where a person is doing something that could be construed as illegal by an ill-informed viewer, and the YouTuber would just rather not have to deal with the hassle of mistaken accusations.
Safety Concerns
There are situations where a YouTuber’s safety could be legitimately at risk if their identity were to be outed, such as YouTubers in authoritarian countries who are critical of the government. Granted, this probably isn’t all that common, but there are micro versions of this, such as criticising criminal activity in your city that might be seen by said criminals.
Shyness/Personal Preference
While shyness and general personal preference isn’t the only reason a YouTuber might choose to avoid the camera, it is a reason, and a perfectly valid one. It may seem like a strange path to take if you don’t like being on camera, but as we’ve seen from the few examples given in this post, not to mention the countless other successful camera-less YouTubers we didn’t include, it’s definitely possible.
Final Thoughts
Being a YouTuber without a camera is definitely a feasible route to YouTube success, but you will need to make sure you still have something to hook your viewers. It could be stunning visuals, a distinctive narrator, witty writing, or any number of other things that you can use to make your channel stand out in a way that YouTuber’s whose face is onscreen have by default. There will always be competition for whatever you are making. The trick is not to deliver something no one else is delivering, it’s to deliver it in a way that makes you different from the others.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Anyone whose familiar with the topic of YouTube as a money-making opportunity will be familiar with the concept of niches.
If you’re not, all you really need to know for this post is that some niches are worth more to advertisers than others, and the more valuable a niche, the more revenue it has the potential to generate for YouTubers.
Choosing the right niche (or niches) is key to not only ensuring that your channel is financially successful, but also to ensuring that you can maintain the kind of momentum necessary to stick at it long enough to be successful. With that in mind, we’ve picked out seven of the highest paid niches on YouTube.
It’s best to pick a niche you are interested in, but that doesn’t mean you can’t lean towards a more valuable niche that you’re interested.
And now, in no particular order…
Affiliate Marketing
It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the best paying niches on YouTube is about another way of earning money.
Affiliate marketing—earning income through referrals—typically commands a CPM (cost per thousand views) of around $12 to $22, and is probably the highest paying niche available.
Because affiliate marketing is such a viable way to succeed, there is a lot of interest in affiliate marketing products and, as a result, a lot of interest in advertising said products And, because YouTube ads work on a bidding system, the more interest there is in advertising something, the more money those advertisements will generate.
Personal Finance
Our next pick, and something that you might see as establishing a bit of a trend on this list, is personal finance.
Being financially successful is about more than finding ways to make lots of money, you also need to manage your money well, and more of us are coming to learn that.
That’s where personal finance products come in. These might be anything from debt management consultations to services and software for tracking your finances. Videos making content in this niche can expect to see a CPM of between $4 and $12.
Business Advice
In much the same vain as the personal finance pick, business advice is also a very lucrative niche, often commanding CPMs in excess of $10. This one makes a lot of sense, as more and more opportunities for small businesses become accessible to regular people, more of us are looking to start a business of our own.
It could be a craft brewery, a 3D print on demand business, an Etsy store, or any number of other ways to start a business without hundreds of thousands in capital. But those people still need advice on running a business, which is why this niche is so competitive.
Drop Shipping
Very much continuing the theme of our last pick, drop shipping is a business model whereby a business owner markets and sells products that another company stocks and ships, that company being a drop shipping company.
This works to both companies advantage, as the smaller company does not need to worry about purchasing and storing lots of expensive stock, and the larger company does not need to worry about things like customer service.
There isn’t a great deal to be said about print on demand that wasn’t said in our drop shipping pick because the basic business model is very similar, and so are the CPM figures.
Many drop shipping services will offer a print on demand component on some of their products, allowing companies to offer those products with their own branding.
Trading and Investing
It’s probably obvious to you now that all of the highest paid niches on YouTube are ones that revolve around finances in some form or another, so you shouldn’t be surprised to see investing and trading on here.
Videos on the hows and whys of investing, as well as tips for those brave YouTubers who are willing to put that information out there, do very well in their own right, but content in this niche that trading platforms, signal services, and the multitude of investing and trading related services and products can advertise on routinely see CPMs as high as $18.
Content Creation
Our last pick might not be the most lucrative in terms of CPM—typically around $5 to $10, if you were wondering—but it is probably the most relevant to anyone reading this post.
Content creation is big business these days, whether it is creating content on video platforms like YouTube, or making podcasts, writing blog posts, or any number of other ways to make things and put them out into the world.
Crucially, there is a seemingly endless supply of products, tools, and services to help people in their content creation endeavours, which means there is plenty to advertise about.
Final Thoughts
While the niches shown here are hot right now, this is very much a volatile marketplace, and there are so many factors that can affect it.
If you can find a niche you are comfortable working in and interesting in making content for, you are in the ideal position as a YouTuber, because you will enjoy what you do.
We understand that many YouTubers don’t necessarily have that luxury, however, and it is sometimes necessary to hunt for the niche that makes the most financial sense. As with most areas of online revenue generation, the best advice you can take here is to not put all of your eggs in one basket.
If you focus everything on one niche, and that niche takes a dive for some unforeseeable reason, you will find yourself in a sticky spot.
If you can diversify your content and tackle multiple niches in different areas, you stand a much better chance of withstanding any dramatic changes to any single niche’s popularity.
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
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.
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.
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.
The realm of voiceless YouTube content is not perhaps as varied as, say, videos where the YouTuber is vocal but off-camera, but there are still plenty of ideas to choose from.
Whether you want to keep quiet because you’re very shy, don’t like your speaking voice, or perhaps you have a physical condition that prevents you from speaking, you can still take part in the great YouTube adventure.
Silent, Not Absent
It’s worth pointing out that videos without speaking are not necessarily videos where you are off-camera. Many people don’t want to speak on video because they are shy, and, for those people, it makes sense that they would not be on camera as well.
This post is going to focus purely on ideas for people who don’t want to speak, but if you’re looking for an option where you can be silent and off-camera, there are still plenty of options, including a few in this list!
10 YouTube Video Ideas Without Speaking
To the ideas! We’ve put together ten of what we feel are the most popular options for YouTubers making content without speaking.
These are by no means your only options, of course (feel free to let us know what we’ve missed), and you don’t need to stick rigidly to any single idea.
If you can comfortably combine more than one of these ideas and still make good content, by all means, have at it!
The important thing is that your content is enjoyable, and you are comfortable making it, which is not the same as saying you won’t have to work hard to be a success.
So, in no particular order, here’s our top 10 YouTube video ideas without speaking.
1. Music Content
For anyone with a flair for making music, YouTube is a great outlet. And there are several niches within the music niche itself for you to express your creativity (or just show off your skill).
Guitar shredding is particular popular on YouTube, with a vibrant community of talented guitarists that all seem very happy to collab and share each others work. There are also plenty of videos on making music in unconventional ways, such as using household items as instruments, or sampling sneezes and turning it into a song. And this is only scratching the surface.
The good thing about this kind of content, of course, is that there is no need to speak to do it. If you are shredding on guitar, you only need to play. If you are making interesting sounds with a cool new synth, simply zoom in on the synth and hit record as your hands work their magic.
The most obvious example of this kind of video is the always-popular pure gameplay video. Sometimes people just want to see the game in action, usually as a prelude to purchasing said game. In that case they will often prefer a YouTuber who is not talking over the top of the game.
However, you decide to put your content together, be sure to set yourself a clear purpose with your content. For example, if you are putting the spotlight on video games, be sure to show all the important aspects.
3. Pet Videos
Pet videos can come from your own pet (or pets) or other animal clips on YouTube (which we’ll cover in more detail below), but the broad concept, of course, is that videos feature animals.
They can be humorous clips of the animals doing silly things, point of view videos where you attach a camera to the pet’s collar and see what they get up to on their own, or even just a camera pointed at a litter of puppies of cage of hamsters.
In a world where livestreams of cats are popular, anything is possible.
4. Screen Recorded Tutorials
This one is a little trickier for the silent crowd but far from impossible. Screen recorded tutorial videos are an excellent way to learn how to use software.
They can be complete series on a specific project, smaller lessons on individual tasks.
Making this kind of video without using your voice does make things a bit more constrained, since you will be limited to things that can be explained clearly through text or, ideally, shown rather than explained.
If you decide to go down this route, it might be worth finding someone who is willing to “test” your videos before they go live, so you can catch anything that isn’t clear.
5. ASMR Videos
Most ASMR videos seem to contain a lot of whispering, but that’s not a requirement to make this kind of content.
As long as you have a good enough microphone to capture the sounds and plenty of items to make crinkly and abrasive noises, you can leave your vocal cords out of the equation.
6. Animated Videos
Animated videos can cover just about anything, since you can animate most things if you have the time and ability to do so. And, of course, you don’t need to voice an animation yourself, or indeed at all.
If your animation does need vocal work, you could always rope a friend in, or hire someone from a website like Fiverr.
It’s worth noting that animating is a very time-consuming process, and that if you need that explaining to you, this probably isn’t the avenue for you. We’re not saying you shouldn’t learn to animate, of course, but if you’re new to it, you will struggle with an entire YouTube channel based around it.
7. Compilation Videos
We hinted at this one in the pet video idea, but compilation videos are another great option for YouTubers who don’t want to or can’t speak in their content. A compilation video could be a rundown of the top crime novels, a series of amusing pet videos, the highlights from a particular niche on YouTube, or anything else that is a series of clips. For some videos of this type, you don’t even need to include text, as the title tells the viewer all they need to know.
Of course, we should stress that you should do everything you can to get explicit permission to use the clips you include (where permissions are required), as that can lead to problems with your channel’s standing further down the line.
8. Videos for the Hearing Impaired
For those of you proficient in sign language, or with experience teaching or assisting people with hearing impairments, YouTube could be a great opportunity for you to take your talent and make it more widely available.
Most hearing impaired viewers have to rely on captions to consume content which, let’s be honest, are neglected more often than not. Increasing the amount of content on YouTube that is created with hearing impaired people in mind can only be a good thing. And the world is your oyster with regards to what your videos are actually about.
9. Interesting Facts Videos
If you’re old enough to remember when MTV used to be a music channel, you might remember the VH1 show, Pop Up Video. This was a show that played music videos, but as the video was playing, pop-ups with little bits of trivia about the artist, video, and the song would keep the viewer entertained.
There is no reason this format can’t translate nicely over to YouTube. And, of course, it doesn’t need to be music videos. For one thing, there seems to be no end to the demand for break-downs and analysis of new trailers and product announcements these days.
10. Computer Generated Speech
This one is less of a specific video idea and more of an option that could be applied to any video idea. Computer generated speech has come a long way in recent years. And, while it’s still not too difficult to identify a computer generated voice, it’s considerably more natural sounding than it used to be.
Depending on the service you use and how many words you want to convert to speech, you may need to subscribe to a premium service to make this work, but it is certainly possible, and there are already plenty of YouTubers out there using computer generated voices in their content.
Final Thoughts
If you only want to keep your voice out of your content (or you can’t speak), there are plenty of video ideas for you to choose from. Life gets a little more challenging if you also want to keep yourself off-camera, but again, not impossible.
Remember that good content will always win out. If you are producing content that is valuable—be it as entertainment or information—you will have viewers wanting to watch it. It won’t matter whether you are speaking or not, only that you are making videos that they want to see.
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.
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.
YouTubers aren’t always the lively extrovert bunch they are often thought as.
Not every YouTuber is eager to plant their face in front of a camera for the world to see. Fortunately, thanks to the enormous range of variety within the YouTube audience, there is still plenty of things you can do on YouTube without showing your face.
Why Avoid Showing Your Face on YouTube?
The most obvious reason you might want to avoid showing your face on YouTube is because you are very shy or self-conscious.
There are arguments to be made about how it could be good to push through those discomforts, but that’s not what this post is about; we’re just looking to give you ideas to work within your current situation.
Of course, there are other reasons why you might want to keep your face off camera, the main one being anonymity. While there are some quite serious reasons for wanting anonymity (such as those living in a country with questionable laws about free speech), the most common reason is one of reputation.
Perhaps you’re a forward thinking parent who’s making slightly risque content and doesn’t want it to come back in ten years time when your child is old enough to be embarrassed.
Perhaps you’re a happily employed individual who makes content with unpopular messages and doesn’t want to get “cancelled” from your place of work. Maybe you have you no specific reason for wanting to keep your identity hidden, but you’d rather it not be out there just in case.
Whatever the reason, keeping your face off-camera is an important part of maintaining that anonymity.
Our 12 YouTube Video Ideas Without Showing Your Face
Now, to the bit you here for; our video ideas without showing your face. Of course, this list is not a definitive collection of all potential faceless video ideas, just the top ones in our humble opinion. If there’s something you think should be on this list, drop it in a comment!
And, as always, the best solution for you is the one that you are most comfortable with, but it doesn’t have to be a single idea. Don’t be afraid to experiment, mix and match, and create something that truly works for you.
1. Commentary
Commentary videos can cover a wide range of things, from commenting on live events to giving a kind of directors commentary style of video for a film or TV show. Another popular version of this type of video is reacting to new trailers and announcements.
The key point here is that, while your voice is a pretty crucial part of the formula, your face never needs to be involved if you don’t want it to. Just be careful not to breach any copyrights if you are doing something like commentary on a film.
2. Gameplay Videos
The gaming industry has steam rolled over the competition to become the biggest entertainment industry in the world, so there’s naturally a lot of content being made around it. With gameplay videos, the game is the focus, so you don’t need to be onscreen.
While the typical image of a gaming video is the Twitch streamer setup, including a face-cam in the corner, there is no requirement to make your gameplay videos with your face on display. Indeed, many gaming YouTubers have made very successful channels without ever showing their face, and some without speaking, either.
3. Screen Recorded Tutorials
Screen recorded tutorials can be thought of as basically the same as gameplay videos but for software instead of video games. Of course, you should also be teaching the viewer how to do something with said software, which is a bit of a departure from gaming, where you can literally just be playing the game.
With screen recording, you will ideally be showing the viewer how to perform specific tasks, or perhaps doing a series where you make something from start to finish using the chosen software. If you have expertise in any software, this could be a good niche for you.
4. Whiteboard Videos
If you have expertise in something like physics or mathematics, you could make whiteboard videos where you explain concepts and techniques while using the whiteboard as a learning aid, much in the same way that a classroom teacher would. Also, don’t let the name fool you; it doesn’t have to be a whiteboard specifically. You could also use pen and paper, chalk boards, or even digital tablets.
5. Meditation and Mindfulness Videos
Some people love to tune out of the world and take a moment with their own thoughts. The practice of mindfulness and meditation has been embraced widely over the last few years as a why to help people sleep, study or relax.
These types of videos obviously require some skill on your part to carry out the thing you are demonstrating, but assuming you have that skill (or want to learn it) there is no reason to put your face in the frame.
If you are making a model house, you only need to show the house and the tools you are using. The same goes for cooking videos, and we can also throw things like repairing tech, and anything else small enough that you can carry out your task with your hands while otherwise staying out of shot.
7. Product Reviews and Unboxing Videos
Not a million miles away from the last idea, unboxing and review videos don’t need you to be on camera either, and for those parts that benefit from your physical interaction, you can just have your hands in the shot!
This style of video works best with smaller items that can be handled, though you can review things of any size if you don’t need to physically touch it.
8. Point of View Content
This one is a little more out there, but point of view content is something that definitely has its place in the YouTube pantheon of niches.
Point of view videos are videos where the YouTuber straps a camera to their head and does things while the camera records, giving the viewers a first-hand look at what its like.
This style of video is very popular for things like extreme sports (see what it’s like to base jump from a skyscraper), but is also finding a home among the ambient experience YouTubers, with videos like “Relaxing Walk Through a Japanese Village” becoming increasingly common.
9. Interviews
If you can find the interesting enough subjects to interview, this could be your niche. Not only do you not need to have your face on screen for an interview video, it is often preferred that way. After all, the subject of the video is your interviewee, and the focus wants to be on them.
It’s worth remembering that the subject of your videos doesn’t need to be a celebrity or someone noteworthy to be good content. Think of the topic; there would be plenty of viewers interested in seeing a video with a power plant foreman talking about how it all works.
10. Animated Content
Now, granted, animation isn’t something you can just pick up straight away (though you can hire people to animate for you), but if it’s something you can do, there is a wealth of video types to take a crack at. You could make an animated show, animate yourself, do sketches, and any number of other types of content.
Just be sure to make sure you have all the permissions you need to use what ever clips are going to feature in your videos.
12. Become a VTuber!
VTubers are being increasingly popular these days, so there’s clearly a growing market for it. VTubers are YouTubers who represent themselves with a digital avatar. This could be a posable 3D model, a live face-tracked image, or even a hand-drawn animation.
Many VTubers choose to create characters and make their videos as though the character is the YouTuber, while others just make content as themselves while using the digital avatar as a mask between them and the audience.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully we’ve made it abundantly clear that it is not necessary to show your face in a YouTube video to have a successful channel, and there is no shortage of ideas for what to do without your face being in shot.
In truth, as long as your videos deliver what the viewers are coming there for, your content has a good chance of succeeding, regardless of the style or whether your face is onscreen. The trick is working out what you are trying to deliver, and then honing in on the best way to deliver it within your chosen style.
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.
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.
Even to this day, when you think of a YouTuber the first thing that springs to mind is often someone in front of the camera, talking directly to that camera as though they were having a heart-to-heart conversation with someone in the room.
It’s not exactly an image that would be appealing to many introverts.
That being said, being a YouTuber is appealing for many reasons, so while the aforementioned introverts might not want to climb in front of a camera and bare their soul for the world, there are still plenty of types of channel out there that are a little more palatable.
What is an Introvert? Am I One?
The definition of introvert is one of those things that often gets boiled down to one or two simple traits, when there is actually quite a broad spectrum of introverted behaviour.
The most obvious trait of an introvert is a lack of interest in external stimulation. This is often mistaken for a lack of interest in going out, which is not technically the same thing.
Introverts are less interested in stimulation outside their own thoughts, not their own house. It’s true, however, that the two often come hand in hand.
Shyness is another common introvert trait, as well as a preference for solitude. In other words, an introvert YouTuber isn’t likely to be interested in hitting the crowded streets with a camera for prank or reaction videos, or being “on the ground” at a large convention.
10 YouTube Channel Ideas for Introverts
Before we dive into the actual ideas, it’s worth pointing out that, regardless of your own personality traits, the list of channel ideas that is right for you is whatever you are comfortable with.
If something on this list doesn’t appeal to you, that’s fine; everybody is different. Similarly, if you feel comfortable with something that would typically be off of an introverts table, you shouldn’t avoid it because some blog post or YouTube video told you it’s not suitable for introverts.
1. Screen Recorded Tutorial Videos
Given the practically endless selection of software out there in a practically endless variety of niches, there will always be a use for screen recorded tutorial videos.
In these types of videos, you never need to be on screen (some choose to but that’s entirely optional), and some screen recorded tutorial videos don’t even have speaking content, instead relying on text to do the work.
The important thing about a video like this is that it shows the viewer what they want to know in as clear a way as possible.
It could be how to make an image look like an old photograph in Adobe Photoshop, how to make a model of a car in Blender, how to do your accounting in Freshbooks, or any number of other options.
2. Animated Videos
For those of you with a flair for animation, animated videos are a great way to get your YouTube on without going against your introverted tendencies. Animation can cover a lot of ground when talking about YouTube channels.
For example, you could be making a whole animated show (though that’s a lot of work), or you could be making videos that typically wouldn’t be on an introverts’ radar while using animation as a buffer between yourself and the viewer.
Gameplay videos are, of course, immensely popular. Something that is shown perfectly by the fact that Twitch is often considered to be number two in the user-generated video platform space, and that is a service entirely geared towards gaming.
Gaming videos can be made in a variety of ways, including having your face in the video, just your voice, or even pure gameplay with no commentary or obvious presence from the YouTuber at all.
If you decide to go down this route, it helps to have a clear niche. For example, AlphaBetaGamer is a very popular channel whose videos feature pure gameplay—no commentary—but all the games are up and coming indie titles.
4. Compilation Videos
Compilation videos are a little tricky in the right-to-use department—something that warrants entire posts and videos of its own, but assuming you can get the necessary permission for the clips you use, compilation videos can be anything from “top 10” videos to a collection of funny animal videos.
You can inject commentary into the video if you feel comfortable with that, but many videos of this style get by without. In some cases, the title of the video establishes the premise and the video itself is just a roll of successive videos.
5. Time-lapse Videos
Time-lapse videos can serve a few different purposes. T
hey could just be showing a lengthy process in a short time, such as constructing something or travelling, but they can also be used for atmospheric and ambient videos.
An example of the latter might be finding a spot in nature with a clear view of the night sky and taking a time-lapse of the stars wheeling overhead. Put some royalty-free music on your footage, and you have a nice relaxing video.
This would be ideal for people who like to go solo-camping, as they could also make content of some of the more mundane aspects of camping, such as setting up a fire. And there’s been plenty of “3 hours of crackling campfire” videos popping up in recent years.
6. Product Review Videos
Much like the software mentioned in the screen recording idea, there is never a shortage of products to review.
Granted, it’s a little tricker to make a product review video without featuring at least your voice, but not impossible. You could use a computer generated voice or onscreen text, once again the key point is that you are giving your viewers the information they need about the product.
This method has the added bonus that you can sign up to an affiliate program like Amazon Affiliates and potentially earn some commission from people buying the products you review.
7. Pet Videos
If you have a particularly entertaining pet—or you have a lot of pets—you could make a channel out of them. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years, it’s that the Internet can’t get enough of amusing animal videos.
One approach that seems to be popular for single-pet owners is a vlog-type channel, only the vlog belongs to the pet.
If you have enough going on in your home to get plenty of entertaining footage, you could even do the compilation style we mentioned above but using exclusively your own pets!
8. Whiteboard Videos
There’s something for everything on YouTube, including people who want to get to grips with the more technical aspects of life.
If you have a penchant for something like mathematics, physics, language, or really anything that benefits from a visual aid when being taught, you could set yourself up with a white board, point a camera at it, and get teaching.
You don’t need to be in shot for this style of video (though your hand will be) but you might have to talk to make it work. That being said, as long as your viewers get the information they need, it’s all good.
9. ASMR Videos
ASMR has a bit of a reputation for attractive women rubbing their face on the microphone, but the truth is there are plenty of successful ASMR YouTubers who don’t fit that description, and some who aren’t even on camera at all.
If you have a decent microphone and feel the benefits of ASMR, you could set yourself up as a faceless ASMR YouTuber who focuses on sounds made by your hands and objects, rather than your voice.
10. Hand Videos
This idea is something of a general purpose one, since it can be applied to many of the other ideas we have given you.
The two most obvious ones being the above ASMR videos idea, and the product review idea.
Hand videos are videos where the focus of the video is something small (such as a mobile phone) and your hands are in frame to manipulate the item for the purposes of the video.
This could also be used for crafting videos and tutorials on how to use certain tools.
Final Thoughts
Of course, this list is not definitive; if you are comfortable doing something we didn’t cover, don’t let the fact that it’s not on this page stop you.
The enormous audience that YouTube represents means there is a viewer for practically any kind of content, no matter how niche or out of the ordinary. If you want to grow as YouTuber, you will probably find you need to push yourself outside your comfort zone eventually, but there is no reason you can’t get started well within it.
Starting off making content you are completely comfortable with will reduce the risk of you getting burnt out before you really get started, and makes any potential audience you pick up far more suited to your style of video.
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.
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.
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.
It’s even harder if you do all the heavy lifting yourself and not use tools to make your life easier.
It time to build yourself a YouTube toolkit that can help you make amazing eye catching content with minimal effort.
Here are the 5 tools I used EVERY day in the last 12 months to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers.
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!
VidIQ goes beyond just hammering in keywords and tweaking titles in the vain hope of getting more views.
Did you know you can compare your thumbnails to rivals?
A great way to see what the top competitors in your space is doing and gives you a jumping off point for when you make you next video on that topic.
Machine Learning based Automatic Content Creation ideas!
Imagine waking up every day with a list of hot topics suggestions for you channel.
VidIQ has a new tool that will do the research for you, take a look at your niche, your rivals, your channel data and suggest topics that could be a good jumping off point for you in the future.
Never get stuck on what videos to make every again!
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.
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.
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.
The Underdog Collective was set up to help these people with easy to use, slick YouTube artwork that’s easily used with most desktop editing software.
High Quality, Low Cost Hosting – A great way to promote yourself, your videos and your brand is to have your own website.
I have been in the web development space for over 12 years and in that time the biggest lesson I have learnt from hundreds of clients is – a great website can be killed off by CRAPPY hosting, while an “okay” website with GREAT HOSTING can be a huge lead magnet for any project or product.
Content marketing, by its most simplistic explanation, boils down to two activities:
Content creation.
Content distribution.
For many content marketers, it’s easy to start at step 1 and stay there, just continuing to produce content. That’s fine and well, but if you aren’t sharing your content with your audience, I guarantee you’re not getting the results you want.
While step 1 should be a nice combination of creativity and analysis, step 2 is made almost entirely of data-backed strategy. Determining the most lucrative content marketing channels will help you reach your target audiences in meaningful and impactful ways.
So, what channels should you be focusing on this year? That depends on your industry, goals, audiences and more.
But the following 5 are all excellent channels to consider incorporating into your content distribution strategy:
YouTube
Video marketing has risen in popularity every year, and now it’s more important than ever for businesses. In 2020, it was one of the fastest growing types of visual content marketing used, and about one-quarter of marketers said it helped them reach their marketing goals in 2019.
Video became the champion of communication—business or personal—and entertainment during the pandemic as more consumers utilize these technologies and tune into this captivating content format. Of the 24% of marketers who said they used video for the first time in 2020, nearly half said doing so was a necessity because of the pandemic.
But this section is titled “YouTube” – not video. I have a reason for this, and it’s only partly because the next section is “live video.”
A search engine where people look for and find information.
Google’s daughter company that feeds directly into SERPs, giving you a second opportunity to be discovered organically.
In short, YouTube is a powerfully multifaceted distribution channel because the videos you upload to it are both shareable (it’s simple to embed them into your landing pages and blog posts and to link to them in social media posts and emails) and searchable, whether your audience is searching on YouTube itself or on Google.
As more people look to video to learn and communicate, brands that want to keep up will strive to provide more content in this format.
Those that want their videos to be easily found will most likely compile them on their YouTube channel.
Live video
Video is one thing; live video is something else entirely … OK, perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but live video really is important enough to deserve its own mention on this list.
Close to half of marketers (45%) use live video to connect with their audience in a highly personal, real-time format, according to Social Media Examiner.
A number of industry reports indicate that this medium is increasingly important for marketers, and not just because of the pandemic. Live video use was already on the rise, especially in B2B marketing:
29% of B2B marketers used livestream content in 2020, making it one of the fastest growing content types of Content Marketing Institute’s survey.
63% of B2B marketing representatives were willing to exchange their contact information for access to a webinar, according to Demand Gen Report’s 2019 Content Preferences Survey Report.
64% also noted they’d take 20-60 minutes to watch a webinar when researching a B2B purchase.
Facebook Live is likely to be the most popular channel, with 64% of marketers voting it as their most important in Social Media Examiner’s report, followed by Instagram Live with 19%.
But before you choose your streaming platform, consider where your audience finds video content. LinkedIn supports live video, and with only 5% of marketers saying this is their most important live video channel, you may stand out from the pre-recorded crowd.
Live video can be lucrative for B2C brands as well, and with consumers seeking out this format more often, you may find your audience quickly. A HubSpot survey found that 79% of respondents watch live video at least once weekly; YouTube Live is their favorite channel.
Email
Email is a low-cost, high-value content marketing channel, and should therefore be a key component of your digital marketing efforts. Plus, it’s a strong communication method in any circumstance: A Brafton survey found that following the pandemic, email was the No. 1 way brands communicated important updates to their customers.
For most marketers, email is already among their top channels; 87% of B2B marketers told CMI that email is the top way they distribute content, second only to social media. With a return on investment of 42:1 on average, it’s easy to see why.
However, you only stand a chance to see this level of ROI if you know how to leverage this channel strategically and in a way that makes sense for your brand, goals and audience. For many brands, this means creating a diverse email marketing strategy that includes aspects like:
Regular newsletters.
Sales emails.
Helpful notifications about company updates.
Cart abandonment emails.
And more.
Email is a key communication channel for just about … everyone. For that reason, brands that put the time and effort into getting their email strategy right have the opportunity to open up meaningful conversations.
Podcasts
Audio content is steadily becoming a cornerstone in content marketing as more consumers seek out information and entertainment in podcasts. And while some might assume that podcasts are primarily for individuals seeking entertainment, they’re actually a strong B2B marketing device.
Demand Gen Report found that half of B2B buyers would be willing to spend up to a half-hour listening to a podcast when researching a purchase decision. And among B2B marketers surveyed by CMI, just 26% said they were already including this audio-first format in their marketing mix.
Here’s what this tells us: Buyers will listen to a podcast. But not many B2B brands have entered that market yet. When you launch your podcast, you’ll be among the few.
Of course, like all of these channels, this isn’t just a B2B trend. Consumers are listening to more audio content, especially as more people spend time at home. Nielsen’s August 2020 Total Audiences Report found that 53% of respondents listen to spoken-word audio content either weekly or daily.
Podcasts can do a number of positive things for your marketing efforts, like increase brand recognition and trust, and drive traffic and backlinks to your site (from the platform you use, e.g. Apple Podcasts).
In the future, more people will tune into podcasts to learn something new or disconnect from their day to day for a few minutes. You have the opportunity to be the person who speaks directly to them when they do.
Your blog
Last but not least, I can’t leave this list without mentioning the most important content marketing channel of them all: Your blog.
I’m not calling this the most important channel because it’ll be the most lucrative of your efforts, or the one that captures the most attention. I’m also not mentioning it because I think you’ll forget about it. That’s just crazy, and besides, 93% of B2B marketers already use blog posts in their content marketing strategies.
Rather, your blog is an essential addition to this list because:
It’s the home base of all your content marketing efforts. Most of the content you create should, in some form, live on your blog.
It’s easy to forget how much value you can truly glean from your blog when you know how to creatively leverage it.
Any type of asset that you create for the above channels can be repurposed for your blog, giving the content new life and your website another opportunity to capture attention from organic search.
Every video you create should have a search-optimized page to live on, and your blog is the perfect place to expand on the video’s topic.
Your email strategy can easily be centered around your editorial calendar. When you publish a great new article, share it with your email subscribers.
And so on.
Choose your channels wisely!
A new year always presents new possibilities for marketers. This year, move your company’s marketing efforts in a positive direction to reach the right audiences and provide meaningful interactions for them.
Whether you choose to explore the opportunities that await your brand in video, email, audio, blog content or something else entirely, make sure you’re doing so with the needs of your target audience in mind. This is truly the best way to connect with them.
The growing trend of virtual YouTubers, or VTubers, is one that isn’t showing any signs of slowing down!
A natural result of this growth, there is much interest in virtual YouTubing as a potential inroad to becoming a YouTuber, not to mention an alternative path for experienced YouTubers.
If you want to know what virtual YouTubers are, you can check out this post, but one of the best ways to learn about a thing is to observe that thing.
To that end, we’ve put together a list some of the most notable virtual YouTubers on the platform today, complete with a bit of information about what kind of content they make and. For your convenience, we’ve split our picks into different sections so you can easily zero in on what you’re interested in.
So, without further preamble, let’s get into our virtual YouTuber list!
Anime Virtual YouTubers
Given that the virtual YouTuber phenomenon started in Japan with anime characters, and given that anime characters still make up the overwhelming majority of active virtual YouTubers, it feels only right to start here.
Kizuna AI
What better virtual YouTuber to kick things off with than the one that started it all. Kizuna is widely regarded as the first virtual YouTuber. She has two channels and covers a variety of topics in a vlog-like format, as well as Let’s Play-style videos, despite being known for having particularly poor gaming skills.
Kizuna is more or less the blueprint for a character virtual YouTuber, remaining in character all of the time and running the channel as though Kizuna herself is the YouTuber. Kizuna’s success has led to her getting millions of subscribers, many of which find her mannerisms and quirks adorable. She’s not necessarily a child-friendly account due to the fact that she will occasionally curse in her frustrations at failing in some video game or another, but that’s all part of the charm.
Mirai Akari
Within her first year of being on YouTube, Mirai had attracted over three hundred and fifty thousand subscribers to her account; a phenomenal effort any type of YouTuber. And, at the time of writing this post, she has more than doubled that figure. Like Kizuna, Mirai does a lot of streaming video games, though you will find that this is a common theme among virtual YouTubers, especially of the Japanese anime variety.
Her initial “backstory” was that she was an amnesiac-suffering time traveller, come back to 2018 to find human connection through her YouTube channel. Whether or not the interesting gimmick is a draw or not, her content seems to keep people coming back for more.
Nekomiya Hinata
Like Mirai and Kizuna, Nekomiya is another game streamer, though we can further refine her audience a little because she has a keen interest in first-person shooter games, so don’t expect much in the way of Animal Crossing here. She’s not a fan of horror games, but that makes it all the entertaining when she plays them.
In the nearly two years since she started her YouTube channel, Nekomiya has amassed an impressive following of over half a million subscribers. She has a distinctive look with her bright pink hair, extremely long pigtails, and cat ears. That is actual cat ears, not a quirky headband with pretend cat ears. This is one of the more significant draws of virtual YouTubing; you can be whatever you want.
Luna Kaguya
If you thought Mirai Akari getting three hundred and fifty thousand subscribers in under a year, wait until you see Luna’s record. This impressive VTuber managed to hit a million views per video in her first month. Needless to say, that’s quite an achievement.
Luna is the first virtual YouTuber on our list whose content does not focus on video game streams. Instead, Luna makes content of a more comedic nature that tend to come in bite size chunks—often under a few minutes in length. The humour involved is not always family-friendly, however, so don’t let that cutesy digital avatar fool you.
Tokino Sora
Moving firmly back into the realm of game streamers, Tokino is a streamer who has a thing for rhythm games, so it should come as no surprise that she dances a lot, as well. One advantage of this is that her content is much more accessible to non-Japanese audiences. After all, you don’t need to know the Japanese language to watch a Japanese person (or digital avatar) dance to music.
By some of the standards set on YouTube, Tokino is quite normal in appearance; no animal parts or outlandish hair. Instead, Tokino presents herself as a regular anime girl with brown hair. However, she does dress like an air stewardess. We haven’t watched enough of her content to know why.
Azuma Lim
Azuma can be a little love-or-hate for some people. She has a quite distinctive appearance with her purple hair and golden firey eye—not to mention the cat-ear hoodie she likes to wear—but it is her voice that can be make-or-break for many people. It is a little high-pitched, even by virtual anime YouTuber standards.
As far as content goes, Azuma is another video game streamer, though she does make other types of videos, such as topical commentary, and she is very engaged with her audience and will often respond to fans. She also makes music and even occasionally tries her hand at English.
Moemi & Yomeni
Next up, we have our first pairing on the list. Moemi & Yomeni are an anime duo that streams video games and makes some very… interesting content. Not, we should stress, family-friendly content. As far as games go, they have a general leaning towards open-world games like Minecraft, and battle royale games like Fortnite.
Expect to see plenty of cats, a whole lot of music, and generally all the things you would expect from animated Japanese entertainment. Moemi & Yomeni are also part of a larger virtual YouTuber family that includes some other popular virtual YouTubers, so you can expect to see a few guest appearances from time to time.
Fuji Aoi
While music is a common theme throughout virtual anime YouTube, Fuji Aoi brings us our first channel where music is the main theme. Expect plenty of cover songs from Aoi, which can make for great background music if you are into the style. There is plenty to choose from, so just pick a playlist and let it run while you get some work done.
Like many of our virtual anime YouTuber picks, Aoi saw some spectacular growth when she first exploded onto the scene, gaining over a hundred and seventy thousand subscribers in her first year. You might not have a clue what she’s saying (if you don’t speak Japanese) but you’ll be able to enjoy the music regardless.
Dennou Shojo Siro
In Dennou Shojo Siro we find another game streaming and dancing combo. In this case, the games tend to be a little eclectic, with everything from Minecraft to Battlefield 5 on the table. Perhaps one of her more unique characteristics is her appearance, which is ghostly pale with white hair. This combined with a somewhat unique laugh has landed her with the nickname of “White Dolphin”.
This channel took less than two years to reach half a million subscribers, so that should give you an idea of the type of quality you can expect, the rest is just a matter of whether you are interested in the content.
Noja Loli Ojisan
One of the first things you might notice about Noja Loli Ojisan is the distinctive features that make her somewhat unique among virtual anime YouTubers. For one thing, she is part fox. At least, she has fox ears and a foxtail. The second thing is her voice, which is that of her male creator.
Whatever you may think about this eclectic combination, it seems to have worked for her, since her channel is approaching two hundred thousand subscribers.
In terms of content, Noja interacts with fans in live streams, hosts roundtable chats with other virtual YouTubers, and even sells merchandise such as a doll of Noja.
Non-Anime Virtual YouTubers
The world of virtual YouTubing is so thoroughly dominated by anime characters that we can comfortable lump what remains after the anime into one section, which is not to say any of the following YouTubers have much in common. We are also not saying that these YouTubers aren’t Japanese—the VTuber phenomenon began in Japan, after all. That being said, there is a specific aesthetic and culture around anime, and these virtual YouTubers do not fit that aesthetic, even if they are Japanese channels.
Apoki
Apoki is a truly multi-platform star, with far more followers on TikTok than on YouTube. She takes the appearance of animated girl (more akin to a Disney or Pixar style than an anime one) and sports large rabbit ears poking through her red hair.
Her main focus is music, and she seems to have aspirations of becoming a legitimate recording artist. Her content often revolves around this, and is an interesting mix of the virtual and real worlds, with Apoki often being blended seamlessly into real-world settings.
Virtual Obaachan (aka Virtual Grandma)
As the (English) name suggests, Virtual Obaachan is a virtual YouTuber who takes the appearance of a cartoon granny, and in that guise, plays a range of video games. There is obviously a lot of mileage to be had from the novelty of a sweet old grandma playing videos games that are not always family-friendly, and the virtual nature of the YouTuber adds another layer of novelty. Further adding to this dichotomy is the fact that she will often talk about things being “immodest” and taboo, and then go ahead and say something taboo without hesitation.
This combination has worked for Virtual Obaachan, as she currently sits at a little over a quarter of a million subscribers.
AI Angel
AI Angel is probably the most popular virtual YouTuber outside of the anime crowd, with over seven hundred thousand subscribers at the time of writing this post. AI Angel claims to be an AI who takes on the form of a human woman so that she can interact with other humans through video chat applications, play video games, react to memes, and a host of other types of content.
What is interesting about AI Angel is that the creators are not going for a cutesy anime or cartoon look with their virtual YouTuber avatar. Instead, they are travelling down the road of realism, and continually update the visuals of AI Angel to improve the realism (as well as refresh her image). AI Angel’s appearance is already quite realistic, and it would not be difficult to believe that, in the near future, she could be so realistic that some viewers would have difficulty recognising that she was a virtual YouTuber.
Code Bullet
Code Bullet is a bit of an odd one out on this list, but we wanted to include him to show another type of virtual YouTuber. Unlike the above examples, Code Bullet is not presenting a character as such, but himself in the guise of an animated avatar.
The avatar in question is a hand-drawn human with an old-school computer monitor for a head who gesticulates to add emphasis to the words being spoken. Though we’re sure it is mainly the content he is making that has landed Code Bullet his nearly two and a half million subscribers, his digital avatar is an intrinsic part of that content. Given that he is by far one of the most popular examples of this kind of channel, it would not be outrageous to assume that the virtual YouTuber aspect of his videos has helped.
Final Thoughts
And that concludes our virtual YouTuber list. For now, at least, virtual YouTube is dominated by Japanese-language channels and anime avatars. More English-speaking channels are popping up, however. And as AI Angel has shown, it is certainly possible to be a successful virtual YouTuber without using anime or speaking Japanese.
We expect this niche to expand into the western world in a bigger way in the near future. How big it will get, we couldn’t say, but with a relatively untapped market of English speakers, growth would seem to be inevitable.
Virtual YouTubing has been growing in popularity recently, with many new YouTubers opting to don a digital avatar to make their content rather than record their flesh-and-blood self. Naturally, an increase in popularity in something like this leads to… well, more popularity.
Still, while the reason for exponential levels of interest in virtual YouTubing may be obvious, the way that virtual YouTubing is done might not be. If you are scratching your head about how VTubers make their content, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’re going to take a look at the way these videos are made, and then we’ll highlight some of the most popular apps and programs that are used to do it. So, follow us down the rabbit hole!
What are VTubers?
Let’s start with the basics for anyone who’s landed on this post without knowing what a VTuber is. This is a topic that deserves an entire post of its own, so, we won’t dwell too long here.
VTubers are digital avatars that are animated by someone, with the videos being presented as though the digital persona is the one making the content. VTubers make more or less the same kinds of videos as their meat-counterparts—vlogs, reaction videos, etc.—with the significant exception that they are not constrained by mere physical reality.
They can look, however they want, they can do things like fly around the screen or spawn items out of thin air, and be in whatever setting they wish without having to go travelling.
There are many reasons someone might choose to be a VTuber, such as wanting to keep their real identity private, being camera shy, or just wanting to express themselves as something completely different to their everyday self.
How Does VTubing Work?
A common misconception by people who first discover virtual YouTube is that the videos are made similarly to the way that, say, a Pixar movie is made—with someone painstakingly animating each frame of the digital avatar to match up with the audio track and any other events that are happening in the clip. This is not the case. At least, not for the vast majority of VTubers out there.
Instead, the software is employed to capture the YouTuber’s movements through a webcam—or, in some cases, a virtual reality headset and controllers—and translate those movements onto the digital avatar.
In this way, the YouTuber is able to film a video relatively naturally, with them doing their part in front of a camera in much the same way a regular video would be filmed, while the software takes care of all the hard work of making the digital avatar copy the YouTuber.
If you have ever used one of those filters on apps like Snapchat that put a silly hat on your digital head or apply digital makeup to your digital face, this is more or less the same kind of technology.
It is possible that there are YouTuber’s out there animating digital avatars by hand. As good as the motion-tracking software that VTubers use is, it is still not perfect, and an experienced animator would undoubtedly get better results doing the whole thing by hand. Unfortunately, even an experienced animator would require a big ol’ chunk of time to do this, which is not practical for YouTube videos, especially when most of them work to upload schedules that include multiple videos per week. The motion-capture programs may not be perfect, but they are usually good enough.
Now, about those programs…
What Program do Virtual YouTubers Use?
When it comes to software for making virtual YouTube videos, there is a surprisingly large selection to choose from. Granted, not everything on this list was necessarily intended for this purpose, but that hasn’t stopped people from using them.
Many of my clients recommend Animaker to make VTuber videos– its easy to install, easy to learn and doesn’t require too much technical knowhow to master.
Live2D
Live2D can be a little confusing at first as you might see it pop up in several places. Though there are dedicated applications—such as Live2D Cubism—it can help to think of Live2D as a plugin rather than a standalone application.
This is a way of animating digital avatars using layers of 2D artwork. For example, the eyes would be on a separate layer to the head, and by moving the eyes slightly, the technique gives the impression that the head has turned a little. In doing so, Live2D can create an impression of three-dimensional art without actually requiring a 3D model.
Live2D itself does not include a way to track real movements, such as through a webcam. For that, you will need additional software, or you could use an application that provides motion tracking functionality while incorporating Live2D, such as…
FaceRig
If Live2D is the technology that enables the virtual YouTuber scene, FaceRig is one of the applications that utilise that technology, though there is more to FaceRig than Live2D.
Using your webcam, this application tracks your head and facial movements and translates them to an onscreen digital avatar, which can be chosen from a wide selection of 3D and 2D characters. You can put your digital character in front of a selection of backgrounds, or just leave them over something plain or even green for future greenscreen effects. You can also process your voice so that the recorded video comes out with a voice to match your digital avatar.
FaceRig is limited in the sense that you can only control facial expressions and some limited head and upper body movement. That being said, the results are stunning, with some incredibly realistic visuals being possible through the app. There is also a budding community around the software, with many new digital avatars being created and shared.
FaceRig is available for a relatively modest sum—around $15 or £13—though there is a pro version that you will need to upgrade to if you make more than $500 per month from the content you make with the app.
VTube Studio
Like FaceRig, VTube Studio is an application that provides head tracking functionality and makes use of Live2D technology. This application only provides the 2D style of digital avatar animation, but where it shines is its multi-platform nature.
VTube Studio is available on Android and iOS as well as Windows and macOS, adding an air of convenience to it. How practical it would be to make full-fat YouTube videos using the mobile app we couldn’t say, but many YouTubers make the occasional video or piece of content using their phone, and with VTube Studio, VTubers can do the same.
The app is free, though there is a watermark on any video produced by the free app. You would have to purchase the pro version to remove that watermark.
Wakaru
Wakaru is essentially the same as VTube Studio in terms of features, though it has a different pedigree. Wakaru emerged out of the Japanese culture that brought about virtual YouTubing in the first place, and as such, has a special place in many VTuber’s hearts.
You can animate your 2D digital avatar using a webcam and via several in-app controls that will allow you to make your avatar do things like blink. There is no mobile app, though you can use your phone as a camera with the use of third-party apps that essentially turn your phone into a webcam.
Wakaru is free, though it should be noted that many users feel like the software has been abandoned at this point. That is not to say it is not useful, but don’t expect any cool new features to be added to it.
VTuber Maker
The name, VTuber Maker, is a little misleading (and has led to a number of negative reviews as a result). It does not allow you to “make” VTubers—indeed, you have to pay to be able to import your own digital character—but it does allow you to animate digital avatars using your webcam, and it is free (importing avatars aside).
You can switch backgrounds, perform several predefined gestures, and the app even comes with a widget that creates a draggable version of your avatar that you can drop in the corner of the screen on top of whatever you are doing. Perfect for gaming streams.
VRoid Studio
Unlike the above VTuber Maker, VRoid Studiodoes enable you to make your VTuber avatars. It is heavily geared towards the Japanese anime styles of avatar that dominate the VTuber space, but it has an incredibly easy to use interface that makes creating a professional-looking avatar attainable for even the most un-artistic of us out there.
It should be emphasised that this app is just for making the avatar, not animating it, and certainly not animating it with motion-capture technology. Currently, it is in beta and free to download, though we are not sure if it will remain free when it comes out of beta.
VKatsu
VKatsu is a solid offering in the realm of animating digital avatars. It lets you create your avatar, choose from several predefined avatars, set the background, and more.
Now for the downsides. It is designed to work with VR headsets for motion-tracking, meaning you will need to own an expensive VR system to animate with your body. Also, it is Japanese-language only, which is fine if you’re Japanese, but most people who read this blog are not. And finally, it is in Early Access, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but if you check the FAQ about the game, it states that they hope to come out of Early Access in… 2018.
Still, it is free and very capable. If you have a compatible VR headset and speak Japanese (or don’t mind fiddling around with the controls to work out what they mean), this could be a useful application for you.
VRChat
As the name suggests, VRChat is a virtual reality chat application, allowing users to assume the digital appearance of an avatar of their choosing and interact with other users in a virtual world.
The useful part here is that it features full lip-sync and eye-tracking functionality, as well as a range of motion-tracking. You can also use a range of gestures. VRChat isn’t designed for VTubers as such, but it can certainly be used that way.
Unity
Our last mention is a little unconventional. Unity is a popular free game engine that is used to make video games. Which is to say that it is geared towards video games—it is a very versatile platform that can be used for a wide range of things. The idea behind it is that you can develop your game or application taking advantage of Unity’s built-in capabilities, rather than having to re-invent the wheel, so to speak, be writing your own graphical rendering code. It is not something that the average computer user can just pick up and run with, but if you have any experience coding in C# or Javascript, or you have tried your hand at game development before, there are libraries available to handle things like lip-syncing and head tracking.
This is a niche option, but for those who can make use of it, you will have far more control over your digital avatar than any of the options above, since you will be able to add literally any feature you are capable of coding. It will also allow you to custom-tailor the features you have to suit your needs, rather than making do with the way someone else’s app works.
Unity’s free version is fully-featured, but the licensing states that you must purchase a license if you make over a certain amount of money per year from your projects made in Unity.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are several options when it comes to picking out software and apps to help you bring your VTube dream to life. You may notice that most of the options on this list are either free or have a free version, so don’t be afraid to try them all out and find the one that works best for you.
Remember to check any licensing information regarding the software you choose, as the “pro” model—where you can use the app for free as long as you are not making more than a predetermined amount of money from your use of the app—is becoming increasingly popular.
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.
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.
