Category: SOCIAL MEDIA

How To Monetize A Facebook Group

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020
3 Comments on How To Monetize A Facebook Group

So you have a Facebook group and you’re looking to find ways to monetize it. It’s not as easy as you think it would be. If you’ve got a Facebook page, you’re able to jump through hoops, qualified based on engagement metrics and start working with brands.

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How To Monetize A Facebook Group

In fact, I’ve done a video on how you can monetize your Facebook page.

But a Facebook group is a community of people built around a specific ideal hobby or event.

I am the founder and admin for the Download Festival fan page on Facebook. The Download Festival is a music festival in the UK that is the spiritual child with the monsters of rock festival in the 1980s. That Facebook group has around about 60,000 people, but I don’t monetize the page. I simply spam them with a load of my videos from time to time and build up an audience that way.

But they’re ways that you can monetize a Facebook group.

1) Relevant and related affiliate links.

One is sharing relevant affiliate links. So using this Download Festival fan page, as an example, the festival, there’s music there and there’s campaign and relevant links could be run about a month or two before the festival.

I start sharing out camping equipment, torches, tents, gazebos, rucksacks boots, because you know, this festival is during June in the UK, so normally it is either baking hot with sunburn and hay fever, or you’re drowning.

These affiliate links, you can push towards places like Amazon, or if you have an arrangement with a camping company, my case, then you can push in that way.

But let’s say, you’re talking about Tech in your Facebook group. You can then push them to phones and cameras and laptops. Maybe you’re a filmographer and you’re pushing people towards cameras. Or in my case, on my YouTube channel, I’m helping you figure out what animations you need to use.

So you could use place it down below for intros and in-screens. Or if you’re trying to get subtitles, I’d push it down to something like rev.com, where they can easily subtitle all your content from just $1 to $2 per minute, per video, in any language.

You see, the relevancy matters because if I’m pushing on this channel halfway through teaching you about YouTube, I’m pushing you to go and buy a nightlight for a toddler, or I’m trying to sell you a tent, it’s not relevant and it won’t convert as much, but if you’re pushing relevant links on the page, not only does it mean that it blends in well with the thing, but it adds a value.

People could ask you, “Well, what for man 10 can I use?” And I could go, “Well, here’s 3/10 that you might want to look at, or here’s a torture. Here’s a bundle that they do, because it’s more relevant.”

It might help them do their research and it’s more likely to convert in the long run rather than me selling baby grows in a group that’s dedicated to male bodybuilding.

2) Digital products.

Now this is the next step up from affiliate marketing, where you possibly have a book or a download pack or a training course of some kind, the group is they’re learning about that specific field, so let’s say the group is about cameras.

This digital product could be a user guide menu on how to set a type of camera. It could be tips and tricks on lighting. It could be a download looks pack for grading your colors. It could be 10, 20 backing tracks because you’re there and you’re creating the music.

A digital product could be a great way to monetize that group while still offering them value. Once again, you don’t want to be giving breastfeeding tips to an entire group dedicated to kids’ toys, memorabilia, but a digital product can just float around, it could be connected to the group.

I will be launching one very soon for this channel myself and if it already exists, then there’s a link down below, and it could be something about helping you with your thumbnails or giving you loads of templates to play with.

3) Newsletters.

Now this doesn’t directly monetize the page up point of impact.

But if you get people in your group that are interested in the content that you share to sign up for your newsletter, then you’ve got your way to engage them at a later date, should you have a digital product or should you be promoting in my case, a music festival, in which you can send an affiliate link where you buy your ticket through here and I get paid.

I have a newsletter here, which I’ve handed out a free ebook for ages, right? And then I just engage with news. Once again, I could be much more aggressive with the way I monetize my content, but I don’t.

There’s many people out there that will have it home. They’re selling you online courses, or they’re selling you this, or they’re selling you that, or they’re upgrading your membership.

I prefer to just educate you here, and then hopefully in the long run, if you feel that I can help you, then maybe you contact me and I can coach you, or you trust me enough to use the affiliate links down below. I don’t want to strong arm you, but a newsletter could be a good way to build a contact list of all people that are really interested in that specific niche.

So let’s say you’re really good at knitting, you want to build a mailing list of everyone that’s good at knitting or interested in that hobby. That newsletter can then send out patterns once a month, and then when you’re ready, you can sell a book with the patterns in it, or you can push them towards specific knitting needles, or you can start selling popular patterns.

So that say, here’s how to knit your own granny blanket or face mask or Willy warmer or whatever it happens to be.

4) Selling advertiser posts.

Now, this is a direct impact on the community that you’ve built there.

I don’t do this for my festival page, but the 60,000 people there, if there was a band that wanted to promote themselves, if there was a product that wanted to be launched, maybe a new camping supplier that wanted to pay me 50, 100, 200, or a thousand pounds to post an advert to have it pinned or to have it promoted, that’s a good way for you to make income based on your group.

You know the engagement that you can get, you know the impact that it might have on your metrics. You have the insights tab on Facebook, so you can drill down and give that juicy info to the possible advertiser.

The best thing is that you’re not giving personal data to the advertisers, so you’re still covered by GDPR, but you access to your community, you get money in return, kind of a win-win.

5) Associated podcasts.

Now I’ve got a podcast for my YouTube channel. It’s called the “Start Creating Podcast” and you can go and see it at “startcreatingpodcasts.com.” It’s hosted by anchor, it’s on Apple and Google Play and Stitcher and in most places that you search for your podcast.

I teach you on there some of my tricks and tips that I shared on here and every now and then I do very deeply personal ones as well. I’m able to break out of the 5-10 minute format here, and I can talk to you for 20, 30, 50 minutes waffling on in a slightly less edited format.

Podcasts can distill the hardcore audience within a page into something that they want to listen. Going back to the camera fanatics idea. You are in a group where there are 20,000 or 30,000 people, or even 200 or 300 people that use that group to learn about cameras.

Each week you could sit down and you could talk about the latest camera, the latest camera news, the latest tech, the latest shots. You could get out the photographers on them. They can tell you how they shoot a wedding, how they shoot action shots, how they do skydiving.

The podcast is the way that you monetize that page because you bring them over to that audience, and then you can start putting adverts in against that podcast or using those metrics to start inviting guests on that may pay you to be on your podcast, or in the long run, pushing people to affiliate things through that podcast because they trust you and are willing to listen to you on a regular basis.

6) Charity fundraisers

Six, you can monetize your Facebook group with charity fundraisers.

Now this doesn’t directly put money in your pocket, but it doesn’t have to, really. Let’s say your group is all about cancer survivors or COVID survivors or Grenfell or MLS, Alzheimer’s, dementia, veterans of war.

Here’s your chance to give back because they’ve given to you with the support. You can put up your charity fundraiser, everyone’s motivated and highly engaged. I’m not suggesting that you do it every day, but you can monetize that audience to help a set cause by just picking a charity fundraiser, promoting it, and hopefully you could have other people that have gone through similar situations.

Final Words

Now, if you want to learn how to monetize your Facebook page, there is a video here. And if you want to learn how to monetize in general using affiliate marketing and passive income, there’s a video here.

Remember to subscribe for regular YouTube, Facebook, social media tutorials, and I’ll see you soon.

Tags affiliate marketing, facebook group, facebook page, monetize facebook group, social media

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

YouTube Equipment on a Budget

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

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

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

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

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

Cameras

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

Here are three great options for YouTubers on a budget.

Logitech C930e

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

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

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

So, on to our next pick.

GoPro Hero6 or Hero7

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

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

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

Canon T7i

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

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

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

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

Comparison Table

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

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

Microphones

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

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

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

Blue Snowball

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

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

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

BM-Condenser Microphone plus Preamp

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

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

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

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

Rode VideoMic Go

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

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

Lighting

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

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

Newer 18-Inch Ring Light

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

Newer CN-216

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

Natural Light

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

Your Phone

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

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

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

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

And the Rest

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusions

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

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

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

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

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

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is it Safe to Have a YouTube Channel?

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s get into it.

How Can Youtube be Dangerous?

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

Putting All Your Eggs in the YouTube Monetisation Basket

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Avoid This

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

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

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

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

Personal Data

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

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

Let’s look at an example.

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

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

How to Avoid This

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

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

Personal Safety

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

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

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

How to Avoid This

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

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

Keeping Your Private Information Private

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

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

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

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

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

Tips for Staying Safe

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

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

Keep Your Residence Private

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

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

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

Do Not Let Trackable Information Become Public

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

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

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

Do Not Make Travel Plans Public

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

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

Google Yourself

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

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

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

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

HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

Best 4K Video Settings for YouTube [Adobe Premiere Pro]

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 28 May 2020
1 Comment on Best 4K Video Settings for YouTube [Adobe Premiere Pro]

Best Settings To Export 4K Video for YouTube Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 1

Faster, easier to worth with and smaller files in Adobe Premiere Pro with these 4K Export Settings!

Today we are going to deep dive into what 4K video is, why it’s slowly replacing 1080p and what settings to use to make it painless to use!

Just because you’re shooting in 4K, that doesn’t mean you have to work in 4K. For many projects, 1080p is good enough.

The benefit of shooting in 4K is a quadrupled resolution, allowing you to zoom in cleanly since you have a much better source video to work with.

This is perfect for cutting to close-ups, effectively eliminating jump-cuts from your finished product entirely.

This effect can commonly be seen in single-camera interviews, where the perspective shifts between a wide full-body shot and a close-up shot of the interviewee talking. Pull it off well and it can be used for dramatic effect to add emphasis and connect better with the subject.

Even if your end product will be 1080p, shooting 4K will deliver a higher quality down-sampled image.

Capturing four times the amount of information you need won’t produce an image that’s four times better looking, but the end result will be noticeably sharper.

You’ll also reduce the chance of color banding, since most cameras record 4K at a higher bitrate. That means more color detail is captured, which will vastly improve gradual changes, like deep blue skies or other solid colors.

Sometimes the camera makes all the difference. Many modern mirrorless, digital SLR, and cinema cameras shoot 4K using larger sensors, effectively down-sampling a 6K or 8K image to 4K (like the relatively cheap Sony a6300, above). The Panasonic GH5 even does 6K video and 4K video at a bit-rate of 400 megabits-per-second.

Yes, there are many 1080p cameras that will shoot better HD footage than a cheap 4K camera.

What Is 4K? Do I need 4K Video?

We hear the word 4K every day in several places such as on youtube picture quality, gaming, in the specification of electronic devices like cameras, television, laptop, etc.

But what did this term mean? 4K means a digital resolution of approximately 4000 pixels; there are several different resolutions in 4K. 4K aka UHD (Ultra-high Definition), has a standard resolution as a 4K digital television of 3840*2160 with narrow borders, or 4096*2160 without borders – as popular in movies.

The picture quality of 4K content is very sharp, colorful, and professional; 4k quality enhances the user experience. It highlights every detail of the videos, let us have a quick eye on some of the advantages and disadvantages of 4K picture quality.

4K YouTube Videos vs 1080p YouTube Videos

4K is known as Ultra High Definition (UHD), whilst 1080P is simply labelled High Definition. As their names imply, 4K UHD has a considerably higher resolution than 1080P HD video. 4K resolution is exactly 3840 x 2160 pixels, whilst 1080P consists of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

The 4K designation refers to the close to 4000 horizontal pixels. Traditionally, resolution had been labelled according to vertical pixels and in the case of 1080P, 1080 vertical lines make up that high definition resolution. By comparison, 4K features 2160 pixels vertically; a considerable increase.

At an aspect ratio of 16:9, 4K contains almost four times the number of pixels on a screen compared with 1080P technology – more than eight million pixels for 4K and just two million pixels for 1080P.

This massive difference brings about some important advantages for 4K when one compares it to the quality of a 1080P 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.

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

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

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

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 24 May 2020
9 Comments on Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views

You have a YouTube channel all up and running and you’ve been uploading your new YouTube videos and content to your channel, but the views aren’t coming? Need help with the best places to share YouTube videos for more views?

Sharing your your YouTube videos on social media can be a great way to boost exposure, grow your audience and seed links back to your videos. The more social networks you can post to the more likely you are to figure out what social platform is best suited to your content. Try Instagram, Reddit, Forums, Facebook Groups, Mix and learn what works best for you, then double down.

Time to set the foundations for finding the best places to share YouTube videos for more views.

First things first you need to ensure you’ve set your channel up correctly and that you’ve followed my 10 steps to promote your YouTube channel.

Once that’s completed it’s time to share your videos. You can create the content but if you don’t tell people where to find it you may as well be talking to yourself.

Here are the best places you absolutely must share your new YouTube videos after clicking publish:

Utilise your social media channels

Whether you’re a standalone YouTube vlogger, or you’re using videos and blogging separately, you should have all your other social media channels aligned, I recommend having at least a Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Whenever you publish a new video on YouTube make sure you share it across all your channels. It is important you tailor the content, embed the videos but leave your audience wanting more.

Different types of people utilise different social media channels, but the key is to drive them to your YouTube channel so make your content enticing, show clips from the full video, and make clear click-through. These are call to actions will obvious value explained before they click on the,

As your channel grows, your promotion should grow too.

The most important place to share your YouTube videos is on your other social media channels, on a regularly basis. There are hundreds of social media schedulers available to help you with this such as Hootsuite or SocialOomph.

I recommend using a social media scheduler as you can then plan and set how often you would like a specific video to be repromoted on your social media channel. I personally use MeetEdgar to push out 30-40 social media posts every day.

Share YouTube Video in Facebook Groups

I thought Facebook deserved its own section.

I personally think Facebook is an excellent tool for increasing your YouTube video views, they have a YouTube uploader which means the views go straight to the video without your audience having to leave Facebook.

One thing you can also do on Facebook is join niche groups and pages, this gives you an opportunity to share your videos and leverage your content.

Make sure what you’re sharing is useful and relevant to your viewers, but lets say for example you’re making a YouTube channel about cleaning, there are hundreds of Cleaning Facebook groups with an active audience who would be interested in your video.

Make sure you read individual group rules regarding self-promotion, but most are happy for you to share useful content within their groups.

If you need help in making your videos look great, or promoting your videos on social media, check out my resources page, for some great tools and equipment guides.

Guest Posting to Get More Views

Look around your Vlog niche and start making friends.

Is there anyone who’s open to a guest blog / vlog? Anyone who you could do a promotion exchange with?

By working closely with people in your niche you can access their audience too. There are enough people to go around especially in terms of YouTube views.

If people are watching a video in your niche chances are, they would also be interested in your content. Send people a message and see if you could host a guest video or write a guest blog for them which will in turn promote you and your YouTube Channel.

Mix Your YouTube Videos

Mix used to be known as StumbleUpon, it still has excellent reach and is extremely easy to utilise, just download the add on to your browser and ‘mix’ your content.

This basically adds it to a database of content, if a person has selected interests that coincide with yours whenever they click the mix button, they have a chance of arriving at your content.

If they enjoyed your content, they would then remix this. The more people like your content, the more people the algorithm will push your content too thus increasing your reach and views.

Like Facebook groups, reddit is subdivided into lots of different categories and niches, it makes sense for you to create an account and engage with niche groups like the YouTube content you are creating.

There are general video subreddits you can push your video to, but the smaller more niche groups should provide a better audience.

While the users of each forum maybe smaller the value of that audience is higher than someone without a continued interest in your videos, they’re more likely to subscribe and stick around to see other content

YouTube Ad Network – Use YouTube Ads To Get More Video Views

While I would not recommend throwing money at ads in the beginning, it can be an advantage to get the ball rolling with a new video.

YouTube own integrated ad network works out at 2p per view and these are genuine people and real viewers not bots.

This can also trigger a spiral, if the viewers you have promoted to like your content they could share it further and subscribe so play around with the ad network and see if you feel its worthwhile for your business or not.

Most importantly create good high-quality content that people want to talk about, they want to share with friends, and they want to see more of.

You can publish and share a hundred times over but if the content isn’t watchable, interesting or provide ‘something’ for your audience they’re unlikely to return so make sure you hone in on your content skills and the rest should follow accordingly

Where do you share your YouTube videos? I love to embed them into my blogs – Maybe its time for you to start your own blog! – Here is an article I wrote to explain how to start started with blogging.

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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE

How To Open A Facebook Page (Business Page or Fan Page)

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 16 May 2020
No Comments on How To Open A Facebook Page (Business Page or Fan Page)

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How To Open A Facebook Fan Page is a question we are asked on a Regular basis. Creating a Facebook Page for your business or brand is a great step towards building a social media brand.

Facebook is the largest social media platform online and is easily the most recognisable brand that you can adopt to share your own business and brand with possible future clients.

Facebook Pages can be a very powerful tool to get your name out there and expand the reach of your companies brand.

You and advertise upcoming events, publish recent blogs, share achievements and sell products directly to a marketplace. The best thing about Facebook and its huge client reach potential? — IT’S FREE!!!

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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE

Best 1080p YouTube Rendering Settings [Adobe Premiere Pro]

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 14 May 2020
5 Comments on Best 1080p YouTube Rendering Settings [Adobe Premiere Pro]

Best Adobe Premier Pro CC YouTube Rendering Settings 2018 — Smaller Files, Faster Export & Uploads

1080pMost people use 1080p of Full HD to upload to YouTube. Its easy to use, fast to render in and good for uploads. But did you know that you can make it faster to upload to YouTube and small files sizes with a few tweaks.

If you need help with 4K Videos then check out this blog post that I wrote diving into 4K vs 1080p and the best export settings.

My YouTube export settings for Adobe Premier Pro CC to guarantee maximum quality, faster tendering times, quick uploads and smaller files.

Resolution and aspect ratio

The standard aspect ratio for YouTube on a computer is 16:9. When uploading other aspect ratios (vertical, square, etc.), the player automatically adapts itself to the size of the video, giving the best viewing experience based on the aspect ratio and device.

Learn how to use resolution and aspect ratios correctly.

Frame Rate

Content should be encoded and uploaded using the same frame rate that was used during recording.

Common frame rates include: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 frames per second (other frame rates are also acceptable).

Interlaced content should be deinterlaced before uploading. For example, 1080i60 content should be deinterlaced to 1080p30. 60 interlaced fields per second should be deinterlaced to 30 progressive frames per second.

The bitrates below are recommendations for uploads. Audio playback bitrate is not related to video resolution.

Type	Video Bitrate, Standard Frame Rate (24, 25, 30)	Video Bitrate, High Frame Rate (48, 50, 60)
2160p (4k)	35–45 Mbps	53–68 Mbps
1440p (2k)	16 Mbps	24 Mbps
1080p	8 Mbps	12 Mbps
720p	5 Mbps	7.5 Mbps
480p	2.5 Mbps	4 Mbps
360p	1 Mbps	1.5 Mbps

Type	Video Bitrate, Standard Frame Rate (24, 25, 30)	Video Bitrate, High Frame Rate (48, 50, 60)
2160p (4k)	44–56 Mbps	66–85 Mbps
1440p (2k)	20 Mbps	30 Mbps
1080p	10 Mbps	15 Mbps
720p	6.5 Mbps	9.5 Mbps
480p	Not supported	Not supported
360p	Not supported	Not supported

Recommended audio bitrates for uploads

Type	Audio Bitrate
Mono	128 kbps
Stereo	384 kbps
5.1	512 kbps

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

5 Essential Time Saving Apps for YouTubers and Video Creation

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 13 May 2020
1 Comment on 5 Essential Time Saving Apps for YouTubers and Video Creation

5 Time Saving Apps for Youtubers, tools for youtubers, tips for youtubers, free tols for youtubers

Content creators upload over 300 hours of video every minute to YouTube. That’s a lot of competition. So, to stand out and grow your channel on YouTube, you need to upload professional videos on a frequent basis with these time saving apps for YouTubers.

But, once you’ve planned the content and shot a video, the work isn’t finished yet. You still need to add graphics, caption it, get the title keywords right, and think about promotion.

There’s lots to do.

This article takes a look at five excellent tools to speed up your content creation process.

Some are free, and some need a subscription. And once you start using them, you’ll find you can reduce the time from recording to upload – leaving you more time to plan and shoot more content.

Let’s begin.

remove.bg – YouTube Image Background Remover

YouTube is a visual platform. Viewers mostly choose what video to watch next based on visual clues from the thumbnail.

Having the right thumbnail then is essential, it can be the difference between success and failure for a video. It’s not enough nowadays to use a boring still from your video.

Take a look at the image below. The thumbnail on the left has the best combination of text and visual, and outperforms the rest of his content combined.

You need to be upfront and centre in your YouTube thumbnail. But making thumbnails takes time, especially if you need to cut-out your portrait from a cluttered background.

Did you know you can turn a 20-minute task into a five-second one with remove.bg?

remove.bg is a free online tool that cleverly removes the background from your image. Leaving you a perfect cut-out of your picture for you to add the finishing touches.

It’s straightforward to use. Drag an image onto the remove.bg’s homepage and they handle the rest.

Here’s an example.

As you can see, the image size for the free version isn’t the largest, but you can process it a little to fit the resolution that YouTube requires.

You can get a higher resolution image if you buy credits from remove.bg. For each credit you buy, you get to download 1 high-resolution image. 10 credits cost £8.00, or you can get credits cheaper by taking out a subscription.

rev.com – YouTube Closed Captions and Subtitles Service

Closed Captions and Subtitles – what’s the difference?

Closed Captions. These are a direct transcript of the audio of your video. A viewer can use them if they don’t want to listen to the sound of your video. They are in the same language as the one spoken, and a viewer can turn them off if they don’t need them.

Subtitles. Subtitles assume that the audio of the video is still on. They clarify the speech if the audio is poor or the speaker has a strong accent. They are also used to provide a translation of speech in another language.

Obviously having closed captions or subtitles on your videos help those hard of hearing or who don’t speak your language. But, there are also other benefits that land this site on the time saving apps for youtubers list.

One of the most important factors of ranking for your video is Audience Retention. That is, how much of your video a viewer watches. Clearly, having closed captions and subtitles promotes access to your content and will help with this metric.

Another ranking benefit is that your uploaded transcription file also helps with your metadata.

The free AI transcription tool on YouTube is not very good. And if you don’t have the time to transcribe your own videos, instead use the service provided by rev.com.

The service works on a per-minute basis and will provide the output in the .srt format YouTube prefers.

Get $10 worth of free transcription here.

kapwing.com – YouTube to Social Media Content Creation

If you’ve been a YouTuber for long enough, you know that for best results you need to promote your video after you have uploaded it.

Gary Vee is a master at teasing his content. On Instagram and Facebook, you’ll find video snippets with closed captions for easy consumption over mobile.

It’s really easy to one of these yourself, head over to kapwing.com.

Hit the ‘start editing’ button and select start with a blank canvas. Then, input your YouTube video URL, and it will import it for you.

Next, using the easy controls, you can clip the section of the video you want to use, add subtitles, and then change it into the best size for where you will upload it.

A great benefit is that all the processing happens at the server-side, so your laptop won’t feel like a baking tray just out of the oven when you use it.

Kapwing is free to use and even lets you produce media without a watermark by registering for a account. You need a subscription to keep all your work private, get faster processing speeds, and long term storage of your media.

A monthly subscription is $20, or you can make a saving if you buy an annual subscription for $200.

placeit.net – YouTube Intro, Outro, and Logo Maker

One way to stand out from mediocre content and show expertise is to add professional looking intro/outro animations to your videos.

An animated intro/outro that is quick and clear tells your viewer who you are, what you do, and helps with your branding strategy.

To quickly make very professional intro/outro animations, I use placeit.net.

There are plenty of templates to choose from; some are image-based and some are text-based, so you should find one to fit your requirements.

Once you have picked a template, you can customise it to fit your needs. It’s easy to change colours and resize logos, so you get an intro/outro that fits your channel’s branding.

For other elements of your channel, like logo’s and banners, placeit.net works well for these too.

You won’t need to hire a graphic designer to create fantastic looking graphics. Here is a sample of the kind of logos you can use as a starting point.

I picked the cupcake above, then changed the text and the central image to end up with the logo below for my new seafood venture. (OK, it’s just an example – I’ve never even eaten lobster!)

As you can see, it’s easy to change the colours and text to create a professional-looking logo you can upload to your channel page.

priceit.net – costs $14.95 per month for unlimited videos, logos, and designs, or if you take out an annual subscription $99.95.

A solid gold entry into the time saving apps for youtubers list with so many tasks that you can use placeit.net for, so it is a worthwhile subscription. But if you’re on a budget, you can get all the graphics you need with a single months payment – just cancel your subscription when you have what you need.

photopea – Free Browser-Based Photo Editing Tool

As a visual content producer, you need a photo editing suite. It can be a great time saving app for Youtubers. But, there’s no need to pay for Adobe Photoshop or PaintShop Pro. photopea.com is a browser-based image manipulation tool that is free to use. It works with all the popular image formats, and even handles .psd files.

There are lots of reasons a YouTuber might need photo manipulation software – here are two of them:

1 – Outlining Your Thumbnails. You have possibly noticed some YouTubers using a white outline surrounding their picture on their thumbnails, it’s a good technique to make a thumbnail pop out on the page.

Here is an example made using the image we removed the background on earlier. Drag the image onto the project workspace, then add a stroke effect in layer styles.

Now it’s ready for your logo, title, and branding.

2 – Making Start and End Screens. If you don’t want to pay for placeit.net to make an animated intro/outro, then you can use photopea instead. Use it to create a professional-looking branding image then edit into your video.

There are lots of templates to choose from. Pick one and edit away.

They even have standard templates for promotional images you can post to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Start using these Time saving apps for youtubers today to speed up your production process and make your YouTube videos look amazing. There is a learning-curve with a few of them. But, in most cases, you will be up and running with them quickly and producing professional-looking video in a shorter amount of time.

If you have any questions, please add them in the comments, and I’ll answer them as soon as I can.

And remember to check out my resources page for more useful tools discounts and links!

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HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

Add Timestamp YouTube Video Chapters and Win In Search

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 4 May 2020
No Comments on Add Timestamp YouTube Video Chapters and Win In Search

Add Timestamp Chapters To YouTube Videos and Win In Search 2

YouTube video timestamps now come with skippable chapters that can help you rank better in search. Learn how to add chapters to youtube videos with time stamps and why they are so useful for YouTube and Google search results.

The new time stamp video chapters for YouTube videos give you the opportunity to add relevant sub titles to sections of your videos. This means people can skip to these parts quicker, helping them get the answer they want more directly. These snippets can work well for youtube promotion as they can also be found by Google and using in the search results as video snippets or result snippets for quick answers in results.

What Are YouTube Video Timestamps?

Timestamps on YouTube videos give you the chance to skim through the video quickly and find what you are looking for using the mini sub headings.

The timestamps are normally added to the video description by the video creator. You start with 0:00 to show YouTube where the video starts and you add time stamps to important parts of the video with index marks for example “2:53 – Step By Step Tutorial”.

The user can then either click the timestamp in the description to quickly jump to that part of the video.

Why Use YouTube Video Chapters?

YouTube video chapters can help you find the important part of the video faster.

If you are a creator and you upload videos, the chapters give you the opportunity to add additional, relevant keywords to the description of the video.

Why add keywords to the description?

YouTube search and google works on relevancy and meta data. If you post a video tutorial that has 5-6 different parts to it then you can section it out. Each questions could have a time stamp. Each of those time stamps could be a search term and each could have a chance of dominating search results with google snippets.

What Are Google Snippets?

Google Snippets (featured snippets) are short selections of text or clips of YouTube videos appearing at the top of Google’s search results that are designed to answer a searcher’s query.

The content that appears inside of a Featured Snippet is automatically pulled from web pages in Google’s index or snippets from YouTube Videos with timestamps. Common types of Featured Snippets include definitions, tables, steps and lists.

How featured snippets are chosen?

Featured snippets come from web search listings. Google’s automated systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet to highlight for a specific search request.

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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

How To Download A YouTube Video

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 1 May 2020
1 Comment on How To Download A YouTube Video

How To Download A YouTube Video for a backup, maybe you want to download YouTube videos for b-roll, or you are using the youtube video download tool to save them to play later – this can help you.

I like to download my own YouTube videos to add them as overlays in new content, it’s a good way to drive traffic to older content.

So how do you download YouTube videos?

To download a YouTube video you will need to login to your YouTube dashboard. Click on videos and look for the video you want to download. Hover over the video description snippet and it will change into a tool bar. Click on the 3 dots options and you will see a Download video link.

Download YouTube Videos on Mobile with YouTube Premium

Offline downloads are one of the various perks offered to people who pay $12 per month for YouTube’s Premium subscription.

It also offers access to YouTube Music Premium and removes ads from videos. While the 720p resolution download limit may have made sense a few years ago when phone screens generally didn’t go far beyond 720p, many phones have now gone past that; the iPhone X and XS have resolutions that exceed 1080p, for instance.

Why Download YouTube Videos?

When you download YouTube videos, you can watch them without an internet connection, which is ideal for keeping yourself entertained on planes, trains, and trips to places without reliable mobile internet access.

Downloading YouTube videos on to your mobile phone can be a great way to save money on limited data allowance plans.

But if you download them to your phone using your home Wi-Fi before you travel, you can watch them on the move without risking going over your data allocation.

It’s surprisingly easy to download videos from YouTube and other video hosting sites – and you can do it free. YouTube itself provides some tools for downloading videos (on both desktop and mobile), and there are third-party tools that can do the job as well. Read on to find out how.

Is downloading YouTube videos legal?

Using third-party apps to download YouTube videos is against Youtube’s terms of service – which state that you are only able to stream videos directly from its servers.

Downloading YouTube videos also opens you up to potential copyright infringement unless you have permission from the copyright holder, it’s in the public domain, or you own the video yourself.

YouTube does offer some ways to download videos through its web service and its own apps.

How To Download YouTube Videos with YouTube Premium

The YouTube Premium service (formally YouTube Red) is the only official way you can download other peoples videos and music.

Download videos and playlists to watch offline when you aren’t connected to the Internet.

You can download videos to watch offline using the YouTube or YouTube Music apps (and watch auto-downloaded videos in the YouTube Kids app) if these apps are available in your location and you’re signed in with your YouTube Premium account.

How To Download A YouTube Video on YouTube Premium

Start watching a video on the YouTube Mobile app.
Tap Download below the video player.
Select the video quality.
The ‘Downloaded’ icon will appear below the video player when the video has finished downloading.

You can view your downloaded videos in the Library or Account tabs.

To remove a downloaded video, tap Downloaded and select Remove.

YouTube Premium Recommends Videos to Download

YouTube Premiums recommended downloads feature will help you get ideas for videos and playlists to download.

Note that when you download a recommended playlist, all the videos contained within that playlist will be downloaded. These recommended playlists will update weekly (while you’re connected to Wi-Fi), so you always have new videos to watch.

To find your Recommended Downloads:

Open the YouTube app and make sure that you’re signed in to your YouTube Premium membership.
Tap on the Library tab .
Tap Downloads and scroll down to Recommended downloads.
Download videos and/or playlists by tapping the download icon .

Change YouTube Premium Download Settings

On certain mobile devices, videos and playlists can be downloaded only when connected to a Wi-Fi network.

To download videos over a mobile network, go to Settings and turn off Download over Wi-Fi only under ‘Background & Downloads’.

Set Video Download Quality on YouTube Premium

To change the default quality for downloading videos, go to Settings and select Download quality under ‘Background & Downloads’.

Higher-quality videos may take longer to download and may use more storage space on your device.

If less than 5% of storage space is available on your device, you won’t be able to download additional videos. To free up space, try removing a downloaded video or playlist.

Things to know about videos downloaded from YouTube:

You must be signed in to your YouTube Premium account to download videos to watch offline.
Some actions, like commenting and liking, are not available while viewing videos offline.
Downloaded videos renew automatically as long as you go online in your home country/region at least once every 30 days.
Some videos may not be available offline when you reconnect to the Internet due to content restrictions from video creators.
If your device loses connectivity while downloading a video or playlist, it will automatically resume when you reconnect to a mobile or Wi-Fi network.
You can only download videos in countries/regions where YouTube Premium is available.
Learn more about YouTube offline videos.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

Tags Alan Spicer, download video, download videos, download videos from youtube, download youtube, download youtube video, download youtube video on iphone, Download YouTube Videos, download youtube videos 2020, how to, how to download, how to download a video from youtube, How To Download A YouTube Video, how to download video from youtube, how to download videos from youtube, how to download youtube video, How To Download YouTube Videos, video download, youtube video download

BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA

How To Increase YouTube Video CPM – Make More Money On YouTube

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 20 April 2020
7 Comments on How To Increase YouTube Video CPM – Make More Money On YouTube

– Anyone that’s serious on YouTube and making a business wants to know how to increase YouTube Video CPM income, improve their CPM, improve the adverts that get placed against your content. I’ve got a few tips for you…

If you’ve been creating content on YouTube for any length of time, you may now be monetized. The rollercaster that is YouTube CPM Rates can be a wild ride. The CPM rate is based on the things that are on your channel and it can seem frustrating that you have x amount of pounds per thousand views and somebody else gets many, many more. But, there are a few things that you can do to tweak this.

Evaluate The Existing Content On Your YouTube Channel

Have a look at your analytics. There will be some videos that have done much better than other videos. Pick through those. Have a look at your top five, top ten and see what themes may be occurring in those videos. Are those top ten videos mostly how-tos? Are those top ten videos mostly talking about a set product or service or game? Are they a certain length? Do they appeal to a certain demographic? Are they a specific niche? Are they put in a specific playlist?

Once you’ve figured out the clear front runners in your content, make more of that type of video to increase your chances of success.

In my case – I recently started to add business and money to my channel, as it gets a higher Cost Per Mille (CPM) compared to my normal YouTube Tutorials. It would behoove me more to go and make more business stuff, more business themed, more business titled, more business tagged because these are proven winners for my channel that get a proven track record of additional watchtime or a specific types of advert served against it. For example, Tai Lopez, who possibly spends a fortune trying to sell his e-course online (you know those bullshit ads where he’s stood in front of a mansion or in front of a fast car). He might be throwing 20, 30, 40 bucks at an advert that could hit your audience demographic – whilst he’s not gonna spend that kinda money if it’s against toys.

To increase your YouTube Channel CPM rate, make sure that you’re replicating the stuff that you know gets a higher CPM. I don’t mean neglect the ones that have a lower CPM, but understand the difference between the two.

Make Longer YouTube Videos – Double Your Video CPM Rate With Mid Rolls

CPM on YouTube is based on the advert served, how often and the video. Now If you’re lucky, and to increase YouTube Video CPM, adverts can play at the start, at the end and if you have a 10 minute video, they can also be placed in the middle of your YouTube video (YouTube Mid Rolls).

A case in point is Shane Dawson. Last year he dominated with his docu-series format. Each episode was over an hour long – like giant TV show. This gave him the advantage that he could add an advert every 15 minutes and it didn’t seem forced or tacky.

Now, if you imagine for every thousand views of that advert he got $5 – then the video that gets millions of views would do well for him. BUT, if he adds 3-4 mid roll adverts as well instead of $5 per 1000 advertisement displayed he can increase YouTube Video CPM 300-400% simply by adding midrolls into the longer video format. That’s the way to bump that video CPM because not only can you put one at the start, he could put multiple in the middle, he could put one at the end.

You’ll get more watchtime which might be an indicator to advertisers that people watch for longer, are more engaged and that video is very specific ’cause it’s 10 minutes of a very specific topic, so they could put specific adverts in. So, if you’re talking about how to rip apart a laptop and put it back together, advertisers could put adverts in and here, buy this part, here, buy a laptop from here, here’s Dixons, here’s PC World.

Pick Your Niche Carefully to Increase YouTube Video CPM

This is a lesson I learned, in the hardest possible sense, over the years. In the past I have managed channels that have had millions, millions of views. Those videos are in the entertainment sector. The problem with that is the entertainment sector can get thousands of views much more easily if you tweak it properly because you can pander to the topics, you can pander to the trends, the funny news, the weirdness, that kinda thing. But, that also means that you’ll get slightly lower or in some case, rock bottom CPMs.

Why? Because the topic might be inappropriate or the topic might be overexposed. So, therefore, there’s so many people talking about that, that the advertiser can bid less to get more traffic.

On the other side, let’s say you’re creating tutorials on how to create YouTube videos or educating people on business. This is a slightly harder, smaller niche. This kind of direct topic focus can attract a specific audience, an audience that other people may want to tap into, and can increase YouTube Video CPM. I have made video in the past where I talk about how to start a business.

In that video, I talk about how to start your own business. So, if you’re an accountant or if you’re some kind of business guru or some kind of e-book salesmen or anything that’s vaguely business related, insurance, etc etc – you might be tempted to advertise against that video. And, as you can imagine, the difference between someone trying to sell kids toys vs life insurance, real estate, e-learning masterclasses or anything like that – completely different market and potentially much higher CPMs.

Specific niches have better premiums. I’ve noticed with some of my clients that if you talk about money, you have a much higher CPM than over less business focused niches.

Cut Out The Swearing to Increase YouTube Video CPM

A bit of mild swearing, is not a huge problem. But, if you’re effing and jeffing all of the time, you can either be flagged as inappropriate or the algorithm kind of hears it, kind of sees it and certain advertisers will maybe stir away from you which means that they might be the higher paying ones or that means that you get one or two less adverts per hundred views, per thousand views which means you get less per thousand view CPM.

There is a rumor that if you avoid it in the first three minutes or so, or the first 30% of your video, then maybe, you’re kind of exempt from this, but I would advise that if truly your focus is in maximizing your CPM, either bleep it or avoid it entirely. I understand more than anybody how easy it is to just slip a swear out.

I’m born in Kent. I’m a council estate kid. That’s dragged his way up, effing and jeffing is like a second language to me. It’s ingrained and it’s very hard to stop. Try and curb it and it might help your pocket and you’ll feel a little better for it at the end of the month, at least on camera. Just be wary that swearing in youtube videos might hurt your bank balance.

Make Money Blogging YouTube Videos

This blog right here is proof that blogging YouTube videos can help raise awareness, bring in more eyeballs and even increase YouTube Video CPM in the long run.

Along side your very long article teaching people how to increase YouTube Video CPM you could place adverts from AdSense. This builds up a picture of behaviour within the mind of Google about your audience and helps them track or suggest your content to more and more relevant people.

I can also give you affiliate options or niche article oportunities you may not have considered before. If you’re talking about real estate, you could link to other articles, videos or affiliate links. People are still buying banner ads. People are still buying pop-ups. Yes, it may be part of the “old web world”, but it’s still equally as relevant. There’s still an audience that would prefer to read articles with visual aid whether it comes through pictures or video then specifically directly only watch your video.

You can always transcribe your videos. Turn them into blogs and then that way people could read three or fours pages of you talking that you fluffed up with nice content, infographics, and then you get double the income.

For more info on boosting your income using affiliate links, I’ve got a video here.

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

You Can Still Access YouTube Studio Classic Mode – Old YouTube Creator Studio

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 10 April 2020
No Comments on You Can Still Access YouTube Studio Classic Mode – Old YouTube Creator Studio

YouTube have recently updated to the new YouTube studio. There are many new features but some of us still prefer the “old” classic creator dashboard.

How To Access YouTube Studio Classic Mode?

To access the old YouTube Studio click on your avatar in the top left hand corner and goto your channel home page. Click on the big blue customise channel button. This is display the only channel design, now click on your subscriber number and it will load you into the old dashboard. Simply click all videos and enjoy the classic studio.

The Definitive Guide to Growing on YouTube in 2026 (SEO Authority Edition)

Old YouTube Creator Studio – YouTube Studio Beta is being rolled out and will be the default dashboard for all users in early 2020. But if you’re like me, you prefer the familiar basic look and feel of the classic mode. So this is how you can still access classic mode.

In February, YouTube devs started auto-defaulting users to new Studio, regardless of their previous choice. For the time being, Classic is going to stay, but old platform’s days are practically numbered. How can we still switch back to good old classic version and set it to be our default – at least, while it lasts and YouTube doesn’t permanently shut it down?

We still prefer Classic over new Studio version. Force of habit is probably a dominant cause in this case, let’s admit that right now. Classic still offers a lot of features which Studio doesn’t at the moment, despite the fact that it receives constant updates with ported features and analytics charts literally on a weekly basis, getting new existing and exclusive ones like impressions and click-through rates, performance comparison between videos/channels, and easing access to others, like subscribers per each video and so on.

Still, one feature that we really miss is the x-axis time control. We still cannot select x-axis reporting interval and set it to be weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly or pre-defined rolling range in order to more easily visualize and see cumulative growth (or regression) over time on a simplified chart. With so much data available, it is often easy to miss a forest for a single tree.

Need help ranking your videos and growing your YouTube channel – I have a whole page of tools that can help you get started!

Another, relatively recent change, that is going away with Classic design is the top-left MENU button, that allowed direct access to MAIN YouTube menu (History, My Channel, Subscriptions, Trending, Premium, YouTube TV …), which now doesn’t do that any more. Instead, it does simple Collapse Menu action. Same thing happened to main YouTube page, where it collapses the menu, instead providing access to useful shortcuts.

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.

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!

Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

Get More Views on Social Media Fast

Tags Alan Spicer, classic creator studio, classic youtube studio, creator studio, creator studio classic, creator studio classic vs youtube studio beta, creator studio classic youtube, How To Access YouTube Studio Classic Mode, old youtube studio, youtube creator studio, youtube creator studio beta, youtube creator studio classic, youtube creators studio, youtube studio beta, youtube studio classic mode

MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

How To Work From Home for Beginners (20 Tips)

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 3 April 2020
2 Comments on How To Work From Home for Beginners (20 Tips)

It’s time to work from home 2020. I work at home as freelancer working remotely from my own home. Work at home jobs are not as easy as some people think so here are my tips for people with work at home jobs 2020 and how to fine or make your own work from home jobs during this very testing time.

Working at home online has been a real life line for me over the years. Being your own boss and keeping your own time comes with its own pitfalls. Today I am going to share you wou my productivity tips for working from home as a freelancer entrepreneur or while on lockdown.

It’s time for some working from home tips!

SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

How To Go Live on Facebook 2020 (NEW METHOD)

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 3 April 2020
No Comments on How To Go Live on Facebook 2020 (NEW METHOD)

It’s time learn how to go live on facebook! Facebook Live is great for livestreaming on facebook with Webcam lessons, remote learning, talking with family members or vlogging. Live stream to facebook from your pc, add polls, screen share and more in this how to use facebook live tutorial.

How To Livestream on Facebook Tutorial
0:15 – Start of How To Facebook live stream tutorial
0:24 – Facebook livestream dashboard
1:03 – How To Live Steam from a Facebook Page
1:27 – How To Crosspost Facebook Livestream
2:03 – How To Screen Share on Facebook Live

If this Facebook live streaming tutorial is helpful maybe the videos below would interest you too!

Tags alanspicer, facebook, facebook live, facebook live stream, facebook live stream tutorial, facebook live streaming tutorial, facebook live tutorial, facebook live video stream, go live on facebook, how to do live video on facebook, how to go live on facebook, how to live stream on facebook, how to live stream on facebook 2020, how to livestream on facebook, how to stream live video on facebook, how to use facebook live, how to use facebook live stream, live stream, live streaming

MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

How to Use Copyrighted Music on Youtube @getlickd

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 2 April 2020
1 Comment on How to Use Copyrighted Music on Youtube @getlickd

Download Music for YouTube videos – Looking to use chart music in your YouTube videos without getting stung with copyright issues? Asking yourself – How to Use Copyrighted Music on Youtube Legally? Then LICKD might a a solution for you. LICKD helps you license popular songs that maybe in the charts of trending and put then into your videos for a small fee without any major issues from the YouTube Bots.

TRY LICKd – https://lickd.grsm.io/alanspicer5715

Lickd is a digital platform helping YouTube content creators legally use the music they love. We provide commercial music from real labels for licensing in YouTube videos without the fear of a Creator losing their ad revenue to a Copyright Claim.

How can I legally use copyrighted music on YouTube? – When you get a third party content claim YouTube suggest you do one of the following:

Acknowledge it. If you don’t mind the ads, you don’t have to do anything.
Remove or swap the music. *
Share revenue. If you’re a partner you can share revenues for song covers.
Dispute the claim if you believe you have the right to use the music.

* In 2019, YouTube added new features to make it easier for creators to resolve the claims. In particular, YouTube configured their post claim tools – Add or Replace a Song, Remove a Song, and Trimming – to automatically release claims on some of the cases.

The best option is to secure the permission of the copyright owner to use their music on YouTube and to have the owner retract the claim. This may be free (as with Creative Commons or Public Domain music) or you may need to pay a licensing fee.

Getting the permission (or the license) may be easy or hard depending on what kind of music you’d like to use.

If you are after a popular commercial song this usually involves getting in touch with the publisher and working out a deal. As you can imagine, the licensing fees in this case may be quite substantial.

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

How To Turn On SECRET YouTube Stats for Nerds

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 2 April 2020
No Comments on How To Turn On SECRET YouTube Stats for Nerds

SECRET YouTube Debug Mode Feature for Frame rates, codecs, dropped frames, streaming quality all useful youtube stats for nerds that are hidden in plain view.

What is YouTube Stats for Nerds?

Stats for nerds is an inbuilt feature of YouTube app desktop and mobile including detailed statistics for video stats, audio and video formats, video ID, your current bandwidth, viewport, dropped frames, etc. It can help you find important info and troubleshoot your Internet (mobile data) issues.

On any YouTube video, if you right-click or control-click on the video, you will be presented with a contextual menu. In this menu, you will find a few options, such as the ability to set the video to loop, copy the URL of the video, copy a timestamped URL to share the specific location in the video, and few others.

Need some help in understanding what each of these options means then check out my YouTube Stats for Nerds EXPLAINED deep dive article where I look into these youtube stats for nerds, what they mean, how they impact your video and how you can use them to boost your luck in the youtube algorithm game.

Why Use YouTube Stats For Nerds?

This is a handy little tool if you love the fine details of YouTube and content creation.

These hidden gems can help you see what codec you are using, how well your video is performing from a technical standpoint and if you are a tech junkie its a little hidden extra look behind the scenes.

This could also be interesting for starting a YouTube gaming channel as you can see what video encoding service youtube is using for your videos. YouTube has different formats for footage depending on 4k, 1080p and even footage frame-rates which might effect your end product.

Why Does The YouTube Video File Format Matter?

Different types of video file formats exist for a reason: each one has slightly different methods of organizing the content within them, so it can affect playback, even if only slightly.

The YouTube stats for nerds can identify file formats for you. Different types of file formats and file containers may or may not be compatible with certain types of players.

Some file formats can take a single video and create a larger file size than others, which can impact the ability to upload it to certain platforms, too.

Since YouTube is all about video, it’s of course important to choose the video file format that will benefit you most. I have even done a video to show you the best 1080p HD Adobe Premier Pro Settings for YouTube or 4K videos below.

What Is The Difference Between File Containers and File Codecs?

One thing that we want to look at really quickly is the different between video file containers and video file codecs, because this will be relevant in a few minutes.

Video file containers will include how the video content is organized, and will include options that most people are familiar with, like .MP4 or .MOV which are used for Facebook video and Instagram file formats. Most file formats are ultimately named after their container.

Need help ranking your videos and growing your YouTube channel – I have a whole page of tools that can help you get started!

File codecs, on the other hand, is what’s used to compress and then decompress the file.

If you need help in understanding file codecs I have written this blog to explain why compression is needed, the best formats and how it can all help or hinder your YouTube video quality.

Certain, low-quality codecs can result in poor compression and decompression; though they can create smaller video files in many cases, the video quality is also much poorer.

As long as your video file is under YouTube’s maximum limit, always opt for the lossless codecs that yield the highest quality of video, even if it takes a little longer for it to upload.

What Video File Formats Does YouTube Accept?

YouTube accepts the following video formats:

.MOV
.MPEG4
.MP4
.AVI
.WMV
.MPEGPS
.FLV
3GPP
WebM
DNxHR
ProRes
CineForm
HEVC (h265)

Almost all video editors and creators will give you the option to choose what file format you’d like to save your content in, and the majority at least over .MOV, .MPEG4, and/or .MP4 file formats.

What’s the Best YouTube Video Format?

The best YouTube video format based on the platform’s recommendations is the .MP4 file type. Additionally, YouTube also recommends opting for the following in order to be able to create high quality 1080p HD content:

264 codec(which is one of the most efficient options out there, allowing for a small file size without sacrificing video quality)
15-20 mbps
A standard aspect ratio of 16:9(this is particularly important for mobile)
An audio codec of AAC-LC

That being said, if you absolutely can’t upload .MP4 files for whatever reason, .MOV files can work well, too. However, try to keep the H.264 codecs and aspect ratios consistent for ideal video quality on the platform.

YouTube accepts a number of different video formats, but they have recommendations for what can generate the best results and most high quality video on their platform.

States for Nerds – More Technical Requirements

When you’re creating your YouTube video and getting it ready for upload, there are a few more technical requirements and general best practices that you’ll want to be aware of in order to 1) be able to even upload your video on YouTube and 2) ensure that it looks great and is most likely to be well received by your audience.

Here are the other technical requirements that you should be keeping in mind to help your channel skyrocket to success:

The maximum file size that you can upload is either 128GB or 12 hours, whichever is less. Some older videos may be longer than 12 hours, but that cut off has been reduced. (Although really, that’s for the best; you’re going to lose people like crazy if you’re going more than 12 hours and it sounds like a nightmare to edit).
Stick to that 16:9 aspect ratio. You really want your videos to show up well when users are watching, whether they’re watching on desktop or mobile. It’s particularly important on mobile– especially with 70% of views coming from mobile— so that the video can scale properly to full screen, making it easier for users to see and engage with.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

Tags Alan Spicer, alanspicer, asyt, hidden youtube secrets, how to turn on stats for nerds, how to turn on youtube stats for nerds, start creating, startcreating, stats for nerds, stats for nerds explained, stats for nerds network activity, stats for nerds on youtube, youtube debug mode, youtube frame rate, youtube secret features, youtube secrets, youtube stats for nerds

SOCIAL MEDIA Uncategorized

Help Nvidia Fight Covid-19 from Your Home Computer (folding@home)

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 23 March 2020
No Comments on Help Nvidia Fight Covid-19 from Your Home Computer (folding@home)

Nvidia folding data folding@home to help map trends of the Coronavirus outbreak to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic and hopefully help speed up the Coronavirus cure. While you are stuck at home you can lend your computing power to fold data and crunch numbers.

More info on the folding tool – https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/fhb5e4/coronavirus_specific_gpu_projects_are_now/

If you have a gaming PC, you can lend your graphical power to fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. That’s not a thing I ever thought I’d write, but it turns out 2020 is occasionally weird in good ways too.

Nvidia is putting out a call to PC gamers everywhere to download the Folding@home application and start putting their spare clock cycles toward advancing humanity’s scientific knowledge of coronavirus. The program links computers into an international network that uses distributed processing power to chew through massive computing tasks – something that gaming-grade GPUs are quite good at, as it turns out. You can still turn the application off and reclaim your GPU’s full power for playing games whenever you want.

BUSINESS TIPS MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA VIDEO YOUTUBE

How To Increase Your CPM Adsense Earnings

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 21 March 2020
No Comments on How To Increase Your CPM Adsense Earnings

There are many tweaks you can make to your YouTube videos to increase your YouTube CPM.

When looking to increase your YouTube CPM consider the niche you are in. Some industries will pay a premium for advertising and attention. Avoid swearing. Videos that are over 10 minutes in length can have mid roll adverts to boosts its earning potential. Most importantly consider your video’s SEO.

YouTube adverts can earn you a little extra money on the side, but did you know it can be affected by what you talk about, how many adverts you show and what niche you are in?!

Evaluate your existing videos

Dive into your channel analytics and look at what currently gets you your best CPM (cost per thousand views). This will help you understand what topics on youtube channel make you the best money and attract the best adverts. You can then double down on those topics, making more of them to boost overall CPM income.

Make Longer Videos

You can increase YouTube CPM by adding more adverts into longer videos.

Videos over 10 minutes long on YouTube can have adverts at the start, the end and as many as you want in the middle called “mid-rolls”.

These can help multiply the money you can make from a single video. Imagine you get $5 per 1000 views for 1 advert and you add 4 more, that is 5x$5 so $25 per 1000 views, a huge jump in CPM rate.

Difference Niches Have Different CPM Rates

This is a lesson I learnt myself the hard way.

You could have an entertainment channel with a broad audience getting millions of views but if your niche is not advertiser friendly, or is too broad it might have a hugely negative effect on the overall CPM of your content.

However, if you target set niches you can boost your income.

Business, Money, Entrepreneurship, Real Estate and other “high end” niches attract higher paid adverts and therefore higher CPMs. Kids content, pranks, jokes, etc offer a wider reach but normally means easier to buy ads against as there are so many people making that content and less valuable transactions connected to it.

So consider the niche you are in if you want to increase YouTube CPM and boost your Adsense income.

Stop Swearing! – Yes this myth is true!

YouTube will listen and transcribe your content and there is statistics that show your channel and video income can and will be negatively affected by cussing/swearing.

When advertisers select what channel “buckets” they want to spend money on, you swearing might make you “less desirable” vs someone who has identical content with more family friendly language in their videos.

Make Money Blogging

If you have your content why not blog those videos onto a website and link that to adsense to maximize the income.

I have 500ish videos on my channel and over time I have been slowly adding them to my website blog.

This can help build search traffic, drive more people to the video and your channel but also gives you a chance to serve more adverts to the viewers. This means not only can you get in-video adverts but banner ads as well.

How To Monetize A Facebook Group

1) Relevant and related affiliate links.

2) Digital products.

3) Newsletters.

4) Selling advertiser posts.

5) Associated podcasts.

6) Charity fundraisers

Final Words

Cameras

Logitech C930e

GoPro Hero6 or Hero7

Canon T7i

Comparison Table

Microphones

Blue Snowball

BM-Condenser Microphone plus Preamp

Rode VideoMic Go

Lighting

Newer 18-Inch Ring Light

Newer CN-216

Natural Light

Your Phone

And the Rest

Conclusions

How Can Youtube be Dangerous?

Putting All Your Eggs in the YouTube Monetisation Basket

How to Avoid This

Personal Data

How to Avoid This

Personal Safety

How to Avoid This

Keeping Your Private Information Private

Tips for Staying Safe

Keep Your Residence Private

Do Not Let Trackable Information Become Public

Do Not Make Travel Plans Public

Google Yourself

What Is 4K? Do I need 4K Video?

4K YouTube Videos vs 1080p YouTube Videos

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

Utilise your social media channels

Share YouTube Video in Facebook Groups

Guest Posting to Get More Views

Mix Your YouTube Videos

Reddit

YouTube Ad Network – Use YouTube Ads To Get More Video Views

Resolution and aspect ratio

Frame Rate

Recommended video bitrates for SDR uploads

Recommended video bitrates for HDR uploads

Recommended audio bitrates for uploads

remove.bg – YouTube Image Background Remover

rev.com – YouTube Closed Captions and Subtitles Service

kapwing.com – YouTube to Social Media Content Creation

placeit.net – YouTube Intro, Outro, and Logo Maker

photopea – Free Browser-Based Photo Editing Tool

What Are YouTube Video Timestamps?

Why Use YouTube Video Chapters?

What Are Google Snippets?

How featured snippets are chosen?

Download YouTube Videos on Mobile with YouTube Premium

Why Download YouTube Videos?

Is downloading YouTube videos legal?

How To Download YouTube Videos with YouTube Premium

How To Download A YouTube Video on YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium Recommends Videos to Download

Change YouTube Premium Download Settings

Set Video Download Quality on YouTube Premium

Things to know about videos downloaded from YouTube:

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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