Category: TIPS & TRICKS

How Important Is Video To Business? [Brand Building]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 6 August 2020

How important would you say video is to a brand, to a business, these days?

Nowadays, I believe the statistic is like 80% of all media consumers is video. If you’re not able to create something visual these days, then you’re missing out a huge chunk of your own market. For different ways, really, a picture paints a thousand words and a video is nonstop pictures.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/GtizY4bnfy8[/embedyt]

How Important Is Video To Business? [Brand Building]

When it comes to YouTube, it can be shared anywhere, it can index anywhere. You could make an hour long live stream that you can rip content out of the end of days.

If you need help is sharing your content and getting more views check out my deep dive article into best places to share youtube videos for growth.

Like, what are my biggest North stars? It is a guy called Gary Vaynerchuk in which he puts out so much content, but it’s not necessarily for the sake of content today. It’s for the sake of documenting his life, documenting his growth, looking back on trends. He wants to look back in five, ten years time and go, “Look, I called TikTok now.”

And he called like Facebook and LinkedIn.

When it comes to video, what you’ve got to think of is you may be creating a load of videos now that may not necessarily see a return on investment immediately.

Well, I have 450 videos right now on my channel this year, the world decided to sit in doors and netflix my content. The way it basically worked is because I had back catalog, I was able to grow up that attention.

So at the start of my channel, I was getting 20, 30, 50 views a day, and now I’m getting around about 7,000 or 8,000 views per day.

I’m growing at a rate of about 1,400 or 1,500 subscribers a month right now because the power of the compound interest of every single one of those videos helps you grow further and faster.

The advantage of each one of these videos and the compound interest that you can get with these videos is that now that I am growing at the rates of 1,400 or 1,500 subscribers per month, that also feeds into the affiliate marketing, that feeds into any client who places requests.

I’ve got 450 videos that are testimonials to the knowledge that I’ve learned through my hobby, and hopefully over time, you watch 5, 10 or 20 of my videos. You trust that I know what I’m talking about, and then you’ll reach out or your suggest me or you use one of the tools that I may suggest in one of the videos.

I’m not directly hard selling to you, but I have such a wide spider web that I continue to capture the flies in that, that then monetary helped me, my business or my brand.

Final words

Right now, if you want to see the full interview, click on this video here, remember to subscribe for regular tips and tutorials, and I’ll see you soon.

Tags more video views, videos for business, youtube videos

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

What Are YouTube Categories? [Do They Matter?]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 5 August 2020

What are YouTube categories?

Now, this is one of those questions that many people ask. It’s just they have no idea. If you’re jumping onto the YouTube platform right now, then there are many legacy features that have been around for literally over a decade now that used to be much more specific for this platform that has slowly got less and less important over time.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/iMXkmoG4zIg[/embedyt]

What Are YouTube Categories? [Do They Matter?]

Categories specifically put you in buckets based on what content you create, how to, style, business, money, food, finance, people, education.

I’ll be honest, I’m not totally sure what the list is anymore, mainly because it doesn’t matter.

Back when the platform was in infancy, you highlighted specifically what your content was about. If yours was comedy, then there would be specific areas on the site. You could go to only comedy videos and there would be specifically only people videos.

The way the YouTube algorithm currently works, it doesn’t matter. What you need to focus on is the title, the descriptions, kinds of your tags, and then the audience that it pushes out to.

There is no relation to the category you are in to the views that you get. If I was to switch this video from educational to gaming, I’m not going to get more gamers watch these videos.

Now, there might be something way back in the legacy algorithm that specifically recommends you against specific things, but it’s highly unlikely nowadays.

This machine is very powerful and very clever. So you shouldn’t be homing over the fact that what I do, ‘how to videos’, am I an how-to in style or am I an educational channel?

What you need to focus on is the content you create on a regular basis. If you stick to one niche and you’re not doing cooking on Thursday, knitting on Friday, and then skydiving on Sunday, followed by car repair on Tuesday, as long as you’re niched, then YouTube knows that’s your niche.

Because over time you have a hundred videos and those hundred video tags, all points into that kind of direction that say a hundred of your videos are all about cars. All of those tags would all be automobile based, and old cars, spark plugs and repairs.

It is very highly unlikely that out of those 100 videos, you’ve tagged it like a knitting pattern tutorial.

That’s one of the reasons why focusing on a niche can be so important and powerful mainly because it establishes your niche in your viewers’ mind, rather than YouTube in itself.

It’s just one of those questions that nags at you, because it’s still there. It’s still in the system and it hasn’t been removed.

Final words

It’s just like people saying, “Do you get paid for likes?”

I’ve got a video here, and if you’ve got a question about anything, no matter how small or weird or stupid, leave it in the comment section and subscribe, so you get to see the answer.

Tags youtube categories, youtube niche, youtube tags, youtube traffic

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

Why Do YouTubers Ask for Likes?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 4 August 2020
1 Comment on Why Do YouTubers Ask for Likes?

You’ve seen a million YouTubers doing it—”please like and subscribe and ring that bell!”.

Whether it’s a verbal reminder at the end of the video, a graphical popup part-way through, or something else, it seems every YouTuber on the platform wants you to like their video.

But why do YouTubers ask for likes? Likes play a significant role in the success of a YouTube channel. Likes, comments, shares and even dislikes are a form of engagement and is a positive sign that plays into the youtube ranking algorithm.

Reason 2 – Simple validation would be a sensible enough explanation. After all, social media is largely predicated on the fact that people are constantly seeking external validation.

Now, we’re not saying that those YouTubers who ask you to like their video aren’t still seeking that juicy external validation—they very well maybe—but that’s almost certainly not all there is to it.

Well, actually, yes. But, as always, we’re not going to just skim the surface of this topic, so let’s dive a little deeper.

Do Likes Make YouTuber’s Money?

It’s reasonable to assume that, if asking for likes is not purely a vanity thing, it must be a monetary thing. The truth about this aspect of YouTube is a little fuzzier than you might think. We can say, quite clearly, that likes do not make YouTubers money.

Kind of.

When you click like, the YouTuber you are watching doesn’t get a few cents dropped into their Adsense account.

However; you are improving the standing of that channel in the eyes of the almighty YouTube algorithm, and that makes their channel more likely to succeed financially going forward. To understand how this works, it helps to understand what YouTube looks for in its content creators.

Engagement Is King

YouTube is in the business of watch time and engagement.

Even a rudimentary understanding of online marketing will tell you that having a smaller number of engaged fans/viewers/customers is far better than a more significant amount of disinterested ones.

This is why business owners are willing to pay extra for targeted advertising—because they know a hundred ad impressions with the right people are more valuable than a thousand ad impressions with random viewers. Those hundred ad impressions are far more likely to yield leads because the people watching the ad are already predisposed to want the thing you are advertising.

YouTube think along the same lines when it comes to viewers. Now, at the end of the day, an ad impression is an ad impression. YouTube get paid if someone watches an ad regardless of whether that viewer was engaged.

But they place far less value on viewers who are not engaged than they do on ones who are. In short, it is the engaged viewers that YouTube are looking for, and it is the channels that create those engaged viewers that YouTube likes to promote the most.

How Do Likes Help With Engagement?

Simply put, a like is an engagement because it is an extra action that the viewer takes that they didn’t have to.

Sure, it’s not a particularly intensive action—it doesn’t take much effort to click a button—but it does take some effort, and that effort shows that the viewer is more engaged than the millions of viewers who don’t click like.

Also, a significant amount of viewers just don’t think about the like button when they are browsing. It is not a statement on the content they are watching; it just doesn’t occur to them to like the video.

When, like YouTube, you are dealing with two billion users a month, even small changes in the percentage of users that like videos can represent a ridiculous number of people.

Do Dislikes Hurt a Video?

The next question that usually follows this discussion is, if likes are so good for a video, are dislikes bad for the video? And, actually, no. At least; not inherently.

Sure, if someone dislikes your video, closes the tab, and never comes back to YouTube, that will reflect poorly on your content, and YouTube’s algorithm will factor that in. However, the action of disliking a video when considered in a vacuum is still engagement.

That means that if your viewers give your video the thumbs down, but then go on to watch more videos, it’s all good as far as YouTube is concerned. They still see that as engagement, and, as the viewer stuck around, there’s no downside.

Where it could be considered detrimental to a channel to dislike a video, however, is in your personal recommendations. Those videos YouTube put down the side when you’re watching something; they’re based on a lot of data, including your likes.

If you repeatedly like a particular kind of video, you will see more of that kind of video. If you like a lot of videos by a certain YouTuber, you will see more videos by that YouTuber.

Naturally, if you dislike videos, you are less likely to see that kind of video in future, or the YouTuber behind it. How much an individual dislike affects a video’s overall recommendation is unclear, but it certainly affects whether or not it will be recommended to you.

Watch Time Matters

Of course, there’s more to it than merely liking and disliking videos. YouTube wants to see that engagement, whether it is liking, disliking, or leaving comments, but watch time is the ultimate gatekeeper to a YouTuber’s success.

You see, it is watch time that is YouTube’s endgame metric when it comes to measuring success.

The more time people spend on YouTube, the more opportunities there are to serve those people advertisements and the more money YouTube makes.

Watch time is the single, most important metric in the YouTube algorithm’s decision-making process.

The more time people spend viewing a specific channel’s videos; the more YouTube will push that channel because they know they can rely on it to keep viewers on the site.

This is why we specified that dislikes are not harmful in a vacuum. There is nothing inherently damaging about getting a thumbs down, but there may be damaging implications.

If a viewer dislikes your video and then leaves the site altogether, the fact that they left YouTube from your content will count against you in the eyes of the algorithm, even if the thumbs down itself doesn’t.

Why is Engagement Important?

So, if watch time is so important, why does engagement matter at all? Well, it’s true that watch time is the significant metric that YouTube covets above all, but engagement is still an important part of their decision making processes.

Engagement shows that a YouTuber is not just drawing in casual, disinterested viewers, but active viewers who are involved in the platform. These viewers are far more likely to pay attention to advertisements and, as a result, click on them when they see one they like.

It is also the case that engagement is only possible from a signed-in YouTube account. YouTube does count views and watch time from anonymous viewers, but it is considerably more challenging to provide relevant advertisements to these viewers.

And, as we covered earlier in the post, it is the highly targeted advertisements that companies prefer to pay for since they yield better results.

If you want to know how to book that yield and get better cpm advertising rates, helping you make more money from your videos, check out my deep dive blog into how to increase youtube video cpm.

High levels of engagement are an indication that your videos are attracting logged-in YouTube users who can be served relevant ads based on their preferences and watch history, and that makes YouTube happy since targeted advertisements are both worth more and more likely to be clicked.

It Works

All of this is digging a little deeper than most YouTubers are thinking, however.

While there are plenty of YouTubers that are fully informed about the intricacies of YouTube’s algorithm, there are far more that don’t concern themselves with that level of detail, but nevertheless know that likes are a good thing for their channel.

And, of course, a good number of YouTubers that are purely after that external validation we mentioned earlier. So, for those YouTubers, why bother asking their viewers to like the content?

Quite simply; because it works. YouTuber after YouTuber has experimented with asking viewers to like a particular video as a way of testing if it makes a difference, and they invariably find that it does. It may be because a lot of viewers simply don’t think about liking until they are prompted, or that they didn’t think liking was that important to this particular YouTuber.

Whatever the reason, asking viewers to like a video has been proven time and time again to be effective. So regardless of why a specific YouTubers wants those likes, they know that asking for them will usually get them.

Tips on Asking for Likes

As silly as it might sound, there is something of an art to asking for likes in a YouTube video.

Doing it incorrectly most of the time will just be ineffective; however, there is also a chance you could actively put viewers off of liking your video or even watching future videos.

One of the first recommendations we would make is to avoid asking people to like (and subscribe, for that matter) right up top. In the case of subscribing, at least wait until you’ve introduced your channel, so the viewer knows if your content is the kind of thing they would even want to subscribe to.

In the case of likes, however, it is often seen as presumptuous to ask your viewers to like a video they haven’t even seen yet. This can create a sense of resentfulness and may even result in viewers refusing to like the video even if they did find the content useful or entertaining.

It is good practice to wait until approximately halfway through the video before considering using any visual cues, such as a “like and subscribe” graphical popup, and to wait until the sign off to verbally ask your viewers to like the video. By this time, your viewers will know whether they do, in fact, like the content.

Another tip is to ask, rather than tell. If you just say, “like the video” once again it can be seen as a bit presumptive. Instead, say something like, “if you liked the video, consider giving it a thumbs up”. That way, you are merely giving your viewers a polite, gentle reminder that the like button is there, but leaving it entirely up to them to decide if they think you have earned it.

Which brings us to the final suggestion we can make for getting those likes; earn it. All the YouTube science in the world won’t help you with subpar content. Before worrying about reminding viewers to click the like button, make sure you have worked out all of the major kinks in your videos. Your content doesn’t have to be perfect—few YouTube channels are—but any glaring problems should be addressed before you start asking people to give you a thumbs up.

Conclusions

There was a lot to cover there, but the basic theory behind likes can be summed up easily.

Likes are a significant metric that YouTube uses to determine which content to recommend to people, though they are by no means the only metric. They play a vital role in personal recommendations.

That is, if you like a particular type of video a lot, YouTube will endeavour to show you more of that kind of video. Dislikes can also play a positive role in your channel’s exposure, as can comments (regardless of the content).

All of it is as seen as engagement that your content is creating, and YouTube likes to see plenty of engagement.

All of this is secondary watch time, however. The longer people spend on YouTube, the better. And if they happen to be spending vast amounts of time on your videos, that will reflect very well for you in the YouTube algorithm.

Finally, don’t be presumptive about your viewer’s opinions. Ask them to like your videos, don’t tell them to. And only do so at a point in your video where there has been enough content for your viewer to judge if they do actually like it.

None of this guarantees you likes, of course. The only thing that can do that is quality content. But by knowing how the system works, you are better placed to leverage that quality content when you make it.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

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

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

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

Tags ask for likes, asking for likes, click that like button, engagement, instagram likes 2019, like, likes, likes on youtube, thumbs up, why ask for likes, youtube likes

HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE MARKETING TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

How To Promote Your YouTube Channel [4 Free Places]

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

When you start out as a YouTuber, you are trying to achieve many things at once.

Most of your time is spent on thinking about content ideas, filming it, and learning how to edit it into a great video. With, perhaps, a bit of time dreaming about what you’ll spend your YouTube earnings on too!

But, eventually, you get to a point and think ‘hang on, how do I promote my youtube channel?’

You’re working from a standing start. You don’t have the budget for ad buys or an existing following from another platform to leverage.

So how do you promote your YouTube channel for free?

Well, to get the ball rolling, and the subscribers racking up, you’ll need to spend a little elbow grease. Do some hard work. Because at the start you need to do all you can to get your name out there.

This means cross-promotion on social media networks. You need to be your own distribution network at the start, and create a spiderweb of content to catch your viewers. Then, well, it’s down to the quality of your content to then turn those initial viewers into long-term subscribers.

This blog post covers the big-four social media platforms you should be cross-posting your content on, how often you should do it, and what kind of material to publish.

Let’s get going.

A Brief Word of Caution.

The following tips won’t work unless you are a consistent YouTuber.

You can undertake all the promotional activity you like, but if you don’t regularly upload compelling content to YouTube, then your channel is set for failure. Mr Beast uploaded content for five years before his channel took off. Five years!

It takes dedication and consistency to be a successful YouTuber.

Promote Your YouTube Channel on Twitter

Twitter is the first platform you should be cross-posting on. There are 186 million daily active users, tweeting about every conceivable niche. So you can definitely find an audience for your content here.

The content you’ll post to Twitter has a very short shelf life, in most cases, only a matter of hours. So it’s fine to post out lots of links to your content.

Look for a few popular hashtags that tend to trend frequently, rather than one-offs that happen to be trending at any particular moment. Don’t copy spammers and use hashtags that are not related to your content. You’ll only end up annoying Twitter users.

While following hashtags on Twitter is not possible, people do have favourites that they regularly look up so they can see the latest.

If users see your content under that hashtag, and it’s excellent, then you may get a new follower. Once you gain followers, then you can post out links to your channel and invite them to watch your content over on YouTube.

Think about what you tweet, though. Before you tweet, think carefully about what you’ll write – ask yourself ‘why would people care about this tweet?’ You have to engage people.

Look at the example below, posted with the phrase ‘New Vlog is up!!!’. Who cares!? Maybe his mother, but not anyone else.

Instead, give the Twitter users a reason to click on your link. The illustration below is much better.

Also, make sure to separate your link from the hashtags. Both are hyperlinks. So if your content is next to the hashtags, then fat thumbs can mean you could miss a potential viewer.

Promote Your YouTube Channel on Facebook

Two excellent places to share your new content on Facebook are on your own Facebook branding Page and in Facebook groups.

Create your own brand page. You won’t have any followers, to begin with, but post your videos there anyway. It won’t help your video to rank on YouTube but can help your video to rank for Google searches

The place to post your videos to promote your Youtube channel is in the Facebook Groups. With over 1.5 billion daily users and 100 million hours of video watched daily, there is certain to be an audience for your content there.

The best part is that Facebook has already niched down the audiences for you. Whatever topic area you make your videos around, there is a place for you to share them on Facebook.

If you need more tips on how to promote your videos on facebook check out my deep dive on facebook marketing and how it can explode channel growth.

Tips for Promoting Youtube Content in Facebook Groups

When searching for groups to post your content to, make sure it contains enough people to engage with. There are plenty of groups with only a handful of members; keep searching until you find a large one.
For some Facebook Groups, activity drops over time. So, even if there is a large membership for a group, check the frequency of posts to make sure that it is worth your time to engage with it.
How you act in a group, once you have joined and been given access, matters. You have to engage with the group and be helpful. There is no point in joining a group to spam a link to your videos every once in a while. Instead, participate in the conversation, be helpful where you can, and when it’s appropriate, then share a link to your content. If you don’t, you’ll likely end up banned from the group.

Promote Your Youtube Channel on Instagram

Instagram is an ideal place to help build your YouTube audience.

Depending on the type of content you make for YouTube, you may be OK with using your existing Instagram account. If you don’t want to mix up your content with your personal Instagram usage, then create a new one specifically for your channel.

But it’s up to you. If you are the main focus of your YouTube channel, and ‘behind-the-scenes’ content might be valuable to followers, so use your existing account. If your YouTube channel is in a niche where you don’t show your face, then set up a fresh account.

Use Instagram to build up a following in your topic area. Spend some time browsing relevant hashtags to get an understanding of the type of content that is popular, then set out to emulate it.

Create Youtube Teasers

One of the best uses of Instagram to promote your YouTube channel is to create short 15-second teaser clips. Teaser clips can intrigue and draw Instagram users over to your YouTube channel.

Why should you take the time to create a teaser clip? Well, if you only share a thumbnail or a link to your YouTube video, then users can’t see if your content is right for them.

A teaser is different and operates like a film trailer made by the big Hollywood movie studios. You intrigue and invite your potential audience to watch the full thing.

So, after you finish editing your latest video for YouTube, create a cut down version as well for Instagram.

You can use your video editing software, or even better use a tool like Placeit to produce a compelling teaser. Placeit lets you quickly create teasers for Instagram (and other platforms) with handy templates and stock graphics.

Promote Your YouTube Channel on TikTok

The new kid on the block. Tik Tok divides opinion, some love the brash new social sharing platform, others criticise child safety and privacy issues. But, no-one can deny its reach.

It’s the new Vine, the platform to share short snappy videos, and there is a massive audience on this hot fresh platform.

TikTok has experienced incredible growth since its launch in 2016. The TikTok app has been downloaded over 2 billion times and now has over 800 million active users.

Use TikTok to post 15-second teaser clips like the ones you made for Instagram. Make sure to add a link to your YouTube channel in your bio, and direct people to your bio in your teaser clip.

Once you become as popular as Mr Beast, you can forget the profile link and afford to be sassy instead.

Conclusion

When looking for ways to promote your YouTube channel, don’t overlook the free options. Yes, it can be tempting to spend money you don’t have on ads and try and spend your way to success.

But YouTube is a long-term undertaking. You have to do the right things, regularly, to make a success of your channel. You’ll run out of advertising budget before you attract enough followers to make your channel a cash earning machine.

Look instead to the big social media players. There are millions of daily active users on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Get strategic and make promotional content for your channel to post on those platforms.

And make sure to do it right. You can spot spam posts yourself, so make sure not to post spam for others to ignore. Become a part of the conversation, help out other users, and when it’s right, direct them to your channel on YouTube.

Get the above right and you can give you channel the kick start it needs on YouTube.

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.

Get More Views on Social Media Fast

Tags get more views, how to get more views on youtube, Promote Your YouTube Channel, youtube, youtube growth, youtube promotion

TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

How To Record In Slow Mo on iPhone 240FPS

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 3 August 2020

So you’re looking to recording slow mo, 240 frames per second on an iPhone SE and anything that has a brand new iOS.

Why turn into 240 frames per seconds?

Very good question.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/2sdnwtemJyM[/embedyt]

How To Record In Slow Mo on iPhone 240FPS

Your TV and any other thing that you normally watch, like films and things, are normally at 24 to 30 frames per second. That’s what our eyes comfortably see.

When you skip to 60 frames per second, that gives you the chance to slow things down a little bit, but 240 frames per second allows you to do mega slow mo on footage without it looking jittery.

Basically what this allows you to do is in theory, slow it down to 10 times slower than 24 frames per second, because it takes 10 times more frames, 240 frames per second.

So how do we do this?

Well, you open your phone, you click on settings and you scroll down to “Camera.”

In here you have all of your settings for your grid, your recording format, whether or not you’re being efficient or not, your resolution in which I’ve talked about, whether or not you want to recording 4k or 1080p, there’ll be a video severing the codes up here.

But what you’re looking for is the “Record Slow-mo” setting.

Mine is currently set to 720p and 240 frames per second, but you can have 1080p at 120, 720 at 240, and 1080p at 240.

So, how does it affect you?

Well, the smaller, the resolution and smaller the frame rate, the smaller, the file, the higher the resolution, the higher the frame rate, the larger the file, and will take longer to edit with or render out, or it takes up more memory on your phone.

Slow-mo footage can be fantastic. It gives you that little bit of flexibility, just like recording in 4K.

If you need help in understanding the difference between 1080p and 4K footage I have a large deep dive blog that will drill into the benefits and flaws of both formats.

Final Words

If you want to know how you can record in 4K at 60 frames per second on your iPhone and any latest device, there is a video right here where if it’s not quite uploaded yet, there’s a playlist here on how you can make better videos.

Tags 240 fps, iphone video, mobile video, record in 4k, record in 4k on iphone, record in 4k on iphone se 2020, slow motion video, slow-mo

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is it Dangerous to be a YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it Dangerous to be a Child YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it Dangerous to be an Adult YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Can YouTubers do to Keep the Negativity Away?

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

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

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

Set the Tone From the Start

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

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

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

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

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

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

Separate Your Online Life From Your Real Life

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

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

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

Take Extra Care With Your Personal Data

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

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

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

Preparing Yourself Mentally

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

Lack of Privacy

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

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

Criticism

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

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

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

Lack of Understanding

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

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

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

Lack of Patience

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

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

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

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

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

Can I Create A Youtube Account For My Child?

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

Short answer: not a standard account if they’re under 13 — but you have safe, official options.

A whole generation is growing up with YouTube, and plenty of parents want to let their children watch, or even create, safely. The good news is YouTube gives you proper tools to do it by the rules — YouTube Kids, supervised accounts, and clear guidance for running a channel that features your child. Here’s exactly how it works in 2026, with your child’s safety first at every step.

▶️ Turning Restricted Mode on and off — one of many safety controls

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform, six Silver Play Buttons and 500+ creators coached, including families building safe, age-appropriate channels together.

Thinking of starting a family or kids’ channel the right way? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

You must be 13 (or your country’s age) to manage your own account.
Under 13: use YouTube Kids or a supervised account (viewing only).
A child under 13 can’t upload — the parent owns any channel.
Content for kids must be marked “Made for Kids” (COPPA).
Safety and privacy first — your guidance matters most.

📌 Jump to a section:

The age rules
Your options compared
Running a channel for your child
Keeping your child safe
Tips if you start a channel
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Can you create a YouTube account for your child?
If your child is under 13, they can’t have a standard YouTube account — but you can set them up safely with the YouTube Kids app or a parent-managed supervised account for viewing (they can’t upload). At 13+ they can manage their own account, optionally supervised. If you want a channel that features your child, you the parent own and run it, mark content “Made for Kids”, and put their safety and privacy first.

The Age Rules, Simply Put

YouTube accounts are tied to Google Accounts, and Google requires you to be at least 13 — or the applicable age of digital consent in your country or region — to create and manage your own account. YouTube’s terms say it plainly: you may use the service if you’re at least 13; children of all ages may use it and YouTube Kids only if a parent or guardian enables it.
So, for a child under 13, you don’t create a normal account in their name. Instead you choose one of the official, parent-managed routes below. And a key point for anyone dreaming of the next big kid creator: a child under 13 on a supervised account can watch, but cannot upload or post — creating is something the parent does on their behalf.

Your Options, Compared

YouTube gives families three main routes, plus the standard account at 13+. Pick by age and readiness:

Option	Who it’s for	What they can do
YouTube Kids app	Under 13 (Preschool, Younger, Older)	Watch a curated, filtered selection
Supervised kid account	Under 13, ready for more than Kids	Watch regular YouTube with parent controls
Supervised teen account	13–17, optional supervision	Use YouTube with parents linked for oversight
Standard account	13+ managing their own account	Full use, including uploading

You set all of these up through YouTube’s Family tools and Family Link. YouTube Kids offers content levels of Preschool (4 and under), Younger (5–8) and Older (9–12); supervised accounts offer Explore, Explore More and Most of YouTube. Wondering about ads on the kids’ side? See does YouTube Kids have ads.

Running a Channel That Features Your Child

Plenty of much-loved family channels feature children, and you can absolutely do this — but the responsibility sits squarely with you:

You own and manage the channel. It’s tied to your (adult) Google Account; your child under 13 can’t run it.
You must mark content “Made for Kids” if it’s directed at children. This is a legal requirement under children’s privacy law like COPPA, and it turns off comments and personalised ads on those videos.
Monetisation is yours to handle — an AdSense account requires you to be 18.
Your child’s wellbeing comes before views. Keep it fun and pressure-free, never share identifying details, and stop the moment they’re not enjoying it.

The video below explains what “Made for Kids” and COPPA mean for any channel with child-focused content:

▶️ What COPPA and “Made for Kids” mean for your channel

Need ideas that suit younger audiences? See 10 YouTube channel ideas for kids.

Before You Put Your Child on Camera, Think It Through

Just because you can feature your child doesn’t always mean you should — at least not without thinking it through first. A moment’s reflection now protects them for years:

Consent and comfort. Is your child happy to be filmed, or doing it to please you? Their enthusiasm has to be real, and they need to know they can stop at any time.
It’s permanent. Anything you publish can live online forever. Picture how your child might feel about these videos as a teenager, or an adult applying for a job.
Their privacy is theirs. A young child can’t meaningfully agree to being public. Share as little identifying information as possible, and keep the truly personal moments offline.
Protect childhood itself. Filming shouldn’t crowd out school, friends, rest and unstructured play. Keep it small and occasional.
Never let money lead. The instant a channel starts to feel like your child’s job, it’s gone too far. Their wellbeing outranks any view count or income.

None of this is a reason not to create together — families make wonderful, wholesome content all the time. It’s simply a reminder that your child’s long-term wellbeing is the one thing that must always come first.

Keeping Your Child Safe (The Most Important Part)

Settings are only half the job — your involvement is the other half. Whether your child is watching or appearing on camera, these safety principles matter most:

Guard their privacy. Never share full name, school, address, location, daily routines or anything that could identify where they are.
Turn comments off on any content featuring your child (“Made for Kids” does this automatically).
Watch together and stay involved. Know what they’re seeing and be part of it.
Use the parental controls — content levels, screen-time and bedtime limits, search and history settings.
Talk about it, openly and often. An ongoing conversation protects a child more than any filter.

For the bigger picture on the risks and how to weigh them, read YouTube tips for parents, is it safe to have a YouTube channel, and is it dangerous to be a YouTuber. If you ever have serious concerns about a child’s safety online, speak to a trusted adult or your local child-protection service.

Want to build a family channel the safe, sustainable way?

On a free discovery call I’ll help you set it up properly — safety, the rules, and content the whole family enjoys.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Tips If You Do Start a Channel Together

If you decide to create together, a few things keep it healthy and fun:

Make a few “pilot” videos first. Test the waters privately before publishing anything.
Create a simple plan together. Agree what you’ll film, and just as importantly what you won’t.
Find your balance. Keep it a hobby, not a job — protect schoolwork, downtime and play.
Let your child lead the fun. Their enthusiasm should drive it; the moment it feels like pressure, pause.
Keep the quality simple. A phone is plenty — clean sound helps, so see recording clean audio.

Ready for the practical steps of setting a channel up? My guide to how to start a YouTube channel walks you through it.

YouTube for Children: FAQ

Can I create a YouTube account for my child?

Not a standard account if they’re under 13. Instead, you can give them the YouTube Kids app or set up a parent-supervised account through Family Link, which lets them watch YouTube with your controls but not upload. To publish videos featuring your child, you the parent must own and manage the channel yourself.

What age can a child have their own YouTube account?

13 in most countries, or the applicable age of digital consent in your country or region. Below that age a child can’t manage their own Google or YouTube account; they use YouTube Kids or a supervised account managed by a parent instead.

Can a child under 13 have a YouTube channel?

Not in their own name. Children under 13 with a supervised account can watch but cannot upload or post. If you want a channel that features your child, you as the parent create, own and run it, and you handle everything including any monetisation, since an AdSense account requires you to be 18.

What’s the difference between YouTube Kids and a supervised account?

YouTube Kids is a separate, simpler app with a curated, age-filtered selection of videos and strong parental tools. A supervised account is a parent-managed version of regular YouTube with more content and content-level controls, for older children a family decides are ready to move on from YouTube Kids.

Do I need to mark my child’s videos ‘Made for Kids’?

Yes. If your content is directed at children you must set it as ‘Made for Kids’ to comply with children’s privacy law such as COPPA. This turns off comments, personalised ads and some other features on those videos, which also makes them safer.

How do I keep my child safe on YouTube?

Use the official parental controls, keep personal details private (no full name, school, location or routines), turn comments off, watch together and stay involved, and talk openly and regularly about what they see. Your active guidance matters more than any single setting.

The Bottom Line

You can’t hand a child under 13 a standard YouTube account — but you can absolutely give them a safe, age-appropriate way in, whether that’s YouTube Kids, a supervised account, or a parent-run channel you create together. Follow the age rules, lean on the official parental controls, mark child-focused content “Made for Kids”, and above all guard their privacy and enjoy it as a family. Do it thoughtfully and YouTube can be a creative, positive part of childhood — with you firmly in the driving seat.

📚 Keep reading — families & safety:

Family content, done safely and well.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on building a channel your whole family can be proud of.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this guide: account age rules, YouTube Kids, supervised accounts and “Made for Kids” requirements reflect YouTube and Google’s family policies as of July 2026 and vary by country. Always check the current settings in YouTube’s Family tools, and follow the age of digital consent that applies where you live.

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

HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

YouTubers Paid For Likes? [The Myth]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 31 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTubers Paid For Likes? [The Myth]

Do YouTubers get paid for likes?

I get asked thousands of times, thousands of random questions. So, I thought I’d start answering them directly.

[embedyt] https://youtu.be/VdmjEiP1Jps[/embedyt]

Do YouTubers Get Paid For Likes?

In fact, if you have a question that you’d like answered, leave it in the comment section of the video, and I’ll make a dedicated response just to that, just for you. And of course, anybody else that wants to hear the answer.

So, do YouTubers get paid for likes?

YouTube is a weird platform. It’s all based on engagement. So based on who watches, how long they watch and how they interact with you. No doubt, many of times you’ve sat there and you’ve watched PewDiePie or MrBeast, or you’ve watched people like Graham Stephan, and they’re always like “Smash that like button, help me in the YouTube algorithm.”

They’re not too far off the truth if I’m honest, but there’s not a monetary value.

You clicking on that like button down there, you know, just test to see how the button works.

You clicking on that little button down there and turning it blue hasn’t made me any money. That won’t directly pay me 10 cents, that won’t give me coffee or an ice tea at the end of the day. But what it does do is show YouTube that I’m engaging enough to warrant some kind of emotional response, whether it’s a like, or a dislike, whether it’s a comment, whether it’s a share. And that engagement is very good for a YouTuber.

Let’s say that this video is 10 minutes long. I hope it’s not, but let’s say this video is 10 minutes long and you watch it for nine and a half minutes, and then you leave a comment, and then you click on another suggested video that I’m talking about at the end or on the right-hand side.

Well, that shows YouTube that I was able to bring you in, engage you for long enough to care to leave a comment, and then leave based on the suggestions that I’ve given you or the suggestions they have on the right-hand side.

You may have flipped off to one of my videos, or you may be on a video IQ,, or you’ve dived into a PewDiePie video.

YouTube doesn’t necessarily matter where you disappear to just yet. They like the fact that I’ve brought you in, engaged with you, kept you happy enough to want to watch more on YouTube, and then disappear.

So that Like, it’s kind of a small endorsement of that video, but, and this is where people get it twisted. So there’s a Dislike. Is that engagement enough that you felt that what I’ve communicated with you is either right or wrong, where you agree or you disagree, or you’re leaving a downvoting some way shape or form?

Maybe, I’ve asked, “If you like cheese, click vote up, and if you hate cheese, click vote down.”

That’s what you need to bear in mind. It’s an engagement. You’ve made people feel something enough that they’ve not just ignored the video and bounced away after 30 seconds, they physically had to go out of their way to press something on their screen or click something on their computer.

It’s this engagement that then YouTube evaluates.

So, let’s say this video gets 10,000 views and there is 8,000 likes and 2,000 dislikes and hundreds of thousands of comments.

YouTube looks at that and goes, “Okay, 8,000 likes 2,000 dislikes, that’s 10,000 like dislikes, and then there are hundreds of thousands of comments. Okay? So this is clearly engaging enough that people want to ask questions and have a conversation compared to another video where there are 10,000 views, but no likes, no dislikes, no comments. Nobody cares enough to engage. Nobody cares enough to comment or question or build some kind of discussion.”

So the video with likes, dislikes and comments will always rank over the one that doesn’t have any engagement.

What you should be focusing on is audience retention and engagement, and not have to worry about, “Oh, if I click on that, he’s going to get paid.”

Yes, if a video does better in search, and gets more views because of it, then maybe more people will see the adverse place against it, and then they will get paid.

Or in the case of some channels, it’s not about the adverts. Maybe they’ve turned off adverts entirely. What they’re trying to do is engage enough to build the brands, that in the long run, you trust them to buy coaching from them or some kind of thumbnail pack in which you want to improve your thumbnails, and maybe there’s a link in the description, and if there isn’t, keep checking my website in the future.

So that Like in itself, that individual click that you’re just about to leave on this video… No, doesn’t pay me directly, but in the long run it could help me make more money and that’s the same with any other YouTuber and any other video online.

Final Words

Now, if you want your question answered directly and in depth, leave it in the comment section below. I don’t care what it is. It could be as stupid or as simple as you think it needs to be. I can clarify it for you, and then maybe we can make a habit out of these frequently asked questions deep dives, or you can binge this video right here and this playlist on how to make better videos.

Remember to subscribe and I’ll see you soon.

Tags paid for likes, youtube algorithm, youtube engagement, youtube likes

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

Add Mid Rolls To 8 Minute Videos on YouTube

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

YouTube will be adding mid rolls to eight-minute long videos at the end of July.

I’m going to show you how you can turn this setting on, so you can get the most out of your YouTube channel, boost your CPM revenue, making a little bit more money, especially just before Christmas and all of this US election stuff.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/0e9q6lBD5K8[/embedyt]

Add Mid Rolls To 8 Minute Videos on YouTube [From July 2020]

Now, for some of you that already have videos over 10-minutes long, you know how this works. You can either automatically place things in based on the YouTube algorithm, and it will generate adverts in seemingly the best places, but it’s not always perfect. Or you can add them yourself using the video editor.

I did a video on how to add to your own mid rolls. I’ll put it in the info cards up here.

Now, all it’s doing is moving from 10 minutes to 8 minutes.

So now there’s more videos that are relevant. It may even be that they’ve noticed on the platform that people are just under the 10-minute threshold.

How many videos have you seen recently that are nine minutes and 30-odd seconds?

So, this moves it a little bit down and four minutes with a mid roll seems about right.

What you need to do is go to your Monetization page and you will see a warning.

You can click here to see more information, which basically says that we’re going to be readjusting them for eight-minute mid rolls.

You don’t always have to use the mid rolls if you don’t want to, but there’s also this option setting where you can now choose between: “Yes, I want to opt in. No, I don’t want to.”

If you opt in, it will help you set all of your future videos from eight minutes on, and even retro set the old ones for you as well.

Final words

If you want to know how these mid rolls work, once again, there’d be an info card here, or if you want to make money outside, I’ve done a play list and a video that you can see here somewhere on this screen.

I’ll see you soon.

Tags mid rolls, youtube ads, youtube advertisement, youtube revenue

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

YouTube Sub 4 Sub [The Truth]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

Is it okay to ask for sub 4 sub?

I highly advise against this and this isn’t the stereotypical thing. I’m going to twist it in a different angle, right? Because everybody knows that it’s annoying, right?

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/5ZE07H0-YfQ[/embedyt]

YouTube Sub 4 Sub [The Truth]

You may be growing your numbers. You may do fantastically well. Your name may be Tom or Tim or Ten, and if you know who that is recently and who can, he’s gone.

But sub for sub hurts you. It inflates your number. It makes you feel egotistically brilliant. Wait, but what it actually does is it means more time you publish that video, that sub or that person who’s not watching your videos doesn’t engage with your content.

And YouTube goes, “Oh, okay. He just got 20 new subscribers. None of them watched, maybe their content is not good enough. Maybe we weren’t right.”

You put out a video and it’s not engaged with. You don’t get that comment or that like, or any form of shares, so they are zombies, they are hopeless.

And if you choose to push out your content to a random percentage of your subscriber base, and you’ve inflated that subscriber base with a hundred really fantastic people at a million really crappy zombies, and 10% of that will go to mostly zombies that do nothing.

That’s a fantastic video, but nobody cares, so then YouTube’s going to go, “We don’t care either.”

It’s all in your heads, what you should focus on is the 10 or 20 that really focus and really care about you, than the 50 that aren’t real.

It’s a metric for vanity, only.

Final Words

Now, if you want to see the full interview, click on this video here, remember to subscribe for regular tips and tutorials, and I’ll see you soon.

Tags quality subscribers, sub 4 sub, youtube channel, youtube subscribers, youtube videos

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS

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.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/2sMBAPavEWo[/embedyt]

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

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

Get More Views on YouTube in 15 Seconds

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

I can help you get more views on your video in just 15 seconds. This one little tip can help skyrocket your engagement and keep people watching for longer.

YouTube is based on engagement, how you hook people, how you keep them engaged and how quickly you can deliver on what you’ve promised. That is why you need to have a perfect hook.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/Bw-DSM3j4ew[/embedyt]

Get More Views on YouTube in 15 Seconds

See, with the first 15 seconds of this video, I’ve told you what this video happens to be about, upset that expectations, and I will be delivering that value.

It’s the first 15 seconds of all of your videos that needs to set that expectation, then people will stay around for longer, they will engage for longer throughout the entire videos because they know that they’re going to get what they want.

Then that video will get promoted more because it’s been engaged with, it’s delivered exactly what they’re expecting and therefore it will get those comments, and those likes that YouTube looks to feed the algorithm.

So that’s the short version, but how does this actually work out?

Well, one, you’ve made a promise with your thumbnail and your title. In this case, I’ve promised you that I can help you get more views in 15 seconds, and I can. Just, it’s your 15 seconds, not this 15 seconds.

In the first 15 seconds of your video, you need to echo the sentiment of your title, your thumbnail, and promise some form of delivery.

I’m here to teach you that 15 second hook. You’ll notice in the first 15 seconds of all of my videos, I tell you what the video happens to be about. I’m going to show you an end screen. I’m going to monetize your Facebook page. I’m going to show you how to use the video chapters.

I deliver that in the first 10, 15 seconds, then that way, you know, “Oh, OK. So I did come for that title and it did come for what he’s promising, and he is now showing me that that will be delivered.”

Why is that so important?

Well, in any era of click baits and people having been cheated on so many times in the past, you’ve clicked on the title and that’s like, “Wow, you can’t believe this exploding car,” and then you’re 15 minutes in before they actually show it to you.

People have got used to that lie and people have got used to clicking away because they know they have the power to go and have a look at another tutorial in my case.

So, if you echo the sentiment of the title, they then know that, “Okay, I came here for chocolate cake and they promise that they will make a chocolate cake. They’ve echoed that chocolate cake within the first 10, 15 seconds.”

So effectively you’ve already told them, “Hey, you’re in the right place. Just hold my hand, sit down, get a cup of tea and I’ll deliver.”

Two, this helps you set the expectations you’ve promised at the start of the video. That even if the whole video is 7, 10, 15, 20, or 30 minutes long, that they will get the thing that they’ve asked for and the longer the video, hopefully the better explained it is.

Three, deliver that value, whatever you’re promising within the first 10 to 15 seconds, do that thing as soon as possible without padding out the runtime.

Now this is me explaining the first 15 seconds, but I also at the start of this video very quickly summarized exactly what it is, sort of the hook out. If you hook them, they’ll watch for longer. If they watch for longer, YouTube loves you. Bingo.

This is me expanding on that idea. This is me explaining every fine detail of the theory and why it works and how it works for people that want to hear the nitty gritty and understand the systems behind it.

Final words

But if the video only needs to be two minutes long, don’t make it 15 because people know that when they’re being conned these days. If it’s too long and it’s not delivering, people will click away and you really need to focus on retention.

To improve retention, there’s a video here.

Tags get more views, youtube intro, youtube views

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

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

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

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

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

Not gonna happen.

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

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

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

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

Ready? Read on.

Choosing a Content Niche for YouTube.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Content Types You Can Make For YouTube.

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

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

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

Compilation Channel

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

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

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

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

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

Get three strikes, and YouTube could terminate your channel.

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

There is a workaround, however.

Fair Use of Copyrighted Material.

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

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

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

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

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

Creative Commons

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

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

Watch out, though.

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

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

YouTube Videos Using Images and Stock Video.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Podcasting Videos

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

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

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

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

YouTube Animation Videos

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

There are several ways to approach an animation channel.

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Screenshare Videos

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

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

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

YouTube Gaming Videos

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Sound Channels.

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

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

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

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

Producing Content for YouTube.

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

Screen Recording Software

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

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

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

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

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

Animation Software

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

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

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

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

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

Slideshow Software

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

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

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

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

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

Editing Videos for YouTube.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taking Your YouTube Content to the Next Level.

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

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

B-Roll Content

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

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

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

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

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

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

Professional looking YouTube Intro/Outro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Add Subtitles and Captions to Your YouTube Videos.

First, we need some definitions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE

Scared To Be On Camera? [WATCH THIS!]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 27 July 2020
1 Comment on Scared To Be On Camera? [WATCH THIS!]

I had a coaching call with a lady called Samira Alexander, and she was worried about being on camera. It’s something that many of you suffer from. So, I thought I’d take this clip to educate you, to hopefully reassure you the same way I do with Samira.

Scared To Be On Camera? [WATCH THIS!]

It’s time for you to get on camera.

Here we go.

I’ve said this so many times and this is the thing that people need to pay attention to, and you specifically.

When you’re recording, there’s no one around to judge you. It’s just you in here and it’s in here, right?

If you’re editing the video, who sees the video?

Just you, nobody else.

The difference is that I’ve been able to talk for hours and hours on end for years. Right?

My mom couldn’t get me to shut up when I was a toddler, I just kept going.

And the difference is that there is an element of my persona. There is my humor, right? And then, there is my professional point, so that the professional videos, there’s the quirkiness and no weirdness.

I’m not the thing that you get in a video that you can’t get into a top down.

I bet you, the only way you’re going to get used to being on camera is to be on camera.

You may say, “I just don’t feel comfortable.”

I’ve got a few videos, like the one’s called, “One’s flat out.” It just says, there’s no excuses, right?

This is literally titled that, it’s in red, it’s in white, it’s obnoxious.

And there’s another one of me walking along my local canal. Exactly the same reason, you know, “The audio is bad…”

Fine, get a different audio.

“Oh, my camera’s shaking.”

Well, at least you’re on camera. Right?

People connect with the human face. You can get my quirkiness and my funniness and my sense of humor.

You can see the white of the eyes, it’s not perfect.

You’re an attractive lady, there’s nothing to worry about. So just have faith in yourself, remember that you can edit it anyway. If you fluff up, you fluff up. You just edit it.

Samira:

It’s just that I am going to be talking about something that’s going to be valuable, and things like that, but I think I just have to speak from my heart.

I know that I’m right. There are always things that I talked to my clients about. There are always things that we need to talk about, and even if these people have heard this before, then maybe they resonate with me better than when it comes from somebody else or vice versa.

But I have to put myself out there because we’ve been forced to, and I always wanted, my dream was always having an online business. Right?

I live in Dubai, but I wanted an all global online business because that’s where I want to be. I wanted to be free. I didn’t want to be beholden to any place, and it hurts me right now when I hear, but I’m happy for everyone who’s got an online business and presence and they’re doing really well. So I’m not, and it’s pissing me off.

Alan:

You can’t be the face of a brand if you’re not willing to show the face for your brands. If I’m promoting Alan Spicer...

You want to promote Samira?

I promote Alan Spicer.

If I didn’t have Alan the brand, if I didn’t have Alan the face, then I can’t do anything.

Samira:

I know.

Alan:

Gary Vaynerchuk about it. He’s got Gary Vaynerchuk, right? Still he promotes the person, the persona, the brands, the motivation.

I keep wanting to trust and rely on you make that connection with you, and the more you do it, the better you’ll get.

Samira:

Yeah, okay. Thank you. You’ve been really amazing and I really appreciate this. Sometimes I get nervous about, because sometimes we’ll reach out to people we don’t know, but I just thought, “I’m going to reach out to this guy. I think he’s going to help me.”

I just googled, “I need a YouTube coach.”

Because I need someone to help me.

Alan:

And then YouTube searching wins. It just goes to show that if you’re able to balance the two and do a blog and your video is brilliant.

In fact, you make your blogs, you write a fantastic blog of 1,500 to 2,000 words long, and you put a video that echoes that sentiment.

They both work with each other. Google suggests that video for YouTube, and people that want to read it, because some people read, some people don’t, some people listen, some people don’t, that’s why there’s a podcast, which is fantastic.

So yeah, take it to your full advantage.

Now, you know the brand: You.

You know that you need to be on camera. The only way you’re going to do that is by practice.

Right now, it’s a fantastic picture, the sound is great. That’s fine. It doesn’t matter. It’s better that you’re on camera than not at all.

There’s nothing wrong with that. The headphones are fine. If you have to, right?

This is a lapel mic that costs me 15 quids. The webcam, which before the world turned to crap was about 50 pounds. I’ve now, no word of a lie, 50 pounds on Amazon. Now, you have to pay $180 for that camera.

Samira:

Oh my God!

Alan:

It’s because they are like “Uhm… people need webcams.”

And it’s a Logitech C 920 Pro.

Samira:

Yeah. I know that one.

Alan:

It was 50 quids because my old one died. In fact, if you flip through some of my really, really old YouTube videos, the frame rate is like 15 frames per second, it’s because the old version of this started dying, so when I did my hands, it was a bit, and I’m very handsy.

Even then, even with the camera shaky, I was recording off a laptop that was on 17 books on a table and every time I stepped forward, it bounced, right?

I still delivered value. It should be first.

Now this, I’m sat in the corner of an office, which is a bedroom. The shelves are there, that I recorded. The light is the window. There’s no technical trickery.

And hopefully, I’m even gonna record a video after I’ve done this because I’m sat here anyway.

Any chunks you get, know that you’re creating content. Any chunks that you can create value, whether it’s on your phone and shaky, that’s fine.

Because if you have a look at my no excuses Vlogs where I’m walking on the canal because I felt like it, right?

Value first.

And it doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as I can see and hear okay without painfully hurting them, and you’ll be fine.

Samira:

Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Alan. I really appreciate it.

Final words

Now, if you are really helping to not being on camera, there’s 25 channel ideas right here that you can do without your face, or if you want to make your videos better, so you can be on camera, then there’s a playlist here: How to improve your audio, your shaky camera, just generally make better videos.

Tags be on camera, best youtube tips and tricks, camera shy, youtube coach

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YouTube Channels for Older Adults

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 26 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTube Channels for Older Adults

YouTube isn’t just for the young — it’s one of the best things on the internet for older adults.

Whether you want brilliant channels to watch — cooking, fitness, music, documentaries, gentle comedy — or you’re thinking about starting your own channel later in life, this guide has both. Here are 9 wonderful channels for older adults, and everything you need to know to become a creator yourself. Because it really is never too late.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform, six Silver Play Buttons and 500+ creators coached, plenty of them starting later in life. I know exactly what makes YouTube such a joy for older viewers and creators alike.

Thinking of starting your own channel? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

YouTube is free, easy and endlessly varied — perfect for older viewers.
Standout channels: Pasta Grannies, Grand Illusions, Cyber-Seniors, 2nd Act TV.
The over-55 audience is one of YouTube’s fastest-growing groups.
You’re never too old to start your own channel — Tricia Cusden began at 65.
All you need to start: a phone, a mic and a window.

📌 Jump to a section:

Why YouTube suits older adults
9 channels to watch
More worth exploring
Start your own channel
How to begin (5 steps)
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: What are the best YouTube channels for older adults?
For watching, hard-to-beat picks include Pasta Grannies (Italian cooking), Grand Illusions (curiosities), Look Fabulous Forever (beauty), Cyber-Seniors (tech help), National Geographic (documentaries) and 2nd Act TV (life after 50). And if you’d like to create rather than just watch — you can. It’s never too late; you only need a phone, a mic and a window to start.

Why YouTube Is Perfect for Older Adults

There was a time when using a computer took real expertise. That’s long gone — devices have become gloriously simple, and YouTube is the friendliest corner of the internet. It’s free, it works on whatever screen you already have (phone, tablet, laptop or the telly), and it holds an almost unimaginable range of things to watch: gentle exercise, home cooking, world travel, big-band music, deep documentaries, and step-by-step help with absolutely anything. Far from being a young person’s playground, the over-55 audience is one of YouTube’s fastest-growing groups — and the platform rewards exactly the qualities older adults have in abundance: patience, curiosity and a lifetime of stories. Let’s start with some channels to love.

Find a Channel by What You Love

Not sure where to start? Pick your interest and dive in:

If you enjoy…	Try this channel
Cooking & food	Pasta Grannies
Gentle fitness	My Senior Coach
Beauty & style	Look Fabulous Forever
Curiosities & fun	Grand Illusions
Music & nostalgia	Postmodern Jukebox
Documentaries	National Geographic
Learning tech	Cyber-Seniors
Life after 50	2nd Act TV

9 Brilliant YouTube Channels for Older Adults

1. Look Fabulous Forever (Tricia Cusden)

Tricia Cusden is proof of everything this article is about. She launched her make-up brand and her YouTube channel in her mid-60s, and now offers warm, practical beauty tutorials designed specifically for older women’s skin. Encouraging, expert and utterly charming.

2. Grand Illusions (Tim Rowett)

Tim Rowett is a national treasure. With twinkling enthusiasm he shows off toys, gadgets, optical illusions and curiosities from a lifetime’s collection. Short, delightful and endlessly re-watchable — the definition of wholesome.

3. My Senior Coach (Senior Fitness)

Gentle, safe exercise makes an enormous difference to quality of life, and channels like My Senior Coach specialise in stretches and workouts designed for older bodies — clear, unhurried and easy to follow along at home.

4. Kevin and Lill

A warm, funny couple sharing sketches, songs and slices of everyday life. Genuine grandparent energy — the kind of channel that leaves you smiling and reminds you the internet can be a lovely place.

5. National Geographic

World-class documentaries on nature, science, history and exploration, all free. Perfect for the endlessly curious — an armchair window onto the whole planet, in beautiful quality.

6. Postmodern Jukebox

Modern pop songs reimagined as vintage jazz, swing and doo-wop, performed by superb musicians. Nostalgic, joyful and brilliantly done — a real treat if you love the classic sounds.

7. Cyber-Seniors

A wonderful non-profit made by and for older adults, teaching technology in plain, patient language — from video calls to online safety. If a gadget has ever defeated you, this is your channel.

8. Pasta Grannies

Perhaps the most charming channel on YouTube. It travels around Italy filming grandmothers making traditional handmade pasta the way they always have. Heart-warming, fascinating and quietly wonderful.

9. 2nd Act TV

Dedicated entirely to thriving after 50 — health, mindset, lifestyle and inspiration for making the second half of life the best part. Practical, positive and made for exactly this audience.

More Channels Worth Exploring

A few more that older viewers tend to love: Rick Steves’ Europe for gentle, cultured travel; Townsends for history and 18th-century cooking; and Peter Santenello for thoughtful human-interest journeys around the world. Between these and the nine above, you’ve months of wonderful watching — and perhaps a little inspiration for what comes next.

Watching is lovely. Creating is life-changing.

If any of these channels made you think “I could do that” — you can. Let’s talk about it on a free discovery call.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

It’s Never Too Late to Start Your Own Channel

Here’s the part most articles miss: many of the creators above started later in life — and thrived. Tricia Cusden built a beauty brand and channel in her mid-60s. That’s not a fluke; age is a genuine advantage on YouTube. Think about what you bring that a 22-year-old can’t:

Real expertise — decades of skills, work and hobbies people want to learn from.
Stories worth telling — a lifetime of experiences that make content rich and authentic.
Trust and warmth — viewers respond to sincerity, and that can’t be faked.
Patience — the one quality that grows a channel more than any other.

Worried? The three things people say to me most — answered:

“I’m too old.” There’s no age limit on YouTube, and older creators are among its most beloved. Your age is the asset, not the obstacle.
“I’m not techy.” If you can watch a video, you can learn to upload one. It’s far simpler than it looks, and Cyber-Seniors above will hold your hand.
“Nobody will watch.” Someone, somewhere, wants exactly what you know. You don’t need millions of viewers — you need to help the few who are searching.

And it can be more than a hobby. A channel can become a small business, a community, even an income — many people build a genuine second act that pays. You don’t need to be technical, young or confident on day one. You need a topic you care about and a willingness to begin.
The practicalities are refreshingly simple. You already have most of what you need — see budget equipment and recording clean audio to get set up cheaply. Not sure what to make videos about? My guides to choosing your content and picking a niche will help. And if the camera feels frightening, you’re in good company — this one’s for you: scared to be on camera? watch this. Prefer to stay off-camera entirely? You can even run a faceless channel.

How to Start a Channel Later in Life: 5 Simple Steps

Pick a topic you know and love — a hobby, a skill, your story. Your years are the advantage.
Use simple equipment — your phone, a cheap mic, a window for light.
Record a short, honest video — talk to the camera like a friend; be yourself.
Write a clear title and upload — simple and searchable wins.
Stay consistent — post regularly, enjoy it, improve a little each time.

When you’re ready for the full walkthrough, my complete guide to how to start a YouTube channel takes you through every step.

YouTube for Older Adults: FAQ

What are the best YouTube channels for older adults?

Some of the best include Pasta Grannies (traditional Italian cooking), Grand Illusions (curiosities and gadgets), Look Fabulous Forever (beauty for older women), Cyber-Seniors (technology help), National Geographic (documentaries) and 2nd Act TV (thriving after 50). Together they cover food, fitness, culture, learning and lifestyle for older viewers.

Is YouTube good for older adults and seniors?

Yes. YouTube is free, easy to use on a phone, tablet, computer or TV, and offers an enormous range of content — from gentle exercise and cooking to documentaries, music and learning new skills. The over-55 audience is one of the platform’s fastest-growing groups.

Can older adults start their own YouTube channel?

Absolutely, and many thrive. Tricia Cusden launched her beauty channel and brand in her mid-60s. Age is an advantage on YouTube: you bring life experience, real expertise and authenticity that younger creators can’t fake. It’s never too late to start.

What should an older adult make videos about?

Share what you know and love — a lifelong hobby, a professional skill, cooking, gardening, travel, history, or simply your story and perspective. Decades of experience are exactly the kind of authentic, valuable content viewers seek out and trust.

Do you need expensive equipment to start a channel?

No. You can start with the smartphone you already own, a cheap clip-on microphone and natural light from a window. Good audio and lighting matter far more than an expensive camera, and you can upgrade later only if you want to.

How do I get over being nervous on camera?

Practice is everything. Record short clips just for yourself, talk to the camera as if to a friend, and accept that your first videos won’t be perfect — nobody’s are. The nerves fade quickly, and being genuine matters far more than being polished.

The Bottom Line

YouTube is one of the great gifts of modern life for older adults — a free, endless library of things to enjoy, from Pasta Grannies to National Geographic. But it can be more than something to watch. The very qualities that come with age — expertise, stories, patience, sincerity — are exactly what makes a great channel. So enjoy the wonderful creators above, and if a little voice says “maybe I could do that too,” listen to it. Grab your phone, pick something you love, and press record. It really is never too late to begin.

📚 Keep reading — thinking of starting?

Your second act starts with one video.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on starting and growing a channel — whatever your age.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Tags oap youtubers, oaptubers, old youtubers, older youtubers, silver surfers, youtube silver surfers

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10 YouTube Channel Ideas for Kids

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 26 July 2020

It can be easy to forget that YouTube hasn’t been around for that long. Founded in 2005, YouTube is a little over fifteen years old at the time of writing this post.

That means that even people born at the same time as YouTube are still children, and, if we’re being honest, it would be another few years before the service was anything like what know and love today. Factor in that parents are generally dissuaded from letting their children watch television for the first two years, and you can start to see why children’s content is such big business on YouTube.

Today’s children—those of around thirteen years old and under—are the first to grow up with YouTube.

No waiting until Saturday mornings for cartoons, or begging parents to pay extra for Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel—children today are the first to have access to a practically endless supply of entertainment in the form of YouTube. And studies show that most of them make full use of it.

So, there is plenty of incentive to start a YouTube channel for children. The audience is there, without a doubt, and making fans of children can be relatively easily translated into an older fanbase later down the line. After all, that’s how people like Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande were able to transition from acting in a children’s TV show to being a global pop star.

Of course, having good reasons for starting a YouTube channel is only part of the battle. You still need to have ideas for what you will put on that channel. And, if you’re reading this, we can safely assume you’re looking for a little inspiration in that area. So here are our top ten kid YouTube channel ideas.

General Advice

It can be useful to think outside of the box from time to time. To that end, you shouldn’t consider the following suggestions as a definitive collection.

There will always be room to innovate, and ideas that haven’t been thought of, or have been thought of but never successfully executed, will always be out there for you to discover. That being said, there are some fairly fundamental aspects of making YouTube videos for children that apply regardless of your idea.

Be Parent-Friendly

Remember, the parents and guardians are the gatekeepers when it comes to what their children are allowed to see. Parents are very unlikely to sit down and watch your content before deciding to allow their children to do the same. More often, a parent’s first impression of a YouTube channel their child is watching will be in passing—walking by when their child has the channel on, for example.

Parents can be very reactionary at times, and if they catch even a glimpse of inappropriate content, they could shut your channel down in that home. In many cases, this might be an unfair reaction, but you have to understand that it is ultimately their decision, so it’s best to steer clear of things like innuendo, and grown-up jokes.

Don’t Abuse Your Power

Children are impressionable; it’s how they learn about the world around them. Putting on their parent’s shoes and pretending to go to work, dressing up as their favourite superhero.

They imitate the things they like, and if you become successful at this, you will be one of those things.

Do not abuse that power.

Think long and hard about what you do in your videos, and how your impressionable audience might react to it.

Set Realistic Expectations

Due to various legal implications, videos that are considered “for kids” are excluded from targetted advertising. While this doesn’t mean that you can’t monetise these videos, it does significantly reduce the amount of revenue potential they have.

Of course, there are many ways of monetising a YouTube channel outside of YouTube’s own system, just be careful—if you’re seen as attempting to exploit your young audience, you could lose your channel.

1. Crafts

Though children sometimes need a little nudge to get started, crafts are a timeless way to keep them entertained. Ask any English child of the 90s about the Blue Peter’s Tracey Island episode, and there’s a good chance they’ll know what you’re talking about.

Be sure to focus your ideas around things that your audience will use. Making a pencil holder out of empty toilet roll tubes is very practical, but not necessarily something a young child would be interested in. A lot of this will depend on the age of the children you are making content for. For example, younger children prefer things they can play with, like making an aeroplane out of an old box. In contrast, children on the older end of the spectrum are more likely to be interested in practical things, like the pencil holder mentioned above.

2. Activities

Activities are a great option because they can be something that the parents can join in with. If you can not only entertain their children for a time but also give them ideas so that they can entertain their children, you will be a firm favourite with the parents.

Making your activities fun should be fundamental. However, if you can make them educational or developmental—or both—then you will be on good footing to succeed and grow as a kid Youtube channel. Things that involve fine motor skills, such as using drawing tools, are particularly useful for a child’s development. Also consider mental exercises, such as playing detective games.

3. Young Health

Child fitness is an ever-present concern in the developed world, where obesity is regularly cited in statistics regarding health conditions.

If you are into your fitness and have a flair with children, a fitness channel aimed at youngsters could be an excellent way to go.

This is another idea that will likely garner support from parents, who will probably be happy to see their children getting active. Of course, the trick to this kind of video is to make it fun for the children. If you just have them doing a series of different exercises, they’ll soon get bored. Make games of your activities, and try to come up with exciting variations on established exercise routines.

4. Lifehacks

It may sound like something that would only be useful for adults, but children love a good lifehack, too. That being said, what a child considers a lifehack is very different from an adult.

Thinking up lifehacks that the parents will like as well is a surefire way to get support from the grown-ups. For example, coming up with smart ways to keep a room tidy so that the children don’t get in trouble will also go down very well with the parents.

Other examples of child-orientated lifehacks might involve school-related things, such as personalising school bags or making secret compartments inside of pencil cases.

5. Gaming

Gaming is a tried-and-tested kid YouTube idea, with some YouTubers amassing tens of millions of subscribers in this niche.

It should go without saying that you will need to keep things like profanity off of your channel, and games with a more adult theme are out of the question.

Beyond that, try to make the content enjoyable beyond the gameplay itself. YouTube gaming is a very competitive space, and it is unlikely that you will be alone in whatever game you decide to play. For that reason, the more you can do to stand out from the crowd, the more likely children will want to watch your videos rather than one of the other YouTubers.

One of the most successful examples of this kind of video is DanTDM, who initially became popular making Minecraft videos in which he would act out a story in the game. Other examples include YouTubers playing video games with their own children. Be sure to do your research and see what games children are interested in.

6. Unboxing Videos

Unboxing videos are popular with many demographics, and children are no exception. Of course, the contents of the box needs to be tailored to your young audience.

Children probably won’t be that interested in an unboxing video of a subscription food box. Toys are the obvious route to take, and you can add an extra level of engagement for your viewers by giving away the things you unbox. After all, if you are going to post regular videos and unbox something in each one, you’re going to end up with a lot of stuff!

A variation on unboxing videos involves making the items to be unboxed part of a game and having your own kids play that game. HobbyKidsTV is a particularly popular example of this.

One example might be putting the toys to be unboxed inside of a giant paper mache model of a villain, and having children dressed as superheroes beat the villain up to get to the toys.

7. Reaction Videos

Reaction videos are seemingly popular across many different audiences, including children. The key to reaction videos is you. There are plenty of reaction YouTubers out there, but the differentiating factor between each of them is their own personality. If two YouTubers react to the same movie trailer, the trailer won’t change, only their reactions will.

What this means is that, if you decide to go down this path, you need to put your whole personality into your videos. This is not a genre for reserved, camera-shy YouTubers. As always, be sure to keep your content child-friendly. Even one errant curse word making it onto your channel could ruin your credibility as a kid YouTube channel.

Also, remember your audience when reacting. Children most likely won’t care about the latest Christopher Nolan film, but the next Sonic the Hedgehog movie is a different matter. You might react to the latest Fortnite announcement or a big scene from a Marvel movie. Just be careful not to fall afoul of any copyright infringement.

8. Character Analysis

If there’s one thing children are good at, it is obsessing over things. A child might only be into Spiderman for a few months, perhaps a year, but during that time they are all in!

You can produce content that gives them a much desired in-depth look at their favourite characters. Sticking with our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman example, you could do a detailed history of the web-slinger, stretching all the way back to his comic book roots in the early 1960s.

This area of YouTube is particularly fertile as there is a lot of ground to cover. Once you’ve covered Spiderman, for example, you could cover Venom, or Green Goblin, or any of the many other prominent characters in the franchise. You could move on to other Marvel characters, or branch out to DC. You could leave comic books entirely and tackle videogame characters.

As long as you can make it entertaining and you focus on popular characters, you’ll have an interested audience.

9. Narrative Videos

If there is one area you can get away with low production quality, it is YouTube for children. Children have a beautiful lack of cynicism about things like production value, combined with a vivid imagination that is ready to fill in the blanks.

This means you can tell any stories you might want to tell without worrying about whether your video looks professional enough. A particularly popular variation of this is superhero crossovers, where characters from different franchises meet. Many of these videos are acted out by children, with the adults handling the writing and filming.

10. Educational

Of course, we couldn’t make this list without including educational content. If you can entertain children while educating them, you will have a very bright future as a YouTuber.

Consider making games out of your lessons, and set your viewers fun activities based around the lessons you are giving. Have a clear idea of who your videos are for—maths questions for a six-year-old are very different to maths questions for a twelve-year-old.

This type of video can be especially rewarding, as making learning fun for children will increase the chances that they will pick things up when they go to school. It can also be a good idea to throw in an occasional fun video that might not necessarily have much educational content, just to break things up.

But as a general rule, try to make each video as entertaining as possible. Remember, they don’t have a choice about going to school, but they don’t have to watch your videos.

Conclusions

And that’s our ten kid YouTube channel ideas. Is there something you feel should be on here? Why not leave a comment and let us know?

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

Tags channel ideas, safe for kids, youtube channel ideas, youtube channel ideas for children, youtube channel ideas for kids, youtube channels for kids, youtube kids, youtube safe for kids

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
2 Comments on YouTube Equipment on a Budget

You do not need expensive gear to start a great YouTube channel — you need the right cheap gear.

This is the 2026 budget equipment guide: the best value cameras, microphones, lighting and accessories, the spend-priority that actually matters, and ready-made £100, £250 and £500 starter kits you can buy today. Spend smart, and cheap gear looks a lot more expensive than it costs.

Heads-up: some links below are affiliate links — if you buy through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend budget gear I’d actually tell a client to buy.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform, six Silver Play Buttons and 500+ creators coached. I’ve kitted out channels on every budget from zero upward, so I know exactly where cheap gear shines and where it falls down.

Want a personalised budget kit for your channel? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

Audio and lighting beat the camera — spend there first.
Your phone is the best budget camera you already own.
A clean £100 kit is enough to start; £500 looks properly pro.
Cheap staples: Logitech C920, Blue Snowball, Neewer lights.
Don’t overspend on the camera and starve the rest.

📌 Jump to a section:

The golden rule of budget gear
Budget cameras
Budget microphones
Budget lighting
Just use your phone
Budget accessories
£100 / £250 / £500 kits
What not to waste money on
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: What budget gear do you actually need?
Four things — a camera, a mic, a light, and a stand. On a budget, spend on them in reverse order of what most people expect: microphone and lighting first, camera last (your phone is fine). A complete starter setup runs about £100, a solid one £250, and a professional-looking one around £500. Bad audio loses viewers faster than average video ever will.

▶️ Setting up a YouTube channel on a budget — the essentials

The Golden Rule of Budget Gear

Here’s the mistake almost everyone makes: they blow the whole budget on a camera and leave nothing for the rest. Then they wonder why the footage still looks amateur. The truth is that audio and lighting do more for perceived quality than resolution ever will. So spend your money in this order:

Microphone — viewers tolerate average video, but bad audio makes them click away.
Lighting — a soft light flatters any camera, including your phone.
Camera — the last thing to upgrade, not the first.
Stability & accessories — a tripod, a stand, an SD card.

This is the same priority I teach in the full Creator Equipment Guide and the budget allocation rule — get the order right and cheap gear punches well above its price.

Budget Cameras

You have three good budget routes — a webcam, a compact/mirrorless, or (best of all) your phone.

Webcams — cheapest dedicated route

For talking-head videos, tutorials and streaming, a good webcam is more than enough to start. The Logitech C920 remains the budget benchmark — clean 1080p that looks great with decent lighting. If you can stretch, the Logitech Brio adds 4K.

Budget mirrorless — when you want the “real camera” look

If you want shallow depth of field and room to grow, an entry-level mirrorless is the sweet spot without going pro-priced. The Canon EOS R50 and Canon EOS R100 are superb value with excellent autofocus, and the Sony ZV-1 is a brilliant pocket vlogging compact.

Action cameras — durable and tiny

For anything active, a GoPro Hero or DJI Osmo Action gives you rugged, stabilised footage in a pocket-sized body.

Option	Best for	Rough £
Your phone	Everything, if you already own it	£0
Logitech C920	Talking head, tutorials, streaming	£
Canon EOS R50 / R100	The “real camera” look, room to grow	£££
GoPro Hero	Action, travel, durability	££

Not sure whether to buy a camera at all yet? Read phone vs camera — when to upgrade and how to choose a camera first.

Budget Microphones

This is where your money works hardest. A cheap mic used well beats an expensive camera used badly.

USB microphones — plug in and talk

For desk-based content, a USB mic is the simplest upgrade. The Blue Snowball iCE is the classic budget starter, the FIFINE K669 is astonishing value, and the Maono PD100 steps you up toward broadcast sound.

Shotgun & on-camera mics

Filming away from a desk? An on-camera shotgun keeps your audio tight. The Rode VideoMic GO II is the budget favourite, and the tiny Boya BY-MM1 punches way above its price (I reviewed it — it’s a steal).

Lavalier (clip-on) mics — the cheap secret weapon

For talking to camera on a phone, a clip-on lav is the best few pounds you’ll spend. Look at the Rode smartLav+ or a budget Boya lavalier.

▶️ My Rode VideoMic GO review — is it worth the money?

For getting the most from a cheap mic, see how to record clean audio and better audio without a treated studio.

Budget Lighting

The best-value upgrade there is. Good light flatters any camera — even a phone.

Ring light — the cheap classic for talking-head and beauty content. A Neewer ring light costs very little and instantly cleans up your image.
LED panel — more flexible and softer. The Neewer 660 LED panel is a creator staple; two of them give you proper control.
Softbox kit — the softest, most flattering light for the money. A Neewer softbox kit is brilliant value.
Natural light — free. Face a big window and you have soft, flattering light at no cost.

Go deeper in the best LED panel lights roundup.

Just Use Your Phone

Really — the best budget camera is the one already in your pocket. A modern smartphone shoots crisp 4K, and paired with a clip-on mic and a window for light, it beats a cheap dedicated camera every time. Add a small tripod or phone mount and you’re filming professionally for almost nothing. Here’s how to get the most out of it:

▶️ Getting cinematic 4K out of the phone you already own

Budget Accessories That Matter

The small stuff that makes everything else work:

Tripod / phone mount — stability is free-looking professionalism. A Neewer tripod or a phone clamp does the job cheaply. For dedicated cameras, see the best tripods.
SD card — don’t cheap out here; a reliable SanDisk Extreme card saves you from corrupted footage.
Mic boom arm — for USB mics, a boom arm tidies your desk and improves mic placement. More in the best boom arms guide.
Backdrop — a cheap collapsible backdrop or a tidy shelf instantly lifts your set.

Not sure what to buy for YOUR channel?

On a free discovery call I’ll recommend the exact budget kit for your niche, goals and budget — no upsell.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Ready-Made Budget Kits: £100 / £250 / £500

Don’t want to piece it together yourself? Here are three complete setups at three price points.

Kit	What’s in it	Best for
~£100 Starter	Your phone + clip-on lav mic + ring light + phone tripod	Absolute beginners, zero-risk start
~£250 Solid	Logitech C920 + Blue Snowball + two Neewer LED panels + tripod	Talking-head, tutorials, streaming
~£500 Pro-look	Canon EOS R50 + Rode VideoMic GO II + softbox kit + solid tripod + SD card	Creators serious about growing

Want the next tier up? See the starter kit under £1,000 and the full Creator Equipment Guide.

What NOT to Waste Money On

Budget discipline is as much about what you don’t buy:

An expensive camera before a mic and light. The classic budget-killer.
Cheap no-brand “bundle” deals that bury a bad camera in useless accessories.
Pro audio interfaces you don’t need yet — a USB mic is fine to start.
Gimmicks and gadgets before you’ve posted consistently for months.
The newest model when last year’s is half the price and 95% as good.

See the full list of pitfalls in 10 creator equipment mistakes to avoid.

Budget YouTube Equipment: FAQ

What equipment do I need to start YouTube on a budget?

You need four things: a camera (your phone counts), a microphone, a light, and something to hold it all steady. On a tight budget, prioritise audio and lighting over the camera — a clean mic and a soft light do more for perceived quality than an expensive camera. You can start well under £250, or with £0 using the phone you already own.

What is the cheapest way to start a YouTube channel?

Use the smartphone you already have, film near a big window for free soft lighting, and record your voice with a cheap clip-on lavalier mic. That combination costs almost nothing and beats a cheap camera used badly. Add a basic tripod or phone mount for stability and you have a complete free-to-cheap setup.

Should I spend money on a camera or a microphone first?

Microphone first. Viewers will forgive average video, but they click away from bad audio almost instantly. A good budget microphone improves retention more than a camera upgrade, so on a budget your money is better spent on sound and light before you touch the camera.

Is a webcam good enough for YouTube?

For talking-head videos, tutorials and streaming, a good webcam like the Logitech C920 is absolutely good enough to start, especially with proper lighting. It won’t match a mirrorless camera’s depth of field, but paired with a decent mic and a soft light it produces clean, professional-looking results on a small budget.

Do I need lighting for budget YouTube videos?

Yes, and it’s the best value upgrade you can make. Good lighting transforms perceived quality more than any camera. The cheapest option is free — film facing a large window. Beyond that, an inexpensive ring light or a Neewer LED panel dramatically lifts your image for very little money.

How much does a basic YouTube setup cost in 2026?

You can build a genuine starter setup for around £100, a solid one for about £250, and a setup that looks properly professional for roughly £500. The exact figure depends on whether you use your phone or buy a dedicated camera, but you do not need to spend thousands to make great-looking videos.

Conclusion

Budget is not the barrier people think it is. Spend in the right order — microphone and lighting before the camera — lean on the phone you already own, and you can produce content that looks and sounds far more expensive than it was. Start with the ~£100 kit, upgrade one piece at a time as your channel grows, and put your energy into making videos rather than buying gear. The best camera is the one you actually use, and the best setup is the one you can afford to start with today.

📚 Keep reading — gear guides:

Start now, upgrade later.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on building a channel that grows — whatever your budget.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this guide: product links are Amazon search links (rel=”sponsored”) and I may earn a small commission on purchases at no cost to you. Recommendations reflect good-value budget options at the time of writing (July 2026); models, prices and availability change over time, so always check current specs and reviews before buying.

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