Making YouTube Videos, Why Delay? Start making YouTube Videos Today!
Many new youtubers hesitate and worry about making youtube videos. They worry about How To Start Making YouTube Videos and keep making excuses why they can’t start just yet. In this video Alan Spicer tells you to stop delaying and make youtube videos today – START CREATING!
Everyone finds an excuse to delay making YouTube Videos. I tend to find people are worried about the quality of their first few videos, their YouTube video equipment or even over think how much time they need. It is this delaying that actually stops people from making YouTube videos entirely. Making YouTube Videos is an art that needs to be honed and practiced. The more YouTube videos you make the better you will get.
When I started making videos in 2013 they was horrible, tinny, shaky and hard to watch. However, this gave me a baseline to improve from. I can look back at the video and take notes on what I need to improve. If each time you make a video you take notes and try and fix 1 thing that bothers you, it can act as a way to teach yourself to get better. After making YouTube videos for 2-3 months you should then be able to look back and see how much you have improved since day one…. but if you dont start….. you cant get better!
YouTube is a huge platform with millions of channels and maybe even billions of users watching hours & hours of video every second. This can be a huge needle in a haystack when it comes to companies or branding so you need to Build Your YouTube Brand, make it STAND OUT and drive authority.
I can be hard to get noticed but if you make your brand UNMISSABLE then it will help attract some attention. Here are 28 tips to Build Your YouTube Brand.
#1 – Choose your identity – Start to Build Your YouTube Brand
If you want viewers to subscribe to your channel and come back for more later, then they need to know what they are getting themselves into.
While there are endless YouTube video ideas to choose from, it is important that you have an identity. Whether that means talking about beauty, travel, sports, gaming, or anything that comes up in your life, make it very clear to the audience so that you get subscribers who stick around!
#2 – Follow a passion (yours and theirs)
First of all, make sure that YOU are passionate about everything you are saying and doing on your YouTube channel. If you don’t then none of the rest of the list will matter, and you won’t have any fun!
Once you know what you are passionate about, find the groups of people that are equally passionate and likely to make a large, loyal fan base. If you know that you love all Technology, then think about making great videos catered towards viewers who are passionate about virtual reality, or artificial intelligence.
If you become a trusted source in passionate niches, you will have a great channel.
#3 – Make great video thumbnails
YouTube king of subscriptions PewDiePie uses eye catching thumbnails every time
Your video’s thumbnail is the first thing people see so make it count!
Boring, or grainy images are going to look weak beside other YouTubers who are competing for the same viewers so take a few minutes to make a great thumbnail and you will see the difference.
4 Tips for Better YouTube Thumbnails
1. Use closeups of your face: Humans like eye contact and this will catch their attention in search results!
2. Convey strong emotion: Strong emotion on your face can set the tone for the video and prime the audience for what is in store.
3. Use bright backgrounds: It’s all about being eye catching in a sea of YouTube results all over the screen. Bright screens get people’s attention, and also tend to create stark contrast with your main image.
4. Be consistent: It helps your brand to have similar thumbnails all the way across your page
# 4 – Show off a great channel logo
Your channel logo may be small, but it can say a lot about you. Don’t underestimate the first impression that people will see representing ALL the hard work that you put into your videos. Before creating images like logos and banners, you should make sure that you are making them the appropriate size
#5 – Use Awesome Art for your banner
The images that you use on your channel can influence viewers to hit that ‘subscribe’ button.
#6 – Make a compelling channel page
Your channel page is the home base for anyone looking at your body of work. First and foremost, make sure it looks pretty with the logo, banner, and thumbnail tips above. Now that you look like a pro, you should remember that some people might actually read (yes read!) your channel description. Use this opportunity to tell your story, and let your personality shine through.
This is an area where you can show off the benefits of subscribing to your channel, and use a call to action to try and get their sub while you have their attention. You can (and should) also organize your content with playlists. This will let any potential YouTube subscribers find the content that is most interesting to them quickly.
It also makes for a good viewing experience for anyone who wants to binge watch your videos
#7 – Add some contact info
If you are putting yourself out there on YouTube, and you want to build an army of subscribers, it helps to be accessible. Who knows what opportunities might come up – a fellow YouTuber might want to connect, or a fan might want interview you on their blog.
One thing is for sure is that if you make yourself hard to get a hold of, it is a lot less likely that golden opportunities will fall into your lap.
#8 – Have recurring segments
Recurring segments!What do the Tonight Show, Jeopardy, and Bill Nye The Science guy all have in common? RECURRING SEGMENTS! Audiences return again and again for DECADES because they like the reliable structure and familiar nature of their favorite shows. Think about how many clicks Jimmy Kimmel gets every time he posts a “Mean Tweets” video.
If you can come up with a handful of structured segments that you can perfect, you are guaranteed to get more views. People want to see the next segment that they know they are going to love.
#9 – Upload Often
YouTube viewers subscribe to channels that are clearly active and posting new videos all the time. If you are stingy with your posts, then there is no reason for them to follow you.
Try to start out with at least one video per week. That way you will quickly build a library of content that viewers can go back and watch, with a pattern that they know they can count on in the future.
#10 – Have a content calendar and stick to it
Calendars aren’t just to help you stay on schedule
With so much YouTube competition, your subscribers need to know that they can rely on you for consistent content.
Make 2 key decisions
How many videos will you produce each week?
When will you publish them?
Once you know these answers, your YouTube channel should run like clockwork for your subscribers. Try to hit ‘publish’ at the same time each day/ week.
DON’T OVER COMMIT – If you get subscribers with the promise of daily videos, don’t be surprised if you lose them when you downgrade to weekly episodes instead.
#11 – Choose good titles – Eye Catching
Along with the image, your video’s title will form a viewer’s first impression of whether or not you are worth a view.
People tend to click titles that are intriguing or useful to them. Using exciting terms like “Amazing” “Hilarious or “Unbelievable” tend to get people’s attention.
You should also think about driving urgency. Suggesting that watching your video will have an immediate benefit will get more views than static titles. Think about the difference between ‘How to dress better’ vs ‘How to start dressing better today’
#12 – Keep your titles brief but teasing
Don’t give everything away in one long sentence. Keep your video titles relatively short, and leaving them wanting more. Try to keep titles below 50 characters to have the best chance of people clicking on your video.
#13 – Cross Promote Your Videos to Build Your YouTube Brand
Always try to turn one view into many views! When someone is watching your channel, you have a few different opportunities to cross promote your other videos. The best ways are:
Mention a suggested video during your video
Include a call to action button as an annotation, or at the end
Put links to suggested content in your video description
#14 – Pick the right tags
Many YouTubers actually forget about tags entirely. What a waste!
Tags are a key factor in helping Build Your YouTube Brand and get your videos in front of the right people. They will inform the search algorithm when people are looking for content, and will also give new viewers an idea of what your videos and your channel are really about.
#15 – Include Annotations & End Screen Options
YouTube has built in excellent features to build in interactive moments during your video, as well as multiple calls to action at the very end.
Here is a helpful video Derral Eves.
#16 – Use keywords, and SEO to Rank & Build Your YouTube Brand
Speaking of titles, you should think very carefully about the specific words you use in those titles. They will have a big impact on whether new viewers can find you in the first place.
YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world, and people everywhere are looking for answers and entertainment in that search box. Before anyone can subscribe to your channel, they need to find you first! That’s where keywords come in.
#17 – Use Google Trends to Build Your YouTube Brand
Using Google Trends is the best way to see what people are getting more and less interested in over time.
Why does this matter?
Funny cat videos are more popular than funny dog videos – but both searches peaked in 2014
When the pros think about how to get more views on YouTube, they know that it helps to be talking about things that more and more people actually want to see. You aren’t going to attract a big audience reviewing season 2 of The Adams Family in 2017.
#18 – Use multi-part episodes – Extend & Build Your YouTube Brand
Who doesn’t love a little suspense?
If all of your videos are standalone pieces with no mention of a follow-up, then there is much less incentive to hit the sub button. However, if they want to know what happens next, then they are more likely to follow your channel long term.
#19 – Keep the audience in mind
If you want to get YouTube subscribers, then don’t just make videos that you think will be fun. Pay attention to trends in your niche. For example, if you talk about TV shows, make sure you know what shows are rising in popularity and make content geared towards that rather than only shows that you think people SHOULD want to hear about.
#20 – Always ask for a subscription
Whatever you need your viewers to do, don’t be afraid to ask! Many YouTubers miss out by forgetting to simply ask people to subscribe if they enjoyed the video.
Just be sure to keep the call to action quick and simple
In many cases we are looking for a lot of things – a like, a subscription, a click to our website, a follow on Instagram etc. Don’t overwhelm your audience with a check-list of ways they can help you. Pick one or two that are most important and mention them quickly at the beginning and end of the video
#21 – Use Channel Trailers
Channel trailers are an awesome way to establish what your channel is about, and why people should care. Just like a movie trailer is a fast moving clip that shows the best that a film has to offer and gets people excited for more, your channel trailer can be the difference between a viewer subscribing, or moving on to the next thing that catches their eye.
First of all, if your title and thumbnail catches a viewer’s attention, the next thing they will check out is the description. If you don’t have a compelling reason for them to stick around, they won’t make it far in the video.
Secondly, YouTube can’t listen to every word in your video, so it relies on descriptions for its search engine. This means that a good description can help you show up in search results for potential new subscribers.
#23 – Add a channel watermark
How to add a channel watermark to your video
You can build in your own personalized watermark that will show up on each video. This is a subtle reminder embedded right onto the video content that the viewer should subscribe
#24 – Look for helpful resources
If you are reading Vlogging Guides, then you are already off to a good start ?
BufferBlog, Vlogging Guides, and communities like YTTalk can help you learn how to get more views on YouTube from fellow vloggers.
#25 – Attend Events
From local meetups, to massive international events, there are many opportunities to attend YouTube related events. Use these opportunities to network with other content creators, and meet your fans!
#26 – Learn from your most popular videos
If you want more YouYube views, it helps to know what has worked in the past. Use successful videos as inspiration for similar content and build a reputation for viral videos that people love to watch.
#27 – Avoid too many ads
Ads can be a good thing to let you make money on YouTube and fund great content, but don’t go overboard. You get several options on what type of ads you are OK with permitting on your videos.
While it might be tempting to go all out and try to maximize your earnings, keep your viewers in mind. You will get more views on YouTube if your subscribers think that you aren’t just in it for the money.
#28 – Be transparent with your audience
If you do want to make money with your videos, just make sure you are honest about it. For example, if you are being paid to review a product, mention that in the video. It doesn’t mean you can’t give your genuine opinion!
This doesn’t end with just money issues. You can gain a lot of trust by telling people what is going on behind the scenes and making them feel a part of your channels. Loyalty brings more YouTube views back to your channel then trying to outsmart the audience.
Want more help? Need more hands on assistance? Get in touch we do YouTube Coaching >>
YouTube for most people is the the aggregator of fail compilations, the disseminator of cat related humour and a beacon for everything viral. Killing time on YouTube is the most productive way to be unproductive, but there’s so much more to it than salacious thumbnails and unrelated debates about political theory in the comments section, there is also hidden unknown youtube tips and tricks
Aside from a few easter eggs to please medium-core trekkies and Star Wars fans, there are some genuinely useful hacks that can enhance your YouTube viewing experience ten-fold. I mean, if you’re prepared to sign away three hours of your life by watching late-nineties wrestling videos, then you should do it in style, right?
Ever heard of YouTube Leanback? Or how about turning any video into a GIF? No? Then there’s so much more to show you. Here’s a run-down of my top five YouTube hacks:
1. Make any YouTube Video into a GIF
You can turn any video into a GIF by simply adding “gif” just after the “www.” in the URL. For example “www.gifyoutube.com/watchx”
Once you type that in, you’ll be taken to a simple gif making tool page that lets you cut out a section of the video and export it.
Select the point at which you want to start the gif and then select how long it lasts, and you’re done. You’ve made a gif in a matter of minutes.
2. YouTube Disco Your YouTube Videos
You already knew that you can use YouTube to stream music, but did you know it can be a DJ too? YouTube Disco automatically puts together a playlist of songs from your prefered genre or artist.
Go to www.youtube.com/disco and enter any artist, song, or genre and YouTube will populate a playlist of the most watched/popular videos from your search.
You can also set it to play the current top hits and it will tell what videos are most popular at the moment.
3. Slow Motion YouTube Videos
There are a couple of ways to slow down a YouTube video, with the simplest way being to hold down the spacebar during a video. This cause the video to rapidly play and pause, which creates a budget slow motion effect.
If, however, you want some more advanced controls, head to www.youtubeslow.com and enter your video’s URL into the specified field. You can then either speed up, slow down, play on repeat or set a loop.
Wesley Snipe’s “always bet on black” moment in Passenger 57 in slow motion.
4. YouTube Leanback – YouTube and Chill
YouTube Leanback is the friendlier version of YouTube on the big screen. If you’ve ever tried to watch videos on the normal desktop version of YouTube on your TV, you’ll know it’s a pain. Entering characters into the search field with your TV is just not practical, and you need to get right up close to the screen to see what’s going on.
This is where YouTube Leanback comes in. It’s a simplified YouTube UI that only requires use of the arrow keys to control. Also, if you have a smart TV, you can connect your phone or tablet to control what’s on the screen – and you don’t even have to be on the same Wi-Fi connection to do it.
Anyone in the room, providing they’ve gone through the verification process, can connect to the YouTube page and chuck videos into the communal playlist.
All you need to do is go to www.youtube.com/leanback and begin flicking through the availble sub sections of videos. To pair up your phone or tablet, go to www.youtube.com/pair on your mobile device and follow the instructions.
5. Google Video Quality Report
Buffering. Endless, rage inducing, buffering. But whose fault is it? Well, it’s your throttling, lacklustre ISP, according to Google.
Google’s YouTube Video Quality Report was launched earlier this year to help consumers understand why their videos take so long to load and can’t be streamed in the best quality. Some childlike illustrations show you how video makes its way to your screen, but don’t let the welcoming graphics fool you. This is video report is a shaming exercise, designed to embarrass ISPs for providing little bandwidth.
The report, which isn’t available everywhere, will tell you how good your connection is in the area and which ISPs are offering the most YouTube friendly internet speeds. This is done via a verification system, which labels each ISP as either ‘HD verified’ or not.
Check it out here (as I said, it may not be available in your area) and see if your connection can sustain 20 minutes of 1080p footage.
YouTube has 1+ billion users. While not all are content creators, it’s safe to say that several million are uploading consistently, with thousands of new creators joining every day – Here are 5 Tips For New YouTubers to help them get started.
If you’re just starting out as a video creator, your first few videos will be buried among the millions of videos uploaded each week. So how can you increase your chances of being discovered amid the massive haystack that is YouTube?
Say two people follow you on Twitter. One has the default ‘egg’ as their profile picture; one has a well-designed image. Which are you more inclined to check out and follow back?
One of the most important first steps you can complete as a new YouTuber is your branding. Attractive channel art can drastically increase the chances that a viewer will check out your other videos and subscribe.
2. Create a regular schedule
Just like popular TV shows, releasing your YouTube videos on a schedule can ensure that they get in front of the maximum amount of viewers. To start, aim to release one video per week, and be sure to tell your subscribers when to expect new content!
Mention your schedule at the end of each video
Include your schedule as part of your channel art
Remind fans on social media
3. Strive for originality
Creating truly original content will be your biggest advantage when starting out—and no one can do that but you. At this very moment, there are more than 60 million Minecraft videos on YouTube. So if you’re set on creating gaming videos, for instance, spend time thinking about how you can make them stand out from the very large crowd!
Here are some more tips for new youtubers in our blogs!
4. Be patient about income
Everyone likes extra money. But when you first start out as a creator, it should be strictly to have fun and grow your audience. Most creators who are making a living from their content have spent years building up their channel and are seeing more than a million video views per month. So try to be patient and focus on creating amazing content, and it’s more likely that the money will eventually come.
5. Be yourself
It may be tempting to model your content after another successful creator verbatim. But that strategy can sometimes come off as fake—and audiences can tell. Whether you’re quiet, loud, or awkward, be yourself! No matter what type of personality you have, there will be people out there who will enjoy your content.
Finally, there’ll be plenty of time to refine. As you grow on YouTube, your style will grow as well. Listen to feedback from your viewers, and most of all, have fun. Good luck with your videos!
Want more help? Need more hands on assistance? Get in touch we do YouTube Coaching >>
Although a relatively new phenomenon, social media is rapidly turning into a vital part of the modern marketing mix. Speaking of the so-called social media revolution, nowadays managing a flexible presence on each of the BIG THREE (Facebook, Twitter and Google+), has become a MUST for any marketer striving to bring his or her business up to speed.
What better proof than 665 million of daily active users on Facebook and over 500 million registered accounts on Twitter? Lacking social profiles on platforms such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Stumbleupon, and Reddit would be a strategic miss for those companies looking to reach greater exposure in the digital market.
Here are some quick facts showing the tremendous role of social media in today’s business world…
A significant 86% of marketers said that social media was important to their businesses.
By spending as little as 6 hours per week, 64%+ of marketers see lead generation benefits with social media.
75% of marketers reporting positive results in terms of traffic increase as one of the major benefits of social media.
A significant 89% of all businesses that have a dedicated social media platform as part of their marketing strategy reported an increase in their market exposure.
Handling a strong social media presence is an efficient way to build your company’s reputation and showcase your business. By regularly updating your prospects on all the brand and social happenings, they subconsciously start to view your company as an authority.
Once you define your business objective “whether creating brand awareness, relationship building ordriving new sales“ you can work in parallel on all of them. It is just a question of how well you will manage to position your business on the major social media networks.
2. Develop a loyal community of prospects
In reality people simply enjoy being part of a business that is proactively building a lively community. Studies have discovered that customers would purchase from businesses with an active Facebook fan page rather than without.
An emotional connection with your prospects will vouch for your positive business reputation. Community strength is a very powerful branding force, and social media offers exactly this kind of relationship-building opportunity that is virtually limitless.
From a marketing perspective, it delivers the best chances for brands to create a massive community of loyal and active customers.
Social media leads to massive exposure due to its worldwide access, sharing capabilities, and huge amount of daily users. It delivers instant information in the digital marketplace, thus giving businesses the ability to advertise their products, going beyond distance.
Statistics have proven that interacting in social media networks even 2-3 times per week can significantly increase your online presence in both the traditional and digital market space, while you are building new relationships outside the four walls of your office.
4. Enhance company trustworthiness
Social media channels are proactive tools when it comes to increasing your company trustworthiness.
By closely communicating with your clients on a social media level, you become a trusted source of information which makes it a great asset when creating company awareness and brand credibility. Social media can be a great source of customer service, transforming negative customers experience into a positive outcome for your business.
Always keep in mind that customer satisfaction is the key to retention and in the long run it is loyalty awarding to your brand.
5. Expand sales
Getting speed access to consumers feedback is undoubtedly going to jump-start your sales results.
Prospects are more likely to become customers if you respond to their specific requirements in a prompt and personal manner. Social media helps you easily discover your customers preferences so that you can: focus on meeting their special needs and expectations, gain proficiency in that exact niche, excel your product list, and research your competitors.
Believe it or not, this will do the trick for your business and will monetize your efforts.
6. Boost traffic and search engine ranking
Social media channels are major generators, constantly bringing high volume of traffic to your webpage. That has brought to life the idea of integrating social media to companies websites as a way to convert leads into prospects.
Website builders, such as WordPress, now offer an option to connect your page with social media and share your business updates with a click. The more channels you participate in, the more the traffic to be reached online. In regard to the search engine benefits, the truth is that Google likes social media. In recent years, the search giant has allowed live tweets from Twitter to appear in search results, together with personal profiles and Facebook business pages.
Businesses can easily use that privilege by optimizing keywords in the title and description in a way that reflects the search queries. Combining SEO efforts with social media will become a powerful mix to help maximize your marketing efforts.
7. Cut marketing costs
Social media marketing is one of the most affordable ways to brand your business. In the past years it has solidly taken over traditional print marketing and advertising.
Promoting your products on social media platforms will increase your return on investment (ROI). With a strong social media strategy you can achieve business miracles in the market. Using social media lets your advertising opportunities grow exponentially, while energizing your PR efforts without a huge money and time commitment.
Social media has become an imperative for all brands looking to be a part of the digital market and create buzz around their business. Although the importance of social media in today’s business landscape is indisputable, businesses are still not making the most of its full potential. It simply takes creativity, passion, and consistency to keep your social media campaigns ruling and rolling.
Regardless of the serious competition, there are millions of people waiting to be reached.
Don’t let your competitors beat you out in the socialsphere. Your next prospect could possibly come from social media.
Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube
Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.
1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search
I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.
When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.
Big mistake!
I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.
That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.
Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.
3. Rev.com helps people read my videos
You can’t always listen to a video.
Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.
This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.
A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.
4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube
I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.
I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.
That is why I could not live on YouTube without someone like PlaceIT. They offer custom YouTube Banners, Avatars, YouTube Video Intros and YouTube End Screen Templates that are easy to edit with simple click, upload wizard to help you make amazing professional graphics in minutes.
5. StoryBlocks helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways
I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.
And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.
I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.
I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the StoryBlocks website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.
When you’re designing your website, one of the first things to consider is how you will grab your visitors’ attention. For example, your homepage, header and template are just some of the aspects of your site that you can customize to really leave a lasting impression. You can use animation, parallax scrolling and lightboxes to really wow and woo your visitors so they keep surfing your site. There are so many web design tips and tricks you can easily implement and we’ve compiled some unbelievable WordPress websites to help inspire you to take your website to a whole new level.
The Power of Animation – Web Design Tips
Footwear designer, Tamar Shalem, uses the power of animation to really hook her site visitors. The minute you arrive to her website, you quickly realize it’s not just another shoe store. From an animated header with adorable menu icons, to the snazzy, moving shoes and flashing message indicating her blowout sale, it’s safe to say we won’t forget about this online store.
Captivating video backgrounds – Web Design Tips
This website, a full service concrete specialist service provider, features a unique video background specific to their business. If you want to make sure your site visitors understand what your business is all about, try adding a video background or a little bit of animation to your website. Be sure to choose media that accurately represents what you do or is vague enough to keep your visitors curious.
The alluring effect of parallax scrolling – Web Design Tips
Adding dimension to your site is a great way to lure your visitors in. Take notes on this fashion photography website that incorporated a parallax scrolling effect. Parallax refers to the popular scrolling effect when your website background image moves slower than an image placed in the foreground. Here at HD1, we just can’t get enough of parallax scrolling and this website is just one example of parallax implemented to perfection!
The thousand word gallery – Web Design Tips
Since images are often far more powerful than words, a beautiful gallery within your website is an excellent way to demonstrate what you do and capture your visitor’s attention right away. Photographer Joern Pollex artfully uses a gallery to show the breadth of his photography skills.
The clever duet between text and image
Can you make your visitors laugh within seconds of viewing your site? If so, you’re sure to get them interested in you and your brand. This website implemented a brilliant collaboration of text and image to make an instant and lasting impression.
Include high quality images
You don’t have to have a photography portfolio to have high quality images. As we’ve stressed, a photo gallery is the ultimate way to appeal to your site visitors. From an impressive full-screen image on his homepage, to a breathtaking photo gallery, Dory Younes transported us into his world in minutes. Another neat trick? Fixed headers. Fixed headers stay put at the top of the page, even as your site visitors scroll downwards. This nifty trick is great for your UX, or user experience, since it helps users easily navigate your site.
The musical header
We talked about having a video background or animation that clearly shows off the purpose of your website. On the same token, if you’re a musician, why not greet your site visitors with a taste of your music? Musician Mickey Factz has one of the most creative headers we’ve ever come across. A personal touch like this goes a long way.
A splash of colour
This Florida-based beauty salon used a few different elements in their website that make it a total success. From a logo that stays put (and always reverts back to their homepage) to an attractive turquoise overlay, their website is striking and fierce, like a hair salon’s site should be. Bonus? Their informative blog!
Just like there are a things you can do to increase the likelihood of success in YouTube (including YouTube SEO Tactics), But, there are also many youtube mistakes which are commonly overlooked and avoiding these mistakes can help increase your chances for success within YouTube.
Terabrite on Vlogging (Personal Vlog Channels – YouTube Mistakes)
If you’re a looking to create a vlog on YouTube, you may be thinking that it’s you’re going to get famous vlogging. That’s not how it works. There are a few things that you can do to increase volume which will help you reach that goal.
1)Have a main channel where you do something like music, skits, comedy, or something. 2)Make your vlogging channel unique, so as to stand out from all the other bloggers. 3)Try humor or something else to keep your viewers interest.
The Fine Brothers (How to Annoy Established YouTubers – YouTube Mistakes)
4) Don’t steal or just copy other people’s tags, descriptions, or titles for your video. Many new YouTubers will copy the metadata from a successful video verbatim in the hopes that they will rank similarly, as often times with the hope that the original YouTuber will take notice and be honored that you found their work to be well optimized. In reality, you will end up annoying these people that you look up to, and they may never want to talk to you as a result. Not a good approach for attempting to become connected to a YouTube influencer.
5) Don’t just keep putting up videos on your channel over and over when nothing’s happening.
You may have 100 views, 200 views, 300 views, or even 4,000 views, but what you really need to be doing is developing one skill. Then collaborate with people who have more subscribers, but less skill. For example if you’re a really good 3D artist and go to someone with 10,000 subscribers and say let them know it. Tell them you can do something 3D for them. Maybe they do composing. You can suggest that if you do a 3D for them, they can mention you in their video. Just doing an amazing video and putting it up on your channel will probably not bring you the success you want. Collaborating with the community is a good way to start.
6) Don’t try to be someone else.
Originality is important, but being yourself and don’t just follow a trend. If you do, it just adds you to the crowd. If you are the needle in a haystack, it’s difficult to stand out. You should focus on originality and create something that will make you stand out.
7) In the description box, don’t forget to have hyperlinks.
Some people have their YouTube accounts set up, but they don’t have their Facebook or Twitter linked in the description box. It is important to have a hyperlink, which is a link they can easily click, because people want to click it and go right to the page. They really don’t have the time to just copy, paste and put it in the browsers.
8) Don’t make everything long – YouTube Mistakes
It is best to keep things short.
9) Don’t forget to have a Subscribe button at the end.
You want people to subscribe to you.
10) Don’t do something just because you think it might get views.
Do content that you care about. Do something that really interests you, and make sure you find your voice. Don’t be one of those people who just show up once in a while. Have a long-term plan and don’t say, “If it doesn’t happen within a couple of months, I’m not going to do this.” Show up consistently and work on your craft. Think long-term and focus.
11) Don’t forget to watch other stuff. Watch stuff that you love. A lot of people on YouTube, when they’re starting out, don’t watch other stuff. Watch your peers. Watch the people that inspire you. And I just think if you find your voice and you’re authentic and you keep stuff relatively short, you can do some good work and you hopefully will succeed.
Success on YouTube is not going to happen your first week and it’s not going to happen without creating unique content that you’re passionate about, and that is distributed in a strategic way. It’s going to take some time, but these tips will hopefully help make success easier for you.
In 2012, YouTube began de-monetizing non advertiser friendly videos based on new advertising-friendly guidelines. This is not done by people, but by an algorithm that looked at the metadata of videos and other factors to decide whether it is likely to be something an advertiser wouldn’t want to be associated with.
Over the last five years, this advertiser friendly algorithm has regularly removed videos from the pool of advertised-upon content. However, when much of the YouTube community started looking into this process after it hit the news in August 2016, they realized that the algorithm can be over-sensitive. Creators provided examples of videos that talk about subjects like depression, LGBT rights, world events and news, acne scars, refugees, antibiotics, and more, which were deemed advertiser-unfriendly and de-monetized. Many of these videos, when reviewed by a human, were manually granted monetization.
What is Advertiser Friendly? Advertising-Friendly Guidelines
YouTube’s guidelines cast a broad net (a little too broad, in my opinion).
Sexually suggestive content, including partial nudity and sexual humor
Violence, including display of serious injury and events related to violent extremism
Inappropriate language, including harassment, swearing and vulgar language
Promotion of drugs and regulated substances, including selling, use and abuse of such items
Controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown
While the exact criteria aren’t known, key words in title & tags seem to play a significant role. For example, the channel “Healthcare Triage,” which talks about healthcare policy realized they had 27 videos flagged because–in talking about prescription drug costs, the opioid epidemic, and treatments for diabetes–the algorithm thought those videos were celebrating illegal drug use. This was possibly due to the tag “drugs.”
WHY DOES YOUTUBE DO THIS?
YouTube needs to create a brand-safe (advertiser friendly) environment in order to maintain and grow the platform, including the Adsense monetization that creators benefit from. They need to be able to guarantee to blue chip companies that there is control over what their brand appears alongside. The Internet Creators Guild is aligned in finding ways to increase ad rates in order to make careers for professional online creators more sustainable. However, we expressed some concern about this issue and suggested (1) more human spot checks (2) an easier way to sort and review in video manager (3) refining the algorithm.
NOTIFICATIONS & APPEAL
Whereas it was previously unclear if a video had been demonetized, YouTube started rolling out features in 2016 in order to:
Let you know when a video has been de-monetized.
Show a notice next to all de-monetized videos.
Allow you to request a manual review of a de-monetized video.
Re-monetize videos that the appeal process finds to be not in violation of YouTube’s ad-friendly policy.
When your video is de-monetized, this little yellow $ shows up.
Based on the ICG’s investigations, it looks as if re-monetization (if it happens) occurs in between 12 and 24 hours after a manual review is requested.
According to a YouTube representative, overall, less than 1% of partner videos have been de-monetized, and the appeal process is currently taking around 24 hours with a high rate of re-monetization.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW AS A CREATOR?
It’s not the case that YouTube won’t be monetizing channels that cover current events or world news. But it’s worth being aware that creators who speak on sensitive subjects may be particularly affected by the algorithm erroneously de-monetizing videos.
Erroneous de-monetization will always result in lost income. Even now that the notification & appeals process is in place, a video could still be de-monetized for hours or days after upload while the manual review is pending. That could particularly hit hard at timely or viral content (which often means news-related and sensitive-subject videos).
We hope the new appeals process can help YouTube refine this system. In gathering data on videos that creators are submitting for manual review and studying what gets re-instated, the platform has the opportunity to refine the algorithm.
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How does the YouTube decide which YouTube Adverts play on your videos?
Turns out YouTube Adverts work a lot like Google and Facebook ads do. Like on other free sites, the advertisers help fund the YouTube experience in return for exposure to ads. You’ll see certain ads over others because of your demographic groups, your interests (which is judged in part by what you search on Google and YouTube) and the content you’ve viewed before, including whether or not you’ve interacted with the advertiser’s videos, ads, or YouTube channel.
YouTube Adverts algorithms also try to make sure that people aren’t overloaded with ads while watching videos — so it actually sometimes won’t show ads on monetizable videos, even when there’s a demographic match.
Here are the five ad formats you can expect to see on YouTube, and how they work:
a) YouTube Adverts – Display ads, which show up next to the video and only appear only on desktop and laptop computers. The advertiser gets paid when you see or click on the ad, depending on their selection.
b) YouTube Adverts – Overlay ads, which appear across the bottom 20% of the video window and currently only appears only on desktop and laptop computers. You can X out of the ad at any time.
c) YouTube Adverts – TrueView in-stream, skippable video ads, which are most common ads. These are the ones you can skip after watching for five seconds. Advertisers can put it before, during (yikes!), or after the video plays, and they get paid only if you watch at least 30 seconds of the clip or to the end of the video ad — whichever comes first.
d) YouTube Adverts – Non-skippable video ads, which are those longer, 15-or-more-second ads you see before plays and can’t skip after any period of time, no matter how much you shout at your screen.
e) YouTube Adverts – Midroll ads, which are ads that are only available for videos over 15 minutes long that are spaced within the video like TV commercials. You need to watch the ad before continuing through the video. How the advertiser gets paid depends on the type of ad: If the midroll is a TrueView ad, then you’d have to watch 30 seconds of the end or the entire ad — whichever is shorter. If it’s a CPM-based ad, then you have to watch the entire ad no matter how long it is.
f) YouTube Adverts – Bumper ads, which are short- non-skippable ads up to six seconds long that play before the video the viewer has selected. Bumper ads are optimized for mobile devices and must be watched in their entirety before viewers can progress to the video they want to view.
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Live streaming video has been a big topic of conversation for the past few years. Live Stream On YouTube has seen massive growth, especially in the past few years with the advent of Twitter’s Periscope, Facebook Live, and Instagram live videos.
Live streaming on YouTube is a little more complex (and confusing) than live streaming using these other platforms, though. On YouTube’s easier streaming option, there’s no simple “start” button; instead, you actually have to download encoding software and set it up to use live streaming at all. Luckily, YouTube has easy-to-follow instructions for how to do just that.
If you want to Live Stream On YouTube a live event, though, all you need is a webcam. We’ll get to that in a second.
Live Stream On YouTube From Your Desktop Computer
Log in to YouTube and click the “Upload” button at the top right of your screen. Normally, this is where you’d upload a pre-existing video — but instead, you’ll want to find the “Live Streaming” module on the right-hand side of your screen. Click “Get Started” in that module.
Before you go live, YouTube will first confirm that your channel is verified and that you have no live stream restrictions in the last 90 days. Once that’s all set, you have two options for streaming: “Stream now” and “Live Events.”
Stream Now – Live Stream On YouTube
Stream Now is the simpler, quicker option for live streaming, which is why it’s YouTube’s default for live streaming. You’ll see a fancy dashboard like the one below when you choose “Live Streaming” on the left-hand Creator Studio menu:
Again, you’ll notice there’s no “start” button on the dashboard. This is where you’ll need to open your encoder and start and stop your streaming from there. Here’s YouTube’s Live Streaming FAQ page for more detailed information.
Live Events – Live Stream On YouTube
Live Events gives you a lot more control over the live stream. You can preview it before it goes live, it’ll give you backup redundancy streams, and you can start and stop the stream when you want.
Choose “Live Events” from your live streaming dashboard once you’ve enabled it. Here’s what the events dashboard looks like, and you can learn more about it here.
When you stop streaming, we’ll automatically upload an archive of your live stream to your channel. Note that your completed live stream videos are automatically made public on your channel by default as soon as you’re done recording. To make them disappear from the public eye once you’re done, you can select “Make archive private when complete” in the “Stream Options” section of your live dashboard.
Live Stream On YouTube From Your Mobile Device
YouTube has also rolled out live streaming from mobile devices for YouTube creators with 10,000 or more subscribers (as of the date of this posting — that will be available to all creators soon, according to YouTube’s blog post).
Live streaming is more intuitive from mobile devices than on desktop computers. Qualified creators can simply open their YouTube app on mobile, tap the camera icon at the top of the screen, and choose “Go Live”.
From there, creators can enter details about the broadcast before immediately recording live for their subscribers, as shown below:
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Want to add some cool sound effects or music to your YouTube video (or any video)? Royalty Free Music, YouTube is there for you. It has a whole library of high-quality, 320kbps audio tracks and sound effects that you can download royalty-free and add to your videos. (Or listen to in your free time. We won’t judge.)
To add royalty free music or sound effects to your video: Open YouTube’s Audio Library by clicking here or opening your Creator Studio, clicking “Create” in the menu on the left-hand side, and choosing “Audio Library.”
Now, the fun begins. By default, it’ll start you on the “Sound effects” tab. Here, you can search sounds using the search bar, like I did in the screenshot below for motorcycle sounds.
You can also toggle by category (everything from human voices to weather sounds) or scroll through favorites that you’ve starred in the past. For easy access in the future, select the star to add the track to your Favorites. The bars next to the songs show how popular a track is.
If you switch over to the “Music” bar, you can browse through all of its Royalty Free Music. You won’t find the Beatles in here, but you will find some good stuff — like suspenseful music, uplifting music, holiday music, jazz, and more. Instead of toggling by category, you can toggle by genre, mood, instrument, duration, and so on.
(Note: Some of the Royalty Free Music files in there may have additional attribution requirements you have to follow, but those are pretty clearly laid out on a song-by-song-basis. You can learn more on YouTube’s Support page here.)
Once you’ve found a track you like, click the arrow to download it and it’ll download directly to your computer as an MP3 file. Then, you can do whatever you want with it.
Increase Video Engagement with YouTube End Screens and Cards
Over the last 10 years mobile browsing has seen a huge shift towards mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. New websites are now built with Responsive Website Design in mind to maximise the traffic engagement you can get from mobile smart device users. YouTube has also seen a massive boost in smartphone and tablet views and now you can add YouTube End Screens and YouTube Mobile Cards (YouTube Cards) to grab mobile viewers and get them to interact. This blog is here to help you get the most out of YouTube End Screens and Cards!
Do your favorite YouTube creators have a fancy closing screen that encourages you to keep watching their videos? For example, here’s one from Saturday Night Live:
You can create a customized end screen, too. They help keep viewers on your channel by suggesting other videos and sites they can check out. Here’s how to do it:
Navigate to your Video Manager, tap “Edit,” and select “End screen & Annotations” from the drop-down menu:
From there, you’re taken to the End screen creator studio, where you can play around with different templates and background to determine how you want your end screen to appear. Then, click the “Add element” menu to decide where you want to send viewers from your end screen.
Any YouTube creators can add an end screen to customize their channels. Here’s an explainer article with more details and inspiration ideas.
How to Add a YouTube Mobile Card (YouTube Cards)
You can use cards to advertise products used in your videos or links on your website you want to market on YouTube. If viewers tap the “i” in the upper-right hand corner of a video, the cards expand, as in the example below:
To add a card to a YouTube video, head to your Video Manager, tap “Edit,” and select “Cards” from the drop-down menu.
Then, choose where in the video you want cards to appear, and tap the “Add card” drop-down menu to choose what you want the card to promote. From there, customize the content that will appear to viewers when they tap the “i” while viewing your video:
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YouTube Playlists – The secret powerful YouTube Hack
Just like on your other favorite media sharing sites like Spotify and iTunes, you can create a “playlist” on YouTube (YouTube Playlists) — which is really just a place to store and organize the videos (your own and others’). You can keep YouTube playlists private, make them public, or even share them directly with others.
YouTube Playlists are useful for a variety of different types of users, from an individual collecting cooking videos for their upcoming dinner party to a brand segmenting its YouTube video content by topic. For example, Tasty’s YouTube playlists break up recipes by meal type, making it easier for people to browse and find what they’re looking for:
To create a playlist on desktop: Go to your Playlists page by clicking here or clicking your account icon in the top right, choosing “Creator Studio,” clicking “Video Manager” on the left, and choosing “Playlists.” Then, click “New Playlist” on the top right and choose whether you’d like to keep it private or make it public.
To create a playlist on mobile: Click here for instructions explaining how to create new playlists using your iOS or Android mobile devices.
To add a video to a playlist: If you’re adding a video to a playlist while you’re watching it, click the “Add to” icon below the video title and check the box next to the playlist you’d like to add it to.
If you want to add a video to a playlist right from your Playlists page, simply click “Add Video” and either paste in a video URL, choose a video from your uploads, or search for a video on YouTube. Once you find the video you want to add, select the “Add to” menu from that video and add it to the playlist.
Your friends can contribute to your playlists, too. All you have to do is turn on the ability to collaborate on playlists. Once you turn it on, anyone you share a playlist link with can add videos to that playlist. (They can also remove any videos they’ve added, too.)
To add friends to a playlist: Go to your Playlists page again and open the playlist you want to collaborate on. Click “Playlist Settings” and choose the “Collaborate” tag. Toggle on that collaborators can add videos to the playlist, and from there, you can send them a link where they can add videos to the playlist.
Once your friend’s been invited to a playlist, they’ll be able to add new videos to it and remove videos they’ve added in the past. They just have to follow some on-screen instructions first to confirm they want to be a contributor and to save the playlist to their own account.
When you add a video to a playlist you’re collaborating on, your name will appear next to the video in the playlist, and everyone who’s been invited to collaborate on that playlist will get a notification that a new video has been added.
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YouTubers are sometimes called the most well a paid people, when you see YouTubers like PewDiePie raking in millions as reported by mainstream media from making videos in his bedroom somewhere. What the mainstream media dont get is that its a passionbut its also a full-time job based on views and CPM to generate ideas, record and edit the video – So how to you Increase YouTube CPM?
Its a dream of many YouTubers to one day become a full time YouTuber and to achieve that they need to be making enough money from YouTube to sustain themselves.
CPM stands for Cost per mille which means cost per 1000 views on a video and YouTubers can see their CPM in their adsense earnings reports. When an advertiser starts advertising campaign they can pay per 1000 views of the ad or cost per click on the advert. Therefore if the advertisers CPM was set to a max of $1 per 1000 views, and 900 of your viewers saw the advert they would pay $0.9 theoretically.
Introducing eCPM
eCPM is the effective cost per mille basically the same as CPM but is the cost for every 1000th ad view or impression regardless of what buying method of advertisements is being used for example Fixed, Cost per click, cost per action or CPM.
For example you run a CPC campaign with a cost of $1 per click, you get 200 clicks on the advert but 2000 impressions on the advert. the eCPM is $100 dollars because you made $200 from 2000 impressions. If it was a CPM advertisement and the price you paid was $5 per 1000 views the eCPM would be $10.
How to Improve CPM – Increase YouTube CPM
There are a few ways to improve your CPM (Increase YouTube CPM) on YouTube from targeting high CPC keywords, increasing engagement and watch time and making more videos which I will explain a bit more below.
1. Target strong CPC keywords – Focus your content to Increase YouTube CPM
This is a great way to increase your eCPM rates, Increase YouTube CPM. Since you are paid with a mixture of CPM and CPC adverts on YouTube This is a sure way to increase your income. So each keyword has a value which is assigned by advertisers that ‘bid’ on that keyword with the price they want to pay per click or per impression. If you make a video on Favourite Dog Collars for example, and the cpc of a dogs advertisement is 0.5 cent, you will earn 0.5 cent per click or have a cpm of $1.20 per thousand views then you will earn $1.20.
You can find the CPM of keywords that are related to your video on the google keyword tool. You will need a google account and signed up for Adwords, Googles Advertising platform which is free to sign up to.
If you’re solely focused on making money you may want to research keywords before you make a video. Eg. Looking up video ideas on Insurance, finding the highest keyword such as “Bluewater insurance which has a CPC value of 4.50” You might make a video on Bluewater Insurance – My Experience/Review. Now this may not get a ton of views but the CPC/CPM will be quite high due to advertisers paying high amounts for insurance keywords.
I would not recommend switching from your niche area to accommodate CPC. You cant go from being an established beauty blogger with a ton of subscribers to becoming an insurance reviewer as you will lose your audience and will get negative feedback. So try and stay within your niche area as much as possible, although you can deviate if it relates someway to the niche or just a “Storytime/experience” video which have gotten very common.
2. Increase your watch time and user engagement rates – Quality = Increase YouTube CPM
Watch Time. I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, watch time and engagement rates are vital for CPM. The better the engagement, the more likely google is to serve higher paying ads to your video as they see that your video has a good active audience who are paying attention.
3. Create more content – More videos = Increase YouTube CPM
Now this is a no brainer, the more content you have the more views you will bring in cumulatively. This will Increase YouTube CPM without a doubt. Create a content schedule of daily videos or a video every 2-3 days. This will allow your channel and your revenue to grow effectively. Don’t post a flood of videos as it looks spammy and may not get the attention it needs from your subscribers.
My CPM Is going down, whats happening? Seasonal Boosts to Increase YouTube CPM
CPM is determined purely by advertisers and which ads are being served to your video. Ad budgets are usually a lot lower at the start of the year, don’t worry about this.Ad budgets pick up around the summer time and towards Christmas you will see the highest CPM/CPC rates due to holiday advertising.
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Make a Sponsored YouTube Video Without Getting in Trouble
For many YouTubers, getting the chance to review or get a free product in a Sponsored YouTube Video and maybe even get paid from a third party sounds too good to pass up! In the past few years we have seen YouTubers become influencers with hundreds of thousands to millions of subscribers in their respective spaces such as technology, gaming, beauty and more. Advertisers and companies are attracted to YouTubers now as they captivate an audience (Subscribers) they want to target. There are a few things you should consider before taking a product placement or engaging in a sponsored video!
Emma Blackery and Luke Cutforth’s Oreo Licking Race – YouTube 2014
1. Promotion Aligns with Audience – Sponsored YouTube Video Integration
Make sure the Sponsored YouTube Video product aligns correctly with your audience. The first thing you should do when getting involved with some sort of a sponsored video is to make sure it aligns with the interests of your audience. Let’s say you’re a beauty YouTuber and you get a vacuum cleaner to review. This does not align well with the interests of your audience as they are only interested in seeing beauty related videos. Therefore if accepting a product placement or speaking about a product make sure it holds the interest of your audience as it is better for the advertiser involved and you as the video will still receive good feedback from viewers.
2. Promotion Disclosure – Be open about Sponsored YouTube Video
Disclose that you got the Sponsored YouTube Video product for free or are getting paid by the company. This is one of the major guidelines. You must disclosed that the video is sponsored by a company or you got the product for free to review at the start of the video. You may not know but this is actually law. YouTube paid promotions are covered by a law called the FTC act and Lanham act which covers the promotion itself and false advertising. The FTC guidelines state that you must make the relationship to the company known to the viewers and make the disclosure clear and conspicuous. What they mean by clear and conspicuous is by telling the viewers straight up in a simple fashion without any confusion or misleading words, it also means that this disclosure should be at the start of the video and not at the end where nearly most of the audience drop off. So something simple like “This is a paid review” “Company X was kind enough to send me this product to review for free”
3. Be Honest – Sponsored YouTube Video Etiquette
Be completely brutally honest, don’t get blinded by money. This Sponsored YouTube Video guideline is purely to help you retain your audience. Disclose in the video that even though you got the product for free that you will be objective with your criticisms and unbiased. If you seem too promotion orientated, telling your subscribers that the product is amazing in a bid to promote it for more $$ but the product is really sub par and not at all as advertised, you are going to get really bad feedback from your viewers which may result in a bad reputation on your part and losing the trust you have built up with your audience.
4. Read the Contracts and Agreements – Sponsored YouTube Video Rules
Read the Sponsored YouTube Video contractual agreement thoroughly before entering into the promotion. If you are offered a sponsorship with a company, they will more than likely provide a contract. Be sure that you read the contract thoroughly and make sure all the guidelines of the contract comply with firstly your ethics and obviously FTC Guidelines. For example that you are allowed to disclose you are getting paid for this sponsored video and you can express your unbiased opinion
Have YouTubers Gotten In Trouble With the FTC?
Yes, In 2016 Warner brothers contacted a few large youtubers including the one and only pewdiepie to promote their game, the shadows of mordor. They paid these youtubers to review the game on their YouTube but they provided strict guidelines for the reviews of the game so that the youtubers couldn’t talk about any glitches or bugs in the game, talk negatively about the games such as aspects of it you didn’t like and pushing a call to action where you got your viewers to go to the site to sign up for the game. The FTC and Warner Bros did reach a settlement on the issue but the FTC Advised that “Consumers have the right to know if reviewers are providing their own opinions or paid sales pitches. Companies like Warner Brothers need to be straight with consumers in their online ad campaigns.”
What are the consequences for not disclosing product placements or sponsored videos. When the FTC receives complaints or manually reviews your video, if it finds a reason that your video is violating the law, you may get a warning to remove the video or change the content but if this is not met you could get a fine of up to $16,000 per violation of the FTC law.
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Subscribers don’t come from luck — they come from a strategy.
Gaining subscribers is harder than ever: there’s more competition, and viewers are pickier about who they follow. The good news is that the channels who grow all do the same handful of things well. This is the complete 2026 growth strategy — from giving people a reason to subscribe, to Shorts, promotion, collaboration and turning those subscribers into income.
▶️ Why your uploads aren’t converting viewers into subscribers
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 from zero to thriving subscriber bases.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: How do I gain YouTube subscribers?
Give people a clear reason to subscribe by making content around a consistent theme, then help new viewers find you with strong titles, thumbnails and Shorts. Ask for the subscribe, promote your videos where your audience is, collaborate with other creators, stay consistent, and build a genuine community. Subscribers are the reward for being a channel worth following.
Why Everyone Needs a Growth Strategy
Gaining subscribers is getting harder as more creators enter the scene and viewers get pickier — nobody wants to be bombarded with content they’re not interested in. That’s exactly why a scattergun approach fails and a clear strategy wins. When you know who you’re for, what you offer, and how you’ll reach them, every upload pulls in the same direction. The tactics below aren’t a menu to pick one from; they work together as a system.
Give People a Clear Reason to Subscribe
Here’s the single biggest reason viewers don’t subscribe: they can’t tell what they’re signing up for. Subscribing is a promise — “show me more like this” — so your channel needs a consistent theme that makes that promise obvious. If someone enjoys one video, they should be able to glance at your channel and instantly know they’ll get more of what they just liked.
This doesn’t mean making the same video over and over. It means every video ladders up to a clear identity, so your audience always knows what your channel stands for. Get this right and everything else below works far harder.
Brand Your Channel
First impressions decide whether a curious viewer sticks around. A polished channel signals “this is worth following.” Make the most of YouTube’s customisation options:
A tidy channel layout with sections and featured content, so visitors immediately see your best work.
Consistent visual identity across thumbnails so your videos are instantly recognisable in the feed.
Optimise for Discovery
You can’t gain subscribers who never find you. Getting discovered comes down to earning the click and being understood by YouTube’s search and suggestion systems:
Titles that promise a clear payoff — see writing titles.
Search optimisation so the right viewers find you — see my full YouTube SEO guide.
Use Shorts to Reach New Subscribers
This is the biggest change since channels first learned to grow: Shorts are now the fastest way to get in front of people who’ve never heard of you. The Shorts feed pushes your vertical videos to brand-new viewers regardless of your subscriber count, making it a powerful top-of-funnel. Post Shorts to get discovered, then convert that attention — point viewers to your long-form content and give them a reason to subscribe. My guide to YouTube Shorts covers how to use them well.
Ask for the Subscribe
It sounds obvious, but most creators either forget or do it badly: ask people to subscribe. The trick is timing and sincerity. Don’t beg in the first five seconds before you’ve earned it — deliver value first, then ask at a natural high point, briefly explaining what they’ll get by subscribing. Reinforce it with End Screens that prompt the subscribe as your video ends and viewers are most convinced.
Promote and Distribute Your Videos
Don’t just upload and hope. Getting your videos in front of people early builds the momentum YouTube rewards, and it puts you in front of potential subscribers beyond the platform:
Communities like Reddit, where relevant and done respectfully.
Social platforms like Twitter/X, meeting your audience where they already are.
Collaborate and Make Friends
One of the most effective growth tactics there is: collaborate. Working with a creator in your niche puts you in front of a warm, relevant audience already primed to like what you do — and it’s mutually beneficial. Be useful to their audience, make it a win for both channels, and treat it as building a real relationship, not a one-off transaction. My collaboration strategy guide shows you how to find, pitch and run collabs that convert.
Be Consistent — Everyone Loves a Regular Show
People subscribe to shows they can rely on. A sustainable upload schedule keeps your audience in the habit of watching and gives the algorithm more chances to promote you. Note “sustainable” — a rhythm you can hold for months beats a burst you burn out on in three weeks. Pick a cadence you can keep, and protect it.
Show Personality and Build Community
People subscribe to people. Your personality is what makes a viewer choose you over the dozen other channels covering your topic, so let it show. Then nurture the relationship: reply to comments, ask questions, and use the Community tab to stay connected between uploads. An engaged community watches longer, comes back sooner, and brings their friends — turning casual viewers into loyal subscribers.
Getting views but not subscribers?
On a free discovery call I’ll find exactly why viewers aren’t subscribing — and give you a plan to fix it.
▶️ Getting views but not subscribers? Here’s how to convert them
Run Giveaways (Carefully)
A well-run giveaway can give your subscriber count a burst and reward your community. The catch is quality: give away something relevant to your niche so you attract real potential fans, not freebie-hunters who unsubscribe the moment it ends. Offer a prize your ideal viewer wants, and you draw in the right people.
Play by the rules: YouTube has official contest policies, and you must follow them (plus local laws) when running a giveaway. Never make subscribing the only way to enter if it breaches those rules, and always disclose the terms clearly. Check YouTube’s current contest policies before you launch.
Turn Subscribers Into Milestones
Subscribers aren’t just a vanity number — they unlock real earning potential as you hit key thresholds:
500 subscribers — unlocks Fan Funding and Shopping features (with some watch time or Shorts activity).
1,000 subscribers — the gateway to the full YouTube Partner Program, alongside your watch hours.
Plus watch hours — 4,000 qualified hours until 31 January 2027, then 8,000 from 1 February 2027, for ad revenue.
Give people a clear reason to subscribe by making content around a consistent theme, then help new viewers find you with strong titles, thumbnails and Shorts. Ask for the subscribe at the right moment, promote your videos where your audience is, collaborate with other creators, stay consistent, and build a genuine community. Subscribers are the reward for being a channel worth following, not a single trick.
Why am I getting views but not subscribers?
Usually it’s because your videos don’t give viewers a clear reason to come back. If someone enjoys one video but can’t tell what your channel is about, they won’t subscribe. Sharpen your theme and promise, actually ask people to subscribe, add a channel trailer for new visitors, and make sure your next videos deliver on what brought them in.
How many subscribers do you need to make money on YouTube?
You can unlock Fan Funding and Shopping features at 500 subscribers, alongside some watch time or Shorts activity. For the full YouTube Partner Program with ad revenue you need 1,000 subscribers plus qualified watch hours — 4,000 until 31 January 2027, then 8,000 from 1 February 2027. Subscribers open the door; watch time and views unlock the ad revenue.
Do YouTube Shorts help you gain subscribers?
Yes. Shorts are shown to people who don’t follow you yet, making them one of the fastest ways to reach new potential subscribers. The key is to convert that reach — use Shorts to get discovered, then guide those viewers to your long-form content and give them a reason to subscribe.
How long does it take to grow YouTube subscribers?
It varies with your niche, consistency and how quickly you improve. Most channels see subscriber growth compound over months of steady uploading rather than overnight. Focus on making each video a little better and giving viewers a clear reason to subscribe, and judge your progress over months, not days.
Should I buy YouTube subscribers?
No. Bought subscribers are fake accounts that never watch, so they tank your engagement rate and tell the algorithm not to promote you. They also don’t count toward monetisation and can get your channel penalised. Always grow real subscribers who actually watch, engage and count toward your goals.
Putting Your Growth Strategy Together
Gaining subscribers isn’t about one clever hack — it’s about stacking the fundamentals: give people a clear reason to subscribe, brand your channel, get discovered through search and Shorts, ask for the subscribe, promote and collaborate, stay consistent, and build a community that feels like home. Do these together and your subscriber count climbs steadily and durably — and before long you’re hitting the milestones that turn a channel into a business. Start with the one you’re weakest at today, and build from there.
Here’s the truth most tag guides won’t tell you: YouTube tags barely matter anymore.
Years ago, stuffing your tags with keywords could move a video up the rankings. Not now. YouTube itself says tags play a minimal role in discovery — so this guide gives you the honest, researched picture: what tags still do, how to use them in 30 seconds flat, and where your optimisation effort should actually go.
▶️ What actually helps you rank — far more than tags
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 optimised for YouTube through every era, including when tags actually were king.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Do YouTube tags still matter?
Barely. YouTube’s own documentation states that tags play a minimal role in your video’s discovery, and that your title, thumbnail and description are far more important. Tags still have a small, supporting purpose — mainly catching misspellings and clarifying ambiguous terms — so add a handful of relevant ones in about 30 seconds, then put your real effort into packaging, content and retention.
What Are YouTube Tags?
YouTube tags are hidden, descriptive keywords you add to a video inside YouTube Studio to help the platform understand its topic. They live in the backend — under “Show more” on the upload page — and viewers never see them. You get up to 500 characters to work with across all your tags.
Crucially, tags are not the same as hashtags (more on that below), and they’re not the ranking powerhouse a lot of older advice — including the original version of this very post — made them out to be. To understand why, you need to know how much has changed.
Do YouTube Tags Still Matter in 2026?
Short version: not much. In YouTube’s early years, tags were one of the main ways the platform worked out what a video was about, which led to rampant tag-stuffing. Since then YouTube has invested heavily in artificial intelligence that effectively watches and listens to your video — reading your speech, recognising objects and scenes, and analysing viewer behaviour — so it no longer needs you to hand-label everything.
The result is stated plainly in YouTube’s own documentation: tags “play a minimal role in your video’s discovery”, with your title, thumbnail and description doing the heavy lifting. The data backs this up: an analysis of more than 100,000 videos by Briggsby found only about a third of top-ranking videos used the target keyword in their tags, versus around 90% that used it in the title. In other words, tags are near the bottom of the priority list — well beneath your title, thumbnail, description, transcript and watch time.
Tags vs Hashtags — Don’t Confuse Them
This trips up a lot of creators. They’re completely different things:
Tags
Hashtags
Hidden backend keywords in Studio
Visible, clickable links in title/description
Viewers never see them
Up to 3 appear above your title
Up to 500 characters total
Added with the # symbol
Minimal discovery impact
More useful — especially for Shorts
One warning on hashtags: a few relevant ones help, but pile on too many and YouTube ignores them all. For Shorts in particular, visible hashtags do more than hidden tags ever will.
What Tags Still Do (The Honest List)
“Minimal” isn’t “zero.” Tags keep a few genuine, if small, uses:
Catching misspellings. Their number-one remaining job — if your topic or name is commonly misspelled, a tag can catch those searches.
Clearing up ambiguity. A tag can signal whether your “Python” video is about the language or the snake.
Helping brand-new channels. With little viewing data, a fresh channel gets a small early signal from tags — but that fades fast once real viewing behaviour kicks in.
Light consistency. Using similar tags across related videos can nudge YouTube to suggest your own videos alongside each other, helping session time.
That’s the full list. Worth 30 seconds — not 30 minutes.
How to Use YouTube Tags Properly
Since they only play a supporting role, keep it quick and clean:
Lead with your focus keyword. Make your exact-match target phrase your first tag.
Add a few related terms. A handful of closely related and long-tail keywords — roughly 8 to 12 tags total is plenty.
Stay relevant. Never add popular-but-unrelated tags to chase trends — that’s metadata abuse, and it can get your video demoted or pulled from search.
Don’t blindly copy competitors. A tag that works for a huge channel won’t carry a small one. Use competitor tags as research, not a copy-paste.
Don’t fill the box for the sake of it. More tags don’t mean more views.
Tools like vidIQ and TubeBuddy can speed up tag and keyword research if you want a hand — just don’t let them turn a 30-second job into an hour.
What Actually Drives Discovery
Here’s where your optimisation time pays off — the elements YouTube really weighs:
Title — keyword-aware and click-worthy. See writing titles.
Thumbnail — half your click-through rate. See the thumbnail guide.
One idea from the old days that’s still true: when you publish, YouTube gives your video an initial test run, showing it to a small slice of likely viewers to see how they respond. If your click-through rate and retention are strong in that window, YouTube expands the audience; if they’re weak, distribution quietly stalls.
Notice what decides it — not your tags, but your packaging and performance. That’s exactly why a click-worthy title and thumbnail plus a strong opening hook matter so much: they’re what win the honeymoon test. Tags won’t save a video that people scroll past.
YouTube Tags: FAQ
Do YouTube tags still matter in 2026?
Only a little. YouTube’s own documentation says tags play a minimal role in your video’s discovery, and that your title, thumbnail and description are far more important. Tags are worth adding in 30 seconds, but they’re a minor supporting element, not the ranking lever they were years ago. Spend your real effort on packaging and content.
How many tags should I use on a YouTube video?
A handful of focused, relevant tags is plenty — roughly 8 to 12 for most videos. You have 500 characters to work with, but filling it isn’t better. Lead with your exact-match focus keyword, add a few closely related and long-tail terms, and stop there. More tags don’t mean more views.
What is the difference between YouTube tags and hashtags?
Tags are hidden backend keywords you add in YouTube Studio — viewers never see them. Hashtags are visible, clickable links you add with the # symbol in your title or description, and up to three can appear above your title. Hashtags matter more than hidden tags, especially for Shorts.
Can bad tags hurt my YouTube video?
Yes. Using irrelevant but popular tags to try to hijack trending traffic is metadata abuse, and YouTube’s systems can demote or even remove your video from search for it. When viewers click in expecting one thing and get another, the poor retention sends a strong negative signal too. Keep tags relevant or leave them out.
What actually helps a YouTube video rank?
The things YouTube weighs: a click-worthy title and thumbnail that earn the click, a clear keyword-aware description, an accurate transcript or captions, and strong watch time and retention. YouTube’s AI now watches and listens to your video to understand it, so your actual content and packaging matter far more than any tag.
Should I copy my competitors’ tags?
No. A tag that works for a channel with 500,000 subscribers won’t do the same for a channel with 500, and blindly copying tags adds irrelevant terms that can do more harm than good. Use competitor tags as light research to spot topics and phrasing, then choose your own relevant ones.
The Bottom Line
YouTube tags aren’t dead, but they’re a shadow of what they once were. YouTube says so itself: they play a minimal role, mostly catching misspellings and clarifying the occasional ambiguous term. So give them 30 honest seconds — a focus keyword and a few relevant terms — then forget about them and pour your energy into the things that move views: a click-worthy title and thumbnail, a clear description, an accurate transcript, and content that keeps people watching. That’s where ranking is won in 2026.
Sources: YouTube’s position on tags is drawn from YouTube’s own creator documentation, as reported by Ahrefs, which also cites the Briggsby analysis of 100,000+ videos. Figures reflect the position as of August 2026 and may change as YouTube updates its systems.
Short answer: no — don’t buy YouTube views or subscribers. It’s worse than a waste of money.
When you’re staring at single-digit numbers, buying a quick boost is tempting. But bought views and subscribers break YouTube’s rules, sabotage the very algorithm you’re trying to win over, and — in 2026 — can’t even count toward monetisation. Here’s exactly why it backfires, and what actually works instead.
▶️ The ugly truth about sub bots and buying subscribers
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 seen exactly what happens to channels that try to buy their way up — and it isn’t pretty.
⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Should you buy YouTube views and subscribers?
No. It breaks YouTube’s Terms of Service, the fake accounts never watch your content so your engagement rate collapses, YouTube regularly removes bought views and subscribers, and it can get your channel penalised or terminated. It also can’t count toward monetisation, since qualified watch hours exclude fake activity. It’s the fastest way to stall a channel — invest in real growth instead.
Is It Safe to Buy YouTube Views and Subscribers?
It’s a natural temptation. A higher view count and subscriber number look impressive, and social proof is real — people are more likely to watch a video that already has plenty of views. So creators buy them hoping to look established and leap ahead. The problem is that the numbers are hollow, and the risks are anything but. Buying views and subscribers is not safe, and in almost every way that matters it leaves you worse off than doing nothing.
It Breaks YouTube’s Terms of Service
Start with the basics: buying views and subscribers is a direct violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service. YouTube’s rules explicitly prohibit artificially inflating metrics through automated or fake means. Break them and you’re exposed to consequences ranging from having the fake numbers stripped out, to community strikes, to losing monetisation, to outright channel termination. You’d be risking a channel you care about to inflate a number that means nothing.
The Real Damage It Does to Your Channel
Even setting the rules aside, buying engagement is self-sabotage. Here’s what actually happens:
Your engagement rate collapses. Fake accounts never watch, like or comment — so 10,000 subscribers who do nothing look far worse to the algorithm than 100 who are active.
The algorithm stops promoting you. YouTube reads that low engagement as “people don’t like this,” and shows your videos to fewer real people.
You waste money. When the fake numbers get purged — and they do — you’re left with nothing but a lighter wallet.
You risk your channel. Strikes, demonetisation and termination are all on the table.
In other words, you pay money to make your channel harder to grow. For the deeper dive, see fake views on YouTube.
It Can’t Even Help You Monetise
Here’s the 2026 nail in the coffin. Many people buy views hoping to hit the YouTube Partner Program thresholds faster. It doesn’t work — because monetisation is based on qualified watch hours and qualified views, which specifically exclude fake, paid, artificial and bot activity.
So bought views and subscribers contribute nothing toward the 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 watch hours you need today — or the higher 8,000 qualified watch hours (or 20 million Shorts views) required from 1 February 2027. Worse, artificial activity linked to your channel can put your monetisation eligibility at risk entirely. Read more on qualified watch hours and views and the 2027 monetisation requirements.
How YouTube Detects Bought Views and Subscribers
People assume they’ll get away with it. They don’t. YouTube continuously audits views and subscribers for signs of automation and fraud — sudden unnatural spikes, accounts with no real activity, engagement that doesn’t match the view count — and purges what it finds. That’s why creators who buy subscribers so often watch their numbers climb and then quietly fall again a few days later. Detection has only become more sophisticated over the years, so assume you’ll be caught. For more, see can YouTube detect fake views.
What to Do Instead
The money and effort you’d spend buying fake numbers will go so much further on real growth:
Earn the click. Strong titles and thumbnails bring real viewers.
Hold attention. A great hook and retention tell YouTube to promote you — for real.
Get discovered with Shorts. The fastest legitimate way to reach new people — see Shorts explained.
Be consistent and engage. Show up regularly and reply to comments to build a real community.
No. It breaks YouTube’s Terms of Service, the fake accounts never watch your content so your engagement rate collapses, YouTube regularly removes bought views and subscribers, and it can get your channel penalised or terminated. It’s the fastest way to stall a channel, not grow one, and it wastes money you could invest in real growth.
Is it safe to buy YouTube subscribers?
No. Beyond breaking the rules, you risk community strikes, demonetisation and even channel termination if YouTube links the activity to you. At best the fake subscribers get purged and you’ve wasted your money; at worst you damage a channel you’ve worked hard to build. There’s no safe way to buy your way up.
Can YouTube detect bought views and subscribers?
Yes. YouTube continually audits views and subscribers for fake and automated activity and removes anything that doesn’t hold up, which is why people who buy subscribers often watch their counts drop again days later. Detection has only got more sophisticated over the years, so assume you will be caught.
Do bought views count toward YouTube monetisation?
No. Monetisation is based on qualified watch hours and qualified views, which specifically exclude fake, paid, artificial and bot activity. So bought views and subscribers can’t help you reach the Partner Program thresholds — including the higher 8,000 watch hours coming in 2027 — and pursuing them can actively put your monetisation at risk.
Will buying subscribers help my channel grow?
No — it does the opposite. Fake subscribers never watch, like or comment, so your engagement rate plummets. That tells YouTube’s algorithm your videos aren’t worth showing to real people, so your genuine reach shrinks. You end up with a big vanity number and a channel that grows more slowly than if you’d done nothing.
What should I do instead of buying views?
Invest that time and money in real growth: strong titles and thumbnails to earn clicks, a great hook to hold retention, Shorts to get discovered, consistency, and engaging with your community. Real viewers are the only ones who count toward your growth, your monetisation and your income — so they’re the only ones worth chasing.
The Bottom Line
Buying YouTube views and subscribers is a trap dressed up as a shortcut. It breaks the rules, guts your engagement, gets detected and purged, can’t count toward a penny of monetisation, and quietly makes your channel harder to grow. Every pound and every hour you’d spend on fake numbers will go infinitely further on real content and real viewers. Skip the shortcut, build something genuine, and you’ll end up with the one thing bought numbers can never give you: a channel that actually works.
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If you’re a looking to create a vlog on YouTube, you may be thinking that it’s you’re going to get famous vlogging. That’s not how it works. There are a few things that you can do to increase volume which will help you reach that goal.
