Category: YOUTUBE

How Can You Monetize a Site – Blog vs YouTube Earnings

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 6 January 2022

YouTube and blogging are two powerful ways to earn a fairly passive income online. YouTube is a visual platform that relies on video content while blogging gives you a little more licence to deep dive into ideas with writing, images and videos blended into a comprehensive article.

But how can you monetize your youtube channel and blogs, and what one is more profitable?

Lets look into making money online in the first place. You can make your site a profitable business by monetizing it in the following ways:

Affiliate Marketing

It’s one of the most popular ways that bloggers use to make money. with this type of marketing, you need to promote certain products that belong to other businesses. So, every time a person buys the product through your affiliate link, you earn a commission.

Some of the most popular affiliate programs include:

Amazon associates
Commission junction
ShareASale

Publish Sponsored Blog Posts

You can get paid to write and publish a blog post on your site. This is simply sponsored content, and it offers one of the best ways to improve your blog monetization strategy. A business organization, company, or individual can pay to create content about their products. In some instances, they might prepare the content themselves and then give you for publication. Some of the best blogger networks that can provide you with such opportunities include:

BlogDash
ValuedVoice

Sell Ad Space

If you have ad space on your site, you can sell it at a set price to an interested buyer. This sounds better than getting a small amount of money every time someone clicks on your ad, and you simply charge a flat rate.

Write Product Review

Once you have built your site and become a reputable writer, you can get paid to write reviews. You can try out a sponsored product, write a product review about it, and get paid to do that job. But it’s important to find a niche that you understand and products relevant to your audience. For instance, if your blog is about health and fitness, it will make sense to review supplements, smartwatches, wellness applications, and fitness apparel.

Get AdSense

When you start writing and publishing content for income, advertising is usually at the back of your mind since you want to profit from your work. The easiest way to monetize your blog is by using Google AdSense, i.e., an Ad Network run by Google. AdSense usually displays adverts on websites, and when a visitor clicks on it, you make money.

YouTube.

Just like blogging, there are several ways you can use to monetize your YouTube channel. If you are in the YouTube Partner Program, then you can earn money through:

If you meet YouTube’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines, then you can turn on ads. You can check your eligibility by checking out the self-certification examples and guidance found on this platform.

But understand that choosing to turn on adverts doesn’t mean they will automatically appear on your video. Your content must go through the standard ads process that includes human and automated reviews to determine if it meets the guidelines. Besides that, you need to have all the rights to the audio and visual elements in the video. YouTube has two types of ads options; hence you can turn on ads for:

Individual videos
Multiple videos

Merch

YouTube has a merchandise shelf that allows interested creators to sell their branded merchandise on this platform. Note that this feature usually appears on certain video pages that are eligible channels.

Memberships

Allow viewers to join your channels via monthly payments. However, you should be ready to give them members-only perks such as emojis, badges, and other types of goods. YouTube has policies and guidelines to help eligible account holders.

Chat and Super Stickers

You can turn on this feature and connect with your fans during live chat. Making super stickers and chat content can earn you up to$500. Viewers can purchase the super chats option to highlight your message in the live chat.

Premium Revenue

YouTube premium revenue will automatically turn itself on. If a viewer is subscribed to YouTube Premium, then every time they watch what you publish, you will earn part of the fee they pay for their premium account.

In this blog vs YouTube earnings overview, it’s clear that both platforms offer multiple channels of earning money. However, more people prefer to watch videos rather than read blogs, and this is because they have a better chance to view content in a “live” way.

Q: When to get AdSense

If you are a blogger, you can apply for AdSense once your site starts receiving at least 100 unique visitors daily. Blogging rules have changed, and it may be quite difficult to get accepted, especially if your site doesn’t generate a reasonable amount of traffic every day. Besides that, you need to have a Google account, e.g., Gmail, to use AdSense. With YouTube, you need to have at least 1000 subscribers with a total of 4,000 watch hours.

Q: Does AdSense Pay Per Bloggers Per View?

Blog: No. AdSense doesn’t pay bloggers based on ad views. Instead, people get paid using cost-per-click (CPC). This is an established payment system that allows you to receive a portion of your payment when a person from your target audience clicks on the targeted ads by Google AdSense. So, if one of your users clicks on your ad, you should receive 68% of the payment as the publisher.

Q: How Much Does AdSense Pay Per Click/View?

Blog: Your commission is 68% of the total click amount, but this can go down to 51% in AdSense for search. Generally, the amount you get in terms of the commission depends on the existing competition on the Google Search engine platform and the CPC in that niche. The commission per click usually ranges between $0.20 and $15.

YouTube: according to various sources, you can earn between $0.01 and $0.03 per view with YouTube AdSense, but this amount usually averages out at around $0.18 per view. Like blogging, Google will pay you 68% of the generated AdSense revenue, and so for every $100 that the advertiser pays, you get $68 as the publisher.

Q: How Can You Improve Your AdSense Earnings?

For bloggers, AdSense earnings matter. To maximize your AdSense revenue after monetizing your website, here’s what you need to do:

Craft High-Quality Content

Your content is what will make you stand out. Valuable content will always get more clicks, which will organically raise your revenue. This is because it will generate more traffic and leads. By doing so, your chances of getting more clicks will increase, making your site attractive for product or service advertisers.

When crafting content for a specific niche, look at what your competitors are doing first, including their writing styles. This way, you will know what’s expected of you and how you can uniquely craft your content for your audience.

Use the Right Keywords

A combination of engaging, high-quality content with the right keywords will be highly effective in revenue generation. Look for those keywords that people commonly use when searching for specific content. Optimize your keywords so that search engines can easily crawl on your site and rank your content on top of search results.

Of course, more traffic will lead to more clicks, and the result will be more earnings from Google AdSense.

Consider Best Ad Placement Best Practices

Ad placement is important in maximizing your earning. On your homepage, you can increase the click-through rate (CTR) by:
Using 728 x 90 leaderboard ad image unit just right above your homepage’s fold and below the main bar navigation.
Consider testing different ad units, i.e., 300 x 250 medium rectangle or 160 x 600- a wide skyscraper in your sidebar.

On your main blog page, use:

A 336 x 280 large rectangle image for your ad unit right on top of your article.
Consider using a similar type of ad unit before the comments section at the end of your post.

Ad size and style all matter in boosting a blogger’s AdSense earnings. This gives your visitors several chances to notice and then click on your ads. When considering ad style, understand that the goal is to make them more visible while simultaneously reducing ad blindness.

That’s why google usually recommends that you consider using different colors for your links and ad text to make them stand out.

There are three main ad styles that have been proven to be technically effective, and they include:

Color contrast: use ads with colors that easily stand out against your website’s background.
Blend: ensure that your ad units are the same color as your site’s borders.
Complement: use colors that preferably already exist on your website even though they don’t exactly match with the borders or background but easily blend.

Use a Plugin for Ad Management

Ads that generate good revenue must be managed. This makes it possible to group ads depending on the content and where they can be inserted. Some of the useful features of an ad plugin include:

Ad rotation: you can opt to use a timed or on-page rotation for your site’s ad group
Adblocker: it checks if the browser has an ad-block software and then issues notification for it to be disabled.
Expiry date: you can set an expiry date for your ads.

For YouTubers, you can only make money with your YouTube partner account to get AdSense Revenue. The best way to increase your YouTube earnings include:

Publish Quality Videos

In content creation, quality will always sell. There is more to creating videos, which means creating content that can easily captivate the viewer. There are already several other creators in your niche; hence, you should create videos that people can watch. But how can you effectively do this?

Create videos that meet YouTube guidelines

Create a schedule for your video posts- it is important to upload videos to create a schedule that your audience will be in-tune with. Do you want to upload videos twice weekly, 5x monthly, etc.? You can learn more about scheduling here

Create your Thumbnails. Even though YouTube offers you the thumbnail option, it’s great to create your own since you can customize it to meet specific user preferences. You can use a graphic editing app to do this.
Briefly describe what happens in the video in the description area. Note that the summary of the information you provide here should be accurate, and you can even add blogs or websites that you are affiliated with.
Ensure that you sparsely use the relevant keywords to fill out all the details outlined in the title, tags, and description. SEO is also relevant in YouTube.
Create a quick but captivating intro that highlights what the viewer should expect.

Manage your Channel

Only a great channel with a reliable number of viewers will earn you a good income. YouTube success doesn’t come easily, so you must build and manage your channel. Ensure your channel’s description, including colors and logos, matches your niche and user profile. Besides that:

Fill in all your profile information
Customize your site’s color scheme and background
Use a captivating cover photo
Use a captivating cover photo

Channel management also requires you to vary the presentation of your videos. There are those subscribers that love short videos while others love longer versions. Analyze the performance of different videos based on the length and use that information to create relevant content. This way, you can:

Publish video content of varying lengths to cater to the different needs of your target audience

Create your playlist featuring a series of various videos

Lastly, consider your community in content management. There isn’t any successful YouTuber who doesn’t have a community. How can you build your community?

Directly interact with your fans by replying to comments
Ask them to give you their opinions
Make them feel like they are part of your content creation journey

Improve your AdSense Ads

Use your YouTube partnership account to improve your AdSense. Do keyword research to drive more traffic and result in better showing ads. The more traffic you get and the better the quality of the ads, then the more money you will earn.

In this case, consider the type of tags you use. Tags should be ideally used to connect videos with similar characteristics. So, the more connections you get, the better your chances of getting more views.

Market Your Channel

It would be nice for your channel to get more exposure on YouTube and other platforms. A high level of exposure guarantees you more leads and traffic, which leads to more views that generate revenue.

Q: How Many Views Does a Blogger/Youtuber Need to Get Paid?

Blog: There isn’t a specific fixed number you need to get paid. You can get paid with as little as 100 visitors. However, you should understand that every page view generates $0.01 and $0.25. That means that you would earn $1 -$25 monthly.

If you want to make money from blogging, you need to get around 10, 000 views unique visitors monthly. This way, you can monetize your blog easily and use it nicely for a revenue stream. However, the biggest challenge for most people is getting these numbers. For a YouTuber, the views you need can be equated to 4,000 hours of watch time.

Q: What Kind of Blogs/Channels Make More Money?

You can flourish in any niche and earn a modest income if you put in the work. However, there are niches that if you invest in, you are guaranteed more revenue. This is because such niches are popular, and their content is highly demanded.

Popular Blogging Niches with Top Revenue – The top niches that guarantee bloggers more revenue include:

Finance

We “interact” with money almost every day. Whether it’s buying food, transport, paying for accommodation, or even accessing the internet, so, money is an important factor for the sustenance of our livelihoods, and that’s why starting a finance blog will put you a step ahead in ensuring you earn more.

People are always looking for effective ways to handle money, and finance blogs are the best in providing actionable insights that the user might need. Whether it’s a busy professional, a retiree, or a young college student, finance content will never go out of style as it appeals to most people. Some of the aspects of finance you can focus on. Include:

• Passive income – blogging is one of the best ways to earn a passive income or use it as a side hustle.

• Frugal spending

• Investing

• How to save for a side hustle

• Mortgage and early retirement, among others

Marketing Blog

It is currently one of the best niches to focus on since most people are actively looking for ways to make passive or active income through marketing.

With your marketing blog, you can help your target audience learn how they can master e-commerce skills before starting a business. Some of the areas that seem to be attracting big numbers include:

• SEO

• blogging

• Email marketing

• E-commerce marketing

Travel Blog

Travel blogs have become a necessity in this era, with more people keen on exploring their locals, regions, or even international areas.

Travel blogs are quite popular, and you can always make good money, regardless of the zone you decide to focus on. You can make money through affiliate links, accommodation reviews, etc. Additionally, you sell travel apparel on your blog.

Food Blog

If you are a foodie, this is a new area for you to flourish. Food blogs are popular currently, and you can make yours the online recipe book. Teach your target audience how to prepare different tasty dishes, and you can even use some nice photos from your kitchen.

Besides that, you can prepare specific meal recipes that target a certain group of people e.g.

• New moms

• Those struggling with weight loss or weight gain

• Diet time limits

• Fitness enthusiasts

Some of the other areas you can focus on include:

• Restaurant reviews

• DIY meals

• Food and traveling

• Affordable outdoor dining

Fashion Blog

You don’t need your clothing line to write a fashion blog. You can still express your unique sense of style on your blog through product reviews. There are new fashion trends almost every month, and this means that people are always trying to keep up to date with what’s happening in the fashion world. The best thing about being a fashion blogger is that you can link your site to your social media page, become a social media influencer as well, and add affiliate links.

Not all YouTube videos are the same, and there are certain types of videos that tend to perform better than the others, regardless of the publisher. These videos generate more income, and they include:

How-to videos

They are quite popular since people are always looking for popular solutions to fix and do things. How-to videos top the charts since they are better off than instructional manuals. You can cover a wide range of topics ranging from education, travel, and photography.

Product Reviews

These are videos that involve a YouTuber testing out a product then giving the target audience a review, including the downsides and pros, based on their personal experience. According to Google, product reviews have generated more than 50,000 years of YouTube watch time in the last couple of years only.

Vlogs

These are videos that cover a wide range of niches depending on the creator. You can vlog about basically anything but lifestyle topics, including music, comedy, and entertainment

You can learn more about YouTube side hustles here

Q: What’s Easy Monetize, YouTube Channel or a Blog?

It depends on your content and the effort you put in. it takes about six months to start earning from your blog. With YouTube, your channel needs to have t least 1,000 subscribers and a total of 4,000 watch time hours within the last 12 months.

It will take you roughly a year to get to 4,000 watch hours, i.e., 240,000 minutes, if you maintain an average watch time of 20,000 minutes per month. But YouTube divides watch time across the whole channel, and so you can achieve the watch hours in less than a year if you produce a few high-quality videos.

To get quickly monetize your channel and get up to 4,000 hours of watch time, here’s what you can do:

Create fresh content

To be discovered on YouTube can be easy if you upload fresh content that appears on top of YouTube’s search results. Your goal should be to publish videos that remain relevant all year round, and this means that you can continue to earn revenue from the same video for months to come.

The best way to make evergreen content include:

• Interacting with your viewers and asking them about which content they prefer

• Answering their questions as much as you can

• Consider trending topics and offer valuable information regarding them

• Create videos that offer solutions or give deeper insights

Do Livestreams

Of course, your community of fans wants to know and interact with you on a one-to-one basis. The best way to boost viewership and improve your target audience’s confidence is by hosting live stream sessions. Understand that the numbers might be small at first, but the more you do, the better your chances of growing your channel and earning more revenue.

consistently Upload Your Videos

More hours mean that you need to have more videos under your belt. Create viral videos that will quickly give your channel the needed boost to attain those 4,000 hours. Don’t forget to be consistent. There’s a lot that goes in during video creation. Hence you must be ready to put in the work.

Go for Quality

The length of your YouTube video matters in attracting and retaining your target audience. But sometimes, to hit those high numbers, you need more quality content than quantity. A popular video with your audience will generate more traffic, and your channel will quickly hit those hours.

Q: Blog vs YouTube Earnings: Which One Should You Consider?

It all depends on what you have in your hands at your interests. There is a whole blog vs YouTube earnings debate that never seems to go out of style. But here are a few tips to help you consider the right type of platform that suits you:

Rate of earning income

A blog will quickly earn you a reasonable income, especially if you can monetize your ads and work with affiliate links. While YouTube has a better-earning potential, it’s more volatile and only seems more profitable for people who have fully established themselves with short- to medium-term goals. Overall, getting your foot in the blogging field seems easier, and you can get the job done within 3-4 months.

SEO Benefits for Growth

You stand a better chance to grow exponentially if you start with blogging. Blogging can help your YouTube channel to grow. Some of the benefits of starting a blog before a channel include:

• Understanding keyword research and its benefits in content creation

• Improving click-through rates

• Content length and what appeals to your audience

• How to describe photos and videos

With this information, you can create SEO-friendly videos that increase watch-time and more audience retention, leading to more revenue generation. Besides that, you will learn the importance of creating longer videos because they give you more watch time, a better chance of retaining viewers, and provide your target audience with more values. Lastly, you can use your blogging skills to caption and describe your videos using the right keywords. You can learn more about YouTube captions here

Startup Costs

Before you start blogging or vlogging, you need to invest a sustainable amount of money. While there are cheap ways to do this, it remains a fact that you need to put some money aside for content creation.

Blog costs

You will mainly invest in services. Here is a brief overview of blogging costs:

• Hosting: you need a host for your website. Expect to pay at least $60 annually, but this depends on the host you choose.

• Domain name: your blog needs a unique identifier in the form of a domain name. a basic domain name will cost you around $13.00. remember that you should choose a unique domain name that complements your site’s profile.

• Paid theme: while this isn’t a requirement, remember that you want to use your blog to generate revenue. Some bloggers may avoid this and opt to use free themes with limitations. To be on the safe side, ensure that you get a paid theme, and this can cost you around $30.00

YouTube Costs

You need a camera and a good microphone to start a YouTube channel. However, some may argue that you can use your smartphone. However, your success with a smartphone is quite limited based on the 720p to 1080p standard. You will be disadvantaged if you don’t produce high-quality content because your competitors are, and that’s why they are earning more revenue. On average, here’s what you need:

• A camera- a good one should be around $450+

• A camera stand – $15

• A microphone – $60

• Video editing software- $60

You can find more information regarding the tools from alanspicer.com

Starting a blog is cheaper, and you can leverage that to create a good YouTube profile. You will probably have better deals initially as a blogger, and the whole setup process is cheaper.

Selling Your Work

If you need a platform with a good exit strategy, you should probably consider blogging. People sell their websites all the time, which can generate up to 50x of the platform’s monthly average profit. Overall, it’s easy and quite profitable to sell a blog.

Meanwhile, how many times have you heard a person sell their blog? This is because it’s highly unlikely for that to happen. In fact, if you do so, then you will be going against the terms and services of YouTube/Google.

This doesn’t mean that people don’t sell their YouTube channels, but the whole process is complex and involves many backdoor deals.

In conclusion, if you want to grow your target audience quickly with a moderate income, then you should consider starting a blog. But if you are patient, want to build a community, and earn a significant amount of money in the long run, then YouTube should be your go-to solution. To learn more about starting a YouTube channel, here’s what Alan Spicer, a certified YouTube Expert, offers.

Tags adsense, affiliate marketing, blogging, making money online, money, vlogging, youtube

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

Can You Make Money on Facebook Groups?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 30 December 2021

Facebook Groups are rapidly emerging as a powerful tool for promotion, revenue generation, and social interaction, of course. Still, while that last point may be obvious, and most people will be able to see the promotional potential of Facebook Groups, monetisation is a little less intuitive.

Can you monetize facebook groups? Yes! In fact there are so many little tricks to monetize a facebook page we’ve made a list!

That’s why we’ve put together this post to illustrate the many ways you can monetise your Facebook Group, as well as a few ways to ensure your group succeeds.

Let’s dive in.

10 Ways to Monetise Facebook Groups

It should be noted that some of these suggestions will only work if you are an admin of a group. Now, in no particular order;

Promote Products

If you’re a member of a popular group (and, of course, if you are the admin of one), you could use it to promote any products you sell. Of course, you will need to make sure the group in question allows promotion, and if it does, there will probably be guidelines you will have to adhere to.

Remember to participate in the group beyond just promoting things. People tend to react poorly to someone who only ever contributes to a community for selfish reasons, and you will likely find you get better results if you participate.

Build a Reputation

If you have an area of expertise that you plan to turn into a career of some sort, you can start laying the groundwork for that future in a Facebook group! Let’s say for argument’s sake that your area of expertise is something technical like machine learning. You could find an appropriate group and start helping others with their problems, gaining a reputation as an authority in the subject matter. Then, when you decide to try your hand at something a little more professional, such as freelance work, or even a YouTube channel, you will already have a group of people who know you are the real deal.

Remember, the Internet has made it possible for more people than ever to try their hands at things that would normally have needed a formal education. But there will always be a place for people who know what they are talking about and are willing to offer a helping comment.

Charge Membership or Subscription Fees

If you are running a Facebook that is particularly useful to its members, you could start charging membership or subscription fees to join. Bear in mind that your group will have to be something special, offering things that your prospective members wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere.

In order to do this, you will have to set your group to private and invite only, and then set up your own way of handling payments, as Facebook does not currently offer this option.

Earn Advertising Revenue

On a similar note to the previous suggestion, a popular group will likely be of interest to advertisers. Those advertisers could go through Facebook’s own advertising platform, of course, but that platform does not currently offer a way for advertisers to target specific groups. As the admin of a group, you can provide that option for your group.

Again, you will have to deal with the mechanics of this one by yourself, as Facebook does not provide the tools to do it.

Collaborate With Brands

One-off advertisements are fine, but striking up a deal for ongoing collaboration with a brand or company offers much more stability in your revenue stream. Once again, this is something you’ll have to arrange yourself. You will need to be able to show any potential brand that your group is worth collaborating with. It can also be useful to have some ideas to present to said brand for how the collaboration could go, such as running competitions.

Dabble in Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing allows you to make money from product or service promotion in much the same way that advertising does but in a less intrusive manner. Affiliate links and promotions will typically fit into the general flow of the content in a group, offering the members something of value. An example of this might be providing an Amazon Affiliate link to a product that’s been discussed in the group. The members will not have to pay anything extra (indeed, many affiliate programs offer special deals for affiliates), and you will make a little extra case from each sale.

Accept Donations

It may not be the most reliable way to monetise your Facebook group, but if you have enough members and they are engaged and active enough, you could consider accepting donations.

Of course, this suggestion assumes you are an active participant in the group and that the members can see the value you bring. If you just started the group but don’t really do much from day to day, you may struggle to find anyone willing to donate.

Offer Consultancy Services

If you establish yourself as an authoritative figure on a particular subject, you could parlay that reputation into a career in consultancy work. With today’s fast-paced world of development and creation, people and companies are often branching out into areas they aren’t necessarily familiar with. In these cases, they might not want to hire an expert, but that doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from an informed opinion.

Network

Whatever your intended career going forward, you can probably benefit from a little networking. Whether it’s just people in the same niche as you or people in positions of influence who can be of direct help to your career, getting involved in communities like this can present opportunities that you wouldn’t otherwise have had.

Sell Your Group

Now, this is explicitly against Facebook’s rules, so we have to say that we do not recommend you do this, but selling popular groups is a thing that happens, and it can be very lucrative. Especially if you develop a knack for building popular groups and can do this on a regular basis.

Again, this is against Facebook’s rules, so you take a risk by doing this. That being said, there’s no way for Facebook to catch you unless you make a big deal out of it.

5 Tips for Helping Your Group Succeed

We won’t dwell on this section too long because advice for making your Facebook group succeed deserves a post of its own, but here are some tips for making sure your Facebook group thrives.

Keep Engagement High

Engagement is the lifeblood of a successful Facebook group. Regardless of what your ultimate goal for the group is, you’re going to want active members who are commenting and replying and reacting to the content.

One way to ensure engagement stays high is to post engaging content yourself, as well as draw attention to popular posts by other members.

Promote The Group

If you want the group to succeed, you need to get the word out. You could advertise if you’re prepared to throw some money at the problem, but if not, you’ll need to do the leg work and get out there yourself.

Other groups are a great place to promote (as long as the group in question allows that kind of thing), but you can also take it off Facebook and get the word out that way. Just remember not to spam, as that will almost always have the opposite of the desired effect.

Foster a Welcoming Atmosphere

If you want people to join and participate in your group, you need to foster the kind of atmosphere that encourages it. What kind of atmosphere that is will heavily depend on the type of group you are running. You can enforce the atmosphere you want with things like rules, temporary (and permanent) bans, and, of course, comments.

Be an Active Participant

We’ve already touched on this in the “keep engagement high” section, but it’s important enough that it deserves its own section. You should be active in the group, encouraging conversation, drawing attention to good posts, and generally keeping everything going.

Encourage Members to Invite Others

Promoting a Facebook group doesn’t have to be a one-person operation. Once you start to build a membership base of engaged users, you can gently encourage them to do a spot of promoting themselves.

We’re not suggesting you demand they go on a full advertising campaign, of course, but things like sharing the link with friends they think will be interested and other low-effort activities.

Final Thoughts

Facebook Groups are not the most obvious thing that springs to mind when you think about options for generating revenue online, but they are certainly an option.

That being said, we have to admit that the biggest monetisation potential for Facebook Groups involves them being used in conjunction with other things. For example, using your Facebook group to drive traffic to affiliate links or services you offer elsewhere or promoting products or services within the group. The options for monetising a group using official Facebook channels is extremely limited, but there is every chance that will change as the platform evolves.

Watch this space.

Tags facebook groups, make money on facebook, make money online, monetize facebook, money, passive income

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE YOUTUBE

Top 30 Side Hustles for Students

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 30 December 2021
1 Comment on Top 30 Side Hustles for Students

Being a student isn’t easy, and one of the biggest hardships you will face as a student is finding the finances to do things like… well… eat. Fortunately, the has never been more opportunity for students (or anyone, for that matter) to make a little extra income on the side.

In the interests of making life a little easier for our intrepid knowledge seekers and future leaders, we’ve put together a list of thirty side hustles that students can help make life a little easier while you are putting yourself through higher education.

Start a YouTube Channel

YouTube has made many people rich, and even though those people are a huge minority, there are many many more people who make a respectable side income from the platform.

And, given the popularity of YouTube, there is no shortage of advice out there to get you started. You can even start right here! You can create a channel around something you are passionate about, something you are knowledgeable about (both is a bonus) or even what you are studying.

Start a Blog

Essentially the same premise as starting a YouTube channel, just with written words instead of video! As with YouTube, you can start a blog about anything you have a passion for, special interest in, or knowledge of. It could be the subject you are studying, your favourite genre of movie or novel, or just weird facts from around the world.

If you have a talent for telling an interesting story, you can put that talent to work in blog form.

Offer Dog Walking Services

You don’t need to limit your side hustles to things online, of course. One example of a real-world side hustle is dog walking services. Pet dogs are more popular than ever, but that popularity, unfortunately, coincides with a time when more of us are out working than ever before.

Enter the intrepid dog walker.

If you like dogs, you could make a respectable side income by taking several of the furry little critters out for walkies, giving their owners some peace of mind in knowing that their best friend isn’t being neglected at home.

Become an App Tester

A lot of effort goes into making apps work, but all the effort in the world won’t make up for a lack of user feedback. App developers naturally would rather get that feedback under controlled circumstances, rather than putting an app out and waiting for the negative reviews.

That’s where app testing comes in. There are many services that provide the opportunity to be an app tester, here are a few of them;

Become a Secret Shopper

Secret shopping is the kind of side hustle that will sound like a dream come true to the right kind of person. Also called “mystery shoppers”, these are people who are paid to shop in stores or eat in restaurants with the hidden agenda of collecting information.

There isn’t a great deal of financial rewards for this side hustle, but you will typically be reimbursed for your purchases.

Take Paid Surveys

One of the older and more well-known side hustles of the Internet age is the paid survey. Exactly as the name suggests, paid survey companies will pay you a modest sum to complete a survey, with your answers being valuable to market researchers and other similar parties. Here are a few paid survey sites to get you started;

Become Part of the Machine

If you don’t have a particular skill or interest in mind for your side hustle, you could take a more generalised approach with something like Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. This is a service that operates on the principle that humans are still better than machines at some things. Essentially, people who need a large number of small tasks doing (things like tagging images) can sign up and do just that.

Offer Online Tutoring

If you’re a student, it’s safe to say you’ve at least done well through primary and secondary education. That’s great for you, but there are millions of children (and adults) who are struggling with this very thing.

You can offer online tutoring in subjects like maths. Or, if you have particular areas of expertise, you could tutor in those as well.

Start an Online Course

On the subject of areas of expertise, if you are particularly knowledgeable in something, you could create an online course around it. Again, this could be something you are just good at, or it could be something you are studying, perhaps offering an introductory level of education to a subject that you are studying at an advanced level.

Sell Old Items

Granted, you wouldn’t be able to keep selling old items forever, but there are several apps (and, of course, eBay) designed to make it easy for you to find a buyer for some of your old things, from clothes to gadgets.

Become a Reseller

Essentially, the difference between someone selling old items and this suggestion is that you will be first seeking out items to sell before you can sell them. This might mean scouring things like Facebook Marketplace and Craiglist for hidden gems, or it could even mean buying things in bulk to get the price down.

Become an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing is the process of advertising someone else’s product in exchange for a “piece of the action”, so to speak. The most well-known example of this is Amazon Affiliates, where you can link to any product on Amazon and make a little cut of any sales you generate.

This side hustle works best if you have something to pair it with, such as a YouTube channel, or a blog, but really anywhere you can promote something will work. You could even go door-to-door… but we wouldn’t recommend it.

Sell Print-on-Demand Merchandise

Got a flair for design? There are many services on the Internet that allows you to create products like t-shirts, mugs, mouse mats, and other things of that nature with little more than a click of the upload button.

Again, this works especially well if you have a popular YouTube channel to base your products on, but if you can create compelling designs, you can certainly make print-on-demand merchandise a successful side hustle in its own right.

Sell Artwork or Photography

If you do have that creative flair mentioned in the last tip, you could always put it to good use in other fields, such as selling artwork and photography. A number of sites will let you upload stock imagery so that you can profit from the licensing of those images. Just remember that once you do this, you have no control over how the image gets used, so be careful what images you choose to sell.

Write an eBook (or a physical one)

When “write a book” is suggested, the first thing people tend to think of is a novel. Now, if you have it in you to write a novel, certainly give it a go. But as side hustles go, it’s not the most effective way to make money. Given the typical time it takes to write a novel combined with how long an average publisher takes to respond (probably to say “no thanks”), you might not be a student by the time you see any money from a novel.

But you can create eBooks (or regular books) that are non-fiction and centred around something you are an expert in.

Offer Proofreading and Editing Services

Don’t fancy writing a book? What about proofreading someone else’s? Most of us can put together a blog post, but we’re not all up to a professional standard with the technical aspects of our writing.

If you are confident in your command of the English language (or any language, for that matter), you can offer your services as an editor or proofreader, checking other people’s work for mistakes.

Become an Influencer

Granted, not everyone can become an influencer, but if you have an entertaining personality and you like being in front of the camera, becoming an influencer may be a viable option for you.

Influencers typically operate through social media platforms, such as—Instagram, or Facebook—and can earn money through brand deals.

Become a Ride-Share Service Driver

If you have a car, you could consider working for a ride-share company like Uber, or Lyft. Services like this give you the ability to have complete control over the amount of time you spend working on your side hustle—a kind of flexibility that is a must for busy students.

Become a Virtual Assistant

No, we’re not suggesting you be available 24/7 to respond to questions anytime someone says “Siri” to their iPhone or “Alexa” to their Amazon Echo. Websites like PeoplePerHour.com make it possible for you to find people who need certain assistant-like tasks completed, such as email management.

Review Apps and Websites

Similar to testing apps, there are also sites that will pay you to review apps and websites. We’re not talking about being paid to review something by the company that made that thing—that would be cheating. This is typically for sites that offer consumer information, and want a large number of honest reviews.

Become a Translator

If you know more than one language, you could find work as a translator. This will typically be written word translation, but you can certainly find verbal work as well. This could even be paired with our “transcribe audio” suggestion a little further down.

Deliver Things

Similar to Uber (indeed, including Uber), there are companies that offer the delivery of things like food and other items, and they need people to make those deliveries. Unlike Uber, however, this work doesn’t necessarily need a car. It’s a common service offered in big cities and can be done on a bike.

Offer Cleaning Services

Many of us struggle to find time to keep our homes or workplaces as clean as we’d like, so why not take that load off someone’s mind by offering cleaning services! This sort of work can be done in the evening or on a weekend, so it shouldn’t affect your studies.

Sell Advertising Space on Your Car

Getting your brand in front of eyeballs is most of the battle for advertisers, but that’s good for you because it means you can get paid simply for letting advertisers use your car as an ad. Services like Carvertise will pay you as much as $500 a month to put ads on your vehicle.

Rent Out Your Car

Or you could rent out the whole thing! Car-sharing services like Getaround can connect you with people who need to rent a car, letting you earn a little extra cash. If you’re not using your car at the time, this one is a no-brainer.

Rent Out Your Parking Space

If you have a parking space you’re not using in a part of the world where it’s hard to find parking spaces (we’re looking at you, London), you could rent it out to someone, and put that land to good use.

Transcribe Audio

While speech-to-text recognition is getting better by the day, humans are still often needed to transcribe audio. You don’t need any particular skill for this, but being a good typist will make your life much easier if you decide to take on some transcription work.

Become a Freelancer

If you have a skill, you could just charge people to use it. Whether it’s copywriting, illustration, video production, and more And the good thing about freelancing is that if you like it, freelancing can always become a full career when you are done with your studies.

Become a Social Media Manager

If you have a knack for social media, there are plenty of people out there who do not that would be willing to pay you to help them grow their online presence.

Get a Part-Time Job

And, finally, the obvious one. From tending bar to stacking shelves, there is always the option to go out and get a part-time job, earning money the old fashioned way.

Tags entrepreneurship, freelance, hustles, income, make money, make money online, money, passive income, self employed, side hustles

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

Top 10 Side Hustles for YouTubers

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 6 December 2021
5 Comments on Top 10 Side Hustles for YouTubers

People today understand more than ever the importance of diversifying when it comes to your source of income. After decades of financial crisis’ and global pandemics, younger generations are acutely aware of how risky it is to put all your eggs in one employment basket.

This has always been the case for YouTubers, of course. Since the beginning of YouTubers making money from their content, it has always been the advice for smart YouTubers not to rely solely on YouTube to pay their bills. Adpocalypses, changes to personal situations, and much more can make YouTube earnings evaporate in no time.

Of course, telling you that it’s important to spread your wings a bit financially is all well and good, but we want to go that extra step and give you a few ideas on where you can spread your wings!

With that in mind, we’ve put together our top 10 side hustles for YouTubers to dip their toes into (click here for side hustles for students). Never heard of a “side hustle” before? Don’t worry…

What is a “Side Hustle”?

A side hustle is defined as any job or occupation that is not your main job or occupation. In a traditional sense, an example of this might be someone working in a factory through the week and then doing a few shifts tending bar on the weekend. In this case, the bar work would be a side hustle.

Of course, things are a little more fluid these days, with the lines between side hustles and a “main job” being a little blurrier, but there is an emotional component that is strong these days than it once was. It is not uncommon for people who make their money online to have something that they consider a side hustle actually be their primary source of income!

Still, whether you classify something as a side hustle based on the money it makes you or how important that activity is to you, the basic premise remains the same; it’s a way of earning money that you consider secondary to another way of earning money.

How Much Money Can You Make With a Side Hustle?

The amount of money you can make with a side hustle will, of course, vary tremendously depending on several factors, such as what the side hustle is, how good you are at it, how much time you put into it, and more.

As mentioned above, how much money it makes does not necessarily affect its status as a side hustle. If you consider YouTube your “primary” hustle, you may well find one of your side hustles overtaking as your largest source of income. Our advice would be to not think too much about things like the exact amounts. As long as you’re making enough (whatever “enough” means to you), it doesn’t matter which hustle is making the most money.

Don’t Think of it as a Side Hustle!

While you should get too hung up on the specific amount being made by any form of hustle, it’s important not to think of things as secondary, or unimportant. If your job involves making money on the Internet, you should consider all of it your job, whether it’s making the most or not.

If you start thinking of legitimate income sources as unimportant, you run the risk of letting them slip until they stop being legitimate income sources. You may think of yourself as a YouTuber, but if you have half a dozen side hustles, they will quickly amount to a significant portion of your income, so you probably literally can’t afford to neglect them.

Top 10 Side Hustles for YouTubers

That’s enough about what side hustles are, it’s time to get to our top ten side hustles for YouTubers. Of course, if you simply searched for side hustles and found this post, you aren’t a YouTuber, don’t stop reading. We’ve picked these ten side hustles because they work well with YouTubing, but they are perfectly viable side hustles for other walks of life, too.

In fact, if you see your main hustle on here (blog writer, or podcaster, for example), just swap that one out for “YouTuber” and keep on reading!

Oh, and a little side note about the YouTube Partner Programme, we haven’t included that in this list because we assume that if you’re looking to add side hustles to your resume, you’re already making money from YouTube.

#1 Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing is perhaps one of the most well-established means of making money on the side for YouTubers. This is the process of promoting something in the course of your usual content and making a little money on the actions taken by your viewers.

The most well-known example of this is, of course, Amazon’s affiliate program. When enrolled as an Amazon affiliate, you will be able to get a personal affiliate link from any Amazon product. Viewers who happen to buy that product will not pay any extra—indeed, they wouldn’t even know it was an affiliate link if you didn’t tell them (more on that in a second)—but you will make a small commission on anything they buy through your links.

There are many forms of affiliate marketing available, as well as services designed specifically to facilitate linking companies with people like you. It should be noted, however, that you should always give some sort of indication to your viewers that a link you have put in the description or a product you are promoting in your video is something you are promoting as an affiliate. It’s not hard to find out, and viewers will be turned off by this kind of dishonesty. It could also get you in trouble with YouTube.

#2 Merchandise Seller

Whether you have some kind of merchandise that exists independent of your YouTube channel, or you start releasing merchandise that ties directly in with your YouTube channel, having that channel can be a great way to promote it.

Naturally, if your merchandise is tied to the channel (for example, t-shirts with the channel logo on them), you’re going to want to promote it from that channel. Alternatively, if you want to start (or already have) a small clothing line, you sell artwork, or you sell pretty much anything on a site like Etsy, you can leverage the popularity of your YouTube channel to give that side hustle a bit of a kickstart.

#3 Course Instructor

Many YouTubers have some area of expertise, even if their channel is not about imparting that expertise. These days, the administrative side of creating and hosting an online course to teach other people things is relatively painless. There’s still a lot of work in putting the course together, of course, but there’s a lot of work in running a YouTube channel, as well, and you’re not letting that stop you… are you?

Of course, if your channel is centred around educating, such as a DIY channel, or tutorials on coding, it will be much easier to translate that audience into an online course. But even channels that are not about teaching viewers something can take advantage of this side hustle, as long as the course is teaching a skill that is on display when you make your videos.

#4 Channel Manager

If you have a particular flair for handling YouTube channels, you might consider turning your attention to becoming a channel manager. Essentially, you would take on the management of other people’s channels, and handle almost everything except for the content itself.

Many people don’t have the time or desire to effectively manage their channel themselves, but proper channel management can make an enormous difference. As you will no doubt be aware of this is a side hustle you are considering.

The main thing to beware of here is letting this side hustle take over. A good channel manager will typically have several clients. And, while managing a channel doesn’t take nearly as much time as making content for it, it all adds up if you keep adding clients to your roster.

#5 Blogger

Bloggers may resent seeing their profession listed as a side hustle on a YouTube blog—especially since blogging was a viable source of income before YouTube—but don’t be mad; YouTube can just as rightly be called a side hustle for bloggers. And the good news is this makes sense whichever way round you look at it.

Essentially, you have something to share with an audience, and you are currently doing it in video form. By translating that content to written form, you can reach a whole new audience. Or you can make it supplemental, giving your YouTube audience something else to consume.

#6 Podcaster

In a very similar vein to being a blogger, you can get more of your message out in audio-only form through podcasts. And, again, if you are a podcast, you can easily look at this suggestion in reverse, with YouTube being the side hustle.

This suggestion works best for channels that already have a podcast-like feel, such as panel show channels, or interview channels. If you regularly put out hour-long videos that are mostly talking, you’re going to miss out on a lot of viewers purely because of the time requirements. Not everyone has that much free time to sit and watch YouTube.

Those same people might have an hour’s worth of commuting to do every day, or regularly go for a job and like to listen to something while they do. They might just want something to put on while they do a bit of cleaning around the home. If your content is already podcast-like, putting it out as a podcast will involve negligible work. And, if it succeeds, it could drive more traffic to your YouTube channel.

Of course, you can still make a podcast if your channel isn’t the kind of channel described above. As long as you have something interesting to talk about, you can find an audience.

#7 Produce Video Content

This one is a little trickier. As we mentioned above in the channel manager section, creating content for a channel is the most time-consuming part, so the idea of producing video content for others might not seem like the best plan.

While you could certainly produce video content for other YouTube channels, we’re suggesting something more specialist, such as making animations idents, or infographic clips. If you have a skill for this kind of thing, there will undoubtedly be plenty of people and companies that are happy to pay for your services.

#8 Stock Trader

This one doesn’t really tie in to you being a YouTuber unless your YouTube channel revolves around you being a stock trader, or talking about stock trading in some form. If this isn’t you, you can still get into stock trading (or currency trading), to earn a little (or a lot) extra on the side, just be sure you know what you’re doing. We categorically do not recommend anyone dabbling in the stock market without knowing what they’re doing beforehand.

#9 Become a Consultant

You don’t have to make content to take advantage of your expertise. Consultancy work is a great way for you to exploit your own knowledge while helping others. One example of this could be helping other YouTubers grow their channel (assuming you have proven yourself able to do this in the first place of course!), but it could just as easily be any other area of expertise you have.

#10 Champion a Cause

This one is kind of cheating. You won’t necessarily make any money from championing a good cause, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Whether it’s planting trees or donating to charities, you have the power to make an impact.

Final Thoughts

YouTube is undoubtedly a great platform for launching other projects, whether they are passion projects, side hustles, or even new careers. The list above is a relatively small selection of the possibilities for adding new hustles to your game, so don’t worry if none of the above work for you.

Of course, if all else fails, your side hustle could always be other YouTube channels.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

That is why I could not live on YouTube without someone like PlaceIT. They offer custom YouTube Banners, Avatars, YouTube Video Intros and YouTube End Screen Templates that are easy to edit with simple click, upload wizard to help you make amazing professional graphics in minutes.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

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

Tags affiliate, affiliate marketing, income, money, passive income, side hustles, youtube money

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can I Use YouTube Videos In My Online Course?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 3 December 2021
2 Comments on Can I Use YouTube Videos In My Online Course?

YouTube is a veritable cornucopia of informative and educational content, with much of it having the added bonus of being entertaining at the same time. It’s no wonder, then, that many people are looking to use YouTube videos in their online courses, but is that allowed?

As always, the answer to this question will be dramatically different depending on the circumstances in which you are using a YouTube video. There is no rule in YouTube’s terms of use that specifically prohibits the use of YouTube videos in online courses… but there are rules that indirectly make it impossible to do so.

We’re going to get into this, so make yourself a beverage and get comfortable.

Online Courses?

Online courses. They are a great way to impart knowledge and generate some extra revenue. If you are already sharing your wisdom on YouTube, putting together an online course is a natural extension of that, and one that can be very lucrative.

That being said, putting together an online course can be a lot of work, so it will make things a lot easier if you can use some of the content you have already created.

According to Mordor Intelligence, the online courses industry was worth $6,845 million last year.

Using My Own YouTube Videos In Online Courses

There is absolutely no conflict here. You own the copyright on any videos you upload to YouTube, and you are permitted to download your own videos from the site without breaking any of YouTube’s terms, so you can still use your YouTube videos even if you have lost the original files and the only copy exists on YouTube.

If you have the original files, however, YouTube needn’t be a factor at all. You own the rights to the content and you have the files already. In this case, it has nothing to do with YouTube.

Should I Use My YouTube Videos In Online Courses?

So, we’ve established that you can use your YouTube videos, but the next question is should you use them? We can certainly recommend leveraging your existing content to make life a little easier, but you need to consider what you’re putting in your online course.

If your course is just a collection of your existing YouTube content, it will severely reduce the potential revenue your course can generate since users can head over to your YouTube channel and watch it for free. You could take the relevant videos down from your channel, but then they would no longer be generating YouTube revenue for you. Every case is different, of course, but we’re willing to bet that if you’re considering turning your YouTube videos into an online course, they were doing pretty well on your channel.

Using Other People’s YouTube Videos In Online Courses

Here’s where things get a little trickier. Firstly, if you don’t have the permission of the YouTuber whose content it is, there is no way to use that content without breaking a YouTube policy or, more importantly, a law.

YouTube does not permit you to download YouTube videos unless it is through the YouTube app as part of YouTube Premium’s offline watching feature. While it is possible to download YouTube videos using third-party apps, this would be a violation of the terms of use and could see you suspended or banned from the platform if caught. This means that the only way to use the videos without breaking YouTube’s terms is to have the original video files from somewhere. The most obvious place, of course, being from the original creator… which will be hard to do if you do not have their permission to use the video files.

If you decide to go ahead and download the video files regardless—or if you were able to obtain those video files through some other means—and you use the content in your online course without the explicit permission of the creator, you could find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

The best-case scenario if you do this and the original creator notices is that they put in a copyright violation against you with the service that is hosting your online course and that course gets taken down. However, as we mentioned above, online courses are very lucrative, and if the original creator suspects you have made a good amount of money from their content, they may decide to pursue you for their share.

Realistically speaking, this shouldn’t be a concern. While there is a lot of money to be made in online courses, the vast majority of course creators will not be making the kind of money that warrants legal action. It simply wouldn’t be worth the legal expenses. But they probably would get your course taken down, putting an end to any earning potential, and they might even make the matter public, dragging your reputation down. This can be a serious problem if you are a successful YouTuber with a brand to look after.

Linking to YouTube Videos

What we have discussed so far is concerned with including the YouTube content itself in your course, but what about linking from your course to other videos? This is a perfectly acceptable way to incorporate YouTube content since you are only linking to it. It is then up to YouTube and the creator what they do with that incoming traffic. If the video is publicly available, the creator can’t complain about people watching it. And, if it is not publicly available, the incoming traffic will simply be told that the content is unavailable.

Final Thoughts

Online courses represent a great way to share your wisdom while getting paid for the privilege. They are a form of passive income since you make the course once and it will continue to generate revenue as long as it has relevant and valuable information for potential students to learn.

Using your existing YouTube content is a good way to lighten the workload, but be wary of putting too much of your YouTube content into your course, as it will just leave students wondering why they didn’t just go to your YouTube channel and save some money.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 edu, educational, educational content, educational videos, online courses, youtube

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can I Use Reddit Content For YouTube?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 2 December 2021
1 Comment on Can I Use Reddit Content For YouTube?

Short version: technically no, not without permission — but the real story in 2026 is more interesting than that.

Reddit-reading videos are everywhere, yet the rules around them have quietly shifted. Since 2021, Reddit has launched a paid API, gone public, signed AI-licensing deals worth millions, and started suing companies over how its content is used. Here’s who actually owns Reddit comments, what the real risks are now, and how to use Reddit content on YouTube the smart way.

⚖️ Not legal advice. This is general information from a YouTube educator, not a lawyer. Copyright and platform rules vary by country and change over time. For decisions about a specific video or channel, get advice from a qualified legal professional.

▶️ Fair use on YouTube, explained — the concept at the heart of this question

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 helped countless creators navigate copyright, fair use and monetisation the right way.

Building a content format and want it done safely? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

The author of a Reddit comment owns its copyright — not Reddit, not you.
Author enforcement is rare, which is why Reddit videos are everywhere.
The bigger 2026 risks: Reddit’s terms and YouTube’s reused-content rules.
Reddit now actively enforces commercial-use limits (its 2025 lawsuits).
Transform it — add commentary, anonymise usernames, credit the source.

📌 Jump to a section:

The short answer
Who owns Reddit comments?
Can you be sued?
What’s changed since 2021
Will YouTube demonetise it?
How to do it safely
Reddit video ideas
FAQ

The Short Answer

⚡ Can you use Reddit content for YouTube?
In strict legal terms, no — not without permission from the person who wrote it, because they hold the copyright. In practice, individual authors almost never pursue it, which is why Reddit-reading videos are so common. The realistic risks in 2026 aren’t a lone commenter suing you; they’re Reddit’s own terms of service (which restrict commercial use of its content) and YouTube’s reused-content policy (which can block monetisation). Transform the content with genuine commentary and you’re on far safer ground.

Who Owns Reddit Comments?

This is where every question of this kind begins. When someone writes a Reddit comment, they own the copyright to those words. By posting, they grant Reddit a broad licence to host, display and even sub-licence that content — but they don’t hand ownership to Reddit, and they certainly don’t hand it to you.
That distinction became very public in 2025. When Reddit took legal action over how its content was being used commercially, it deliberately did not sue for copyright infringement — because it doesn’t own the copyright in user posts. Instead it relied on breach of its User Agreement. In other words: the individual writer owns the words; Reddit owns the rulebook for how its platform and content may be used. Both of those matter for you as a creator.

Can You Be Sued For Using Reddit Comments?

Let’s separate the theoretical from the practical.
The author’s copyright. Technically, using someone’s exact comment without permission is copyright infringement, and the author could file a takedown or, in theory, pursue damages. Realistically, the odds of an individual Redditor suing you over a read-aloud comment are slim — which is exactly why the format exploded. But “unlikely” is not “impossible,” and it’s still their right.

The bigger shift: the more meaningful risk today isn’t an individual author — it’s Reddit itself. Reddit’s terms restrict commercialising its content without a licence, and it has shown it will enforce them. If your channel is monetised, you are commercialising content, and that’s precisely the activity Reddit has started policing.

Add to that YouTube’s own rules, and you have three separate systems to keep happy: the author’s copyright, Reddit’s terms of service, and YouTube’s content policies. The good news is that one approach keeps all three onside — transformation — which we’ll come to shortly. For the fundamentals of fair use, see my guides to copyright on YouTube and how much you can legally use.

What’s Changed Since the Reddit-Reading Boom

If you’re working from advice written a few years ago, it’s out of date. The ground has moved:

Paid API (2023). Reddit began charging for programmatic access to its content, ending the free-for-all that powered many auto-generated Reddit videos and bots.
IPO (2024). Reddit went public, which sharpened its focus on protecting and monetising its most valuable asset: your comments.
AI licensing deals. Reddit signed content deals reportedly worth tens of millions with Google and OpenAI. Its content is now a paid product.
Active enforcement (2025). Reddit took legal action against AI companies over unlicensed commercial use of its content — via its User Agreement, not copyright.

The through-line is simple: Reddit now treats its content as something with real commercial value, and it has both the motive and the machinery to defend it. That doesn’t make a thoughtful, transformative Reddit video a problem — but it does make lazy, scraped, mass-produced Reddit content a riskier bet than it was in 2021.

Will YouTube Demonetise Reddit-Reading Videos?

For most creators, this is the risk that actually bites — not a lawsuit, but a “not eligible for monetisation” notice. YouTube’s reused-content policy is designed to stop channels that repackage other people’s material with little original input. The classic offender is the format you’ve all seen: a robotic text-to-speech voice reading Reddit threads over silent gameplay footage, with nothing added. To YouTube, that’s reused content, and it’s exactly what the policy targets.
The fix is originality. Use your own voice, react, explain, add jokes, edit with intent, bring your own angle. Do that and a Reddit-based video becomes your video that happens to feature Reddit content — which is a completely different thing in YouTube’s eyes.

▶️ How the reused-content rule works — and how to stay monetised

How to Use Reddit Content on YouTube More Safely

You don’t have to abandon the format — you have to do it properly. Five rules keep you on the right side of the author, Reddit and YouTube all at once:

Add real transformation. Don’t just read — react, analyse, joke, explain. Make it really your work.
Anonymise usernames and personal details. Blur or omit them to protect privacy and dodge harassment problems.
Ask permission for featured content. Building a whole video around one comment? Message the author. Many say yes.
Never claim ownership. Credit Reddit as the source; don’t pass someone’s words off as your own.
Make it valuable, not low-effort. Skip the plain TTS-over-gameplay template — effort is what protects you.

Get those right and the “colour commentary” approach — your personality layered over the source — is both the safest and the most watchable version of a Reddit video.

Reddit Content Video Ideas (Done Right)

Reddit is a goldmine of ideas even when you’re not reading comments verbatim. Some approaches that transform rather than copy:

Answer the question yourself. Take a common Reddit question in your niche and make your own expert reply the whole video.
React and add expertise. Pull a thread’s theme and bring your professional take, agreeing, disagreeing and expanding.
Trend-spotting. Use Reddit to spot what your audience cares about, then make original videos on it — see evergreen content for ideas that last.
Storytime with commentary. If you feature a story, anonymise it and make your reaction and insight the star.

And remember Reddit works both ways — it’s also a great place to promote your YouTube videos (carefully, within each subreddit’s rules).

Want to build a format that lasts — and stays monetised?

On a free discovery call I’ll help you design content that’s safe, original and built to grow.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Reddit Content on YouTube: FAQ

Can I use Reddit content for YouTube?

Technically, not without permission from the person who wrote it — they own the copyright in their comment. In practice, enforcement by individual authors is rare, which is why so many Reddit videos exist. But two things have tightened: Reddit’s terms now restrict commercial use of its content, and YouTube can demonetise low-effort reused content. The safest approach is to transform it with your own commentary.

Who owns Reddit comments and posts?

The person who wrote them. When you post to Reddit you keep your copyright but grant Reddit a broad licence to use and sub-licence your content. Reddit does not own your words outright — which is exactly why, in its 2025 lawsuits, Reddit enforced its User Agreement rather than claiming copyright itself.

Can you get a copyright strike for reading Reddit posts on YouTube?

It’s possible if the original author files a complaint, but it’s uncommon. The more realistic risks today are Reddit’s terms of service, which restrict commercial use of its content, and YouTube’s reused-content policy, which can block monetisation of low-effort compilations.

Is it legal to make Reddit-reading videos?

It sits in a grey area. Using someone’s exact words without permission can be copyright infringement, but short quotes plus genuine commentary have a stronger fair-use argument. You reduce risk by transforming the content, anonymising usernames, crediting Reddit and, where possible, asking permission. This is general information, not legal advice.

Will YouTube demonetise Reddit videos?

It can. YouTube’s reused-content rules target videos that repackage others’ material with little original input — such as text-to-speech reading over stock gameplay. Adding your own voice, commentary, editing and insight is what keeps a Reddit-based video eligible for monetisation.

Do I need to hide usernames in Reddit videos?

Yes, it’s good practice to anonymise usernames and any personal details. It protects the privacy of the people whose comments you feature, avoids exposing anyone to harassment, and reduces your own risk. Never include names, locations or other identifying information.

The Bottom Line

Can you use Reddit content for YouTube? Strictly, not without permission — the author owns their words. Practically, individual creators rarely face a lawsuit, but the landscape has changed: Reddit now guards its content commercially, and YouTube penalises low-effort reused compilations. The answer isn’t to avoid Reddit — it’s to respect it. Transform what you use, anonymise the people in it, credit the source, and bring enough of your own voice that the video is unmistakably yours. Do that, and Reddit becomes a rich, safe source of ideas rather than a legal or monetisation headache.

📚 Keep reading — rights, rules & content:

Build it right, and build it to last.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on a channel that’s original, safe and growing.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this article: this is general information for creators, not legal advice, and reflects the position as of July 2026. Copyright law, Reddit’s User Agreement and YouTube’s policies differ by country and change over time — always check the current terms and, for anything significant, consult a qualified lawyer.

Tags content, how to post on reddit, reddit, reddit video, social media, video

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can YouTube Comments be Traced?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 1 December 2021
1 Comment on Can YouTube Comments be Traced?

Privacy is obviously a major concern these days, and something we have talked about on this very blog, but how private are your comments? After all, it’s one thing to be told your expectation of privacy is limited if you are going to upload videos to YouTube, but entirely another to be told your offhand comments could be traced.

Can YouTube Comments Be Traced? – Yes, the reality of this kind of situation is that everything can be traced to some degree, it is more a matter of how badly the unseen party wants to track your comments.

Random users who are perhaps upset with something you have said have no plausible way of tracing your comments. If you have said something that breaks YouTube’s guidelines, they can report your comment to YouTube, but that will result in YouTube taking direct action (if they take any action at all), and will not see the reporting party learn your whereabouts or identity.

Can YouTube Trace Comments?

In order to leave a comment on a YouTube video, you have to be logged in to YouTube. This ensures YouTube have a good amount of ways to track you, from your viewing history to the IP address you routinely log in from. Obviously, then, if you are leaving a YouTube comment, YouTube can trace that comment to you.

Now, there are things you can do to limit what that tracing means. YouTube can view your IP address and, with it, they can estimate your geographical location. They will also have a specific address if you have saved any payment details, such as for YouTube Premium (or at least the billing address of the person whose card was used). If you don’t save payment details and you access YouTube using a VPN, YouTube will have no practical way of tracing your comments to a real person or location.

Why Would Traced Comments Be Bad?

There are many reasons why someone might not want their comments to be traced and, if we’re being honest, the majority of them are not particularly savoury. If someone was making illegal comments (mainly hate speech) or making comments that incriminate them in some illegal behaviour, they would naturally not want their comments to be traceable, as that could lead to legal action being taken against them.

That been said, there are some more noble reasons to be concerned about YouTube comments being traced. For example, if you are living in a country that takes punitive action against people who criticise the government, you would naturally not want your comments criticising the government to be traceable. In this situation, most (at least most in our neck of the woods) would probably agree that it is a good reason to hide your real identity and make your comments harder to trace, as opposed to wanting to throw racial slurs around without facing any consequences.

Can Police Track YouTube Comments

When law enforcement gets involved, things get a little trickier. First off, most law enforcement agencies need to have a good reason to go demanding private information from companies like YouTube, so you’re not likely to have the police tracing your whereabouts in this manner over a comment admitting you stole a magazine once. The other side of this point, of course, is that if the police are attempting to trace you through a YouTube comment, they will really want to find you.

And they will have YouTube’s full cooperation.

YouTube is required by law in just about all countries to cooperate if local law enforcement is able to prove they have good cause to be tracing someone. Of course, YouTube’s full cooperation is still limited to what they themselves can find out. If YouTube doesn’t have any information that can be used to trace you, they can’t give that information to the police.

That being said, crime on the Internet is often an international affair, and it may well be a government agency that is interested in your whereabouts, rather than the local police department. In that case, it is hard to say how secure your anonymity is. The movies tend to inflate reality to make it more interesting, but it’s reasonable to assume that an organisation like MI5 or the CIA will have some advanced toys that the likes of YouTube are not in possession of.

Should You Worry About Your Comments Being Traced?

As you have probably already gathered from above, traced comments is only really a problem for people who are doing something wrong in the eyes of the law. YouTube may not be able to trace you back to your home, but they don’t need to know where you live to ban you from the platform if you are doing something against the terms of service. Law enforcement agencies are a different kettle of fish, however.

Of course, the fact that you are worried about being traced does not automatically make you a bad person, such as in the case of the countries with over-zealous laws about criticising the people in power. Ultimately, this blog is here to explore all aspects of YouTube, not judge people. Our default state, however, is to advise you not to break the law.

Social Engineering

This is probably not something that pops into your mind when thinking about being “traced” on the Internet, but social engineering is a very real way to find out more information about someone. Of course, it is also a way that is very to prevent.

Social engineering in this sense might be following the links on someone’s YouTube page to other social media accounts, or figuring out what your username on other platforms might be from things you have said in the comments. Whether an interested party could figure out who you really are or where you live in this manner would depend on what kind of information you have publicly available online, but this also means that it is entirely within your control to prevent.

Of course, being polite and friendly online and not breaking any laws is also a very good way to avoid attracting the attention of anyone who might want to trace your comments…

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 comments, social media, social media comments, tracing, tracking, youtube comments

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can I Use YouTube Videos for Educational Purposes?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 30 November 2021

Any kind of potentially copyright-related YouTube usage can get murky, that includes educational use.

Unfortunately, while many services and laws make exceptions or allowances for educational use, copyright law is not inherently one of them. This does not mean that YouTube is off-limits for educational use, but it is important to understand what constitutes a breach of copyright.

Of course, it wouldn’t be murky if we could just tell you exactly what constitutes a copyright violation in all cases. The reality is far too messy, and often on a case-by-case basis. It is not unusual for certain examples of copyright infringement to remain questionable until there is a court case to settle it.

Fortunately, it is entirely possible to use YouTube for educational purposes in such a way that the question of copyright infringement never needs to rear its ugly head.

What Constitutes Educational?

It is important to understand the word “educational” in a copyright/license sense before grabbing YouTube content, as some YouTubers permit the use of their content for educational purposes.

The first thing to note is that if you are making a profit from the content itself—such as selling an online course and including the content in the course—you are unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt from any content creator. To be considered legitimately educational, you would need to be part of an educational institution, such as a school or university. In almost all cases, if you are working outside of those institutional frameworks, you will struggle to convince any copyright holders or service providers that you are educational.

YouTube Terms of Service

Another important thing to consider is the YouTube Terms of Service, which apply regardless of how you use the content. One particularly relevant point is YouTube’s stance on downloading their content, which is don’t. It is not allowed to download videos from YouTube for any purpose, which means it is not permissible to download videos for educational purposes.

This may not seem like a problem at first, but when combined with the fact that it is also not permitted to broadcast or display YouTube content, it starts to put a bit of a roadblock in the way of using the platform for educational reasons.

Essentially, it means you would be breaking YouTube terms of service by playing a YouTube video to a class of students, but you would also be breaking the terms of service by downloading the content you wish to show and playing that to your class.

How to Use YouTube for Educational Purposes

So, with that in mind, how do you use YouTube videos for educational purposes? The chances of you being caught playing videos in a primary school classroom are pretty slim, but we wouldn’t advise taking chances like that. No matter how slim the risk of being caught is, you are still breaking the terms and conditions.

In all likelihood, the worst YouTube would do is ban a user for violating their terms of service (though legal action is not impossible). However, if you are breaking the terms using an account that represents the educational institution you work for, you could end up getting the entire school in trouble with YouTube, which could see your employer take disciplinary action against you.

So let’s talk about how you can use it.

Sharing YouTube Videos

If the reason you are sharing the videos does not require them to be watching in real-time together, you can always just share the link to the video with your students in the same way you would share the video with friends. There is no rule against sharing the content (as long as you’re not charging people for the link), and anything your students do with the content after that would be their responsibility.

Getting Content From the Source

It may be against YouTube’s terms to broadcast YouTube or play it to large groups of people, and it may be against their terms to download content from YouTube, but the restrictions only refer to the platform, not the content itself.

If there is a piece of content that you think would serve your educational purposes, consider contacting the owner of that content directly and asking them about using it. If they are okay with this, you can also ask them if it would be possible to send you the content directly, so you can play the media without using YouTube.

It should be noted that there is no practical way for YouTube to catch you downloading their content in the vast majority of cases, especially if you have the permission of the creator to use that content. But, once again, it is against their terms of service, so you are taking a risk if you do that.

Most YouTubers are already putting their content out for “free” in a sense and should be open to the idea of their content being played in an educational setting, even if they would not be getting views for it.

Create Your Own Content

In much the same way that the above suggestion gets around the various problems with YouTube’s terms, so too does creating your own content. And, in creating your own content, you can ensure that it shows exactly what you want it to show.

You will still be subject to YouTube’s terms about broadcasting and playing YouTube to groups of people, but you will also be in possession of the original files, so you won’t need YouTube. And, as a nice aside, your content could be made publicly available and, eventually, monetised.

Final Thoughts

While YouTube doesn’t make any special concessions for educational use, the restrictions it places on the use of its platform should not pose any significant hurdle to someone looking to use YouTube to educate. Whether you are a teacher looking to use informative content that is already there, or someone looking to create the informative content for others, there are ways to make it all work!

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 edu, education, educational videos, how to youtube education, youtube, youtube education

TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can YouTube Premium Be Shared?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 29 November 2021

Can YouTube Premium be shared? Yes — properly, through a Family or Duo plan.

A Family plan shares Premium with up to five other people (six in total), each on their own account — no password swapping. There’s now a two-person Duo plan too. The catch in 2026: everyone must live in the same household, and unlike the old days, YouTube actually enforces that now.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform and six Silver Play Buttons. I keep on top of how YouTube’s plans and policies shift, including the recent household-sharing crackdown most guides haven’t caught up with.

Curious how Premium affects creators’ pay? See do YouTubers get paid for Premium.

🔑 Key takeaways

Family plan: manager + up to 5 members = 6 people, each on their own account.
Duo plan: a newer 2-person option.
No password sharing — members join by invitation and keep separate histories.
Same household required — and since 2025 YouTube actively enforces it.
Individual, Student & Lite plans can’t be shared.

📌 Jump to a section:

The short answer
The Family plan
The Duo plan
The same-household rule
Unofficial sharing
Which plans can be shared
Premium perks
How to set up sharing
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Can YouTube Premium be shared?
Yes. The proper route is a Family plan — one manager plus up to 5 members (6 total), each on their own Google account, no password sharing. There’s also a newer Duo plan for two people. The big condition: everyone must live in the same household, and since 2025 YouTube actively enforces this with periodic checks. Individual, Student and Lite plans can’t be shared.

Can YouTube Premium Be Shared? The Short Answer

YouTube Premium frees you from ad interruptions and adds background play, downloads and YouTube Music — so naturally people want to split it. The good news: sharing is built in, and you don’t need to hand anyone your password. The proper way is a Family plan, where each person joins with their own account and keeps their own experience.

The important 2026 update: Premium sharing is designed for a single household. That rule isn’t new, but YouTube spent years not enforcing it — and that changed. Members who don’t live with the plan manager are now being flagged and paused. So the honest answer is: yes, you can share Premium, but the old “split it with mates across the country” trick no longer reliably works.

Sharing Properly: The YouTube Premium Family Plan

The Family plan is the intended way to share. One person is the family manager and can invite up to five family members — six people in total — to share the single subscription. What makes it good:

Everyone gets the full benefits — ad-free YouTube, background play, downloads and YouTube Music Premium.
No password sharing. Each member joins with their own Google account via an emailed invitation.
Separate experiences. Everyone keeps their own watch history, recommendations and playlists — nothing gets mixed.
Big savings. Split the Family price several ways and the per-person cost drops well below an individual plan.

The manager must be 18 or over, use a standard (non-Workspace) Google account, and be in a country where Premium is available. One quirk worth knowing: you can only change your family group once every 12 months, so choose your members carefully. For what it costs in your region, see the real cost of YouTube Premium.

The Newer Option: The Duo Plan

If it’s just you and one other person, YouTube now offers a Duo plan — a two-person membership that sits between the Individual and Family tiers on price. It rolled out to more markets after testing, so availability depends on your country, but it’s ideal for couples or a pair of housemates who don’t need all six Family slots. The same household principle still applies.

The Same-Household Rule (and the 2025 Crackdown)

This is the part that’s changed most since this guide was first written.

⚠️ The big change: Family plan members must live at the same residential address as the manager. That rule always existed, but from 2025 YouTube began actively enforcing it — running periodic electronic household checks and emailing members it can’t confirm that their benefits will be paused (typically within about two weeks). Paused members stay in the group and can still watch with ads, but lose ad-free viewing, downloads and the other perks.

Being related, sharing the cost, or simply being in the same country isn’t enough — YouTube treats “household” as an address-based condition. There’s no reliable trick around it, so the safe approach is to keep Family sharing to people who really live with you, and use a separate plan for anyone who doesn’t.

What About Unofficial Sharing?

Historically, people shared Premium by simply handing over their login, or by adding out-of-household friends to a family group. Both are problems now:

Password sharing breaches YouTube’s terms, mixes up everyone’s history and recommendations, and can trigger security prompts — a clumsy solution when the Family plan exists.
Cross-household family members are exactly what the new enforcement targets, so those benefits get paused.

In short: the official invitation-based sharing is easier, cleaner and safer than any workaround — and the workarounds increasingly don’t hold up.

Which YouTube Premium Plans Can Be Shared?

Plan	People	Shareable?	Notes
Individual	1	❌ No	Single account only
Duo	2	✅ Yes	Same household; availability varies
Family	Up to 6	✅ Yes	Manager + 5, same household, own accounts
Student	1	❌ No	Discounted, verified students only
Premium Lite	1	❌ No	Cheaper, limited perks

What Perks Do You Get With YouTube Premium?

Whichever plan you’re on, Premium includes:

Ad-free YouTube — no interruptions across the platform.
Background play — keep audio going with the screen off (something you can otherwise only fudge; see background play without Premium).
Offline downloads — save videos to watch without a connection.
YouTube Music Premium — included ad-free music streaming.

Worth noting for creators: when a Premium subscriber watches your videos ad-free, you still get paid a share of their subscription — so Premium viewers aren’t lost income.

How to Set Up Family Sharing

As the family manager, get a Family plan (or upgrade your individual plan) in your YouTube purchases and memberships settings.
Set up your Google family group and set your household location.
Invite up to 5 members by email or text — each accepts with their own Google account.
Keep all members in the same household to avoid the periodic check pausing their benefits.

Sharing YouTube Premium: FAQ

Can YouTube Premium be shared?

Yes. The proper way is a YouTube Premium Family plan, which lets one family manager share benefits with up to 5 other members — six people in total — each using their own Google account. There’s also a newer Duo plan for two people. All members must live in the same household as the manager, and since 2025 YouTube actively enforces that rule.

How many people can share YouTube Premium?

Up to six on a Family plan — the family manager plus five invited members. The Duo plan covers two people. Individual, Student and Premium Lite plans are for one person and can’t be shared.

Do you have to live in the same house to share YouTube Premium?

Yes. Family plan members must live at the same residential address as the family manager. The rule has always existed, but since 2025 YouTube actively enforces it with periodic electronic household checks, and pauses Premium benefits for members it can’t confirm are in the household.

Can I share YouTube Premium without giving out my password?

Yes — and that’s how it’s designed to work. Each family member joins the group with their own Google account via an invitation, so nobody shares a password, and every member keeps their own watch history, recommendations and playlists separate.

Can you share a YouTube Premium student plan?

No. The Student plan is a discounted individual membership for verified students only and can’t be shared. If you want to share, you need a Family plan or a Duo plan.

What happens if a family member doesn’t live in the same household?

YouTube may email them a warning that their benefits will be paused, then downgrade them to the ad-supported tier if the household can’t be confirmed within the notice period. They stay in the family group and can still watch with ads, but lose Premium perks like ad-free viewing and downloads.

Final Thoughts

So, can YouTube Premium be shared? Yes — and the official way is really good: a Family plan for up to six people, or a Duo plan for two, each on their own account with their own recommendations, and real savings per person. Just build your group around people who actually live with you, because the days of quietly sharing across separate homes are over — YouTube now checks, and pauses anyone who doesn’t fit. Set it up properly and Premium becomes one of the better-value subscriptions going.

📚 Keep reading — YouTube Premium & ads:

Thinking beyond watching — ready to create?

If you’re moving from Premium viewer to creator, a free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on building a channel that pays.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this guide: plan structures, member limits and the household rule reflect YouTube’s official family plan help and reported enforcement at the time of writing (July 2026); plans, pricing and availability vary by country and change over time. Check YouTube’s current terms before subscribing.

Tags download youtube, Download YouTube Videos, youtube, youtube downloads, youtube family account, youtube premium, youtube premium account, youtube premium sharing, youtube red, youtube student account

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can I Use YouTube Videos on TikTok?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 28 November 2021
1 Comment on Can I Use YouTube Videos on TikTok?

Given the size and reach of TikTok in today’s Internet-centric society, you could be forgiven for thinking the video-sharing platform had been around for much longer than the four years it has. And, like most social media platforms that centre around video-sharing (YouTube, Instagram, Vine, etc) TikTok has made many stars and a lot of money for its more successful users. It makes sense, then, that YouTubers would be looking to expand their brand to this relatively new upstart.

Of course, making content for YouTube is already a lot of work, so adding a new platform to create content for may feel a bit like an overwhelming task. The next logical question is “can I use YouTube videos on TikTok?” Doing allows YouTubers to get a footing on TikTok by leveraging their already significant body of work, exposing them to a new audience in the process.

But, is it allowed? Can you use YouTube videos on TikTok?

Yes, you can use YouTube videos on TikTok. There is no rule on the platform about not uploading content that exists elsewhere online. That being said, it should be your content.

Using Other People’s YouTube Videos

TikTok may not have a specific rule against uploading duplicate content to their platform, but they are subject to the same rules regarding copyright as every other user-generated content platform on the web. This means that they have a mechanism for reporting copyright infringement.

If you upload someone else’s YouTube content without permission, that YouTuber could get your TikTok taken down for copyright violation. Furthermore, while it is highly unlikely in this type of situation, that YouTuber could decide to sue you for damages.

Now, being realistic, the chances of someone going through the hassle and expense of suing you over a TikTok video are very slim. But it could happen, and you have to accept that risk if you decide to use someone else’s content in your TikToks.

Of course, you could ask that YouTube for permission to use the content, removing all of the risks in the process. You could also rely on fair use, but as we’ve talked about both on this blog and on the YouTube channel, fair use is a tricky thing to wield effectively, and can easily backfire on you if you rely on it to avoid ending up in legal trouble.

Using Your Own YouTube Videos on TikTok

Using your own YouTube videos eliminates this risk, of course. As we’ve mentioned, TikTok does not have a rule against uploading content that exists elsewhere on the web, and you own the content you’re uploading. So, unless you plan to put in a copyright complaint against yourself, you should be good to go.

The question then turns from can you do it to how do you do it.

The important thing to remember when cross-posting content across different platforms is that no two platforms are the same, and you need to tailor your posts to suit the platform they are being published on.

This can come in the form of hard limits, such as the length of the video. TikTok videos have an upper limit on the length of 60 seconds. In contrast, unverified YouTube users can upload videos as long as 15 minutes, and verified have no upper limit (though there is a limit on size).

Clearly, then, just uploading your YouTube videos wholesale to TikTok will not be an option in most cases. But beyond the hard limitations, there are other things to consider, such as the fact that TikTok users consume content differently from YouTube users. Or, more accurately, people go to TikTok for a different experience than they expect at YouTube.

TikTok is primarily a light-hearted platform where the content is humorous and entertaining. It is not impossible to succeed with more serious content, but it is less common. If you can make your TikTok video fit that light-hearted mould, you will stand a better chance of success.

You will also need to determine what your goal is. If you are just looking to grow a following on TikTok, you can focus on succeeding on TikTok alone. If you are looking to use TikTok to drive traffic back to your YouTube channel, you will have to find a way to balance your content between being entertaining and engaging enough to draw TikTok users in, while still leaving something for them to want that they will be prepared to head over to YouTube for.

Can You Make Money on TikTok?

An ideal scenario in the world of content creation is one in which you can earn revenue multiple times for the same content. In this case, that would be uploading a YouTube video and earning revenue there, and then uploading that same content (modified as per above) to TikTok and earning more money there.

Well, good news! You can make money directly through TikTok in a very similar fashion to the YouTube Partner Programme. The TikTok creator fund shares a huge pot of money to its top performing content.

The bad news is that the barrier to entry is quite steep. In order to make earn revenue through TikTok, you have to be at least 18 years old, have at least 10,000 followers and have had at least 100,000 video views over the last 30 days. No small feat. Still, if you can reach those levels using your YouTube content, you will be growing your revenue disproportionately to the additional effort you’re putting in.

Final Thoughts

Like other popular video-sharing platforms, TikTok represents an excellent opportunity to expand your brand, drive additional traffic to your YouTube channel, and generally increase your skillsets when it comes to creating content.

The important thing is to remember that every platform is different, and what works on YouTube isn’t guaranteed to work on TikTok (or Instagram or Snapchat, etc). Always try and spend some time on the platform before uploading content to it. Get a feel for what works so that you can apply that to your own TikToks.

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.

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 content, followers, tik tok, tik tok video, tiktok, tiktok followers, youtube

SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

Can YouTube Detect VPN?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 27 November 2021

VPNs—virtual private networks—are a great way to ensure privacy when using the Internet, as well as gain access to region-restricted content that you would not otherwise have been able to view. When it comes to using a VPN with YouTube, there are many questions arise. Things like “is watching YouTube through VPN allowed?”, and “can I inflate my view count using a VPN?” We’re going to touch on those questions in this post, but first, let’s tackle the title question.

YouTube can certainly detect VPNs, though it is not an immediate process. Detecting VPNs involves the tracking of multiple data points across many users, but it can be done, and it is in YouTube’s best interests to do it.

How VPNs Work

This being a site primarily for YouTubers, we won’t try to explain VPNs in technical detail (nor are we qualified to!) so feel free to search yourself a more detailed explanation, but a base understanding of how VPNs work is necessary in order to understand how YouTube can detect VPNs in the first place.

Essentially, a VPN is an encrypted network within the wider network that is the Internet. The data travelling back and forth in that VPN is only visible to users who are part of the VPN. Think of it as similar to entering the subway, tube, or another underground transport network of your choosing. A person watching you come out of the transport network knows you have exited at that point, but has no way of knowing where you entered.

This allows users to get around things like geographical restrictions on content since their connection is routed through the VPN and emerges at a node that is in a geographical region where the content is available. This can also help users to have a greater degree of anonymity. While you can use things like “incognito mode” in Chrome, there will always be ways in which your online identity can be guessed at—if not outright locked in—because you are still accessing the web from your computer in the same geographical location. VPNs can throw any interested parties a little further off your scent by masking your geographical region.

How YouTube Can Detect VPNs

One of the key points about using a VPN is the IP address you appear to be connecting from. That is, the IP address that YouTube thinks is yours. Many VPNs—especially free ones—use the same IP address for several users. Depending on the popularity of the VPN, there could be thousands of users connecting through the same IP address. For YouTube, this would be a big giveaway, especially if many of those users are logged in.

This can be avoided by using a VPN that will grant you a dedicated IP address, meaning you will always be connecting from the same remote IP address and you will be the only one using it. This isn’t the best option for anonymity, but it’s great for getting around regional content restrictions since YouTube can’t reliably distinguish between your dedicated VPN IP address and a regular IP address.

If you are using a free VPN service—or a paid one that uses shared IP addresses) and YouTube (most likely YouTube TV specifically) is blocking you, you can always try another service in the hope of finding one that YouTube hasn’t cottoned on to yet, but the only way to be relatively sure that YouTube won’t catch you VPNing them is if you get a dedicated IP address.

Why Use A VPN For YouTube?

The main two reasons to use VPNs to view YouTube content are regional restrictions and anonymity. Regional restrictions we’ve covered—some content is made unavailable in certain parts of the world, mostly because of licensing but also sometimes because of political matters. Whatever the reason, using a VPN can allow you to access that content. Whether you see this as an unethical practice will depend entirely on your own worldview. We’re not here to judge.

There is also a version of regional restrictions which is almost the precise reverse of what we have just described. In some parts of the world—such as China, North Korea, Iran, and more—YouTube is blocked by the government. Again, where you stand on the ethics of this is your business, but using a VPN can enabled citizens of countries that block YouTube to get around the censorship.

Anonymity is pretty self-explanatory. Some people value their privacy, or perhaps have a pressing reason why they need to ensure they remain anonymous. In any case, using a VPN will make it considerably harder to identify that person when they are using sites like YouTube… assuming they don’t log in to their account, of course.

Using VPNs To Inflate YouTube Views

If you peruse threads about YouTube and VPNs, you’ll invariably find someone asking about using a VPN to boost their view count. This is a non-starter for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it is one hundred percent not worth the time it would take to make any meaningful boost to your view count. If you had thousands of people working at it, you may be able to make a meaningful difference, but if you can get thousands of people to do that, why not just get them to watch your video legitimately?

Secondly, even if you fool YouTube regarding your VPN access, the platform still has ways of ensuring that every view is legitimate. If you watch your own video a thousand times, even if you do it through a VPN, YouTube will likely scrub those views from your view count, meaning you’ll have wasted your time.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, YouTube is only concerned about VPNs when they affect the platform’s ability to generate revenue. Thousands of users coming from the same IP address makes it harder to track individual users, and thus display relevant ads. A dedicated IP address gives YouTube something to track, meaning they can advertise to you even if you are technically anonymous, so they’re not likely to clamp down on that kind of VPN access.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 nord, nordvpn, privacy, surf shark, video vpn, vpn, vpn video, youtube privacy

YOUTUBE

Can I Use YouTube Videos For Facebook Ads?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 26 November 2021

Facebook has proven itself to be a powerful marketing tool over the years, with many people using Facebook—rather than Google or other search engines—to get search for things online and generally consume content. And, of course, with over 2.5 billion monthly users in 2020, the sheer number of eyeballs on the site makes it an invaluable resource for advertisers.

The more instances there are of your content online, the less value each individual instance has. However, when it comes to Facebook ads specifically, just make sure your video doesn’t violate Facebook’s policies regarding ads, make your ad engaging, and you should be fine.

Being a primarily YouTube-centric blog, we’re obviously going to be taking a YouTube angle on this, specifically whether or not you can use YouTube videos for your Facebook ads. On the face of it, this should seem like a no brainer, but, if you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know that there are always little wrinkles to make matters more complicated.

Using YouTube Videos for Facebook Ads

Now, there are a few different ways in which using YouTube videos for Facebook ads can be taken, so let’s cover each separately to avoid any confusion.

Advertising a YouTube Video Link

It’s stretching the definition of “using” a YouTube video, granted, but advertising your YouTube content on Facebook is one way in which you are using YouTube videos for Facebook ads.

The answer to this one is short and sweet; yes you can.

As long as the content of the video does not violate any of Facebook’s advertising guidelines, you can pretty much advertise whatever you like, including YouTube videos. There are question marks over the effectiveness of this strategy, however, but we’ll talk about that in a little more detail below.

Using YouTube Videos In Facebook Ads

There is a bit of mystery surrounding this aspect of YouTube videos as Facebook ads. Technically speaking, using a YouTube video wholesale would count as duplicate content, which Facebook isn’t entirely keen on. Like most platforms, Facebook would rather have content that you can only access on Facebook because it gives users an added incentive to go there.

Now, advertisements would, you would think, be exempt from any kind of duplicate content policy on Facebook, but the truth is we simply don’t know. It could be that Facebook ads that are directly ripped from YouTube have poorer performance, or that they get taken down if they are found out.

In any case, it’s probably worth not putting a YouTube video in your Facebook ads without some kind of modifications to make it unique. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to do this. For example, many Facebook ads incorporate subtitles baked into the actual video. This allows people who are scrolling through their feed somewhere where it would be inappropriate to play sound to follow along with what is happening in the video.

Another trick you can use is to change the aspect ratio of the video. Most users viewing Facebook are doing so on their phones, and that typically means portrait mode. Cropping your video to suit portrait viewing (assuming it wasn’t already a portrait video) is another way to alter the content so that it is not just an identical copy of your original YouTube video.

Using Other People’s YouTube Content in Facebook Ads

From Facebook’s side of things, the case for using other people’s YouTube videos in your Facebook ads is pretty much the same as using your own. Facebook may look poorly on direct duplicate content, but there’s no explicit rule against it.

Where you might run into problems, however, is with the person whose content you have used without permission.

We’ve talked at length about what you can do with other people’s videos on this very blog, but as a general refresher, you should always assume you need permission from the creator unless they have explicitly said permission is not needed, or they have published their video under a public domain license.

Content creators whose content you use in your ads without their permission will be able to get your ad taken down via a copyright claim, and then your ad won’t be achieving anything! In reality, if you have a relatively small online presence, you probably won’t get noticed by any copyright holders, but the fact that you might not get caught is rarely a good reason to do something you’re not supposed to.

Are Facebook Ads a Good Way to Promote YouTube Videos

Things get a little messy when discussing this topic. Facebook is undoubtedly an excellent way to promote things, however, it has been shown that native Facebook video outperforms links to YouTube videos almost all of the time. Of course, if your ad is a native video of the content you want to promote, why would a viewer click through to YouTube? They can watch the content right there on Facebook.

One of the more effective ways to go about this is to use Facebook as a kind of showreel, much like you would with Instagram or TikTok. Select highlights from your content that are entertaining and stand well on their own and use those for your Facebook ads, with the aim being to drive the viewers to your channel for the “full fat” experience.

Final Thoughts

While this post has been specifically about using YouTube videos for Facebook ads, it is generally a good idea to avoid duplicate content regardless of the context. The more instances there are of your content online, the less value each individual instance has.

This does not mean never re-using content—the highlight reel method we mentioned above is a great way to find new viewers from other platforms—but taking a video you have uploaded to YouTube and putting it out unchanged in other places around the web will always have a diminishing effect on the original video, since viewers will have several places they can view it, reducing the incentive to head to your channel.

When it comes to Facebook ads specifically, just make sure your video doesn’t violate Facebook’s policies regarding ads, make your ad engaging, and you should be fine. If you can do that without using a YouTube video completely unchanged from its original state, all the better!

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 advertising, content, facebook, facebook ads, facebook video, social media, youtube, youtube facebook videos

SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

Can YouTube Ban You From Commenting?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 25 November 2021

A very common question that gets asked about YouTube is whether or not the platform can ban you from commenting on videos, and it can be a very misleading question for one simple reason; it is YouTube’s platform, they can do what they want. The more appropriate question, then, is does YouTube ban you from commenting on videos? And the answer is a little complicated.

Firstly, YouTube does not seem to be openly banning people from commenting. They may ban people from the platform entirely, but that’s a different matter. Of course, if you are banned from YouTube, you are banned from commenting.

Now, onto the trickier side of the topic.

Censored Comments

YouTube has been caught actively removing comments with specific words in them. This process appears to be automated and does not seem to carry any other penalty with it. That is, nobody seems to be getting banned or even warned about their comments. The comments just… disappear.

Crucially, however, those commenters can go on commenting after YouTube has decided to take one of them down. Not a ban, then. Of course, the phrases that YouTube has targetted here seem to be mostly bot-fodder, so maybe they are banning those accounts but no one is complaining about it because the banned accounts aren’t real.

Blocked Commenters

YouTube may not be banning people from commenting overall, but individual YouTubers can certainly ban you from commenting on their videos. Of course, this only affects you if you try to comment on that specific YouTuber’s content, and saying it affects you is being a bit loose with the term.

In reality, a YouTube block is more what is known of as a “shadowban”. In other words, your comments will be hidden from the YouTube channel and no one else will be able to see them, but you will still be able to make them and will have no way of discerning that you have been blocked other than guessing from the lack of engagement. Well, unless the YouTuber explicitly tells you, that is.

Shadowbanning (also called “muting” on other platforms) is an effective way to stop troublesome commenters because they don’t know they’ve been blocked. In contrast, if YouTube told you that you were banned from commenting on a specific channel, you might go and make a new YouTube account so that you could comment from there instead.

Disabled Comments

The other way in which your commenting abilities may be curtailed is when comments for a particular video are disabled entirely. YouTubers have the option to disable comments when they upload a video, but don’t worry, this isn’t just you. If comments are disabled, it’s affecting everyone the same.

Of course, a video with disabled comments may not be down to the YouTuber not wanting discussion of their content. YouTube will automatically disable comments on videos that are either made for children or prominently feature children. In these cases, the YouTuber will not have a choice about the comments, as YouTube’s terms state that content for children has to be treated in this manner.

I’ve Been Blocked, What Now?

As with any situation like this, the first thing to consider is whether the blocking reflects poorly on you. Sure, some YouTubers are just very easy with the block button, and the fact that you were blocked by them may say more about them than you. That being said, it can’t hurt to take a moment to truly think about how things unfolded. If, on balance, you find that the YouTuber was probably justified in blocking you, it may be something you will want to work on in future.

There are other possibilities, however. For example, you may conclude that the YouTuber was justified in blocking you, but you are still comfortable with the way you handled the situation and do not feel the need to change your behaviour. In this situation, there is little to be done but move on. You do not wish to change and the YouTuber does not wish to engage with you.

You may also conclude that you were being perfectly civil/reasonable and that the YouTuber was entirely out of line in blocking you. Once again, there probably isn’t much to be done. If you are a YouTuber of a similar size and you consider the point of contention important enough, you could perhaps open a dialogue that way, but the chances are you will once again have to put the situation behind you and move one.

One final note in this regard; if you are not sure who the reasonable party was, there is no harm in telling the tale to someone who can be unbiased and getting their opinion. Just remember that you will have to represent events fairly if you want to get a useful answer.

When I Should I Block?

That was all well and good for someone who has being blocked, but what if you’re the one doing the blocking? If you’re a YouTuber who is dealing with a commenter you would rather not be dealing with, when should you hit that block button?

The first thing to consider is whether the commenter is being disruptive or creating a negative experience for other commenters, or if they are just rubbing you the wrong way. It might be that they get on with your other viewers but you don’t like them, in which case we’d suggest leaving them be and just ignoring their comments. If they are making the experience bad for everyone, however, drop the banhammer!

The other thing to consider is what kind of community you want to foster. For example, if you are trying to run a family-friendly channel and a particular commenter repeatedly swears or says unsavoury things, it may be worth asking them to tone it down. If that fails, block.

For channels with large followings, this would obviously be an impractical approach, but if you set these ground rules early on when your channel is small, you will usually find that your community becomes self-policing once you start hitting the kind of numbers that are impossible to manage alone.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 ban, banned, banned from youtube, block negative comments, comment on youtube, shadow banning, shadowban, shadowbanning, youtube ban, youtube comments

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

Can I Use YouTube Videos for Commercial Purposes?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 24 November 2021
2 Comments on Can I Use YouTube Videos for Commercial Purposes?

When it comes to using services for commercial reasons—especially free services—there is often a lot of murky language and grey areas to wrap your head around. We’d like to be able to say that YouTube is different, but unfortunately, the waters here are just as muddy as everywhere else.

Let’s start with the simplest answer we can give. Yes, you can use YouTube videos for commercial purposes… sometimes. If you own the content and it conforms to YouTube’s community guidelines, there is nothing to stop you from uploading videos for commercial purposes. However, there is more than one way to use YouTube for commercial purposes, and that’s where things get less clear.

As with many things like copyright and licensing, there is a lot of this topic that falls under the umbrella of “technically no, practically yes”. That is, technically no you’re not allowed to do it, but practically you should be fine.

Don’t worry, we’ll walk through this in more detail, but before we do, please remember that this is a YouTube blog, not a legal one. Nothing here should be taken as legal advice, and you are ultimately responsible for your own decisions.

Uploading Videos for Commercial Purposes

The most straightforward use of YouTube videos for commercial purposes is the uploading of your own content that you have full rights to, and that is in full compliance with YouTube’s terms and guidelines. Examples of this might be uploading a promotional video for an online course, a showreel for your acting portfolio, or a walk-around video of a car you are selling.

In each of these cases, the video is technically being used for commercial purposes, however, it should be noted that complying with YouTube’s terms doesn’t just mean things like not having nudity or hateful language, it also means accepting YouTube’s presentation. Your video will almost certainly be shown alongside ads, and those ads might not always be to your tastes. This can be a real problem when dealing with branding, but that is the agreement you enter when you upload content to YouTube.

Embedding Videos for Commercial Purposes

Embedding videos is where things get a little more complicated, since YouTube’s own terms of service state that you cannot;

“use the Service to distribute unsolicited promotional or commercial content or other unwanted or mass solicitations (spam)”

The problem with this is that YouTube makes no real attempt to draw a line between spam and legitimate distribution, and the use of the word “unsolicited” is very vague. For example, if you embed a YouTube video on your blog, nobody could reasonably call it unsolicited, since people are coming to your blog to read your content, so the solicitation is implied.

But what about a forum post, or a Facebook comment?

The reality is that the vast majority of situations in which you would embed a YouTube video for commercial use will not get you in trouble with YouTube, but it is important to remember that vague language in the terms and conditions, particularly if your YouTube channel is a critical component in your income.

Playing YouTube Videos for Commercial Purposes

YouTube’s terms also state that the service is only for personal, non-commercial use, which rules out things like publicly screening videos. Publicly screening videos could include anything from showing a YouTube video at a speaking engagement to playing one at a party with paid entry.

There is no obvious legitimate path through YouTube’s terms to allow this use of YouTube content, however, there is a way around it. If you own the content, or if you can get permission from the owner of the content, you can cut out the middle man. As long as YouTube are not the rights holders of the content in question, their only issue would be you using YouTube to play the content, but if you’re not using their service, it’s nothing to do with them. That being said, it is against YouTube’s terms to download videos through unofficial means, so you could still be in breach of YouTube’s terms with this method. It is unclear how YouTube could ever effectively enforce this particular term, however.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you would be completely off the hook. If you used someone else’s content without their permission, they could still take issue with it, but that is the case for any use of content that you don’t own the rights to.

Additional Factors

It should also be noted that YouTube does not allow the use of any content on their site that is not a user submission. Again, we straddle the uncomfortable line between technically true and practically false here. Technically it would be against YouTube’s terms of service to include a screenshot of the YouTube website in a video that you are using commercially. Practically speaking, unless you are playing your commercial video during halftime at the Super Bowl, it’s unlikely anything will come of it.

User submissions—that is, videos uploaded by YouTubers—are covered by the usual terms and licenses, but everything else—such as artwork—is completely off-limits. That means not even for non-commercial use.

Summing Up

That being said, you are taking a risk if you go against that “technically”, no matter how unlikely it is. If you decide to do something that breaks the YouTube terms of service, you should be prepared for the possibility that you may be found out, and that YouTube may take action against you.

The only way to be completely safe when using YouTube videos for commercial purposes is to ensure you are the rights holder of the content in question, and that any screenings of the content that are not for personal use should use your own copy of media, not the YouTube platform. Remember, YouTube does not own your content once it is uploaded.

It’s also worth remembering that content you upload can be similarly used by other people. For example, an informative video about how to use your latest product could be hijacked by a competing firm.

It always pays to think through all of the implications.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 commercial, copyright, make money online, money, sales, youtube sales

SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

Does YouTube Count Views From VPN?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 24 November 2021
1 Comment on Does YouTube Count Views From VPN?

Short answer: yes, YouTube counts legitimate views from a VPN. A real person watching a video normally counts whether they’re on a VPN or not — YouTube doesn’t block VPNs and doesn’t throw a view away just because it’s encrypted. The nuance is in the word legitimate: views only fail to count when they look artificial, fail location and account checks, or are part of an attempt to inflate the numbers. Here’s exactly how it works in 2026, what a VPN really changes, and why it’s useless for gaming your view count.

The question underneath the question: most people asking this are really asking one of two things — “will my honest viewers on VPNs still count?” (yes), or “can I use a VPN to pump up my views?” (no, and here’s why that backfires).

This guide answers both properly, using how YouTube’s view-validation system actually behaves today — not the folklore from a few years ago.

Why listen to me? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades of self-employment behind me. I’ve coached 500+ creators and helped earn six Silver Play Buttons. I’ve watched view counts wobble, freeze and correct on hundreds of channels, so this is grounded in what actually happens, not guesswork.

Want a real growth plan instead of view tricks? Book a free discovery call.

📌 Jump to a section:

What counts as a view in 2026
Does YouTube count VPN views?
What a VPN actually changes
When VPN views don’t count
Can a VPN boost your views?
What is a VPN, in plain English
Legit reasons to use a VPN
The real way to get more views
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Does YouTube count views from a VPN?
Yes — a genuine, viewer-initiated watch by a real person counts whether or not they’re using a VPN. YouTube doesn’t block VPNs or discard encrypted views. A view only fails to count if it looks artificial (bots, scripts, endless looping) or fails YouTube’s location and account checks. A VPN does change the location your view is attributed to, which can affect analytics and revenue geography — but it can’t be used to reliably inflate your view count, because validation strips artificial views back out.

What Counts as a View on YouTube in 2026?

Before we get to VPNs, you need the foundation, because it’s the whole answer. YouTube’s own definition of a view is simple: a viewer-initiated, intentional play of a video by a real human, that has passed spam checks. Every word does work there. “Viewer-initiated” and “intentional” mean the person actively chose to watch. “Real human” and “passed spam checks” mean YouTube has decided the view isn’t fake.

That produces a clear line between what counts and what doesn’t:

Counts as a view ✅	Doesn’t count ❌
A person clicks a thumbnail, link or play button and watches	Bot traffic and automated scripts
A viewer on a VPN watching normally	Autoplay or hidden embedded videos (no active choice)
A few genuine re-watches of the same video	Rapid, repeated self-refreshing to juice the count
A standard embed where someone clicks play	Purchased or botted views (removed on validation)

🔍 Why your public count sometimes lags: YouTube validates views before showing them publicly, so YouTube Studio often updates faster than the public counter. If a count seems to freeze, stall or drop slightly, that’s the old “301 freeze” behaviour — the validation system auditing a wave of views and removing anything that looks artificial. It’s normal, not a penalty.

Does YouTube Count Views From a VPN?

Now the specific question. If someone watches your video through a VPN, does it count? In almost every normal case, yes.

If the viewer is logged in to a valid YouTube account, YouTube barely cares about the VPN. Only a small slice of the data YouTube wants is tied to location, and a logged-in account confirms the rest — so a real person on a VPN, watching because they chose to, is a real view. YouTube does not block VPNs, and it does not discard views simply for being encrypted or routed through another country.

Anonymous, logged-out views on a VPN are treated a little more cautiously, because YouTube has less certainty about who’s behind them. And VPN server addresses can be flagged over time — reputable providers are treated normally, while addresses tied to malicious activity or obvious abuse get scrutinised or blocked. But none of that changes the headline: an honest viewer on a decent VPN counts.

What a VPN Actually Changes About Your Views

A VPN doesn’t stop a view from counting — but it does change a few things worth understanding, especially if you’re a creator looking at your own analytics.

What a VPN changes	Why it matters
Apparent location	The view is attributed to the VPN’s exit server, not the viewer’s real country — so it can land in the “wrong” country in your analytics
Revenue geography	Ad rates vary by country, so a lot of VPN traffic can skew how your revenue is calculated and reported
Regional availability	A VPN can unlock region-locked videos by placing the viewer in an allowed country
Privacy of viewing history	Encrypts traffic so the viewer’s ISP and network can’t see what’s being watched

For creators, the location point is the one to remember: if you test your own videos through a VPN a lot, don’t be surprised when your analytics show views from a country you’ve never marketed to.

When VPN Views Don’t Count (and When They Get You in Trouble)

A view fails to count when it stops looking like a genuine human choice. That’s true with or without a VPN — but VPNs come up most often in the context people hope will work: inflating numbers. So let’s be blunt about it.

YouTube runs a constant view-validation audit. Its systems are very good at spotting artificial traffic — sudden spikes with no matching engagement, clustered or unusual IP sources, flat retention, and behaviour that doesn’t look human. Independent analyses put YouTube’s detection of artificial traffic in the region of 96%. Anything it flags gets removed, which is why bought or botted view counts deflate over the following days.

⚠️ The terms-of-service line: using a VPN (or anything else) to “artificially inflate” your view count is a direct breach of YouTube’s terms of service. Beyond being caught and reversed, it can put your channel at risk. There is no version of this that’s worth it — the downside is a strike against a channel you’re trying to build, and the upside is views that get deleted anyway.

Can You Use a VPN to Boost Your View Count?

This is the real motivation behind a lot of these searches, so here’s the honest answer: no. It doesn’t work, and it isn’t worth the risk.

Think about the maths for a second. To move the needle on a view count by hand-loading videos through different VPN servers, you’d spend enormous time for a trickle of views — most of which validation strips out anyway. Compare that to spending the same hour improving a thumbnail that lifts your click-through rate across every impression a video ever gets. One is a rounding error that might get you a strike; the other compounds for the life of the video.

The uncomfortable truth every experienced creator learns: there is no shortcut that beats making something people want to click and watch. Which is exactly what the last section of this guide is about.

Chasing views the hard way?

Skip the tricks. On a free discovery call we’ll find the real reasons your videos aren’t getting the views they deserve — and the fastest fixes.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

What Is a VPN, in Plain English?

A VPN — virtual private network — is a private, encrypted network running across the public internet. Think of your home Wi-Fi: the devices on it form a private network outsiders can’t just walk into. A VPN extends that idea across the world. Your device encrypts its traffic, sends it through the VPN to a server somewhere else, and that server passes it on to the wider internet.

The practical upshot is twofold. First, your traffic is encrypted, so your internet provider and network can’t see what you’re doing. Second — the part that matters for YouTube — websites see the VPN server’s location, not yours. If you connect through a server in the United States, YouTube treats you as being in the United States. That’s how a VPN unlocks region-specific content, and it’s also why VPN views land in the server’s country in your analytics.

Legitimate Reasons to Watch YouTube Through a VPN

Plenty of people use a VPN with YouTube for completely reasonable purposes — none of which harm your channel:

Privacy — keeping your viewing history away from your ISP and network.
Region-locked videos — a small slice of the catalogue is restricted by country, and a VPN can unlock it.
Security on public Wi-Fi — encrypting your connection on untrusted networks.
Creator testing — checking how your video appears or whether it’s available in another region (just remember it skews your own analytics).

If you’re choosing a provider, the two things that matter are a genuine no-logs policy and a wide, reputable server network. I break down the option I recommend in my NordVPN review and complete guide.

The Real Way to Get More Views (Skip the VPN Tricks)

If you came here hoping a VPN could grow your channel, here’s the better use of your energy — the levers that actually move views, and the guides that show you how. This is where the time you’d waste on view tricks pays off instead.

✅ Win the click. More views start with more clicks on the impressions you already get. Nail your packaging with the 2026 thumbnail guide and titles that get clicked, and learn what a good click-through rate looks like.

✅ Understand the system. Views follow distribution, and distribution follows the algorithm. Learn how the YouTube algorithm works in 2026 and read your data properly with YouTube analytics explained.

✅ Build a real growth engine. Put it together with a proper YouTube growth strategy, the grow-fast framework, and the SEO checklist — then see what percentage of YouTubers actually make money.

And two tools I use every day to do exactly this — real growth, not fake views:

Tool	What it does	Link
vidIQ	Keyword research, competitor insight and AI thumbnail help so real viewers find you in search and suggested	Try vidIQ free · Review
TubeBuddy	A/B testing, bulk channel management and optimisation tools right inside YouTube Studio	Try TubeBuddy free · Review

VPN & YouTube Views: FAQ

Does YouTube count views from a VPN?

Yes. A view through a VPN counts as long as it is a genuine, viewer-initiated watch by a real person. YouTube does not block VPNs and does not automatically discard a view just because it came through one. The view only fails to count if it looks artificial — a bot, a script, endless looping, or part of an effort to inflate numbers — or if it fails YouTube’s location and account checks.

Can you use a VPN to increase your YouTube views?

No — and you shouldn’t try. YouTube’s view validation systems identify the large majority of artificial traffic and remove it, so inflated views get stripped out. Using a VPN to fake views also breaches YouTube’s terms of service on artificial inflation. It is slower, riskier and far less effective than simply improving your packaging and growing organically.

Does using a VPN hurt your YouTube channel?

Watching or uploading through a VPN for privacy or region access won’t hurt your channel. The risk comes only from using a VPN to break the rules — faking views, evading a ban, or artificial inflation. One thing to be aware of as a creator is that a VPN changes your apparent location, which can skew your own analytics and, for advertisers, the geography your revenue is attributed to.

Does a VPN change where my views are counted from?

Yes. YouTube attributes a view to the location of the VPN’s exit server, not your real location. That means VPN views can show up in the wrong country in your analytics, and because ad rates vary by country, heavy VPN traffic can affect how your revenue is calculated. The view still counts — it’s just attributed to the server’s location.

What counts as a view on YouTube in 2026?

A view is a viewer-initiated, intentional play of a video by a real human that has passed YouTube’s spam checks. The viewer has to actively choose to watch — clicking a thumbnail, link or play button. Autoplaying feeds, hidden or autoplay embeds, bot traffic and rapid self-refreshing do not count as genuine views.

Does YouTube block VPNs?

No. YouTube allows VPN use for normal viewing and uploading. VPN server addresses can be flagged over time, which changes how YouTube treats traffic from them, and addresses tied to malicious activity may be blocked. But an ordinary viewer on a reputable VPN watching normally is fine — users are only banned if they use a VPN to break the terms of service.

Final Thoughts

On balance, YouTube counts views from VPNs when those views are genuine — a real person, actively choosing to watch. If a view behaves like a bot, loops endlessly, or is part of an inflation attempt, validation discounts it, VPN or not. The most useful thing to take away is that a VPN is a privacy and access tool, not a growth tool. It can’t manufacture views that stick.

So if your real goal is more views, put the VPN down and pick up the levers that compound: better packaging, a clearer understanding of the algorithm, and a real strategy. That’s the work that actually moves your numbers — and it’s all one click away below.

📚 Keep reading — get views the real way:

Want views that actually stick?

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on real, sustainable YouTube growth — no tricks, no bought views, just the strategy that works.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Sources & further reading: YouTube’s definition of a view and how views are counted: YouTube Help. View-validation and artificial-traffic behaviour reflects YouTube’s documented approach and commonly reported detection figures, current at the time of writing (July 2026); YouTube may adjust its systems, so treat specific percentages as indicative. Some links on this page are affiliate links (marked rel=”sponsored”); they never change the price you pay and help fund the free content on this site.

Tags privacy, tracking, views, vpn, youtube, youtube views, youtube vpn, youtube vpns

SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

Can I Use YouTube Videos On My Website?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 17 November 2021

YouTube is not just a form of entertainment, it is also an invaluable resource for information, education, and citation for other websites. Of course, the Internet can be a hostile environment when it comes to copyright and ownership if you get on the wrong side of things, so it’s only natural to ask; can I use YouTube videos on my website?

As with most YouTube topics, there are some caveats to the simple answer, but that simple answer is yes, you can use YouTube videos on your website in most cases.

Worried about those other cases? Don’t be, we’ll explain in more detail below, but we can confidently say that this is one area of YouTube where you should be safe from accidentally running into trouble.

Using YouTube Videos On Your Website

The firstthing I did when starting to promote my YouTube videos was to set up a wordpress website with Desert Web Solutions. This gives you a place to share and grow an audience without relying to heavily on YouTube directly.

The first thing to note here is that YouTubers have an option when they upload videos, they can make their content embeddable or not, it’s that simple. If you go to a video and the “Share” button is enabled, the YouTuber who has uploaded that content has decided to make it embeddable, which means you’re free to include it in your site.

It’s as simple as that.

Of course, there are still things you can do to run afoul of YouTube’s terms of use. For example, any kind of interfering with the embed’s functionality—such as hiding controls or preventing links back to YouTube from working—can get you in trouble. The embed itself is also the only acceptable way to view YouTube videos other than through YouTube itself, so finding alternative ways to incorporate YouTube videos into your site—even if they are your videos—is not allowed.

Now, this only applies to original content, meaning content that the YouTuber has created themselves, and does not contain any potentially copyrighted material in that content. If it is entirely original content and the YouTuber has enabled embedding, you are good to go. The YouTuber will still get any ad revenue generated (if they are eligible), and there is still a chance the viewers will subscribe through the video. Good times.

Copyrighted Content

We stressed that the content had to be original, and that is because YouTubers do not always upload original content. There are many instances of YouTubers uploading a copyright song or clips of a TV show or movie. In these cases, those YouTubes are rarely the copyright holder, and as such, are not in a position to grant the rights to embed that content in your website.

Now, if we’re being realistic, the worst thing that should ever happen to you, in this case, is the video getting taken down and your website being left with a broken embed. The vast majority of the time, copyrighted content either gets taken down or has the revenue diverted to the copyright holder. In the event that a copyright holder does decide to go after someone who has infringed their copyright, that activity would almost certainly be limited to the person who uploaded their content or YouTube itself. It is highly unlikely they would go after every website that has embedded their content.

But they could.

As with many things in life, you are taking a risk if you decide to knowingly embed copyrighted content. The risk may be small given the likelihood that any copyright holders will come after you, but you have to accept that, if that happens, the consequences will be just as bad as if the risk had been high.

Embedding Your Own Content

The simplest situation here is you creating your own content and then embedding it on your website. You can still run into problems if your content includes someone else’s content, but assuming it doesn’t, you are in complete control of what you do with it, and YouTube allows you to embed videos, so it’s all good.

Exposure Vs Obscurity

It can be worth considering the size of the website you are planning to embed a YouTube video on if that video belongs to someone else for a couple of reasons. For example, if the site is a small, unknown blog, you probably don’t need to worry about upsetting any copyright holders because, in all honesty, it will never be noticed.

On the other hand, if your site is a major traffic source, you could reach out to the YouTuber about potentially working together, since having their video on the site could represent a significant traffic source.

Make it Relevant

All talk of potential copyright pitfalls aside, it’s worth touching on your choice of YouTube content when embedding videos on your website. Choosing videos that mesh well with the page you are embedding them in doesn’t just benefit you as the webmaster, it benefits the YouTuber whose video you are using.

It should go without saying that the video should be related to the content, but there are typically several examples of any type of video on YouTube. Try to find one that suits your web page in tone and style. If you are delivering a guide on how to change a car battery and your tone is comedic and playful, don’t include a video by a YouTuber who is deathly serious. At least, not if you can find a more lighthearted alternative.

Final Thoughts

Embedding YouTube videos is a great way to add a multimedia aspect to things like blog posts and articles. Finding the right videos to go with your written content (or images) can substantially enhance the overall post.

Like everything with YouTube, there are proper ways to go about embedding content and, for the most part, they are straightforward to easy to avoid getting yourself warned or banned. The biggest mistake you can make is trying to mess with the functionality of YouTube’s embed since the worst you’re likely to face from the content itself is the video being taken down.

As always, we’d recommend sticking within YouTube’s guidelines, even when the risk of getting caught looks so vanishingly small that it will probably never happen.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 embed, embed video, embed youtube videos, video, Web Design, webdesign, website, wordpress

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Can YouTube Audio Library Be Used On Instagram?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 17 November 2021
2 Comments on Can YouTube Audio Library Be Used On Instagram?

Short answer: sometimes — it depends on the track, not the library.

The YouTube Audio Library is a brilliant free resource, but the common belief that “it’s all Creative Commons, so use it anywhere” is a myth that can get your Instagram posts muted. The truth in 2026 is more precise: some tracks are cleared for other platforms, some aren’t, and Instagram has its own rules on top. Here’s exactly how to tell the difference.

⚖️ Not legal advice. This is general information from a YouTube educator, not a lawyer. Music licences and platform rules change and vary by country and track — always check the licence shown in YouTube Studio and, for commercial or ad use, get proper advice.

▶️ Using the free YouTube Audio Library without getting struck

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 helped countless creators stay on the right side of music copyright across YouTube, Instagram and beyond.

Publishing across platforms and want it done safely? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

The Audio Library has two licence types — not all are “use anywhere”.
CC-BY tracks can go off-platform with attribution.
Standard-licence tracks are oriented to your YouTube videos.
Check every track’s licence in YouTube Studio first.
Instagram’s own rights system may still flag or mute audio.

📌 Jump to a section:

What is the Audio Library?
The two licence types
Can you use it on Instagram?
Instagram’s own music rules
How to use it safely
Safer alternatives
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Can you use YouTube Audio Library music on Instagram?
Sometimes — it depends on the specific track. Creative Commons (CC-BY) tracks can generally be used on Instagram if you give proper attribution. Tracks under YouTube’s standard licence are oriented towards your YouTube videos, so using them elsewhere is riskier. On top of that, Instagram’s own rights system can still flag or mute audio it detects — so always check each track’s licence in YouTube Studio, and test before you rely on it.

What Is the YouTube Audio Library?

The YouTube Audio Library is a free collection of music and sound effects that YouTube provides inside YouTube Studio. It exists so creators can add background music to their videos without falling foul of copyright. It spans dozens of genres and moods, it’s free, and you only need a YouTube account to access it. It’s a fantastic resource — the confusion only starts when people assume every track carries the same, unlimited rights. It doesn’t.

The Part Everyone Gets Wrong: Two Licence Types

Here’s the crucial distinction the “just use it anywhere” crowd miss. Tracks in the Audio Library fall under different licences, and that difference decides whether you can legally use a track off YouTube:

Licence type	Use off YouTube (e.g. Instagram)?	Attribution
Creative Commons (CC-BY)	Generally yes	Required — credit the artist
Standard YouTube Audio Library licence	Oriented to YouTube — riskier elsewhere	Often not required

YouTube Studio labels each track with its licence and whether attribution is needed. That label is the single most important thing to check before you reuse a track anywhere else. When in doubt, favour CC-BY tracks for off-platform use — and credit the creator properly. To understand the licence itself, Creative Commons has a wealth of plain-English detail.

So, Can You Use It on Instagram?

Putting it together: a CC-BY Audio Library track, used with proper attribution, can generally be used on Instagram. A standard-licence track is intended for your YouTube videos, so reusing it on Instagram is a greyer area you’d want to avoid or clear first. But there’s a second layer that catches people out, and it has nothing to do with YouTube’s licence at all — it’s Instagram’s own system.

Instagram’s Own Music Rules (The Bit People Forget)

Even if YouTube’s licence permits your track, Instagram doesn’t know that — and Meta runs its own audio-matching system:

Meta’s Rights Manager can mute or remove content when it detects audio it believes is claimed — free tracks can still trigger a match.
There’s no in-app way to license copyrighted music on Reels or Stories, and little support if you receive a claim on your own uploaded audio.
Account type matters: personal accounts get Instagram’s full in-app licensed music library; business accounts are limited to the smaller Meta Sound Collection.

In other words, “legally cleared” and “won’t get flagged by Instagram” are two different questions. Always test a track on a low-stakes post before you build an important Reel around it.

How to Use Audio Library Music Safely Off YouTube

Five steps keep you out of trouble:

Check the licence in YouTube Studio. Look at the licence and attribution info on every track before using it anywhere.
Favour Creative Commons tracks for off-platform use — they’re the ones cleared to travel.
Add the required attribution — credit the artist as specified, usually in your caption or description.
Expect Instagram to check anyway. Test before you rely on a track for a big post.
For ads or multi-platform posting, get a proper licence — a track that’s fine for an organic YouTube video may not cover a paid campaign.

For the wider picture on music and copyright, see my guides to copyrighted music on YouTube, how much of a song you can use, and how Content ID works.

Publishing everywhere and worried about music claims?

On a free discovery call I’ll help you build a cross-platform content system that stays clean and claim-free.

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Safer Alternatives for Multi-Platform Content

If you post the same content across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and more, the cleanest approach isn’t to stretch one library across all of them — it’s to use music licensed for exactly that:

Instagram’s own music library — the simplest, safest choice for Reels and Stories, since it’s licensed for the platform you’re posting on.
Cross-platform licensed music services — subscription libraries designed to cover YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and more under one clear licence, which removes the guesswork.
The YouTube Audio Library — still perfect for the videos you publish on YouTube itself, where it’s designed to be used.

Match the music source to where the content will live, and claims become a non-issue.

YouTube Audio Library on Instagram: FAQ

Can you use YouTube Audio Library music on Instagram?

It depends on the track. Creative Commons (CC-BY) tracks can generally be used on Instagram if you give proper attribution. Tracks under YouTube’s standard Audio Library licence are oriented towards your YouTube videos, so using them elsewhere is riskier. And regardless of the licence, Instagram’s own rights system may still flag or mute the audio, so always check each track first.

Is all YouTube Audio Library music free to use anywhere?

No. That’s a common myth. The library mixes tracks under different licences — some Creative Commons, some under YouTube’s own terms — and not every track is cleared for use outside YouTube. Always check the licence and attribution shown for each track in YouTube Studio before using it on another platform.

Do you need to give attribution for YouTube Audio Library music?

For some tracks, yes. Creative Commons (CC-BY) tracks require you to credit the creator, usually in your description or caption. Other tracks don’t require attribution. YouTube Studio clearly labels which is which, so check before you publish.

Will Instagram flag or mute YouTube Audio Library music?

It can. Meta’s Rights Manager scans audio and may mute or remove content it detects as claimed — even free tracks can trigger a match — and there’s no in-app way to license music or easy support if you get a claim. Test a track on a low-stakes post before relying on it.

What is the safest music to use on Instagram Reels?

For Instagram content, the safest option is Instagram’s own in-app music. Personal accounts have access to the full licensed music library; business accounts use the smaller Meta Sound Collection. If you publish across several platforms, a cross-platform licensed music service gives you the clearest rights.

Can you monetise videos that use YouTube Audio Library music?

On YouTube, yes — you can monetise videos using Audio Library tracks as long as you follow each track’s terms, including attribution where required. Off YouTube, it depends on the specific licence, so check the track and, for commercial or ad use, consider a dedicated commercial music licence.

The Bottom Line

Can the YouTube Audio Library be used on Instagram? Sometimes — and the honest answer is “check the track, not the library.” Creative Commons tracks travel well with attribution; standard-licence tracks belong on your YouTube videos; and Instagram’s own rights system gets the final say regardless. Do the two-minute check in YouTube Studio, credit creators where required, and match your music source to where the content will live. Get that right and you’ll never lose a post to a surprise mute again.

📚 Keep reading — music, copyright & rights:

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A note on this article: this is general information for creators, not legal advice, and reflects the position as of July 2026. Music licences, the YouTube Audio Library and Instagram’s policies change over time and vary by track and country — always check the current licence in YouTube Studio and, for commercial or ad use, get proper legal advice.

Tags audio, free youtube audio library, instagram, music, youtube audio

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Why YouTube Age Restricted My Video?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 17 November 2021

Can YouTube Employees See Private Videos? 1

Moderating YouTube is a practically impossible task for mere humans to undertake, which is why YouTube has taken to using algorithms and AI to lessen this particular burden. Of course, this can sometimes lead to incorrect judgements and, more often, correct judgements that are called into question due to the fact that it wasn’t a human being that made them.

Age restriction is one of the more tricky things that can happen to your video because it’s not always clear why it happened. Demonetisation is—most of the time at least—relatively straightforward.

If your video has a lot of bad language, is about a controversial topic, or is generally adult in nature, you can expect it to get pulled from the eyes of paying advertisers.

But when your content is age-restricted, there are a number of limitations that come with it, and it may not seem fair if your content isn’t intended for younger audiences.

Age Restriction: Things to Note

Understanding some of the logic behind age restriction judgements can help you stay on top of things and avoid unexpected notifications on your videos. Here are a few things to think about when considering your videos in this context.

YouTube Doesn’t Care About Intent

YouTube’s hands are legally tied when it comes to content that is consumed by underage viewers. The COPPA regulations that caused so many changes to YouTube in the not-so-distant past are a little broad in scope, and YouTube has been forced to be similarly broad with their application of it.

In practical terms, this means that it doesn’t matter if your video is meant for children. If the majority of your audience is underage, your content—and probably your channel—will be treated as though it is a channel for younger viewers, and that means age restriction.

Age Restriction Does Not Equal Demonetisation

It can sometimes feel like having your videos age-restricted is the same as demonetisation, especially when compared to the earning performance of non-age restricted videos, but unless YouTube explicitly says your video is not eligible for monetisation, you are not demonetised.

The problem is that the aforementioned COPPA regulations dramatically reduce the amount of information that YouTube can collect about the viewer when that viewer is a child. This, in turn, dramatically reduces the number of advertisers that are interested in having their ads shown on those videos.

The main advantage of online advertising is the wealth of information that can be gleaned in real time. Where TV advertisements have to rely on vague demographics, YouTube can deliver specific information on a per user basis. This is extremely appealing for advertisers because it means they get more bang for their buck—more likelihood of their money resulting in customers—but COPPA’s restrictions remove that advantage. The net result is that fewer advertisers are interested in spending their money on videos where they can’t be sure what kind of viewers are watching.

AI and Algorithms Make Mistakes

People make mistakes, so it stands to reason that automated methods made by people can make the occasional gaff as well. Unfortunately, because those mistakes are made by machines, it can sometimes be difficult to get them overturned. One of the more common examples of this is facial recognition.

If YouTube’s AI overseers spot a child in a video, it will put certain restrictions in place, such as disabling comments. You can turn comments back on, but YouTube will automatically turn them off again. Getting human intervention from a company like this with as many users as YouTube is, needless to say, difficult.

Negatively Affected Users Are a Minority

From YouTube’s perspective, the number of users who are negatively affected by things like false flags—or even who are negatively affected by accurate flags—makes up such a small percentage of the overall user base that YouTube have little or no intention of expending the resources needed to it perfect. In other words, if you are one of those statistically insignificant YouTubers who are affected by these problems, there is little sense in waiting for it to get better.

How to Avoid Getting Age Restricted

For YouTubers who make content for kids, or whose channels often feature children (such as family vlogs) there isn’t much you can do other than drastically changing your channel’s content.

One of the most obvious things you can do is making sure that your video is not set as “for children” when you upload it. If this box is checked, YouTube won’t do any verification, it will just assume your video is correctly set as children’s content and treat it is as such.

For YouTubers who do not make content that falls into this category and who have correctly set it up in YouTube Studio, the main thing to avoid is having children in your videos. You can usually convince YouTube’s algorithms that your content is not for kids—even if it is a very child-centric topic—if your content is mostly not for kids. But the presence of a child in your video will cause that video to be flagged for age restriction regardless of how often you make that kind of content.

Finally, if possible, try not to focus too heavily on topics that are predominantly associated with children’s content. As much as things like Minecraft and Fortnite may be perfectly good entertainment for adults, the reality is that most of the people watching videos about those things will be children. If you exclusively make videos on those topics, you greatly increase the chances of YouTube thinking your content needs age restricting.

Final Thoughts

Age restriction, unlike full-on demonetisation, is not the end of the world for YouTubers who rely on revenue from YouTube’s Partner Programme. We’d be lying if we said the earning potential isn’t greatly reduced, but it is not removed altogether. Ultimately, you should make the content you want to make, and consider tweaking things to suit your financial goals, rather than changing your channel wholesale.

There are always other ways to monetise your content.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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 adult, adult content, age restricted, coppa, restricted, sexy