Category: YOUTUBE

How To Record In Slow Mo on iPhone 240FPS

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 3 August 2020

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

Why turn into 240 frames per seconds?

Very good question.

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

How To Record In Slow Mo on iPhone 240FPS

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

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

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

So how do we do this?

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

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

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

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

So, how does it affect you?

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

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

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

Final Words

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

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

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is it Dangerous to be a YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it Dangerous to be a Child YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it Dangerous to be an Adult YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Can YouTubers do to Keep the Negativity Away?

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

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

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

Set the Tone From the Start

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

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

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

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

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

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

Separate Your Online Life From Your Real Life

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

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

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

Take Extra Care With Your Personal Data

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

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

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

Preparing Yourself Mentally

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

Lack of Privacy

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

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

Criticism

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

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

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

Lack of Understanding

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

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

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

Lack of Patience

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

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

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

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

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

Can I Create A Youtube Account For My Child?

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

A whole generation of kids are growing up with YouTube for the first time in history. Remember, there was no such thing as YouTube as little as fifteen years ago.

So while being a professional YouTuber may seem like an unusual and exotic career choice for those of us born… let’s say “a little earlier”, it is an established industry for today’s children. It makes sense, then, that kids might aspire to become a YouTuber.

At the same time, it is perfectly natural for you, the parent, to have concerns about the safety and legalities of setting up a YouTube channel for your child. The Internet has proven to be a very useful tool for those who are prepared to harm children, be it through written or verbal abuse, or something far more sinister.

If you find yourself asking, “can I create a YouTube account for my child?”, then you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to give you all the information you need about this topic. Unfortunately, we can’t give you a clear cut answer up top—something we like to do whenever possible—because the answer is yes… and no. It depends on the child.

Can I Create a YouTube Account for My Child?

Most people would agree that a thirteen-year-old is a child—they certainly are in the eyes of the law. YouTube may not see a thirteen-year-old as an adult, but that is the age where they deem a child old enough to have their own YouTube account, though they still require parental permission up to the age of seventeen.

So, yes, you can create an account for your child—if that child is over the age of thirteen. This applies regardless of whether your child will be just watching YouTube, or actively making videos.

If you are only looking to set up a YouTube account for your child so that they can watch content, all is not lost. YouTube Kids is designed specifically for this purpose.

As a signed-in parent, you can create a kids profile that will allow you to set viewing preferences and recommendations, which is great for families with more than one child. YouTube Kids profiles are not merely about keeping inappropriate content away from young eyes—though that is an important part of it.

It is also about COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule) regulations, and not storing specific data about underage users. That is why YouTube will not allow you to set up a full account for your under-thirteen child, even if you were willing to disregard any safety or privacy concerns that might arise. This also extends to the YouTube browser experience.

If your child is signed in and attempts to go to youtube.com, they will be told that they can only access YouTube Kids. They will also be told that YouTube Kids is not available in-browser, which can be irritating for some parents who don’t necessarily want their child staring at a tiny phone screen for too long.

If, on the other hand, you do want to set the account up so that your child can make videos, you will have to wait until they are over thirteen, as YouTube Kids accounts cannot upload video.

We wouldn’t advise lying about your child’s age to open an account early, as that could lead to the account being banned if you are found out.

Are Their Loopholes?

There are plenty of YouTube channels that do—or have in the past—featured under-thirteens. Depending on the situation, there are varying degrees of risk to these potentially grey areas.

The Sidekick

The first example we are going to use, and probably the safest in terms of running afoul of YouTube rules on underage YouTubers, is that of Andy Schrock. In this case, the channel is unquestionably Andy’s. The content revolves around him and his business, and there is no ambiguity that the channel belongs to an adult.

However, a good deal of the content on Andy’s channel involves his young children. In this manner, his children—his eldest son in particular—have been able to experience making YouTube videos entirely within the terms of YouTube’s rules on children.

This way of introducing your child to YouTube allows you to fully control your child’s exposure, while also being there with them to guide them as they get to grips with being on-camera.

The Family Model

Our next example is HobbyFamilyTV, formally HobbyKidsTV. The channel has been around for several years now, and features a range of video types involving the “HobbyFamily”, but as you may have guessed from the previous name of the channel, the focus of the videos used to be the children primarily.

In this case, the channel did not belong to the children, but the children nevertheless were the stars of the show.

The method of allowing your children to become YouTubers has the advantage of you being there to essentially chaperone their journey, while still giving them the independence of making their own content.

The Hands-Off Model

Understand that, when we say “hands-off”, we are not talking in a literal sense. If you have a YouTuber child, whether they are old enough to do it alone or not, we recommend maintaining a watchful eye over them, both to protect them from the unpleasantness of the Internet, and prevent them saying or doing things they might later regret.

Our example for this kind of YouTuber is EthanGamer, formally known as EthanGamerTV. Though he is now old enough to have his own YouTube account, Ethan joined YouTube at the astoundingly young age of seven years old. Clearly, that violates YouTube’s current rules on underage accounts.

The way Ethan’s parents handled this was to be hands-on in the management of the channel (along with any other social media) while leaving the actual content of the channel to Ethan. This allowed Ethan to essentially run the channel as though it were his (we can’t say how much editorial control his parents exercised) while technically not violating YouTube’s under-thirteen policy, because it wasn’t his.

Now, we class this one as a bit of a grey area. It clearly worked for Ethan, who is now a very successful YouTuber with over two and a half million subscribers, but YouTube’s rules were not so strict throughout most of his YouTube career. We can’t say with confidence that a similarly run account wouldn’t be shut down today.

Guidance Is Critical

However you choose to approach letting your child become a YouTuber, it is critical that you don’t leave them to do it alone.

The Internet is seemingly filling up with stories of influencers getting “cancelled” after some poorly judged joke or insensitive comment from when they were a lot younger surfaced. Children, by their very nature, are not good judges of things like proprietary.

They are still learning and need guidance as they learn. They should be allowed to make mistakes, but on camera in front potentially millions of people is not the place to make those mistakes.

YouTube Restrictions

Like any good parent, you’ll want to be fully informed about letting your child travel down the YouTube path, and that includes knowing how monetisation works for these kinds of channels.

Unless the content being produced by or with your child is being made for adults, it will likely fall afoul of YouTube’s COPPA restrictions. This means several things, among which are disabled comments and no targeted advertisements.

YouTube is not allowed to keep data on children, which means they cannot serve personalised advertisements to them. This, in turn, discourages advertisers from running their ads on these kinds of videos, since they want their ads to be as laser-focused as possible. After all, the more relevant the audience, the better the chance of their ads generating leads.

The restrictions on advertising do not mean your child’s channel cannot be monetised, but the potential revenue that monetisation can generate is significantly reduced when compared to a channel whose content is not aimed at children. There are other options for monetisation, of course, but that is a substantial topic in its own right.

Keeping Your Child Safe

The dangers of the Internet as it pertains to young children is well known, and it is no different for YouTubers. There is also emotional wellbeing to consider, as YouTube is notorious for having many commenters who are not exactly positive and full of praise.

As it turns out, YouTube’s policies do a lot to mitigate this kind of problem by disabling comments on content aimed at children.

However, if your child is on other social media networks, you should consider keeping an eye on the interactions they have through those channels.

Naturally, you’ll want to ensure your child’s safety against online predators, but there are no YouTube-specific measures to take in that regard. All of the good practice and common sense that is recommended for other parts of the Internet apply here.

Is it dangerous to be on YouTube? – Check out my deep dive blog into all the things you need to thing about when becoming a YouTube.

Tip for Starting a YouTube Channel for Your Child

If you decide to let your child start their own YouTube channel, either with a full account as they are over thirteen, or using one of the methods mentioned above for under-thirteens, we have some tips for getting started.

Try getting them some kid friendly equipment to get them started – I have a list of all the equipment and software I use to run my youtube channel on my resources page.

Pilot Episodes!

Well, not actual pilot episodes.

We assume you’re not trying to get picked up by a TV network here.

But don’t feel like anything you film has to be put online.

Watch your content back as objectively as you can before it ever sees a YouTube upload box. Get close friends and family to cast their opinions on it. If you’re not happy, go again and try to fix the things that weren’t working.

If your child is going solo, insist they do the same.

Many people have had to learn to live with the stuff they put on the Internet when they were younger without fully understanding the implications; you don’t want your child to be one of them.

Talk About It

Perhaps one of the best things you can do if you intend to let your child use the Internet in any form, especially as a YouTuber, is to have a conversation with them about the risks and dangers of being online.

If your child is not yet at a point where they can grasp the things you need to talk about, it may be a sign that they are not yet ready for this kind of step.

Create a Plan

Things invariably go more smoothly when there is a plan guiding the process, and there’s no reason to think things work any differently when creating a YouTube channel.

If your child wants to do their own thing, have them develop a plan of action first. If they are too young to do it without your help, make the plan with them.

Talk about things like how often videos will be posted, who the intended audience is, what kind of content they plan to make. How will they go about learning the necessary skills to create, edit, and upload content by themselves?

If equipment is a factor, talk about money. Will you be helping them buy the equipment, and are there stipulations? If not, how do they plan to afford what they need?

Having a conversation like this not only ensures your child knows exactly what they are getting into, it also tests how much they really want to do it.

Find Your Balance

One of the hardest things to do as a parent of a YouTuber child—and in parenting in general—is finding the right balance between protecting your child and letting them spread their wings.

As they get older and more comfortable with their life as a YouTuber, you need to find a healthy balance between keeping an eye them as they continue to develop and letting them grow and explore without your presence bearing down on them.

It can be challenging to step back, but your child must gain a sense of independence as they grow, and that applies to YouTube as much as it does to life in general.

And, when they’re old enough to go it alone entirely, you will have prepared them as best you can.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

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

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTubers Paid For Likes? [The Myth]

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

Do YouTubers get paid for likes?

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

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

Do YouTubers Get Paid For Likes?

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

So, do YouTubers get paid for likes?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s this engagement that then YouTube evaluates.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final Words

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

Remember to subscribe and I’ll see you soon.

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

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

Add Mid Rolls To 8 Minute Videos on YouTube

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words

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

I’ll see you soon.

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

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

YouTube Sub 4 Sub [The Truth]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

Is it okay to ask for sub 4 sub?

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

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

YouTube Sub 4 Sub [The Truth]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s a metric for vanity, only.

Final Words

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

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

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

Get More Views on YouTube in 15 Seconds

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

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

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

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

Get More Views on YouTube in 15 Seconds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why is that so important?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words

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

To improve retention, there’s a video here.

Tags get more views, youtube intro, youtube views

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

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

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

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

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

Not gonna happen.

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

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

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

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

Ready? Read on.

Choosing a Content Niche for YouTube.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Content Types You Can Make For YouTube.

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

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

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

Compilation Channel

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

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

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

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

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

Get three strikes, and YouTube could terminate your channel.

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

There is a workaround, however.

Fair Use of Copyrighted Material.

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

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

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

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

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

Creative Commons

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

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

Watch out, though.

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

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

YouTube Videos Using Images and Stock Video.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Podcasting Videos

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

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

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

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

YouTube Animation Videos

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

There are several ways to approach an animation channel.

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Screenshare Videos

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

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

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

YouTube Gaming Videos

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Sound Channels.

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

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

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

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

Producing Content for YouTube.

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

Screen Recording Software

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

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

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

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

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

Animation Software

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

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

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

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

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

Slideshow Software

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

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

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

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

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

Editing Videos for YouTube.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taking Your YouTube Content to the Next Level.

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

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

B-Roll Content

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

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

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

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

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

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

Professional looking YouTube Intro/Outro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Add Subtitles and Captions to Your YouTube Videos.

First, we need some definitions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scared To Be On Camera? [WATCH THIS!]

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

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

Scared To Be On Camera? [WATCH THIS!]

It’s time for you to get on camera.

Here we go.

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

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

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

Just you, nobody else.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fine, get a different audio.

“Oh, my camera’s shaking.”

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

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

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

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

Samira:

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

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

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

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

Alan:

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

You want to promote Samira?

I promote Alan Spicer.

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

Samira:

I know.

Alan:

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

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

Samira:

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

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

Because I need someone to help me.

Alan:

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

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

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

So yeah, take it to your full advantage.

Now, you know the brand: You.

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

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

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

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

Samira:

Oh my God!

Alan:

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

And it’s a Logitech C 920 Pro.

Samira:

Yeah. I know that one.

Alan:

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

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

I still delivered value. It should be first.

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

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

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

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

Value first.

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

Samira:

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

Final words

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

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

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

YouTube Equipment on a Budget

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

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

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

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

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

Cameras

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

Here are three great options for YouTubers on a budget.

Logitech C930e

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

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

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

So, on to our next pick.

GoPro Hero6 or Hero7

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

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

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

Canon T7i

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

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

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

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

Comparison Table

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

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

Microphones

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

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

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

Blue Snowball

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

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

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

BM-Condenser Microphone plus Preamp

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

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

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

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

Rode VideoMic Go

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

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

Lighting

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

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

Newer 18-Inch Ring Light

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

Newer CN-216

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

Natural Light

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

Your Phone

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

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

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

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

And the Rest

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusions

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

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

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

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

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

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is it Safe to Have a YouTube Channel?

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s get into it.

How Can Youtube be Dangerous?

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

Putting All Your Eggs in the YouTube Monetisation Basket

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Avoid This

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

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

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

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

Personal Data

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

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

Let’s look at an example.

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

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

How to Avoid This

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

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

Personal Safety

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

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

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

How to Avoid This

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

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

Keeping Your Private Information Private

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

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

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

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

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

Tips for Staying Safe

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

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

Keep Your Residence Private

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

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

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

Do Not Let Trackable Information Become Public

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

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

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

Do Not Make Travel Plans Public

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

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

Google Yourself

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

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

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

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

HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

YouTube Equipment for Beginners

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 22 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTube Equipment for Beginners

Good Places to Record Videos in Your Home

Having a great idea for a YouTube channel is only part of the battle, actually bringing that idea to life can be a rough ride for some, and an expensive one if you don’t do your research.

Jumping into buying equipment without doing proper homework is one of the worst things you can do when getting started in YouTubing. For one thing, you probably won’t get the best gear for your videos, but you may also end up spending more money than you would have done if you’d researched a little. More expensive equipment plus inferior results are no one’s idea of a good result.

Fortunately, there is plenty of help out there, whether you are starting a new channel on a shoestring budget, or you have an enviable wad of cash to invest in your new life as a YouTuber.

And this post is one such example of that help. So let’s get helping!

What Equipment Do I Need?

Covering every possible type of YouTube video out there would multiple posts, so in the interests of brevity, we’re going to break things down into distinct kinds of YouTuber—on-camera and off-camera.

These terms are not referring to you necessarily, but rather the presence of (or lack of) a camera in your setup. For example, if you created a channel where you filmed people while you interviewed them, but you are never onscreen, that still counts as an on-camera video.

Regardless of the fact that you are not being filmed, you still need a camera to create your videos, and that is the only relevant detail as far as this article is concerned.

Examples of off-camera videos include any kind of video where the visual component is handled entirely in software. This could include news breakdowns, top ten lists, trailer reactions, and much more.

It would be easy to assume that the difference is one needs a camera and one doesn’t, but the truth is there is a lot of related equipment that you will have to consider if you are going to be filming.

I Can’t Afford Lots of Equipment, Where Should I Focus?

Not being able to afford all the fancy equipment that the best YouTubers use is perfectly normal. Most people can’t. As your time on YouTube progresses, you may find your circumstances allow you to invest more in your channel. You may even find that the success of the channel itself is such that it can pay for that investment.

However, the future plays out; you will understandably want to know where to put your time, effort, and money in the beginning. So let’s get the obligatory caveat out of the way first.

All the high-quality gear in the world won’t help your channel succeed if your premise is terrible, or your heart isn’t in it. Making YouTube videos is not as easy many believe, and if you don’t want to do this, you will almost certainly fail. Success—especially in the form of financial gain—does not come quickly with YouTube and is far from guaranteed. So, if you head into this without really wanting to do what you are doing, you will likely end up as one of the millions of abandoned channels that inhabit the unsearched depths of YouTube.

Similarly, no matter how good your video looks, you will struggle to get traction with bad ideas. If your channel doesn’t grow the way you’d like, don’t fall into the trap of assuming it must be because you need a better camera or a new microphone.

Equipment

Another trap that new YouTubers can fall into is assuming that you need to upgrade your setup. It can’t hurt, of course, but once you get beyond the beginner tier of YouTube gear, the cost of that gear starts to skyrocket.

Contrast this with the diminishing returns that better equipment will net your channel, and you have a strong argument for not rushing out to get that new DSLR camera.

In the beginning, only look to improve things that are objectively below par. If you are recording at 720p through a budget webcam, by all means, look to upgrade as soon as you realistically can. But if your video is fine, don’t stress too much about making it great.

If you need help to compare cameras, audio and other tools – check out my resources page where I have compiled a list of all my equipment and dream equipment for future upgrades.

Audio First

When it comes to equipment, your first priority should be audio. If you are making off-camera videos, then the audio will be your primary concern with regards to equipment anyway. However, even with on-camera videos, the sound is often more critical than video.

This is not an absolute statement, of course—if your video is unwatchable, that’s going to be a turn off no matter how good your audio is. But when you have below-average quality video and audio, it is quite often the audio that will make the difference.

I use a Boya By-MM1 Shoutgun microphone on my Canon 200D Camera. Its cheap, cheerful and very powerful. I did a full unboxing and review – you’ll be amazed how fluffy it is!

Consider this—can you think of a noise that rubs you the wrong way? Cutlery being scraped on a plate, for example. Or nails on a chalkboard. What about the sound of someone chewing with their mouth open? Most of us have a sound that cuts right through us. Now think about all the times you have watched a video in less than optimal conditions and been okay with it.

Your phone isn’t exactly ideal for watching video content. What about old 240p YouTube videos that you have sat through because the content is valuable to you?

Now, we’re not saying you should settle for 240p content, of course. But if your image is a bit fuzzy and dark, and your resolution isn’t quite 1080p, that might not be the turn-off you fear it will be. But if your audio is full of noise, artefacts, random background sounds, and unpleasant sniffles and lip-smacking, you will likely find viewers clicking away from your content very quickly.

One final thing to consider is your surroundings. If your recordings are picking up a lot of echoes, or you are getting lots of background noise from outside, you may want to look further afield than your microphone.

Things like acoustic treatment can significantly reduce echo, while a thick blind can reduce outside noise. If these are not practical solutions for you at this time, you could fashion some improvised acoustic treatment/soundproofing from thick blankets.

Video: It’s About More Than Just Your Camera

Once again, we’re assuming your camera is not absolutely shocking. If it is that bad, you should make that your next priority. If it is serviceable, however, but you feel you can do better, do not assume that buying a new camera is your only option.

Once you get deeper into filming techniques, you will quickly find that lighting is a crucial part of filming a video, and you may be surprised at how big a difference a fair-to-middling lighting setup can make to your video quality.

If you plan to continue improving your channel in the long term, you are going to need lighting at some stage. So, if your camera isn’t too bad, consider opting for lighting before upgrading your camera. It will almost certainly make a big difference to your shot, and you will be able to continue using the lighting rig when you do eventually upgrade your camera.

YouTube Equipment for Beginners: The Bare Necessities

So, we’ve talked about your microphone and your camera—two things you undoubtedly need to record video—but are there any other essential bits of kit you need when you’re getting started on YouTube? Yes! Well, kind of. There are essential bases you need to cover, though, like the thick blankets we mentioned above, you can probably make do with ingenuity if you have to.

Stability (Tripods and Stands)

Firstly, your cameras and microphones should be steady. If your camera shakes and there’s a mighty clang every time you catch your desk, it’s not going to make for a pleasant viewing experience. Consider getting a tripod for each, or even an adjustable arm if you can afford it.

Microphone shock mounts are very inexpensive these days, and many budget microphones also come with them. As for your camera, try to set it on something that isn’t likely to move while recording.

If you are filming in your bedroom and there are some questionable floorboards in there, don’t put it somewhere that will move when you shift your weight from foot to foot. You can make do with a pile of books or a shelf if you can’t get your hands on a tripod, the key is to make sure it’s a stable pile of books or shelf!

Your Set

Again, you can absolutely make do with a regular room in your home as a backdrop to your video, just put a little time into making sure it looks good on camera. But if you’re not happy with any of the options available to you, you might want to get a screen backdrop.

These tend to be plain black or white, though there is no set rule to what you should put behind you in your videos. You can even go green screen and get fancy with the recording software, but that’s a whole other topic.

Whether you opt for a physical backdrop, a screen, or a green screen, make sure that the backdrop is not distracting. If viewers attention is being drawn to something that is not relevant to the content, not only could they miss what you are trying to tell them, but they could become annoyed at the distraction.

Lights and Pop Shields

This section is a little bit of a roundup. Two things you should consider essential pieces of equipment that need adding to your setup as soon as possible are lights and pop shields.

The lighting we’ve touched on already. It doesn’t need to be a professional studio lighting rig, of course. Even a single inexpensive LED light panel will do wonders. And pop shields—small filters that sit in front of your mike to dampen the harsher blasts of air from your mouth (“plosives”)—can make a massive difference to your audio.

The Secret Weapon

There is a device that most of us own that can, in a pinch, be the answer to all of your YouTube recording woes. If you own a relatively modern phone, you already have a device that is capable of recording both audio and video at a decent enough quality to get started on YouTube.

Is it as good as having a proper setup with lighting, acoustic treatment, and an expensive camera and microphone? No. But the quality of video a decent modern phone can output is leagues above most webcams on the market, and the audio quality is on par with a budget condenser microphone. You might even get a rudimentary lighting rig going with the flash on your phone, and the Internet is full of inexpensive stands, cradles, brackets, and holders for mobile phones. What’s more, you would have to spend a surprising amount of money on gear to match the quality of, for example, an iPhone X, or a Pixel 4.

Of course, using your phone is not ideal, but the takeaway here is that not having the best equipment should not be a roadblock to you bringing your ideas to life on YouTube. Success takes works and planning, sure, but you certainly won’t succeed if you don’t get started.

Conclusions

Having the right equipment is important, but it is not the be-all and end-all of YouTubing. If you are on a budget, plan where you put your limited resources first. Think about the areas your channel would most benefit from improvement, and start there. You can also check out this list of YouTube equipment for beginners as a good starting point, as it includes a nice range of options spanning a broad range of the price spectrum.

And if all else fails, use your phone, and don’t let a lack of equipment stop you from bringing your ideas to life.

Just remember, having the best equipment will only get you so far, and it won’t be that far if your videos are not engaging for your potential audience.

Tags audio, cameras, equipment, microphones, YouTube Equipment, youtube equipment for beginners, youtube tips, youtuber equipment

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

YouTube 4K Vs 1080p

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 18 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTube 4K Vs 1080p

In what might seem like something of a contradiction, 1080p has, for a few years now, been considered both the bare minimum and the peak of quality for YouTube videos. Brought about mainly by the plummeting costs of hardware capable of recording in 1080p, it is generally considered inexcusable to upload a video at a lower resolution.

But at the same time, so few people are viewing YouTube at a higher resolution than 1080p that it becomes impractical to move to something more.

But something more is on the table, of course. 4K video has arrived, and its popularity is growing. But how does 4K compare to our old friend, 1080p? And what does it mean for the future of YouTube?

What is Resolution?

Let’s start with a crash course in the basics. Both 1080p and 4K are resolutions. Resolution—in the context of displays, such as your phone screen, or computer monitor—is the number of pixels that screen can fit. A pixel is a tiny dot of light that represents the smallest thing that can be drawn on the screen.

The larger the resolution, the more detail you can fit on your screen. Think of it in terms of trying to create a picture using a fine pencil vs using a broad paintbrush, but both are on the same size canvas. You can get considerably more detail into your picture with a fine-tipped pencil.

1080p, also known as “Full HD”, has been the standard resolution for monitors and televisions for a number of years now, and we’ve come to expect it as a minimum. Many people who mostly grew up around 1080p are shocked the first time they see 480p—the resolution that televisions used to display.

4K, so-called because it has nearly 4,000 horizontal pixels (it also has exactly 4x the number of pixels as 1080p, but that is just a coincidence), is next standard that television manufacturers are hanging their hat on.

There are resolutions in between the two—2K is a thing, for example—but it is 4K that has been picked to succeed 1080p as the standard.

What is the Difference Between 1080p and 4K

Let’s start with the resolution since we’ve just explained what that is. 1080p is 1920×1080. That’s 1920 pixels across and 1080 pixels down, and it is the 1080 pixels down that gives this resolution its name. The “p” stands for “progressive scan”, which means all the horizontal lines of the pixels are drawn in sequence.

This an alternative to interlaced video, where every other line is drawn first followed by the remaining lines to give the impression of a higher framerate. Smaller resolutions are also labelled this way, with 720p and 480p being the main two resolutions below 1080p that you will find in televisions.

Let’s just briefly touch on aspect ratios. This is the relative size of the horizontal edge of the display vs the vertical. So for a 4:3 display, there will be four horizontal pixels for every three vertical pixels. This is relevant because it is possible to have a 1080p display that is considerably wider than 1920 pixels across. For the purposes of this post, however, we’re going to be referring to 16:9 aspect ratios unless otherwise stated, as that is the most common ratio found in televisions and monitors. Now, about 4K.

4K, on the other hand, is 3840×2160. If you’re wondering why it is not labelled 2160p, it’s purely a market thing. “4K” sounds cooler. There is a commonly used resolution (in PC monitors, not televisions) in between 1080p and 4K, which goes by both 1440p and 2K, depending on the mood of the person talking about it.

The numbers tend not to look too impressive when laid out as horizontal and vertical counts, but when you total up the number of pixels on screen, the difference is a little more apparent. A 1080p screen holds 2,073,600 pixels. That’s a lot of pixels. However, a 4K display holds 8,294,400 pixels.

That’s quite a difference.

In terms of direct differences, that’s about the start and end of it. However, there are further differences that come as a natural result of that difference in resolution. For one thing, the bandwidth needed to stream 4K content is considerably higher than that of 1080p, something that is particularly relevant when we’re talking about YouTube 4K Vs 1080p. The amount scales as you’d expect. Where 1080p requires somewhere between 8-12 Mbps to stream, 4K requires 40-70 Mbps. This is particularly important for the next section.

Another difference due to the increased size of the video is the computing power it takes to edit 4K content. Video editing is an intensive process at the best of times, and making that video 4x bigger requires a capable machine.

4K Compression

Compression is a complicated topic that would take a post the size of this one all of its own and probably still not do the subject matter justice.

To simplify it down to something we can fit in one section, it involves replacing repetitive information with more efficient ways of storing that information. For example, if the top row of pixels in a 4K picture is entirely black, that’s 3,840 pixels-worth of information, but each pixel is identical.

Rather than storing every single pixel, a compression algorithm might store data for the first of those pixels that include the colour, but then it would state how many pixels it repeats for. Using a simple method like this, the nearly 3,840 bytes-worth (1 byte per pixel) of information required for that top row of pixels could be reduced to something more like 24 bytes.

That’s 160x less memory being used to store the same amount of information!

Of course, when we’re talking about video footage, it’s not that common to get large areas of identical pixels, and as a result, the compression algorithms are far more complex than the example we just gave. Still, it helps to illustrate what is going on. But why is this relevant to YouTube?

Well, YouTube is in the bandwidth game, big time. In 2019, 500 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube every minute, with over 250 million hours of video being watched every day. When you are dealing with that much bandwidth, even a tiny improvement in your compression algorithms can represent millions of dollars.

So, here’s the kicker. As you might have guessed from the woefully inadequate explanation of compression above, the busier a picture is, the less it can be compressed. In fact, if you had a frame of 4K video where every pixel was a different colour, it would be impossible to compress it without losing information. Now, 4K captures a lot of detail, and for the most part, a lot of that detail goes unnoticed. YouTube knows this, and so they tweak their compression algorithms to be a little more… keen.

If there is only a relatively small difference between two pixels, such as you might get from film grain, then it won’t make a noticeable difference to the video, but it could save an extra megabyte of bandwidth per frame. When you consider that a typical video will have at least 24 frames per second—with some videos being as high as 60 frames per second—you can see why YouTube might be willing to sacrifice a little of that detail.

Size Matters… With Your Screen

There is a thing called “pixel density” which refers to the number of pixels in a physical area and is measured in “pixels per inch”, or PPI. To understand what this represents in practice, imagine an iPad-like device with a 1080p resolution. Now consider a standard 21″ computer monitor with the same resolution.

Both devices are displaying the exact same number of pixels, but one of them is packing those pixels into a much smaller space. The higher the PPI, the more pixels there are crammed in, and the clearer the image looks.

There is a point, however, where pixel density becomes so great that the human eye is no longer capable of discerning the increased detail. This translates to a little over 300ppi. What that means, in practical terms, is that once you get above that threshold, there is no benefit to increasing it further, as our eyes literally cannot tell the difference.

As we’ve established, 4K has around 4x the number of pixels that 1080p has. This means that the critical pixel density we mentioned, where the human eye stops being able to tell the difference, is on a screen size of around 13″ for 4K, but is down to 6.5″ for 1080p.

What does this mean for YouTubers? Well, mobile phones—which often have screens between five and six inches—are the most popular way to consume YouTube content. That means that the majority of YouTube videos are watched on devices where there is no benefit to being in 4K since the viewer can’t tell the difference visually. Furthermore, only a tiny portion of computers running a 4K resolution are currently active on the Internet, meaning that of the people looking at a big enough screen to do 4K justice, the vast majority of them are not using a screen capable of displaying 4K content at all.

Recording 1080p Vs Recording 4K

What about recording video? By now, 1080p is ubiquitous in the sense that it is difficult to buy a device that doesn’t support 1080p.

Even budget webcams offer 1080p, and phones have long since moved beyond that barrier. 4K, on the other hand, may require you to buy a specific device (though you might already have one capable of recording in 4K).

It also requires more effort in setting up your recording space, more time spent encoding and uploading, and more power in your computer to edit that enormous video file.

YouTube 4K Vs 1080p

When you factor everything in, 4K begins to look like a lot of extra work for not much reward. Still, when comparing it to 1080p, there is little argument to be made against it in terms of quality.

While our eyes may have maxed out when it comes to mobile phone screens, computer monitors and TVs still have plenty of room to expand, and it is here where 4K YouTube content will make the most difference.

We can’t, in all seriousness, recommend that you take any difficult steps to move to 4K at this moment in time, but there will come a time when it is a necessary move. And, given that YouTube automatically scales video down to suit the device, there’s no downside to uploading 4K content if you can.

But if you can’t, and if you’re not thrilled about the idea of investing more time and money in your channel at this stage, don’t worry about it. 1080p will do just fine for now.

Maybe you are a youtuber and you want to know if uploading in 4K vs 1080p is better for YouTube? I have a deep dive into this and youll be surpised how much impact it could have on your views.

Finally, there is the issue of streaming. Internet speeds may be increasing all the time, but many homes don’t have a fast enough connection to stream 4K content, and certainly not at higher frame rates.

For reference, here are the different standard resolutions broken down.

Resolution	Up to 30FPS	Up to 60FPS
2160p (4k) 3840×2160	35-45 Mbps	53-68 Mbps
1440p (2k) 2560×1440	16 Mbps	24 Mbps
1080p (Full HD) 1920×1080	8 Mbps	12 Mbps
720p (Std HD) 1280×720	5 Mbps	7.5 Mbps
480p (DVD) 720×480	4 Mbps	4 Mbps

Conclusions

4K represents something of an inevitability for YouTubers. Even if the majority of viewers didn’t care, PC gaming and television sales are bringing 4K displays into the mainstream, and once people have 4K, they typically want to use it.

Whether this represents any kind of significant opportunity to find new subscribers through providing that 4K content at a time when there isn’t much of it will remain to be seen. But it is undoubtedly something of a unique feather for your cap.

As for switching to 4K, there’s no rush. If moving to 4K for you would be a frictionless affair, it is certainly worth doing. As mentioned above, YouTube will scale your videos down when needed, so the only reason not to go to 4K is the added costs and inconvenience to you. If those inconveniences don’t worry you, make the switch. You’ll be giving your channel a certain amount of prestige while also future-proofing your content for such a time when 4K does become the standard resolution. When this happens, you will not only be providing 4K content for your viewers, you will be established as a channel which provides 4K content.

And, when you’re all set up and producing stunning 4K content for your YouTube channel, you can begin planning for the next big thing—8K

Tags 4k, 4k video, 4k vs 1090p, 4k vs hd, youtube 4k, youtube hd

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

Do You Need A YouTube Intro and Outro?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 16 July 2020

There are plenty of tips and tricks on growing your YouTube channel, and all too many of them are subjective. That trick works well for this kind of channel, and this tip is better for that kind of channel. Unfortunately, there aren’t many hard certainties when talking about succeeding on YouTube. At least, not once you get beyond things like “don’t steal content”.

When it comes to intros and outros, the answer is a little more reliable—though still not absolute.

So, do you need a YouTube intro and outro? Yes! If you want to grow your channel and your brand on YouTube, you should consider an intro and an outro an essential part of your process. Just make sure it’s not too long and adds value to the video.

As always, we’re not going to leave it there. Let’s take a deeper dive and get into why these things are important, as well as how best to craft them to help your channel grow.

Why Are YouTube Intros and Outros Important?

There are different reasons for the importance of intros than there are for outros, so we’re going to take a look at both individually.

YouTube Video Intros

The primary reason an intro is important is new-viewer retention. If you are attempting to grow your channel, you will naturally be working to bring new viewers in all the time. Getting a viewer to your video is only half of the battle, of course—you want them to watch the video. And, all being well, subscribe to your channel.

Neither of which is likely to happen if you lose their interest in the first twenty seconds.

Your existing subscribers will have a certain amount of forgiveness about your not getting to the point in your video because they know what to expect from you. After all, they have already subscribed. But new viewers can have a tendency to click away very quickly if they get the sense that your video isn’t going to give them what they came for.

With an intro, you can quickly establish who you are and what the video is about, so new viewers will be more willing to keep watching.

YouTube Video Outros – End Cards – End Screens

As much as we hate to admit it, being reminded to click like, check out other videos and do all those other things that help the channel out, works. Viewers simply don’t think about those things a lot of the time, but a gentle reminder from you will help. Need proof?

Next time you go to the cinema, take a look around when the pre-roll ads inevitably ask the audience to turn their phones off. We all know that you’re not supposed to have your phone on—or at least have it on silent—when at the movies, but look at how many people are turning their phones off during that announcement. Reminding people works.

And it’s not like you saying “if you enjoyed this why not hit like and subscribe?” will make someone like and subscribe if they didn’t want to in the first place. Be a little wary of asking people to like and subscribe at the start of the video, however. Some YouTuber’s swear by it, but many viewers find it a little presumptive.

Beyond that, your outro is the perfect place to handle any channel housekeeping, such as thanking Patreons and recommending some of your other videos, but we’ll get more into how to put an outro together later in the post.

Should I Always Use Intros and Outros?

There will always be fringe cases where it is not appropriate to use intros and/or outros. However, these are so few and far between relative to the times when you should use them that we’re comfortable saying yes, you should always use them. In the interests of covering all the bases, however, here are some situations where intros and outros might not fit.

Extremely short videos
Videos where intros and outros would not fit stylistically
“Member-only” videos
Meme videos

As with most things, try to use your judgement. There are times when a “members-only” video warrants an intro, or where meme videos could benefit from an outro.

How Big a Difference Do Intros and Outros Make?

Hard statistics are difficult to come by; however, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence from YouTubers who have conducted their own tests. One such example is Real Men Real Style, who noted that engagement on their videos dropped by as much as 70% when they didn’t add a call to action in their videos.

Another thing to factor in is the kind of video you are making, and the viewing habits of people watching it. For example, an intensive video—such as a tutorial—will likely be a very active viewing experience. That is, it is more likely that the viewer will have sought that video (or one like it) out. For those videos, your likelihood of increased engagement will hinge on the quality of your video. But for a more casual viewing experience, the intro and outro are more crucial.

What do we mean by casual? If your video is more along the lines of entertainment, which can include things like history videos, punditry, and anything where the viewer might be just sitting back and enjoying the content like they would a TV show, then there is more of a chance they came across your video by happenstance.

Perhaps it was a recommended video in their feed, or maybe your video auto-played at the end of a different video. Perhaps they arrived at your video through social media and had no idea what they were watching at the time. In all of these cases, it is far more likely that the viewer will not be aware of you or your channel, or the kind of content you make.

By introducing your video at the start, you ensure that they at least know about your channel once they’re there. And, by placing an outro at the end, you can break the chain of auto-play, and divert your new viewer to more of your content.

Making a Good Intro for your YouTube Video

The first rule of making a good YouTube intro is not outstaying your welcome. There is no universal length of time that applies to every video but finding the sweet spot between getting enough information across in a short enough period so that your viewers don’t get annoyed or bored is key. As a general rule, fifteen seconds is a popular length for an intro.

It’s not just about getting all the information you want to get in there, however. You have to do it in a way that engages your audience. If your video kicks off with you jabbering at high speed trying to squeeze everything in like a pharmaceuticals disclaimer, it won’t go down well. But, if you take too much time, you risk your viewers clicking past the intro to get to the content. Or worse; clicking away from the video altogether.

A good way to structure your introduction is to set out what the video is about first then introduce yourself and your channel, then get into the content. This way, the viewer knows right at the top if the video is what they’re looking for, and are more likely to hang around through the rest of intro to get to the content.

One thing we can give you as a hard rule that should always be applied is this; never take longer than you have to get to the content. Be concise.

If you have branding on your channel—and, to be clear, you should have branding on your channel—make sure it features in your intro. The main point of branding is recognition. If your viewer takes nothing else away from your video, they should at least have seen your branding.

Making a Good Outro for Your YouTube Video

Outros are a different ballgame altogether. If a viewer is watching your outro, it means they have already viewed your whole video and are somewhat invested in you. While you should never waffle in your videos, you don’t need to have quite the same urgency about getting your information across in an outro as you do in an intro.

The outro is an obvious place to wrap things up, thank people, politely suggest that they like and subscribe if they liked the content and the rest. But the most practical use of your outro is to direct your viewers to more content on your channel related to what they have just watched.

This is also where end screens come in. The beauty of end screens is that they can be dynamic. You can link to a specific video or playlist, of course, but you can also have it show your latest video or the most recommended video for whoever the viewer at the time. And you can have multiple video links in your end screen.

The critical component here is that you have a call to action in your outro. That call to action could simply be liking and subscribing, or checking out another video, or even visiting your website. If you have a viewer who has watched all of your video, they are more likely to be interested in what else you have to offer. Not having a call to action, in this case, is a wasted opportunity.

Frequently Asked Questions

There are a lot of commonly asked questions around this topic, so we’ve done our best to answer some of the more frequently asked of those questions. If there’s something we missed, leave a comment below.

How do you make an intros and outros on YouTube?

Depending on your skill level, there are multiple options.

I am not skilled in design but I was about to make professional looking intro, outros and channel banner branding with PlaceIt – I was amazed how many templates they offered for cheap or even free. It’s something simple that can really level up your channel branding.

If you are a little savvier, you might want to create your own from scratch.

How do you make a YouTube intro for your phone?

While the level of control you have over your intro may be reduced when compared to intros made on a computer, there are phone apps that do a very respectable job.

One such app is Intro Maker, though there are other options available.

What should I say in my YouTube intro?

The most effective use of your intro would be to state concisely what the video is about, introduce yourself and your channel, and make sure any channel branding is shown.

How long is a YouTube outro?

When talking about an outro where you are signing off, the length is entirely up to you. Though we would always recommend being clear and to the point.

If talking about the length of time your end screen is shown, 10-15 seconds is the typical amount of time to show it before ending the video.

Conclusions

Having an intro and outro on your YouTube video may not be a necessity—channels can succeed without them—but we strongly feel you will be making life harder for yourself if you decide to not use them. They provide a great way to establish your branding, convey important information, hook your viewer at the start and direct them to more of your content at the end.

They are particularly useful for channels that get a lot of new traffic, as they play a crucial role in converting unique views into long term subscribers, and establishing your brand with that viewer.

Animated content for your intros and outros can be made with little-to-no experience in animation software, thanks to a wide selection of apps and web services. Be sure to make use of your end screen to drive your viewers to more content on your channel, not to mention providing them with a simple, one-click method of subscribing to your channel if they haven’t already.

If you need help with your graphics, branding, subtitles or anything else to level up your YouTube videos, I have a long list tools I used to grow my channel from 0 to 2 Million views in less than 2 years – check out my resources page.

And, remember, use this time wisely. Get the information you need to get across in as short time as you can, but do so clearly and concisely. You don’t want your viewers to feel like your wasting their time before they even get into the meat of your video.

Your intro is the first thing a new viewer will see. Make it count.

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.

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 intro maker, placeit, should i use youtube intros, should i use youtube outros, video branding, video maker, youtube branding, youtube channel branding, youtube intro, youtube intro maker, youtube nranding, youtube outro maker, youtube video maker, youtune outro

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE YOUTUBE

8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Zero

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 12 July 2020
1 Comment on 8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Zero

8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Scratch or Zero 13

Growing a YouTube channel from scratch can be challenging and frustrating.

All that time, planning, recording, and editing content, and when you finally upload it to your channel – tumbleweeds. You may as well have filmed paint drying for all the good it’s done you!

Fear not. There are techniques and tips for growing your channel from zero. Methods you can use to pull in viewers, get more subscribers, and turn those tumbleweeds into roses.

This article gives you eight handy tips you can apply today to grow your YouTube channel, even if you’re starting out from zero.

Let’s get going.

Tip 1 – Make A Start!

To grow a successful YouTube channel from zero means you have to shoot, edit, and upload engaging, entertaining videos regularly.

Thinking about your channel is not the path to success, you need to sit in front of the camera, hit record, and start talking.

You won’t know if you are on the right track for your channel until you’ve uploaded several videos to YouTube, monitored feedback, and made optimised changes to your content.

And don’t worry if you are not that polished at the start. If you take a look at the earliest videos of now successful channels, you’ll see how rough and they were when they first began.

Uploading videos regularly is an absolutely critical step. The crucial factor of feedback comes in several forms; likes and dislikes, comments, and some vital analytics found in your YouTube account.

When you find out what works, you can use the information to make better videos.

But when you start out, resist the temptation to go on a filming frenzy pumping out one video after another. Think about the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

Long term consistency wins over unsustainable short term intensity every time. Slow and steady progress is much better.

Tip 2 – Focus Your Channel on a Single Niche

YouTube channels that jump from topic to topic often confuse people. Viewers are used to channels being about one subject only. So make sure that you make videos that focus around one niche and compliment other content in your channel.

For example, If you like both football and scary videos create a separate channel for each. But if your channel is about beauty, then it’s OK to have videos for nail polish, hair, or skin cleansing, as they all fit under the beauty umbrella.

One of the significant benefits of making your channel about a single niche is the possibility of building viewer feedback loops. That may sound complicated but actually refers to how YouTube works to keep viewers hooked on the site and watching more videos.

As a user watches content, YouTube shows a list of recommended videos (even autoplay them) to keep viewers hooked. YouTube wants to keep people on the site and is good at guessing what a viewer wants to watch next.

If your channel is all about a single niche, then you can take advantage of this.

When a viewer is watching one of my videos, YouTube determines that the user will probably want to see more videos about YouTube education. So other videos from my channel are displayed for them to watch next.

Tip 3 – Model What Is Already Working

Learn the rules of what makes a video successful and stick to them. Over time, through trial and error, Youtubers have learned how to best combine content, editing and presenting styles into winning videos. Model your self on a popular channel and don’t get experimental – understand the rules before you break them.

Emulating a successful channel does not mean copying one though. This famous quote illustrates the point nicely.

Find 10 popular channels currently uploading in your chosen niche. Next, look at the 10 most popular videos for each of those channels and start writing down a list of content ideas. Just because the concepts have already been covered doesn’t mean you can’t take the same idea then do a better job.

Think about how those channels present their content. Is most of the presenting face on, or maybe they have footage of their hands from overhead? Perhaps they have lots of computer screen recordings?

Take the best bits of the successful channels, mix them together, then put your own spin on it.

And you must try to make evergreen content. Evergreen content is videos that will be relevant for a long time in the future. Your aim should be to build up an extensive back catalogue of content that viewers find useful and compelling, even when they discover your channel a year from now.

If you made a gossip style video about the latest spat between your two favourite singers, you might get a short-term spike in traffic. Still, no-one will care in a year when everyone’s moved on.

Most YouTube videos fall into one of two categories – education and entertainment. If you can manage to do both, even better.

Tip 4 – Work Out How to Keep People Watching for Longer

YouTube makes money when viewers watch adverts. So YouTube strives to keep audiences watching content for as long a possible. It follows then that a significant factor for YouTube in deciding how to rank and recommend videos is by a metric called watch time.

Most people won’t watch a video on YouTube all the way through. There are too many distractions nowadays, and attention spans are at an all-time low. So YouTube wants viewers to watch videos that are proven to hold their attention.

As a result, they serve up search results and video recommendations from channels with proven good watch times.

There are steps you can take to keep your viewers tuned into your content, and you’ll probably recognise a lot of them from your YouTube browsing. Everyone uses them because they work and play a big part in keeping viewers engaged.

Keep Intros short and sweet. Try to keep your intro screen and any welcome message under 20 seconds.

Signpost content in longer videos. If your content is over 10 minutes, think about telling people what’s coming up in the next segment to keep them hooked in.

Tease the most compelling part of your video. Place the highlight of your video towards the end, but let the viewer know what’s coming and why they must watch the whole video first.

If you can get 50 percent of your viewers to watch over 50 percent of your videos on average, then you will be doing well, and your channel could be on its way to success.

Tip 5 – Create Clickable Titles and Thumbnails

Your channel can only start to grow if people watch your videos. Yet, people will only watch your video if you have a snappy title and a compelling thumbnail for it. Let’s take a more in-depth look at both.

Titles

Your titles need to present a promise to the viewer, usually in one of the three following categories:

Intrigue – Don’t give the game away with your title, use phrases like ‘why was this’ and ‘might surprise you’ to build a compelling reason to click on your video.

FOMO – Fear of missing out. This usually works best with new information. This type of title plays on the human desire not to be out of the loop. Or even better, know something that no-one else knows.

Best Top Worst! – Another peculiar human trait is our need to rank things. Everyone does it. From Tennis players to chocolate cookies, we all have an opinion or would like to find out what is best, top, or worst.

Don’t use a title like ‘My favourite digital cameras’ – ‘The top 10 DSLRs ranked definitively and which one you should buy?’ will outperform it every time.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails need to be amazing too. It’s the shop window for your video. You’ll usually want to include a picture of yourself on the thumbnail, especially if you are going to be presenting on camera.

Add in text too – some people are more visual and won’t read your title. A short four or five-word headline that summarises the video helps people narrow down what to watch next. Avoid using fonts with fancy styles and keep your text clean and clear, so it’s easy to read.

Make sure you keep all the elements of your thumbnail big. Don’t forget that people also watch YouTube on mobile, so your thumbnail will still need to work on smaller smartphone screens.

If you need help in leveling up your thumbnails I have check you my YouTube Thumbnail Pack – 75+ easy edit YouTube Thumbnail designs to help you make eye catching, professional looking thumbnails – improve click through rates and get more views.

Tip 6 – Optimise Your Content Based on Analytics

70% of all the videos watched on YouTube are those recommended by the YouTube algorithm. YouTube understands what engages viewers and knows what videos to recommend next to keep them on the platform.

One of the significant factors for getting your videos recommended is how long the average viewer watches your content. Known as Watch Time, it’s an important metric that you should understand and keep a close eye on.

To improve average watch time, use audience retention analysis. This metric shows second-by-second when your audience stops watching your video. In the screen-grab below you can see the audience starts at 100% then quickly drops off to just around 55%.

This means that the video in question may have had a lengthy introduction that viewers found annoying, or the content didn’t live up to the promise of the title. So some users navigated away to find another video.

There are lots of ways you can use analytics to improve and grow your channel. Read this post to find out more about using analytics for channel growth.

Tip 7 – Build Traffic Funnels

When you start getting traffic to your channel, there are several ways to hold on to that traffic and funnel it to your other videos. It’s better than letting to go to other channels, right?

Create a series.

If you have a content idea that is relatively broad, think about creating a series of videos for the topic, like in the example below for a Microsoft Teams software tutorial.

As long as you don’t give away the lion’s share of the information in the first video, viewers are more likely to watch the next in the series. Set up teasers about what’s in the following video in the series to help funnel the traffic over.

Make sure that the content in a series of videos works on a standalone basis as well. Briefly recap the lessons from previous videos before you begin the content of the next in the series, so viewers know the context.

Create Playlists

If you don’t have content that works as a series but has a similar theme, consider building a channel playlist. 5-Minute Crafts’s channel has thematic playlists containing hundreds of videos with hours of watch time in each.

When a view hits play all, Youtube shows one video after another on the playlist – ensuring good watch time (and ad revenue).

Use Cards

Cards are the term given to grey boxes you can set to display in the corner of your video.

You can use cards to link to other channels, websites, or polls. But, perhaps the best use for them is to link to your other video content.

If you found a place in one of your videos that your audience retention analytics showed some viewers dropping out. Set up a card just before this point to funnel the traffic to other complementary content on your channel.

Find out more about adding cards in YouTube Studio.

Use End screens

When a viewer gets to the end of your video, use an end screen to promote another video. It’s best if you only suggest one video. Having a single call-to-action is better than adding multiple links to lots of your videos and hoping the viewer clicks one.

This tip works even better if you plan ahead. Trail the video you will link to in the end screen of the video you’ll place it on.

Find out how to add and end screen.

Tip 8 – Don’t Give Up!

It takes time and dedication to build up a successful YouTube channel. And when you get started, it can seem like you are trying really hard for little reward. YouTube is peppered with channels where the creator burned out and stopped after only uploading six or seven videos.

There is a concept for entrepreneurs that is illustrated by the ‘S’ curve. When a new venture begins, frustration builds as little happens. And it’s not uncommon to think that you’ve wasted your time and everything is destined to fail.

But there comes the point, known as the inflection point, where things start clicking into place. Suddenly the venture rockets away, and it becomes successful.

8 Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel From Scratch or Zero 12 — Image Source: innospective.net

Most people quit before the inflection point, which is why it pays to stick with your plan and keep on working hard. Commit yourself to upload at least a video per week for six months.

Monitor feedback from the comments and analytics and use it to improve and make better videos. Don’t give up!

Conclusion

Growing a successful YouTube channel isn’t easy – but it’s not impossible either. Those that are successful know that achieving success takes time. It requires careful planning, listening to feedback, and interpreting channel analytics.

There are tried and tested techniques you can use to attract and keep viewers watching your videos.

Experiment using the tips above in your videos, and see what difference it can make to your channel. There are tens of thousands of people making a living from YouTube. Will you become one of them?

Tags Grow a YouTube Channel, grow a youtube channel from scratch, how to grow a youtube channel from scratch, how to grow on youtube, how to grow youtube channel, how to grow youtube channel from zero, youtube, youtube channel grow

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE MARKETING SEO TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

YouTube Analytics Explained And How to Use Them for Channel Growth

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 10 July 2020
1 Comment on YouTube Analytics Explained And How to Use Them for Channel Growth

There are over five billion videos on YouTube. So, if you’ve been creating videos with clickbait titles in the hope of going viral, you may as well buy a lottery ticket – it’s no plan for channel growth.

Growing a YouTube channel is a long-term venture. Best achieved by regularly uploading quality videos that give your audience more of what they are looking for.

When you are trying to grow, it’s natural to want to compare yourself to other channels, but resist the temptation! YouTube channels exist in viewer bubbles – it’s your unique combination of content, presentation and production values that keeps your viewers watching.

But you don’t nail it every time. So how do you figure out what it is your audience likes most about your channel? Sure you can keep an eye on your likes, dislikes, and comments, but these don’t give you the full picture.

Fortunately, YouTube provides you with a sharper view, with lots of in-depth analytics about your channel.

This post looks at how you can use your analytics to better understand your audience and how you then use that knowledge to grow your channel. First, though, it’s crucial to know how YouTube ranks videos and why clickbait doesn’t work.

How YouTube Ranks Videos

Before 2012, YouTube ranked videos based solely on view count. It didn’t matter if a viewer watched one second or five minutes, both counted as a view.

This led to an increase in YouTubers using clickbait titles to try and game the system. YouTube had to do something – video content frequently wasn’t delivering on the promise of the title.

So after 2012, Youtube added in watch time and session duration to its ranking algorithm, resulting in an improvement of content quality. Today, YouTube also puts ranking weight on how engaged viewers are with content. Relying on things like watch time, likes and dislikes, and subscribes, amongst other factors.

YouTube wants to keep users on the platform, consuming content and viewing paid advertisements.

And did you know that 70% of all videos viewed on YouTube are those suggested by the YouTube ranking algorithm? If you want to grow your channel and appear more in the YouTube recommended video lists, then you need to find out what parts of your content users like most, and plan more of it.

But, before you use your analytics to make content decisions, make sure you have uploaded a minimum of 20-30 videos. Data on only five or six videos will not be helpful enough to draw conclusions from. So if you have only uploaded a few videos so far, first work on recording and uploading more videos.

Where to Find YouTube Analytics

To access your analytics, first, log in to your YouTube account. Next in the top right of the screen, click on the small circle showing your profile picture or first initial. Then, from the drop-down menu, select ‘YouTube Studio’.

When the channel dashboard loads, on the left-hand menu, select ‘Analytics’.

The main Analytics screen then loads.

How to Use YouTube Video Views Analytics.

You may think you know what your audience wants. But, until you see how viewers actually interact with your channel, you can’t be totally sure. To start the process on the main analytics screen, make sure you have the ‘Views’ tab selected and click ‘see more’.

This loads up a more detailed list of your videos and some headline analytics. First, make sure that you have all the ‘lifetime’ data of your channel showing by selecting the data function in the top right corner of the screen.

Then from the drop-down list, select the ‘Lifetime’ option, which will show all the analytics data from the time your channel started.

Next sort your videos in descending order of views so that your most-watched videos are at the top.

Use this list to gauge what your audience likes about your channel. Figure out why your popular videos are doing better than ones that fell flat. See if there’s a pattern. Are your most popular videos a hot topic? Maybe useful tutorials or when you live streams.

Whatever the reason, the content of those videos is the kind that your channel viewers find most compelling. Look for these trends then aim to make more videos like them.

For example, I made a video about how to make a playlist on YouTube which was well received. When my analytics showed me how popular it was, I created another one, this time showing three ways to make a playlist.

YouTube Impressions and Click-Through Rates Explained.

In the same analytics section as Video Views, further along there are two other columns titled ‘impressions’ and ‘impressions click-through rates’.

These data in those columns indicate:

Impressions. The number of times a video thumbnail has been seen, either from a search or by YouTube suggestion.

Impressions click-through rate. The percentage of times a viewer saw your thumbnail and clicked on it to watch your video.

Now, say that your click-through rate is 2%, if you can get that up to 4% then you will double your video viewers. So the impressions and impressions click-throughs measure how good your thumbnail and titles are.

Re-order your click-through rate column, again by descending order, and take a look at your best performing titles and thumbnails. What makes the top ones stand out from other titles and thumbnails? Perhaps a thumbnail was well composed, or it could be the title was snappy.

Use this feedback to improve your existing thumbnails and titles, then use what you’ve learned when you create them for your new content too.

If you need help getting started with Thumbnails, why not check out my Thumbnail Pack where I give you 75+ easy to edit psd template files to help you level up your thumbnail game and get more views!

Use Your YouTube Subscribers Analytics to Plan Content

Now let’s take a look at subscriber analytics and how you can use them to grow your channel. In the same ‘see more’ section you used for the video view count locate the column headed ‘Subscribers’.

Make sure the time period is showing the lifetime data again and order the data in descending order.

Follow the same process as before and examine the top videos to see what the common factors were. Did they have a certain length, content topic, or presenting style? Maybe you made a request or showed an extended caption asking viewers to subscribe in a different way to your other videos.

Whatever the factor, plan new content that replicates it. Whether it’s similar, updated, or complimentary, the analytics are telling you that certain content you make turns a section of your viewers into subscribers. Do it again.

If you make a successful video about knitting a jumper, make one for knitting a hoodie. If you made one showing how to find a weapon in a game, make one for how to use it.

YouTube Watch Time – The Most Important Metric?

Of course, views and subscribers are essential to understand. But an arguably more important metric for YouTube is watch time. Watch time is an estimation of total hours spent by viewers watching your videos.

On the main analytics screen, select the tab showing ‘Watch time (hours) then select ‘see more’ at the bottom.

As I mentioned earlier, YouTube ranks videos, in part, by how long viewers watch videos. Why do they do this? Because it demonstrates how engaging and useful your videos are to your viewers.

It makes sense when you understand that YouTube’s entire business model is to keep people viewing content and adverts on their platform. It follows then, that channels which get good overall watch time are more likely to show up for searches, or in a selection of videos that YouTube recommends.

So, if you are getting click-throughs and good view counts, but people aren’t watching many hours of your videos then (there is no way to sugar coat this) you need to make better videos.

Fortunately, YouTube offers data you can use to see precisely when viewers stopped watching your video; audience retention.

YouTube Audience Retention Metric Explained

The audience retention metric is shown as a percentage figure. If you upload a ten-minute video and your audience, on average, watches five minutes, then you’ll have an audience retention measure of 50%.

Select one of your videos to view the analytics screen shown below, then click ‘see more’ in the audience retention section.

As you can see, in the graph below, audience retention starts at 100% and over time gradually drops off as viewers stop watching the video. In the example below the overall retention rate is 30.4%

You can play your video and watch as it tracks along the graph so you can see what you were doing at the time when viewers stopped watching.

Did you lose a lot of viewers when your content got a bit dry or technical? Maybe you had a section you felt was amusing but turned your viewers off?

This is a powerful tool. It gives you feedback on what works and doesn’t work. You can use it to help you plan future content and give your audience more of what they want.

Also, did you notice the bump in the graph?

How can audience retention go up if viewers have gone away? This bump tells you that viewers are coming back to rewatch a portion of your video. Whatever you were doing at that part of the video is clearly of value to your audience, so it’s a good idea to do more similar content.

Conclusion

Getting to grips with your analytics shouldn’t be as scary as it sounds. Once you understand what they represent and how you can use them to understand your viewers, you’ll probably find yourself hooked on them.

And we’ve only scratched the surface here. There are lots of other metrics in your analytics that help you make better videos. There are also analytics for things like audience demographics and YouTube features like cards.

Explore the entire analytics section to see what other metrics you can use to fuel YouTube channel growth.

If you need more help to stand out, optimise and brand your videos better – check out my resources page where I list everything I use to grow my channel.

Tags analytics, how to use youtube analytics, How to Use YouTube Analytics for Channel Growth, youtube, youtube analytics, youtube analytics explained

HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Does Monetization Increase Views?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 9 July 2020

Should I Start a New YouTube Channel or Keep My Old One? 1

Every YouTuber with any kind of ambition naturally wants to find any edge they can get when it comes to increasing their viewership. Hopefully, those edges are all above board. So when theories start flying around about things that potentially affect your views, it’s perfectly natural to want to know if those theories are correct. In this case, the theory is that YouTube monetization can increase your views.

Many YouTubers shun YouTube monetization for several reasons. Perhaps they don’t feel the inconvenience to their viewers is worth the revenue it generates. Perhaps the YouTuber is very brand-conscious and doesn’t want to run the risk of having ads that would not mesh with their brand running alongside their videos. It could also be because the YouTuber has signed a brand deal with a third party and part of the deal is they can’t run YouTube ads on their sponsored videos.

Whatever the reason, it would certainly be interesting to see how many of those YouTubers might change their mind about not monetizing their videos if they knew that it cost them views.

But does monetization increase views? – Monetization does not affect your views. Not directly, at least. They are two completely different systems. However if you was demonetized for not safe for advertiser content you make have also been restricted or aged gated, which will impact views.

But as with many topics relating to YouTube, there is more to explore. If you’d like to know more, keep reading.

Why People Think Monetization = Views

The idea that YouTube monetization might lead to more views is not a ridiculous one. YouTube spent much of its early life as a notorious money pit, struggling to make back the money it cost to keep this enormous platform of video content afloat.

It stands to reason that YouTube would place earning money quite highly on its list of priorities. And, if that were the case, it would quite naturally follow that videos that are monetized would get more of a push from the YouTube algorithm than videos that aren’t. After all, it is not just the creators that aren’t earning anything—videos that aren’t monetized don’t make any money for YouTube, either.

Not only do they not make any money for YouTube, but they also cost them money. Every video uploaded means more storage, more server capacity, more money.

So it makes sense that YouTube would want to push those videos that are going to earn them money over those that aren’t. Especially considering that the videos that are allegedly being buried are costing YouTube less money when they are not actively being watched.

As we said, the theory makes perfect sense. But we also said this wasn’t the case, so let’s get into that next.

Why YouTube Monetization Doesn’t Increase Views

The simplest way to understand this concept is to think of YouTube and Google Adwords as two separate entities. Yes, we know Google (technically Alphabet Inc.) owns YouTube and Adwords, but for the sake of understanding, pretend for a moment that they are a completely unrelated company.

Now, YouTube does not earn money, per se, Google does. Google is essentially YouTube’s sugar daddy in that it pays for YouTube to keep running, but from a monetary standpoint, the money made through YouTube goes straight into Google’s coffers.

Additionally, YouTube and YouTuber have no more control over the ads shown on their platform than a regular blog with an Adwords account does. In short, the two companies are operating almost entirely independently of each other.

Google likes to compartmentalize. Adwords is a platform for delivering advertisements across a variety of different mediums. YouTube is a platform for publishing video. Google is a search engine, and so on.

The critical factor here is that YouTube’s mandate has nothing to do with monetization as such; it has to do with watch time. Now, granted, the more watch time there is, the more opportunity there is to serve ads, and the more money will get made. But from YouTube’s point of view, watch time is the endgame.

Correlation is not Causation

There is more to it, as always, when you think about how YouTube’s motives might affect video plays. For example, YouTube will promote videos that garner more watch time harder than they will promote videos that don’t do as well in the watch time department.

Videos with considerably more watch time are typically worth more and have a better higher likelihood of being monetized. The fact that these videos are monetized and get more of a push from Google is unconnected, however. It is the watch time that drives both.

Similarly, one of the main reasons for videos not being monetized is ineligibility for the YouTube Partner Programme, either through not having enough views or subscribers or because of community guideline violations. Videos that fall into this category are often less engaging, either because they have offensive content, their creator is inexperienced, or the content is just bad. In these cases, those videos will not receive the same kind of push from YouTube that a monetized video will, but it is not because of the monetization.

If you need help in understanding how to get monetized on YouTube I did a deep dive blog highlighting all the hoops to jump through.

Another point of correlation can be found in sensitive content. Advertisers are increasingly shying away from certain types of content—anything offensive, violent, political, and so on. At the same time, YouTube is less likely to push the content of this nature because it may cause offence and upset. In this case, once again, the videos that are demonetized are pushed less by the algorithm. But it is the content of the video that causes both things to happen independently of each other.

It is important to remember that YouTube’s goal of more watch time is largely geared towards serving more advertisements. So it stands to reason that their criteria will be somewhat similar to the requirements Adwords has with regards to showing an ad on a video (or webpage for that matter).

It may seem a pointless distinction at times—if the two aspects of the equation are so closely aligned, what difference does it make if they are directly interacting or not?

But if you want to stack the odds in your favor maybe consider I have a whole page of tools, websites and software I use to make my videos super profession for next to nothing.

Why This Matters

If your goal is purely to make money, and you are already part of the YouTube Partner Programme, it won’t make much difference to you. Your content will still need to adhere to whatever criteria advertisers are enforcing if you want to monetize your videos. And if that criteria closely aligns with what YouTube wants in terms of algorithm-friendly content, all the better.

Similarly, if YouTube is just a video hosting service to you—if you neither need nor care about YouTube promoting your content, none of this is relevant. All you would need to do is avoid breaking YouTube’s community guidelines so as not to get taken down completely.

Where it does make a difference, however, is with video content that is intentionally not-monetized, or videos that are not part of the YouTube Partner Programme.

By knowing that it is not monetization that is causing videos to get more views, but the underlying metrics that drive monetization, you can ensure that your content meets the necessary criteria to get promoted by YouTube, monetization or not.

If you are not part of the YouTube Partner Programme but would like to be, knowing this will help you get the views and watch time you need to join the programme.

Do I Need Monetization To Make Money?

The next question that usually follows this type of conversation is whether or not YouTube monetization is necessary, and what the alternatives are. You may be surprised to learn how many new YouTubers are unaware of other monetization methods.

If you are one such YouTuber, don’t worry; you’re not alone.

There are several ways you can monetize your YouTube channel without using YouTube’s monetization system. One of the more popular ones being crowdfunding

With this method, your viewers would voluntarily said you money as a thank you for your content. The idea is that they would like to see more of your content, and by donating some cash to you, they will help to ensure that more content happens. The most popular example of this kind of model is Patreon, which allows recurring payments, similar to a monthly subscription. There are alternatives, however, such as Ko-Fi, which functions a little more like a tip jar than a subscription service.

Another method of monetization is through brand deals and product sponsorships – I did a deep dive on affiliate marking on my blog that drill down into potential earning anyone can get with a little hard work.

This is where a company approaches you independently (or through an ad network) and pays you to promote their product or service, or review something, or sometimes just wear a t-shirt or drink from a particular mug.

You will typically need to have a good following with substantial viewing figures before this kind of deal will present itself. This kind of arrangement is usually the most lucrative kind of monetization you can get on YouTube channel.

Another option is selling merchandise using print-on-demand services. These services allow you to supply products to your viewers without having to order in bulk upfront and store large amounts of product. Many companies offer this service, and YouTube even has its own alternative for YouTubers with over 10,000 subscribers.

Can Monetization Hurt My Views?

The first thing to note here is that monetization certainly won’t hurt your views from the standpoint of viewers being pushed to your content. If your videos are advertisement friendly, they have already met a lot of the criteria for the kind of video the YouTube algorithm likes to push. Of course, there’s more to it than that, and it’s what happens after a viewer lands on your video that makes or breaks it.

More watch time and engagement will lead to a video being pushed more by YouTube, and it is here where monetization has the potential to hurt your views.

There are situations when a pre-roll ad will result in the viewer clicking away before they ever get to the video—particularly in the case of unskippable ads. This tends to happen more on casual content, such as funny videos and memes—the kind of videos people end up watching when they are idly browsing through YouTube with no real aim in mind. These viewers are not particularly invested in the content, and so the little barrier to entry that a pre-roll ad presents can sometimes be enough to scare them away. This affects smaller channels in particular, as every view is essential in those early days.

Another example of monetization hurting views is when a video is overstuffed with ads. If a viewer gets the sense that they are getting advertised at too often, they may click away out of frustration. A viewer clicking away halfway through your video doesn’t directly hurt your views—after all, they have already been counted as a view. What it does do is harm your videos standing in the YouTube algorithm.

It will see users clicking away from your content and see that as a warning sign that perhaps your videos are not suitable for a recommendation.

Content First

While it is impossible not to consider things like monetization and YouTube’s algorithm if you are hoping to make a significant success out of your YouTube channel, the content you produce remains the best way to ensure success.

If you are creating content in one of the shadier area of YouTube (as far as the algorithm is concerned) such as politics, you may need to accept that monetization is not a practical option for your channel. There are other methods by which you can monetize your content, of course, but the common denominator is that you will need good content to do so. If you want to get monetized, you will need sufficient watch time and subscribers. If you’re going to attract brand deals, you will need a substantial following.

If you’re going to pursue a crowdfunding model, you will need to produce good enough content that people will be willing to donate to you of their own volition.

The key to success on YouTube always boils down to good content—making quality videos is the foundation of all YouTube success. Knowing how the algorithm works only helps you steer yourself in the right direction while making that good 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. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

Tags get more views, money, more views on youtube, views, youtube view, youtube views

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

How Much of a Song Can You Use on YouTube Without Copyright?

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

Music is a powerful tool in video editing. It can add emphasis, emotional impact, and generally change the whole tone of a scene or clip. There is a wealth of free music available, of course.

YouTube itself has a significant library of free-to-use music that you can choose from. But there are times when royalty-free music won’t do.

Whether you’re reviewing songs or you just need a particular song for your content, you’ll no doubt be aware of the minefield that is copyrighted music. You may even be aware of fair use, but don’t worry if you’re not; we’re going to get into all of that soon.

Most YouTubers are aware that you can’t just grab copyrighted music (or any content, for that matter) and put it in your video. At least, not without inevitable consequences. At best you will lose your ability to monetize that video, at worst you will get a copyright strike against your channel, and enough of those will lose your channel entirely!

So, how much of a song can you use on YouTube without copyright coming to bite you in the backside? – The short answer is none! You will need a buy a license to use popular tracks or will need to enter into revenue shares with some artists if they are part of the YouTube Audio Library. If you want music in your videos it is best to use royalty free services or make your own music.

The answer more honest answer is, it complicated – so if you’re with us, we’re about to dive a little deeper.

What is “Fair Use”?

As we’re about to get into a subject matter that strays a little close to legal advice, we must stress that is emphatically not legal advice.

Always seek the advice of a qualified law professional before doing anything that might potentially land you in legal trouble. Now, with that out of the way, let’s get into what fair use is.

Fair use is the name given to the use of copyrighted material in some instances where the use is limited or transformative. You may be wondering what “transformative” means, and you wouldn’t be alone. Inordinate amounts of money have been spent trying to find a clear definition of what constitutes transformative but to no avail.

Established examples of a transformative use of copyrighted material include commentary and criticism, such as news programs showing clips of something accompanied by commentary about that thing. Another example is parody videos.

There is a common myth or misunderstanding that you are allowed to use a certain amount of copyrighted content—a few seconds, say—and you will be protected by fair use. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Fair use covers how copyrighted content is used, not the amount of it.

While it is highly unlikely, it is theoretically possible that the use of copyrighted material in its entirety could be protected by fair use. It would be tough to justify, of course, and the less of a piece of copyrighted material you use, the easier it is to claim that you are using it for transformative means, rather than just stealing it.

It is here that the myth of using only a few seconds comes from; most successful examples of fair use on YouTube are short clips, but the shortness is not what makes them a successful example of fair use. We’ll get more into what these successful examples look like shortly.

To avoid falling into dangerous waters I always use licensing companies like LickD – I pay a small fee per track and know I am covered from all the legal potholes. Go check LickD out, they have a wide selection of popular song and chart music on their website and you can even get one track free!

Fair Use is Not Protection

The main trap people fall into when dealing with fair use is in thinking that it is some kind of protection against copyright claims or lawsuits, but this is not the case.

Fair use is a defence, not a protection. There is no one-size-fits-all application of fair use that a company like YouTube could apply to your usage of copyrighted material. As such, fair use is decided on a case-by-case basis…

…in court.

Yes, unfortunately, the only way to prove you are using copyrighted content within the remit of fair use is by going to court and having them agree with you. And, unless you have a lot of spare cash and time on your hands, the only way that is likely to happen is if you get sued by a copyright holder. Not ideal.

An unfortunate side effect of this is that large copyright holders tend to bludgeon smaller entities with copyright take-downs, knowing full well that the average YouTuber will not have the means to challenge the claim on a legal footing. Combine this with increasingly automated copyright infringement detection employed by YouTube, and you have a scenario in which it is very difficult to use copyrighted content in any capacity.

There are even instances of YouTubers creating cover versions of popular songs using household objects—such as couch cushions and doors—getting copyright claims against them by the owner of the song they are covering.

If you are struggling for places to find free to use and completely safe music – I made a deep dive video on all the places you can find music for free online.

How Much of a Song Can You Use on YouTube Without Copyright Issues?

Now that we’ve taken a deeper dive into how fair use works, we hope it makes more sense when we tell you that the answer to how much of a song you can use without copyright problems is, practically speaking, none.

The reason we say this is because the music industry is particularly aggressive when it comes to protecting its intellectual property. They are not interested in the fair use arguments and will go after any use of their music that they become aware of. Couple that with YouTube’s automated copyright infringement detection, and you have a situation where any attempt to use copyrighted music will likely get flagged.

If the infringement exists (that is, the copyright holder attributed does, in fact, own the copyright to the material in your video), then your only recourse would be to take that copyright holder to court.

It would be extremely unlikely to reach a point where the copyright holder would take you to court, however, as YouTube has plenty of mechanisms in place to protect their interests. From monetizing your video and sending them the proceeds, to removing your channel from the platform entirely.

YouTube will not allow you to infringe copyright continually, so it would take an extremely keen legal department at some music label to see you in taken to court before YouTube resolves the issue for them.

Examples of Fair Use

Copying works across a variety of different mediums, including broadcast, is permitted when the use is for examination or instruction, in an academic or industry setting, as long as it meets certain guidelines. Obviously, this is unlikely to apply to your average YouTuber.

An example more relevant to YouTube, however, is using copyrighted content for quotation, critique, or review. Of course, if you post an entire album with little to no commentary, you will struggle to make an argument for fair use. The amount of copyrighted content should be quite limited, and only just enough to get whatever point you are trying to make across.

Other criteria for this kind of fair use include the copyrighted material being publicly available and the source of the content being acknowledged

You can also use copyrighted material of reporting current news, though the situations in which copyrighted music would fit into this category are rare.

Parody, as we mentioned earlier, is also a form of fair use, but this is another area where the boundaries for what constitutes parody are far from clear. Any borderline case may need to be tested in court to receive any kind of definitive decision on the matter.

The final example of fair use involves text and data mining, which clearly doesn’t have any bearing on a discussion about using music in YouTube videos.

Can You Use Music in YouTube Videos at All?

There are certainly situations where you could use music—even copyrighted music—in your YouTube videos. If you were to obtain the permission of the copyright holder, for instance, you would be legally allowed to use that music as long as you stuck to whatever terms you agreed, of course.

As we mentioned earlier, there is also non-copyrighted music or music with an open license such as Creative Commons. YouTube provides an impressive library of such music for the very reason of helping YouTubers make their content without falling afoul of copyright strikes. Remember, they want you to succeed.

Finally, you could, of course, use your own music. If you make music and you have not given the rights to that music to anyone else, you are free to do with it as you please.

Should I Use Copyrighted Music in my YouTube Videos?

The only truly safe option when considering using music in your YouTube videos is to use royalty-free music that is licensed for commercial use.

The commercial aspect is important even if you do not monetize your videos, because you may decide to monetize them someday, and, in any case, some people may disagree with your idea of commercial. They may even be wrong, but you don’t want to have to go to court to prove that.

If you can get permission for the music you should be okay to use it in theory, however, it is worth noting that YouTube’s copyright infringement detection is something of a firehose when it comes to seeking out violations.

There are many examples in the past of YouTubers going to great lengths to obtain permission to use copyrighted material, only to have YouTube flag it as a violation.

In some case, copyright holders themselves have fallen afoul of this system. It has not been uncommon for YouTubers who are part of a content network upload a video of one of their own songs on a private channel and get flagged for copyright because their song was initially played on the content network’s channel.

It is far from a perfect system.

What Happens if I Get Caught Using Copyrighted Music?

The consequences vary depending on things like if you are a repeat offender, or how the copyright holder wants to handle the situation. If you are caught infringing copyright, and it is your first time, you will likely just receive a strike against your account. Enough of these strikes, however, and your account could be removed entirely.

In some cases, the copyright holder will opt to leave your video alone, but monetize it and claim the earnings. In those cases, you will not be able to monetize your video yourself, even if the offending music only makes up a small portion of your video. Unfortunately, this is a risk you will have to accept if you want to use copyrighted music.

As mentioned above, it is unlikely you would ever see a courtroom from infringing copyright on YouTube. But, as mentioned even further above, nothing in this post should be considered legal advice. The fact that it is unlikely that you will end up in court should not be seen as a guarantee that you will not end up in court.

Conclusions

The world of YouTube copyright is a bit of a minefield when it comes to knowing exactly what you can and can’t do.

The only way to be genuinely risk-free is only ever to use royalty-free music that is licensed for commercial use. Any time you use copyrighted material, even if it is as clear cut fair use as it gets, could see you receiving copyright strikes against your channel, or worse.

If you do have to use copyrighted music, however, remember the guidelines for what constitutes fair use. Only use the absolute minimum of copyrighted music required to get your point across. Make sure the focus of the video is not the content.

Even with some additional commentary, if the point of the video is very clearly just to listen to the music, it will not be considered fair use.

But, most importantly, remember that fair use is not a protection against legal action. If a copyright holder gets a bee in their bonnet about your use of their music and decides to get the lawyers out, you will not be able to hide behind fair use.

You will need to go to court and convince a judge that your use of the content was fair use. It may not be a likely scenario, but it is one you will have to consider if you insist on using copyrighted music in your videos.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

Post feature image by Richard Clyborne of Music Strive

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