Category: YOUTUBE

Unlimited YouTube Video Ideas In Minutes

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 14 August 2020
2 Comments on Unlimited YouTube Video Ideas In Minutes

DO THIS FOR UNLIMITED YOUTUBE VIDEO IDEAS 1

Are you struggling for video ideas? Here is a sure fire way to have unlimited options that are definitely being searched.

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

DO THIS FOR UNLIMITED YOUTUBE VIDEO IDEAS

Here we go. Hello, I’m Alan Spicer, your YouTube certified expert and I know that it’s really hard to get started on YouTube. It’s hard to think of ideas.

When you first get started, you might barrel into ideas. You might have a load in your head. You might have a notebook to get started, but sooner or later, it might just dry up where you get a bit of writer’s block, you’re stuck.

The core problem here happens to be that you want to be creating content that is searched, and being searched for right now, because it’s okay to throw up a video about your travel, it’s okay to throw up a video about your new hair dye or to seat there reading a book, but if you truly want to get caught by search, you need to make sure that you’re actually making content, that people are searching for.

I use this all the time. It’s called the “Alphabet Soup Method.”

If you already know what this happens to be, then fine, please bear with me, right?

I’ll explain why it’s important. But if you have no idea, I’m just about to explode your brain.

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the Internet. The only one that beats YouTube is Google who owns YouTube. So, they’ve been doing this for years. They’ve got 10, 15, 20 years worth of experience of learning what humans want to know, or find, and they understand our searching habits.

This means that you finally get that shortcut to understanding how people find your videos. I do channel reviews for my clients and I did possibly hundreds over the course of the last few months with vid IQ.

So many people make this mistake. Well, you look at their video and they have a fantastic done now, but the title of the video is the name of a series or “Wow, look at this!” or “Yummy cupcake.”

At least “Yummy cupcakes” is a searchable term, but “Wow, look at this!” and “This is a wall” or “We went here.” Nobody is searching for “We went here,” or “I dyed my hair.” Nobody is searching for really obscure Wow titles.

The only reason you get away with Wow is if you’re Casey Neistat or Jake Paul or Logan Paul or Cody Wanner, people who already have an inbuilt baked audience.

For a small YouTube channel, you need to stop pandering to either suggested traffic by uploading a ton of content or search by being smart aboutnhow you title content and how you think your things that you will create. There is no point in making a video that is so ultra niche that the only person that’s going to search for it is you and your mom.

That’s why you can’t just do, “Here’s what I did on my day in my house with my brother” because nobody else cares about that other than your brother.

So, what you do is you go to the search bar and dependent on your niche you start typing your way through search suggestions.

Let’s say I want to do something about cake, so I type in “Make a cake” and you’ll get your search results. But here’s the important thing: “Make a cake a” and it gives you suggestions.

Then, “Make a cake b” and “Make a cake c,” these are your search terms that humans have actively searched for.

So it could be “How to make a cake without eggs, how to make a cake with chocolate, how to make a banana cake, how to make an almond cake,” these are search terms that people have searched for.

And if it doesn’t auto complete, it’s likely that people haven’t gone to look for it.

You could also do this in Google, you type in your keyword or key-search term, “How to make a cake.”

And then you scroll all the way past the results down to the bottom, to the related terms. These are also video topics that you can make.

As you keep clicking through, you can get ultra niche. So it could be, “How to make a chocolate cake with cherries, how to make a chocolate cake with fudge icing.”

The ABC method will give you an unlimited amount of ideas that you can deep dive into. Also, if it was to just do the search results, that’s what I did here to start with: “How to make a YouTube,” and then it was “Playlist, channel, video, end screen, end card, outro.”

You will never run out of topics and you can always cheat by adding a little asterisk as well.

So, “How to * cake?”

What this does is it tells YouTube, “Okay, I want it to be about cake, but I don’t know what it is.”

So it could be, “How to proof a cake, how to ice a cake, how to make a fudge cake brownie.”

The little stars are wild cards and YouTube will auto fill it. And if it auto fills it for you, you’ll see that those are words and phrases that other humans have searched for in such a regular basis, that it becomes a search term.

If you pair that up with something like vidIQ search tool, you can see the competitiveness and the volume.

What you need is low competitiveness and high volume, which means there are so many people searching it, but not enough content to service that need.

Final Words

All you need to do is know exactly the videos you need to make by watching this video right here, remember to subscribe and I’ll see you soon.

And remember if you need more help with your channel with graphics, subtitles, affiliate marketing or more – check out my resource page where I list all my secret tools and websites to supercharge your channel growth.

Tags Alphabet Soup Method, keyword research, suggested keyword, video ideas, youtube ideas, youtube video ideas

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

HOW TO ADD TIME STAMP CHAPTERS TO YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 14 August 2020

YouTube has added new chapters inside your videos, where you can bookmark certain areas within your content to make it easier, to jump to. A fantastic way to pack in keywords and possibly win that snippet on Google search results.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/9coVVqAoff8[/embedyt]

HOW TO ADD TIME STAMP CHAPTERS TO YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Let’s go to the computer.

Now, these chapters on videos help break up the video and hopefully help it index in Google search.

As you will see, each one of them have a mini subheading and a scrollable bar along the bottom.

As you jump to specific places, the chapter subtotal total changes next to the time stamp, and it’s a good way to cram in some keywords.

But, if you don’t have them, it’s one long bar that you just scrubbed through slightly blind, and there is no subheading underneath, next to it.

So, you can see the one could be very helpful.

To get started, from your homepage, you click on your avatar and click on “YouTube Studio.”

You go to “Videos” and you find the video that you want to add chapters to.

What I’m going to do is deliberately add chapters to this video, so you can see the difference.

I’m going to take the name of the video. I’m going to search it here. We’re gonna to click “Edit,” and it loads you into the “Video details” page.

The important thing that you need to know here is those chapters are set by time stamps.

Now, I’m going to write, “Timestamp” here, but you don’t have to. The most important thing is starting the time stamps from 0:00.

The next step is to use the mini player here, scrub through the video and make time gaps.

Maybe at the start, I’m talking about how I got to VidCon, maybe in the middle I’m talking about my experience with VidCon, and at the end, maybe I’m wrapping it up.

So I could make time stamps like this.

Now, these can be much more keyword rich. Obviously, if you’re doing a tutorial, it could go through just like a blog. That could be your subtitles.

If I click “Save,” and then I load the video from the link here or any other link for that matter, you will see immediately, the chapters are now added like instantly.

You can see that I can scrub through, each one’s got a mini subheading and it’s ready for you.

Compared to the original one, which once again, didn’t have those chapters.

Final Words

For more helpful YouTube features, there’s a playlist here. Or if you want to know how to self-certify your YouTube videos, let’s say for ads on YouTube, there’s a video here.

Tags time stamps, youtube chapters, youtube videos

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

YouTube Codecs Explained

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 12 August 2020
3 Comments on YouTube Codecs Explained

If you’re new to the wide and wonderful world of YouTube—or working with any kind of video for that matter—you might have heard of video codecs.

Or perhaps you’re not so new, and you’ve heard of them, but you don’t really understand what they are or what they do. If you are either of these people, this post is for you.

Video codecs are the software and method that is used to compress video. In the case of YouTube, codecs are employed to reduce the size of the video before it is streamed by millions of people across the globe.

It is an essential part of transmitting video, and there are a variety of different flavours available. But what are they? And why are they so important? Read on to have YouTube codecs explained in full.

What is a Codec?

In short, codecs are compression. They are the software and method used to compress a large video file into a smaller video file using clever algorithms that strive to achieve the most significant reduction in size at the expense of as little loss of detail as possible.

Video is an incredibly large medium in terms of raw data—which we’ll get to shortly—and few people who don’t work with video appreciate just how much information is involved. Of course, anyone who edits video in any capacity will be fully aware, and anyone who has ever attempted to edit 4K video on a computer that, while powerful, was nevertheless not up to the task, will appreciate the struggle that video can present.

If you need help in deciding between 1080p and 4K – maybe you are lost and don’t know the difference – check out my deep dive blog on 4K and it could take YouTube by storm!

Codecs don’t typically help with editing, however, but they make life a lot easier on your Internet connection, and given how far our Internet speeds have come in recent years, the fact that there are still effort to improve compression and shrink video files further should serve to highlight how big video can be.

How do Codecs Work?

In the simplest terms, codecs compress information into a smaller size by replacing it with a different set of data that represents the original information.

To give a very simplified example of this, imagine you have a still frame of 1080p video where the top half of the screen is entirely black. Each pixel on the screen has to be accounted for in the data for that still frame, which means there are 1920×540, or 1,036,800 pixels. That’s a lot of data.

However, we don’t need to store every single pixel in our data. Knowing that the next million pixels are the same, we can just say that and be done. Saving the data equivalent of “Black: 1,036,800 times” is a lot more efficient than actually listing black over a million times.

Of course, there is much more to it than that, but it should serve to give you a basic grounding in how codecs do their job. Compression can be taken to extreme levels, of course. Video can be compressed until it is little more than a pixellated blur of what it once was—albeit is a pixellated blur that takes up considerably less space than it once did. Many ingenious techniques are employed to preserve information, but as a general rule, the more compressed a video is, the more of that original information you lose.

“Why is information lost?” we hear you asking. In the above example of a frame that is half black, no information would be lost. The entirety of that black half of the screen would be stored fully intact in the dramatically reduced space we outlined. Real-world applications of compression are not so simple, however.

There are very rarely large portions of a frame that are the same colour in a frame of video, especially a film or TV show. Furthermore, there may not be any smaller areas that are identical. When you consider the depth of colours available and things like film grain, it is entirely possible to have frames of video where there isn’t a single collection of pixels adjacent to each other that are identical. In those cases, the simple compression method we detailed above would be useless.

This is where the information loss comes in. Codecs employ algorithms to decide what is compressible. If you have two pixels that are ever so slightly different shades of blue, they would technically be different but probably not different enough that the human eye could distinguish between the two.

The compression algorithm may count both of these pixels as the same colour, allowing it to reduce the size of the frame slightly.

And, when the video is decoded, it will still look good to our human eyes, but the information of that slightly differently shaded blue pixel is lost, and cannot be recovered from the encoded video.

This is why high-resolution footage with a lot of film grain is hard to compress, because you either can’t get much of a size reduction from the compression, or you lose a lot of that fine detail.

This should hopefully also go some way to explaining why there are so many codecs available. It is not a simple matter of which codec reduces the video size the most, there are preferences to take into account.

Some codecs are more aggressive, others don’t achieve the same degree of size-reduction. Depending on what you are doing with your video, different codecs may be suitable.

Why do we Need Codecs?

Computers are getting more powerful, and Internet speeds are getting faster, but at the same time, media is growing in fidelity.

There was a time not too long ago when our only means of watching video was the equivalent of a 640×480 screen, in what would retroactively be called 480i. For comparison, 1080p—which is considered the bare minimum these days and is even drifting slowly into obsolesce—is 1920×1080. That’s three times more information than the standard definition video we used to watch.

In keeping with this trend, 4K—which is well on its way to replacing 1080p as the defacto standard—is four times larger again. It should be noted that the “4” in 4K is not down to the fact that it is four times the size of 1080p, but rather the fact that the horizontal resolution is nearly 4,000 pixels across.

But 4K itself already has a replacement on the horizon, with 8K screens creeping onto the market. As you might have guessed, 8K is four times larger again than 4K, though we are far from 8K being commonplace in our homes, so we wouldn’t hold off on purchasing that 4K television just yet.

So what does all this mean? It means that despite computers getting more powerful and Internet speeds getting faster, the size of the media we are trying to play is getting similarly more substantial. Exponentially so, in fact. And this is just taking video files into account; there is also game streaming to consider, which Google is getting into in the form of their Stadia service.

And, while this is a gaming platform, it ultimately boils down to streaming live video to your screen, and will likely be a big part of YouTube if it succeeds.

Should I Upload 4K to YouTube? 1 — Two players playing video games on TV at home

To illustrate this point, here is a list of some resolutions and their typical data rate in megabits per second (Mbps). This is the amount of data that is being transmitted per second, whether that is from a Blu-ray drive to your screen, or from a distant server and over the Internet.

Compression Type	Resolution	Bitrate
YouTube @ 60FPS	1080p	4.5-9 Mbps
Blu-ray	1080p	20-30 Mbps
H.264 50Mbps	1080p	50 Mbps
No Compression	1080p	3,000 Mbps
YouTube @ 60FPS	4K	20-51 Mbps
X264 Codec	4K	100 Mbps
Blu-ray	4K	82-128 Mbps
No Compression	4K	10,000 Mbps

We should mention that all of the above compression methods are to a degree where the video is still kept to a high quality.

Of course, it would be possible to significantly reduce the bitrate further with more compression, but that would compromise the quality of the video to the point where it would affect the viewing experience.

Hopefully, that table will illustrate the importance of codecs. Even looking at the raw, uncompressed 1080p bitrate, it is sixty times more data than the typical bitrate that 4K video streamed over YouTube requires. Bearing in mind that 8Mbps is equivalent to 1 megabyte per second, a raw, uncompressed 4K stream would require data transfer rates of over a gigabyte per second.

This would present serious problems for Internet delivery, optical bandwidth in disc drives, and even if you were pulling the information directly from a high-speed solid-state drive, your computer would still need to be up to the task of processing that much information.

Audio Codecs

We’ve been focused on video codecs so far, but the audio is a critical part of the process as well, and the two do not necessarily go together in the compression process. When you encode video, the file name at the end (often .MP4) is little more than a wrapper. For the most part, you can mix and match your video and audio codecs to suit your needs.

As for the audio codecs themselves, there are nuances to compressing audio that differ from video, of course. For one thing, the smaller size of audio means that audio bitrates are typically measured in kilobits per second (Kbps) rather than megabits per second (Mbps).

But the broad strokes are the same as video codecs. They work to reduce the size of the audio by compressing it, often at the cost of some of the information stored.

The Best Codecs For YouTube

The answer what the best codecs for YouTube are is quite a short one since YouTube themselves openly tell us. YouTube prefer you to upload your videos in MP4 format, encoded with the H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec.

As we mentioned above, the file format and the codec are two different things, and YouTube is open to several different formats, such as MOV, AVI, MP4, WMV, MPEG, WebM, 3GPP, and FLV.

What Happens When I Upload Video to YouTube?

If you are already uploading videos to YouTube, you will be familiar with the “processing” phase of the upload process. During this time, YouTube is converting your video to a number of different resolutions.

When you select a different quality in a video—or when YouTube changes the quality automatically due to bandwidth issues—YouTube is not doing that on the fly. All the available quality options on a video are pre-processed and exist as their own video files on the YouTube servers.

Obviously, the capability to upscale your video to higher resolutions than the one you uploaded does not yet exist to the degree that would be feasible to use in this manner, but YouTube will create lower resolution alternatives. The standard definition is typically the first one to be created, though we would generally advise waiting until at least the high definition option has finished encoding, as that will be the most in-demand version.

YouTube has a preference for the codec you upload your video with because the fewer incoming codecs they have to deal with, the more they can optimise their platform and reduce the time it takes to process new video.

If you need help in getting the best setting to render out your video in 4K I have a blog dedicated to everything you need to know for 4K perfect quality, smallest file size and fastest upload times!

Are Codecs Free?

Not all codecs are free; however, the most popular ones that are used today do not cost money to use. While we are on the subject of free codecs, it is worth pointing out that codecs can be dangerous in the same way that downloading an executable file from an untrustworthy source can be.

Codecs can be used to get malicious software onto your computer, or they could just cause serious problems when attempting to playback media. So take care when downloading them, and make sure you are downloading from a verified source.

Summing Up

So, now you have had YouTube codecs explained, why you need them, and how they work (in simplified terms).

Remember, the world of codecs is not static, and new developments happen all the time, especially with new video formats and resolutions popping up from time to time.

It’s worth checking in with YouTube’s help resources occasionally to make sure there haven’t been any developments you should know about.

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 4k, 4k codec, 4k video, codec, codecs, codecs explained, video, video codec, video codecs, youtube codec, youtube codecs, youtube explained

SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Am I Too Old to Start a YouTube Channel?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 7 August 2020

Absolutely not.

Okay, that’s not really the end of the post; we’ll dive into this topic as we do with all things YouTube, but if you’re looking for the quick answer to “am I too old to start a YouTube channel?”; – No. You are not too old to start a YouTube channel. Whatever your age. As the saying goes, “It’s never too late to start something new”.

It is, however, perfectly natural to worry about being too old to jump into something that, from the outside, looks very much like a young person’s game.

There several reasons why you might think it’s not for you, and we’re going to lay the biggest ones out for all to see, and then tell you exactly why they shouldn’t stop you from starting up your own channel.

Let’s Talk Numbers

It can help to get over your fear of being “too old” for YouTube if you know some of the numbers around age on the platform. For example, even though YouTube is thought of as a very young person’s platform, you might be surprised to learn that the average age of a YouTuber is closer to thirty. Twenty-seven, to be exact.

Of course, that’s still pretty young, but remember; that’s the average age. That includes extremely popular YouTuber’s that are as young as 16. And, though not strictly in keeping with YouTube’s terms of service, there are YouTuber’s like EthanGamer, who started his channel at seven years of age and had hit a million subscribers by the age of ten!

We realise that highlighting these incredibly young YouTubers may seem counter-intuitive to the point of this post, but remember, we’re discussing the average here. YouTuber’s like Ethan—who even now is only fourteen years old, bring that average age down considerably. For the average to be up around twenty-seven years old, there has to older YouTubers to balance it out.

YouTubers like ThePianoGuys—one of whom is over fifty years old—and Adam Savage—fifty-three years old—prove that you don’t need to be a baby to get going on YouTube. And those are just popular examples. ThePianoGuys rank inside the top 100 YouTube channels (discounting organisations like VEVO), and Adam Savage has over five million subscribers.

There are YouTubers like Gamer Grandma who has a much more modest—yet still very impressive—410k subscribers for her gaming channel. She is ninety years old. And there are many more YouTubers like her who, while not as successful in terms of subscribers counts, are nevertheless enjoying plenty of popularity in a wide range of niches, such as Peter Oakley, an eighty-six-year-old autobiographical vlogger.

It’s also worth noting that YouTube’s reputation as a platform for younger people stems from the earlier days when it really was a platform for younger people. But YouTube has been around for a while now, and those more youthful people have grown up. For example, YouTube veteran, Philip DeFranco, started YouTubing at the tender age of twenty-one years old.

These days he is thirty-four years old and still going strong. To illustrate this, we’ve picked out a few YouTubers from the top fifty channels by subscriber count. Obviously, we’ve left out the large organisations and YouTube channels for big celebrities. Nobody should be looking at T-Series, Eminem, or Ed Sheeran for examples of how to succeed on YouTube.

Who?	Age	Subscriber Count (2020)
PewDiePie	31	106 Million
Knondzilla	31	58 Million
HoySoyGerman	30	41 Million
Filipe Neto	32	39 Million
Fernanfloo	27	36 Million
Luisito Comunica	29	33 Million

So, let’s get to those reasons why you might feel too old to start a YouTube channel, and why you shouldn’t let them stop you.

Personality Clash

As we get older, we tend to become more conservative. Not in a political sense—well, actually, in a political sense as well—but in the sense that we become more introverted as time goes on.

It’s perfectly natural, and it happens to most of us, but on a platform full of bright-eyed, cheerful souls all gleefully welcoming viewers to their videos with bubbly optimism, it is easy to feel intimidated by the prospect of joining that world yourself.

Fortunately, there are many ways to put your videos together, and there is absolutely space for more introverted YouTubers. Many successful channels feature quiet, reserved personalities, people who don’t show themselves on camera, even videos where the YouTuber in question never features at all!

The main ingredient to a successful YouTube channel is providing content that people want to see, and the way you deliver that content is the seasoning. Your particular seasoning maybe to some people’s taste and not to others, but it is the main ingredients that will be the primary determiner of success. So, focus on those main ingredients, and don’t worry about whether you come across as cheerful enough.

And, besides, putting on a personality that just isn’t you is a surefire way to burnout and lost the desire to make videos altogether.

Viewer Demographics

Even if YouTubers themselves are trending older, the people watching YouTube are still young, right?

One of the key aspects of building an audience is being able to appeal to that audience, and there has always been a natural culture-gap between younger and older people.

Not an insurmountable one, of course, and as we mentioned above, the main content of your videos is a more significant factor than the way you deliver it, but it is there nonetheless.

It is certainly not impossible to appeal to people outside of your age bracket, but you might be surprised to learn that 35+ and 55+ are two of the fastest-growing demographics when it comes to people watching YouTube.

Again, it is not impossible to appeal to other age groups than your own, but if you are firmly locked into your own age demographic, there are plenty of viewers for you attract.

Topics

Another reason older people might be dissuaded from creating a YouTube channel is the lack of ideas for engaging content.

Some of the most popular videos on YouTube involve young, handsome people dropping heavy things onto trampolines from a great height, or makeup tutorials, gaming videos, or any number of other things that are decidedly younger in scope.

It can be very easy to look at these videos and think that you have nothing to offer.

However if you need some guidance I have pulled together a list of “older” youtubers within the silver surfer bracket that command huge audiences and prove that age is merely a number and not a road block.

The first point of order here is that you should not let arbitrary limitations hold you back. We’re not saying start-up a parkour channel at the grand old age of eighty-five, but anything you are physically capable of doing should not be considered off the table. Grandma Gamer, who we mentioned earlier, is a prime example of that.

That being said, even if you don’t want to tackle something that might be considered a little young for you, there is no shortage of topics and ideas and niches on YouTube. We mentioned earlier about the growing number of older watchers, and those older YouTube viewers have interests that are similarly skewed.

Don’t get bogged down trying to appeal to a younger audience if what that audience wants isn’t something you are interested in. YouTube viewers span a broad spectrum of interests, from gaming channels to life hacks, from keyboard modding videos to reviews of historical military rations.

Finding Your Place

We have talked about not getting held back by misconceptions of age on YouTube, and what kind of content you could make, but how do you go about finding your voice and choosing your niche on YouTube?

The first thing to address is why you want to make content in the first place. If you have no clear motive, you will struggle to maintain any kind of momentum in your YouTube career. It would, of course, be immensely helpful if that motive aligned with your own interests.

Not only are you far more likely to stick at it if you are genuinely interested in your content, but you are also more likely to make more engaging content in the first place.

Now, there may be other factors in play as to why you are starting a YouTube channel. Perhaps it is a companion channel to something else, such as a blog, a podcast, or a business. Unfortunately, not every venture is a labour of love.

And even if you are making content around a subject you are passionate about; it might sometimes feel like hard work, but there is no sense in making life harder for yourself than it has to be.

There are also people who just enjoy the act of making YouTube content itself, and perhaps you are one of them. People like this often end up vlogging because talking about yourself is a subject we can all be experts in. However, combine a simple desire to make YouTube content with the introverts we mentioned above, and you have a recipe for internal conflict.

If it is the process of making content that appeals to you, but the thought of sitting in front of a camera and talking about yourself a few times a week is unappealing, consider making your videos about something you like, even if you are not an expert in that thing.

YouTube viewers can be very forgiving as long as you are honest with them. And, if you are open about your lack of expertise, you may even find viewers helping you out from time to time.

It can help to do your research before getting started. If you have a particular type of content in mind, find successful channels that are making that kind of content and see what they are doing. Of course, you shouldn’t be looking to copy anyone, but if you see common themes across different channels in your desired niche, there may be a reason for it. That being said, don’t blindly copy themes just because you’ve seen them crop up a lot.

Always try to understand why people are doing what they are doing before using that method yourself.

And, since age is the focal point of this post, it may help to study channels by other YouTubers your age, and see what they are doing. Do they have a young audience? And if so, how are they engaging that audience? Or, if their audience is more on par with their own age, how are they approaching things differently to the younger content creators?

YouTube may still be young, but has been around for a long time in Internet terms, and there it is full of examples of success from all walks of life.

Also, while we would never advocate you starting a channel on something you don’t like, if you do like something that might be considered a typically younger interest, there is plenty of clout to be had in the novelty factor of older people doing younger things, as people like former Vine star and current YouTuber, Jason Nash, have shown.

Jason has essentially made a successful career out of being “too old”, and now has a very popular channel, as shown by the three million subscribers he currently has. In this case, Jason’s age has not only not held him back, but it has also played an active part in his success.

Embrace Your Age

Growing older is a natural part of life, and one we all have to come to terms with eventually.

However—continued advances in medical science, not to mention a much better awareness of health concerns in the workplace and at home—have led to us not only living longer lives on average but living fuller lives in our later years.

People are increasingly taking up—and excelling at—new professions in their forties and fifties. Pensioners are discovering new hobbies in their retirement. And we’ve already talked about the eighty years and up YouTubers who are enjoying great success on the platform.

The paradigm of working your whole life so that you could enjoy a few nice holidays in your retirement are long past, and lots of people are finding fulfillment in their golden years.

If you suspect YouTube could be part of that fulfillment for you, don’t let any stigma about your age get in the way.

Tags oap, oap youtuber, oaptuber, old, older youtuber, silver surfer, too old, too old for youtube, too young for youtube, too young for youtuber, youtube, youtuber

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How To Record 4K 60 FPS Video on Your Mobile (iPhone and iOS Devices)

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 7 August 2020

How To Record 4K 60FPS Video on Your Mobile (iPhone & iOS Devices)

So you want to record in 4K and you want to do it on your mobile phone at 60 FPS.

You don’t have to have a DSLR nowadays. You don’t have to have a powerful, stupid webcam. You can record fantastic footage, even in 4K on your mobile phone.

[embedyt]https://youtu.be/biT9eUB2J90[/embedyt]

How To Record 4K 60 FPS Video on Your Mobile (iPhone & iOS Devices)

Now, most people will be focusing on 1080p right now, and there’s no real difference in uploading to 4K just yet, but maybe you want to get ahead of the curve. Maybe you want to record at 60 FPS to slow it down at certain points.

I get that 4K video can be confusing – I have deep dived into 4K vs 1080p for YouTube in my blog. We look at resolution, bit rate and even look into whether is does better on YouTube in search.

I’m going to show you how to do it on this phone.

Now you get out your phone, you hit the “Settings” menu and you scroll all the way down to “Camera.”

In here, you’ll see your QR code settings, your grid, whether you’re recording in HDR or whether you’re recording in Slow-mo.

But the most important setting is your video record and mine is currently set to 1080p at 30 frames per second.

But as you click through, you’ve got a choice of settings here: 720 at 30, 1080 at 30, 1080 at 60, 4K at 24, which is normal for talking heads. Then 4K at 30 frames per second, which is normal if you’re just chatting like this, and 4K at 60 frames per second, most efficient.

Now you’ll also see on the screen that it will break down roughly what this means to you.

You’re looking at 720 if you’re going for small file sizes, 1080p at 60 frames per second if you’re looking for normal and smooth video.

4K at 24 frames per second is the movie look, and 4K at 60 frames per second, it gives you more leeway, a little bit more flexibility, the ability to slow the footage down if you need to.

Why do you want to slow it down?

Well, the human eye is used to seeing things in cinemas and on games at 24 or 30 frames per second, these are the things that you normally see on TV. 60 frames per second is what you’re used to maybe on PC and stuff like that and 60 frames per second gives you the chance to do slightly slow movie shots.

But if you really want to go for slow-mo, try 240 frames per second on the iPhone. I’ve done a video here and if it’s not there quite yet, I’ll add a link in the description when it arrives.

Final Words

But if you really want to go for slow-mo, try 240 frames per second on the iPhone. I’ve done a video here.

Tags 4k, 4k on iphone, iphone, mobile, mobile videos, record on mobile, record video, record videos on mobile, record youtube videos on iphone, video speed

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YouTube Channel Keywords Tips: What They Are and How To Set Them.

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 6 August 2020

Getting more views on YouTube is the ultimate aim for all YouTubers.

More views equal more money from the YouTube partner program. So you should seek out ways to get an edge over your competition and get more views for your content.

One way to get more views for your channel is to get the YouTube algorithm to recommend your videos. YouTube attempts to keep viewers on its platform by suggesting another video on the same topic to keep the user watching.

If YouTube can work out the content topic of your channel, then your videos have a better chance of recommendation to a viewer.

One way to assist YouTube in understanding your channel content topic is by adding keywords (tags) to your YouTube channel.

This article explains what YouTube channel keywords are, how you can choose the best ones for your channel, how you add them in YouTube Studio.

YouTube Keywords – Video vs Channel.

You probably already know that when you upload a video to your YouTube channel, it’s good practice to add some tags or keywords. YouTube uses these keywords to help it understand the topic of the video content.

So when you enter a title and add in the tags for your video, choose keyword phrases that someone might use when searching for your video topic.

For example, I made a video all about adding tags to YouTube videos. I made sure to use the keywords ‘YouTube video tags for search’ and ‘how I tag my YouTube videos’. These are potential keyphrases people might type in the YouTube search bar.

As for the tags, I took those keyword phrases and mixed them up to use as a start point for my video. Here they are:

As you can see, video tags get very specific about the content of the video. And I make my videos with a singular focus on purpose, so that they provide educational information on a narrow, niche, subject.

It helps viewers to find my videos and get the exact information they need.

So, What Are YouTube Channel Keywords?

For YouTube channel keywords (tags), you need to be painting with a much broader brush. If you make videos about cooking pasta dishes, then your video tags may contain words like ‘penne’, ‘farfalle’, and ‘linguini’, depending on the recipe you are cooking.

But your channel keywords need to communicate the overall topic of cooking pasta dishes. So you should use broader keywords like ‘cooking pasta’, ‘Italian food’, and ‘Italian cuisine’.

This also highlights the importance to you of focusing your YouTube channel on one general topic. There is no point on uploading a video on cooking pasta one day and one on growing tomatoes the next day. Those are two separate topics.

Uploading content for a number of topics to your channel will confuse YouTube. It works against how the algorithm operates when it suggests videos to viewers to watch next.

If you want to create videos on a different topic, create another channel. You can easily set up a second channel under the same Google account.

How to Choose YouTube Channel Keywords

OK, so now you understand that your channel keywords should be broad–how do you find YouTube channel keywords?

If you have access to a keyword tool, then you can perform a search to come up with ideas for keywords to use. But, you don’t need to over analyse selecting your keywords. You’re telling YouTube what your channel is about, not trying to rank a page in the search engines.

Browse similar channels to yours and pick up broad keywords, create a list, then add in others that you can think of.

Next circle the ones that best describe the overall topic of your videos.

Seriously, don’t overthink this.

How Many YouTube Channel Keywords Should You Use?

Don’t go overboard on the number of keyword tags you use for your channel either. Choose 5-7 keywords that are most appropriate for describing the overall topic of your channel.

It has been suggested that the more keywords you choose the more this dilutes the effectiveness of each individual one. In the example below, the channel owner has used too many diverse keywords to describe their channel.

Is the channel about music, massage, yoga, or even fresh air!? Keep your keywords on message, so they communicate the central topic of your channel.

So now you know what to put in YouTube channel keywords, next we’ll look at how to add them to your channel.

How to Add YouTube Channel Keywords

Make sure you have logged into YouTube with your Google account and select the icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

From the drop-down menu, select ‘YouTube Studio’.

When the YouTube Studio screen loads, select ‘Settings’ at the bottom of the menu on the left.

In the window that pops-up select ‘Channel’.

In the next screen, you will find the box to add your keywords. Add your 5 – 7 chosen keyphrases by typing them in and hitting enter after each one.

Once you have entered them all, hit save, and you’re all set.

If you want to check on, or change, your YouTube channel’s keywords, simply navigate back to the above screen to repeat the process.

YouTube Channel Keywords Tips Conclusion

Entering some YouTube Channel tags, or keywords is best practice. The tags help YouTube understand your channel topic, which should make it easier for them to suggest your videos to viewers.

Most of the videos watched on YouTube are as a result of the YouTube suggestions. So if you want more views, and more Partner Program earnings, set your channel tags today.

Here is a handy summary of what you have just learned.

Keep your channel tags/keywords broad and on topic.

Only use 5-7 keyphrases so as not to confuse YouTube or dilute effectiveness.

You can use a YouTube keyword generator, but it is not necessary.

Tags channel keywords, channel tags, keywords, meta tags, seo, tags, youtube channel keywords, youtube keywords, youtube seo

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What Are YouTube Categories? [Do They Matter?]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 5 August 2020

What are YouTube categories?

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

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

What Are YouTube Categories? [Do They Matter?]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words

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

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

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

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Why Do YouTubers Ask for Likes?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do Likes Make YouTuber’s Money?

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

Kind of.

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

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

Engagement Is King

YouTube is in the business of watch time and engagement.

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

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

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

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

How Do Likes Help With Engagement?

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

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

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

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

Do Dislikes Hurt a Video?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch Time Matters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why is Engagement Important?

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

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

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

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

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

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

It Works

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

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

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

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

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

Tips on Asking for Likes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

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

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How To Promote Your YouTube Channel [4 Free Places]

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

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

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

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

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

So how do you promote your YouTube channel for free?

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

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

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

Let’s get going.

A Brief Word of Caution.

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

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

It takes dedication and consistency to be a successful YouTuber.

Promote Your YouTube Channel on Twitter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Promote Your YouTube Channel on Facebook

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

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

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

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

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

Tips for Promoting Youtube Content in Facebook Groups

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

Promote Your Youtube Channel on Instagram

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

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

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

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

Create Youtube Teasers

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

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

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

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

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

Promote Your YouTube Channel on TikTok

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

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

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

Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

Get More Views on Social Media Fast

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

TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

How To Record In Slow Mo on iPhone 240FPS

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 3 August 2020

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

Why turn into 240 frames per seconds?

Very good question.

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

How To Record In Slow Mo on iPhone 240FPS

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

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

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

So how do we do this?

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

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

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

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

So, how does it affect you?

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

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

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

Final Words

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

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

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is it Dangerous to be a YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it Dangerous to be a Child YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it Dangerous to be an Adult YouTuber?

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Can YouTubers do to Keep the Negativity Away?

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

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

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

Set the Tone From the Start

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

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

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

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

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

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

Separate Your Online Life From Your Real Life

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

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

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

Take Extra Care With Your Personal Data

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

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

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

Preparing Yourself Mentally

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

Lack of Privacy

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

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

Criticism

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

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

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

Lack of Understanding

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

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

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

Lack of Patience

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

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

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

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

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

Can I Create A Youtube Account For My Child?

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔑 Key takeaways

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

📌 Jump to a section:

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

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

The Age Rules, Simply Put

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

Your Options, Compared

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

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

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

Running a Channel That Features Your Child

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

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

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

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

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

Before You Put Your Child on Camera, Think It Through

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

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

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

Keeping Your Child Safe (The Most Important Part)

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

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

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

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

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

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Tips If You Do Start a Channel Together

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

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

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

YouTube for Children: FAQ

Can I create a YouTube account for my child?

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

What age can a child have their own YouTube account?

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

Can a child under 13 have a YouTube channel?

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

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

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

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

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

How do I keep my child safe on YouTube?

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

The Bottom Line

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

📚 Keep reading — families & safety:

Family content, done safely and well.

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

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

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

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

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

YouTubers Paid For Likes? [The Myth]

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

Do YouTubers get paid for likes?

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

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

Do YouTubers Get Paid For Likes?

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

So, do YouTubers get paid for likes?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s this engagement that then YouTube evaluates.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final Words

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

Remember to subscribe and I’ll see you soon.

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

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

Add Mid Rolls To 8 Minute Videos on YouTube

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final words

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

I’ll see you soon.

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

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

YouTube Sub 4 Sub [The Truth]

Post author By Michel Gerard
Post date 30 July 2020

Is it okay to ask for sub 4 sub?

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

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

YouTube Sub 4 Sub [The Truth]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s a metric for vanity, only.

Final Words

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

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

HOW TO 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