Category: YOUTUBE

YouTube Analytics Explained And How to Use Them for Channel Growth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How YouTube Ranks Videos

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where to Find YouTube Analytics

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

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

The main Analytics screen then loads.

How to Use YouTube Video Views Analytics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Impressions and Click-Through Rates Explained.

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

These data in those columns indicate:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Use Your YouTube Subscribers Analytics to Plan Content

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Watch Time – The Most Important Metric?

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

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

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

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

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

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

YouTube Audience Retention Metric Explained

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also, did you notice the bump in the graph?

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Does Monetization Increase Views?

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

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

Short answer: no — monetisation does not increase your views.

It’s one of the most persistent myths on YouTube: flip the monetisation switch and the algorithm rewards you with more reach. It doesn’t work that way. Monetisation is a revenue setting, not a ranking one. Here’s why the myth exists, why monetised channels really do tend to get more views, and what actually moves the needle.

▶️ Does monetisation increase views? The straight answer

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform, six Silver Play Buttons and 500+ creators coached. I’ve watched this myth mislead creators for years, so let’s put it to bed.

Want more views the way that actually works? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

Monetisation is a revenue setting, not a ranking factor.
Monetised channels get more views because they were already successful.
That’s correlation, not causation.
You don’t need monetisation to make money on YouTube.
Real views come from CTR, watch time, engagement and great content.

📌 Jump to a section:

Why people believe it
Myth vs reality
Correlation ≠ causation
What actually drives views
Quick wins for more views
Do you need monetisation to earn?
Can it hurt your views?
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Does monetisation increase views?
No. Turning on monetisation does not increase your views. YouTube’s algorithm ranks videos by click-through rate, watch time, engagement and viewer satisfaction — not by whether a video runs ads. Monetised channels do tend to get more views, but only because you must already be successful (1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours) to monetise in the first place. The views came first, not the other way around.

Why People Think Monetisation Equals Views

Every ambitious creator hunts for an edge, so when a theory starts circulating that flipping one setting can unlock more reach, it spreads fast. The logic feels reasonable on the surface: YouTube makes money when your videos run ads, so surely YouTube has an incentive to push monetised videos harder?
It’s a tidy theory. It’s also wrong — and the reason it feels true is exactly what makes it so sticky. People see that monetised channels tend to get more views and conclude the monetisation caused it. That’s the classic trap we’ll unpick below.

Myth vs Reality

Here’s the honest breakdown of what monetisation does and doesn’t do:

The myth	The reality
“Monetisation boosts my ranking”	It’s a revenue setting — the algorithm ignores it when ranking
“YouTube pushes monetised videos harder”	YouTube pushes videos people watch — ads or no ads
“Monetised channels get more views because they’re monetised”	They get views because they were already good enough to qualify
“No monetisation means the algorithm buries me”	New, unmonetised channels can and do go viral every day

YouTube’s algorithm has one job: keep viewers watching. It rewards videos that earn clicks and hold attention, full stop. Whether a video is monetised is simply not part of that calculation.

Correlation Is Not Causation

This is the heart of the whole myth. Yes, if you look across YouTube, monetised channels really do tend to pull bigger view counts than unmonetised ones. But look at why:

To join the YouTube Partner Program you need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours (or the Shorts-views equivalent). In other words, you have to already be getting views before you can turn monetisation on at all. So of course monetised channels have more views — the views are the entry ticket, not the prize.

Mistaking that for cause and effect is like noticing that people who own umbrellas get rained on more, and concluding that umbrellas cause rain. The success came first; monetisation followed. Learn more about the requirements in my guide to the YouTube Partner Programme.

What Actually Drives Your Views

If the monetisation switch won’t grow your channel, what will? The signals YouTube measures:

Click-through rate (CTR) — a title and thumbnail people can’t help but click.
Watch time and retention — how long people stay, which is the single biggest lever.
Engagement — likes, comments and shares that signal a video is worth spreading.
Satisfaction — whether viewers finish happy and keep watching your channel.
Consistency — a steady flow of content the algorithm can learn to promote.

Pour your energy here and the views follow. Your YouTube analytics will show you exactly which of these to improve first, and clean, watchable production helps too — even something as basic as good audio keeps people watching.

Quick Wins to Actually Increase Your Views

If you want to spend the energy you were about to waste on the monetisation myth somewhere useful, start here:

Rewrite your weakest thumbnails and titles. They decide your click-through rate, and a small lift here compounds across every impression YouTube gives you (see writing better titles and the CTR rescue guide).
Fix your first 30 seconds. Most viewers leave early — a stronger hook lifts retention, and retention is what YouTube rewards with more reach.
Study your top 3 videos. Whatever made them work is your formula — make more like them rather than guessing.
Add end screens and cards to send viewers to your next video, building session time YouTube loves.
Publish consistently. A predictable schedule gives the algorithm more chances to learn who to show you to.

Not one of those is a setting to flip — they’re all about the content and how you package it. That’s the difference between chasing a myth and moving the numbers.

Chasing the wrong lever?

On a free discovery call I’ll show you where your views are really leaking — and the changes that actually move them.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Do You Even Need Monetisation to Make Money?

Here’s the liberating part: no. Ad revenue is just one income stream, and for many creators it’s not even the biggest. Because monetisation doesn’t drive views, and views aren’t the only way to earn, you can build real income in ways that work before you’re eligible for the Partner Program:

Affiliate marketing — earn commission recommending products you use (start here, or explore the best networks).
Brand deals — paid sponsorships that need no subscriber minimum (how to land them).
Your own products or services — often the highest-margin route (selling as a creator).
Other platforms — making money on social media beyond ads.

For the full picture, see the top 5 ways to monetise your channel and how getting paid on YouTube really works.

▶️ Making money on YouTube without AdSense

Can Monetisation Hurt Your Views?

The flip side of the myth: does running ads scare viewers off and cost you reach? Realistically, no. Ads add a small amount of friction, but there’s no evidence YouTube recommends monetised videos any less for being monetised. One nuance worth knowing: a video’s advertiser-friendliness (the “limited ads” yellow icon) affects how much ad revenue it earns — not how far it’s recommended organically. So make the content you want to make; just understand which topics earn more from ads. My guide on controlling which ads show goes deeper.

Bottom line: once you’re eligible, turn monetisation on — there’s no reach penalty and it adds income. Just don’t expect it to grow your channel. That job belongs to your content.

Monetisation & Views: FAQ

Does monetization increase views on YouTube?

No. Monetisation is a revenue setting, not a ranking factor. YouTube’s algorithm decides how far a video travels based on click-through rate, watch time, engagement and viewer satisfaction — whether or not the video runs ads. Turning monetisation on won’t grow your views.

Why do monetized channels seem to get more views?

It’s correlation, not causation. To monetise you must first reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours, so monetised channels are already established and successful. The views came first and unlocked monetisation — not the other way around.

Do you need monetization to make money on YouTube?

No. Ad revenue is only one income stream, and often not the biggest. Affiliate marketing, brand deals, selling your own products or services, memberships and sponsorships can all earn money without relying on the YouTube Partner Program, and many work before you’re even eligible.

Can monetization hurt your views?

Not meaningfully. Ads add a small amount of friction, but there’s no evidence that monetised videos are recommended less for being monetised. Advertiser-friendliness affects how much ad revenue a video earns, not how far YouTube recommends it organically.

What actually increases YouTube views?

The things the algorithm actually measures: a strong click-through rate from your title and thumbnail, high watch time and retention, engagement, consistency, and above all satisfying the viewer so they keep watching your channel. Content and packaging drive views — not the monetisation toggle.

Should you turn on monetization once you’re eligible?

Yes. Once you meet the requirements there’s no reach downside to enabling it, and it adds a revenue stream. Just don’t expect it to grow your channel — treat it as a way to earn from views you’ve already earned, and keep your focus on making better content.

The Bottom Line

Monetisation won’t increase your views — and now you know why the opposite looks true. Monetised channels get more views because they earned those views first; the setting itself does nothing for your reach. So stop treating it as a growth hack. Turn it on when you qualify, stack other income streams alongside it, and put every ounce of effort into the things that move views: better titles and thumbnails, stronger retention, and content people can’t stop watching. Get that right and the views — and the money — take care of themselves.

📚 Keep reading — monetisation & growth:

Grow views the way that actually works.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on the changes that move real numbers.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whether you’re reviewing songs or you just need a particular song for your content, you’ll no doubt be aware of the minefield that is copyrighted music. You may even be aware of fair use, but don’t worry if you’re not; we’re going to get into all of that soon.

Most YouTubers are aware that you can’t just grab copyrighted music (or any content, for that matter) and put it in your video. At least, not without inevitable consequences. At best you will lose your ability to monetize that video, at worst you will get a copyright strike against your channel, and enough of those will lose your channel entirely!

So, how much of a song can you use on YouTube without copyright coming to bite you in the backside? – The short answer is none! You will need a buy a license to use popular tracks or will need to enter into revenue shares with some artists if they are part of the YouTube Audio Library. If you want music in your videos it is best to use royalty free services or make your own music.

The answer more honest answer is, it complicated – so if you’re with us, we’re about to dive a little deeper.

What is “Fair Use”?

As we’re about to get into a subject matter that strays a little close to legal advice, we must stress that is emphatically not legal advice.

Always seek the advice of a qualified law professional before doing anything that might potentially land you in legal trouble. Now, with that out of the way, let’s get into what fair use is.

Fair use is the name given to the use of copyrighted material in some instances where the use is limited or transformative. You may be wondering what “transformative” means, and you wouldn’t be alone. Inordinate amounts of money have been spent trying to find a clear definition of what constitutes transformative but to no avail.

Established examples of a transformative use of copyrighted material include commentary and criticism, such as news programs showing clips of something accompanied by commentary about that thing. Another example is parody videos.

There is a common myth or misunderstanding that you are allowed to use a certain amount of copyrighted content—a few seconds, say—and you will be protected by fair use. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Fair use covers how copyrighted content is used, not the amount of it.

While it is highly unlikely, it is theoretically possible that the use of copyrighted material in its entirety could be protected by fair use. It would be tough to justify, of course, and the less of a piece of copyrighted material you use, the easier it is to claim that you are using it for transformative means, rather than just stealing it.

It is here that the myth of using only a few seconds comes from; most successful examples of fair use on YouTube are short clips, but the shortness is not what makes them a successful example of fair use. We’ll get more into what these successful examples look like shortly.

To avoid falling into dangerous waters I always use licensing companies like LickD – I pay a small fee per track and know I am covered from all the legal potholes. Go check LickD out, they have a wide selection of popular song and chart music on their website and you can even get one track free!

Fair Use is Not Protection

The main trap people fall into when dealing with fair use is in thinking that it is some kind of protection against copyright claims or lawsuits, but this is not the case.

Fair use is a defence, not a protection. There is no one-size-fits-all application of fair use that a company like YouTube could apply to your usage of copyrighted material. As such, fair use is decided on a case-by-case basis…

…in court.

Yes, unfortunately, the only way to prove you are using copyrighted content within the remit of fair use is by going to court and having them agree with you. And, unless you have a lot of spare cash and time on your hands, the only way that is likely to happen is if you get sued by a copyright holder. Not ideal.

An unfortunate side effect of this is that large copyright holders tend to bludgeon smaller entities with copyright take-downs, knowing full well that the average YouTuber will not have the means to challenge the claim on a legal footing. Combine this with increasingly automated copyright infringement detection employed by YouTube, and you have a scenario in which it is very difficult to use copyrighted content in any capacity.

There are even instances of YouTubers creating cover versions of popular songs using household objects—such as couch cushions and doors—getting copyright claims against them by the owner of the song they are covering.

If you are struggling for places to find free to use and completely safe music – I made a deep dive video on all the places you can find music for free online.

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

Now that we’ve taken a deeper dive into how fair use works, we hope it makes more sense when we tell you that the answer to how much of a song you can use without copyright problems is, practically speaking, none.

The reason we say this is because the music industry is particularly aggressive when it comes to protecting its intellectual property. They are not interested in the fair use arguments and will go after any use of their music that they become aware of. Couple that with YouTube’s automated copyright infringement detection, and you have a situation where any attempt to use copyrighted music will likely get flagged.

If the infringement exists (that is, the copyright holder attributed does, in fact, own the copyright to the material in your video), then your only recourse would be to take that copyright holder to court.

It would be extremely unlikely to reach a point where the copyright holder would take you to court, however, as YouTube has plenty of mechanisms in place to protect their interests. From monetizing your video and sending them the proceeds, to removing your channel from the platform entirely.

YouTube will not allow you to infringe copyright continually, so it would take an extremely keen legal department at some music label to see you in taken to court before YouTube resolves the issue for them.

Examples of Fair Use

Copying works across a variety of different mediums, including broadcast, is permitted when the use is for examination or instruction, in an academic or industry setting, as long as it meets certain guidelines. Obviously, this is unlikely to apply to your average YouTuber.

An example more relevant to YouTube, however, is using copyrighted content for quotation, critique, or review. Of course, if you post an entire album with little to no commentary, you will struggle to make an argument for fair use. The amount of copyrighted content should be quite limited, and only just enough to get whatever point you are trying to make across.

Other criteria for this kind of fair use include the copyrighted material being publicly available and the source of the content being acknowledged

You can also use copyrighted material of reporting current news, though the situations in which copyrighted music would fit into this category are rare.

Parody, as we mentioned earlier, is also a form of fair use, but this is another area where the boundaries for what constitutes parody are far from clear. Any borderline case may need to be tested in court to receive any kind of definitive decision on the matter.

The final example of fair use involves text and data mining, which clearly doesn’t have any bearing on a discussion about using music in YouTube videos.

Can You Use Music in YouTube Videos at All?

There are certainly situations where you could use music—even copyrighted music—in your YouTube videos. If you were to obtain the permission of the copyright holder, for instance, you would be legally allowed to use that music as long as you stuck to whatever terms you agreed, of course.

As we mentioned earlier, there is also non-copyrighted music or music with an open license such as Creative Commons. YouTube provides an impressive library of such music for the very reason of helping YouTubers make their content without falling afoul of copyright strikes. Remember, they want you to succeed.

Finally, you could, of course, use your own music. If you make music and you have not given the rights to that music to anyone else, you are free to do with it as you please.

Should I Use Copyrighted Music in my YouTube Videos?

The only truly safe option when considering using music in your YouTube videos is to use royalty-free music that is licensed for commercial use.

The commercial aspect is important even if you do not monetize your videos, because you may decide to monetize them someday, and, in any case, some people may disagree with your idea of commercial. They may even be wrong, but you don’t want to have to go to court to prove that.

If you can get permission for the music you should be okay to use it in theory, however, it is worth noting that YouTube’s copyright infringement detection is something of a firehose when it comes to seeking out violations.

There are many examples in the past of YouTubers going to great lengths to obtain permission to use copyrighted material, only to have YouTube flag it as a violation.

In some case, copyright holders themselves have fallen afoul of this system. It has not been uncommon for YouTubers who are part of a content network upload a video of one of their own songs on a private channel and get flagged for copyright because their song was initially played on the content network’s channel.

It is far from a perfect system.

What Happens if I Get Caught Using Copyrighted Music?

The consequences vary depending on things like if you are a repeat offender, or how the copyright holder wants to handle the situation. If you are caught infringing copyright, and it is your first time, you will likely just receive a strike against your account. Enough of these strikes, however, and your account could be removed entirely.

In some cases, the copyright holder will opt to leave your video alone, but monetize it and claim the earnings. In those cases, you will not be able to monetize your video yourself, even if the offending music only makes up a small portion of your video. Unfortunately, this is a risk you will have to accept if you want to use copyrighted music.

As mentioned above, it is unlikely you would ever see a courtroom from infringing copyright on YouTube. But, as mentioned even further above, nothing in this post should be considered legal advice. The fact that it is unlikely that you will end up in court should not be seen as a guarantee that you will not end up in court.

Conclusions

The world of YouTube copyright is a bit of a minefield when it comes to knowing exactly what you can and can’t do.

The only way to be genuinely risk-free is only ever to use royalty-free music that is licensed for commercial use. Any time you use copyrighted material, even if it is as clear cut fair use as it gets, could see you receiving copyright strikes against your channel, or worse.

If you do have to use copyrighted music, however, remember the guidelines for what constitutes fair use. Only use the absolute minimum of copyrighted music required to get your point across. Make sure the focus of the video is not the content.

Even with some additional commentary, if the point of the video is very clearly just to listen to the music, it will not be considered fair use.

But, most importantly, remember that fair use is not a protection against legal action. If a copyright holder gets a bee in their bonnet about your use of their music and decides to get the lawyers out, you will not be able to hide behind fair use.

You will need to go to court and convince a judge that your use of the content was fair use. It may not be a likely scenario, but it is one you will have to consider if you insist on using copyrighted music in your videos.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

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.

Post feature image by Richard Clyborne of Music Strive

Tags fair use, fair use on youtube, how much, how to use music on youtube, music, music copyright, music fair use, use music on youtube, youtube fait use, youtube music, youtube music copyright

TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE

How to Record YouTube Videos at Home

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

With all the success that people from all walks of life have been able to find on YouTube, it’s no surprise that more and more of us want to find a way into this seemingly endless community.

Regardless of how obscure or specific your interests are, there will undoubtedly be a YouTuber making content you want. And if there isn’t, you can always become that YouTuber yourself!

The convenience of ubiquitous inter-connectivity and high speed Internet has brought us to a point where we no longer have to choose from a limited selection of entertainment, all geared towards the lowest common denominator in a bid to capture the most market share. And that door swings both ways, because any content you feel the urge to make, there is a strong chance you will find an audience for it.

That being said, getting started on YouTube can be a little daunting, especially if you have never done anything like this before. Even knowing what hardware you need, what software to use, can be confusing, never mind how you get to actually publishing a video.

Fortunately, we are here to help. Keep reading for a thorough grounding in how to record YouTube videos at home.

Planning

If you are planning just to make YouTube content for your own enjoyment, and genuinely do not care if other people watch it, you can probably skip this bit. If, on the other hand, you have any ambition to grow your YouTube channel, you need to put a little thought into how you might go about it.

Now, you don’t need to have a detailed plan covering every single aspect of your YouTube career from now into the distant future, but merely turning the camera on and hoping for the best is unlikely to breed success. At least, not as quickly as having a plan will.

The first thing to think about is what market your videos will be aimed at. Finding your niche is perhaps the most critical thing you can do to ensure success—after making good content, of course.

The more focused your niche, the better your chances of attracting an audience.

This is because smaller markets tend to have less competition and more engaged audiences. So, while the potential size of your audience is much lower than a broader niche, you will be able to attract a higher portion of that possible audience, and they will be more invested in your content.

For this reason, you should attempt to drill down into the topic you are interested in making videos about, and find the most specific version of that interest that you are comfortable with.

For example, if you are a keyboard enthusiast, and plan to make videos reviewing different keyboards, consider focusing on a specific subset of keyboards, such as mechanical, gaming, ergonomic, or any other attribute that narrows the focus of your videos.

Once you know the boundaries of your niche, you can gear any promotion, related social media accounts, and SEO towards it.

Getting Started: Content

I’m sure you’re expecting this, and we both know it has to be said, so let’s do this first.

Content. Is. King.

The content you produce is the foundation upon which your YouTube empire will be built. You can use cunning tactics to build that empire and sustain it, but if your foundations are weak—if that content is not attractive to your viewers—it will all come tumbling down eventually. It is only a matter of time.

Getting Started: Equipment

Let’s start by simply saying, if you have a relatively recent smartphone, you already have all the hardware you need.

Sure, you can buy something a little more professional (and we’ll get to that in a moment) but if you don’t want to put that kind of financial commitment into your channel just yet, any mid-to-high-end smartphone from the past few years will do a more than a passable job. But let’s talk about taking it to the next level.

To simplify this topic a little, we are going to break YouTube videos down into two main types: onscreen and offscreen. Onscreen videos, as the name suggests, will feature you in the video itself, on camera. This is probably the most common form of YouTube video. A popular example of this would be a vlog, where the YouTuber talks to the camera as though it were the audience.

The other type—offscreen—where you are not on camera, is common in software tutorials, and list videos that are made up of a series of clips from movies or other videos.

If you need ideas for channels or videos where you are not on screen I have a blog with 12 YouTube Channel Ideas Without Showing Your Face – The perfect way to make a channel if you don’t want to be to be the “face” of the brand.

The difference, of course, is that you do not need a camera to make videos where you are not onscreen. What you do need, regardless of whether you are on screen or not, however, is decent audio.

While high-quality video is definitely better than poor quality video, viewers tend to be forgiving if the quality of the video is not critical to the content, as it would be in a software tutorial. What they are less forgiving of is poor quality audio. Whether it’s excessive background noise, clicking and popping, interference, or any number of other things. This kind of thing can really grate on people in the same way that many people don’t like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard, or cutlery scratching a plate.

With that in mind, the first piece of equipment you should focus on upgrading is your microphone.

Audio

For the most part, a decent USB microphone will do the job just fine. Blue, in particular, make some great USB microphones spanning the price spectrum.

If you want to take it a step further, you will almost certainly need to get hold of an audio interface as well. Audio interfaces can come in many shapes and sizes, from small and inexpensive to multi-channel beasts that cost the same as a small computer.

Audio interfaces provide crystal clear, low latency audio input for your professional-grade microphones (or other instruments), as well as provide the necessary power to run those microphones.

I personally use a Boya BY-MM1 microphone and works wonders with my phone and camera – I even did a deep dive blog on the Boya-BY MM1 it and it has a very cool sound improving feature.

Video

When you start getting into camera upgrades, things can get very expensive, very fast. There are not many budget options that will give you better quality than a typical iPhone or high-end Android phone.

Just be sure to do your research, do not put too much stock in the various numbers manufacturers like to put on the box. Things like resolution and framerate aren’t the be-all and end-all of camera quality. And, remember, if something looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

One thing to note is that you shouldn’t be afraid to use less conventional means if they work for you. One such example would be using an HDMI capture device to turn a standalone camera into a webcam of sorts.

The Rest

Regarding other equipment, we could talk about when getting your perfect YouTube set up together; there’s too much to cover in this post. Needless to say, things like acoustic treatment and lighting are essential to producing the best content possible.

Lighting, in particular, can do wonders for your video quality. A great camera can still produce poor video in a bad light; however, even a mediocre camera can do good work if accompanied by good lighting.

Finding a Location to Film In

Finding a somewhere in your home to film is a topic that could fill a post of its own, but we’ll do our best to cover the basics. Your priority should be finding somewhere you can set up permanently. That is, somewhere you wouldn’t have to remove your gear in between videos.

This will allow you to set up things like lighting and acoustic treatment—things you can’t easily put up and take down every time you want to record a video. A permanent location can be anywhere from a spare room or your bedroom, to a closet or the garage. Anywhere that won’t upset anyone you might be living with.

Need inspiration for places to record in around your house? I have been making videos for over 8 years so I have pulled together a list of some of my favorite places to film in my home – some are very imaginative!

If you can’t find such a spot, you will have to try and make your YouTube set up portable so that it can be moved in between recordings. Consider things like getting a microphone with a tighter pickup pattern, so that it picks up less background noise. Opt for a smaller, more portable lighting rig. And, obviously, a laptop over a desktop computer.

Your Set

Having an interesting backdrop to your videos is by no means essential, but it does help to give your videos a little extra flair, not to mention a touch of personality.

The key to an excellent backdrop is to make sure it does not overpower the focus of the video, whether that focus is you, some product you are showing off, or anything else that you want the viewers to be paying attention to.

Be sure to keep things relevant, as well. If you are running a straight cooking channel, it would be confusing if your backdrop had a guitar mounted on the wall. Lighting is an excellent tool for this purpose, but the lighting should not overpower your camera lighting. If you can afford a camera with near-focus, dialing the focus to give the background a slight blur can help to keep the attention on what’s important.

Once you have been making videos for a while, try to incorporate things into your backdrop that speak to the history of your channel. For example, if you were running a craft channel, where you show your viewers how to make things, have some of your more impressive builds in the backdrop.

Little touches like this not only show what your channel is about, they create a sense of connection with long time viewers, who know what these elements of your backdrop represent.

Recording Times

Choosing when to record a video can be a little tricky, especially if you live with others, or have neighbours with thin walls. Most new YouTubers will be making their videos around a job or school. This severely cuts down the time available to record in.

Factor a social life, spending time with your children, being a child, and you may quickly find the main reason many YouTubers end up quitting.

How much time you dedicate to your channel will depend entirely on how seriously you want to take it. If you have big plans for your YouTube career, we recommend setting aside time solely for working on your channel. That time could be spent writing a script, editing, researching and, of course, recording. You shouldn’t work yourself into the ground, of course.

Be reasonable with your scheduling. But the more you treat your channel like a job, the more likely it is that it could one day become one.

Do Not Be Afraid to Scrap Content

Once you have started filming your videos, the next step is to upload them… or is it? Not every video is gold; even experienced YouTubers occasionally make a video they are not happy.

One of the curses—and blessings—of YouTube is that content can have a shelf life far greater than the few days or weeks after you upload it. That is great because it means your videos have the potential to reach new viewers much farther down the line. But it can also be detrimental because first impressions are a big deal.

If you upload poor content, the chances of a new viewer stumbling across that content and becoming a subscriber are pretty slim. It won’t matter that the video was a one-off and most of them are top-notch. Or that it was a long time ago and you’ve improved since then. Most of the time, they will assume that this what your content looks like, and move on.

That is why you need to be honest with yourself about your content. Get friends or family to watch for second opinions if you have to, though you will know if you are honest with yourself.

We know a lot of work goes into a video, but if that video ends up being below par, you have to let it go.

Tags bulk, content creation, home, make content, recording, recording from home, recording video, video, work from home, youtube

TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is it Legal to Download YouTube Videos?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 28 June 2020
1 Comment on Is it Legal to Download YouTube Videos?

Given the nature of this topic, we must state upfront that nothing you read here should be considered legal advice.

We will do our best to lay out what is known about the legalities of downloading YouTube videos, as well as giving any relevant examples for context, but we are not legal professionals.

If you are not comfortable with the potential risks, our only advice is; do not break YouTube’s terms of service!

Whether or not it is legal to download YouTube videos is one of those questions that is very simple to answer from a rigid, technical standpoint, but deserves exploring more from a practical perspective.

Is it legal to download YouTube videos? – The short answer to this question is, if you have uploaded a video, then you are allowed to download that video via the tools provided in YouTube’s channel management. Downloading YouTube videos via any other means is breaking their terms of service, regardless of the license on that video.

That means that even if a video is listed as creative commons, or is a public domain piece, you are still not allowed to download it if you didn’t upload it, to begin with.

That is the absolute, black and white, no grey areas answer to “is it legal to download YouTube videos?”. If you do not want to risk falling afoul of YouTube’s content policies, that is all you need to know.

That being said, we mentioned there was more to explore on this subject and explore is precisely what we are going to do.

Can YouTube Ban You for Downloading Videos Against Terms?

The short answer is yes, but that is because YouTube can ban you anytime they like for anything they want. They are a private company and have complete discretion over who they allow on their platform. There are laws and regulations they must adhere to, of course, but these mainly relate to things like user data.

Theoretically, YouTube could also bring a civil lawsuit against anyone who breaks their terms of services.

Now, YouTube has never exercised either a ban or a lawsuit over breaking their terms by downloading video, but that would be little solace should they decide to make you the first their first case.

They did consider suing a video downloading service once but ultimately decided against it. So their past actions (and lack of actions), as well as rhetoric, suggest that they have no real desire to start banning people for downloading videos. Still, you should not assume that just because they have never exercised their right to before, they won’t do it in the future.

After all, money is a big motivator, and if a significant enough content network decided to put pressure on YouTube to stamp out this kind of thing, it wouldn’t be surprising if they did.

Now if you want to download videos to add b-roll to your videos then maybe consider something like storyblocks – I use them for all my cut away content. They have a range of plans to help you add eye catching and stunning visuals to your content.

Can YouTube Tell If You Download Video?

There is no automatic way for YouTube to tell if you are downloading videos. The services that allow you to download videos are more easily identifiable, and YouTube sometimes make changes to their platform that prevent these from working, though there is no way of knowing if it is a coincidence that the services stopped working, or YouTube specifically intended for that to happen. But there is no way for YouTube to tell that you are downloading a video using those services.

It is likely for this reason that YouTube does not make an effort to put a stop to this kind of activity.

For content that exists in other places—such as public domain video—it is almost impossible for YouTube to definitively say that any duplicate uploads were created with footage downloaded from their platform.

YouTube could infer that content has been downloaded, of course. If you were to download a video that is unique and only exists on YouTube and then reupload that video to their platform. However, with the amount of content that is uploaded every minute, it would be challenging for YouTube to find instances like this, even if people were willing to report this kind of terms breaking.

We say you would have to upload it to their platform because if you are not a registered user of YouTube, the only recourse YouTube would have for breaking their terms of service would be a lawsuit. Proving that any particular content was initially downloaded from YouTube against their terms of service would likely be difficult, and not worth the time and money it would cost.

Especially when YouTube can just remove the video and ban you.

Is it Ever Legal to Download Youtube Videos?

Other than downloading videos you uploaded in the first place, yes, there are situations when it is legal to download YouTube videos. The essential factor here is that YouTube’s terms of service are not law.

Breaking their terms does inherently mean you have broken the law—which is not to say there are never legal consequences for violating terms of service.

Again, we must stress that even though YouTube has never taken anyone to court for downloading videos, the possibility is there.

What this means is that for there to be legal ramifications of downloading video from YouTube, then YouTube themselves must bring a lawsuit against you. Proceeding on the basis that YouTube is unlikely to do so, you are only breaking the law if you download copyrighted content. Downloaded content that is creative commons or public domain does not violate any law, only YouTube’s terms. There is a caveat here, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

With regards to YouTube potentially bringing a civil action against you, remember that they need to be aware that you have broken their terms of service. As we mentioned, YouTube has no way of knowing who is using the various tools for downloading videos, so the only way they could possibly know is if you then put that content online somewhere. And even then, the chances of YouTube ever noticing it are practically non-existent, unless it is a high profile situation.

If you are downloading YouTube videos and keeping them to yourself, the chance of ever facing legal consequences are so remote that they may as well be non-existent. That being said, we must stress once more that it the risk does exist. If you break YouTube’s terms of service, you run that risk.

Regional Laws

We mentioned above there was a caveat to breaking terms of service not being illegal. While that is true (always check your local laws, however), the practical reality of situations like this are not so clear cut.

For example, there was an incident in 2006 where a woman signed up to MySpace under a fake identity for the purposes of bullying a friend of her daughter. That friend later committed suicide. Obviously, this was a terrible tragedy, but it is the manner in which the prosecution went after the woman that is relevant here.

Giving false information was against MySpace terms of service, and an attempt was made to prosecute the woman under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, claiming that she had gained “unauthorised access” to MySpace’s services by breaking the terms of service. After initially being found guilty, the woman was later acquitted in appeal after a judge decided the precedent was troubling.

The important thing to note here is that, while breaking the terms of service itself was not illegal, it was still used as a means to justify prosecuting someone under a different law.

Now, granted, the death of a thirteen-year-old girl is very serious, and not in any way comparable to downloading videos from YouTube, but it is essential to paint a full picture. We can tell you that breaking YouTube’s terms of service is not illegal, but the law is not always as straight forward as that.

How Do You Download YouTube Video?

There are several free online services that allow you to download YouTube videos. Simply searching “youtube video downloader” will typically turn up a good number of such services.

They all work in more or less the same way. You first enter the URL of the video you wish to download. The service will check the link, and, if it can do it (not all videos are downloadable), you will be able to select from various options regarding the format and quality of your download.

Some services even offer rudimentary editing tools, such as trimming, and cropping, though most will just present you with a download to the untouched video.

It is usually possible to download just the audio from a video, which is particularly useful if the thing you are downloading is sound effects, or music. Though it should be noted that downloading copyrighted music from YouTube, while still not breaking the law in terms of the act of downloading itself, is definitely breaking the law in terms of music piracy. And the music industry is not shy about enforcing those laws.

As mentioned above, YouTube periodically changes the way things work behind the scenes. Sometimes, this results in YouTube video downloaders no longer working. Whether YouTube does this on purpose or the changes are unrelated and breaking the downloaders is just a coincidence, is unknown. Regardless, when this happens, you can try a different service as some services take longer to adapt to changes by YouTube than others. But if none of them can grab the video, you may have to accept that you won’t be able to download it if you can’t find it elsewhere.

Browser Plugins and Standalone Software

There are alternatives to the online services mentioned above. When you stream a video, you are essentially downloading it to your computer temporarily. It is possible to take advantage of this and keep the downloaded video permanently. Browser plugins, in particular, add a level of convenience that the online services can’t.

It should be noted, however, that using something like a browser plugin or a standalone piece of software may expose you. When you use an online service, as far as YouTube can see, that service is accessing their content. It doesn’t matter who is downloading the video; YouTube will still see the same service as the one who is doing the downloading.

When you download a video from your computer, YouTube can see you specifically. Whether or not they can tell that you are downloading, rather than streaming, is a question we can’t answer. But if they have a means of telling the two apart, it would make it more likely that they could identify you, if they ever decided to.

Are There Alternatives to Downloading YouTube Videos?

If you are looking for a specific video that is only available on YouTube, your options are very limited. In fact, the only way to get around breaking YouTube’s terms of service here would be to contact the uploader and ask them if they could send you the video.

Obviously, for this to work, you would need to have a good reason for wanting the video, as they are unlikely to help you out if your goal is just to reupload it somewhere else and monetise it.

If the content is licensed under creative commons or public domain, there is a good chance you will be able to find it elsewhere on the web, and YouTube’s policies will have no bearing on how you obtained your content. Though it should be noted that their policies on re-using content may come into play if you attempt to monetise something that already exists on the platform.

Just remember that, while YouTube has never taken action against individual YouTubers for downloading YouTube video, and while the act of doing so technically doesn’t break any laws, the possibility of YouTube doing so is there. As is the mechanisms by which they could come after you.

So, is it legal to download YouTube videos? No. Doing so would only violate YouTube’s terms of service, and that in and of itself is not illegal. But that doesn’t mean there is no risk of legal repercussions, and you should consider that before downloading any YouTube content.

And, once again, this post does not claim to offer legal advice of any kind. If you are unsure about the ramifications of your actions, consult a licensed legal professional first.

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

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

Tags 4k downloader, download, download videos, download youtube, Download YouTube Videos, how to download videos, keepvid, y2mate, ytmate

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE YOUTUBE

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

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 27 June 2020
1 Comment on Should I Start a New YouTube Channel or Keep My Old One?

You’ve got the itch to make something new — and one nagging question: do you use the channel you already have, or start fresh? It’s one of the most common dilemmas creators face, and the wrong call can cost you months. The good news is there’s a clear way to decide, and it hinges on a single factor: audience overlap. This 2026 guide walks you through every option — keep, rebrand, start over or revive — and exactly when each one wins.

The deciding question: would your current audience be interested in your new content? If yes → keep and evolve the channel. If no → a fresh start is usually cleaner.

Everything below is really just a more detailed version of that one call.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform and six Silver Play Buttons. I’ve helped hundreds of creators make exactly this call, so this is the framework I use with real channels, not theory.

Stuck on the decision? Book a free discovery call and we’ll work it out together.

📌 Jump to a section:

The one question
Your options at a glance
Keep & pivot
Rebrand
Start fresh
Revive a dead channel
When to definitely start new
The “channel authority” myth
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: New channel or keep the old one?
Keep and evolve your existing channel if the new content is related to what your audience already watches — you keep your subscribers, watch history and monetisation. Start a new channel if the content targets a really different audience, or if the old channel is dragged down by strikes or a bad reputation. Mismatched content confuses both your viewers and the algorithm, so when in doubt, match the channel to the audience.

The One Question That Decides It

Strip away the noise and it’s this: would the audience you already have want to watch the new thing?

If you run a fitness channel and want to add healthy-cooking content, that’s the same audience — keep the channel. If you run a fitness channel and want to start posting retro gaming videos, that’s a completely different crowd — and forcing both onto one channel confuses your subscribers (who signed up for fitness) and confuses the algorithm (which no longer knows who to recommend you to). Everything else — rebranding, reviving, starting fresh — flows from that single judgement about overlap.

Your Options at a Glance

There are more than two choices here. Match your situation to the right one.

Option	Best when…	You keep
Keep & pivot	New content is related; audience overlaps	Subs, watch time, monetisation
Rebrand	Same audience, but the identity needs a refresh	Subs, authority, history
Start fresh	New content targets a different audience	Nothing (clean slate)
Revive	Old channel is dormant but still relevant	Existing subs & assets
Start fresh (forced)	Old channel has strikes or bad standing	Nothing — and that’s the point

Option 1: Keep & Pivot Gradually

If your new direction overlaps with your current audience, keeping the channel is almost always the right move — you hold onto everything you’ve earned: subscribers, watch history, and monetisation status. The trick is to pivot gradually. Introduce the new content alongside the old, watch how your audience responds in your analytics, and lean into what works. A smooth transition brings your existing audience with you rather than jolting them.

Option 2: Rebrand Your Existing Channel

Rebranding is a pivot with a fresh coat of paint. You keep the channel — and all its value — but update the name, channel art, banner, about section and overall identity to match the new direction. It’s ideal when your audience will follow you but the old branding no longer fits. Because you keep your subscriber base and history, a rebrand is far faster than starting from zero. Just make sure the new identity is coherent — a confused brand converts worse than a clear one.

How to Rebrand Your Channel (Step by Step)

If rebranding is your route, here’s the practical order of play so nothing gets missed:

Lock your new positioning first. Decide exactly who the channel is for and what it’s about before you touch a single graphic — everything else flows from this.
Update the name and @handle. Choose a name and handle that signal the new direction and are easy to search and say aloud.
Refresh the visuals. New profile picture, banner and channel art that match the new brand — consistency here is what makes a channel look intentional.
Rewrite your About section. Lead with what viewers get and weave in the keywords people would search — it feeds both humans and YouTube.
Record a new channel trailer. A 30–60 second pitch to new visitors that plants the flag for the new direction.
Reorganise playlists around the new themes, and update or unlist videos that no longer fit.
Announce it. A community post and a short video tell your existing audience what’s changing and why, so they stay with you.
Shift content gradually. Ease the new content in rather than flipping overnight — let your analytics confirm the audience is coming along.

Done well, a rebrand feels like a natural evolution to your audience — not a channel they no longer recognise.

Option 3: Start a Fresh Channel

Sometimes a clean slate is the smart choice — specifically when your new content serves a really different audience. A dedicated channel gives you a focused brand, an unconfused algorithm, and content that all points the same way. The cost is real: you start with zero subscribers, zero watch history, and you’ll need to re-qualify for monetisation. But for truly divergent content, that clarity is worth it. If this is your path, my guide on how to start a YouTube channel (and the business version) will get you moving.

What to Do With Your Old Content When You Start Fresh

Starting a new channel doesn’t mean the old one has to vanish overnight. A few sensible moves:

Don’t rush to delete. A dormant channel keeps its subscribers, watch history and any monetisation — delete only if it truly is’s really a liability.
Unlist, don’t erase, off-brand videos. Setting embarrassing or mismatched videos to unlisted removes them from view without losing the data.
Remember you can’t move videos between channels. YouTube has no “transfer video” button — if a few old videos are worth keeping, you’ll re-upload them to the new channel.
Point the way. A short farewell video or a link in the old channel’s banner can funnel any remaining traffic toward the new home.

Option 4: Revive a Dead Channel

Don’t overlook the channel gathering dust. A dormant channel still holds subscribers, watch history and possibly monetisation — assets you’d throw away by starting over. Reviving it means auditing what’s there, refreshing the branding, and committing to consistent uploads again. If the old content is still relevant to where you’re heading, reviving beats starting from zero nearly every time. I’ve laid out the exact process in my 90-day dead-channel recovery plan. And if you’re not sure why it stalled in the first place, run it through the growth diagnostic before you relaunch.

Can You Merge Two YouTube Channels?

This one catches a lot of people out: YouTube does not let you merge two channels into one. There’s no way to combine subscribers, videos, watch time or monetisation from two separate channels — they stay independent, full stop. If both channels are Brand Accounts you can give the same people management access to each, but that’s shared control, not a merge.

So if you’re sitting on two channels and want “one bigger channel”, the honest options are: pick the stronger one as your primary, re-upload the best videos from the other, and retire or repurpose the weaker channel. Don’t build a plan around merging subscriber counts — it simply isn’t a feature.

Should You Buy a YouTube Channel?

Buying an established channel looks like a shortcut past the slow early grind — but it’s riskier than it sounds, and I rarely recommend it.

⚠️ The risks stack up fast:

Monetisation isn’t guaranteed to carry over. A change of ownership can trigger a fresh review, and there’s no promise the channel stays monetised for you.
Bought audiences are often hollow. Many channels for sale have inflated or inactive subscriber counts that won’t watch your videos.
Audience mismatch kills reach. Their subscribers signed up for the old content — post something different and your videos land flat, confusing the algorithm.
You inherit the baggage. Any past strikes, reputation issues or dubious growth history come with the purchase.

Nine times out of ten, the money and effort you’d spend buying a channel goes further building your own or reviving one you already have — with none of the risk.

Still can’t decide?

On a free discovery call I’ll look at your channel and your goals and tell you honestly whether to keep, rebrand or start fresh.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

When You Should Definitely Start New

A few situations tip the scales firmly toward a fresh start:

Completely different audience. If there’s little to no overlap, one channel serving both will underperform for everyone.
Strikes or penalties. If the old channel carries copyright or community-guideline strikes, that baggage can follow you — a clean channel avoids it.
A reputation you want to leave behind. Old, off-brand or embarrassing content that no longer represents you can be a genuine liability.
A true business pivot. A serious, separate venture often deserves its own dedicated brand.

In these cases, the value you’d “keep” by staying is outweighed by the drag it creates. Start clean.

The “Channel Authority” Myth

Here’s the misconception that trips people up: the belief that an old channel has built-up “authority” that makes new videos rank automatically. It doesn’t work like a website’s domain authority. On YouTube, each video is largely judged on its own performance — its click-through rate, watch time and engagement. A years-old channel doesn’t get a free pass.

What an old channel does keep is really valuable: an existing subscriber base to seed early views, a watch history that helps YouTube understand your niche, and monetisation status you won’t have to re-earn. So the real question isn’t “does my old channel have authority?” — it’s “are those existing assets an asset for where I’m going, or a liability?” Relevant, engaged subscribers help enormously. Dormant or mismatched ones can quietly hurt. Judge your old channel on that, not on age alone. Whatever you choose, remember the one constant: content is king, and a clear channel plus consistent, well-packaged videos wins over any shortcut — as your growth strategy will show.

New vs Old Channel: FAQ

Should I start a new YouTube channel or keep my old one?

It comes down to audience overlap. If your new content is related to what your existing audience already enjoys, keep the channel and pivot or rebrand — you keep your subscribers, watch history and monetisation. If the new content targets a completely different audience, or your old channel carries strikes or a bad reputation, start fresh. Wildly mismatched content confuses both viewers and the algorithm.

Does an old YouTube channel have an advantage over a new one?

Partly. An old channel keeps its subscriber base, watch history and monetisation status, which are real advantages. But YouTube doesn’t hand old channels a magic ranking boost — each video is largely judged on its own performance. So an old channel with an engaged, relevant audience helps; an old channel full of unrelated content or dormant subscribers can actually hold you back.

Can you change the type of content on an existing YouTube channel?

Yes, and many successful creators have pivoted. The key is to transition gradually if you can, so your existing audience comes with you, and to rebrand the channel name, art and about section to match the new direction. A sharp, sudden switch to unrelated content risks losing your current subscribers and confusing YouTube about who to recommend you to.

Is it better to rebrand or start over on YouTube?

Rebrand when your audience and new direction still overlap — you keep the subscribers, watch time and monetisation you’ve earned. Start over when the new content targets a really different audience, or when the existing channel is weighed down by strikes, penalties or a reputation you’d rather leave behind. Rebranding preserves value; starting over gives a clean slate.

Should I delete my old inactive YouTube channel?

Usually not straight away. A dormant channel still holds subscribers, watch history and potentially monetisation you could revive. Before deleting, check whether it’s worth reviving with fresh content and a rebrand — a 90-day recovery plan often beats starting from zero. Only delete if the channel has serious strikes or a reputation that would actively hurt a restart.

Does starting a new channel mean starting from zero?

Yes — a new channel begins with no subscribers, no watch history and no monetisation, and must re-qualify for the Partner Programme. That’s the main cost of a fresh start. The upside is a clean, focused channel with no mismatched content or baggage. Weigh the value of what you’d leave behind against the clarity you’d gain.

Can you merge two YouTube channels into one?

No. YouTube does not allow you to merge two channels — you can’t combine their subscribers, videos, watch time or monetisation. They remain separate accounts. If both are Brand Accounts you can share management access, but that isn’t a merge. The practical alternative is to pick one channel as your primary and re-upload the best videos from the other.

Should you buy an established YouTube channel?

Usually not. Buying a channel looks like a shortcut, but monetisation isn’t guaranteed to survive a change of ownership, subscriber counts are often inflated or inactive, and the existing audience rarely matches your new content — which makes your videos underperform. You also inherit any strikes or reputation issues. Building or reviving your own channel is almost always the safer investment.

Conclusion

So — new channel or keep the old one? Come back to the one question: would your current audience want your new content? If yes, keep and evolve what you’ve built; the subscribers, watch time and monetisation you already have are a head start worth protecting. If no — or if your old channel carries strikes or baggage — a clean, focused fresh start will serve you better than forcing mismatched content onto an audience that never asked for it. Match the channel to the audience, keep your content sharp, and the growth follows.

📚 Keep reading — start, revive & grow:

Make the right call the first time.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start — we’ll decide keep, rebrand or start fresh, and map the plan to grow it.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this guide: YouTube’s monetisation, subscriber and channel features are current at the time of writing (July 2026); YouTube updates its rules periodically, so check the in-app details for your situation. Guidance here is based on two decades of hands-on channel experience.

Tags new, new brand, new channel, old, old vs new, old youtube chanel, reboot vs rebrand, rebrand, rebrand on youtube, rebrand your youtube channel, relaunch

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Good Places to Record Videos in Your Home

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 27 June 2020
5 Comments on Good Places to Record Videos in Your Home

YouTube might be an excellent medium for expressing your creative side, educating people, and even just making money.

Still, it is not exactly a low footprint medium when it comes to creating those videos. At least, not all of the time. We’ll get into that.

Finding a space to make your YouTube videos can be tricky, especially if you live with other people, or have a small home. Or both! Fear not, however, there are always options. They’re not always free options, but there are options.

In this post, we’re going to go into detail on how to choose and prep a place for recording your videos. What makes a great space—and what you need to do to prepare it—will vary greatly depending on the kind of video you make.

The right equipment can make a huge difference to how and where you can record – but it doesn’t have to cost the earth. That’s why I made a deep dive blog into YouTube Equipment on a Budget – spend a little, get a lot of freedom in your recording options.

Before we talk about the types of video, let’s go over some of the attributes that make good places to record videos in your home.

What to Look For

If you are lucky enough to be in a position where you have a large room to yourself, a spare room you can make use of, or even the ability to build something new, then you’re already most of the way there. For the vast majority of us, however, we have to make do with what we got.

The first thing to consider when looking for a place to record your videos is permanency. That is, somewhere you can set up recording equipment and leave it in place.

Granted, this might not be an option, but if it is, it should be a strongly considered option. A space that may seem far more appropriate for recording videos isn’t necessarily the best choice if you have another area that you could set up permanently.

For one thing, it makes the time required for recording a new video considerably shorter, because you don’t have to worry about setting up or tearing down your equipment.

An example of this would be a large room with nice acoustics and natural lighting that you could use, but couldn’t leave your equipment in versus a tiny room—even a closet—that you could claim for the long haul.

The larger room would undoubtedly be better, but you could make the small room work. As with many things in life, it is a matter of deciding what best suits your situation.

The next thing we would recommend you consider before moving your gear into a particular area is how much control you have over that area. Similar to the previous example, a space that you can modify may prove to be better for you than a space that you can’t, even if it doesn’t look that way, to begin with.

After that, the main things to consider are environmental. For example, areas that are subjected to a lot of noise, perhaps from traffic. There are things you can do to mitigate that, but if you have other options, maybe consider something with less noise.

Camera-less Videos

Not all YouTubers need a big, adequately lit set up. If you make software tutorials where you’re not on camera, such as list videos that consist of clips and still images, or any other type of video where you are not actually filming yourself, you have a higher degree of flexibility in terms of the areas you can record in.

As your primary concern will be the quality of your voice over recording, it will actually benefit you to record in a smaller space, such as the closet we mentioned before.

Your main goal for the recording space should be to cut down on acoustic reflection and in a smaller room. This is much a much easier prospect. For one thing, you can always coat the entire space in acoustic foam tiles, which will all but eliminate reverb and echo.

If you do not have such a space—a common situation for YouTubers is recording in their bedrooms—then you will need to be smarter with your preparation. Thick packing blankets can act as excellent acoustic insulation and can be draped over any number of household objects to create a capable acoustic screen around your recording area.

Having issues with echo? You’ll be amazed what you can do from home for next to nothing to make your videos sound professional. For a more comprehensive guide to soundproofing check out my deep dive blog.

Shared Spaces

Now, assuming you are on camera but you don’t have anywhere you can claim in the name of YouTube, what are your options? Firstly, if you are going to have to pack up your gear when you’re not using it anyway, you may as well opt for the best spot you can find.

This may mean recording at inconvenient times so as not to irritate family members or roommates. Not to mention avoiding having people walking through your shot in their dressing robe!

You will be a bit limited in terms of your “set”, as the people you share a the space with won’t necessarily be happy about you putting up acoustic treatment and set dressing while they’re trying to watch Netflix!

One thing you can do in these cases is to use the room as your set. It might require doing a bit of tidying up, but most people wouldn’t complain about that. Even a drab looking space can be a serviceable YouTube set with the right focus and a bit of lighting.

Dual Purpose Spaces

This is the kind of situation most YouTubers find themselves in; you have somewhere to yourself, but you can’t dedicate it to your YouTube exploits.

The most common instance of this being a bedroom. Sure, you have the bedroom to yourself, but you do have to sleep in there. The good news is it’s your space, and you can do as much to it as you can endure.

You’re probably not going to want to hang set dressing over your bed, forcing you to take it down anytime you want to go to sleep. But you can certainly put things on the walls, arrange lighting in a way that suits the video, and move furniture around.

The Attic

…or loft, depending on what you call it.

Unless we’re talking about a converted attic, the chances are you’re going to need to do a lot of work to get things going up there. You will need lighting, acoustic treatment, and you will probably be sharing your recording space with decades of accumulated boxes.

The good news is, if you can get all of that sorted, you have a secluded space all to yourself. Just bear in mind that you will have to climb in and out of the attic any time you need to record, which isn’t always the easiest prospect depending on how the is laid out property.

Of course, if we are talking about a converted attic, there is no reason to treat it differently to any other room in the property.

Garages and Sheds

Let’s face it; nobody uses garages for cars anymore. And garden sheds are being converted into secluded getaways all the time. If you have access to such a thing, it can make a great recording space. But there are things to consider that you wouldn’t have to think about in a regular house or apartment.

Firstly, in the case of a typical garden shed, it is considerably easier to break into. If you leave a bunch of expensive recording equipment in there, you will have to weigh up the risk of it being stolen.

You can add security to the shed, remove the equipment when you’re not recording, or just hope that you never face that problem.

Another concern to think about with garden sheds (and, to a lesser extent, garages) is things like damp. These structures are not designed for use in the same way a typical home is, and they are prone to things like condensation and leaking. As you can imagine, this isn’t ideal when you have a potentially expensive computer, and a bunch of recording equipment sat there.

The other problem you will face is acoustics and set dressing. Having your own dedicated little space is great, of course, but your typical garage or garden shed is terrible from an acoustic point of view, and not exactly pretty to look at. Be sure to factor all of this in before moving your gear in.

Think Outside the Box

While not strictly in your home, gardens can provide an excellent backdrop for a video (depending on the video, of course).

You will need to do a little research into your gear if you want to record outdoors, as getting the best video and audio in the midst of Mother Nature is not quite the same as getting it in your bedroom.

The weather may also be a factor. If you live in a particularly wet region, the garden might not be very practical when you have to wait for the one dry day a month to shoot a video!

And The Rest…

It is also essential to put some thought into the rest of the video-making process, as you will need somewhere to do this as well. If you have set up a nice little audio recording booth in a closet somewhere in your house, it may not be the best location for slaving over endless hours of editing. Assuming, of course, you edit your own videos, but things like scriptwriting can go down in this category as well.

If you can split the various aspects of YouTubing across multiple machines, it might be worth having a dedicated device for the recording that can be left in place. If not, portable devices such as laptops are always great for those times when it’s not possible or feasible to edit and record in the same place.

Of course, if your set up is a big, roomy desk with a nice, comfortable chair, there’s no reason not to use that same location for your off-camera work.

Essentials

Any space you choose can be made into a serviceable YouTube recording space with a few essential tools.

Firstly; lighting. The amount of difference lighting makes to a video cannot be overstated. It is often the case that a cheap camera with good lighting can do a far better job than an expensive one with poor lighting. Lighting doesn’t need to be expensive, and it can come in very portable form factors, and with the right placement, it can be used to effectively remove the background entirely. Perfect if you are recording somewhere with a less than ideal look for your videos.

Acoustic treatment is also essential, though a little trickier to make portable. If you have a dedicated space, consider getting some acoustic foam tiles on your walls and ceiling, and perhaps a thick rug for your floor.

If you need more help in soundproofing your newly discovered record set I have a deep dive in my blog on soundproofing tips for youtubers – this should get you started and can be amazingly cheap!

If your setup needs to be portable, thick packing blankets are always a good option. Draping them over something around your recording space will make a massive difference to the acoustics, and you will be able to easily take them down afterwards.

Finally, for those times when the space is just not fit for screen time—or just because you want to—there is a green screen. Green screens can be picked up relatively cheaply on Amazon, or sites like Wish, and there are free options for implementing Chroma Key (the name of the green screen effect) either live or in editing.

Don’t Be Discouraged

It is essential to remember that, ultimately, it is the content you produce that will make or break your YouTube career, not the space you are recording in. If you can’t make a great looking set to record in, do not let that stop you from making videos.

Just do the best that you can do with what you have and then set about creating great content. Always be on the lookout for ways you can improve your recording space, of course, but don’t wait until it is ready, because it may very well never be ready. Especially if you are a bit of a perfectionist.

Viewers will forgive you for less than perfect backdrops, or subpar video quality. And as you progress, if your content is good enough, you may well find that is financially practical to upgrade.

Tags film making, how to make better videos, how to make better videos on youtube, make videos from home, making youtube videos, youtube, youtuber

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

Soundproofing Tips for YouTubers

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 26 June 2020
1 Comment on Soundproofing Tips for YouTubers

Soundproofing can be the secret weapon in a new YouTuber’s arsenal.

If you were to ask a significant sample of YouTube viewers whether they would prefer better video or audio from their YouTubers, the answer might surprise you for a video platform.

While there are undoubtedly channels where good video quality is essential (software tutorials spring to mind), there are a considerable number of channels where the video element really isn’t as important as you might think.

Vlogs, educational content, interviews, list videos, we could go on. The point is, for a vast chunk of YouTubers, sound quality is considerably more important than video quality (within reason, of course). This is because hearing is the primary sense being used.

Don’t believe us?

Think about all the times you’ve put a YouTube video on and ended up doing something else while it plays. Maybe browsing the web, writing an email, checking your phone.

Not only that, but think about how many times audible cues have grated on your last nerve. People chewing while they talk, tapping, distant car alarms—audible cues can be very annoying. This is especially true when it comes to unwanted echoes, artefacts, and overall poor audio quality in YouTube videos.

Many things contribute to poor audio quality, but we’re not going to get into microphones and audio interfaces here; that deserves a post of its own – or you can watch my deep dive video on my youtube channel.

So, before we get into some tips on soundproofing your recording space, let’s quickly go over why you might want to do this.

Why Soundproof for YouTubing?

The most obvious reason, of course, is to get rid of external noise. No YouTuber wants to have to edit out the sounds of planes flying overhead, cars driving by, the next-door neighbour engaging in some late-night DIY or anything else of that nature. And your viewers certainly don’t want to listen to those noises.

Soundproofing can significantly improve your recording if you record somewhere that tends to have a lot of noise going on. But the benefits to soundproofing are not one-way.

In almost all cases (the exception being ASMR videos) whispering or quiet-talking should be avoided. At best, it’s just a little difficult to hear, but at worst it can be very annoying to some viewers (think the opposite of ASMR).

This shouldn’t be confused with low volume—it’s not the level of your audio we’re talking about. When you whisper or talk quietly, your voice is different. The quality that some people find annoying is not remedied by turning the volume up in your editing software.

But what does this have to do with soundproofing? Well, the most common reason for unintentional quiet-talking is environmental. For example, if your recording setup is in the room next to your parents, partner, or roommate, and you record late at night. The chances are, there’s not a lot you can do about the when and where you record.

But by soundproofing the space you record in, you will be able to make much more noise when you make a new video without worrying about annoying anyone around you.

Soundproofing Tips for YouTubers

We should state upfront that a number of these tips relate to the construction of the space itself—things like the walls, and floorboards. We understand that most people will not be able to implement all of these tips.

You would have to be building a studio from scratch, or tearing a room down completely to do that. Just know that implementing any of these tips should improve your situation with regards to soundproofing.

Squeaky Floorboards

You might be thinking, “but I don’t walk around when I record YouTube videos.” That may be the case, but very few of us sit or stand utterly still when we make videos. A creaking floorboard can be extremely annoying mid-video.

Unfortunately, there are no products you can go out and buy that will fix this problem, so you’ll have to get the tools out if you want to put an end to it. The first thing to check is what is causing the squeaking. If it is just a matter of loose boards themselves, you can usually remedy the problem with a few screws.

We say screws and not nails—as is probably currently holding your floorboards in place—because screws will not slide over time as nails do.

If it is the joists and noggins (the big pieces of wood your floorboards are attached to), then you might need some professional help. You will certainly need to lift your floorboards. They can usually be fixed with some L shaped brackets at the corners. If you do have to lift your floorboards, you may as well take this opportunity to re-attach them with screws.

Dotting and Dabbing: Don’t Do It!

Unfortunately, this tip is only going to be useful to people who are doing some serious renovation or perhaps building from scratch. “Dot and Dab” is a method of attaching drywall (or plasterboard, depending on where you are from) to the outer structure of your room.

It involves dabbing a healthy amount of adhesive in places (this would be the dotting) and then pressing the drywall up to it. As a means of attaching the drywall, it is inexpensive and effective.

Unfortunately, it creates a significant amount of hollow space behind your walls. In a room that has been wholly drywalled, this would essentially mean one large continuous echo chamber surrounding the place!

Acoustic Insulation

If you are renovating or building a new space and the walls will be framed out, you can take this opportunity to fill the spaces between your studs with acoustic insulation.

Acoustic insulation is denser than regular thermal insulation. It will provide you with built-in soundproofing that will stop sound from getting in or out of your recording space. There are different thicknesses available, and the width you need will depend on the thickness of your studs.

Resist the urge to buy insulation that is too thick and cram it into your walls. That could cause problems later down the line, as well as reduce the acoustic insulation properties of the material.

Windows

Birds, traffic, police sirens, inconvenient helicopter flybys—there’s a lot of unwanted noise that can get in through your window. It may not be ideal in hotter parts of the world, but the first thing you should be doing is making sure that window is closed before you record.

The cheapest solution would be nice, thick blinds or curtains. They won’t cut out all the noise, but they will make some difference.

If you’ve got a little more money to throw at the problem, consider getting a secondary glazing system, which is essentially a second window inside your existing window. The cavity created between this window and your current window makes for excellent sound dampening.

Noisy Appliances

Washing machines are loud. We get it. Some washing machines could be at the other end of your home and still get picked up on a recording.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of us do not have the option to simply move the washing machine—or our recording space—to get around this problem. Though if you do, that would be the best solution.

Assuming you’re stuck, however, the first thing to consider is an acoustic mat under your washing machine. It will not cut the sound completely, but it will significantly reduce it. If your washing machine (or other noisy appliance) is not right next to your recording space, this might be enough.

If not, we’re sorry to say that your only practical option is to plan your recordings so that any noisy appliances are not running.

Change Your Microphone

You might also consider a new microphone that is less prone to picking up the background noise. It should be stated that any built-in or inexpensive USB microphone will likely need upgrading as a matter of course.

But if your mic is picking up a lot of background noise, there may be an alternative model with a tighter pickup pattern.

I use a Boya By-MM1 on my DSLR Camera and this is great when I am stood in front of it recording in stable environment – I did a hands on review video and blog of the Boya BY-MM1 microphone with some interesting facts about its pick up pattern – You’ll me amazed the difference you can make when you match the right microphone to your set up.

In the same realm as a new mic, you could also consider turning your microphone’s input level down and having the mic be closer to your face, or speaking more forcefully. Or both.

If you do decide to go down this route, be sure to have a pop shield on your mic. It’s good practice to have one anyway, but if you’re going to be putting the mic closer to your face and speaking louder, you definitely need one.

Use a Noise Gate

A noise gate is a term given to software or hardware that cuts off audio completely when it gets below a specific volume. Using this, you can cut away the background noise by setting the gate to just above the level of the noise. It will then let the audio through when you speak, pushing the sound level above the gate.

There are a few different ways to employ a noise gate on your recordings. The simplest—yet most expensive—is to get an outboard noise gate device. You would run your mic signal through the gate directly, where it would gate the audio before sending it into your recording software.

Another alternative is live VST (Virtual Studio Technology) noise gates—a software alternative that works as you are recording. This has the advantage of giving you that live feedback, but it also adds strain on your computer.

And, finally, you could apply the noise gate after the fact. This is the cheapest option—free audio editor Audacity has this functionality built-in—but also the most time-consuming.

It is worth noting that if you have unusually high levels of background noise, a noise gate may not be the best option. The louder the gate has to be to cut the noise out, the more obvious it is when it activates. Not to mention, the noise will still be present when you are speaking.

Acoustic Foam Tiles

The more initiated of you are probably yelling, “that’s not soundproofing!” right now. And you are right. Those eggbox-like foam tiles you see on YouTuber’s walls are not soundproofing. The job of acoustic tiles is to kill things like echo and reverb in a space.

Imagine you have a bouncy ball. If you bounce that ball on some smooth concrete, you’ll get some good height. If you take that same ball and bounce it on long grass, you’ll be lucky to get any height at all. Now imagine the ball is a sound wave, hitting the wall and bouncing off. Foam tiles work a lot like the grass.

By strategically placing foam tiles around your recording space (or just covering every surface if you can afford that many tiles), you reduce the amount of sound reflection.

If you can only get your hands on a limited amount of foam tiles, consider what kind of microphone you have before placing them. Many microphones have limited pickup around the back, so reducing reflections coming from that direction would be a waste of your tiles.

Carpets or Rugs (or Both!)

A good, thick carpet or rug can address issues raised both in the squeaky floorboards section, and the previous section on acoustic foam tiles. Like foam tiles, a thick carpet or rug will significantly reduce sound reflection, meaning less reverb and echo when you record.

It will also reduce the amount of noise made by you moving around the room. It won’t fix squeaky floorboards, but if you didn’t fancy pulling your floor up, a thick carpet or rug would muffle the noise it makes.

You could also take this one step further by installing some acoustic underlay, which will significantly reduce the amount of noise that gets through your floor.

Microphone Shielding

Our last tip is ideal for people who can’t (or don’t want to) attempt any of the previous tips. Using a product like Kaotica’s Eyeball (or one of the considerably less expensive Chinese alternatives) you can isolate your mic from the outside world significantly.

These products are essentially a hollow ball of acoustic foam that your mic sits inside, blocking noise from all directions except the front. You will still need to worry about reflections from behind you, but the amount unwanted sound getting to your mic is significantly reduced. Just be aware that these are not compact items. You will need plenty of space around your microphone.

If you need any help in finding some of these upgrades then check out my resources page where I have selected some great discounts on products, soundproofing, microphones and more.

Tags audio, better audio, free soundproofing, how to fix audio quality, how to improve sound quality, how to make my youtube videos sound better, how to soundproof for free, improve sound quality, sound, sound quality, soundproof your home, soundproofing for youtubers, youtuber soundproofing

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

12 Youtube Channel Ideas Without Showing Your Face

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 25 June 2020
9 Comments on 12 Youtube Channel Ideas Without Showing Your Face

You do not need to show your face to build a successful YouTube channel — and in 2026, that’s more true than ever. Some of the biggest, most profitable channels on the platform never point a camera at a human being. Camera shyness, privacy, or simply preferring to stay behind the scenes is no barrier at all. Below are 12 proven faceless channel ideas, why each one works without you on screen, and how to actually make them pay — plus the modern tools (AI included) that make it easier than it’s ever been.

The mindset shift: viewers don’t subscribe to your face — they subscribe to the value and the vibe. If the packaging is strong and the content delivers, nobody misses the talking head.

And with AI voiceovers, stock libraries and faceless automation tools, one person can now produce a channel that used to take a team.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades in content and six Silver Play Buttons. I’ve helped build faceless channels across gaming, finance, meditation and automation, so these ideas come with the reality of what actually works, not just a list.

Want help picking your faceless niche? Book a free discovery call.

📌 The 12 ideas:

1. Gaming & Let’s Plays
2. Top List & Compilations
3. Cooking & Recipes
4. Life Hacks & DIY
5. Restoration
6. Nail Art & Craft
7. Meditation & Relaxation
8. Time-Lapse
9. Animation & Explainers
10. Luxury & Aspirational
11. Unboxing & Reviews
12. How-To & Screen Recording

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Can you succeed on YouTube without showing your face?
Yes — easily. Gaming, compilations, animation, meditation, how-to and countless other formats thrive with zero face time. What matters is a clear niche, strong thumbnails and titles, and consistent value. In 2026, AI voiceover and video tools make faceless channels faster to produce than ever. Pick an idea below, nail the packaging, and stay consistent.

Why Faceless YouTube Works (Better Than Ever in 2026)

Faceless channels aren’t a compromise — for many niches they’re the smart choice. They’re easier to batch, simpler to outsource, and often faster to produce, which means you can publish more consistently. They also travel well: a faceless format can be replicated across languages and even automated. That’s exactly why faceless channels have become so profitable, and why AI automation has turned them into a serious business model. The one rule that never changes: with no face to carry the video, your thumbnail and title have to do even more of the work.

The 12 Faceless YouTube Channel Ideas

1. Gaming & Let’s Plays

The original faceless format. Record your screen, add commentary, and let the gameplay be the star — no webcam required. Gaming is one of the largest communities on YouTube, and everything from walkthroughs and reviews to funny-moment compilations works without your face. Monetise with ad revenue, sponsorships from game brands, and memberships for your community.

2. Top List & Compilation Videos

“Top 10” countdowns and themed compilations are endlessly bingeable and completely faceless — stock clips or licensed footage over a voiceover and text. They’re highly repeatable, which makes them ideal for batching, and the format works in almost any niche, from tech to true crime to sport.

3. Cooking & Recipe Channels

Point the camera at the counter, not your face. Overhead “hands and pans” cooking videos are hugely popular, satisfying to watch, and easy to shoot in your own kitchen. Recipes are evergreen and shareable, and they attract kitchen-brand sponsorships and affiliate opportunities.

4. Life Hacks & DIY

Quick tips, clever fixes and DIY projects filmed hands-only. This format is made for shorts and long-form alike, spreads easily on social, and lends itself to affiliate links for the tools and products you use.

5. Restoration Videos

Rusty tool in, beautiful tool out. Restoration content — cleaning, repairing and restoring old objects — is oddly mesmerising and racks up huge watch time, all shot over the workbench with no face in frame. It’s a niche with famously loyal audiences.

6. Nail Art & Craft

Close-up, detailed and visual — nail art, calligraphy, resin, model-making and other crafts are perfect faceless content. The camera stays on your hands and the work, and the “satisfying process” angle keeps viewers watching to the end.

7. Meditation & Relaxation

Calming visuals, ambient music or a soothing voiceover, and long run times that rack up watch time. Meditation, sleep, focus and relaxation channels are entirely faceless by design, and they lend themselves beautifully to 24/7 live streams.

8. Time-Lapse Videos

Speed up a long process — a painting, a build, a garden growing, a city at rush hour — into a hypnotic short clip. Time-lapses are visually striking, need no presenter, and work as standalone videos or as B-roll for other formats.

9. Animation & Explainers

Animation is faceless storytelling. Explainer videos, whiteboard animation, character shorts and motion-graphic breakdowns can tackle any topic, and in 2026 AI-assisted tools have dramatically lowered the barrier to producing them solo.

10. Luxury & Aspirational

Cars, watches, real estate, travel and design — aspirational content driven by beautiful footage and a voiceover. It attracts high-value audiences and premium sponsorships, and none of it needs you on camera.

11. Unboxing & Reviews

Hands and product, that’s it. Unboxings and reviews are among the most commercially valuable formats on YouTube because they map directly onto buying intent — which means strong affiliate and sponsorship potential, all shot over a desk.

12. How-To Tutorials & Screen Recordings

Software walkthroughs, tech tutorials and educational content shot entirely as screen recordings with a voiceover. Tutorials pull in steady search traffic for years, making them some of the best evergreen faceless content you can build.

Tools to Run a Faceless Channel

You need less than you think — but the right tools make faceless production dramatically faster.

Tool	What it does for faceless creators	Link
Syllaby	AI faceless video creation — scripts, AI voiceover and video assembly in one place	Try Syllaby
vidIQ	Find low-competition faceless niches, keywords and title/thumbnail ideas	Try vidIQ free
Free stock media	Royalty-free footage and images for compilations, luxury and top-list videos	Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash

⚠️ The one thing you can’t skimp on: audio. With no face on screen, your voice carries the entire video — a cheap, clear microphone will do more for your retention than any camera ever would.

Not sure which faceless idea fits you?

On a free discovery call we’ll match a niche to your skills and time — and map the fastest path to monetising it.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

How to Make Money With a Faceless Channel

Faceless channels monetise exactly like any other — arguably better, because many formats are easier to scale. The core streams are ad revenue, sponsorships, affiliate marketing and your own products, and because faceless formats batch well, you can build a library fast. The lever most people miss is niche selection: some faceless niches pay several times more per view than others, so it pays to check the CPM by niche before you commit. For the honest big picture, see what percentage of YouTubers actually make money — the faceless ones are as capable of it as anyone.

Tips for Faceless Channel Success

✅ Win the click first. No face means your thumbnail and title carry the whole load — treat them as the most important part of every video.

✅ Nail your audio. A good voice and clean sound build the connection your face normally would.

✅ Be consistent. Faceless formats are batchable — use that to publish on a reliable schedule and build momentum with a real growth strategy.

✅ Use AI as an accelerator, not a crutch. Let it speed up scripting, voiceover and assembly — but keep a clear niche and genuine value at the centre.

Start now, get good later. Your first faceless videos won’t be perfect, and that’s fine — the creators who win are the ones who publish, learn, and keep going until the first 1,000 subscribers turn into the next ten thousand.

Faceless YouTube FAQ

Can you be successful on YouTube without showing your face?

Absolutely. Some of the biggest channels on YouTube never show a face — gaming, compilations, animation, meditation and how-to channels all thrive on faceless content. What matters isn’t your face, it’s strong packaging, a clear niche and consistent value. In 2026, AI voiceover and video tools make faceless channels easier to run than ever.

What is the best faceless YouTube niche?

There’s no single best niche — the right one balances your interest, the audience size and how well it pays. Gaming, top-list compilations, how-to tutorials and finance-adjacent explainers tend to combine large audiences with decent CPMs. The best faceless niche is one you can produce consistently and that advertisers value, so check the CPM by niche before you commit.

Do faceless YouTube channels make money?

Yes. Faceless channels monetise exactly like any other — ad revenue, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, memberships and their own products. Because many faceless formats are easier to batch and even automate, they can scale output faster than a personality-led channel. Profitability comes down to niche, packaging and consistency, not whether a face is on screen.

How do you make faceless videos?

You combine visuals that aren’t you — gameplay, screen recordings, stock footage, animation, product close-ups or time-lapses — with a voiceover, text or music. Many creators use AI voiceover and video tools to speed this up. Good audio and strong thumbnails matter more than ever when there’s no face to carry the video.

Can you use AI to run a faceless YouTube channel?

Yes, and it’s increasingly common. AI tools can help script, generate voiceovers, source or create visuals and even assemble videos, which makes faceless channels faster to produce at scale. AI is a production accelerator, not a strategy — you still need a clear niche, strong packaging and genuine value, or the videos won’t perform.

Do faceless channels need good equipment?

You don’t need a camera setup, but you do need clean audio — a decent microphone is the single most important purchase for most faceless formats, because your voice is doing the work your face would. Beyond that, good editing or video software and a reliable computer are usually all you need to start.

Final Thoughts

Not showing your face isn’t a limitation — for a huge range of niches, it’s a genuine advantage. Faceless channels are easier to batch, simpler to scale, and in 2026, faster than ever to produce with AI in your corner. Pick the idea from this list that fits your interests and your time, obsess over your packaging and audio, and publish consistently. The face is optional. The value, the niche and the consistency are not — and those are entirely within your control.

📚 Keep reading — go faceless properly:

Ready to start your faceless channel?

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on picking the right niche, packaging it, and turning it into real income — no camera required.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Transparency note: some links on this page are affiliate links (marked rel=”sponsored”) — if you start with a tool through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it helps fund the free content on this site. Recommendations are my own, based on real use.

Tags channel ideas, faceless youtube channels, youtube channel ideas, youtube channels who do not show their face, youtube ideas, youtube niches, youtune niche ideas

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

Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 20 June 2020
2 Comments on Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?

Short answer: generally, no — YouTubers don’t get paid when you skip an ad. But like most things with YouTube money, the full picture has a catch worth understanding. For skippable ads, a creator only earns if you watch a certain amount (or click). Skip before that point and the advertiser pays nothing, so the creator earns nothing from that view. Here’s exactly how it works in 2026 — which ads pay, which don’t, and the simple thing you can do to support a creator for free.

The rule in one line: on a skippable ad, the creator gets paid only if you watch at least 30 seconds (or the whole ad if it’s shorter) — or you click it. Skip before then and nobody gets paid for that ad.

Non-skippable and bumper ads can’t be skipped at all, so those always pay. The nuance is entirely about the skippable ones.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades in content and six Silver Play Buttons. I’ve lived on the creator side of ad revenue for years, so this is how it actually pays out, not guesswork.

Trying to earn more from your own channel? Book a free discovery call.

📌 Jump to a section:

The short answer
The 30-second rule
Ad formats & which pay
When a skipped ad still pays
Does skipping hurt creators?
How creators protect income
How to support creators free
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?
No — not for a skippable ad you skip early. The advertiser is only charged, and the creator only earns, if you watch at least 30 seconds (or the full ad if it’s shorter) or click it. Skip before that and that ad earns the creator nothing. The exceptions are non-skippable and bumper ads, which you can’t skip and which always pay.

The Short Answer

We all have a love/hate relationship with ads — we know they fund the free content we enjoy, and we still reach for “Skip” the second it appears. So it’s a fair question: when you skip, does the creator lose out?

Generally, yes, they earn nothing from that ad — but only for skippable ads skipped early. YouTube can’t charge an advertiser for an ad the viewer bailed on in the first few seconds, so there’s no revenue to share. The important nuance is that “skipping” only applies to one ad type. Plenty of the ads you see can’t be skipped at all — and those pay the creator regardless.

The 30-Second Rule (How Skippable Ads Actually Pay)

Here’s the mechanic that governs the whole question. A skippable in-stream ad shows a “Skip” button after five seconds. For that ad to count as a paid view, one of two things has to happen:

The viewer watches at least 30 seconds — or the entire ad if it’s shorter than 30 seconds; or
The viewer clicks or engages with the ad.

Hit either threshold and the advertiser is charged, and a share flows to the creator. Skip before it, and the advertiser pays nothing — so there’s nothing for the creator to earn. That’s the entire reason the answer to this question is “generally no”: most people skip well before the 30-second mark. It’s also why creator CPM and RPM depend so heavily on how many viewers don’t skip.

YouTube Ad Formats in 2026 (and Which Pay if You Skip)

Not all ads behave the same way. Only one format can actually be skipped before it pays — the rest either can’t be skipped or aren’t skipped in the same sense. Here’s the lay of the land.

Ad format	Can you skip it?	Does the creator get paid if skipped?
Skippable in-stream	Yes, after 5 seconds	No — only if watched 30s+ or clicked
Non-skippable in-stream	No (up to ~15–20s)	Yes — always pays (per impression)
Bumper ads	No (6 seconds)	Yes — always pays (per impression)
In-feed / discovery video	N/A (you choose to click)	Pays on click / engagement

🔍 Worth knowing: YouTube retired the old overlay banner ads a while back, and it has steadily added more in-stream ad slots (including ad pods — two ads back to back) on longer videos. The trend is toward more guaranteed-pay formats, which quietly reduces how much any single skip matters. A creator can influence which formats run via their ad settings.

When a “Skipped” Ad Still Pays the Creator

Skipping isn’t always the revenue killer people assume. A creator still gets paid when:

You watch 30 seconds first. Let it run to the threshold before skipping and it counts as a paid view.
You click or engage. A click usually pays more than a view, and the creator shares in it.
The ad can’t be skipped. Non-skippable and bumper ads pay on impression — hitting “Skip” isn’t even an option.
The ad is shorter than 30 seconds and you watch it out. For short ads, full completion is the threshold.

So the honest version of the answer is: skipping a skippable ad early earns the creator nothing — but a large share of the ads you see either can’t be skipped or get watched past the threshold by enough people to keep the revenue flowing.

Does Skipping Ads Actually Hurt Creators?

It depends entirely on the size of the channel. For a large creator pulling millions of views, individual skips are a rounding error — enough people watch, click, or get served non-skippable formats, and the big channels lean heavily on other income streams anyway. They really won’t feel your skip.

For a small or growing channel, it matters more. With fewer views, a higher proportion of engaged ad views makes a real difference to monthly earnings. This is the same reason ad blockers hit smaller creators harder — every paid impression counts when you don’t have millions of them. If you want to support a small creator you love, watching their ads for 30 seconds is a free, direct way to do it.

Relying on ad revenue that viewers keep skipping?

On a free discovery call we’ll map the income streams that don’t depend on the Skip button.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

How Smart Creators Protect Their Income

The creators who sleep well at night don’t depend on ad revenue at all — they treat it as one stream among many. If skipped ads worry you as a creator, that’s your signal to diversify:

Sponsorships — brands pay you directly, no ad views required.
Affiliate marketing — commissions on products you recommend.
Channel memberships & Super Chat — recurring and live income from your community.
Merch, products and services — your own offers, your own margins.

The full playbook is in my guide to 9 revenue streams beyond AdSense, and if ads are a big part of your mix, focus on lifting your RPM and choosing higher-CPM topics. A tool like vidIQ helps you find and package those topics faster. It all ladders up to the bigger question: what percentage of YouTubers actually make money?

How to Support Your Favourite Creators (For Free)

If you’ve read this far, you probably care about the creators you watch. The good news is that supporting them costs you nothing but a little patience:

Let ads run 30 seconds before skipping — that’s the line that turns a skip into a paid view.
Click an ad that actually interests you; it usually pays the creator more than a view.
Don’t use an ad blocker on channels you want to support.
Engage — watch time, likes and comments all help the video earn its place, which earns the creator more.

None of it costs a penny, and for a smaller creator it really adds up.

Skipping Ads & Creator Pay: FAQ

Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?

Generally no. For a skippable ad, the advertiser is only charged — and the creator only earns — if the viewer watches at least 30 seconds (or the whole ad if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or clicks or engages with it. If you hit ‘Skip’ before that point, the advertiser pays nothing and the creator earns nothing from that ad. Non-skippable and bumper ads, which you can’t skip, always pay.

How long do you have to watch a YouTube ad for the creator to get paid?

For skippable in-stream ads, the threshold is 30 seconds — or the full ad if it runs shorter than 30 seconds. Watch to that point, or click the ad, and it counts as a paid view that the creator earns from. Skip before it, and neither YouTube nor the creator is paid for that impression.

Does skipping ads hurt YouTubers?

For that specific ad, yes — a skipped skippable ad earns the creator nothing. Across a big channel it barely registers, because plenty of other viewers watch, click, or see non-skippable formats, and big creators also earn from sponsorships, memberships and affiliates. For small channels every engaged view matters more, so watching ads for 30 seconds really helps.

Which YouTube ads pay even if you try to skip them?

Non-skippable in-stream ads (up to around 15–20 seconds) and bumper ads (6 seconds) can’t be skipped at all, so they always pay the creator on an impression basis. Only skippable in-stream ads can be skipped before the pay threshold, and those are the ones where skipping means no earnings.

Do creators earn more if you click an ad?

Usually yes. A click is a higher level of engagement than a view, so advertisers typically pay more for it, and the creator earns a share of that. Clicking a relevant ad — or simply watching it past 30 seconds — is one of the most direct ways to support a creator at no cost to you.

How do YouTubers protect their income if people skip ads?

By not relying on ads alone. Smart creators diversify into sponsorships, affiliate marketing, channel memberships, Super Chat, merchandise and their own products or services. Ad revenue becomes one stream among several, so skipped ads have far less impact on their overall income.

Final Thoughts

So — do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads? For a skippable ad you skip early, no: no advertiser charge means no creator earnings from that view. But that’s only part of the story. A lot of ads can’t be skipped at all, plenty of viewers watch past the 30-second line or click, and any creator worth their salt has income streams that don’t live or die by the Skip button. If you’re a viewer who wants to help, letting ads run 30 seconds is a free gift to your favourite creators. And if you’re a creator, the lesson is the same one it always is: don’t build your business on a single stream you don’t control.

📚 Keep reading — YouTube money, explained:

Build income that doesn’t depend on the Skip button.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on diversifying your YouTube income — ads, sponsorships, memberships and beyond.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this guide: ad-payment mechanics (the 30-second skippable threshold, non-skippable and bumper formats) reflect YouTube’s advertising rules current at the time of writing (July 2026). YouTube adjusts ad formats and rules periodically, so treat specifics as current-best rather than permanent. Some links on this page are affiliate links (marked rel=”sponsored”); they never change the price you pay and help fund the free content on this site.

Tags ads, adverts, how to make money, make money online, money, youtube, youtube ads, youtube faqs, youtube help, youtube money

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

Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 19 June 2020

In 2019, the YouTube video with the most likes was Despacito by Luis Fonsi. Although the video was uploaded in 2017, it has ridden the wave of competition and is still at the top of the list, unbeaten, in 2019. Currently, it has 6 billion views and 38 million likes. This is every YouTuber’s dream – to go viral.

When Fonsi wrote Despacito, he never dreamed it would be such a massive hit. He released the song anyway because he believed in it. You, as a creator, never know which of your videos will become a sensation. You just have to keep making videos and putting your best out there.

So, What is the significance of YouTube likes? Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes? – YouTubers do not get paid for likes. However, a like is a form of engagement that can help the video do better in the long term. The more likes, comments, and shares a video gets the higher it can rank. A good rank in search can mean more traffic to the video, more advert views and clicks.

How YouTube Likes Work

Up till 2012, videos on YouTube were ranked according to how many views they got – the view count.

This was a good metric, but if a video had a misleading title, people would only watch a few seconds of it then leave. A marketer who had attached their advertisement to such a video would feel short-changed, as their advert would not get watched. Marketers also objected to some of the content being uploaded.

A lot of the popular videos aired controversial topics like racism and terrorism. Marketers who didn’t want to be associated with such videos pulled out, leading to loss of revenue for YouTube.

This was bad for business. To stop this exodus, YouTube had to police the platform and suppress objectionable channels by not recommending them regardless of how popular they were.

YouTube then changed its metric to how much time viewers spent watching a video. Videos that captured viewer attention for longer time periods now got ranked higher. This was good for marketers as it would ensure that their product was seen by the viewer. This, however, meant that creators now had to spend more resources trying to make their videos longer while still retaining the viewers’ interest. Creators started delaying the core message of their videos for as long as they could without annoying the viewer.

They also had to change the frequency and content of uploads so as to make longer videos. This was not easy. An example of how this changed things for creators can be seen in this video. Longer-duration videos also meant more resources spent on making and editing new videos.

Ultimately, two main factors now determine how often a video will appear in search results and recommendations:

· Behavior

· User Queries

Behaviour

The YouTube algorithm tracks viewer behavior for the purpose of making recommendations based on what they watch.

This is why your YouTube homepage will never be similar to someone else’s homepage. Your activity determines what other videos YouTube recommends to you.

Factors determining how YouTube recommends and ranks videos that you need to know include:

· What people watch

· Consistency in uploading videos

· Time spent on watching a video (retention time)

· How fast a video gains popularity

· What videos don’t get watched

· How new a video is.

· How people engage with a video- likes, dislikes, shares, and comments

· Explicit feedback i.e. not interested.

User Queries

YouTube will rank videos according to how often users search for them. A commonly searched for video is obviously popular, so YouTube will rank it at the top of search results and recommend it as well.

This is because the goal of YouTube is to keep you on that platform for as long as possible because it increases your chances of seeing advertisements.

The goal of YouTube is to ultimately recommend videos that viewers want to watch. Its algorithm will, therefore, use the metrics above to determine whether or not to recommend a video and how often the video will appear in search results.

This means that your video not only has to be good, but it has to match keywords used in searches.

Can YouTubers Make Money from Likes? – Not directly. Likes show how good your video is, measuring its popularity. Depending on their number, the only effect is to increase the frequency of visits to your channel. When a viewer likes your video, they are ‘teaching’ YouTube that your video is good and should be recommended more often.

This is why YouTubers encourage their viewers to like, share, and subscribe to their content. The more the engagement, the higher the rank of the video, the more it will appear in results and the higher the number of viewers will increase.

So don’t underestimate the importance of YouTube likes. If anything, try to get as many as possible. Below you can see a number of things you can do to increase them.

How to Get More Likes on YouTube

Now that you know likes can be fuelling your channel growth, its time to start getting more of them!

Ask for them

At the end of your video, request your viewers to like your video. Don’t assume that they’ll like it anyway. Encourage them by also explaining how the likes will help your channel grow.

Make it easy

In addition to verbally asking for likes, include prompts at various points in your video to remind your viewers. Just be careful not to overdo it as your video will end up looking tacky.

Invite subscribers

Having subscribers means that your content is so good people want to receive more of it. In a way, you are assured that you will have a number of likes because your videos will have a dedicated pool of viewers.

It also teaches YouTube that your channel is popular and should be recommended frequently.

Social media

Promote yourself on other platforms- share your videos on other social media networks. People who may like your work may not be frequent users of YouTube, so go out there and look for them. Don’t wait for them to find you.

If you need help to promote your videos on social media I wrote a huge article on the best places to share your youtube videos for more views on my blog.

Advertise

If you can afford it, advertise. Some creators advertise their new uploads for a short period of time to increase their fan base. Cast your net wide.

Now that we have seen how important likes are and how they increase our chances of getting noticed on youtube, let’s see how we can turn that into money.

How YouTubers Make Money

The more money you make on YouTube the more you can invest back into content, growth and success. Making money on YouTube can be a burning desire but you don’t always have to use the YouTube Ads program.

I make a good chunk on my income from affiliate marketing and I wrote a huge deep dive into Affiliate Marketing for Beginners on my blog – it explains all the jargon and steps you through everything you need to do to get started.

Advertising Revenue

Channel owners can link their channels to advertisers and earn revenue based on how many people view the adverts. An example is Google AdSense.

This is a feature of the YouTube partner program, which enables you to monetize your channel. To make money from AdSense, you have to have at least 1000 subscribers and more than 4000 watch hours in the last 12 months.

This is why consistency in video uploads is important. Few uploads equal few watch hours. Lastly, you have to live in a country where Google AdSense is available. You can choose what ads will come with your video, and where they will appear.

When someone clicks on an ad or watches your video for at least 30 seconds, you earn revenue depending on the advertisers’ bid, the length of the video, and the type of content.

Affiliates

A company could approach you and ask you to endorse their product on your channel. You then talk about it, describe its features, and encourage your viewers to buy the product. You include a link in your video description where people can buy the product. To encourage a purchase and also reward their viewers, a number of YouTubers, in collaboration with the company, offer discounts for viewers who purchase a product through their channel.

Every time a purchase is made a percentage of that revenue goes to you as the owner of the channel.

Still, you don’t have to wait for a company to approach you. You could approach companies whose products are related to your content and make a deal with them. For example, if you have a food channel, you can advertise products for a company that produces spices.

Selling Merchandise

YouTubers with a substantial following and a well-developed brand also make revenue through selling merchandise. Once you have a dedicated base of subscribers, you can begin to make merchandise related to the subject content of your videos.

You can make branded t-shirts and caps or sell products like makeup kits. If you upload how-to videos, you can offer more information through a premium subscription service or sell a how-to manual in text form.

Ensure your products are unique and high quality, as disappointed customers will spread the word about you and this could affect your popularity on YouTube. You want to go viral, but not for controversial reasons.

YouTube Premium

Many people find it annoying to have a video they are watching interrupted by advertisements. Well, this is the price we pay to enjoy YouTube for free.

HOWEVER, if you really cannot stand constant interruptions, why not try YouTube Premium? This is a paid ad-free service offered by YouTube as a response to our grumblings against advertisements. Viewers can watch videos and listen to endless playlists without interruptions.

If you have a channel on YouTube premium, you earn revenue every time your video is watched. Viewers can also download your videos to watch offline, and this will still contribute to your watch times.

Donations

Donations are not necessarily a revenue stream, but they can support up and coming creators until they have enough views to generate their own revenue. When you make really good content, you gain many committed fans who wouldn’t mind supporting you financially so you can continue making more content.

To this end, MANY creators have a Patreon account through which fans make donations. Although Patreon takes 10% of this money, it can still be enough to keep your channel going.

Creators in turn offer their donors (patrons) extra content like behind-the-scenes footage as a reward or thank you for their support. Patreon is also a great platform for creators who need financial support for their work but want to maintain their independence.

So instead of signing contracts with commercial companies that will exploit their talent, they upload content on YouTube and earn revenue through their channel and the support of their Patrons.

Make Long Videos

Make your content as interesting as possible for as long as possible, at least for up to 10 minutes. The longer time people spend on your video, the higher the chances of earning more revenue, and the higher it will rank among search results.

Remember, YouTube wants people to spend time on videos so they can see adverts.

Collaborations

You can reach out to creators who post similar content to yours and suggest a collaboration. Not everything needs to be a competition, and we can also grow together. Collaboration will open up new horizons for your viewership and get your subscribers from a different niche category than the one you cater for.

A good example of collaboration was that of Lindsey Stirling, a violinist who dances while playing the violin and the Piano Guys, a group of men who make original instrumental music and do classical-style covers of popular songs. Their collaboration was actually demanded by fans and was a huge success, opening up new markets for both groups.

Targeted Content

Make your videos with a certain target market in mind. This will establish your niche, and also enable you to propose a brand endorsement to a company that targets that particular group of people. For example, if you have a food channel, you can focus on organic recipes and built viewership based on this.

You can then approach an organic food company and offer to advertise their products.

Use Targeted Keywords

Use top keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and video tags. Specific keywords attract different viewers with different interests. The type of viewer you attract will also determine the type of advertisers you attract.

Keywords that attract advertisers who pay more for adverts will also earn you more money.

Conclusion

In summary, likes will not directly earn you revenue on YouTube, but they will increase your channel’s visibility to raise your chances of earning marketing revenue.

If you need help in making better videos to get you more likes then maybe check out my resources page where I show you all my equipment, secret tools for amazing graphics and youtube seo tools!

You can follow these tips discussed in this article to get more subscribers and more likes. So keep creating!

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 how to youtubers make money, likes, making money, money, rank, rankings, youtube likes, youtube money, youtube rankings

DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE YOUTUBE

How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 18 June 2020
3 Comments on How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel?

PewDiePie, Dude Perfect, Whinderssonnunes, and Badabun: what do they have in common? They are the world’s top four YouTubers.

Between them, they have over 50 million subscribers. Their success on YouTube has inspired countless people to want to start their own YouTube channels. Many people, however, stop at the ‘wanting’ stage, and never really get to do it. They’ll give excuses such as “I don’t have time” or “I don’t have money” or “I don’t have the equipment.”

Stories about successful YouTubers only tend to focus on where they are at present and don’t mention how they started out. Nobody starts out successfully in their career. Success comes after years of hard, anonymous and thankless work, until one day that one video that you make goes viral and you become a sensation.

Even so, this doesn’t happen for everybody. Most people will plod along that road to success slowly, but constantly, until one day they look up in surprise and find themselves at the finish line. The key is to start.

In this article, we will look at some basic aspects of YouTube, what you need to start a channel, and how much it costs.

So, How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel? – It can be surprisingly cheap. All you really need is a cheap device to capture video, this can be a smartphone, a webcam or a compact camera. This could start from as little as £30/$40 these days second hand. Video editing apps can be free, and uploading costs nothing!

YouTube – A Brief History

YouTube was started by three former PayPal employees after they were frustrated by their inability to find videos that they were looking for online.

It is a video-hosting platform that enables users to upload, view and share videos. True to YouTube’s mission to give anyone and everyone a voice, anyone could upload a video on YouTube.

YouTube’s popularity was such that Google noticed it and, with laudable foresight, purchased it for $ 1.65 billion. With the rise of terrorism and other hate crimes, this has changed, but only because hate crimes are illegal and no one should have the right to share videos about them anyway.

Why YouTube?

There are many reasons why you should have a YouTube channel. Some of these are:

Large audience- YouTube has a large and diverse audience, and is used by over one billion people all over the world.
Due to the wide-ranging nature of its content, YouTube also reaches a wide demographic of users, from teenagers looking for the latest musical sensation to middle-aged women looking for cooking recipes.
The ease of access of this platform also makes it desirable both as a search engine and a form of entertainment.
Uploading videos to YouTube is a simple process. All you have to worry about is producing the video.
Monetizing- Videos with enough views get monetized. YouTube has thus become a source of livelihood for many creators.
Marketing- Investors have also tapped into the business potential of YouTube. Organizations have started their own channels to market their products and penetrate new markets.

Who Can Start a YouTube Channel?

Anyone, and it’s free. If you have a Google account, you can sign into YouTube using your account details.

With these, you can watch videos, subscribe to them, and save videos to watch later.

However, to upload a video, you need a YouTube channel. You can easily create one while signed in to YouTube. Just attempt an action that requires a channel, like commenting on a video. You will get a prompt to create a channel.

If you need help in starting a YouTube channel and opening an account I wrote a full deep dive tutorial in my blog.

For your viewers to know more about you, complete your profile and description. Market your brand in a simple, attractive manner. You can also include additional links about yourself or your content here. Make sure your profile picture is clear and appealing.

In addition to a cover photo, you can also add cover art as a background for your profile picture. Again, it has to capture attention. Your channel is now ready to use.

So far, all you’ve spent creating your channel is the cost of your internet connection (if any) and time. We will now look at the basic items you need to run your channel.

What You Need To Run A YouTube Channel?

A Camera

Since YouTube is about making videos, you need some form of video recording equipment. If you are starting out, you probably don’t have a lot of money. Due to the growing population of video bloggers, or vloggers, a number of companies now produce cameras specialized for vlogging. This website gives a list of cameras you can get for not more than $100. Not to worry.

Start with what you have. Many YouTubers began their channels with nothing but a smartphone camera. Don’t wait until you can buy a good camera to start creating, because your channel will remain dormant. For your channel to grow, you need views.

If you need help in picking a some good starter equipment check out my resources page where I list my equipment and give you a few tips on tools you may find helpful too.

Tripod Stand

In addition to a camera, you need something to hold it steady while making your videos.

Shaky videos can be quite disconcerting to watch. A tripod stand is a three-legged piece of equipment with a head for mounting a camera. It helps to keep the camera steady during filming and maintains the right angle and height for optimal results. A suitable tripod stand can cost about $170 including shipping.

However, if you don’t have one yet, never fear! You can improvise with a stack of books placed on a desk or a table.

A Microphone

People lose focus when they can’t hear a speaker properly. No matter how good your camera is, without good sound, it will not hold your viewers’ attention.

Aim to own a good external microphone as mobile phones and laptops don’t have very good ones. A good microphone can cost upwards of $150. However, in the meantime, use your phone or laptop microphone. Remember, consistency is key!

I use the Boya BY-MM1 for filming on my camera. Its easy and cheap, great quality sound. I did a deep dive blog into the Boya BY-MM1, its features and how it works, youll be amazed how different microphones work.

Lighting

Lighting can make a great difference to your video. With good lighting, even videos and photos shot from a smartphone can look highly professional. Simple lighting equipment can go for about $110, with the cost rising as the equipment becomes more complex.

If you’re starting out, you probably won’t be able to afford quality lighting. Work on making your videos outside, during the day, as the quality of natural lighting is far better than the lighting in your room.

Video Editing Software

Established YouTubers have professional teams of video editors. Video editing can turn a simple mundane video into a piece of art. You won’t start out with a team of experts, but you can do your video editing yourself using video editing software available online. A good place to start with this is Movavi, an easy to use video editing software that comes with features like color filters, animated transitions, and captions.

I use however use, Adobe Premiere Pro. Its reliable, top of the industry tool with some great, easy to use features. I am not a video editing pro but I can make some great looking videos. The software starts from as little as $10pm and they even offer discounts. Why not check out their website for more details, discounts and deals.

A Screen- Capture Tool

This is software that enables you to take a screenshot of your entire screen or a part of it. If you plan to make how-to videos, this would be a useful investment to make.

A good screen capture tool is Camtasia, which enables you to record an audio as you capture the screen. You can get it at a one-time cost of $249. It also comes as a 30-day free trial. Alternatively, you can use the inbuilt screen-capture feature inn your PC, although the effect won’t quite be the same.

What if I can’t afford to make videos? Or what if I want to have a YouTube channel but I don’t want to use videos of myself? Well, enter Doodly.

Doodly

Depending on the content of your videos, you may not even need a camera, to begin with. For example, if you plan to upload explanatory videos, instead of making a video of yourself talking, you can use video tools.

A good tool you can start with is Doodly. This is a desktop software that allows you to create explainer videos using existing templates that you can suit your needs. It comes with a number of features that can turn you from a YouTube amateur to an expert.

Features that make Doodly an ideal companion for beginners on YouTube include:

Drag and drop- You can add images simply by dragging them onto the application.
Variety- Doodly uses a variety of boards as a background for the function of explaining. You can choose between whiteboard, blackboards, green board, and glass board.
Quality- Doodly offers low to high-quality videos so you don’t have to worry about how your videos look.
User-friendly- Doodly is designed to be used by people with little or no technical knowledge about making videos, so you don’t have to worry about lack of IT or video editing experience.
Voice recording- You can record your own voice while making the video, or upload a pre-recorded voice.
Extensive music and Image Library- Music and images can turn a dull video into a masterpiece. Doodly has a large library of free music and images that you can use to make your video more attractive. You can also add your own images to your video, which Doodly incorporates seamlessly into the presentation.
Different hand styles- Doodly has both right and left-hand styles to cater for everyone.

You can purchase a standard Doodly version for $39 per month with basic features. A yearly plan is cheaper and goes for $20 per month. A more advanced version, Enterprise, goes for $ 69 per month, or $40 per month for a yearly plan.

Reaching Your Audience

You now have basic knowledge of how you can start a YouTube channel. You can make high quality, entertaining and educative videos. How will your audience know about you?

First, you have to link your YouTube channel to all your other social media accounts, so that every time you upload a video it is seen on multiple platforms. As you consistently upload videos, more and more users will see your channel, and YouTube will begin to recommend it frequently.

You can also amplify your visibility on YouTube using Search Engine Optimization Tools. These are tools that increase your chances of getting more views by optimizing your presence online.

Successful YouTubers have made use of these tools to grow their audience and penetrate niches they would never have been able to reach. A good SEO tool you can use for this is TubeBuddy.

TubeBuddy

This is an extension you can add to your browser to help you manage your channel, is used by more than 3 million creators. It enables you to know the trending keywords relevant to your channel and how to maximize their use to amplify your channel visibility. With TubeBuddy you can ‘spy’ on your competitors and learn which keywords they use, search for relevant keywords, and constantly update your channel with the best selection.

Using numerous inbuilt templates and tools, you can also save time spent in publishing your videos. TubeBuddy comes with tools that amplify your channel presence across the web, making you rank higher in search results.

Thumbnails are crucial in getting your video quickly noticed. TubeBuddy has a feature that improves them to make them more appealing. The best thing about TubeBuddy is that it is free.

Conclusion

We have looked at the basic items you need to make a video for YouTube. We’ve seen that you don’t really need much money to start your own channel.

You don’t even need a formal location, like a production studio. You can do this from your basement or any other spare room in the house. We’ve seen why you should have your own channel and even how you can optimize it to increase your views and rank high on search results.

There is no shortage of easy to use tools to help you make professional, appealing videos. If you have your ideas ready and you know who you want to target, there is no reason why you shouldn’t have your own channel.

Investing in the items listed here will only bring you positive results quickly but it’s also possible to start your own channel even if you don’t have these things yet.

Start creating.

Tags how much, how much does youtube cost, income, money, youtube income, youtube money, youtuber

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

How to promote YouTube videos on Facebook

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 15 June 2020
1 Comment on How to promote YouTube videos on Facebook

If you have been creating YouTube videos but not promoting it across other social media channels, you are missing a real trick.

First thing you need to do is go and read about the best places to share your YouTube videos for all of the ideas, and then come back here and we can run through just how important Facebook is to catapulting your YouTube views and traffic.

Why Share YouTube Videos on Facebook?

Why should you be promoting your YouTube videos on Facebook?

Well I think you should be sharing your videos on every social media platform you have! But Facebook is particularly important for several reasons:

6 Billion monthly active users
Leading non video social platform reaching over 60% of internet users
Over £17 Billion earned in ad revenue in Q1 of 2020

Stats source: Orbelo

With those huge ad numbers and high active users you really can’t afford to miss out Facebook in your YouTube promotions, plus the platforms work together in a really effective way making it super easy for you to promote your new content

Native Videos or Embedded Videos

When deciding to share your YouTube video on other social media platforms you need to decide whether you want this to be native or embedded.

Native videos are hosted on that particular platform, for example you would download your video on YouTube and then reupload it to Facebook, so the video is then also hosted on Facebook. This is good for sharing a related video or a shorter promo clip.

Native video uploads will not increase your YouTube views directly but can help you direct traffic to the full video

Embedded Videos are where you are effectively sharing your existing YouTube video to another platform using YouTube share functions. It is still hosted on YouTube so the views you receive from other platforms will increase your YouTube video views

How to embed your YouTube video on Facebook

Embedding your YouTube video on Facebook is really simple here is a quick step by step guide to help you embed your video

Find the YouTube video you want to share and click into the thumbnail, this makes sure you are on YouTube’s distinct URL for that video
Scroll down to directly underneath the video, you will see the thumbs up / down buttons and a share button, click the share button
You should now have a list of social platforms you can share your video to, click the Facebook button
Add any text or captions you want sharing along with your video, this is a good place to explain what the video content is as embedded videos do not auto play so will require someone to click.
Click the blue post to Facebook button and that is it! Your video should now have shared across to Facebook

How to upload a native video to Facebook

Uploading a native video to Facebook is slightly more complicated but it does have it’s pro points too, first of all it’s important to note that it goes against YouTube’s terms of service to use a 3rd party app to download YouTube videos they want you to stream directly from their own servers.

But as you are creating content you will not need to use a 3rd party app because you should already have the video created and saved before you originally uploaded it to YouTube. Here is a quick guide to uploading a native video:

Locate your video file on your computer and check the files format, you want this to be an MP4, if it isn’t already then you can quickly Convert to MP4
Open the Facebook URL or app and find the standard ‘What’s on your mind’ for sharing new content. Directly underneath the text should be a button that says Photo/Video
Click Photo/Video and find the video you want to upload in your files and click open
Add text or a caption to your post, again this is always important it is a way of selling your video to stop the scroll
Finally click the blue post button and voila! You have now uploaded your video directly to Facebook.

Which should I use?

This is a trickier question and entirely depends on what your marketing goals, traffic goals etc might be. There are pros and cons to both video options and direct comparisons too which can help you decide which is right for you

Embedded video links tend to show as a smaller thumbnail whereas a native video will show at the width of the news feed making it more eye catching and noticeable when scrolling through
Auto play only works on native videos, with an embedded video the audience will need to click to get the video to play
Native videos tend to keep users on Facebook, understandably it’s a competitive field in the social media game, so where they can Facebook will keep it’s audience on it’s own platform, this isn’t good for you if you’re trying to increase your views specifically on YouTube in order to hit goals to monetize your channel.
Whether it’s natively uploaded or embedded Facebook posts are not usually crawled by search engines so it’s unlikely to increase organic search traffic, but it obviously does open up your video content to a whole different audience than the YouTube audience
The lifespan of a Facebook video is relatively short in comparison to YouTube where videos can continually perform.

How do I get the benefits of both?

There are pros and cons to both methods of sharing your YouTube videos to Facebook so it’s important you experiment with both methods to get a good feel for your Facebook audience, determine which they prefer and monitor which type of video gains you more views / click throughs.

A good way of getting the benefits of a native video but the YouTube traffic and increased channel views is to utilise both methods. Try full videos for both, but a common method for gaining traction is to create specific promo videos or a sneak peak video for Facebook.

This allows you to share a short video clip natively that will pique interest and make your Facebook audience want to click through and watch the full video on YouTube

Did you know you can also monetize your Facebook Page using your videos, pictures and blog posts? I even made a video about it on my youtube channel – You’ll be amazed how simple it is!

Promo Videos

When creating a promo video use a tool such as Adobe Spark, this allows you to cut video clips and add shorter clips while also adding slides and overlay text to your video.

This promo video can then be shared across your various social media channels with a link through to your YouTube video therefore gaining strong click throughs and increasing your YouTube views and subscriptions.

Promo videos are an excellent way of gaining the right audience, and an audience that will stick around. If they are interested enough to click through to the full YouTube video the likelihood is that the content resonates with them and they are going to watch the full video

How are you sharing your videos?

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

Tags facebook, how to get more views on youtube, promote youtube videos, promote youtube videos on facebook, youtube, youtube promotion, youtube views

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

How to Write a YouTube Title

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 12 June 2020
15 Comments on How to Write a YouTube Title

Creating YouTube videos is easy right?

You just set your camera up and go. But what about gaining the traffic to your video? From a search engine perspective, the title and description of your YouTube video is equally as important as the actual video content.

A professionally written title can be the decision as to whether someone clicks to watch or keeps on scrolling

YouTube categorizes it’s video like any other web page on the internet, each video has its own unique URL and meta tags are created to help search engines like Google categorize your video and make them searchable.

The title of your YouTube video becomes the title tag for search engines. A bad title will mean you will not show up in search engine results and therefore traffic will not find you. A good title will hugely improve your click through rate and traffic.

So how do you write a good YouTube title?

Title Length is crucial

Before you begin creating your title you need to consider that Google truncates titles around the 60-character mark simply due to the pixel width limit. They attempt to truncate at the nearest word break to 60 characters.

What you need to remember in regards to YouTube is that every video that appears in search also contains the phrase “YouTube – “ which uses up roughly 10 characters leaving you 50 characters to play with to create a compelling clickable title

Do your keyword research

Creating your YouTube title will require a small amount of research to make it as successful as possible. To begin this, have a good idea of what keywords you want to include, what words you want your video to appear for on google search.

For example let’s say you’ve created a cookie recipe video you probably want to rank for the words “cookie recipe” plugging that into Google’s Keyword Planner shows that there are roughly 100k – 1M searches a month and a whopping 2642 related keyword searches.

Utilise this to find keywords with low competition, ideally a search between 1k and 10k to begin with as this will be easier to rank for. Use various keyword tools such as Google Trends and Keyword Sh*tter to help you define a title with a distinct identity that you think will rank

A little tip if you do have extra characters remaining is to include the word ‘video’ – this really helps search engines distinguish that your content will contain a video, and in certain niches such as cooking, baking, how to guides many people will search specifically for a video so it can help you rank higher and get high quality click throughs from people intending to watch a video.

Boost your click through rate (CTR) on your YouTube Title

You have a solid idea of the keywords and phrases you want to use in your title, you know how long your title needs to be and you know to add the word video if you have the character space.

Now you need to create the full title that will increase the chances of people clicking into your content.

Include your keyword as close to the beginning of your title as possible, YouTube places more weight on this and therefore your video will appear higher in searches for that phrase and increase the likelihood that searchers are actually looking for the content you’ve created.

For the remaining characters in your title there are other tools such as including a number in your title – this has been proven to increase CTR.

Using emotive language and descriptive adjectives will compliment your keywords and increase the likelihood that your audience will want to click into the video.

One thing you need to avoid is clickbait titles, YouTube has cracked down on this in a huge way if you get a high number of clicks and then drop offs YouTube will assume your title is misleading and viewers are not actually finding what they expected.

It is highly likely YouTube will then bury this video and think twice about recommending your videos to new viewers in the future so play by the rules and keep on the right side of emotive when creating your title.

If you need help with mastering the right keywords, descriptions and tags to help you rank your videos higher on YouTube why not try TubeBuddy and VidIQ – Since I added them to my tool kit I have tripled my channel growth.

Learn from others in your niche

If you are struggling with your YouTube title why not look around your niche?

Plug into YouTube what you think you would search to return your video and take a look at the competition, are the views what you would like on your own video? What about videos that have not performed as well is there something you can learn from their mistakes?

Do not ever directly copy your competitors but I recommend doing this for each video you upload, it’s a good learning exercise on what titles and keywords are working in your niche and what are not

Analyse your YouTube Title

By this point you should have a fully optimized YouTube title of approximately 50 characters, this should contain the keywords you want to rank for and descriptive emotive language around this keyword. Ready to publish? Wait right there. Before you hit publish why not use a Headline Analyser to check over your YouTube Title.

The CoSchedule Headline Analyser is a free tool which is perfect for helping you craft the best YouTube title possible.

The Headline Analyser gives you a whole heap of data to work through, it gives your current headline a score and helps you improve it by explaining which type of words you’re missing with categories of common, uncommon, emotional and power. It also demonstrates a preview for both Google search and Email results to help you craft the best Title.

As you continue creating and crafting YouTube Titles the keywords research should become easier and you’ll start getting analytics results to understand which words and phrases are working well for you and which words you should continue using.

Each niche is different, so it is important for your first few videos you follow the above steps and then combine the advice with your analytics to reach your perfect audience every time

If you need more help with your channel why not check out my resources page where I list all my secret tools and websites I use to super charge my channel growth.

Tags how to write a title, seo, video seo, video titles, youtube seo, youtube video titles

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Do you get paid for YouTube?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 10 June 2020
2 Comments on Do you get paid for YouTube?

Do you get paid for YouTube? Yes — but not just for uploading.

You get paid once you monetise: join the YouTube Partner Programme, then earn through ads and a whole stack of other features. This is the complete 2026 guide — the exact requirements, all ten ways to get paid, real earnings examples, and how YouTube’s pay stacks up against TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform, six Silver Play Buttons and 500+ creators coached. I’ve taken channels from zero to monetised and beyond, so this is the real map, not the hype.

Want a personal plan to get monetised faster? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

YouTube pays you only once you monetise — uploading alone earns nothing.
Two entry points: 500 subscribers for fan funding, 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 watch hours for full ad revenue.
Creators keep 55% of long-form ad revenue, paid via AdSense at a $100 threshold.
There are 10 ways to get paid — and ads are usually the smallest.
Long-form YouTube pays far more per view than TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or X.
The creators who earn a living diversify and treat the channel as a business.

📌 The full guide — jump to any part:

The honest answer
How payment works
Partner Programme rules
10 ways to get paid
How much you earn (examples)
YouTube vs TikTok, FB, IG & X
When you’ll start earning
How to get paid faster
Getting paid & tax (UK)
Realistic expectations
Why applications get rejected
People also ask
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Do you get paid for YouTube?
Yes — but only once you monetise. YouTube doesn’t pay you for uploading; you have to join the YouTube Partner Programme, which you can enter for fan-funding features at 500 subscribers and for full ad revenue at 1,000 subscribers + 4,000 watch hours (or 10M Shorts views). Creators keep 55% of ad revenue, get paid through AdSense, and receive a payout each month once they pass the $100 threshold. Ads are just the start — the real money is in stacking several income streams.

Do You Get Paid for YouTube? The Honest Answer

YouTube is the kingpin of online video — billions of logged-in monthly users, most of them watching on mobile — so it’s no wonder everyone wants a slice. But here’s the truth a lot of beginners miss: you don’t get paid simply for having a channel or uploading videos. Payment only begins when you monetise, and monetising means qualifying for and joining the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP).

The good news? Anyone can do it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a gamer, a fitness creator, a faceless channel, or even under 18 — if your content is original, follows the rules, and hits the thresholds, you can get paid. The rest of this guide shows you exactly how, how much, and how it compares to every other platform.

How Getting Paid on YouTube Actually Works

Once you’re in the Partner Programme, the mechanics are straightforward:

You earn through the platform. Ads run on your videos, viewers send Super Chats, members pay monthly — YouTube tracks it all.
You keep the majority of ad revenue. On long-form videos, creators receive 55% of the ad revenue their videos generate; YouTube keeps 45%.
You’re paid through Google AdSense. You link an AdSense account when you join YPP, and your earnings flow into it.
AdSense pays you monthly — once your balance passes the $100 (or local equivalent) payment threshold, you get paid the following month.

That’s the pipeline: earn on YouTube → tracked in YouTube → paid via AdSense → into your bank once you clear $100. Two concepts underpin how much lands in that pipeline — CPM (what advertisers pay per 1,000 ad impressions) and RPM (what you actually keep per 1,000 views). Learn those two and the money side of YouTube stops being a mystery.

YouTube Partner Programme Requirements (2026)

There are now two tiers to the Partner Programme — and most beginners only know about the second one. The lower tier lets smaller channels start earning through fan funding before they qualify for full ad revenue.

Requirement	Fan-funding tier	Full ad-revenue tier
Subscribers	500	1,000
Public watch hours (12 months)	3,000	4,000
…OR Shorts views (90 days)	3 million	10 million
Recent public uploads	3 in last 90 days	—
Unlocks	Memberships, Super Chat, Super Thanks, Shopping	All of that plus ad revenue

🔍 Every path also requires: no active community-guideline strikes, 2-step verification enabled, a linked AdSense account, living in a country where YPP is available, and full compliance with YouTube’s monetisation policies. Watch hours count only from public long-form videos — Shorts views are tracked separately. For the full breakdown see the 2026 YouTube monetisation requirements and how the Partner Programme really pays.

The 10 Ways to Get Paid on YouTube

Ad revenue is what everyone thinks of — but it’s only the beginning. Here are all ten ways creators actually earn, and the ones that make the real difference sit further down this list. (For the deep dive, see 9 revenue streams beyond AdSense.)

1. Ad Revenue (AdSense)

The classic. Ads run before, during and around your videos, and you keep 55% of what they generate. It scales with views and depends heavily on your niche’s CPM and RPM — a finance channel can out-earn a gaming channel many times over per view. Note that skipped ads generally don’t pay unless watched to the threshold.

2. YouTube Premium Revenue

When a Premium subscriber watches your content ad-free, you still earn — a share of their subscription fee based on how much of your content they watch. It’s passive and adds up. More in do YouTubers get paid for Premium.

3. Channel Memberships

Viewers pay a monthly fee for perks — badges, emoji, members-only content and community. It’s recurring, predictable income and one of the most underrated streams. See building recurring revenue with memberships.

4. Super Chat, Super Thanks & Super Stickers

Fans pay to highlight their messages during live streams (Super Chat/Stickers) or to tip on regular videos (Super Thanks). Brilliant for engaged, live-heavy channels — the tactics are in my Super Chat strategy guide.

5. YouTube Shopping & Merchandise

Sell your own products or a merch line directly from your channel via the Shopping features. Turns an audience into customers without leaving YouTube.

6. Shorts Monetisation

Shorts earn a share of ad revenue from a pooled, views-based system — and 10 million Shorts views in 90 days can even qualify you for full monetisation. See can YouTube Shorts be monetised.

7. Sponsorships & Brand Deals

Often the biggest earner of all. Brands pay you directly to feature their product — no ad thresholds required, and the rates dwarf ad revenue for many creators. You can land these under 10,000 subscribers; learn how to get brand deals and how to price them properly.

8. Affiliate Marketing

Recommend products you use, drop a tracked link in your description, and earn a commission on every sale. Low effort, scales with your audience, and works from day one — no monetisation required. Start with the YouTube affiliate marketing guide, and see how it stacks up in affiliate vs sponsorship.

9. Your Own Products & Services

Courses, coaching, digital downloads, consulting. This is where creators turn an audience into a real business, and the margins beat every platform payout. It’s exactly what a channel like this one is built around.

10. Fan Funding (Patreon & Beyond)

Off-platform memberships and tip jars like Patreon let your most dedicated fans support you directly, often with perks YouTube can’t offer. A great complement to on-platform income.

How Much Do YouTubers Actually Earn? (With Examples)

The honest answer: it varies wildly. Two channels with identical view counts can earn completely different amounts because of niche, audience location and income mix. A few anchors to set expectations:

Factor	Reality
Ad revenue split	Creators keep 55% of long-form ad revenue
Typical long-form RPM	Roughly $2–$10 per 1,000 views (niche-dependent)
Highest-paying niches	Finance, business, tech — often $15+ RPM
Biggest earners overall	Usually sponsorships & own products, not ads

Worked examples: what the same views earn

Because RPM swings so hard by niche, identical view counts produce very different cheques. Rough ad-revenue examples:

100,000 views, gaming niche (RPM ~$3) → roughly $300 in ad revenue.
100,000 views, finance niche (RPM ~$15) → roughly $1,500 — same views, 5× the money.
1,000,000 views, mid-range niche (RPM ~$6) → roughly $6,000 in ad revenue (see what 1M views really makes).
Add it up: a channel doing 200k views a month in a solid niche might make a few hundred in ads — but the same audience can add a sponsorship, affiliate income and a product to reach several thousand.

That’s why niche choice matters so much — see which niches pay the most per view and the full CPM examples breakdown. It’s also worth knowing how many views you need, how many subscribers, and the bigger reality of what percentage of YouTubers actually make money.

YouTube vs TikTok, Facebook, Instagram & X — Which Pays Creators Most?

This is the question every creator eventually asks: is YouTube actually the best place to get paid? For long-form video, YouTube wins comfortably — it pays far more per view and offers the deepest monetisation stack. Here’s how the native creator programmes compare in 2026:

Platform	Rough native pay	Entry requirements	Verdict
YouTube (long-form)	~$2–$10+ RPM, 55% ad share	1,000 subs + 4,000 hrs (or 500 for fan funding)	✅ Highest per view + deepest stack
TikTok (Creator Rewards)	~$0.40–$1.00 per 1,000 qualified views	10k followers + 100k views/30 days, 60s+ videos	⚠️ Low RPM; real money in Shop/deals
Facebook (Content Monetisation)	~$0.02–$0.15 Reels RPM; higher for long in-stream (~55% share)	5k followers + 600k mins viewed/60 days	⚠️ Modest per view; good for older audiences
Instagram	Mostly invite-only bonuses; no broad ad share	Varies (bonuses invite-only; badges/subs)	❌ Little direct pay; brand deals rule
X (Ad Revenue Sharing)	~$8–$12 per million verified impressions	X Premium + 500 verified followers + 5M impressions/3mo	❌ Pennies directly; audience → other channels

A few honest takeaways from those numbers:

YouTube long-form is in a different league per view — and it’s the only one of the five that reliably pays a living from platform revenue alone in the right niche.
Short-form pays little directly. TikTok’s Creator Rewards and Facebook/Instagram Reels are audience-building engines; the money comes from TikTok Shop, brand deals and driving people elsewhere. See can you get paid on TikTok.
X pays pennies for direct revenue sharing — a top-1% account might see tens of dollars a month. The value is the audience, not the payout.
On every platform, the real income is brand deals and your own products — but YouTube gives you the strongest base to build them on, plus you own your audience through search and suggested. For the multi-platform view, see how to make money on social media and blog vs YouTube earnings.

⚠️ Reality check: platform programmes change constantly — TikTok, Meta and X have all overhauled their creator payments in the last two years. Treat every figure here as a 2026 ballpark and confirm the current rules on each platform’s official pages before you build a strategy around them.

Want to get monetised faster — and earn more once you are?

On a free discovery call we’ll map the fastest route to the threshold and the income mix that fits your channel.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

When Will You Start Earning?

There are three gates between you and your first payout:

Hit the thresholds. This is the slow part — building to 500 or 1,000 subscribers and your watch hours. It can take months or a year-plus depending on your niche and consistency (here’s how long it typically takes).
Apply and get reviewed. Once you qualify, apply in YouTube Studio’s Earn section. Review usually takes 2–4 weeks.
Clear the $100 payout threshold. You earn from approval, but AdSense only pays once your balance reaches $100 — then monthly thereafter.

So “when will I start earning?” has two answers: you start earning the moment you’re approved, but money reaches your bank only after you cross $100. For most new channels, the honest bottleneck is step one — getting to the threshold.

How to Get Paid Faster (and Earn More)

The creators who monetise quickly and earn well tend to do the same handful of things:

Pick a niche with intent. Higher-CPM topics and a clear audience earn more per view and attract sponsors.
Obsess over watch time and retention. It’s what gets you to 4,000 hours and what the algorithm rewards.
Diversify early. Add affiliate links and your own offers before you’re even monetised — neither needs YPP.
Be consistent. A reliable schedule compounds; sporadic uploads stall. Start by nailing your first 1,000 subscribers.
Use the right tools. Research and optimisation tools help you find winning topics and hit thresholds faster.

Tool	How it helps you get paid faster	Link
vidIQ	Find high-CPM topics, keywords and title/thumbnail ideas that grow watch time	Try vidIQ free
TubeBuddy	Optimise, test and manage your channel to reach the threshold sooner	Try TubeBuddy

And back it all with a real growth strategy. If you’re in the UK specifically, here’s making money on YouTube in the UK and how many views you need in the UK.

Getting Paid & Tax (UK)

One part beginners forget: YouTube income is taxable. The moment you’re earning, you’re running a small business in HMRC’s eyes. In the UK there’s a £1,000 trading allowance — earn under that in a tax year and you generally don’t need to declare it — but go over and you must register as self-employed and report your income through Self Assessment. Keep records of everything (income and expenses like gear, software and subscriptions) from day one. The full rules are in my HMRC side-hustle tax rules for 2026. Getting paid is the fun part; staying on the right side of the taxman keeps it fun.

Realistic Expectations

Time for some honesty. Most people who start a channel never make meaningful money from it — not because YouTube is rigged, but because they quit before the thresholds, pick a niche with no audience, or rely on ad revenue alone. The creators who do earn a living treat it as a business: they diversify across several of the ten streams above, they pick niches strategically, and they show up consistently for the long haul. YouTube can absolutely pay — even replace a salary — but it’s earned, not automatic. One modern shortcut worth knowing is using AI to make money on YouTube in 2026 to produce faster without cutting corners on quality. Set your expectations right and you’ll outlast the majority who give up.

Why Monetisation Applications Get Rejected

Hitting the numbers doesn’t guarantee approval. Your channel also has to pass a policy and originality review, and applications commonly get rejected for:

Reused or “inauthentic” content — YouTube has tightened its stance on mass-produced, low-effort or heavily-recycled content.
Not enough original value — compilations or reaction content with little added.
Active strikes — copyright or community-guideline strikes on the channel.
Not advertiser-friendly — content that breaks the monetisation policies.

If you’re rejected, you’ll get a general reason by email and can reapply after 30 days. Fix the underlying issue first — reapplying with the same problem just gets rejected again.

Getting Paid on YouTube: FAQ

Do you get paid for YouTube?

Yes, but not automatically. YouTube doesn’t pay you just for uploading — you have to monetise your channel by joining the YouTube Partner Programme and then earning through ads and other features. Once you’re monetised, YouTube pays you a share of ad revenue plus income from memberships, Super Chat, Shopping and more.

How many subscribers do you need to get paid on YouTube?

For fan-funding features you need 500 subscribers plus 3 recent uploads and 3,000 public watch hours (or 3 million Shorts views). For full ad revenue you need 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 public watch hours in 12 months, or 10 million Shorts views in 90 days. All paths also require no strikes, 2-step verification and a linked AdSense account.

How much do YouTubers get paid?

It varies enormously by niche and audience. Creators keep 55% of ad revenue, and long-form RPM (earnings per 1,000 views) typically lands somewhere around $2–$10, though high-value niches like finance can be far higher. So 100,000 views might earn anywhere from roughly $200 to $1,500-plus in ad revenue alone, before sponsorships and other streams.

How does YouTube pay you?

Through Google AdSense. You link an AdSense account when you join the Partner Programme, and YouTube pays your earnings into it. AdSense then pays you monthly, once your balance passes the payment threshold — $100 or your local equivalent.

When will I start earning on YouTube?

You start earning once you’re accepted into the Partner Programme, which takes a review of usually 2–4 weeks after you apply. You then need your AdSense balance to reach $100 before your first payout, so the time to actual money in your account depends on how fast your channel earns.

Can you make a living from YouTube?

Some creators do, but most don’t live on YouTube alone. The ones who earn a full-time income almost always diversify — ad revenue plus sponsorships, memberships, affiliates and their own products or services. Treating the channel as a business with multiple income streams is what turns it into a living.

Do you get paid for YouTube Shorts?

Yes. Once you’re in the Partner Programme, Shorts earn a share of ad revenue from a pooled system based on views. Shorts are also a route into monetisation — 10 million Shorts views in 90 days can qualify you for full ad revenue in place of the 4,000 watch-hours requirement.

Does YouTube pay more than TikTok, Facebook, Instagram or X?

For long-form video, yes — by a wide margin. YouTube’s long-form RPM (roughly $2–$10 and up) dwarfs TikTok’s Creator Rewards (about $0.40–$1.00 per 1,000 qualified views), Facebook Reels (roughly $0.02–$0.15), Instagram (mostly invite-only bonuses, no broad ad share) and X (around $8–$12 per million verified impressions). YouTube also offers the deepest monetisation stack and lets you own your audience.

Do you pay tax on YouTube earnings in the UK?

Yes. YouTube income is taxable. In the UK there’s a £1,000 trading allowance, but earn more than that and you must register with HMRC as self-employed and declare it via Self Assessment. Keep records of your income and expenses from day one.

Why was my YouTube monetisation application rejected?

Common reasons include reused or inauthentic content, not enough original value, community-guideline or copyright strikes, or content that isn’t advertiser-friendly. Meeting the subscriber and watch-time numbers isn’t enough on its own — your channel also has to pass YouTube’s policy and originality review. You can reapply after 30 days.

Final Thoughts

So — do you get paid for YouTube? Yes, and in more ways than most people realise. But the money starts when you monetise, not when you upload, and the creators who really earn from it treat their channel like the business it is: they hit the Partner Programme thresholds, then stack ad revenue on top of memberships, sponsorships, affiliates and their own products. Compared with TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X, YouTube pays the most per view for long-form and gives you the strongest base to build everything else on. Get the foundations right — a strong niche, consistent uploads, growing watch time — and the payment side follows. The platform is ready to pay you. The rest is up to the work you put in.

📚 Keep reading — the YouTube money library:

Turn your channel into an income.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on getting monetised, choosing the right income streams, and building YouTube into a real business.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this guide: Partner Programme thresholds, the revenue split and the payout threshold reflect YouTube’s monetisation rules current at the time of writing (July 2026); confirm the latest in YouTube’s Help Centre and the Creator resources. Cross-platform figures for TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X are 2026 creator-reported ballparks — see Meta’s newsroom and independent creator-economy analysis at Influencer Marketing Hub — and change frequently, so verify on each platform before relying on them. Some links here are affiliate links (rel=”sponsored”) and never change the price you pay.

Tags do you get paid for being on youtube, Do you get paid for YouTube?, do youtubers get paid, how do youtuber get paid, making money, making money online, youtube, YouTube Monetization, youtube money

YOUTUBE

Are YouTube Videos Public Domain?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 10 June 2020
3 Comments on Are YouTube Videos Public Domain?

Is It Legal to Make YouTube Videos from Books?

YouTube has a veritable cornucopia of content available on its platform, with the overwhelming majority of it being created by regular YouTube users, not large corporations. This can often lead to the misconception that content on YouTube is “free”, or in the public domain as it is officially termed. The truth is a little messier than that, but we’ll walk you through everything.

So, are YouTube videos public domain? – This can be a grey area and depends on the copyrights given by the video owner and the age of the content itself. But the quick answer is, no. Most public domain content has no owners or the copyright has expired. Most YouTube content is fairly new works and therefore covered by assumed copyright.

Of course, we’re assuming you’re interested in whether a video is in the public domain because you wish to use the video for something. If that is the case, there are other options to consider.

Now, onto the details!

What is Public Domain?

Public domain is the term used for creative works that have no exclusive intellectual property rights. If you were to use material that is in the public domain, nobody could lawfully claim ownership of your content—though it won’t necessarily stop someone from trying.

Creative work can find itself in the public domain for several reasons. The creator of said work can waive intellectual property rights, for example, and release it into the public domain from the beginning.

There are also certain kinds of works that are simply not allowed to be copyrighted, an example of which being the formulae of Newtonian physics. Many works were created before any meaningful copyright law existed, and so were never protected, to begin with. There was no copyright registry when Shakespeare was writing his plays, for example.

Finally, there is a time factor involved in the passing of intellectual property into the public domain, but this is a little tricky to detail.

Books and Software

For example, any computer software created before 1974 is deemed public domain.

Meanwhile, books typically pass into the public domain a certain amount of years after the author’s death. For America, this term is 95 years; however, it is 70 years for many other countries.

All of this means that for America in 2020, any book published before 1925 is in the public domain. You’re probably starting to see why it’s a little tricky to cover all the bases here.

If you want to learn more about making YouTube videos from books then check out my deep dive blog into what can you and can’t do without getting in trouble.

Music

Moving on to music, there is typically a clear distinction between musical compositions and musical recordings.

Compositions (essentially, the melodies and lyrics) are subject to broadly the same copyright terms as books. This is what led to the infamous case of Warner/Chappell suing people for singing “Happy Birthday to You”. Recordings, on the other hand, can be thought as more akin to property.

If you’ve ever heard of stories like Michael Jackson owning Beatles songs, this is how it was possible. The owner of the recording has the ownership rights of that recording; however, the artist is still free to perform their music, and will typically earn songwriter’s royalties.

But how does this translate to music in the public domain? Well, for the most part, you are free to cover music that is not in the public domain.

You should be aware that anything sounding too close to the original recording will likely get flagged by YouTube’s automatic copyright protection. Still, you won’t actually be doing anything wrong.

Copyrighted recordings, on the other hand, while still subject to an eventual transition to the public domain, have not been around long enough for there to be any public domain recordings. In 2020, the 95-year time limit on copyright extends back to 1925. In 1925, musical recordings were almost entirely classical music, and were still being outsold by sheet music! Some recordings will start going into the public domain in 2021, however.

When it comes to using music in my videos I use LickD. They have a wide range of popular tracks and artists. They have a simple fee system and you pay based on how many views you get on average. There is more information on their website.

Movies

Movies and film, in general, follow the same rules as books, though the terms will vary from country to country.

For America, the term of copyright is once again 95 years, and anything produced before 1925 is automatically considered public domain. That term is rolling, meaning that in 2021, anything created before 1926 will be in the public domain, and so on.

There are several works of film that are in the public domain because the creator has intentionally released their movie that way. Or, in the case of the cult classic, Night of the Living Dead, accidentally released into the public domain as the distributor forgot to file a copyright notice!

Public Domain on YouTube

YouTube does not presently have a means of flagging videos as containing public domain works. As such, there is no clear way to identify public domain content short of going off and researching yourself.

It is important to remember that the descriptions are not always accurate. If someone posts a video claiming it is public domain, and you then use that video and get sued because it is not public domain, the fault will still be with you.

You may be considering using public domain works in your monetized videos, and you have every right to do that. You could post an unmodified public domain work in its entirety on YouTube, and you would not be breaking their terms and conditions or any copyright law. You should be aware, however, that YouTube does have specific other rules in place that could affect you. For example, they have a policy on re-using content.

This essentially prevents people from just reposting existing work and monetizing the video, even if they are legally allowed to use the work.

One example of this would be a music compilation video made up of songs that are in the public domain. Another example would be uploading a public domain film.

The point of this policy is to prevent YouTube from being flooded with opportunistic attempts to make money for little effort. If a video is in the public domain, there is little other reason to post such a video. If you are modifying the video in a significant way, however, you should be safe from YouTube’s policies.

YouTube’s Standard License

We’ve covered what you can do with public domain works, but what about YouTube’s standard license?

From the uploader’s perspective, YouTube’s standard license grants broadcasting rights to YouTube. Basically, this means that the video is only licensed for watching on YouTube, and cannot be reproduced or redistributed without your express consent.

In agreeing to this license, you are also agreeing to YouTube’s terms regarding uploading videos. Still, the most significant factor is that you have control over your video when it comes to other people re-using it.

You will be entirely within your licensing terms to deny—or grant—permission for any use of your video. This applies equally to small individual YouTubers and multi-million dollar media companies.

If you are not the uploader, and you are considering using another YouTuber’s content, you will need to get permission from the uploader unless it is Creative Commons. We’ll get to that shortly.

Now, the reality of the majority of YouTube videos is that using a small sample of another video will not result in any legal action taken against you. For one thing, a small enough sample would be considered fair use, and not worth arguing over for the creator. But also, most YouTube creators cannot afford the expensive legal fees of attempting to sue someone.

If you use significant portions of another YouTuber’s video—or the whole thing—expect to get your video taken down unless you have the permission of the uploader. For larger corporations, such as record labels and media companies, using even a few seconds of their content can be enough to get a video automatically penalized.

For such companies, you are unlikely to get permission, or even a response if you request it, so it would be best to consider that a non-option.

Creative Commons

So, we mentioned that public domain and just grabbing content and hoping for the best weren’t your only options for re-using YouTube video. When a YouTube video is uploaded, the uploader can choose between the standard YouTube license and a Creative Commons license.

There are many variations of the Creative Commons license; however, YouTube only offers one of those variations. This is known as a CC BY license, but what is it?

Let’s start with Creative Commons as a whole. Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that makes sharing and re-using original works and knowledge easy and free. There is a lot to this organization beyond their licenses, but this article is not about Creative Commons, so we’re going to stick the licensing.

By using a Creative Commons license, you have a properly worded, completely legal document that lays out the licensing terms of a given piece of content.

Using this kind of license makes sharing content easier because there is no ambiguity or uncertainty about whether content can be used. The answer is yes; the only question is what is required of the entity using the material.

For example, CC0 is their base-level license, and, practically speaking, is the same as public domain. There are no requirements of compensation or attribution on CC0 works, and there are no restrictions on how you can use it. Other versions of the license do have limitations on how the work can be used, or requirements in order to use it.

Still, we’re only going to go into detail on the license that YouTube allows you to choose.

CC BY License

The CC BY License allows for the sharing, copying, and redistribution of the licensed material in any medium or format. You are free to transform, remix, and add to the material for any purpose, including commercial.

Perhaps most significant is the fact that the creator of the material cannot revoke any of the freedoms you have been granted. This only applies as long as you follow the terms of the license, however.

The only requirements under this license are that you must give credit to the creator, link to the complete license, and make it clear if any changes were made (and what they are). It is also essential that you do not make it appear as though the creator endorses your work.

Another facet of Creative Commons licenses is that you may not place any restrictions on CC BY licensed material. One example of this would be taking CC BY content wholesale and putting it behind a paywall.

The situation regarding using CC BY licensed video (or other content) in your YouTube videos is the same as with public domain. You are free to do so, however, merely finding creative commons works and reposting them will fall afoul of YouTube’s re-use policies. That will almost certainly see your videos disqualified from monetization.

If your content is sufficiently transformative, or if you only include the CC BY content as a relatively small part of your video, you should be fine.

Conclusions

Are YouTube videos public domain? Unfortunately not. At least, most of the time they’re not. The critical thing to remember when considering the use of existing YouTube content—as well as any content on the Internet—is that you need explicit consent in some form from the creator. That is if you want to use that content without running into problems further down the line.

As a general rule, assume that any content for which a large corporation owns the copyright is a no go. It will almost certainly get taken down, and some companies are more litigious than others.

And, remember, if you want to monetize your content, you need to add something to it. You can’t just upload an existing public domain or Creative Commons video. Well, you can, but YouTube will flag it under their re-use policy and disqualify it from monetization. Add something of value for your viewers to the content, and you should be good to go.

And, if you see some recent content that you really want to use in a future video; you can always wait 95 years for the copyright to expire!

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 appeal copyright, copyright, creative commons, public domain, youtube copyright, youtube videos

TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is It Legal to Make YouTube Videos from Books?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 8 June 2020
2 Comments on Is It Legal to Make YouTube Videos from Books?

“This video was taken down due to copyright infringement.” If you make book content — reviews, BookTube, readings, summaries — that’s the sentence that keeps you up at night. So, is it legal to make YouTube videos from books? The short version: talking about a book is usually fine; reproducing the book usually isn’t. This guide explains where the line sits in 2026, in plain English — copyright basics, fair use, what you can and can’t do, and how to stay safe.

⚠️ Important: I’m a YouTube expert, not a lawyer, and this article is general information, not legal advice. Copyright law varies by country and every situation is different. For anything specific — especially if you’ve been accused of infringement — speak to a qualified copyright solicitor or attorney.

The one principle to remember: copyright protects the expression — the actual words the author wrote — not the ideas, facts or your opinions about them. Share your own thoughts freely; reproduce someone else’s words carefully.

Why read this here? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform and six Silver Play Buttons. I’ve helped creators navigate copyright claims and strikes for years, so this is the practical, real-world version of how it plays out on YouTube.

Worried about a claim on your channel? Book a free discovery call.

📌 Jump to a section:

What is copyright?
Can you make videos from books?
What you can & can’t do
Fair use & fair dealing
If you’re accused
How to stay safe
FAQ

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: Is it legal to make YouTube videos from books?
It depends what you do. Reviewing, discussing or critiquing a book in your own words is generally legal — that’s your original content. Reading a copyrighted book aloud, or reproducing large passages, generally isn’t without permission. Public-domain books can be used freely. Fair use and fair dealing can permit limited quotation for criticism and review, but they’re judged case by case — not a blanket free pass. (General information, not legal advice.)

What Is Copyright?

Copyright is the automatic legal protection given to original creative works the moment they’re created — including books. It gives the author (or whoever holds the rights) exclusive control over how their work is copied, distributed, performed and adapted. You don’t have to register it; it exists as soon as the work is written.

Two things are worth understanding. First, copyright protects the author’s expression — the specific words and creative choices — not the underlying ideas, facts or themes. You can discuss the ideas in a book all day; you just can’t reproduce its text. Second, protection lasts a long time — commonly the author’s lifetime plus 70 years in the UK, US and much of the world — after which the work enters the public domain and can be used freely. YouTube’s own copyright resources and the UK government’s copyright guidance are good primers.

So, Can You Make YouTube Videos From Books?

Yes — a great deal of book content is completely legitimate. The whole world of BookTube (channels reviewing, discussing and recommending books) thrives precisely because talking about books is different from reproducing them. When you share your opinion of a novel, break down its themes, recommend your favourites or discuss an author’s career, you’re creating your own original commentary. The book is the subject; the video is yours.

Where it gets risky is when your video reproduces the work itself — reading a copyrighted book aloud, showing pages of text on screen, or copying long passages. That reproduces the author’s expression, which is exactly what copyright protects. The safest book content adds something of your own: analysis, criticism, opinion, humour, education — a transformation, not a copy.

What You Can and Can’t Do (General Guide)

A rough map of common book-content activities. This is general guidance, not a ruling on any specific case — always check your own situation.

Activity	Generally…	Why
Reviewing or critiquing a book	✅ Usually fine	Your own opinion & analysis
Discussing themes, ideas, plot in your words	✅ Usually fine	Ideas aren’t copyrighted
Quoting a short line for review	⚠️ Often OK, keep it minimal	May be fair use / fair dealing
Reading a copyrighted book aloud	❌ Usually not	Reproduces the work
Copying large passages on screen	❌ Usually not	Reproduces the expression
Using a public-domain book	✅ Free to use fully	Copyright has expired

Fair Use and Fair Dealing (In Plain English)

You’ll hear “fair use” thrown around as if it makes anything legal. It doesn’t. Fair use (in the US) and fair dealing (in the UK and many Commonwealth countries) are legal doctrines that can permit limited use of copyrighted material for certain purposes — criticism, review, commentary, news, research and education among them.

In the US, courts weigh four factors: the purpose and character of the use (is it transformative? commercial or educational?), the nature of the original work, how much you used, and the effect on the market for the original. UK fair dealing is narrower — it applies to specific permitted purposes (like criticism and review), and generally requires that the use is really fair and that you acknowledge the source.

The crucial point: fair use and fair dealing are defences, decided case by case — not a checkbox that guarantees you’re safe. Leaning on them means being really transformative, using no more than you need, and crediting the work. When real money or a real dispute is involved, that’s a lawyer’s call, not a rule of thumb.

What Happens If You’re Accused of Infringement?

On YouTube, this usually shows up in one of two ways. A Content ID claim is automated — the system spots matching material and the rights-holder can block, track or monetise your video. It isn’t a penalty on your channel, but it can demonetise or restrict the video. A copyright strike is more serious: a formal legal removal request from a rights-holder. Accumulate three strikes and your channel can be terminated.

If it happens, don’t panic — but don’t ignore it either. Read exactly what’s being claimed. If you really believe your use is permitted (say, a clear review with minimal quotation), YouTube provides dispute and counter-notification processes — but a counter-notification is a legal step with real consequences if you’re wrong, so get advice before firing one off. This is one of those moments where “general information” stops being enough and a copyright solicitor earns their fee.

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How to Make Book Videos Safely

The practical playbook for staying on the right side of the line:

✅ Be transformative. Add your own analysis, criticism, opinion or education — make the video about the book, not a copy of it.

✅ Keep quotation minimal. A short line to illustrate a point is very different from reproducing pages. Less is safer, and always attribute.

✅ Use public-domain works. Classic literature whose copyright has expired is free to read, adapt and build on — see using public-domain content on YouTube.

✅ Get permission or a licence when you want to use more than review allows — many authors and publishers are open to it, especially for promotion.

✅ When in doubt, ask a lawyer. For anything commercial or contested, professional advice is cheaper than a terminated channel.

Need ideas that sidestep the whole problem? Reviews, “best books” lists, author discussions and reading vlogs are all low-risk and popular — my content ideation framework can help you generate dozens. And if books are your niche, my roundup of the 50 best books for freelancers is a ready-made source of review material.

Conclusion

So, is it legal to make YouTube videos from books? For the vast majority of book creators — reviewers, BookTubers, discussion channels — yes, because you’re sharing your own commentary, not reproducing the work. The trouble starts only when a video copies the book itself: reading it aloud, or reproducing substantial text without permission. Stay transformative, quote sparingly, lean on public-domain works, and get advice when real stakes are involved. Do that, and you can build a thriving book channel without ever seeing that dreaded takedown notice.

Books & YouTube Copyright: FAQ

Is it legal to make YouTube videos about books?

Usually, yes — if you’re reviewing, discussing or critiquing a book in your own words, that’s your own original content and is generally allowed. The line is crossed when you reproduce the book itself, such as reading it aloud or copying large passages. Talking about a book is very different, legally, from reproducing it. This is general information, not legal advice.

Can you read a book aloud on YouTube?

Generally not without permission. Reading a copyrighted book aloud reproduces the author’s work, which is one of the rights copyright protects, so it typically requires a licence or the rights-holder’s permission. The main exception is books in the public domain, which anyone can read and use freely. If in doubt, seek permission or legal advice.

Is BookTube legal?

Yes. BookTube — channels that review, discuss and recommend books — is generally legal because creators are sharing their own opinions and analysis, not reproducing the books. Showing a cover, mentioning the title and quoting a short line for review are typically fine. Problems only arise if a video reproduces substantial portions of the text.

What is fair use for books on YouTube?

Fair use (in the US) and fair dealing (in the UK) are legal doctrines that can permit limited use of copyrighted material for purposes like criticism, review, commentary or education. They’re judged case by case on factors such as how transformative the use is, how much you use, and the effect on the market. They’re a defence, not a guarantee, so they don’t automatically make any use legal.

Can you get a copyright strike for a video about a book?

It’s possible if a rights-holder believes you’ve reproduced their work. Reviews and commentary rarely trigger strikes, but reading passages or reproducing text can. YouTube handles this through Content ID claims and copyright strikes; a claim may block or demonetise a video, while repeated strikes can risk your channel. Keeping your content transformative is the best protection.

Can you use public domain books on YouTube?

Yes. Once a book is in the public domain — generally when copyright has expired, which varies by country but is often decades after the author’s death — anyone can use it freely, including reading it in full. Classic literature is a rich, legal source of content. Always confirm a specific work’s public-domain status in your country before relying on it.

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Sources & disclaimer: general copyright principles reference YouTube’s fair use resources and UK government copyright guidance, current at the time of writing (July 2026). This article is general information and not legal advice; copyright law varies by country and changes over time. For your specific situation, consult a qualified copyright lawyer.

Tags book youtube videos, booktube, can i record books in youtube videos, can i use books for youtube videos, canon 200d, copyright, fair use, is it legal, law, legal, reading, youtube copyright, youtube law, youtube videos

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

Are YouTube Tags Important?

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

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, after Google. Over 3 billion searches are processed by YouTube in a month, with up to 500 hours of videos being uploaded every minute.

This means that if you have a YouTube channel and you want to get viewers, you have to work really hard to make sure your video appears at the top, or near the top, of search results.

You may have better content than your competitors but success is not just about working hard. It’s about working smart. In addition to producing quality content, you also have to make sure your channel is visible. With so many people uploading content all the time, this can prove daunting. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.

So do YouTube Tags Matter? – YouTube Tags are a throw back to the old days of Website SEO. Tags used to be used to summarize a web page’s content. YouTube tags are not as important as they used to be BUT can be valuable meta data for smaller channels to help categorize content when they first upload videos.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your content such that the search engine, in this case, YouTube, ranks it as one of the top results in search results.

This makes your video visible and increases the quantity of traffic to your site.

Why is it Important?

According to a State of Inbound report in 2018, 45% of marketers invested more in YouTube that year than in any other channel. This means that for you to attract marketers, you have to attract many users who will actually spend time looking at your content because they are interested in it, and are not just passing through.

This is why SEO for YouTube is important. Different search engines have different optimization techniques and YouTube is no different.

We are interested in YouTube tags here but some other techniques are also worth mentioning because they are related to tags.

Finding Relevant Video Keywords

For you to create content that will attract viewers to your site, you need to know what your audience is interested in and how they talk about it. You can do this by simply typing a keyword in the YouTube search box. As you do so, the autocomplete feature will suggest popular searches related to what you’ve just typed in.

You can also use different tools for this like TubeBuddy and Ubersuggest – Tubebuddy can help you deep dive into keywords and maximize your titles for better breakthroughs – you can download the plugin on their website.

You can also compare how frequently different keywords are used so you can know which keyword is most likely to appear at the top of search results.

A free, accessible tool you can use for this is Google Trends, which has a YouTube search option for specific keywords for YouTube. Once you know what your target audience is interested in, you can then create your content to suit their needs.

Choosing the Title

While your title should communicate what your video is about, it should also grab attention. Use concise, catchy phrases that resonate immediately with your audience.

Remember to incorporate keywords as naturally as possible into your title without deceiving your viewers.

YouTube Video Description

The description helps you expand on what your video is about and enables you to add additional links and information about you.

Like the title, it should be concise and attractive. Keep in mind that while Google allows up to 1000 words in the description, only the first about 100 words will appear above the “show more” link, so you have to make the first part of your description compelling and convince the viewer to look at the rest of your description.

Include relevant keywords here as well.

Using Thumbnails

This is the image that appears with your video. A great video could lose potential views if it has an unappealing thumbnail. A thumbnail is just as important as a title in grabbing and holding attention.

YouTube has auto-generated thumbnail options that you can use, but for better results, a custom thumbnail would be more effective. 90% of the best performing YouTube videos have custom thumbnails.

Note that for you to use a custom thumbnail your channel has to be verified by YouTube.

Putting Your Video in a Category

You can link your video to others with similar content by adding a category to your video in the Advanced Settings.

This increases its chances of winding up in different YouTube playlists and will in turn increase your channel’s visibility. Do some research to see who else is in the category you’ve picked. In addition, check whether your target audience also follows those creators.

Finally, check how the creators in that category make their videos to know whether your content is a good, or better than theirs. The Creators Academy at YouTube takes users through a comprehensive process to help them determine what best category to put their video in.

Renaming Your Video File Using A Target Keyword

Before you upload your video, you can incorporate your top keyword in the video file. Because YouTube won’t actually watch your video to know its content, it will use your keywords, so you want to put them in places they can be detected by YouTube.

This way, the YouTube algorithm will read your keyword in your video’s file name along with the code.

Encouraging Subscription

Make it as easy as possible for your viewers to subscribe to your channel, or to watch similar videos by you by having the option very clearly displayed in the video.

Using Video Tags

Finally, we come to YouTube, or video tags. These are words or phrases which you can use to give more context about your video and let YouTube and your viewers know what your video is about.

Using video tags helps to rank your videos higher in search results. They are thus an important search SEO tool.

Although some studies have shown that tags play a small role in ranking a video, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spend some time on them. For famous celebrities who have constant streams of visitors to their pages, tags may not be necessary.

However, for creators with a niche audience, or who are just starting out on YouTube, tags can effectively boost the ranking of the video, leading to more visitors, which in turn raises the ranking of the video further.

Tags are also important if your name as a creator, or your subject content, constantly gets miss-spelled.

Finally, tags teach YouTube that you belong to a certain category.

This will remove you from the large number of anonymous creators constantly uploading content and place you in a smaller niche which will increase your chances of visibility as there will be less competition in your category.

How to Add Tags to YouTube Videos

Beginning in the channel dashboard, where things like your subscribers and revenue appear. On the left-hand side of the screen, click on settings.

Click on channel below settings. This where your tags are. To add a new tag, click on the white empty space, type something and click enter to make it a new tag.

Now we’ll look at some tips on how you can tag your videos for better visibility on YouTube.

Make Your Primary Keyword Your First Tag

The tags you use have to actually relate to your video, otherwise you’ll be deceiving your viewers.

Therefore, since YouTube pays a lot of attention to your first tag, try as much as possible to have it as your primary keyword.

Use Common Keywords from High Ranking Videos

If you want to know how your keyword ranks online, you can search for your keyword on YouTube. Open the top 3-5 videos that are most closely related to your content.

The videos you pick don’t have to rank at the very top, but they have to be relevant. Check the tags on these videos and pick the ones that most relate to your content.

Having tags similar to top ranking videos will increase your chances of visibility.

If you find it difficult to think of keywords, you can use different online tools to generate keywords. Here are some examples.

Keyword Keg

This tool gives different statistics like search volume, competition, SEO difficulty, trends, keyword power, suggested keywords, off-page, and on-page difficulty.

Once you enter the target keyword these different parameters come up. It also has the option of filtering results according to country and language.

VidIQ

This tool shows keywords related to your target keyword, the related score, the search score, search volume, and overall score, which is a combination of all these.

A powerful plugin that combines productivity tools with deep dive stats to super charge your rankings and views.

VidIQ is creator focused and continues to add and improve its tools including recent add-ons like fast title and description translations to help you rank in foreign languages. You can get their free plugin by going to their website.

Keyword.io

This tool gives you other related keywords once you’ve typed in your target keyword.

In addition to these, it also provides their search volume, trends over the past 12 months, and suggested hashtags and prepositions you can use with your keyword.

Use Keywords with a High Search Volume

Some keywords are more commonly used in search for particular content. Using commonly used keywords for your tags can serve to amplify your visibility to YouTube. Of course, they have to be relevant to what you’re creating.

You can use Ahref’s Keywords Explorer for this. Simply set the search Engine to YouTube and type in some keywords.

The estimated search volume for the month for each keyword will be displayed in percentages in descending order. From the list, you can pick out relevant keywords with substantial search volume.

Use Specific Categories of Tags.

I tackled this is a video before – You can can categorize your tags to get the most out of them.

Video Specific Tags – Your first tag should be very specific and should have the aim of describing exactly what the video is about.

This will directly place you in the niche your target audience are interested in.

Video Category Tags – Your next tag can be slightly broader and describe the category your video falls under. This will relate it to videos that talk about the same thing and will widen the base of your audience.

Your video can then be recommended along with other videos in a similar category, hence increasing your chances of being seen by more people.

Channel Level Tags – Lastly, you should have a tag that directly mentions your name or the name of your channel. This will link your video to other videos you’ve done that may not be related to your current video but will still be of interest to your viewers.

It will introduce your viewers to other work you’ve done.

Use Phrases Instead of Words

Keywords by themselves are important but sometimes they may be so general that they still hide your video in a long list of other related videos. Using a phrase that is more specific to your content together with the keyword increases your chances of standing out.

This is because your video will now be in a less competitive category. For example, instead of just using the word “make-up” for your video, you can use “how to do make-up” instead.

Don’t be too wordy

Although the maximum characters you can use for tags is 500, you don’t have to use all of them.

You don’t want to look spammy. The optimum number of characters, according to Briggsby, is about 200-300.

Be Relevant

The fact that a keyword has a high search volume doesn’t mean it should be used indiscriminately. Use tags that are relevant to your content.

Don’t Be Deceptive

Avoid using unrelated keywords to trick users to view your content. This could actually get your content removed by YouTube. For example, don’t use the names of famous celebrities or brands just to get people to watch your video.

Don’t Place Your Tags in the Video Description

This is another violation of YouTube policy that could get you in trouble as it can be considered as an intention to mislead users.

Tracking Your Progress

Finally, did you know that you can track your ranking in search results?

You can use different tools for this, and you can track your progress and see how the different SEO techniques are working for your channel. This is an important step to see which of your efforts are actually bringing positive results.

In conclusion, tags alone may play a small role in substantially increasing your views, but, when used together with other SEO techniques, can boost your channel’s visibility.

Upload content consistently and see your rankings rise. After all, even famous celebrities started small before they blew up.

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