Category: YOUTUBE

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

How to promote YouTube videos on Facebook

How to promote YouTube videos on Facebook 3

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

How to promote YouTube videos on Facebook 1

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

  1. 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
  2. Scroll down to directly underneath the video, you will see the thumbs up / down buttons and a share button, click the share button
  3. You should now have a list of social platforms you can share your video to, click the Facebook button
  4. 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.
  5. 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:

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Click Photo/Video and find the video you want to upload in your files and click open
  4. 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
  5. Finally click the blue post button and voila! You have now uploaded your video directly to Facebook.

How to promote YouTube videos on Facebook 2

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.

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.

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

How to Write a YouTube Title

How to Write a YouTube Title 2

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?

How to Write a 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.

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HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Do you get paid for YouTube?

Do you get paid for YouTube? 2

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.

⚡ 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:

  1. 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).
  2. Apply and get reviewed. Once you qualify, apply in YouTube Studio’s Earn section. Review usually takes 2–4 weeks.
  3. 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.

People Also Ask

Do you get paid for YouTube views?

Not directly for views themselves — you’re paid for the ads shown against those views, so a view with no ad (or a skipped one) may earn nothing while a view with a watched ad earns its share. That’s why RPM (earnings per 1,000 views) matters more than the raw view count.

Do small YouTubers get paid?

Yes — once you cross the thresholds. A small channel in a high-CPM niche with an engaged audience can out-earn a much bigger channel in a low-value niche, especially when it layers in sponsorships and affiliates. Size helps, but niche and income mix matter more.

How much does YouTube pay per 1,000 views?

For long-form, expect a creator RPM of roughly $2–$10 per 1,000 views in most niches, and $15+ in premium niches like finance. Shorts pay far less per view. Remember you keep 55% of the ad revenue your videos generate.

Can you get paid on YouTube without making videos?

Not through the Partner Programme, which requires your own original content. But affiliate links and selling your own products can earn from a channel regardless of size — and faceless formats mean you never have to appear on camera.

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.

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.
Categories
YOUTUBE

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.

Is It Legal to Make YouTube Videos from Books? 2

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.

Are YouTube Videos Public Domain?

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.

Are YouTube Videos Public Domain? 1

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.

Are YouTube Videos Public Domain? 3

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.

Are YouTube Videos Public Domain? 2

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.

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.

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TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Is It Legal to Make YouTube Videos from Books?

Is It Legal to Make YouTube Videos from Books? 4

“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.

⚡ 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.)

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.

Building a book or review channel the right way?

On a free discovery call we’ll plan content that grows fast and stays on the right side of the rules.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

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.

Build your book channel with confidence.

A free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on growing a channel that’s both popular and safe — no takedown surprises.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

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

Are YouTube Tags Important?

Are YouTube Tags Important?

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.

how to pick a blog niche

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.

google analytics for blogs

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.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 3

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, Free Browser Plugin, VidIQ Free, VidIQ Hack, VidIQ Boost

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.

YouTube SEO

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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How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways)

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 23

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about videos; I’d say they are worth a trillion words.”

You cannot deny it anymore; videos are now everywhere and video marketing is on the rise. It has grown even more prominently than just a few years ago and is convenient for brands to reach their customers.

You can argue that popular social media sites like Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter, and others are good places to promote your content, but the truth is YouTube reigns supreme. People spend trillions of hours every day looking at videos.

I’m going to share with you 30+ proven tactics, tips, tricks, and hacks that are going to help you grow your YouTube channel.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways)

Know Your Audience

One of the first things to do before you go about making your videos is to know what your audience, viewers, or customers want. You should be asking yourself questions.

Asking questions will help you to understand and make better videos for your audience, customers, consumers, or viewers.

Keywords & Research

Now that you’ve had a chance to know their requirements, you can start with subject / content research and gather keywords. When YouTube is concerned, keyword research is important. I cannot stress this enough.

Choosing the CORRECT keywords skyrockets your videos to the top. Choosing the WRONG keywords buries in heaps of search results.

Engaging Titles

This is another one of the important factors that make-or-break your YouTube video’s popularity. Literally, titles are what makes or breaks your video’s engagement and performance.

You have to craft engaging titles and grab your viewer’s attention without using “clickbait” headlines. People want entertaining content, and not one that says something but delivers something else.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 3

Trailers, Trailers, Trailers

Before you run off and make your first YouTube video, create a video introducing yourself, your brand, and what your channel is about. This is a mini trailer to show to non-subscribers and persuade them to stick about and even subscribe to your content.

Need help with make a good trailer? I make a video all about that on my YouTube channel – check it here.

Content – Quality, Reformatting, Sustainability, Trending

Rule #1 – Quality, Quality, Quality; Content, Content, Content

Rule #2 – Read Rule #1 Period.

You know your audience, done your research, and have gotten that optimized video title, but now what? Now, you start to form the content of your videos.

If your video is not what people want, they’ll be lost in the infinite sea of other videos that nobody wants to see.

You have to create content that lures viewers, meaning videos on trending content. You can also repurpose an old article or blog post and create an engaging video your viewers will love.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 5

Make Eye Catching Thumbnails

YouTube grabs a screenshot of your videos and uses these as thumbnails. Most times the image is blurry or you do not want this. Use specific fonts and styles so that it’s consistent with your brand’s look and feel. Use tools like Canva to create thumbnails.

Also, don’t make thumbnail to clickbait. You’ll lose subscribers in an instant. Thumbnails give a good first impression to your viewers of you and your channel, so make it eye-catching.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 6

Put Yourself On Camera

Are you running your YouTube channel yourself or as a small business or start-up, then it’s better to put yourself in front of the camera. Putting a face to the brand lets your viewers easily associate with you.

This is particularly true for solo entrepreneurs; business, fitness, or life coaches; and bloggers. Also, use your photo instead of your logo on your YouTube channel if you are one of the above.

Win The Click

If your video is based on a project, show the final result at the start. A stunning result makes people more interested to see how you achieved it. This is a winner for makeover, beauty, home improvement, and DIY videos.

Telling stories is another fabulous way to tempt your viewers’ emotions. We all want to hear stories.

Viewers want to know what happens at the end of a story, so start with one.

Also, a personal story will endear you to your viewers.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 8

Upload Videos Consistently

Just making videos with great content and then not doing it anymore is not enough. You have to be sustainable, meaning you have to do it regularly.

Doing it once is GOOD, doing it again is GREAT, but doing it again and again is FANTASTIC for you (brand or otherwise) and your viewers.

Stay Focused

AVOID nonsense and ramblings, don’t take long pauses, jump around topics, or be boring. This makes your viewers look at the recommended video section for interesting stuff. Make sure your videos are engaging visually or use stories.

Do not give your audience a chance to click away.

Engage Your Audience

Make sure the content you make is what your viewer wants. Ask your viewers for suggestions. You need to engage your subscribers and reply to their queries and comments on your videos.

Don’t forget to reply to negative comments also. It shows you are listening and active. You can use this to convert your audience into possible leads.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 10

Brand Yourself and Your Channel

Don’t make your video look fake as this affects your viewers’ perception of your channel and you. Also, make sure your channel is visually appealing. You have to make it look authoritative. Branding a channel helps users to recognize it in a sea of content.

Be sure to match your channel to your website or blog’s look and feel; do not differentiate between them.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 11

Cross Promote Your Videos

Cross promoting make you look more professional and uniform. You don’t know the subscribers you’ll get just by promoting on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, etc

Use the following tips to cross promote on social media:

  • Make and promote teasers
  • Release behind the scenes videos.
  • Alert your subscribers to new video uploads
  • Links in video description to nudge viewers to take a look (call-to-action)

End Screens and Info Cards

You might be thinking what is a Card? It is nothing but an interactive “panel” that slides in and out as your video is nearing the end. This is to nudge viewers with interesting content that they might like.

You’ll be able to add 5 panels, make the most of this. You can add text, images, or clickable links.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 13

Subscribers, Subscriptions & Newsletters

Use your site’s email newsletter to grow your channel. Send embedded preview videos or links to new content and bring them back to your channel. You can always ask your audience to subscribe to your channel.

Do not ever pay for subscribers. This brings down the engagement and your authenticity is at risk in the long term.

End Screen Promotions

Use interactive graphics to link to another playlist, video, web page, or channel, or prompt them to subscribe to your channel.

You’ll be able to add them at then end 20 seconds of the videos. Plan this out, and make sure you know where they will appear.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 15

Chase Trends

Check out your competitors and see which videos are ranking higher with better engagement. Keep checking out and refining the topics and workflow until you have a process that is well-oiled.

There isn’t any replacement for hard work. Always search for patterns like subject, editing style, or delivery system and create videos like those.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 16

Improve Your “Watch Time”

Make your video as long as your topic requires. Nowadays, longer videos result in more watch time. This boosts your videos in YouTube’s algorithm.

Do not make videos longer just to make them longer. You will lose viewers. Generally, 7-15 minute videos perform better.

Content Mix Strategy

Always try to make videos that serve you channel’s community, perform well in search, and are shareable. You can post regular videos for your product, service, brand, or other things.

You need to mix the types of videos as well.

Along with the regular ones you can have videos that contain responding to comments, answering questions, interacting via live video as well.

Make Bingeable Videos Series

Make a video series so you can convert one time viewers into subscribers. Find specific keywords or topics and optimize your content for search.

These help you in establishing yourself as a thought leader or an influencer.

Creator and Brand Collaborations

Collaborating with another YouTuber will help you grow your channel as it helps in doubling your audience.

You will have two channel’s subscribers seeing your videos meaning more subscribers, viewers, and reach. Collaborate with guests or co-hosts that fit your niche only.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 20

YouTube Video Optimization

Don’t only do SEO for your site, blogs, or articles. Use it to rank your videos on YouTube.

To get subscribers and growing your channel, you need SEO. YouTube results actually pop-up before other traditional blogs, articles, or websites.

Some fantastic tools for YouTube SEO are TubeBuddy and VidIQ – They help with keyword research, ranking and even your thumbnails – check out my resource page for more tools to help with SEO & Branding.

Search Engine Results Page (SERPs)

YouTube is making a killing when SEO is concerned. You shouldn’t just create videos for search engines and not people.

Do how-to’s, product reviews, and long-form (7-15+ minute) videos covering specific topics to rank higher.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 19

Giveaways and Contests

Hosting giveaways is a one of the quickest ways to gain subscribers. Base your giveaway on your channel’s niche.

YouTube viewers love giveaways. Host giveaways or contests and encourage people to subscribe and engage with your channel.

Embed Your Videos

YouTube does not give you options to promote videos. This is why you need to have a website. Make a detailed blog or article that coincides with your channel and gives people the ability read, watch, or do both.

Embed your videos in your website or blog post and promote it to your email subscribers. Add a video widget to your blog post or website as well.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 21

Creating, Organizing, & Promoting Your Playlists

With the increase in videos you’ll create, people will find it more difficult to navigate your channel.

This is why playlists are critical. Playlists allow you categorise and organize your channel. This allows your viewers to binge watch all videos in that category increasing watch time.

Be Interactive – Go Live!

This is a great option to boost engagement without spending much time. Live-streaming does have a learning curve. After you have learned it properly, it is the easiest way of creating video content. On YouTube, live-streaming is called YouTube Live.

It provides splendid engagement opportunities as you can communicate directly with your viewers. You can so some live streams on topics such as Q&A Sessions, Webinars, Tutorials, Product Demonstrations, etc

Should I Try Paid Adverting?

Just using organic growth is good, but you’ll have to add paid promotion at one time or the other to speed things up. Create an ad campaign and help drive subscribers and viewers to your page.

This is similar to Facebook Ads, but is tailored towards YouTube.

Deep Dive Into The Community

Other than promoting your videos to grow your channel, you need to be active in the community. This allows you to get feedback, network, and share interests with people having the same goals.

Attend events like Content Marketing World or VidCon and meet other creators like yourself and promote your videos.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 22

Analytics, Analytics, Analytics & There’s Data Too

YouTube’s analytics and reports are crucial to your success. Your analytics are tailored to your channel and provides an opportunity for you to improve.

Do not stay away from analytic because it feels overwhelming. If you avoid it, it will not help you to understand it.

Publish to Social Media

Last, but not least is publishing to social media and promoting the hell out of it. This is no secret that video kills it with engagement and boosting performance in terms on social media.

Regularly promote your channel and videos to your followers and encourage them to become subscribers.

As soon as you upload your video, let your followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn know. Create previews or snippets for each social media platform and link it to an accompanying blog post or article on your website.

Conclusion

Driving participation using quality content is what makes up for engaged followers who advocate your brand to others. Always be true to yourself and your brand, and be in constant communication with your viewers.

Develop quality content, make thumbnails to grab viewer’s attention, deliver as promised, start videos using a strong hook, and keep things interesting. Overall, you’re creating an experience to keep your viewers’ engaged.

Did you like my post on “How to grow a YouTube channel?” Did you try any of these in your videos? What results did you get?

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big mistake!

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

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

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

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

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

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

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

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

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

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

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

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

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

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

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

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

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

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

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How To Make A Playlist on YouTube & Why? (with Pictures)

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube & Why? (with Pictures) 3

You have a collection of videos you really, really love, and you wanna put into a YouTube playlist. Maybe it’s music, maybe it’s videos for you to watch later. That’s what we’ll talk about today, how to make a YouTube playlist.

How do you make a playlist on YouTube? – There are 3 main ways to make a playlist on YouTube. Channel Dashboard Menu, Mass Adding from Content Page or adding videos from the Video Watch Page.

Channel Dashboard

To make a new playlist from the YouTube Studio Dashboard – Go to your channel dashboard and on the right hand menu click playlist.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube

Click New Playlist, give it a title and pick if it is public, unlisted or private.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube 1

Fill in the description, and then start adding videos from the watch page or your video library.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube 2

Mass Add Videos

This is the fastest method for adding your own videos into a new playlist.

Go your creator dashboard, videos page, tick the boxes of the videos you want to add to a playlist.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube (with Pictures)

You will now see a black bar at the top of the videos page with the option to add to playlist. You can select existing playlists or click “New Playlist”.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube (with Pictures) 1

When clicking “New Playlist” you will have the option to add a title and set the viability – public, unlisted or private –  and the videos selected will be automatically added to that new playlist.

Video Watch Page

If you are looking to start a playlist from a video you have just watched this is the fastest way to make a new playlist.

Go to the video you want to watch and click the “Save +” option from under the video.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube (with Pictures) 2

It will then give you the option to add to existing playlists, the Watch Later queue, or to “Create Playlist”.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube (with Pictures) 3

You will now have the option to name the new playlist and set its privacy setting – public, unlisted or private.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube (with Pictures) 4

What is a YouTube playlist?

A YouTube playlist groups videos together. These videos could be created by you or someone else on YouTube. You don’t have to be a creator to make playlists – it’s a way to organize videos with similar characteristics, or as a reminder for later.

Maybe you want to make a playlist of your favourite music videos, or a audio track list to study to. Everyone is used to the idea of a music playlist, so a video playlist is a curation in the similar vein but with more visual elements.

For example – Maybe you really love films and you want to keep an eye out for the up coming movies you want to catch in the cinema by collecting movie trailers in a playlist.

Alternatively, you admire a specific business leader and you want to curate a playlist of motivational quotes, speeches and interviews they have on YouTube.

And importantly – If you are a YouTube creator a YouTube playlist is a good way to group similar content together to help your subscribers discover related videos. That way they are more likely to binge on the playlist, video after video, in a more organic passive manner rather than manually clicking and searching for the next clip.

In a nutshell, playlists make it easy for viewers to find the videos they want to watch – with a few simple clicks, videos are saved and sorted.

Why Make YouTube Playlists?

YouTube as a platform is growing at an alarming rate.

Did you know YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine on the internet?

In fact it is the 2nd largest search engine on the internet and is owned by the LARGEST search engine on the internet – Google!

That means you are constantly swimming into an ever increasing river of new content, videos, articles, songs, channels, influences, tv shows, game trailers and opinions.

The best way to use this huge library of content is to either curate what you love for yourself, or as a creator help curate your content for others.

Here are 4 reasons to make playlists on YouTube…

1. Boost Your Chances Of Being Found

Did you know that Playlist rank in YouTube search results? That’s right its not just videos that you can find in search but well titled and optimized playlists too!

In fact YouTube now have an automated system that has started to group videos into “mix” playlists. These are based on genres, creators, topics and your viewing habits.

And you know if YouTube is automating something – that’s a hint that they find it useful to boost watch time and to grow a brand. So why not give YouTube a hand and start grouping them together yourself!

Creating playlists with a strong focus on keywords gives your channel (and your videos!) more opportunities for exposure to YouTube users.

If no one can find your video, it doesn’t matter how fabulous your content is – you’ll still be missing out on the opportunities a YouTube channel provides.

2. Binge-able Content For Your Subscribers

Playlists can be pinned to your channel home page to make it look active and full of videos.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube & Why? (with Pictures)

Think of this like a super market shelf. When you go shopping you look at the shelves and they give you options to choose from. This means you can select what product makes you happy and suits your needs.

In this case I have a few playlists on my home page that group my content together in a theme.

This give my audience a choice of what they want to learn from me and what content they wish to consume – Business, YouTube Hacks, YouTube Feature Tutorials, Personal Vlogs etc

When you first start creating your YouTube channel, this home page is empty and only displays your latest videos and a collection of playlists.

This can look ugly and doesn’t maximise the potential your content has to draw in new viewers or even to start a binge watch session.

You can customise this channel homepage by activating the YouTube Custom Channel Layout.

3. Make It Easy For People To Find Your Videos

I have made 3 videos a week, every week for nearly 3 years. This means I have a large back catalog of videos that people will love but might find it hard to sift through and find.

That is where a playlist can help!

YouTube Video Playlists can be a great way to curate the viewing experience and help them locate your topics faster.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube & Why? (with Pictures) 1

On my channel I teach YouTube tricks and tips, making money from YouTube, how to get more views – and many other related topics.

However, someone who is looking to learn how to add end screens to YouTube videos might not want to watch a 17 minute deep dive into How to improve YouTube video CPM.

Playlists can help funnel your audience into a better viewing experience.

I split my 480+ videos into playlists that are 8-15 videos long at most. That way people can get a collection of related videos that all answer a similar question and make them binge-able for the viewer.

For example – Maybe you found my video about “How to use YouTube to Grow A Business” and would like to learn about youtube affiliate income, how to get brand deals and how to boost video cpm. I can put all of these videos into a playlist and it encourages the viewer to sit down with a cup of tea, a notepad and watch for 3-4 videos longer than just a single video on its own.

4. Playlists Are Content!

Anybody who has started a YouTube has heard the the old mantra that “the more you post the more views you will get” – “you can only grow if you publish regularly”.

There is something in this but its not a hard and fast rule!

ALSO… there is a sneaky trick that could help you pad out how many pieces of “content” you make on YouTube.

How To Make A Playlist on YouTube & Why? (with Pictures) 2

Did you know that the only why YouTube can see you have made new content is by a new content id? What that means is that jumble of letters and numbers.

But when you make a Playlist that also makes a new content id – so you do not have to crank out video are to video to make content for YouTube to eat. Playlists will also give signals to YouTube that you are still active and something else for them to rank.

Make YouTube Playlists on Mobile

You can also make playlists while on the go. This can be a good way to save ideas, make a travel playlist or build out something to binge watch while you are out the house… or on the toilet (hiding from your 4 year old who won’t give you 5 minutes to yourself).

If you need help with making playlists on your mobile device then check out the video below.

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Best 4K Video Settings for YouTube [Adobe Premiere Pro]

Best Settings To Export 4K Video for YouTube Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 1

Faster, easier to worth with and smaller files in Adobe Premiere Pro with these 4K Export Settings! 

Today we are going to deep dive into what 4K video is, why it’s slowly replacing 1080p and what settings to use to make it painless to use!

Just because you’re shooting in 4K, that doesn’t mean you have to work in 4K. For many projects, 1080p is good enough.

The benefit of shooting in 4K is a quadrupled resolution, allowing you to zoom in cleanly since you have a much better source video to work with.

This is perfect for cutting to close-ups, effectively eliminating jump-cuts from your finished product entirely.

This effect can commonly be seen in single-camera interviews, where the perspective shifts between a wide full-body shot and a close-up shot of the interviewee talking. Pull it off well and it can be used for dramatic effect to add emphasis and connect better with the subject.

Even if your end product will be 1080p, shooting 4K will deliver a higher quality down-sampled image.

Capturing four times the amount of information you need won’t produce an image that’s four times better looking, but the end result will be noticeably sharper.

Best Settings To Export 4K Video for YouTube Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 3

You’ll also reduce the chance of color banding, since most cameras record 4K at a higher bitrate. That means more color detail is captured, which will vastly improve gradual changes, like deep blue skies or other solid colors.

Sometimes the camera makes all the difference. Many modern mirrorless, digital SLR, and cinema cameras shoot 4K using larger sensors, effectively down-sampling a 6K or 8K image to 4K (like the relatively cheap Sony a6300, above). The Panasonic GH5 even does 6K video and 4K video at a bit-rate of 400 megabits-per-second.

Yes, there are many 1080p cameras that will shoot better HD footage than a cheap 4K camera.

What Is 4K? Do I need 4K Video?

We hear the word 4K every day in several places such as on youtube picture quality, gaming, in the specification of electronic devices like cameras, television, laptop, etc.

But what did this term mean? 4K means a digital resolution of approximately 4000 pixels; there are several different resolutions in 4K. 4K aka UHD (Ultra-high Definition), has a standard resolution as a 4K digital television of 3840*2160 with narrow borders, or 4096*2160 without borders – as popular in movies.

The picture quality of 4K content is very sharp, colorful, and professional; 4k quality enhances the user experience. It highlights every detail of the videos, let us have a quick eye on some of the advantages and disadvantages of 4K picture quality.

4K YouTube Videos vs 1080p YouTube Videos

4K is known as Ultra High Definition (UHD), whilst 1080P is simply labelled High Definition. As their names imply, 4K UHD has a considerably higher resolution than 1080P HD video. 4K resolution is exactly 3840 x 2160 pixels, whilst 1080P consists of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Best Settings To Export 4K Video for YouTube Adobe Premiere Pro 2020 2

The 4K designation refers to the close to 4000 horizontal pixels. Traditionally, resolution had been labelled according to vertical pixels and in the case of 1080P, 1080 vertical lines make up that high definition resolution. By comparison, 4K features 2160 pixels vertically; a considerable increase.

At an aspect ratio of 16:9, 4K contains almost four times the number of pixels on a screen compared with 1080P technology – more than eight million pixels for 4K and just two million pixels for 1080P.

This massive difference brings about some important advantages for 4K when one compares it to the quality of a 1080P video.

 

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.

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Crazy YouTube Stats : Views, Money, Users, Traffic & more!

Crazy YouTube Stats : Views, Money, Users, Traffic & more!

I was searching for something on the Internet and I casually saw a video of it on YouTube. It was then that it hit me. YouTube has been around for 15 years, can you actually believe that?

Each day more than a billion hours of content is being watched by people that generates billions of video views. 5 billion of the world’s population has mobile devices and this constitutes about 70% of the website’s watch time.

It was founded on February 14, 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim all ex-PayPal employees. They funded it with the incentives they received when eBay bought PayPal. It was later acquired by Google for a cool $1.65 billion on October 9, 2006.

Let me provide you with a perspective on what this social multimedia platform has unleashed on us within the last 15 years. Below, I’m going to provide you with some of the best figures, facts, and statistics gathered from around the web about YouTube.

youtube stats infographic

General Stats About YouTube

  • There are over 2 billion monthly regular users
  • It is the world’s 2nd biggest Search Engine
  • 37% of mobile global web traffic
  • Mobile constitutes 70% of watch time
  • Localized for 100 countries in 80 languages
  • 60% of people favour watching online videos to live TV
  • 51% people visit the website daily.
  • 600 hours of content uploaded every minute.
  • 1 billion hours worth of content is watched each day.
  • People watch videos for entertainment and relaxation.
  • 79% of internet traffic accounted by online videos.

Summary: By looking at the above information you can see that not only is YouTube a very popular video platform, but it commands 51% of all visitor traffic and 37% of mobile web traffic globally.

In 2019, 600 hours of videos got uploaded every minute. This is a substantial increase in the video content consumption cravings for web users.

Videos tagged as music, entertainment, people and blogs were the ones to collect the greatest view shares in 2018. In recent years user-made content made some of the significant Internet buzzes.

YouTube started as a medium for original videos. It set up a new creative category for content makers drawing huge viewers to their screens and they subsequently became celebrities themselves. The site’s other chief approach is providing corporate media like official music videos that goes viral within hours and reaches 200-300 million views in a few days.

Crazy Stats about YouTube

YouTube Demographics Stats

  • The website’s videos reach to a greater degree 18/19-year-olds than any TV network.
  • For millennials, it makes-up for about 67% of all video online activity.
  • 2/3rd of the millennials use the website to search and find instructional videos on any topic or niche that you can think of.
  • YouTube also appeals across various age groups in US.
    1. 81% for 15-25 years, 71% for 26-35 years, 67% for 36-45 years, 66% for 46-55 years, 58% for 56 and older
  • It reaches 90% of US families earning over $100,000 in income annually.
  • During a normal month, YouTube will reach 95% of web users over the age of 55.
  • More than 50% of the viewers are female

Summary: Looking at these numbers, it is no surprise YouTube is a jumping-off point for influencers. It is also a mighty income-generating machine for Google and parent Alphabet.

In 2019, it produced ad revenues of about $15.15 million globally. This accounts for roughly 9.4% of Google’s annual gross revenues. Brands and companies are devising ways to profit from YouTube’s huge audience, and have now begun to upload videos to their brand channels. In the US alone, Hulu, Target, and Samsung are some of the top advertisers on YouTube with regards to display ads, launching skippable videos, impressions, and other formats.

YouTube advertising is expensive when comparing social media networks, but it pays off. This is why brands and companies expect to see an increase in YouTube usage for ads in the coming years.

google analytics for blogs

YouTube Marketing Stats

  • It is the 2nd most watched website to upload videos for businesses.
  • It is the 3rd most watched network for marketing influencer videos.
  • 2/3 shoppers mention videos as an inspiration of purchase decisions
    • 90% of these consumers discover something new by using YouTube.
  • About 1/2 half of the marketers have invested in YouTube advertising.
  • A YouTube mobile ad will engage viewers 84% more when compared with TV ads.
  • Users have viewed more than 50,000 years worth of product reviews since 2016.
  • Users are 3X more likely to view a video tutorial than read the steps to do it.
  • 80% of customers who viewed video for purchase ideas said they did that at the start of their customer journey.
  • The amount of SMBs promoting on the site has doubled since 2016.
  • Comparing digital channels, YouTube is the 2nd-most influential for purchases.

Summary: You have a lot to grasp here. I’ll start from the top. Regarding businesses, it is the 2nd most watched website to upload videos. Facebook, on the other hand, is still the king. For best results, I’d recommend uploading on both networks.

I would advise you to analyse your audience information. Even if it seems everybody on the Internet uses both platforms, you have a great chance of attracting unique visitors for each. If you are able to optimize your videos on both video-sharing networks, you will draw in a consistent flow of qualified leads.

Crazy Stats about YouTube 1

YouTube Traffic Stats

  • 4 billion videos are seen each day everyday
  • More than 800 million unique visitors every month
  • More than 3 billion hours of video watched every month
  • What the major 3 US broadcasters produced in 60 years is uploaded in a month
  • 70% of website traffic comes from outside the US
  • It is localized in 100+ countries and across 80+ languages

Summary: Looks like a lot of traffic for a video sharing website and still there are no traffic jams. All of this is feasible because of the ease with which videos can be uploaded, tagged, and marketed to people. This is also possible because the uploaded content can be easily searched making it the second biggest search engine after Google.

Data, data, data is the only thing I will say here. Optimize your content based on the latest trends that prevalent online and it will become viral.

YouTube Partner Program Stats

  • YouTube partner program was created in 2007
  • Has over 30,000+ partners from 27 countries globally
  • The company pays millions of dollars every year to its partners
  • Thousands of partners make six figure incomes each year
  • Partner revenues have doubled for four straight years
  • There’s now more than a million YouTube Partner Program members

Crazy Stats about YouTube 2

Summary: YouTube’s Partner Program (YPP) gives creators better access to YouTube’s features and resources. You get access to the Creator Support Teams, Copyright Match Tool, and monetization features.

To be eligible for the YPP, you’ll have live in a region or country where it’s available, have over 4,000 public valid watch hours in the past 12 months, over 1,000 subscribers, and have a linked valid AdSense account. The YPP provides you with the necessary tools and features to monetize and promote your account.

YouTube Money Stats

  • More than 3 billion video views are monetized globally every week
  • AdAge’s Top 98 out of 100 advertisers have run ads on Google’s Display Network and YouTube
  • Thousands of advertisers are using TrueView in-stream ads
  • 60% of TrueView in-stream ads can now be skipped

Summary: The first ads on YouTube appeared in August 2007. Nonetheless, YouTube is secretive about ad revenue. It is crucial to remember that most channels are monetized through AdSense earnings.

The more famous your channel is, you’ll have a wider range of money-making methods available to you. You can command significant sums of money from endorsements, sponsorship, product placements, and other merchandise.

YouTube Product Metrics

  • There is more HD content available than any other online video website
  • You can view thousands of full-length motion pictures on YouTube
  • 10% of all YouTube videos are available in HD
  • YouTube mobile received more than 600 million views each day
  • 70% of the total views comes from mobile devices
  • Mobile ads are more likely to be watched than TV ads by 84%
  • In 2019, content creators posted more than 50,000 videos using “Day in the Life” in their titles
  • Average durations of top viral videos in 2019 compared to 2010 were over 9.5X longer.

Summary: These above stats just prove how powerful the platform really is. Although, you will get all types of videos, more and more videos are being uploaded in HD.

YouTube is ideal to reach a young audience but it also engages viewers across all age groups.

You should add YouTube Live to your content strategy as many people are not looking forward to seeing live videos.

Final Verdict

These are really crazy numbers. If you are just a simple YouTube viewer who wants to know the stats behind these online videos, I hope the above stats have impressed you.

Many of us use YouTube’s app or website daily. From the above data points it is clear that it is an integral part of our lives.

I have covered the basics here, and if you want to add more to these crazy facts just post them in the comments section below. Show us some love and share this article with friends and family so they can also know these crazy YouTube stats.

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Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers

YouTube is now a vast video uploading website, where numerous youtubers are making money. Be it smartphones, laptops, or tablets, we’re always on our mobile devices.

It is important for content creators to have the power to record videos, edit them, reply to comments, and take care of their channels from their mobile devices.

YouTube is now the biggest video streaming network in the world and the second largest search engine right after Google. Nowadays, worldwide, we are seeing the YouTube trend and everyone is looking to become the next successful YouTuber. This is mainly to become viral, get views to their videos, and in turn earn a huge amount of money and fame in the process.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 4

The reality is, achieving success on YouTube isn’t as easy as people think it is. It’s very hard, as you have to outsmart and outrank all of your competitors in your niche. This sounds tough, doesn’t it? But, if you’ve got great content and do the proper marketing or promotional strategy, you’ll be the next big face.

The YouTube creators list is increasing day in day out. Many want to handle their YouTube channel from their mobile devices. These creators use different apps to handle their YouTube channel. Many of these apps have to do with capturing videos and editing them afterwards and uploading them to YouTube.

If you are able to create and edit videos on your Android or iPhone directly, you will be happy. These apps will help you to share them on your social media and with your family and friends.

Yes. You’ve read it correctly. There are a huge number of apps which people might consider as important to them so that they can become an efficient YouTuber. Many a times we cannot use our PCs or laptops so as to access numerous video creation and editing solutions.

To help on your YouTube journey, we’ve written this article with mobility, ease of use, features, cost, and platform availability in mind. Many people do not know or think about these types of apps. In reality, these apps are going to help you reach the next level just by using your mobile device.

How To Work Home for Beginners 5

In a simple manner you can create a lot of content on the go simple using your mobile device. What do most youtubers want in an app or apps? They want the ability to create or do the following things:

  • Logo
  • Thumbnails
  • Video / Audio Editing

We’ll be covering these functions in our list of the Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers.

The mobile apps mentioned below are useful for different objectives in the content creation process. I would recommend that you install all these apps and check out which ones work best for you in the YouTube content production process.

As you know, not every app is created equally and so are the platforms on which they are available. To help save money and time every youtuber must have these mobile apps. We have gone through these apps and below provide you with a list the best must have apps for youtubers in 2020.

Now, let’s get going.

YouTube Studio

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 1

Google’s official app makes it easier and faster to manage channels on the go. You’ll be able to check the latest statistics, reply to comments, and get notifications so you’ll be connected anywhere anytime.

Features:

  • Video and Channel Monitoring
  • Analytics and Monetisation Settings
  • Filtering and replying to comments
  • Receive important notifications
  • Update video details, image thumbnails

Bonus Tip – Now you know your stats maybe its time you look into optimization for more views. Why not check out TubeBuddy and VidIQ to amazing your rankings on YouTube.

iMovie – Turn videos into movie magic

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 2

This one is for you Apple fans who want to edit videos on the go. Using iMovie, you’ll be able to edit and enjoy videos easily. You can start editing on your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and then finish it on your Mac.

Features:

  • Hollywood-style trailers
  • Make stunning movies
  • Everywhere – iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch
  • Sharing with family and friends
  • Customize logos, names, and credits

KineMaster – Video Editor, Video Maker

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 3

KineMaster is one the best full-featured video editors available for Android. It supports multiple layers of images, video, and text, and more. It helps you create amazing videos using your Chromebook, tablet, or phone? KineMaster’s editing tools are free to use and it also supports unlimited exports even in resolutions up to 4K!

Features:

  • Combine numerous layers of images, video, stickers, text, special effects, and handwriting
  • Color adjustment tools and Reversing videos
  • Add background music, voiceovers, voice changers, and sound effects
  • Tools to trim, crop, and splice your video
  • Slow motion and time lapse effects

AZ Screen Recorder – Video Recorder, Livestream

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 4

This is another app to record your device’s screen. There is no time limit, ad free, no watermark, and is easy to use. It lets you record your screen in HD and Full-HD. It is the only screencast app that allows videos to pause and resume while it is still being recorded.

Features:

  • Record video at 1080p, 12 Mbps, 60 FPS
  • Record internal and external sounds
  • Pause/resume screen recording
  • Convert video to GIF
  • Crop, Rotate, Compress, and Extract images from video
  • Facecam while live streaming
  • Stitch, Crop, Blur, add text, and draw on images

YouTube Thumbnail Maker & YouTube Banner Maker

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 5This app allows you to create thumbnails and banners for your YouTube channel. If you need an app to create your YouTube channel art, then this is the one. This app is collaboratively made by numerous youtubers who very well know the importance of having great channel art designs to attract viewers.

Features:

  • Crop thumbnail images to 1280×780
  • 100+ backgrounds
  • Color intensifying filters for your images
  • Tools for brightness, contrast, saturation, vignette, and 3D rotation
  • Add typography fonts and graphic design elements

Making thumbnails can take time to master but in this blog article I explain everything you need to know about how to make the perfect thumbnail.

Tag You

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 6

This app is the best tool to boost your videos. SEO is simple and quick for videos with their proprietary keyword optimization. Optimizing tags dramatically improves subscriber engagement, videos’ performance, and promotional opportunities. Tag You helps you to find the optimal tags making videos go viral and get better views.

Features:

  • Quick and simple SEO
  • Tag and keyword optimization
  • Discover best tags
  • Optimize video tags
  • Search competitor video tags

Google Ads – Grow your Business Online

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 7

Google’s Ads app will help you in managing, optimising, and tracking your ad campaigns by simply using your smart device. You’ll be able to easily check your ads’ functioning on the go using this simple solution to your desktop account. You can keep your campaigns functioning smoothly irrespective of where your go.

Features:

  • Create ads and campaigns
  • Call an expert for live help
  • Update budgets, bids, and campaign status
  • Add, change, or delete keywords
  • Review performance using instant notifications
  • See campaign impressions, average CPC, clicks, and conversions
  • Improve campaigns based insights, suggestions, and alerts

Canva: Graphic Design, Video / Poster / Logo Maker

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 8

Having over 60,000+ templates makes Canva the best online graphic design solution you can have. You can create amazing high-quality posters, banners, thumbnails, covers, and others also. You can use it on your PC and smartphone.

As it is in the cloud, you can create, change, and promote your work anywhere anytime using any device.

Features:

  • Create posts and covers for a variety of social media
  • Design logos, book covers, blog designs for any project
  • 1 million + stock photos and elements to choose from
  • Create, change, and share designs with colleagues or friends
  • Design YouTube thumbnails & Twitter and Pinterest banners
  • 60,000+ free guides created by professional designers

SnapSeed

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 9

SnapSeed is one of the best photo editor apps made by Google. You can choose different adjustments and effects to apply to your pictures. You can save the editing history and default settings for future usage.

SnapSeed is widely used to create default settings thumbnails. Some filters are Grunge, Drama, frames, Vintage, etc

Features:

  • 29 filters and tools
  • Supports RAW and JPG files
  • Selective filter brush
  • Open and tweak RAW DNG files
  • Adjust colour and exposure automatically

Adobe Premiere Rush – Video Editor

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 10

Adobe’s Premiere Rush is a great app to edit videos on your mobile device and offers good video editing functions. It helps you to create incredible video clips using ultra refined editing features. Enrich your channel with a stable flow of awesome videos using Adobe’s Premiere Rush. It’s a cross-device, all-in-one video editor.

You can make and share professional-grade videos with cool video effects like speed easily and quickly. Also, you’ll be able to work in-between all of your devices – tablet, phone, and desktop.

Features:

  • Capture high-grade content
  • Edit your videos using 4 video & 3 audio tracks
  • Edit content using just dragging and dropping
  • Built-in customizable templates
  • Support for opening Rush projects in Adobe Premiere Pro

I love using Adobe – In fact I have edited over 2500 videos with Adobe Premiere and other tools over the years. It has a little bit of a learning curve but I would highly recommend it. If you follow this link you can get a great deal on Adobe’s suite of tools.

PixelLab – Text on Pictures

Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers 11

PixeLab is a good app when you consider that you can use it to make thumbnails of your videos. You can add 3D text, Stylish Text, Shapes, Stickers and Drawings on top of your pictures easily. It uses a clean and simple interface which lets you concentrate on whatever you are doing.

You get a huge selection of backgrounds, fonts, presets, stickers. You also have over 60+ distinctive options which you’ll be able to customize. You can create impressive graphics and surprise your friends right from your tablet or phone.

Features:

  • Text effects – 3D, Shadow, Stroke, Reflection, Mask, Emboss and many more
  • Ability to add your images from your phone’s gallery
  • Customize emojis, stickers, shapes, and much more
  • Ability to change or remove the background
  • Enhance images using effects such as stripes, vignette, saturation, hue, etc
  • Create memes using presets easily and in seconds

Conclusion

I hope this blog post on Best Mobile Apps for YouTubers has helped you to start your YouTube journey right away. If you have any suggestions, feedback, or questions regarding YouTube, please do not hesitate to write to us in the comments section below.

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Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views

YouTube SEO

You have a YouTube channel all up and running and you’ve been uploading your new YouTube videos and content to your channel, but the views aren’t coming? Need help with the best places to share YouTube videos for more views?

Sharing your your YouTube videos on social media can be a great way to boost exposure, grow your audience and seed links back to your videos. The more social networks you can post to the more likely you are to figure out what social platform is best suited to your content. Try Instagram, Reddit, Forums, Facebook Groups, Mix and learn what works best for you, then double down.

Time to set the foundations for finding the best places to share YouTube videos for more views.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views

First things first you need to ensure you’ve set your channel up correctly and that you’ve followed my 10 steps to promote your YouTube channel.

Once that’s completed it’s time to share your videos. You can create the content but if you don’t tell people where to find it you may as well be talking to yourself.

Here are the best places you absolutely must share your new YouTube videos after clicking publish:

Utilise your social media channels

Whether you’re a standalone YouTube vlogger, or you’re using videos and blogging separately, you should have all your other social media channels aligned, I recommend having at least a Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

share on social media

Whenever you publish a new video on YouTube make sure you share it across all your channels. It is important you tailor the content, embed the videos but leave your audience wanting more.

Different types of people utilise different social media channels, but the key is to drive them to your YouTube channel so make your content enticing, show clips from the full video, and make clear click-through. These are call to actions will obvious value explained before they click on the,

As your channel grows, your promotion should grow too.

The most important place to share your YouTube videos is on your other social media channels, on a regularly basis. There are hundreds of social media schedulers available to help you with this such as Hootsuite or SocialOomph.

I recommend using a social media scheduler as you can then plan and set how often you would like a specific video to be repromoted on your social media channel. I personally use MeetEdgar to push out 30-40 social media posts every day.

Share YouTube Video in Facebook Groups

I thought Facebook deserved its own section.

share youtube videos to facebook

I personally think Facebook is an excellent tool for increasing your YouTube video views, they have a YouTube uploader which means the views go straight to the video without your audience having to leave Facebook.

One thing you can also do on Facebook is join niche groups and pages, this gives you an opportunity to share your videos and leverage your content.

Make sure what you’re sharing is useful and relevant to your viewers, but lets say for example you’re making a YouTube channel about cleaning, there are hundreds of Cleaning Facebook groups with an active audience who would be  interested in your video.

Make sure you read individual group rules regarding self-promotion, but most are happy for you to share useful content within their groups.

If you need help in making your videos look great, or promoting your videos on social media, check out my resources page, for some great tools and equipment guides.

Guest Posting to Get More Views

Look around your Vlog niche and start making friends.

how and where to host a new blog

Is there anyone who’s open to a guest blog / vlog? Anyone who you could do a promotion exchange with?

By working closely with people in your niche you can access their audience too. There are enough people to go around especially in terms of YouTube views.

If people are watching a video in your niche chances are, they would also be interested in your content. Send people a message and see if you could host a guest video or write a guest blog for them which will in turn promote you and your YouTube Channel.

Mix Your YouTube Videos

Mix used to be known as StumbleUpon, it still has excellent reach and is extremely easy to utilise, just download the add on to your browser and ‘mix’ your content.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 1

This basically adds it to a database of content, if a person has selected interests that coincide with yours whenever they click the mix button, they have a chance of arriving at your content.

If they enjoyed your content, they would then remix this. The more people like your content, the more people the algorithm will push your content too thus increasing your reach and views.

Reddit

Like Facebook groups, reddit is subdivided into lots of different categories and niches, it makes sense for you to create an account and engage with niche groups like the YouTube content you are creating.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 2

There are general video subreddits you can push your video to, but the smaller more niche groups should provide a better audience.

While the users of each forum maybe smaller the value of that audience is higher than someone without a continued interest in your videos, they’re more likely to subscribe and stick around to see other content

YouTube Ad Network – Use YouTube Ads To Get More Video Views

While I would not recommend throwing money at ads in the beginning, it can be an advantage to get the ball rolling with a new video.

YouTube own integrated ad network works out at 2p per view and these are genuine people and real viewers not bots.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 3

This can also trigger a spiral, if the viewers you have promoted to like your content they could share it further and subscribe so play around with the ad network and see if you feel its worthwhile for your business or not.

Most importantly create good high-quality content that people want to talk about, they want to share with friends, and they want to see more of.

You can publish and share a hundred times over but if the content isn’t watchable, interesting or provide ‘something’ for your audience they’re unlikely to return so make sure you hone in on your content skills and the rest should follow accordingly

Where do you share your YouTube videos? I love to embed them into my blogs – Maybe its time for you to start your own blog! – Here is an article I wrote to explain how to start started with blogging.

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10 Ways to Promote Your Youtube Channel for FREE

10 Ways to Promote Your Youtube Channel for FREE 1

If you’ve decided to go down a vlogging route and have started creating and publishing Youtube videos, then you need to make sure you promote your YouTube channel so your videos don’t flop.

It’s really easy to publish your content but without promotion how are people going to find your videos and see your content?

I’ve put together 10 brilliant ways to promote your Youtube channel and increase your views, a few simple changes to your normal Youtube tasks could see a big traffic change.

10 Ways to Promote Your Youtube Channel for FREE

[1] Make sure your titles are engaging

Just like any other form of social media or blogging you want people to click into your content, the only way to do this is make sure people are drawn into your content and want to click.

Make sure you use persuasive writing, ensure its clear what your viewers will get out of the video, and most importantly solve a problem for your viewer.

Look at your current titles and decide would you click on it? Do you know what the video would be about?

You need to make the viewer curious about what is going to happen or help solve their problem – I made a video about how to make clickable titles every time!

[2] Concentrate on SEO

Youtube is ultimately videos and vlogs, but the average user will use YouTube like a search engine, normally to solve a problem or find a video detailing something they are struggling with.

YouTube SEO

This means its crucial you concentrate on your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to make sure your videos show high in your results.

Titles and descriptions should have keywords you want to rank for, make sure you define your categories and tags because this helps Youtube categorise your video and help show it to a relevant audience.

71% of my traffic on my YouTube channel is from search that I won because I used TubeBuddy and VidIQ to optimize my titles, descriptions and tags.

[3] Promote yourself

If you’ve got a number of videos, the ideal action is for your watchers to watch all of the content.

Make sure you reference your older videos in new ones, leave links in the description and then if your watchers are interested its easy for them to find your older link and click through

[4] Share across platforms

Most social media platforms have a native video uploader, upload a snippet of your video with links to the full Youtube video.

This way wherever your audience are they have a very clear direction of how to access your Youtube videos.

It may be that they don’t usually use Youtube to find content but if it lands on their facebook feed they’re more likely to click through – clicking through from external websites shows Youtube that your content is valuable and is more likely to increase your ranking

If you need help with sharing your videos and building your brand – check out my resources page, packed with great tools I use personally to help grow my brand and get noticed on YouTube.

[5] Subscribe Buttons

You can subscribe to Youtube videos by clicking in the description, but a lot of viewers won’t read the description or even click through to subscribe.

You need to make it abundantly clear WHY they should subscribe to your channel and make sure you add a nice big subscribe button within your video.

It’s really simple to do so take a look at how to add a subscribe button into your videos

[6] Add Thumbnails to your videos

Hopefully by this point you’ve got a video, a short catchy title and a description full of the keywords you want to rank for.

Hopefully, all of this means your videos are ranking higher in searches. But wait there is one more thing you absolutely NEED to do to make people click your video.

Our brains are hardwired to react to visuals so make sure with every video you upload a custom thumbnail image which is bright and details what your video will do.

While YouTube will auto create a thumbnail, by creating a custom one you can make sure your viewers can see instantly what your video will be about.

How To Add A Thumbnail To YouTube Videos On Mobile (iPhone And Android) 3

Use the right YouTube thumbnail size

If you’re going to spend the time to create a professional looking thumbnail, start with the proper sizing and dimensions.

Per YouTube’s guidelines, your thumbnail image should be 1280 x 720 pixels, with a minimum width of 640 pixels. An aspect ratio of 16:9 is ideal as it’s used most often in YouTube players and previews.

Be honest & accurate in your thumbnails

If you click bait users to viewing your videos by misleading them with thumbnails and headlines, this will hurt your brand and reputation.

Not only that, but YouTube will stop showing your videos in search results if your bounce rates are too high.

The thumbnail is meant to give context, so providing an image that does not depict what is in the video will harm you rather than benefit you. Find the most important point or part of your video and create your thumbnail around that.

[7] A complete profile

Many people skip straight to creating content but don’t skip out on your profile it’s a really important aspect to making sure your viewers return.

Maintain a consistency across your other social media channels / website and most importantly have very visible contact details.

If your channel is going well then companies may want to contact you for sponsorship deals, your watchers may want to send you an email

10 Ways to Promote Your Youtube Channel for FREE 1

Why have Multiple Social Media Accounts?

Having a social media presence is key things for companies in this day and age.

Especially with the different types of social media accounts out. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. is key to get the word out about your company, brand, youtube channel or blog to your chosen target audience.

Social media has been a growing trend for businesses over the last few years, and for good reason. Before you begin dabbling with multiple social media sites, a strategy needs to be put in place that includes:

  • Consistency: Instead of posting when you have time, post something at the same times every day so your audience knows when to expect it.
  • Quality content: Don’t just post content to post it. Have something meaningful to say that your viewers will want to read.
  • Engagement: Interact with your audience through social media, whether it’s by answering questions they post or by asking questions yourself.
  • Images: Don’t just post links and text. People love pictures and infographics. Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. Businesses that have used infographics have grown in traffic 12% more than those that don’t.

 

[8] Caption your videos

In this day and age the internet needs to be accessible to everyone, that includes people with impairments, it’s so easy to make your videos accessible and add subtitles / closed captions to your Youtube videos.

This will increase your reach to people without accessibility issues too, so many people watch videos with their phones on mute you’d be amazed how many are skipped over if they don’t have subtitles it’s a really untapped market you need to address.

Why Accessibility Matters

It’s time to set a universal standard for accessibility. How many people have visited your channel and left without complaining because of its inaccessibility?

Invest in video captions to reach that sizeable audience. Captions are essential to ensuring that your videos are accessible to the wider public.

The Impact of Captions on Your YouTube Channel

How do the statistics of videos with captions compare to video content without subtitles?

When it comes to watch time, subtitled videos increase view time by more than 12% and are watched an average 91% to completion. In comparison, videos without subtitles are only watched 66% to completion. When subtitles are included, 80% more people watch videos to completion.

[9] High Quality Content

Let’s be fair, you can create rich SEO descriptions, fill out all your profile, have active subscribe buttons etc. etc. but if your content is weak then people won’t return, they probably won’t even watch the entirety of your current video.

Just like any other form of blogging / vlogging or social media content will always be king. Make sure the videos you are creating are what your ideal audience would be looking for, that the video ultimately answers a problem, that you’re clear and engaging and most importantly that you are yourself.

Anyone can create a factual video what makes your videos unique is you. So inject some personality and let your viewers really get to know the person behind the camera

This goes for how to package your content as well. A great video with a bad thumbnail can destroy all your hard work. Make sure you know what a good thumbnail needs to look like – check out this deep dive blog into thumbnail size, styles, designs and best practices.

10 Ways to Promote Your Youtube Channel for FREE 2

[10] Answer your fan mail

Hopefully if your videos are doing well you will start getting comments on your videos – answer them! Respond to your fans and engage with your community.

These are your viewers and subscribers, by making them know you ‘see’ them they’re more likely to return to your new content. Plus engage enough and you will get ideas for new Youtube videos, questions they need answering – its basically free market research very specifically from your audience.

So there you have it, 10 ways you can improve your current Youtube promotion with just a few simple changes.

What’s a Youtube skill you’d like to learn?

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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE

How To Open A Facebook Page (Business Page or Fan Page)

How To Open A Facebook Page 2018 — Create Facebook Business Page or Fan Page, alan spicer,alanspicer,create a facebook page,how to create a facebook business page,how to create a facebook page,how to make a facebook page,setup facebook business page,create facebook page,how to create a facebook business page 2018,create facebook business page,how to create a facebook page for your business,create fan page,fb fan page,creating a facebook page,how to create a facebook fan page,how to make a facebook business page,how to create facebook page

How To Open A Facebook Fan Page is a question we are asked on a Regular basis. Creating a Facebook Page for your business or brand is a great step towards building a social media brand.

Facebook is the largest social media platform online and is easily the most recognisable brand that you can adopt to share your own business and brand with possible future clients.

Facebook Pages can be a very powerful tool to get your name out there and expand the reach of your companies brand.

You and advertise upcoming events, publish recent blogs, share achievements and sell products directly to a marketplace. The best thing about Facebook and its huge client reach potential? — IT’S FREE!!!

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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS VIDEO YOUTUBE

Best 1080p YouTube Rendering Settings [Adobe Premiere Pro]

Best Adobe Premier Pro CC YouTube Rendering Settings 2018 — Smaller Files, Faster Export & Uploads

1080pMost people use 1080p of Full HD to upload to YouTube. Its easy to use, fast to render in and good for uploads. But did you know that you can make it faster to upload to YouTube and small files sizes with a few tweaks.

If you need help with 4K Videos then check out this blog post that I wrote diving into 4K vs 1080p and the best export settings.

My YouTube export settings for Adobe Premier Pro CC to guarantee maximum quality, faster tendering times, quick uploads and smaller files.

Resolution and aspect ratio

The standard aspect ratio for YouTube on a computer is 16:9. When uploading other aspect ratios (vertical, square, etc.), the player automatically adapts itself to the size of the video, giving the best viewing experience based on the aspect ratio and device.

Learn how to use resolution and aspect ratios correctly.

Frame Rate

Content should be encoded and uploaded using the same frame rate that was used during recording.

Common frame rates include: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 frames per second (other frame rates are also acceptable).

Interlaced content should be deinterlaced before uploading. For example, 1080i60 content should be deinterlaced to 1080p30. 60 interlaced fields per second should be deinterlaced to 30 progressive frames per second.

The bitrates below are recommendations for uploads. Audio playback bitrate is not related to video resolution.

Recommended video bitrates for SDR uploads

To view new 4K uploads in 4K, use a browser or device that supports VP9.

Type Video Bitrate, Standard Frame Rate
(24, 25, 30)		 Video Bitrate, High Frame Rate
(48, 50, 60)
2160p (4k) 35–45 Mbps 53–68 Mbps
1440p (2k) 16 Mbps 24 Mbps
1080p 8 Mbps 12 Mbps
720p 5 Mbps 7.5 Mbps
480p 2.5 Mbps 4 Mbps
360p 1 Mbps 1.5 Mbps

Recommended video bitrates for HDR uploads

Type Video Bitrate, Standard Frame Rate
(24, 25, 30)		 Video Bitrate, High Frame Rate
(48, 50, 60)
2160p (4k) 44–56 Mbps 66–85 Mbps
1440p (2k) 20 Mbps 30 Mbps
1080p 10 Mbps 15 Mbps
720p 6.5 Mbps 9.5 Mbps
480p Not supported Not supported
360p Not supported Not supported

Recommended audio bitrates for uploads

Type Audio Bitrate
Mono 128 kbps
Stereo 384 kbps
5.1 512 kbps

 

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

Add Timestamp YouTube Video Chapters and Win In Search

Add Timestamp Chapters To YouTube Videos and Win In Search 2

YouTube video timestamps now come with skippable chapters that can help you rank better in search. Learn how to add chapters to youtube videos with time stamps and why they are so useful for YouTube and Google search results.

The new time stamp video chapters for YouTube videos give you the opportunity to add relevant sub titles to sections of your videos. This means people can skip to these parts quicker, helping them get the answer they want more directly. These snippets can work well for youtube promotion as they can also be found by Google and using in the search results as video snippets or result snippets for quick answers in results.

What Are YouTube Video Timestamps?

Timestamps on YouTube videos give you the chance to skim through the video quickly and find what you are looking for using the mini sub headings.

The timestamps are normally added to the video description by the video creator. You start with 0:00 to show YouTube where the video starts and you add time stamps to important parts of the video with index marks for example “2:53 – Step By Step Tutorial”.

The user can then either click the timestamp in the description to quickly jump to that part of the video.

Add Timestamp Chapters To YouTube Videos and Win In Search

Why Use YouTube Video Chapters?

YouTube video chapters can help you find the important part of the video faster.

If you are a creator and you upload videos, the chapters give you the opportunity to add additional, relevant keywords to the description of the video.

Why add keywords to the description?

YouTube search and google works on relevancy and meta data. If you post a video tutorial that has 5-6 different parts to it then you can section it out. Each questions could have a time stamp. Each of those time stamps could be a search term and each could have a chance of dominating search results with google snippets.

Add Timestamp Chapters To YouTube Videos and Win In Search 1

What Are Google Snippets?

Google Snippets (featured snippets) are short selections of text or clips of YouTube videos appearing at the top of Google’s search results that are designed to answer a searcher’s query.

The content that appears inside of a Featured Snippet is automatically pulled from web pages in Google’s index or snippets from YouTube Videos with timestamps. Common types of Featured Snippets include definitions, tables, steps and lists.

How featured snippets are chosen?

Featured snippets come from web search listings. Google’s automated systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet to highlight for a specific search request.

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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE YOUTUBE TUTORIALS

How To Download A YouTube Video

How To Download A YouTube Video 2020 (NEW METHOD) 3

How to download a YouTube video — the official, legitimate ways.

The clean routes are YouTube Premium’s offline download (now on mobile and desktop) and downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio. This guide covers exactly how to do both, the settings, what the downloads actually are, and the honest legal picture — so you save videos the right way.

Why trust this? I’m Alan Spicer — a YouTube Certified Expert with two decades on the platform and six Silver Play Buttons. I download my own videos constantly for re-edits and b-roll, and I know exactly what YouTube does and doesn’t allow.

Building your own channel? Book a free discovery call.

🔑 Key takeaways

  • YouTube Premium is the official way — download on mobile and desktop web.
  • Premium downloads are cached in-app, not transferable files, and expire ~30 days offline.
  • Your own uploads download free from YouTube Studio as an MP4.
  • No official free download exists for other people’s videos without Premium.
  • Third-party downloaders breach YouTube’s Terms and can infringe copyright.

⚡ QUICK ANSWER: How do you download a YouTube video?
The official way is YouTube Premium: sign in, open the video, and tap or click Download below it — this works in the mobile app and on desktop in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. The video saves for offline viewing inside YouTube. If it’s your own video, download the actual MP4 from YouTube Studio. There’s no official free way to download other people’s videos without Premium.

Can You Download YouTube Videos?

Yes — through the routes YouTube actually provides. People download videos to watch offline on a flight or commute, to save data, to keep lectures for study, or (as a creator) to reuse their own footage as b-roll. The key is which method, because they’re not all equal — and only some are within YouTube’s rules.

There are two legitimate, YouTube-sanctioned ways: the built-in Premium offline download for watching inside YouTube, and downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio as a real file. Everything else — the third-party “downloader” sites — sits outside YouTube’s Terms and carries copyright and security risks. This guide focuses on doing it properly.

The Legitimate Ways to Download — At a Glance

Method What you get Cost Real file?
Premium (mobile) Any eligible video, offline in-app Premium sub ❌ Cached in-app
Premium (desktop web) Any eligible video, offline in browser Premium sub ❌ Cached in-app
YouTube Studio (your uploads) Your own videos as MP4 Free ✅ Yes (MP4)
Google Takeout (your uploads) Bulk export of your content Free ✅ Yes
Public-domain / Creative Commons Permitted content to reuse Free Varies

How to Download a YouTube Video With Premium (Mobile)

This is the built-in, one-tap method on your phone or tablet:

  1. Open the YouTube app signed in to your Premium account.
  2. Go to the watch page of the video you want.
  3. Tap Download below the video (or via the three-dot menu).
  4. Choose a quality if prompted — the download icon turns black when done.
  5. Find it any time under Downloads in your Library, and watch offline.

How to Download on Desktop / Computer

YouTube expanded offline downloads to the desktop, so Premium members are no longer stuck on mobile:

  1. Visit youtube.com signed in to Premium, using Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Opera.
  2. Open the video’s watch page and click Download below the player.
  3. Access saved videos from the Downloads section in the left-hand sidebar — even when you’re offline.

Handy for saving lectures or training on a laptop where the Wi-Fi can’t be trusted.

How to Download Your OWN YouTube Videos

This is the one that gives you an actual file — and it’s completely legitimate because you own the content. As a creator you’ll want this for re-edits, backups and b-roll:

  1. Sign in to YouTube Studio and open Content.
  2. Hover the video, open the three-dot options menu, and choose Download.
  3. YouTube gives you an MP4 (note: it may be compressed from your original master).
  4. For bulk exports of everything, use Google Takeout to download all your uploads at once.

Because the file can be compressed, it’s always worth keeping your original exports too — see my best 1080p rendering settings so your masters are top quality in the first place.

Download Settings & Quality (Premium)

A few Premium settings worth knowing:

  • Download quality — set a default (from low up to 1080p on supported videos) in the app’s download settings to balance clarity against storage.
  • Smart/recommended downloads — YouTube can auto-download suggested videos while on Wi-Fi so you always have something to watch offline.
  • Wi-Fi only — restrict downloads to Wi-Fi to protect your mobile data.

What YouTube Premium Downloads Actually Are

This trips a lot of people up, so it’s worth being clear:

  • They’re cached, not files. Premium downloads live inside the YouTube app or site. They won’t show up in your camera roll, gallery, Files app or a desktop folder.
  • You can’t transfer them. No moving them to a USB stick, another device, or a different media player.
  • They expire. You must reconnect to the internet roughly every 30 days so YouTube can verify your membership, or they become unavailable.
  • Some videos are blocked. Certain music videos, Kids content and region-locked videos have the download option disabled.

If you want a genuine, permanent, editable file, the only clean routes are your own uploads or properly licensed/public-domain content — not a cached Premium copy.

Downloading your own videos to reuse and grow?

On a free discovery call we’ll turn your back catalogue into a content strategy that drives traffic to older videos.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

Short version: downloading through YouTube’s own tools is fine; going around them usually isn’t.

  • Legitimate: Premium offline downloads, your own uploads from Studio, and public-domain or Creative Commons content you’re permitted to use.
  • Problematic: third-party “downloader” sites and apps that save other people’s videos. These generally breach YouTube’s Terms of Service, can amount to copyright infringement (the video belongs to its creator), and frequently bundle ads or malware.

It’s the same principle covered in is it legal to download YouTube videos and is screen recording YouTube illegal: capturing content is one thing, but the rights stay with the creator, and republishing it is where real trouble starts. If you need footage to use, get it from public-domain sources and check how much of a video you can legally use. (This is general information, not legal advice — for anything with real stakes, check a lawyer and YouTube’s current terms.)

Can You Download YouTube Videos Without Premium?

Honestly? There’s no official free way to download other people’s videos without Premium — the built-in button is a Premium perk. What you can do for free and legitimately:

  • Download your own uploads from YouTube Studio (covered above).
  • Save public-domain or Creative Commons content you’re allowed to reuse.
  • Use YouTube Music for offline songs if you have Music Premium — see downloading music from YouTube.

You’ll find plenty of third-party downloader sites promising free saves of any video. I don’t recommend them: they breach YouTube’s Terms, risk copyright infringement, and are a common source of malware and scam ads. If you just want to keep watching offline, Premium is the safe, creator-supporting option — and if you only need background audio, there are ways to play YouTube in the background without Premium.

What About Third-Party YouTube Downloaders?

Search “YouTube downloader” and you’ll find hundreds of tools promising to save any video as a file. It’s worth understanding what they are — and why I don’t recommend using them for other people’s content. They fall into three broad camps:

Type What it claims to do The catch
Online converter sites Paste a link, get an MP4/MP3 in the browser Heaviest on ads, pop-ups and malware; often break
Desktop apps Install software to save videos in bulk Bundled extras; can carry adware; you install it with full permissions
Browser extensions Add a download button to YouTube Against YouTube/store policies; often removed; can read your browsing

Whatever the format, they share the same fundamental problems — and none of them are worth the risk for the sake of a video you can watch for free anyway:

  • They breach YouTube’s Terms of Service. Saving content outside YouTube’s own tools isn’t permitted, full stop.
  • They can infringe copyright. The video belongs to its creator; downloading and — especially — reusing or reuploading it can be infringement, as covered in is it legal to download YouTube videos.
  • They’re a security minefield. Free downloader sites are one of the most common sources of malware, fake buttons and scam ads on the web.
  • They’re unreliable. YouTube changes its systems regularly, so these tools break, disappear, or quietly start serving something nastier than a video.
  • They don’t support the creator. Premium downloads send a slice of your subscription to the people you watch; a ripper sends nothing.

The honest bottom line: if you want to keep watching offline, Premium does it cleanly and safely. If you want a real file, use your own uploads or properly licensed and public-domain content. The third-party route trades a small convenience for legal exposure and a genuine malware risk — a bad deal.

Downloader Safety: Red Flags to Watch For

If you’re researching these tools, know the warning signs — the same tricks turn up again and again on downloader and “free MP3” sites:

  • Fake download buttons. The biggest, greenest “DOWNLOAD” button is usually an ad that installs something else. The real link (if any) is small and plain.
  • “Your device is infected” pop-ups. Always a scam — no website can scan your device. Close the tab; don’t click.
  • Requests to install software or “a codec.” A browser converter never needs you to install anything to play an MP4.
  • Endless redirects and permission prompts. Notifications, “allow” boxes and new tabs on every click are adware funnels.
  • Asking you to sign in with Google. Never hand a downloader site your Google credentials — it’s a phishing red flag.

Simple rule: if a site is aggressively pushing you to click, install or sign in, back out. Nothing about saving a video should require any of that.

People Also Ask

How do I download a YouTube video on my iPhone or Android?

With YouTube Premium, open the app, go to the video and tap Download below it, then watch it offline from your Library. It works the same on iPhone and Android. Without Premium there’s no official in-app download for other people’s videos.

How do I download a YouTube video to MP4?

The only clean way to get a true MP4 is to download your own upload from YouTube Studio, or use public-domain/Creative Commons content. Premium downloads aren’t MP4 files — they’re cached copies locked inside YouTube.

Can I download a YouTube video to watch on a plane?

Yes — that’s exactly what Premium offline downloads are for. Download over Wi-Fi before you fly (mobile or laptop) and watch with no connection. Just reconnect within about 30 days so YouTube can re-verify your membership.

Is it safe to use a YouTube downloader?

Free third-party downloader sites and apps are a common source of malware, fake download buttons and scam ads, and they breach YouTube’s Terms. The safe options are YouTube Premium for offline viewing, or downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio — neither carries the security or copyright risk.

Why has the download button disappeared?

Either your Premium membership lapsed, or that specific video has downloads disabled — common with licensed music videos, Kids content and region-locked videos.

Can I download other platforms’ videos too?

Similar rules apply elsewhere — see downloading TikTok videos and downloading Twitch streams and clips — always respecting each platform’s terms and the creator’s rights.

Downloading YouTube Videos: FAQ

How do you download a YouTube video?

The official way is with YouTube Premium: sign in, open the video, and tap or click the Download button below it. This works in the mobile app and on desktop in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. The video is saved for offline viewing inside YouTube. If it’s your own video, you can also download the file from YouTube Studio.

Can you download YouTube videos without Premium?

Not through any official YouTube feature for other people’s videos — the built-in download is a YouTube Premium benefit. The free, legitimate exceptions are downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio, and saving Creative Commons or public-domain content you’re permitted to use. Third-party downloader sites exist but breach YouTube’s Terms of Service, can infringe copyright, and often carry malware, so they’re best avoided.

How do I download my own YouTube videos?

Sign in to YouTube Studio, go to Content, find the video, open the options menu and choose Download. YouTube gives you an MP4 file (which may be compressed from your original). You can also export all your content via Google Takeout. This is completely legitimate because you own the videos.

Can you download YouTube videos on a computer?

Yes, if you’re a YouTube Premium member. YouTube expanded offline downloads to desktop, so you can save videos from youtube.com in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. Click Download below the video and find it in the Downloads section of the sidebar. The video stays inside YouTube rather than becoming a file on your hard drive.

Are YouTube Premium downloads real video files?

No. Premium downloads are cached copies stored inside the YouTube app or site for offline viewing — they don’t appear in your camera roll, gallery or file system, and you can’t transfer them to another device or player. They also require you to reconnect to the internet roughly every 30 days so YouTube can confirm your membership.

Is it legal to download YouTube videos?

Downloading through YouTube’s own tools — Premium offline, or your own uploads from Studio — is legitimate and within the Terms of Service. Using third-party tools to save other people’s videos generally breaches YouTube’s Terms and can be copyright infringement, since the content belongs to its creator. Downloading public-domain, Creative Commons or permitted content is fine.

Why can’t I download a YouTube video?

The download button only appears for YouTube Premium members, and even then some videos have it disabled — music videos with licensing restrictions, YouTube Kids content, and some region-locked videos. If you don’t have Premium, or the video is restricted, you won’t see a download option.

Are third-party YouTube downloaders safe and legal?

Generally no on both counts. Third-party downloader sites, apps and extensions breach YouTube’s Terms of Service, can amount to copyright infringement when used on other people’s videos, and are a common source of malware, fake download buttons and scam ads. The safe, legitimate alternatives are YouTube Premium for offline viewing and downloading your own uploads from YouTube Studio.

Final Thoughts

So, how do you download a YouTube video? The right way is the simple way: YouTube Premium for offline viewing on mobile or desktop, and YouTube Studio for pulling down your own uploads as real files. Both are built in, both are legitimate, and both keep you clear of the copyright and malware headaches that come with third-party downloader sites. Save the videos you’re entitled to, support the creators you watch, and if you’re a creator yourself, treat your own back catalogue as the reusable asset it is.

From watching to creating.

If you’re ready to make your own videos worth downloading, a free discovery call gets you a two-decade head start on building a channel that grows.

Book Your Free Discovery Call →

A note on this guide: download features, availability and rules reflect YouTube’s official offline viewing help and Terms of Service at the time of writing (July 2026); features and availability vary by country and change over time. This is general information for creators and viewers, not legal advice.