Growing on YouTube can be hard.
It’s even harder if you do all the heavy lifting yourself and not use tools to make your life easier.
It time to build yourself a YouTube toolkit that can help you make amazing eye catching content with minimal effort.
Here are the 5 tools I used EVERY day in the last 12 months to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers.
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!
VidIQ goes beyond just hammering in keywords and tweaking titles in the vain hope of getting more views.
Did you know you can compare your thumbnails to rivals?
A great way to see what the top competitors in your space is doing and gives you a jumping off point for when you make you next video on that topic.
Machine Learning based Automatic Content Creation ideas!
Imagine waking up every day with a list of hot topics suggestions for you channel.
VidIQ has a new tool that will do the research for you, take a look at your niche, your rivals, your channel data and suggest topics that could be a good jumping off point for you in the future.
Never get stuck on what videos to make every again!
I could go on about the powers of VidIQ all day but that might derail this top 5 list, but I have made a blog post about the best VidIQ feature you might be sleeping on here.
I highly suggest you check out this real super weapon of a tool, it’s FREE, easy to use and packed full of tools you wish you had found sooner.
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.
BONUS TOOLS
Lowerthird, Call-to-Action Graphics – Need help with quick simple overlays, call to action, subscribe buttons, and social media links graphics – check out this mini bundle from my friends at the Underdog Collective.
The Underdog Collective was set up to help these people with easy to use, slick YouTube artwork that’s easily used with most desktop editing software.
High Quality, Low Cost Hosting – A great way to promote yourself, your videos and your brand is to have your own website.
I have been in the web development space for over 12 years and in that time the biggest lesson I have learnt from hundreds of clients is – a great website can be killed off by CRAPPY hosting, while an “okay” website with GREAT HOSTING can be a huge lead magnet for any project or product.
I recommend bluehost should you wish to start a website (or blog like this one) for a reasonable fee, with great expandability and top level reliability.