Start and Maintain a Successful YouTube Career

There are many possible ways to gain video views, subscribers, friends, and maybe, if you're lucky and talented enough––the fame. Consider some of the suggestions outlined here, to see which ones apply to your situation.

Steps

Forming your initial account

  1. Make an account. Simply go to https://www.youtube.com and click the "create account" tab.
  2. Choose a name people will remember. When choosing a Username you want it to be catchy, easy to read, and have the Username somehow relate to your personality or a main category that you plan on discussing on YouTube. After brainstorming for a while, carefully choose a Username.
    • You will not be able to change your username in the future, however you will be able to make new channels under your account that serve the same purpose.

Making successful videos

  1. Make your first video. Choose a subject to talk about, particularly a subject that you know well or have a strong opinion about. You may want your first video to be an introduction to your channel and give people a taste of what you have to offer them.
    • For example: Tell your viewers about future topics, dates on which your next videos will come out, and the bottom line is make them want more of you.
  2. Plan ahead with plenty of buffer space. Future dates and ideas means having a plan in place at least several months ahead. Draw one up and follow it fairly closely, with a bit of flexibility to meet viewers' requests, etc. Keep buffer space for the times when you're going to be too busy, too budget-crunched or even unwell or dealing with personal issues to be making a video.
    • If you know you will not have time in the future to make or upload a video consider making it now and scheduling it in YouTube for a future date.
    • Quality over quantity is often the best aim.
  3. Come up with a variety of ideas. If you cannot think of something to talk about or do, watch other videos and gather ideas. After watching some videos you may be inspired to make a video response or even a spoof of their original video.
    • Don't copy other people's ideas. Parody is usually okay, as it is a common form of artistic expression that is not considered copying. But pretending another person's video script is also yours, for example, is copying.
    • Some great ideas that have worked in the past are; prank videos, product reviews, how to videos, reaction videos, game play videos, makeup & shopping haul videos, video memes, unboxing videos.
    • If you want to make a video that does not require much editing and can be done in real time, for example a video of you playing the latest computer game, then consider live streaming it. That way you will be able to interact with viewers which will help build an audience base, and YouTube favors live streams and will rank it higher in search results during the stream.
  4. Create videos that have some relevance to recent news. Make video responses to well known or popular videos. These are topics that are currently being searched for a lot on YouTube and in Google search, making a video relevant to these topics have a good chance of being found.
    • You can find the latest topics by going to Google News or the trending topics section of Twitter.
  5. Focus on the cute. Kittens, puppies, babies, laughing babies, children doing hilarious things, smiling, hugging, etc. are the sorts of things human beings are suckers for. Somehow, there is always room for more! Find the sorts of things your viewers like by way of cuteness, and keep delivering.
    • Cute videos have a high sharing potential on social media, everyone loves seeing cute videos in their news feed. Make sure you share these kinds of videos on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for a chance of your videos going viral.
  6. Keep it simple. Once you've cottoned onto an idea that works for you, don't embellish it or deviate from it too much. People like a certain style and brand when they start subscribing and will expect more of the same style as you add more. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't grow and change for the better; it just means don't leap from punk one week to preppy the next. (Unless, of course, that really is your channel's idea!)
  7. Use good filming techniques. Natural light is the best lighting you can use when filming for YouTube. Successful YouTubers use studio type lights or white lights, which also give you good lighting. But natural lighting is the best. Make sure you have the lights facing you and not behind you. Be aware of where shadows are and make sure they are not covering the main focus point of your videos.
    • Backgrounds are also good to have. You don't want a dark and dingy background or a background that blends in with you outfit, you can buy or make backgrounds. To purchase a cheap background, go on eBay or other selling sites to find a great background. Alternatively you can film you videos outside at places like the beach, your local park, or even your backyard.
    • Consider purchasing a green screen, this way you will be able to make your own backgrounds for your videos.

General ideas to increase your channel's success

  1. Film with a good quality camera. Webcams are out. The video and audio quality are not very good on webcams, so try to invest in a good video camera. It doesn't have to be a $500 camera, it could cost $20 as long as the quality for audio and visuals are good your video will be good too.
    • Many digital cameras now have excellent video capacity.
    • Look for used options on auction sites or classifieds if you haven't a lot of money to spare. Some great sites to find used cameras are eBay and Craigslist.
    • The latest mobile phones are also capable of creating good videos.
    • Consider using a tripod to avoid having a shaking video effect.
  2. Record with a high quality screen recorder. This only applies if your video involves you recording your screen. HD video's are the norm nowadays, so make sure it can record at 720p or above.
    • It is best to invest in one rather than download a free one as they often have a "Free Trial" or "Demo" watermark across the screen on export.
    • If your screen recorder does not have options to record audio as well then you need to invest in a good quality microphone - or another screen recorder. One many YouTubers use is the "Blue Snowball" or "Blue Yeti", but any cheap, high quality microphone will do the job.
  3. Choose good tags. Choosing tags is a pretty important step to the video upload process, choosing popular tags will make it harder for people to find your video. Choosing unique but accurate tags should bring you more views.
    • Use concise titles, descriptions and tags. YouTube sorts videos out based on the title of the video, the description and then the tags, in that order.
    • Consider which search terms you would like your video to be displayed under and also use those search terms in the title, description and tags.
    • Place tags in your description as well as it is more likely that you will get views on your YouTube video.
    • For example: If you were uploading a video about what you thought of Lil Wayne's music career, you wouldn't just put "Lil Wayne" because there would be too many results to sort through. But if you were to put Lil Wayne, Cash Money, Music, Career, and History, you would probably end up with a lot more views; not because there are more tags than just Lil Wayne but because it really narrows the search results down.
  4. Try to get lots of subscribers. Having subscribers is one of the most important things to have while on Youtube. When someone subscribes to a channel, they become your fan; this can be very rewarding to some people.
    • To gain subscribers: On every YouTube channel there is a box, called a description box. Many people take this space for granted but anytime someone views your channel they will see what you write there, so you may want to give clues about future videos or tell a little about yourself, if you write some good convincing material this can be a great way to gain subscribers.
    • To keep subscribers: The best way to keep subscribers is to always keep your word. For example, if you say your video will be out on Friday, you make sure you have a video posted by Friday (see the "planning" discussion above). Another way to keep subscribers is to have a steady pace of videos, like one per week, two per week, or whatever it may be; just keep it reliable.
    • A quick and easy way to get subscribers or even views is to use an online service that offers YouTube promotion. However by buying subscribers or views you are not guaranteed that these people will have many interactions with your account. If you use this method never give out your YouTube password and always choose safe payment methods such as PayPal.
  5. Don't spam. People will find you, there is no need to spam. The only thing spamming will do for your YouTube career is ruin your credibility and reputation. Spamming includes constantly commenting on other peoples videos with the same message, or something irrelevant to their videos. Or mass sending messages that promote a single video.

Doing reviews

  1. If you want to do reviews on your channel, keep up with the latest version or item that interests you. Don't get too off-topic; this risks becoming it boring and viewers will click out. Keep your video simple.
    • If you want to discuss a longer topic, choose wisely and only talk about the topic. Again try to keep it simple and short.
    • If you really want to go for a long topic, make them into smaller parts and serve them as different videos, such as "Part 1, Part 2" etc. That will make the viewers that enjoyed the first one go for the second one.
    • If you are planning to make parted videos, make a video that act as a hub for viewers, such as having a short video which links to the different parts.
    • To promote interactions on your video ask people to comment with their thoughts on the product you were reviewing.
  2. Add your own personal touch, don't use the same thing as other YouTubers. Create your own online persona and stick to it.
  3. Keep your review as non-biased as possible. Have a descriptive opinion on it.
    • Try to compare it to other similar products.
    • Talk about the differences and what you like about it and what you don't.
    • If your review videos are already getting a lot of views then consider asking brands to provide you with new or unreleased products for you to review. This will give your videos an edge.
  4. Don't get too excessive with the bad opinions. It may offend some people, so keep it descriptive and stick to the facts.

Have a tough hide

  1. Gain some confidence. YouTube can be a great place but can also be a very demoralizing and nasty place when the haters get involved. No matter what you do, no matter what you look like, there are people out there who will say negative things to try to make their lackluster little lives more interesting as they hide behind the shield of not being seen. The best thing to do when receiving a nasty comment is to delete their comment, block the commenter and never respond to them. You don't want to give them the satisfaction for being an idiot. Keep your head held high and don't let anybody bring you down.
    • Decide whether you'll even leave a video open to commenting. It's not always the right thing to give people air space to trivialize or downgrade your hard work.
    • Don't take any of the snarly, self-centered comments personally. Some people really get enthused about being creepy and picky online. Don't give them the time of day. Civility is the byword.
    • Whenever anyone starts up on the "freedom of speech" spiel, gently remind them that they're already exercising it. It's become a standard bore to read this baseless whine in nasty criticism.
    • Focus more on the positive comments rather than the negative ones.

Tips

  • Check your feedback regularly. Respond quickly and people will be impressed and likely to keep coming back.
  • Decorate your channel. Add a cool profile pic, some channel art... It will make it look more professional and people will stick around to see your channel longer.
  • Always make sure you offer lots of opportunities to subscribe with buttons, links and 'call to actions'.
  • Don't be scared to start with your own YouTube channel. Do what you want to do, if it makes you happy!
  • On your first video, it's good to do a introduction video so people can get to know you.
  • Be age-appropriate. The last thing a parent wants is their child watching a video with overused swearing and/or sexual comments.
  • Remember the social media! If you do vlogs, you might want to give out your social media. If you have an alias or channel name, you may want to make a new account for your channel.
  • Don't curse a lot (or at all) in your videos! You might want to be good role model and that won't work out.

Warnings

  • If you want to monetize your videos then avoid using any licensed or copyrighted music in your videos.
  • Don't copy other YouTubers, If you do and people in your "audience" realize that you are copying you'll lose subscribers because they'll think you are not original and a waste of time. So be careful!

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