Tips for making a successful YouTube Channel

Ok so following on from my How to monetise your videos post, I thought I would do a quick run through of what I've learnt in my top do's and don'ts to get the most from your YouTube Channel, and what better way to highlight some of them, than in a video!


And for blogging sake, here are my lists.

Top 5 things to do

• Make videos of things that interest you - if you are interested in something then there is a good chance that someone else will be to. Make videos about the things you enjoy, because  if you enjoy doing something, you will do it more and if you do something more you get better at it.
• Customise your channel, add a Avatar to make your videos recognisable, add a channel background too, if you want to you can use a set intro for all your videos as well.
• Think about the title of your video, make it catchy and relevant to the video your uploading
• Use tags to help people find your video,  put your channel name or blog name in the tags, so that if someone is searching for you directly they will find your videos.
• Think of a genre that your videos will fit into: fun/entertainment - how to's / reviews  music/art and then build on that. When people subscribe to your channel they will see your future videos on their home page, if they subscribed to a 'how to guide' then the next day you upload a manic dance video your subscribers might not be interested.
• Share your videos on your other social media channels, ad them to your blog posts, facebook, twitter and Google+

Don't

• Expect to get thousands of hits instantly on every video you upload - like with all things it takes time to build a following, you will find the more you upload the more you will see your views rise.
• Use copyrighted music or videos from others, keep your content your own. If you want to add music use Royalty free music from sites such as   http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/
• Be put off by negative comments or dislikes. If you are concerned about comments you can turn these off in the settings or have them set to 'Approval'
• Watch your own videos over and over, your views will not be counted.

Remember YouTube is like all other social media, blogging and sharing,  There are huge communities on YouTube, you can engage with other video makers and join communities, comment on peoples videos and subscribe to other channels, but you don't have to, you can simply use it to enhance your blog posts and share it with your current followers rather than go looking for a whole new audience. Do what you feel comfortable with, I have been making videos to go along side my blog for a couple of years and they are far from perfect, I have so much more to learn about YouTube and video making, but as long as you're having fun and not thinking  too much about the stats and figures you will find you really can enjoy yourself and making money will become a really nice added bonus!