Introduction
Maybe you're looking to become a YouTube sensation with your next video or you simply want to share your insights or your particular expertise with the world. Perhaps you'd even like to use YouTube and video to help your business, which could be a local coffee shop or a Fortune 500 company. No matter how you plan to make use of your video-making skills, YouTube has made sharing the results of those skills easy. And with the tips and techniques included within the pages of YouTube Channels For Dummies, you'll be ready to take full advantage of YouTube's user-friendly platform when creating your very own YouTube channel.
To get a better sense of how YouTube has changed the entertainment playing field, cast your mind back to ten or so years before the turn of the millennium — if you can remember back that far. Despite an explosion of ever better and ever cheaper video equipment for consumers, sharing a video still meant gathering family and friends around your giant 25-inch, tube-laden television screen so that everyone could watch your latest video masterpiece. Back in those days, someone who wasn't in the room watching along was clean out of luck.
YouTube changed all that. It globalized the viewing experience, reinventing how people show videos by making it possible to share with audiences considerably larger than that bunch of friends and family gathered around the TV set eating popcorn. Any viewer who wanted to see any video anywhere in the world only had to type www.youtube.com into their favorite browser, search for the video they wanted to see, and click the Play button — and there it was.
As easy as it is for a viewer to take full advantage of YouTube, it's almost as easy for a contributor to become part of the YouTube mix. After setting up an account, it's a snap to start uploading video. And, if the video you're uploading takes off, you could become famous and even earn a good chunk of change from your YouTube exploits.
Notice that we said “if the video you're uploading takes off.” That can be a very big if. Not just any video will do. The truth of the matter is that the low-quality, badly shot videos that were still popular a few years ago no longer cut the mustard. Viewers expect higher quality these days, which is why you need to step up your game and produce the best possible content. This book can help show you the way.
About This Book
In some ways, reading a book to find out all about YouTube channels seems a bit odd. Isn't YouTube the place that specializes in videos designed to teach you about any topic on earth? Why not just stick with the YouTube videos that are all about YouTube?
First off, it's a bit self-referential and incestuous to get all your information about YouTube channels from YouTube videos. Second, that video purporting to tell you how to strike it rich on YouTube may have been shot and edited by the neighbor kid down the street who has never made a dime from YouTube and who may never move out of Mom and Dad's basement. In other words, just as you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet, you shouldn't believe everything you see on YouTube. Sometimes it pays to listen to the true experts (like us) who have a track record in advising folks how to put their best foot forward on YouTube.
We also know that there are only so many hours in a day and that everyone's schedules seem to be getting more and more hectic each day. That's why we've written a book that doesn't beat around the bush — in other words, it gets straight to the point so that you can get in and get out with the information you need. In that sense, YouTube Channels For Dummies is the exact opposite of all those wordy instructional manuals that spell out a hundred ways to do something but never get around to telling you the best way. No matter if you're looking to set up a channel, create an effective header, or figure out ways to maximize your monetization potential, we show you the quickest, most effective way to get the job done.
Foolish Assumptions
Whether you're an experienced videographer or you just bought your first camcorder, you should treat YouTube with an open mind. Just because it's easy to make a video and upload it to YouTube doesn't mean that you won't hit the occasional bump in the road, so don't fool yourself into thinking you don't need help from time to time.
That goes for pretty much everyone, from pros make a living producing video to ambitious students looking to showcase edgy movie shorts to absolute beginners looking to upload their first video. Regardless of whether you identify with one of these situations or you have a truly unique one, you'll find content in these pages just for you. See whether you can see yourself in one of these categories:
- Newbies: You shoot lots of videos but have never uploaded one to YouTube. But then the feeling overtook you to upload your best ones and share them with the world. No problem: This book can answer some of your most basic questions.
You want your movies to look really cool so that you can post them on YouTube and all your other favorite social media haunts, and if you use this book to answer your most basic questions, trust us — your movies will be awesome.
This book doesn't require your fluency in technospeak. Instead, it's written using a down-to-earth tone. Through clearly written explanations, lists, illustrations, and tips, you'll find out how to best use your equipment, set up video shoots, and navigate the YouTube upload process.
- Students: If making movies is what you do and you're interested in sharing your work, this book can get you started by helping you set up your own YouTube channel as your stage. Since you already understand the fundamentals of making a movie, you can concentrate on the creation and maintenance of your channel. Before long, you'll be uploading videos, building a following, and transforming yourself into the next Steven Spielberg.
- Videographers: You're already comfortable with making movies, you know all about effective editing practices, and you're ready to share your professional work with the world. You'll find tons of info in this book to help set up your channel and grow your audience so that you can transform your video page into a moneymaking endeavor. Ripe with tips, this guide puts you in the easy chair, filling in the blanks with the best ways to showcase your videos and effectively monetize your content.
- Business professionals: YouTube is great for business because it can help drive awareness and increase sales. These days, consumers turn to YouTube to learn more about the products or services they're considering. YouTube creators have become trusted advisors for viewers and more frequently collaborate with many of the world's most famous brands to give buyers (or potential buyers) all the information they need to enhance their product choices.
- Entrepreneurs: You may already have a moderate following on YouTube, whereas others are new to the game. Regardless of your level of success, you share the same goal, and that's to use YouTube as a business tool. Whether you're looking for the best ways to earn money with your channel or looking at the bigger picture for promoting your business or service, this book has much to offer for finding the most effective strategy.
How This Book Is Organized
YouTube Channels For Dummies is divided into five sections, with each section detailing the various phases of setting up and mastering your channel. Each reader will no doubt prefer a particular area. Some may relish the section that pertains to making a home on YouTube, for example, whereas others may skip ahead to the section on growing and knowing your audience or the cool ways you can build a following. Think of it as a smorgasbord of information.
Part I: Getting Started with YouTube Channels
This section provides a swift overview of YouTube and how to set up your channel. Whether you're a beginner looking to share videos with a global audience, a working video professional looking to take advantage of monetization, a business owner looking to close the distance, or anyone in between, this group of chapters covers all you need to know to get started.
Part II: Making Good Videos and Not Making Bad Videos
Regardless of the device or camera used, the language of cinema remains the most important aspect of making good videos — and not making bad ones. The chapters in this part cover fundamental moviemaking for YouTube channels, from using the right tools to putting all the pieces together in postproduction.
Part III: Growing and Knowing Your Audience
After understanding how to build your channel and fill it with great content, it's time to concentrate on building your audience. The chapters in this part can help you find your way to building a healthy following.
Part IV: YouTube Channels Are Serious Business
This part covers what you need to get started with the business side of YouTube. Whether you're looking to raise brand awareness or considering collaboration with your fellow YouTubers, the chapters in this part can help you get the job done.
Part V: The Part of Tens
The For Dummies version of a top ten list found in this part of the book provides insight into the common, and the not so common, aspects of mastering your YouTube channel. More specifically, you'll find out all about the steps you can take to improve your YouTube search results so that viewers are better able to track down your masterpiece. You'll also find out ten things everyone should know about copyright so that you can keep the lawyers off your back.
Icons Used in This Book
What's a For Dummies book without icons pointing you in the direction of truly helpful information that's sure to help you along your way? In this section, we briefly describe each icon used in this book.
This icon points out helpful suggestions and useful nuggets of information.
This icon marks a generally interesting and useful fact — something you might want to remember for later use.
When you see this icon, you know that there's techie stuff nearby. If you're not feeling techie, feel free to skip it.
The Warning icon highlights lurking danger. With this icon, we're telling you to pay attention and proceed with caution.
Beyond the Book
This book isn't the end of your experience with YouTube channels — it's just the beginning. We provide online content to make this book more flexible and better able to meet your needs. Look for these cool additions online:
- Cheat Sheet: You remember using crib notes in school to make a better mark on a test, don't you? You do? Well, our cheat sheet is sort of like that. It provides you with some special notes about some YouTube-related tasks that not every other person knows. You can find the cheat sheet for this book at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/youtubechannels.
- Dummies.com online articles: A lot of readers were skipping past the parts pages in For Dummies books, so the publisher decided to remedy that problem. You now have a truly good reason to read the parts pages — online content. Every parts page has an article associated with it that provides additional interesting information that wouldn't fit in this book. You can find the articles for this book at www.dummies.com/extras/youtubechannels.
- Bonus Chapters: We had so much to say about YouTube channels that in the end we weren't able to fit everything within the confines of these pages. Check out the Extras page at www.dummies.com/extras/youtubechannels for bonus chapters on YouTube channel income opportunities (“Quitting Your Day Job”) and MCNs, otherwise known as multichannel networks (“Multichannel Networks and Other Opportunities”).
- Updates: If this book has any updates after printing, they will be posted at www.dummies.com/extras/youtubechannels.