Categories: DIY Video Editor Blog

The Friday Roundup – YouTube Ranking Tips and Special Effects

YouTube Ranking Tips

I have often repeated on the blog here that the idea of just slapping a video up on to YouTube and then sitting back waiting for those “views” to roll in is very much a thing of the past.

In fact I suspect it was never “a thing” in the first place!

With millions of videos for YouTube to choose from for any given topic or search term it is vital that you give them some pretty good reasons to present your video to viewers rather than someone else’s.

Of course this is all written on the understanding that you are looking to get more than your immediate friends and family to watch what you are making.

If not well… move along folks… nothing to see here.

It would be easy to think that what you have to do to rise above the clamoring masses and get noticed, given the sheer amount of competition, would be somewhat herculean in nature.

If you are thinking that then relax! It’s not as hard as you may think.

You see the majority of videos on YouTube are actually optimized atrociously and are just inviting you to knock them off their little perches.

The steps needed with regards to what you should do on YouTube itself are finite and anyone can do them as long as they do it intelligently.

Keep in mind that I said intelligently there!

For example YouTube says you should enter some relevant tags to your video so that they can be discovered.

Seems pretty simple right?

Actually it is but if you take a stroll around YouTube you wil see videos where there are no tags used or you will see videos where there are literally hundreds of tags used.

Either way in both of these scenarios the tags have been rendered useless!

When YouTube says a few relevant tags they really mean it.

If you have done a video on How to train a dog then you could use “dog training,” “how to train a dog,” “training your dog”…. and that about it.

Those tags are RELEVANT and cover a few common variations of the subject.

They send a clear message to YouTube about the subject of your video. If you go wild with the tags and add a whole bunch more, each one getting further and further from the actual topic of the video then YouTube just gets confused and relegates your video to the “too hard” basket.

They don’t know what it is about and they probably strongly suspect that either you don’t know what it is about or you are just trying to spam their system. The key for all optimization steps is to use some commonsense.

Time Lapse Tips

Time lapse videos can be quite an interesting form of project to undertake but they require a little more expertise than you may imagine.

The key is to have a camera or video device that can automatically continue to take images at a set interval over a long period of time.

Even when that is done you still have to get the images into a video editor in the correct sequence and then have them display at a rate that gives the impression of time lapse.

Over at Magix this week they have posted the first part of a tutorial on how to go about creating a time lapse video and the link is below.

Keep in mind that you don;t have to create a time lapse as a project unto itself. In fact a time lapse sequence within and overall project can be a great way of introducing the concept of time passing without having to state the fact in an obvious manner.

Vacuum Effect on VideoStudio

Kind of a cool video from Gripps this week on using Corel VideoStudio to create an effect where the image onscreen appear to get sucked into a vacuum cleaner!

Possibly not an effect you will be using every week but cool nonetheless!

As with all of Gripps tutorials they are done within the VideoStudio environment however just about any reasonably armed video editor can replicate the steps.

The only thing you may have to do is understand that the modules and tools he is using may have different names in the editing software you are using.

Making Money on YouTube

There have been a few changes of late over at YouTube as they work to protect themselves from some of the other video sites encroaching on their market.

I think most notable of these would be FaceBook whose existing user base puts them in a very strong position to challenge YouTube in the video field.

Whilst there has been a little noise floating around regarding YouTube’s updated terms of use when it comes to monetization of videos I think all in all the changes have been reasonably acceptable.

Of course there will always be those who will yell and scream about the injustice of it all and tout various conspiracy theories on what it all means but the bottom line is that YouTube offers a FREE service.

To me FREE seems to be a pretty good deal for somewhere that I can upload videos and have not just friends and family watch but to actually create a commercial entity on their space.

The people who are succeeding on YouTube are almost exclusively the ones that recognize that they do not own the platform and instead of complaining about every little change simply work out what the change is and adjust their strategies accordingly.

If you are trying to get a channel up and running I think one of the best resources available for you is Tim Schmoyer who was previously working at ReelSEO.

He is out on his own now and is one YouTuber (Is that a thing?) who you can rely on to keep up with things as they occur and provide sensible advice on how to deal with the changes.

This week he did a great video that you can see below on ways to make money on YouTube which clearly shows that it’s not all bad news with becoming a YouTube superstar.

Shot Entirely on an iPhone

I guess this article is probably of no real surprise other than the fact that what we knew was coming has now arrived.

Yes, a full length feature movie in glorious cinema quality entirely shot on an iPhone 5.

Not just some low key amateur thingy either!

This movie was shown and received rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival and will get a general (if limited due to the subject matter) release very soon.

To get an iPhone to operate at this level clearly takes more than just a desire to point and shoot!

Obviously the people running the phone have to have had a very high level of technical skill and creativity to achieve what they have with it but that fact remains that they did it on a phone!

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