Image Hosted by ImageShack.usAs you know there are numerous destinations when it comes to video sharing, but YouTube is the king of all.  No matter where you go, but videos shared on YouTube become more popular.

But how do you make sure your video gets noticed.  Besides having a great idea there are many things you need to understand to become popular on YouTube.  Some of these tips are really easy to follow but requires a little bit of awareness and attention.

I have been studying various popular videos and their creators on YouTube to understand why they are popular.  What they do extra that makes their videos get noticed so quickly? 

I am happy to share with you my findings here: (Don’t hesitate to share your own observations in the comments section)

  1. First and foremost, you need to have a great idea.  Cooking tips, some kind of tutorial, compilation etc. are some of the many easy ideas to start with.
  2. Use a good quality camera, preferably with high-definition (HD) support.
  3. Use a tripod to provide stability and avoid lots of zooming in and out.
  4. Don’t rotate the camera too quickly and if it is a requirement, then use some kind of moving subject like chair etc.
  5. Pay special attention on the lighting.  You need to make sure people see what you want them to see.  You need three lights: one in front as primary source, one to fill the shadows from a side angle and a backlight to ensure figures pop out of the background.
  6. Avoid mixing light sources and try to get the colors right by adjusting the white balance.  If possible take an online course to understand various tips.
  7. Never use inbuilt camera microphone.  Invest in getting a standalone mic for increased voice quality.
  8. Try to keep noise under control.  Unless it is a family video, no one like to view a video filled with unnecessary noise.  Try to shoot your videos in a separate room where there is less noise.
  9. Music is an important part of a video.  But don’t use copy protected music instead try to get some royalty free music from sites like www.iBeat.org or www.Musicloops.com etc.  Or if you have any musician friend then have them write something original for you.
  10. Don’t try to make a long video.  Try to keep it as short as possible.  Generally 2 to 3 minutes is a optimal time frame.  People online generally don’t have patience to watch a 8-10 minute video.
  11. Invest in some video editing softwares.  Free online alternative is www.eyespot.com. Or you may buy professional software like Adobe Premiere Elements (~$99.99), Windows Live Movie Maker (free with Windows Vista) or iMovie (Free with MacOS X).
  12. Generally all videos uploaded to YouTube and other similar sites are converted to Flash video.  Therefore, it is a good idea to save your video files as MPEG-4 before uploading to YouTube and all. 
  13. Be consistent, be on time and keep the quality high.  If the quality of video is good, viewers will keep coming back and hopefully share your work with their friends or may be on their blog.
  14. Try to create a community around your videos.  YouTube is obviously a good place to start with but other options like www.MySpaceTV.com, www.Facebook.com or even www.Ning.com are good place to create your own community.
  15. Make sure to allow commenting and sharing on your videos because the core concept of Web 2.0 is discussion and sharing.  You may however would like to disable downloading your videos.
  16. Make sure to include your web/blog URL in every video you create so that the viewers know where to find you if they have any question/suggestion etc.
  17. Don’t just upload the very first video you created.  Instead create a backlog of 4-5 videos and then start sharing all of them.  That way, viewers will subscribe to you quickly because they have some other videos to see your quality of work. 
  18. Don’t share your video as soon as you create them.  Try to find a perfect timing to go online.  e.g. April Fool’s prank video will go more viral around 1st April, but people may not like them during 4th July.
  19. If possible create a video podcast and distribute clips via RSS so that new episodes show up in a newsreader or in iTunes.
  20. You may get yourself notices by leaving smart comments on other YouTube videos.  People will end up watching your videos just to know you via the link in your signature.
  21. Select wisely a representative thumbnail for your video.  A wisely selected thumbnail helps people decide if they want to see the video or not.
  22. Make sure to give easy to understand Title and description to your video.
  23. Similar to titles and description, provide proper tag or keywords so that search engines will find your videos quickly.  Don’t forget to use your name or brand as a tag.
  24. Use your blog to promote your videos.  Ask your blog reader base to rate your videos and subscribe to your YouTube channel.
  25. Finally, share your videos on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Orkut etc so that your friends can see it.

These are some of the tips I could find out people use to get attention.  But in fact, there is no guarantee, if will work for everyone.  Sometimes its just LUCK.  Not so well created videos are quite popular on YouTube.  As they say,

70% Luck + 30% Hard Work = 100% Success.

Keep creating good content, share it with the world, keep your fingers crossed and just hope for the best.  Instead of worrying about getting noticed too much, just enjoy.  Sometimes keeping things loose and crazy gives more fun.


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