How To Be a YouTube Partner in 2012
YouTube is by far the most dominant website in its niche. Even though we have sites like Vimeo and Hulu trying to compete with some interesting new features, but there is nothing quite like YouTube. Being the most visited video directory on the web, everyone is trying to grab their fair share on YouTube and achieve success. And in some cases they are right. You see, if you can manage to get an audience around YouTube then it is a matter of time before they start visiting your website and bring some sales or whatever goals you have. The most talked about thing amongst YouTube publishers has always been their partnership. Not only does it allows publishers to make money but also acts as a separate status badge showing how elite these publishers are and giving them some additional features which are not available to normal publishers.
Even before you start thinking about being a publisher it is important that you understand the concept of YouTube Publishers and why they are helped so much from Google to make Videos. In order to find a solution to that you need to understand the core framework of the YouTube System. Setting aside all the Nitti gritty stuff, YouTube is a content producing system and the only way to stay at top is to make some killer content that is appreciated by a wider range of audience.
That is the reason why YouTube encourage partners to make original videos, pays them for views and adds additional features to Partner’s Channel so that they can be branded. I am making YouTube Videos for a long time now and there are some secrets or rather truths that I learnt if you want to be a YouTube Partner and get lots of views thereby earning decent money.
Do Not Make Videos For the Sake of Making Videos
This is the first lesson that I learnt thanks to some partners like Chris Pirillo who encouraged and showed us the right way to produce videos. You shall never succeed if you simply make videos for the sake of earning money through YouTube. A good video is achieved when the viewer finds that you know what you are speaking about and you are passionate about your topic. Learn the art of loving your video-making and it will reflect on all your videos. Therefore it is always recommended that you choose a topic which you yourself love to talk about and the rest will automatically fall in place.
Learn the Right Steps of Video Making
When I say the right steps I mean that you should know the basic building blocks for making a proper video. Any Video on earth goes through three steps. These include Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production. All the steps are equally important and are critical ingredients for making a good video.
Pre-Production: In this phrase it’s all about planning and management. Gather the content for your video, whatever it might be. Decide on the topics you are going to cover. If possible write down your narration for the video, practice the narration a few times and see where you can improve by recording your practice sessions.
Production: In this phrase the actual video shooting takes place. In order to be successful in YouTube you must give your best shot at every take. If you feel that you can do better in certain areas then redo the entire shoot once again. I have done some of my best videos after several takes. The FIFA 11 Video was made at its 4th take.
Post Production: All your text effects, branding and visual effects fall in this category. You need to take the raw footage of your shooting and edit it in a software like Final Cut Pro X(if u are a professional) or if you want something simple then you can start with Camtesia Studio 7. If you look at my videos you will see that I have my Logo Watermark at the lower left hand side of the screen and I linked this logo to a subscribe spotlight which you can add through video annotations. Such branding is crucial and an important part in being a YouTube Partner. You cannot be a partner unless you have an online brand for your channel in YouTube; it’s as simple as that.
Publish Videos In a Pattern
You need to publish videos in a pattern so that your subscribers are aware of when to expect that next video of yours. It is also known that people who uses a pattern for video publishing gets more views than any other random guy with no pattern for their video launch. The pattern is totally dependent upon you; it might be daily, weekly, 2 fixed days in a week etc.
For Example: If you see Chris Pirillo’s LockerGnome Channel on YouTube you will see that recently he started a show called TLDR (The LockerGnome Daily Report). It basically talks about the daily happenings from the internet and the tech world. Chris uses YouTube live to broadcast the show live since he is a YouTube Partner and then he breaks up the 1 hour video into smaller sub-videos for each day. His pattern in this case is daily. You should also see as to how he brands the video and his live session.
Criteria for YouTube Partnership
Finally I am going to explain you what it actually takes to be a YouTube Partner and explain all the criteria posted in YouTube’s Partner Page in greater detail
- You need to views, lots of views! Although there are no fixed rule and numbers disclosed by YouTube but the general figure stands at 500-600 subscribers with over 500k Video Views. You might get a partnership request before that if you make exceptionally good videos that are liked by all.
- You need to hold the license to all your content. This means that all your music, videos etc. cannot be copied from others. Does this mean you cannot show their stuff, of course you can what it means is that you cannot be a partner by uploading movie clips and trailers on YouTube.
- You Upload Videos in a pattern, like daily or weekly as I explained earlier in this article.
These are the main criteria for becoming a YouTube Partner. If you have any doubts or queries then comment below and I will surely answer all your queries.
