Baylze

Overwatch YouTuber
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Hey guys, so I've seen and read through a whole lot of guides about how to get big on YouTube, how to manipulate the SEO system to funnel traffic your way, and things like that, but not one guide I've read on popular article outlets have been from the perspective of someone actually in the industry. So I wanted to make my own little guide here, that will highlight (from my perspective) the tools I believe you need to start out and develop as a YouTube Gamer!

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The first thing, of course, that you need to consider is your channel's branding. This means thinking deeply about the online alias that you're going to be known as on YouTube. Items that are part of your branding include:
  • Your Channel's Name
  • Your Intro/Outro (if you decide to make them!)
  • Your personal graphic/watermark
  • Your Channel Art & Profile Icon
You need to think of a name that is either personal to you, or relates to your content. From a gaming perspective, you could always just add 'Plays' or 'Gaming' at the end of your real name, or any online alias that you're currently using. But if your name is "MinecraftGamer321", then you might want to consider rethinking your branding. You want to create a channel name that is memorable. This is the most important part of your name; people have to remember you! This means that something short is likely to be better. Thing about it, most channels on YouTube have memorable names, or simplistic names with the word 'Gaming' or 'Plays' in them.

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Typically, your channel art and icon should somewhat match for the sake of brand continuity - matching graphics are far more appealing to an audience, and more importantly for a potential subscriber. Graphics that have synergy look more professional, so will generally be better accepted by your audience.

A personal icon/watermark is optional - of course, all major brands (McDonalds, Apple, Google) have logos that are universally known. If you believe you have the skill to create a memorable graphic to fit in the corner of your videos, then an audience can also remember your channel via your watermark.

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Graphics are the second most important thing for a channel on YouTube (the first being videos!!). They are what makes your channel personal, and ever since YouTube introduced 'Channel Art', all channels look pretty much identical; except for the graphics you choose to have on your banner and icon.

Let's just get this out of the way - MS Paint is a no no! - There are programs that aren't necessarily as professional as commercial software such as Photoshop, but still programs that are effective for making good channel art, icons, and thumbnails. Software such as 'Pixlr' and 'Paint.net' are free variations of Photoshop, and are a great place to start for YouTubers. MS Paint just doesn't offer enough tools to create effective, engaging graphics.

Your thumbnails are the first thing a potential viewer sees, even before the video begins. Everyone should know that thumbnails that include bright colours, big text and engaging images are much more successful than those that are just a screenshot of the video.

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You should never neglect your thumbnails; as they are an important part of a viewer's psychology - some viewers may even base whether they're going to click on the video or not specifically on the thumbnail, because people are far more likely to click on thumbnails that look professional and engaging.

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Assuming that you want to do commentary and not just gameplay, the quality of your microphone should seem like a no-brainer. However, some people don't realize that commentary is likely to take up 50% of the audio on your video. You may only have the in-game audio and your voice on a video, so you need to consider the following in regards to your choice of broadcasting microphone;
  • Can you hear any distracting background noise when recording your commentary?
  • Is your voice clear and audible, regardless of any accent limitations?
  • Do your plosive consonants pop? (P's and T's making a bad noise on recording)
Make sure your microphone sounds good! A good place to start is the Blue Snowball, as it is a studio quality desktop microphone that doesn't have a huge price tag, but does offer a decent place to start for YouTube gamers that wants to record commentary.​

Blue Snowball Microphone (AMAZON)
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Your recording software should be able to produce at least 30FPS and at least 720p video quality. If it doesn't, change it. Unfortunately we are in the year 2016, and advancements in recording software mean that if your video doesn't meet these standards; it will impact the viewer's opinion of your production quality heavily. There are various recording software's you get for free, if you don't want to buy commercial programs, such as:​
  • Open Broadcasting Software (OBS)
  • Shadowplay
  • Bandicam
Although, typically speaking, if you want to guarantee good recording output, then you should consider spending a little bit of money on standard recording software's such as FRAPS, DXTory or Action!.

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Unless you're doing a full Let's Play of a story driven game, or a commentary that doesn't directly relate to the gameplay, you should get some editing software. I see a lot of people talking about Adobe Premier Pro or Sony Vegas, but guys, you can start with Windows Movie Maker and still edit at a professional standard. Splitting and trimming videos, adding an intro/outro, adding text over the top of your video are still possible on a basic piece of software like Movie Maker. Granted, you can't add fancy graphics, attractive pop-ups and such, but it's a good starting point!

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You need social media if you want an audience. This YouTube myth regarding 'If you keep making videos, viewers will come', which is based on the quote 'If we built it, they will come' is not true in most cases. You don't have to participate in Shoutout Series' or SUB4SUB type methods, but there is nothing wrong with advertising yourself and your videos on social medias. Find groups that are also interested in the games you are playing, join lists, join forums, and get yourself out there! Some awesome social media sites to get started on are:
  • Facebook (Groups & Pages)
  • Twitter (An account dedicated to your channel)
  • Reddit (Find gaming sub-reddits to advertise on!)
  • Tumblr
  • Online Forums (such as YTTalk!)
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Above all, if you keep at it, and continue to exposure your channel to your friends and on social media, you will grow (whether slow or fast). Content will eventually get seen, but you have to find your niche, produce quality content and convince people that you're worthy of their view. Make yourself different, have professional looking branding and make sure your online YouTube alias is memorable. You can do it!

Baylze
 
yeah, I think thumbnails play a big part in getting noticed, 'cause, even though some people argue that thumbnails aren't important & it's the quality of the video that counts, yeah, quality first, but I'm pretty sure most people avoid videos with badly made thumbnails.

also, nice text
 
I think it's worth mentioning that OBS is good for people that have low end or low-mid end PCs cuz of low fps impact. (in most cases) Also it's capable of recording gameplay in mp4 with microphone audio and webcam (but i also think that there's no point in buying a webcam just for that. Most people have decent compact cameras or DSLRs. In this case it's better to just edit it and leave the PC running for longer just for sake of better webcam quality)

It takes a bit of practice but being able to time the moment you stop the recording in OBS allows you to upload mp4 file directly to youtube. Tools provided by youtube are good enough to make a good outro. without editing.
 
Quality Guide, thanks for the advise!

Thanks for the feedback! :D

Dunno why, but I am kinda missing the quality content XD Great guide!

Interesting. That's pretty important! xD

Google+ groups can get views too.

I haven't had a very good experience with Google+ as a social network, but If it benefits you, awesome! :D

Nice tips over here xD Thanks for taking your time to write this...It is really good and helpful ^^

Thank you man. :)
 
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