Extra tips and things for your channel you may have missed!

Lightsen

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So you've followed the advice and techniques you could find on the site? - nice one!
This thread is for all the little extras that you may have missed that could also benefit your channel.

1) Your G+ page.
- you may not be interested in using G+ at all, but for a few people, when highlighting their avatar or channel name, they get a snippet from their G+ page rather than their Youtube homepage. The least you can do is remember to pop your channel banner on your G+ page to keep it looking nice.

2) Translations.
- If you are able to translate your videos into other languages via subtitles, that will get you to show up for foreign YouTube viewers. Google translate is not the best, but if you are willing to pay a little for the work, there are many people that will translate your video or subtitle it for you for very cheap. Alternatively you can even open your video up to enable fan translations. allowing anyone that views to submit translations they do themselves. (You must check your analytics for this, as YouTube doesn't notify you when someone submits a translation.)
translations.jpg - you can also translate your channel information, if you hit the channel settings icon (little gear next to your subscribe button)

3) Playlists
- Don't forget that playlists themselves will show up in YouTube searches. and with the right contents and title can bring some traffic to your channel. You can also create a small blurb for each playlist explaining what it is. you can even set certain playlists to private (if you like a lot of videos, it might be best to keep your likes playlist private)

4) Check your spam
- Sometimes comments get thrown in the spam folder without reason, and you could be missing out on some more comments! check the "comments > marked as spam" every now and then when you have spare time, just in case. Channel comments are also things that do not give you a notification when they arrive. make sure to check up on your channel discussion page.
channel discussion.jpg

5) Customise your channel layout for different types of viewers.
YouTube has a handy feature to view your channel as different viewers, subbed or new visitors, maybe you would like your channel trailer to only be shown to new visitors, and your returning subscribers would be better off with the latest upload?
view as.jpg

6) Add your social media and other links to your youtube banner.
If you go to your channel's main page, and hit the "about" tab, you can fill in the information, including links what will show up as little icons to things like your twitter and facebook page accounts.

7) Creator credits
- Ever helped anyone make music? or starred in another person's video? or want to credit someone in your own video?
YouTube has a creator credits function that allows you to add actors, musicians, collaborators animators and more to your videos as credits. they look at lot nicer using this method than just pasting text links in the description. I would recommend to ask for credit in other people's videos that you have been a part of. Linking together with others is a great way to gain views and become part of the community.
credits.jpg

8) Recommended Channels
You can also edit your 'recommended' channels on your main page to add people you have collaborated with, or are friends with. it's like a mini shoutout. You can change the title to whatever you like too.
reccomended channels.jpg

That's all the little things I can think of at the moment, but please if there's any other easily missed mini tips to share, add them to the comments :)

hope this helps someone!
 

ChrisLegend

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Really good post man, thank you for this. Great to know that I'm hitting all of these except for the translation one thus far, have to look into that especially for my videos that are more relatively popular.

I also think the social media buttons on the banner are a super important part of a channel, so your fans can connect with you on other mediums. Highly recommend it too
 
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PictureFIT

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Mind if I ask a question? What were your steps to getting verified (checkmark)? Definitely an exhausted answer around here, but no "tips" thread was ever really definitive on the approach. Any enlightenment is much appreciated! Thanks and great post!
 
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xingcat

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Very good stuff! I try to follow all the rules and tips that I can, and this is a nicely thorough list.
 
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Edmagician

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Thanks,gonna look more into G plus, I rarely used it
 
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Lightsen

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Mind if I ask a question? What were your steps to getting verified (checkmark)? Definitely an exhausted answer around here, but no "tips" thread was ever really definitive on the approach. Any enlightenment is much appreciated! Thanks and great post!
the usual route is that it comes automatically when you get 100k +. But if your with a network they may be able to get someone at YouTube to tick you.
how I got it was that I took part in a lot of live online seminars direct from YouTube, and one of the reps got to know me so he would send me links to any things that might interest me. I got an invite to see YouTube gaming in action and they used my channel to demonstrate how it works, and after the seminar I got an email saying oh btw I gave you the verified mark. I guess since they talked directly to me via mic and saw my work they could "verify" that it was me first hand.
that or he was just doing me a nice favour :)
(I didn't ask for it)
 

Python Blue

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Thanks for this post, Lightsen, as well as for showing me off in your recommended channels. XD

How do you go about adding creator credits to your videos? I'm definitely interested in doing that, particularly when it comes to my soundtracks to your animations. ;)

UPDATE: just looked into it for myself: looks like you need at least 5,000 subscribers whereas I have barely more than a tenth that...
 
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NathanielGE

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This post will help a lot of people.

I've been close captioning my videos (most of them) for a while.

Never knew about creator credits so that's really cool to know.
 
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Lightsen

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Thanks for this post, Lightsen, as well as for showing me off in your recommended channels. XD

How do you go about adding creator credits to your videos? I'm definitely interested in doing that, particularly when it comes to my soundtracks to your animations. ;)

UPDATE: just looked into it for myself: looks like you need at least 5,000 subscribers whereas I have barely more than a tenth that...
really? i didn't realise it was capped like that
 
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PictureFIT

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the usual route is that it comes automatically when you get 100k +. But if your with a network they may be able to get someone at YouTube to tick you.
how I got it was that I took part in a lot of live online seminars direct from YouTube, and one of the reps got to know me so he would send me links to any things that might interest me. I got an invite to see YouTube gaming in action and they used my channel to demonstrate how it works, and after the seminar I got an email saying oh btw I gave you the verified mark. I guess since they talked directly to me via mic and saw my work they could "verify" that it was me first hand.
that or he was just doing me a nice favour :)
(I didn't ask for it)
Hah, your willing to help and give returned you a nice reward =) Thanks for the answer!
 
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