Hi there , my name is Cirno, obviously this is not my real name as this name is from a video game character I'm obsessed with , but that is a whole another subject. If you are here then you are possibly desperate for some tips regarding your Youtube channel and I'm willing to give them. I will try to cover as many subjects as I can (which are of main importance) which will help your channel grow by the time. Please note that this guide will NOT make you famous or whatever , it all depends on how well you work and learn from your OWN experiences. but I'm willing to kickstart it a little bit so you have a small edge above the others regarding optimizing your channel.

Before you complain about like "Hurr , if you know everything so well , why aren't you a big youtuber then?" then I would kindly tell you to stfu and gtfo , I basically don't have the time for this (for YouTube and you if you are an ass) nor I'm aiming for this. I made this in my spare time to help you out.


YouTube Name : Choose one carefully as you will carry it along throughout your whole YouTube "career" , please pick a name you like and is catchy to other people. Avoid making names which basically copy famous youtubers for like example : "Posh", "Smobuscus" , "DewPieDie" or whatever , you will get my point. If not , then I advise you to go back to school. Also don't pick names which look 1337 like xXOMFG420BLAIZXx as this will make your chance on getting your channel slightly big to the minimum. Take something which is catchy and is easy to remember , I would say that shorter names might be better then longer ones as they are easy to remember. Make sure your name is quite relevant to the subject (if you can't find an awesome name). Do not name yourself CoDPro for example if you want to do letsplays of Hello Kitty on an adventure.

Background : Basically the first impression of your main channel , be sure that you have a nice background. See it as some sort of date , if you are dating with a nice girl then you aren't going to dress as a hobo. That will most likely cause her to flip off and you will never see her again. That was actually a crazy metaphor , but this is basically what it is. Make sure you have a nice background relevant to the subject you are (mainly) treating on your channel. Your background does not have to contain "uber awesome C4D effects with a shitload of filters" as a normal organized background actually looks better and more professional then this (especially when you know that the majority of these people having the C4D backgrounds are kids who find everyhting with effects awesome). If you can't make a background , then find someone who will and is capable of making a sleek background.

Make High Quality content : Noone is waiting for content recorded with a potato and the sound quality of a mobile phone out of the stone age. People want quality and be sure to give it to them. Its recommended to atleast make your content 720p (even if you have to upscale and apply filters) then 420p,360p,240p (POTATO) and be sure that you have nice quality equipment regarding microphone , PC , facecam. the microphone is especially important as noone wants to get earraped by the poor quality of your mic , so if you plan to do commentaries , then get a good mic.

Make Original Content : People who copy people get regular visits of immature fanbases and it is all your fault and I have like 0 pity for you then , especially when you imitate your most loved and favorited famous YouTuber is all means possible. Be sure to present yourself as yourself and not as some looney lunatic escaped from an asylum. Be honest with yourself and be yourself. Also its important that you try to find what most other channels/videos don't have. Maybe a nice example for horror games is a scare counter throughout the whole game. If you jump , +1 for the scare counter. This makes your videos much more interactive then just a plain video (but make sure that the counter looks neat and not for example made with windows movie maker).

Get Quality Editing Tools : I don't care how you get this , but you should really get it , unless you want to make poor quality content with Windows Movie Maker. What I recommend is Sony Vegas for starters (again I don't care how you get it , but don't cry @ me with the reason that you don't have enough money. Then you are obviously not smart enough in my opinion... no offense). Sony Vegas is really easy to learn and helps you to edit your vids quick and export it in high quality , also this is a nice foundation if you ever want to work with After Effects , since the layer stuff is quite similar, although After Effects is mainly for making effects while Sony Vegas is made for plain editing. Although there are some other editing tools out there , I still recommend Sony Vegas due to the nice experiences I have with the software.

Avoid Google AdSense/moneytization : Seriously , if you want money... then actually avoid this. Don't activate moneytization. I will explain why, but first I'm going to explain why you don't need it. You don't need it due to the fact your channel is not big enough to make some money. You will just earn some cents and all for risking your channel. I say its a no-go on this one. By the time you can actually make money then you are already YouTube partner with the help of a network and you don't need adsense for it. Infact , they hate Adsense. Why? because it takes longer for them to unlink your channel and link it to their network. Not to mention that google likes to randomly ban Adsense accounts or put them in limbo for the lulz. If the previous stated problems happen. Then you will never be able to generate revenue and get partnership. Life is cruel eh? So think again when YouTube cries for you to activate AdSense.

Stick to one subject : Avoid posting music , Gameplay and Vlogs on the same channel. This results in that your videos will get inappropriatly indexed and thus placed lower in the list as you could have been. If you plan to do multiple things , then make multiple channels for it. Not to mention that people who stick to their subject will actually generate more revenue due to YouTube making targeted Ad-campaigns on your channel.

Avoid Copyrighted Content : If you can't do this , then you will never succeed on YouTube. Never upload copyrighted content like music(videos) and such. You will get strikes for it and with 3 strikes yer out. Meaning your channel will be closed down due to not following YouTube's ToS and you can basically kiss your "career" goodbye. Also even with 1 strike , people will see you as a black sheep and networks are unwilling to partner you due to it. Avoid uploading copyright content by any means (if your game has commercial music in it (like GTA or Saints Row) then either drop the whole game or turn the music off , stupid people easily gain strikes on this).

Use custom thumbnails : If you are reading this then you : have already enabled adsense prior to reading , are partnered with a network or you are too stupid to not listen to me about AdSense. Custom thumbnails are useful to attract people with it , so make them as attractive as possible , this doesn't mean that you have to cram every little corner with something. Absolutely not. Just make your thumbnails look nice and relevent to your subject and avoid using real people without their permission using your thumbnails , failure to comply may result in termination of this feature or your account. Depends on how butthurt YouTube and the complaining party is.

Preferably upload gamecontent with commentary : This is partly due to copyright stuff. It basically makes most content for "fair use", if you are not sure that you have the rights to record a game without commentary , then do it with for the previous stated reason. otherwise you might risk some strikes or claims. Partnering up with a network is a good way to be sure that you have the rights to record the majority of the games ,but be sure to read every developers ToS regarding this to make sure. (especially microsoft , they are butthurt quick).

Avoid uploading gamecontent before the INTERNATIONAL release date : Otherwise you get strikes , your own damn fault. No need for a long discussion here.

Network with other YouTubers : This will help you and your channel spread if you do the same for someone else. Ask people for a favor , but be sure that you know that person due to the fact it will otherwise will be looked down upon as spam. preferably you should network with somewhat bigger Youtubers , but this doesn't mean that you should contact Pewdiepie with a crying letter that he should shoutout or box his channel (actually one person did it and succeeded , people know who I'm talking about) as your message will be ignored and it is practically impossible for him to do that since otherwise there would be major butthurt. Be sure to search for like minded people with similiar channels (or totally different) as your interests might help you both out.

Pick a partnering network that suits you : Don't join Machinima because it is Machinima for example , sadly people are thinking that Machinima is the best partnering solution for their channel regarding growth and such (they basically only join for bragging rights). but this is untrue , it is a fact that Machinima currently quite dominates youtube , but that doesn't make them the best solution. You should study each and every network out there and compare the ups and downs of every network. The majority of the networks have 1 year contracts while some don't have a contract for a decided time. Study those things which might benefit you and your channel the most like CPM's and support and such. Since if you have made your choice , you can't back out till your contract expires choose wisely.

Tag your videos properly : If you don't tag your videos properly , you will hardly get any views no matter what quality you produce and how much videos you make. and if you do get a decent amount of views then its either due to your subs watching it or people sharing it with other people. Seriously , although this looks quite innocent , this turns YouTube on. Basically with tagging your videos properly you are opening pathways for people to find your videos in the search box besides your set title for your video. Taggin properly is important as inproperly tagging will result in inefficiency and potential butthurt from people (lol , if you get any views). for example , this is an example of a randomly tagged video.

Funny , Fun , Epic , Hilarious , Pewdiepie , Barrels , Epicness , Amazing , Wow , Derp

This is an overexaggerated example although I'm sure there are some people basically tagging like this. avoid such things as irrelevance and tagwhoring. Those things basically backfire against you. I will now give you an example of a properly tagged video and yes this will involve Touhou. Cry me a damn river. For example these could be the tags for a Touhou game I'm currently playing called Genius of Sappheiros.

Sappheiros , Genius of Sappheiros , Touhou , Toho , JRPG , Japanese RPG , Role Playing Game , Scarlet Devil Mansion , DatCommonChannel , Reimu , Marisa , Sanae , Aya, Bossfight

List to clarify each tag :
Touhou/Toho : Name of the main franchise
Sappheiros , Genius of Sappheiros : Name of the game
JRPG , Japanese RPG , Role Playing Game : The genre of the Game
Scarlet Devil Mansion : Location in the video/level/stage
Bossfight : To indicate that there is a bossfight in the video
Reimu , Marisa , Sanae, Aya : Main cast of the game/chars currently using w/e
DatCommonChannel : My channel.

So basically , if someone would search for "DatCommonChannel Touhou" (as a rough example) then my video will appear higher on the list then other videos. Won't say it will be at the top , but it will be a lot higher then it is not tagged (hell , I don't think it will even appear in the list unless your title has something like that in it.) You should think about how people would find your videos and not just randomly tag your videos with some random tags and hope for the best. What would you do if you wanted to find your video on YouTube and you actually have some minor information about it.

Also , the earlier your tag is in the taglist , the more important it is. So don't put something unimportant as the tag "funny" (should even be avoided on most cases) as the first keyword. The further your tag is away from the start, the less impact it will have.

Use the description box : Now I know what you are thinking.... go to hell with you , I'm not going to write a wall of text. Well , I have to say , a yes and a no. Best would be that you would describe what would happen in the video ( but not spoil everything or the fun parts) and then basically write some generic information about the game or get it from a source like wikipedia. This will help your video get indexed by search engines on the internet (ever seen youtube suggestion pop up @ google? exactly). Now you also know why there are idiots with those huge ass taglists. which is a desperate act of gaining attention and should be avoided if you want to play it fair and don't want to create huge amounts of butthurtness.

Make playlists : Its a nice way to list your videos in a nice way and allows people to watch the whole thing without having to search for every video. Also playlists may appear if you search for a specific subject in the results. So why not grab the chance for that extra chance?

Use the video reply function to spotlight your videos : Is this regarding making actual replies to existing video's you don't own? Nope , that will most likely flip people off. but did you know you can video reply your own videos? this is extremely handy if you want to make a playlist besides the playlist. Mainly due to the fact that the "reply" vid appears next to your existing vid. Also did I mention that Youtube shows where that video was a reply on? Meaning people will easily see the previous video and the next video and are actually 1 click away from them. Boom.

Use Annotations : Have a boring video with some nice moments? Offer people to skip the boring segment and put them into the fun right away! This greatly reduced of people clicking away if they don't like it and such and help you out in multiple ways. Like you can make annotations to different videos and channels and such , be creative with it. I also heard somewhere that this also helps your video get more easily found on YouTube , although I'm not sure the source was correct on that one. but still enough reasons to use it.

Don't beg for subs/views/favs/likes : I have seen multiple people doing this on video's , on this forum and on other forums. With all honesty , those things need to be earned and isn't given away like candy. I mean like , even if I subscribe , why should I even watch your videos while I don't even like it or don't have the time for it? basically clogs up the list of the things I do watch. Not to mention that begging is extremely annoying especially if its done regulary. I have seen multiple people here crying for subs/likes and sometimes even to NOT dislike the video and such. If you do this , then you are actually wanting to get on people's bad side , best thing is to avoid asking for stuff at the video topics and only ask if they would sub on your main topic here on the forum. Also , you shouldn't ask more then once at every video if people would like to sub if they like the content, if you keep asking then they will not do it and they even might hate you even if you have good content.

Avoid botting software : You will look like a complete idiot and only fool yourself. Not to mention this also gets your Youtube account banned quickly if you do it excessivelt and will not even help you that much on getting your videos higher as YouTube now counts total time which viewers have watched and the total attendacy. Seriously , don't use it.

Work together with other YouTubers. : Although this is quite similar as networking with other Youtubers , this one goes a little bit further. I'm talking about collabs with other YouTubers meaning you will create "shared" content. This is really fun to do and is helps you get more interest to your channel (especially with somewhat bigger YouTubers).

Avoid sub4sub : You are basically fooling yourself on this one. Although it is nice to people out by subbing to their channel , completely relying on sub4sub is a total no-go. Subs gained from this procedure will seldom watch your content. Its more nice to be a small honest channel then a big channel with lots of subs but not the views to back that up.

Quality above quantity : Its better to produce 1 quality video a week then 7 poorly made ones. Take your time with editing and try to provide the best content you can give to people. If you upload too fast your subscribers might even become overwhelmed with the content you provide (even when its quality content) so stick to around 2-3 vids a day as a total maximum.

Do it for fun and actually for fun alone : This is so darn important and I can't stress it enough. Only make videos because you want to create content and have fun whilst doing it. If you are aiming to be the next Pewdiepie or such , then I advise you to quit your channel immediatly as you are going nowhere with that attitude , Pewdiepie himself didn't even know he would get famous (maybe later , but that was reflected due to the numbers) and did it and still does it for fun. You shouldn't care about the money or fame. Those are extra's you might get along the way. Producing videos should be fun and not some kind of chore you NEED to do. You do it because you WANT it.

Advertise your videos on websites/forums : Before you actually do this , be sure to actually read what I'm about to say. Noone is waiting for people who only join a website/forum/community just for plain advertising their videos. Seriously don't do it. You will only get hate in return and both sides will not benefit by it. Be sure to find a website/forum/community with like minded people who share the same interest and such as this will help you spread your content. After you have registered be sure to socialize around with everyone for like a month and contribute to the forum/website/community. After that time (or preferably more) you may post your videos in the PROPER section. Be sure to include information about your video and don't ask them to subscribe or like or anything , since this will most likely backfire against you. Be sure to keep contributing while you keep advertising your videos as people don't find it that bad then , but if you are only there to advertise , people will hate you quite easily and you will easily get banned.

Don't care about the amount of subs : The amount of subs doesn't say that they will watch your videos , so don't rely on them. Its better to have a small amount of active subscribers then an high amount of subscribers where noone watches.

Patience : Don't expect to go from zero to hero in a short period and you might start to see more bigger growth after your channel has matured abit after a year or so , this doesn't mean that you will be ultra-uber-duper famous or whatever. But growth comes with the time and that should be time well spent regarding your YouTube channel , don't expect to see any growth if you haven't been active on it or not producing good content and such.

Luck : Some people have the luck that people find your content out of the world and share it with everyone and cause a chain reaction resulting in massive growth in a short amount of time. This chance is really slim and won't happen to everyone. never get your hopes up but do believe in miracles.

Take it easy! : Don't be taking the Youtube business serious especially when you are starting , if you are serious about it then you might have set insane goals for yourself you might never achieve and it will only stress you out. Best is to take your YouTube channel not seriously and just go with the flow , upload whenever you feel like and whatever you want.

Yukkuri's love to take it easy and if they can't , they will die.


Don't make strict schedules : Avoid this as it will stress you out and possibly make your subscribers disappointed if you don't publish the videos on that day. Everyone can have some problems (or is just too "lazy" or taking it too easy *cough*cirnoff*cough*) and so can you have them. Its nice to tell your subscribers what you will upload , but not when. This will allow you to work in your own pace and it makes your subscribers anxious for the next part (if they are craving for more)

I think that this sums it up for the time being , however if I find out about something urgent to add , then I will add it ,but currently I think this information is enough and helpful enough to get yourself quite off your feet.


Changelog 15-12-2012
Added "Take it easy!" (draft)
Added "Don't make strict schedules" (draft)


Changelog 14-12-2012
Added "Don't care about subscribers amount" (will possibly be edited)
Edited "Tag your videos properly" with additional information.



I'm aware that the posts contain a high amount of spelling errors and such, but I'm too lazy to fix it.
Do not post elsewhere without my permission/giving me credit. If you want to use this then contact me on THIS forum with a private message labeled "Youtube Guide Usage" containing the reason why you want to use it (obvious) and on which website. Proper credit needs to be given in the way of a hyper link to this page and a notification that I (Cirno,Shikieiki Yamaxanadu,DatCommonChannel,Tsumetai (or whatever name I use)) have written the original.

You may also contact me on [removed], although PM's on this website are prefered.

Added : 25-4-2013 : 11:17


Seriously folks , don't just steal. Just added this because it got 'stolen' recently. Added the last thing for the people who want to use it to help other people out.

For example , mainstream music is copyrighted. Meaning music made by artists and not specifically made for the game.

There is no stress lol , I do it for fun and am realistic with my channel.

Might mean that your AdSense is in limbo.

As far as I know you don't have to upload the credits of the games.
If you don't feel comfortable about the music in the game then don't lets play it. Most of the time the music is specifically made for that game. Excluding games which use commercial music content like rocksmith and such (obviously , don't even know why Pewdie plays it. ends up in tons of claims)
You could email google about it to get your adsense gone or whatever , but I'm afraid I do not know how this procedure works and if it does actually works due to the fact they are quite slackers. Sometimes networks offer limited support to try to get your account out of limbo , although google has to do the actual thing. If you qualify for partnership and your adsense is in limbo then they might offer you an alternative , meaning you will make a new channel and they will partner it as they see it grow.


Everyone is allowed to make content on Youtube although there could be national laws in your country which overrule this. You need to be 18+ or have a guardian to sign your contract if you wish to partner up through a network.