Ignite Your Passion: Launching an Epic YouTube Game-Streaming Venture

The Guide to Starting a Successful YouTube Gaming Channel

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.

Table of Content:

1. Have a Greater Purpose
2. Create an Identity
3. Type of Gaming Videos
4. Have a Budget
5. Optimization Matter
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

• Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
• Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
• Built-in plentiful templates and effects
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.

Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).

Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .

It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.

2. Create an Identity

Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?

1. Be Original

Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.

1. Let’s Plays

Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).

Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.

2. Reviews

When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.

3. Walkthrough

Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.

4. Reactions

Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.

5. Skills

Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.

4. Have a Budget

When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

1. Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
2. Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

1. Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

1. Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.

Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.

Key Takeaways

1. Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
2. Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
3. YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
4. Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
5. Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
6. Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.

Table of Content:

1. Have a Greater Purpose
2. Create an Identity
3. Type of Gaming Videos
4. Have a Budget
5. Optimization Matter
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

• Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
• Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
• Built-in plentiful templates and effects
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.

Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).

Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .

It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.

2. Create an Identity

Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?

1. Be Original

Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.

1. Let’s Plays

Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).

Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.

2. Reviews

When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.

3. Walkthrough

Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.

4. Reactions

Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.

5. Skills

Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.

4. Have a Budget

When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

1. Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
2. Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

1. Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

1. Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.

Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.

Key Takeaways

1. Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
2. Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
3. YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
4. Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
5. Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
6. Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.

Table of Content:

1. Have a Greater Purpose
2. Create an Identity
3. Type of Gaming Videos
4. Have a Budget
5. Optimization Matter
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

• Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
• Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
• Built-in plentiful templates and effects
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.

Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).

Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .

It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.

2. Create an Identity

Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?

1. Be Original

Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.

1. Let’s Plays

Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).

Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.

2. Reviews

When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.

3. Walkthrough

Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.

4. Reactions

Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.

5. Skills

Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.

4. Have a Budget

When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

1. Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
2. Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

1. Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

1. Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.

Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.

Key Takeaways

1. Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
2. Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
3. YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
4. Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
5. Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
6. Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Now is the best and easiest time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel. Yet a profitable channel? That’s another story. In this article, I am going to highlight the key elements you need to become the best YouTube gamer you can be.

Table of Content:

1. Have a Greater Purpose
2. Create an Identity
3. Type of Gaming Videos
4. Have a Budget
5. Optimization Matter
6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

Starting a gaming channel today will mean that you will be a small fish in a big ocean. The amount of content on YouTube is massive, and in order to stand out, you will need three intangibles:

- Patience

- Consistency

- Creativity

If you are willing to commit to this long term, then it’s the best time in history for you to start a YouTube gaming channel.

The All-in-One Screen Recorder & Video Editor

• Record desktop screen, voiceover, and webcam simultaneously
• Edit recorded clips quickly with a wide range of professional tools
• Built-in plentiful templates and effects
• Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Secure Download

It’s the best time because you will have so many pioneers and successful creators to draw inspiration and knowledge from. You’ll be standing on the shoulders of giants like PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and CinnamonToastKen.

The trail has been blazed and you’re in the new frontier. Now, here’s what you need to know about starting a YouTube gaming channel.

1. Have a Greater Purpose

According to Tubular Insights , 15% of all content on YouTube is related to video games. That’s a lot.

Additionally, as of 2018, YouTube has a new monetization requirement. To enable monetization, you will need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last 12 months.

If you think you can make a few videos and start making money, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to disappoint you. YouTube is fun and a wonderful way to increase the social aspect of gaming and enhance your enjoyment. Approach it the same way you’ve approached gaming all along, as a fun way to spend your time.

Enjoy the journey… and what a journey it can be. Do it for the love of playing games and making videos, and not about getting subscribers or views. If you don’t change your attitude, it’s a grueling climb if all you want is to reach the finish line (which is nowhere in sight).

Why am I telling you this? Well, if you don’t have a greater purpose than simply growing subscribers and making money off YouTube, then you are going to get discouraged and give up. It’s not a get-rich-fast plan.

Here is how you find your greater purpose:

1. Give Value

You want to make good YouTube gaming content like those popular YouTubers that came before you.

But… what makes good YouTube content?

Simply put, good content should exhibit these factors:

Entertaining: Tell a story and sensationalize the emotions that come out of you when you play games.

Educational: Find hidden stages, new tricks, and talk about the lore and history that brought this game to life.

Inspiring: Encourage viewers to try new games and play along. Help people discover their next pastime and thank viewers for spending their time with you.

This is what gives your content value, and creating content with value should be your ultimate purpose. Making your viewers feel good is, in a way, better than money, no?

2. Make YouTube a Part of Your Daily/Weekly Ritual

YouTube should be a part of your regular schedule.

At first, it’ll be easy. Like anything new, your YouTube channel will have a novelty to it. It’s this exciting new project that you have.

But after the first month, that excitement will dampen. By the third month, it’ll become familiar. Here’s where you have to fight the urge to stop. This is where author, Seth Godin calls The Dip .

It’s now working. And like all work, you’ll have to schedule it into your daily life. You’ll have to prioritize YouTube above hanging out with friends, watching another movie, or playing video games without the strain of recording it and being entertaining/educating/inspiring.

However, if you are getting fulfillment from YouTube, you won’t stop even when the going gets hard. Like being a parent, it’s not always fun, but it should always be fulfilling.

Pro Tip: Mark when you are going to be working on YouTube in a calendar, so when someone asks you to hang out or go for dinner, you can check it and let them know you already have plans.

3. Have a Passion to Get Better At Every Step

There are many stages to producing a YouTube video, from pre-production to production to post-production. And within those stages are countless steps.

If YouTube is what you want to do, perhaps the greatest purpose you can have is improving on each of those skill sets along the way.

In the beginning, you will have a surplus of ideas, but once your initial stock of video ideas run dry, you will need to practice coming up with more ideas .

You’ll get better at recording your gameplay, at speaking on camera, at editing your footage, at optimizing your content, and at sharing your videos.

You will enjoy certain steps more than others, but if you are passionate, you will find comfort in striving to improve in each one, little by little.

Pro Tip:Focus on telling a great story . In every video, you should have an objective you want to accomplish. You want to beat a stage, you want to learn a new skill, etc. Once you nail that, all the other elements (screen recording, editing, and your commentary) will fall into place to guide your story from beginning to end.

2. Create an Identity

Your personality and your channel will need to go through a littlebranding exercise . You need to find what sets yourself apart from all the other gaming channels on the Internet. Ask yourself, and be honest with the answer: Why should anyone care about my channel?

1. Be Original

Take inspiration from other YouTubers and adjust it so that it’s unique. You cannot copy the ideas of popular YouTubers, because the public can see that. They can tell the difference between originality and imitation.

Being original doesn’t mean doing something that has never been done before.

Take a look at Jacksepticeye and Markiplier, both are popular YouTubers recognized for their colorful hair, mass use of profanity, and their Let’s Play style of gaming videos. But if you watch their videos, you can see that they are not copying each other but rather adjusting what has proven to be effective to suit their personality.

If something inspires you and you want to make an original version yourself, don’t think that you need to do something completely different, rather ask, how can I make that awesome thing better?

2. Focus on a Specific Aspect of Game

Odds are, you’ll end up playing the same game as other YouTubers. If you’re playing a popular game, then it’s going to be hard for you to establish an audience if your videos are broad.

Consider how your viewers will discover your videos. Are they going to find you through search? If so, what are they searching? There are many aspects to a video game: characters, glitches, stages, etc.

Find a specific aspect of the game to focus on.

Take YouTuber, NoughtPointFourLive, who instead of playing the game via a linear campaign, finds ridiculous situations, odd tricks, and easter eggs in Grand Theft Auto:

3. Hook Audience With Something Funny Or Interesting — And Lead Up To It

Every video you make should tell a story. It doesn’t matter if the storyline is the one in the video game or if it’s happening to you in real life. What matters is that you are aware of where the climax is.

The climax is what your story hinges on: it’s when Mario confronts Bowser.

This is what your audience is watching for. They want to know who wins.

To hook your audience right away, open with the most exciting part. The bit leading up to the climax. But don’t give away the ending. You want to hook them. Give a promise that this video is worth watching and that eventually, it will deliver.

Check out this example from YouTuber, Lachlan playing Fortnite and landing back at Spawn Island, an artillery-filled waiting area for players before the game starts.

This structure can be applied with humor as well as climatic events. If you open with something funny, it gets the viewer engaged immediately. They want to know what led up to that humorous moment.

Take a look at this example from YouTuber, Jelly. He does a great job at injecting humor into his first few seconds of video.

3. Type of Gaming Videos

There are no rules to making gaming videos. As long as it’s worth watching and you aren’t stealing content, that is all that matters. Nevertheless, there are a few standard types of gaming videos that have been established over the years.

1. Let’s Plays

Turn the game on and start playing. Let’s Plays give you a lot of freedom to explore the game and let your personality show in the commentary. You don’t need to play with a strategy, but do have a particular goal in mind (Finishing a level, for example).

Let’s Plays are more about watching you experience the game. A demographic of people watching Let’s Plays are those that don’t have the game themselves, but still want to experience it. Let them live vicariously through you.

2. Reviews

When you’re deciding whether or not to buy a new product where do you go to research? Google and YouTube. If you have a lot of interesting insights after playing a game, making reviews videos might just be your calling. There are many games on the market, and for consumers, it can get overwhelming. Reviews help others decide whether they should invest their money and their time into that specific game or continue searching.

3. Walkthrough

Unlike Let’s Plays and reviews, walkthrough videos are mapped out and structured to help the viewers pass the game while experiencing events, side quests, and characters they would otherwise have missed.

4. Reactions

Misery or excitement, when you genuinely react to an event in a game, the audience gets to experience it along your side. Give the moment a bit of lead up, let people know what you are expecting, and then surprise yourself. Reaction videos are great because they are spontaneous and a wonderful form of presenting your personality.

5. Skills

Video games are hard to master. But if you think you are proficient in an aspect of the game, show off your moves. Is there a particular trick that you can do? Is there a stage you can beat quickly? Are you able to take down your enemy with ease? Prove it.

4. Have a Budget

When you begin your YouTube gaming journey, you are going to see a lot of established YouTubers showing off their gear. It’s easy to get carried away with equipment, but we recommend setting a budget and staying within it to start.

What’s a good budget for YouTubers? Some might say you can do it for $600 and others say $3000. That’s a big range.

What you need to ask yourself is what do you currently have.

Are you starting with nothing? Or do you have some essentials? If you have a computer, which can play the game of your choice, you don’t need to spend $2000 on a new one. Look at what you currently have before buying new stuff.

Here is what you will need to get the best results:

- Microphone (Average cost: $100)

- Webcam (Average cost: $100)

- Editing Software (Average cost: $300)

- PC that can handle recording, editing, rendering, uploading, etc. (Average cost: $2,000)

If you are starting out, all you need is a computer with a capable CPU and GPU, a webcam, a microphone, and a free encoding software, such as OBS , and you will be able to stream.

Even PewDiePie started with a basic gaming setup.

I don’t recommend blowing your life savings on all the equipment you want. Don’t have a powerful computer? There are games such as Minecraft and Roblox that are less taxing to your computer, if you don’t have a powerful one.

There are ways to work around it, if you don’t currently have the funds. Being a YouTuber is all about being resourceful and creative.

You don’t need professional editing software, there are affordable ones such as Wondershare Filmora that have all the capabilities.

1. Many Games Are Free

Here’s the great thing about starting as a video game YouTuber, you don’t need to pay for any games. I’m not only talking about the crappy Flash games on the Internet, but massively popular games such as Fortnite and DOTA are also free to start playing as well.

If you’re strapped for cash. Start your channel playing free games and work your way towards more expensive games.

2. Some Software Are Free As Well

OBS: This streaming software allows you to capture your game in top quality and broadcast it directly to YouTube. It’s a simple setup , and it’s completely free.

Audacity: This audio recording and editing software is great if you want to improve the quality of your audio by removing background noise or combining clips.

GIMP: Probably the closest free product to Photoshop you can find. GIMP will help you perform basic image manipulation. It’s not as user friendly as Photoshop, but you can learn the fundamentals here as you save up for the Creative Cloud subscription plan.

5. Optimization Matters

Gaming is arguably the most popular genre on YouTube. So, how is your little video going to be discovered in this vast sea of gaming content?

The answer: with a good optimization strategy.

1. Tags and Title

When conceptualizing your next video, consider what your viewers are going to search to find it. This will help you focus your gameplay to meet the demand of this untapped (or more specific) audience.

You can use a plugin called VidIQ to see the keyword score by simply searching for the content you think your viewers are interested in watching.

If you’re playing Fortnite, and your keyword is simply “Fortnite” you’re using a highly searched term, but the competition is very high as well. The odds of your ranking is incredibly tough as the overall keyword score is 61/100.

However, if you focus on a more specific aspect of the game to make a video around, such as a character, you can heighten your chance at being discovered.

Take the example below, where I added the keyword “Striker” to the search. Its overall keyword score is 87/100, that’s 26 points better in the keyword score, compared to just “Fortnite.”

This will help you identify the content you should be making and then use that keyword knowledge to write a good title and a list of 5-15 tags.

Few more tips to improving your titles include:

- Avoid uninspiring words like “Fun,” “Exciting,” or “Great.”

- Once you have a title do a quick search to see if it already exists. Common titles make it harder for yours to rank.

- Have the title relate to the game. If there are certain words or phrases that players are familiar with, go ahead and use it.

- Make it click-worthy by promising something unique, but don’t mislead viewers.

2. Create Awesome Thumbnails

It doesn’t matter how awesome your video is, if the thumbnail image is boring, nobody will want to click into it. And if nobody clicks into it, you won’t get any views. Simple.

What makes a good thumbnail image?

1. Don’t use the random images YouTube picks for you
2. Have an expressive picture of a human face (preferably of yours, because it’s your gaming channel and you’re the star)

Take a look at The Syndicate Project’s thumbnails and how it evokes an intensity that makes you want to click — or scream with excitement. Both good things.

1. Don’t want to use your face? Create a character for yourself or to represent your channel. Or used the characters from the actual game.

Check out the colorful thumbnails from VanossGaming, where the owl is the mascot of their channel.

1. Use readable text or emojis

If you don’t have Photoshop or don’t have strong design skills, check out Wondershare Pixstudio , a drag-and-drop design tool that makes creating thumbnails easy.

3. Engage with Other Gamers

Don’t forget that YouTube is a social media platform.

It’s all about being a part of a YouTube community, and while you can’t interact with every creator on the platform, you can find those within your niche or specific game and chat with them. Leave a comment if you like their video or have constructive feedback.

Additionally, viewer engagements such as likes and comments have shown to have an indirect effect on your video ranking. That is why you should encourage your viewers to “smash” the like button or join in a conversation by asking them a question in your video.

6. Be Cautious of Content Strike and Demonetization

1. Cause for Demonetization

The YouTube monetization landscape has changed a lot for creators in the past few years. The guidelines are always being adjusted to serve both creators and advertisers. If you’re thinking of making money from YouTube ads, you have to be aware that there are types of content that turn advertisers off, and YouTube knows it. Here are some reasons that YouTube will choose to demonetize your videos:

- Excessive or gratuitous violence

- Hateful content: promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates and individual or group of people (race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.)

- Inappropriate use of family entertainment characters

- Incendiary and demeaning content: disrespectful languages that shame or insult an individual or group

2. Avoiding Copyright Strike

Thanks to the fair use doctrine, you’re allowed to take video game content and make videos from it without acquiring permission from the people who made the game.

However, if you step across the fair use line, you can be penalized for violating copyright infringement.

If you get three strikes from YouTube in 90 days, your account and videos will be removed and you won’t be allowed to create a new channel.

Before you publish your video ask yourself these questions, if you answer yes to any of them then you have met fair use standards:

- Is your content creative or educational?

- Is there more original content than copyrighted content?

- Is your video benefiting the original content?

I recommend that you learn more about YouTube copyright , and how to build your content so that it doesn’t get flagged.

Beyond all that, it’s about playing games, having a good time, and meeting awesome people like yourself. Enjoy the journey and take pleasure in every little achievement, be it in the game or on YouTube.

Key Takeaways

1. Don’t go into YouTube gaming for the money, but rather to improve your skills and other people’s lives.
2. Find something special about your channel that people can’t find anywhere else.
3. YouTube gaming can be as cheap and as expensive as you want, create a budget to stay within your limits.
4. Understand optimization to improve your chances of viewers finding your content.
5. Don’t be hateful or advertisers will avoid you, and don’t steal other people’s content without crediting the original creator.
6. Give yourself a unique YouTube gaming channel name .

What’s stopping you from starting your YouTube gaming channel? Let us know in the comment box below!

Best Screen Recorder & Video Editor for Gamers

If you want to record the gameplay and edit it with some text and titles, or creative transitions and effects, I highly recommend you try Wondershare Filmora , which is easy to use yet powerful enough with its editing tools and effects templates. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Transforming Web Popularity Into Video Concepts Using Google Trends

How to Use Google Trends to Come up with Video Ideas [Easy Guide]

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There is always something to make a video about. It’s a big world where new things happen every day, in every YouTube niche . One of the best ways to climb to the top of YouTube’s search engine results is to be among the first creators to make a video about a trending topic.

But how do you know what’s trending? If you’re in a huge genre like beauty or technology then it’s not impossible to keep track of the latest news and trends, but you probably hear about things as other people start making videos and as websites start publishing articles. How do you get on top of trends just as they’re becoming trends?

Google Trends, of course!

Google Trends is a completely free tool you can use to determine what’s trending on YouTube or in Google’s search engine. Here’s how you can use Google Trends to figure out what’s trending in your niche and make a video before there’s tons of competition.

Part 1: Seeing The Big Picture

You’ll need to be signed into your Google account to use Google Trends.

Start off at trends.google.com and you’ll see what’s trending in general – usually big news stories or things like sports finals. The data is laid out like this: at the top there are three ‘Featured Insights’. These are three of the most popular trending topics paired with graphs of their recent search traffic. Underneath these there will be a list of stories that are currently trending. You can click on them to see charts of their search data and links to where the stories are being covered online.

Unless you do news or political commentary on your channel these probably aren’t topics you want to cover, but if you like to insert some topical references into your other videos then it’s still good to be aware of these things.

To get information more relevant to your channel you’re going to have to do some filtering.

Part 2: Getting Results That Matter to You

In the Google Trend home page, scroll down to the ‘Recently Trending’ section and click on ‘More Trending Searches’.

Then click from ‘Daily Search Trends’ to ‘Realtime Search Trends’.

On top you will see two drop-down menus, one is for the category and one is for location.

Under All categories select the general theme your channel falls under.

Your options are business, entertainment, health, Sci/Tech, sports, and top stories.

It might be the case that your channel doesn’t fall under any of these themes, but there could still be related stories for you in other categories. For example, if you have a beauty channel then there could be something that’d interest you under health, entertainment, or even business.

Under the location menu choose the region most of your viewers are from. This might not be the same as where you are from – you could be in Australia and most of your viewers could be in the U.S. If you’re not sure where your viewers are from you can find out in your Creator Studio under Analytics > Demographics.

Once you have narrowed down your results you can just scroll through and pick out a topic related to your channel’s theme that you have something to say about.

For example, if you have a gaming channel and you’re looking for a non-gameplay topic to make a video on, you would look under Sci/Tech. If I look under that category today (May 29, 2017) and specify that I want topics trending in the United States then these are my top 5 results:

The first two happen to be about gaming. If you, as a gamer, had any strong reaction to either of these topics – whether it’s that you feel like you’re knowledgeable about them, or that you’re excited by something that’s coming up, or that something made you groan – then that would be a sign that you should make a video. Capitalizing on a trend while also covering a topic you have a lot to say about is always a good move.

Having something to say doesn’t have to mean having a strong opinion. If you just find something interesting and want to pass the information along to your viewers then that’s great too.

Clicking on these results will give you more specific data including how often the topic has been searched recently and links to recent news articles. These can give you a better idea of why it is trending and help you come up with what you want to say.

Part 3: Battle of the Keywords

Once you have a topic in mind for your next video – whether it came from Google Trends or your own noggin – think about what the most important keyword for that topic might be.

A keyword is a word or short phrase that people type into a search engine like Google or YouTube. In order for people to find your videos, you’ll have to include a keyword in your video’s title.

Once you have a keyword in mind, type it into the Explore bar at the top of your page in Google Trends.

What happens after you click enter is pretty much magic. Say I want to make a video on how to use Filmora. The first thing I’ll type into that Explore bar is ‘Filmora’.

You can see near the top that this chart represents searches for the topic over the last 5 years, which isn’t necessarily useful (although it is sort of cool that you can see when Filmora was ‘born’). I’m going to narrow that down to results from the U.S in the last week.

There, now I can see how the popularity of Filmora as a search term has spiked on specific days and times (if you hover over a spike it tells you the time and day) and plan to post my video at a time that capitalizes on these trends.

Next, what other words do I want to include in my video title? Is this a review, a tutorial, or a how-to? By clicking on my search term Filmora, I can edit it to read ‘filmora review’. Then I can click + Compare and type in ‘filmora tutorial’ and ‘how to use Filmora’. Google Trends will create a chart comparing the popularity of those 3 terms.

I also ‘zoomed out’ to 90 days – if I’d only looked at how they compared over the last week my results could have been skewed.

It’s pretty clear from the chart that ‘filmora review’ is the strongest of those 3 search terms. The title of my video should definitely start with the words Filmora Review because that is what most people are searching for when they want information about Filmora. Putting your most important keyword/search term first in your video titles will help them rank better in the viewer’s search results.

Although, when you do a comparison like this you should also go to YouTube and search for each potential keyword/phrase individually. It might turn out that there is a ton of strong competition for the most popular search term, and not as much for the second or third most popular. Here’s a search for ‘Filmora Review’ on YouTube:

If my view of YouTube looks different from yours it’s because I’m using the VidIQ plugin for Chrome . It’s free and it gives you all kinds of extra info about videos and channels.

The second-highest ranked result is only 2 months old and isn’t from a huge channel. Although there is competition for this keyword, ranking for it is not impossible. It also helps that software reviews are a topic where people will always be looking for the latest information/newest videos.

If the search results for your keyword are dominated by monster channels with millions of subs, and you can’t think of an angle you can use to crack into those top results (i.e. having newer information people will be looking for, which the more established videos are lacking), then maybe try the search with your second best keyword and see if there’s a better opportunity for you to rank there.

One of the biggest benefits of identifying trends and making videos about them quickly is that you can get in before there’s a lot of competition for the first few pages of search results on YouTube or Google, and before larger channels start making videos of their own on the same topic.

Want to make coming up with YouTube video ideas a habit? This post here will help you develop a process to generate more ideas and properly evaluate them.

Making Better YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software among YouTubers, Filmora provides plentiful editing tools, such as cut, trim, video stabilization , noise removal , chroma key compositing , and color grading. Besides, there are royalty-free music track and sound effects available in the built-in Audio library, and title templates and presets, as well as elements and effects. Download the free trial version below and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There is always something to make a video about. It’s a big world where new things happen every day, in every YouTube niche . One of the best ways to climb to the top of YouTube’s search engine results is to be among the first creators to make a video about a trending topic.

But how do you know what’s trending? If you’re in a huge genre like beauty or technology then it’s not impossible to keep track of the latest news and trends, but you probably hear about things as other people start making videos and as websites start publishing articles. How do you get on top of trends just as they’re becoming trends?

Google Trends, of course!

Google Trends is a completely free tool you can use to determine what’s trending on YouTube or in Google’s search engine. Here’s how you can use Google Trends to figure out what’s trending in your niche and make a video before there’s tons of competition.

Part 1: Seeing The Big Picture

You’ll need to be signed into your Google account to use Google Trends.

Start off at trends.google.com and you’ll see what’s trending in general – usually big news stories or things like sports finals. The data is laid out like this: at the top there are three ‘Featured Insights’. These are three of the most popular trending topics paired with graphs of their recent search traffic. Underneath these there will be a list of stories that are currently trending. You can click on them to see charts of their search data and links to where the stories are being covered online.

Unless you do news or political commentary on your channel these probably aren’t topics you want to cover, but if you like to insert some topical references into your other videos then it’s still good to be aware of these things.

To get information more relevant to your channel you’re going to have to do some filtering.

Part 2: Getting Results That Matter to You

In the Google Trend home page, scroll down to the ‘Recently Trending’ section and click on ‘More Trending Searches’.

Then click from ‘Daily Search Trends’ to ‘Realtime Search Trends’.

On top you will see two drop-down menus, one is for the category and one is for location.

Under All categories select the general theme your channel falls under.

Your options are business, entertainment, health, Sci/Tech, sports, and top stories.

It might be the case that your channel doesn’t fall under any of these themes, but there could still be related stories for you in other categories. For example, if you have a beauty channel then there could be something that’d interest you under health, entertainment, or even business.

Under the location menu choose the region most of your viewers are from. This might not be the same as where you are from – you could be in Australia and most of your viewers could be in the U.S. If you’re not sure where your viewers are from you can find out in your Creator Studio under Analytics > Demographics.

Once you have narrowed down your results you can just scroll through and pick out a topic related to your channel’s theme that you have something to say about.

For example, if you have a gaming channel and you’re looking for a non-gameplay topic to make a video on, you would look under Sci/Tech. If I look under that category today (May 29, 2017) and specify that I want topics trending in the United States then these are my top 5 results:

The first two happen to be about gaming. If you, as a gamer, had any strong reaction to either of these topics – whether it’s that you feel like you’re knowledgeable about them, or that you’re excited by something that’s coming up, or that something made you groan – then that would be a sign that you should make a video. Capitalizing on a trend while also covering a topic you have a lot to say about is always a good move.

Having something to say doesn’t have to mean having a strong opinion. If you just find something interesting and want to pass the information along to your viewers then that’s great too.

Clicking on these results will give you more specific data including how often the topic has been searched recently and links to recent news articles. These can give you a better idea of why it is trending and help you come up with what you want to say.

Part 3: Battle of the Keywords

Once you have a topic in mind for your next video – whether it came from Google Trends or your own noggin – think about what the most important keyword for that topic might be.

A keyword is a word or short phrase that people type into a search engine like Google or YouTube. In order for people to find your videos, you’ll have to include a keyword in your video’s title.

Once you have a keyword in mind, type it into the Explore bar at the top of your page in Google Trends.

What happens after you click enter is pretty much magic. Say I want to make a video on how to use Filmora. The first thing I’ll type into that Explore bar is ‘Filmora’.

You can see near the top that this chart represents searches for the topic over the last 5 years, which isn’t necessarily useful (although it is sort of cool that you can see when Filmora was ‘born’). I’m going to narrow that down to results from the U.S in the last week.

There, now I can see how the popularity of Filmora as a search term has spiked on specific days and times (if you hover over a spike it tells you the time and day) and plan to post my video at a time that capitalizes on these trends.

Next, what other words do I want to include in my video title? Is this a review, a tutorial, or a how-to? By clicking on my search term Filmora, I can edit it to read ‘filmora review’. Then I can click + Compare and type in ‘filmora tutorial’ and ‘how to use Filmora’. Google Trends will create a chart comparing the popularity of those 3 terms.

I also ‘zoomed out’ to 90 days – if I’d only looked at how they compared over the last week my results could have been skewed.

It’s pretty clear from the chart that ‘filmora review’ is the strongest of those 3 search terms. The title of my video should definitely start with the words Filmora Review because that is what most people are searching for when they want information about Filmora. Putting your most important keyword/search term first in your video titles will help them rank better in the viewer’s search results.

Although, when you do a comparison like this you should also go to YouTube and search for each potential keyword/phrase individually. It might turn out that there is a ton of strong competition for the most popular search term, and not as much for the second or third most popular. Here’s a search for ‘Filmora Review’ on YouTube:

If my view of YouTube looks different from yours it’s because I’m using the VidIQ plugin for Chrome . It’s free and it gives you all kinds of extra info about videos and channels.

The second-highest ranked result is only 2 months old and isn’t from a huge channel. Although there is competition for this keyword, ranking for it is not impossible. It also helps that software reviews are a topic where people will always be looking for the latest information/newest videos.

If the search results for your keyword are dominated by monster channels with millions of subs, and you can’t think of an angle you can use to crack into those top results (i.e. having newer information people will be looking for, which the more established videos are lacking), then maybe try the search with your second best keyword and see if there’s a better opportunity for you to rank there.

One of the biggest benefits of identifying trends and making videos about them quickly is that you can get in before there’s a lot of competition for the first few pages of search results on YouTube or Google, and before larger channels start making videos of their own on the same topic.

Want to make coming up with YouTube video ideas a habit? This post here will help you develop a process to generate more ideas and properly evaluate them.

Making Better YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software among YouTubers, Filmora provides plentiful editing tools, such as cut, trim, video stabilization , noise removal , chroma key compositing , and color grading. Besides, there are royalty-free music track and sound effects available in the built-in Audio library, and title templates and presets, as well as elements and effects. Download the free trial version below and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There is always something to make a video about. It’s a big world where new things happen every day, in every YouTube niche . One of the best ways to climb to the top of YouTube’s search engine results is to be among the first creators to make a video about a trending topic.

But how do you know what’s trending? If you’re in a huge genre like beauty or technology then it’s not impossible to keep track of the latest news and trends, but you probably hear about things as other people start making videos and as websites start publishing articles. How do you get on top of trends just as they’re becoming trends?

Google Trends, of course!

Google Trends is a completely free tool you can use to determine what’s trending on YouTube or in Google’s search engine. Here’s how you can use Google Trends to figure out what’s trending in your niche and make a video before there’s tons of competition.

Part 1: Seeing The Big Picture

You’ll need to be signed into your Google account to use Google Trends.

Start off at trends.google.com and you’ll see what’s trending in general – usually big news stories or things like sports finals. The data is laid out like this: at the top there are three ‘Featured Insights’. These are three of the most popular trending topics paired with graphs of their recent search traffic. Underneath these there will be a list of stories that are currently trending. You can click on them to see charts of their search data and links to where the stories are being covered online.

Unless you do news or political commentary on your channel these probably aren’t topics you want to cover, but if you like to insert some topical references into your other videos then it’s still good to be aware of these things.

To get information more relevant to your channel you’re going to have to do some filtering.

Part 2: Getting Results That Matter to You

In the Google Trend home page, scroll down to the ‘Recently Trending’ section and click on ‘More Trending Searches’.

Then click from ‘Daily Search Trends’ to ‘Realtime Search Trends’.

On top you will see two drop-down menus, one is for the category and one is for location.

Under All categories select the general theme your channel falls under.

Your options are business, entertainment, health, Sci/Tech, sports, and top stories.

It might be the case that your channel doesn’t fall under any of these themes, but there could still be related stories for you in other categories. For example, if you have a beauty channel then there could be something that’d interest you under health, entertainment, or even business.

Under the location menu choose the region most of your viewers are from. This might not be the same as where you are from – you could be in Australia and most of your viewers could be in the U.S. If you’re not sure where your viewers are from you can find out in your Creator Studio under Analytics > Demographics.

Once you have narrowed down your results you can just scroll through and pick out a topic related to your channel’s theme that you have something to say about.

For example, if you have a gaming channel and you’re looking for a non-gameplay topic to make a video on, you would look under Sci/Tech. If I look under that category today (May 29, 2017) and specify that I want topics trending in the United States then these are my top 5 results:

The first two happen to be about gaming. If you, as a gamer, had any strong reaction to either of these topics – whether it’s that you feel like you’re knowledgeable about them, or that you’re excited by something that’s coming up, or that something made you groan – then that would be a sign that you should make a video. Capitalizing on a trend while also covering a topic you have a lot to say about is always a good move.

Having something to say doesn’t have to mean having a strong opinion. If you just find something interesting and want to pass the information along to your viewers then that’s great too.

Clicking on these results will give you more specific data including how often the topic has been searched recently and links to recent news articles. These can give you a better idea of why it is trending and help you come up with what you want to say.

Part 3: Battle of the Keywords

Once you have a topic in mind for your next video – whether it came from Google Trends or your own noggin – think about what the most important keyword for that topic might be.

A keyword is a word or short phrase that people type into a search engine like Google or YouTube. In order for people to find your videos, you’ll have to include a keyword in your video’s title.

Once you have a keyword in mind, type it into the Explore bar at the top of your page in Google Trends.

What happens after you click enter is pretty much magic. Say I want to make a video on how to use Filmora. The first thing I’ll type into that Explore bar is ‘Filmora’.

You can see near the top that this chart represents searches for the topic over the last 5 years, which isn’t necessarily useful (although it is sort of cool that you can see when Filmora was ‘born’). I’m going to narrow that down to results from the U.S in the last week.

There, now I can see how the popularity of Filmora as a search term has spiked on specific days and times (if you hover over a spike it tells you the time and day) and plan to post my video at a time that capitalizes on these trends.

Next, what other words do I want to include in my video title? Is this a review, a tutorial, or a how-to? By clicking on my search term Filmora, I can edit it to read ‘filmora review’. Then I can click + Compare and type in ‘filmora tutorial’ and ‘how to use Filmora’. Google Trends will create a chart comparing the popularity of those 3 terms.

I also ‘zoomed out’ to 90 days – if I’d only looked at how they compared over the last week my results could have been skewed.

It’s pretty clear from the chart that ‘filmora review’ is the strongest of those 3 search terms. The title of my video should definitely start with the words Filmora Review because that is what most people are searching for when they want information about Filmora. Putting your most important keyword/search term first in your video titles will help them rank better in the viewer’s search results.

Although, when you do a comparison like this you should also go to YouTube and search for each potential keyword/phrase individually. It might turn out that there is a ton of strong competition for the most popular search term, and not as much for the second or third most popular. Here’s a search for ‘Filmora Review’ on YouTube:

If my view of YouTube looks different from yours it’s because I’m using the VidIQ plugin for Chrome . It’s free and it gives you all kinds of extra info about videos and channels.

The second-highest ranked result is only 2 months old and isn’t from a huge channel. Although there is competition for this keyword, ranking for it is not impossible. It also helps that software reviews are a topic where people will always be looking for the latest information/newest videos.

If the search results for your keyword are dominated by monster channels with millions of subs, and you can’t think of an angle you can use to crack into those top results (i.e. having newer information people will be looking for, which the more established videos are lacking), then maybe try the search with your second best keyword and see if there’s a better opportunity for you to rank there.

One of the biggest benefits of identifying trends and making videos about them quickly is that you can get in before there’s a lot of competition for the first few pages of search results on YouTube or Google, and before larger channels start making videos of their own on the same topic.

Want to make coming up with YouTube video ideas a habit? This post here will help you develop a process to generate more ideas and properly evaluate them.

Making Better YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software among YouTubers, Filmora provides plentiful editing tools, such as cut, trim, video stabilization , noise removal , chroma key compositing , and color grading. Besides, there are royalty-free music track and sound effects available in the built-in Audio library, and title templates and presets, as well as elements and effects. Download the free trial version below and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There is always something to make a video about. It’s a big world where new things happen every day, in every YouTube niche . One of the best ways to climb to the top of YouTube’s search engine results is to be among the first creators to make a video about a trending topic.

But how do you know what’s trending? If you’re in a huge genre like beauty or technology then it’s not impossible to keep track of the latest news and trends, but you probably hear about things as other people start making videos and as websites start publishing articles. How do you get on top of trends just as they’re becoming trends?

Google Trends, of course!

Google Trends is a completely free tool you can use to determine what’s trending on YouTube or in Google’s search engine. Here’s how you can use Google Trends to figure out what’s trending in your niche and make a video before there’s tons of competition.

Part 1: Seeing The Big Picture

You’ll need to be signed into your Google account to use Google Trends.

Start off at trends.google.com and you’ll see what’s trending in general – usually big news stories or things like sports finals. The data is laid out like this: at the top there are three ‘Featured Insights’. These are three of the most popular trending topics paired with graphs of their recent search traffic. Underneath these there will be a list of stories that are currently trending. You can click on them to see charts of their search data and links to where the stories are being covered online.

Unless you do news or political commentary on your channel these probably aren’t topics you want to cover, but if you like to insert some topical references into your other videos then it’s still good to be aware of these things.

To get information more relevant to your channel you’re going to have to do some filtering.

Part 2: Getting Results That Matter to You

In the Google Trend home page, scroll down to the ‘Recently Trending’ section and click on ‘More Trending Searches’.

Then click from ‘Daily Search Trends’ to ‘Realtime Search Trends’.

On top you will see two drop-down menus, one is for the category and one is for location.

Under All categories select the general theme your channel falls under.

Your options are business, entertainment, health, Sci/Tech, sports, and top stories.

It might be the case that your channel doesn’t fall under any of these themes, but there could still be related stories for you in other categories. For example, if you have a beauty channel then there could be something that’d interest you under health, entertainment, or even business.

Under the location menu choose the region most of your viewers are from. This might not be the same as where you are from – you could be in Australia and most of your viewers could be in the U.S. If you’re not sure where your viewers are from you can find out in your Creator Studio under Analytics > Demographics.

Once you have narrowed down your results you can just scroll through and pick out a topic related to your channel’s theme that you have something to say about.

For example, if you have a gaming channel and you’re looking for a non-gameplay topic to make a video on, you would look under Sci/Tech. If I look under that category today (May 29, 2017) and specify that I want topics trending in the United States then these are my top 5 results:

The first two happen to be about gaming. If you, as a gamer, had any strong reaction to either of these topics – whether it’s that you feel like you’re knowledgeable about them, or that you’re excited by something that’s coming up, or that something made you groan – then that would be a sign that you should make a video. Capitalizing on a trend while also covering a topic you have a lot to say about is always a good move.

Having something to say doesn’t have to mean having a strong opinion. If you just find something interesting and want to pass the information along to your viewers then that’s great too.

Clicking on these results will give you more specific data including how often the topic has been searched recently and links to recent news articles. These can give you a better idea of why it is trending and help you come up with what you want to say.

Part 3: Battle of the Keywords

Once you have a topic in mind for your next video – whether it came from Google Trends or your own noggin – think about what the most important keyword for that topic might be.

A keyword is a word or short phrase that people type into a search engine like Google or YouTube. In order for people to find your videos, you’ll have to include a keyword in your video’s title.

Once you have a keyword in mind, type it into the Explore bar at the top of your page in Google Trends.

What happens after you click enter is pretty much magic. Say I want to make a video on how to use Filmora. The first thing I’ll type into that Explore bar is ‘Filmora’.

You can see near the top that this chart represents searches for the topic over the last 5 years, which isn’t necessarily useful (although it is sort of cool that you can see when Filmora was ‘born’). I’m going to narrow that down to results from the U.S in the last week.

There, now I can see how the popularity of Filmora as a search term has spiked on specific days and times (if you hover over a spike it tells you the time and day) and plan to post my video at a time that capitalizes on these trends.

Next, what other words do I want to include in my video title? Is this a review, a tutorial, or a how-to? By clicking on my search term Filmora, I can edit it to read ‘filmora review’. Then I can click + Compare and type in ‘filmora tutorial’ and ‘how to use Filmora’. Google Trends will create a chart comparing the popularity of those 3 terms.

I also ‘zoomed out’ to 90 days – if I’d only looked at how they compared over the last week my results could have been skewed.

It’s pretty clear from the chart that ‘filmora review’ is the strongest of those 3 search terms. The title of my video should definitely start with the words Filmora Review because that is what most people are searching for when they want information about Filmora. Putting your most important keyword/search term first in your video titles will help them rank better in the viewer’s search results.

Although, when you do a comparison like this you should also go to YouTube and search for each potential keyword/phrase individually. It might turn out that there is a ton of strong competition for the most popular search term, and not as much for the second or third most popular. Here’s a search for ‘Filmora Review’ on YouTube:

If my view of YouTube looks different from yours it’s because I’m using the VidIQ plugin for Chrome . It’s free and it gives you all kinds of extra info about videos and channels.

The second-highest ranked result is only 2 months old and isn’t from a huge channel. Although there is competition for this keyword, ranking for it is not impossible. It also helps that software reviews are a topic where people will always be looking for the latest information/newest videos.

If the search results for your keyword are dominated by monster channels with millions of subs, and you can’t think of an angle you can use to crack into those top results (i.e. having newer information people will be looking for, which the more established videos are lacking), then maybe try the search with your second best keyword and see if there’s a better opportunity for you to rank there.

One of the biggest benefits of identifying trends and making videos about them quickly is that you can get in before there’s a lot of competition for the first few pages of search results on YouTube or Google, and before larger channels start making videos of their own on the same topic.

Want to make coming up with YouTube video ideas a habit? This post here will help you develop a process to generate more ideas and properly evaluate them.

Making Better YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software among YouTubers, Filmora provides plentiful editing tools, such as cut, trim, video stabilization , noise removal , chroma key compositing , and color grading. Besides, there are royalty-free music track and sound effects available in the built-in Audio library, and title templates and presets, as well as elements and effects. Download the free trial version below and get started now.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett