Unlocking Higher Engagement: A Guide to YouTube Success

How To Get More Video Views on YouTube

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether you are new to YouTube or have been vlogging for a while you probably want more views. Having entertaining and/or informative content is the most important thing, but making great videos can only get you so far if people never get a chance to watch them. There are strategies you can use to make sure people get a chance to watch your videos in the first place.

In this article, we will let you know how to get more views on YouTube .

10 Tips for Getting More Views on YouTube

1. Be Searchable

A big part of how to get views on YouTube is making sure people get a chance to watch your videos. People cannot click on something that does not come up in their search results. If you want people to get the chance to see your vlog you need to tailor the titles, descriptions, and tags of your videos so that they come up in searches.

A good way to start is to do a search for your topic and check out how videos that come up first are tagged. This will give you a sense for what keywords you should try to incorporate. For a more in-depth explanation of how you can use your titles, descriptions, and tags to get more views read ‘How To Upload Videos to YouTube’ and watch Tasha’s video.

2. Link Yourself

If somebody is watching your video and enjoying it then they will probably welcome the chance to check out similar content. At the end of your videos always include a link to one of your previous videos. If somebody has watched your video all the way through then they must have liked it, and there is a good chance they will click your link. You can use either YouTube Cards or annotations to redirect viewers to your other videos.

You do not have to limit yourself to providing links only at the ends of your videos, but you should never include more than three total links in one video. If there are too many then people will start ignoring them.

3. Make Playlists

Playlists work for the same reason that linking to your other videos does. If somebody likes what they are watching they will probably like watching something similar. The great thing about playlists is that the viewer does not have to take action and click on another of your videos – one just automatically plays when their current video ends. People watching a video on a playlist are more likely to watch multiple videos from that playlist.

If one of your videos is ranked high on a YouTube search, and that video is also on a playlist, then your playlist will also come up in that same search. This will put your other videos in the path of potential viewers.

4. Ask and You Shall Receive

If you can get more people to subscribe to your videos then you will see your view counts start to snowball. How do you get people to subscribe and share your videos? Ask them to.

People are more likely to subscribe or share if they are prompted to, so make sure to remind viewers to subscribe and share in every video. Consider putting a ‘subscribe’ button at the end of every video.

5. Use YouTube Cards

The overlays that show up in the videos are the YouTube cards. In the overlays, you may add any link, call-to-action-button, image or a title that can explain the content of your video or help in sales.

For instance, when you create a video series, YouTube card helps your viewers to get to the webpage directly when you mention the link on the card or find and watch the following video in the sequence easily.

6. End Screens Is Useful

The YouTube end screens are one of the best ways to get YouTube views. It offers several options to your viewers through the Call-to-Action button when you create your brand. You may consider inviting your audiences to subscribe and suggest a few videos that they may like from your channel.

The end screens appear at the last 20 seconds of your video and up to 4 elements can be added to each of it. You may also add your landing page’s link in the ens screen.

7. Optimize Thumbnail

In order to get more views on YouTube, the thumbnail image optimization can play a big role.

For instance, a celebrity or superhero image can prove to be beneficial when displayed in the suggested videos section, organic search results page or while you share on the social media.

It is highly recommended that only high-quality images must be used. The image must feature clear, comprehensible, and attractive fonts with facial-closeups.

But, you may use it only if they’re included in your video. The image thumbnail must relate to the description and title you used for the video to boost its value.

8. Provide Value

To get more views on YouTube, the content you offer must be valuable. It must either help people to learn something like how-to videos or keep people entertained and engaged. When you offer valuable content, people get back to you for more and also help in increasing views in your future videos.

9. Interact With Your Viewers

Without the viewers, it is not possible to get YouTube views so keeping your viewers in the loop is an ideal way to get more views on YouTube.

For instance, when a viewer leaves a comment on your video, it may be a positive or a negative one, try to respond in a much detailed manner without ignoring the comment. When you be a part of your viewer’s community and engage in their discussion, it shows you care for them and think about their success.

You may try to know if your content is helping them out and in return, they might remember your generosity and view more of your content in future. Do not be too pushy, just share your views or products and content.

10. Use Youtube Analytics Properly

To achieve success, it is essential to experiment, track the results, and make necessary changes as per requirement.

The YouTube Analytics helps to check the videos that performed best, the engagement of the viewers, and your audience’s demographics as well. With a detailed report, you can make necessary changes to your strategy that can help you to get more views on youtube.

Read More to Get :

5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

How to Loop a YouTube Video >>

Conclusion

Using the strategies explained above you do not need to leave the success of your videos up to chance. It is often completely random which YouTube videos go viral, but you can have a lot of influence over how many views you get. Support your own content through links, playlists, and in video promotion. Also, make sure your titles, descriptions, and tags are optimized for YouTube searches. These are great methods for getting more views on YouTube.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether you are new to YouTube or have been vlogging for a while you probably want more views. Having entertaining and/or informative content is the most important thing, but making great videos can only get you so far if people never get a chance to watch them. There are strategies you can use to make sure people get a chance to watch your videos in the first place.

In this article, we will let you know how to get more views on YouTube .

10 Tips for Getting More Views on YouTube

1. Be Searchable

A big part of how to get views on YouTube is making sure people get a chance to watch your videos. People cannot click on something that does not come up in their search results. If you want people to get the chance to see your vlog you need to tailor the titles, descriptions, and tags of your videos so that they come up in searches.

A good way to start is to do a search for your topic and check out how videos that come up first are tagged. This will give you a sense for what keywords you should try to incorporate. For a more in-depth explanation of how you can use your titles, descriptions, and tags to get more views read ‘How To Upload Videos to YouTube’ and watch Tasha’s video.

2. Link Yourself

If somebody is watching your video and enjoying it then they will probably welcome the chance to check out similar content. At the end of your videos always include a link to one of your previous videos. If somebody has watched your video all the way through then they must have liked it, and there is a good chance they will click your link. You can use either YouTube Cards or annotations to redirect viewers to your other videos.

You do not have to limit yourself to providing links only at the ends of your videos, but you should never include more than three total links in one video. If there are too many then people will start ignoring them.

3. Make Playlists

Playlists work for the same reason that linking to your other videos does. If somebody likes what they are watching they will probably like watching something similar. The great thing about playlists is that the viewer does not have to take action and click on another of your videos – one just automatically plays when their current video ends. People watching a video on a playlist are more likely to watch multiple videos from that playlist.

If one of your videos is ranked high on a YouTube search, and that video is also on a playlist, then your playlist will also come up in that same search. This will put your other videos in the path of potential viewers.

4. Ask and You Shall Receive

If you can get more people to subscribe to your videos then you will see your view counts start to snowball. How do you get people to subscribe and share your videos? Ask them to.

People are more likely to subscribe or share if they are prompted to, so make sure to remind viewers to subscribe and share in every video. Consider putting a ‘subscribe’ button at the end of every video.

5. Use YouTube Cards

The overlays that show up in the videos are the YouTube cards. In the overlays, you may add any link, call-to-action-button, image or a title that can explain the content of your video or help in sales.

For instance, when you create a video series, YouTube card helps your viewers to get to the webpage directly when you mention the link on the card or find and watch the following video in the sequence easily.

6. End Screens Is Useful

The YouTube end screens are one of the best ways to get YouTube views. It offers several options to your viewers through the Call-to-Action button when you create your brand. You may consider inviting your audiences to subscribe and suggest a few videos that they may like from your channel.

The end screens appear at the last 20 seconds of your video and up to 4 elements can be added to each of it. You may also add your landing page’s link in the ens screen.

7. Optimize Thumbnail

In order to get more views on YouTube, the thumbnail image optimization can play a big role.

For instance, a celebrity or superhero image can prove to be beneficial when displayed in the suggested videos section, organic search results page or while you share on the social media.

It is highly recommended that only high-quality images must be used. The image must feature clear, comprehensible, and attractive fonts with facial-closeups.

But, you may use it only if they’re included in your video. The image thumbnail must relate to the description and title you used for the video to boost its value.

8. Provide Value

To get more views on YouTube, the content you offer must be valuable. It must either help people to learn something like how-to videos or keep people entertained and engaged. When you offer valuable content, people get back to you for more and also help in increasing views in your future videos.

9. Interact With Your Viewers

Without the viewers, it is not possible to get YouTube views so keeping your viewers in the loop is an ideal way to get more views on YouTube.

For instance, when a viewer leaves a comment on your video, it may be a positive or a negative one, try to respond in a much detailed manner without ignoring the comment. When you be a part of your viewer’s community and engage in their discussion, it shows you care for them and think about their success.

You may try to know if your content is helping them out and in return, they might remember your generosity and view more of your content in future. Do not be too pushy, just share your views or products and content.

10. Use Youtube Analytics Properly

To achieve success, it is essential to experiment, track the results, and make necessary changes as per requirement.

The YouTube Analytics helps to check the videos that performed best, the engagement of the viewers, and your audience’s demographics as well. With a detailed report, you can make necessary changes to your strategy that can help you to get more views on youtube.

Read More to Get :

5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

How to Loop a YouTube Video >>

Conclusion

Using the strategies explained above you do not need to leave the success of your videos up to chance. It is often completely random which YouTube videos go viral, but you can have a lot of influence over how many views you get. Support your own content through links, playlists, and in video promotion. Also, make sure your titles, descriptions, and tags are optimized for YouTube searches. These are great methods for getting more views on YouTube.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether you are new to YouTube or have been vlogging for a while you probably want more views. Having entertaining and/or informative content is the most important thing, but making great videos can only get you so far if people never get a chance to watch them. There are strategies you can use to make sure people get a chance to watch your videos in the first place.

In this article, we will let you know how to get more views on YouTube .

10 Tips for Getting More Views on YouTube

1. Be Searchable

A big part of how to get views on YouTube is making sure people get a chance to watch your videos. People cannot click on something that does not come up in their search results. If you want people to get the chance to see your vlog you need to tailor the titles, descriptions, and tags of your videos so that they come up in searches.

A good way to start is to do a search for your topic and check out how videos that come up first are tagged. This will give you a sense for what keywords you should try to incorporate. For a more in-depth explanation of how you can use your titles, descriptions, and tags to get more views read ‘How To Upload Videos to YouTube’ and watch Tasha’s video.

2. Link Yourself

If somebody is watching your video and enjoying it then they will probably welcome the chance to check out similar content. At the end of your videos always include a link to one of your previous videos. If somebody has watched your video all the way through then they must have liked it, and there is a good chance they will click your link. You can use either YouTube Cards or annotations to redirect viewers to your other videos.

You do not have to limit yourself to providing links only at the ends of your videos, but you should never include more than three total links in one video. If there are too many then people will start ignoring them.

3. Make Playlists

Playlists work for the same reason that linking to your other videos does. If somebody likes what they are watching they will probably like watching something similar. The great thing about playlists is that the viewer does not have to take action and click on another of your videos – one just automatically plays when their current video ends. People watching a video on a playlist are more likely to watch multiple videos from that playlist.

If one of your videos is ranked high on a YouTube search, and that video is also on a playlist, then your playlist will also come up in that same search. This will put your other videos in the path of potential viewers.

4. Ask and You Shall Receive

If you can get more people to subscribe to your videos then you will see your view counts start to snowball. How do you get people to subscribe and share your videos? Ask them to.

People are more likely to subscribe or share if they are prompted to, so make sure to remind viewers to subscribe and share in every video. Consider putting a ‘subscribe’ button at the end of every video.

5. Use YouTube Cards

The overlays that show up in the videos are the YouTube cards. In the overlays, you may add any link, call-to-action-button, image or a title that can explain the content of your video or help in sales.

For instance, when you create a video series, YouTube card helps your viewers to get to the webpage directly when you mention the link on the card or find and watch the following video in the sequence easily.

6. End Screens Is Useful

The YouTube end screens are one of the best ways to get YouTube views. It offers several options to your viewers through the Call-to-Action button when you create your brand. You may consider inviting your audiences to subscribe and suggest a few videos that they may like from your channel.

The end screens appear at the last 20 seconds of your video and up to 4 elements can be added to each of it. You may also add your landing page’s link in the ens screen.

7. Optimize Thumbnail

In order to get more views on YouTube, the thumbnail image optimization can play a big role.

For instance, a celebrity or superhero image can prove to be beneficial when displayed in the suggested videos section, organic search results page or while you share on the social media.

It is highly recommended that only high-quality images must be used. The image must feature clear, comprehensible, and attractive fonts with facial-closeups.

But, you may use it only if they’re included in your video. The image thumbnail must relate to the description and title you used for the video to boost its value.

8. Provide Value

To get more views on YouTube, the content you offer must be valuable. It must either help people to learn something like how-to videos or keep people entertained and engaged. When you offer valuable content, people get back to you for more and also help in increasing views in your future videos.

9. Interact With Your Viewers

Without the viewers, it is not possible to get YouTube views so keeping your viewers in the loop is an ideal way to get more views on YouTube.

For instance, when a viewer leaves a comment on your video, it may be a positive or a negative one, try to respond in a much detailed manner without ignoring the comment. When you be a part of your viewer’s community and engage in their discussion, it shows you care for them and think about their success.

You may try to know if your content is helping them out and in return, they might remember your generosity and view more of your content in future. Do not be too pushy, just share your views or products and content.

10. Use Youtube Analytics Properly

To achieve success, it is essential to experiment, track the results, and make necessary changes as per requirement.

The YouTube Analytics helps to check the videos that performed best, the engagement of the viewers, and your audience’s demographics as well. With a detailed report, you can make necessary changes to your strategy that can help you to get more views on youtube.

Read More to Get :

5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

How to Loop a YouTube Video >>

Conclusion

Using the strategies explained above you do not need to leave the success of your videos up to chance. It is often completely random which YouTube videos go viral, but you can have a lot of influence over how many views you get. Support your own content through links, playlists, and in video promotion. Also, make sure your titles, descriptions, and tags are optimized for YouTube searches. These are great methods for getting more views on YouTube.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Whether you are new to YouTube or have been vlogging for a while you probably want more views. Having entertaining and/or informative content is the most important thing, but making great videos can only get you so far if people never get a chance to watch them. There are strategies you can use to make sure people get a chance to watch your videos in the first place.

In this article, we will let you know how to get more views on YouTube .

10 Tips for Getting More Views on YouTube

1. Be Searchable

A big part of how to get views on YouTube is making sure people get a chance to watch your videos. People cannot click on something that does not come up in their search results. If you want people to get the chance to see your vlog you need to tailor the titles, descriptions, and tags of your videos so that they come up in searches.

A good way to start is to do a search for your topic and check out how videos that come up first are tagged. This will give you a sense for what keywords you should try to incorporate. For a more in-depth explanation of how you can use your titles, descriptions, and tags to get more views read ‘How To Upload Videos to YouTube’ and watch Tasha’s video.

2. Link Yourself

If somebody is watching your video and enjoying it then they will probably welcome the chance to check out similar content. At the end of your videos always include a link to one of your previous videos. If somebody has watched your video all the way through then they must have liked it, and there is a good chance they will click your link. You can use either YouTube Cards or annotations to redirect viewers to your other videos.

You do not have to limit yourself to providing links only at the ends of your videos, but you should never include more than three total links in one video. If there are too many then people will start ignoring them.

3. Make Playlists

Playlists work for the same reason that linking to your other videos does. If somebody likes what they are watching they will probably like watching something similar. The great thing about playlists is that the viewer does not have to take action and click on another of your videos – one just automatically plays when their current video ends. People watching a video on a playlist are more likely to watch multiple videos from that playlist.

If one of your videos is ranked high on a YouTube search, and that video is also on a playlist, then your playlist will also come up in that same search. This will put your other videos in the path of potential viewers.

4. Ask and You Shall Receive

If you can get more people to subscribe to your videos then you will see your view counts start to snowball. How do you get people to subscribe and share your videos? Ask them to.

People are more likely to subscribe or share if they are prompted to, so make sure to remind viewers to subscribe and share in every video. Consider putting a ‘subscribe’ button at the end of every video.

5. Use YouTube Cards

The overlays that show up in the videos are the YouTube cards. In the overlays, you may add any link, call-to-action-button, image or a title that can explain the content of your video or help in sales.

For instance, when you create a video series, YouTube card helps your viewers to get to the webpage directly when you mention the link on the card or find and watch the following video in the sequence easily.

6. End Screens Is Useful

The YouTube end screens are one of the best ways to get YouTube views. It offers several options to your viewers through the Call-to-Action button when you create your brand. You may consider inviting your audiences to subscribe and suggest a few videos that they may like from your channel.

The end screens appear at the last 20 seconds of your video and up to 4 elements can be added to each of it. You may also add your landing page’s link in the ens screen.

7. Optimize Thumbnail

In order to get more views on YouTube, the thumbnail image optimization can play a big role.

For instance, a celebrity or superhero image can prove to be beneficial when displayed in the suggested videos section, organic search results page or while you share on the social media.

It is highly recommended that only high-quality images must be used. The image must feature clear, comprehensible, and attractive fonts with facial-closeups.

But, you may use it only if they’re included in your video. The image thumbnail must relate to the description and title you used for the video to boost its value.

8. Provide Value

To get more views on YouTube, the content you offer must be valuable. It must either help people to learn something like how-to videos or keep people entertained and engaged. When you offer valuable content, people get back to you for more and also help in increasing views in your future videos.

9. Interact With Your Viewers

Without the viewers, it is not possible to get YouTube views so keeping your viewers in the loop is an ideal way to get more views on YouTube.

For instance, when a viewer leaves a comment on your video, it may be a positive or a negative one, try to respond in a much detailed manner without ignoring the comment. When you be a part of your viewer’s community and engage in their discussion, it shows you care for them and think about their success.

You may try to know if your content is helping them out and in return, they might remember your generosity and view more of your content in future. Do not be too pushy, just share your views or products and content.

10. Use Youtube Analytics Properly

To achieve success, it is essential to experiment, track the results, and make necessary changes as per requirement.

The YouTube Analytics helps to check the videos that performed best, the engagement of the viewers, and your audience’s demographics as well. With a detailed report, you can make necessary changes to your strategy that can help you to get more views on youtube.

Read More to Get :

5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

How to Loop a YouTube Video >>

Conclusion

Using the strategies explained above you do not need to leave the success of your videos up to chance. It is often completely random which YouTube videos go viral, but you can have a lot of influence over how many views you get. Support your own content through links, playlists, and in video promotion. Also, make sure your titles, descriptions, and tags are optimized for YouTube searches. These are great methods for getting more views on YouTube.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Elevate Your Online Presence with Expert Streaming Guide

The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Live Streaming

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Also read: