5 Steps to Upload Your YouTube Video

Nowadays, it seems everyone’s on YouTube for their video needs. The website is one of the top social media platforms today, and more and more people are turning to YouTube for everything from self-help advice to how-to videos to news to entertainment.

If you haven’t ever uploaded a video before, you’re part of a shrinking minority. Luckily, navigating YouTube and uploading your content to the website is a relatively straightforward process, even for those who’ve never done it before. Here’s a five-step guide to getting your video online and getting it noticed.

If you’re going to upload something to YouTube, you should have that content prepared ahead of time. Although YouTube mobile does technically give you the capability to record a video from the app in order to upload it directly, the best YouTube chances are made from carefully produced videos that have been edited and reviewed before being published, which means your best bet for well-received content is to spend some time planning, recording and editing it before you upload. If you’re looking to make a particular kind of content - say, a webshow - it will help to do a bit of research and figure out how long and how edited typical videos in that subject are to get an idea of what viewers expect and gravitate to as you create your content.

Once your video is prepared, the next step is logging into your YouTube account. If you don’t have one, it takes a minute to set up, and if you have a GMail account, you do, in fact, have a YouTube account (Google bought YouTube in 2006 and now you can buy YouTube subscribers to increase your views). The YouTube homepage has a sign-in button if you’re not already logged into your GMail app. Once there, navigate to the top of the page and look for the upload button.

Once you’re logged into your account and have your video ready, click the upload button on the top right of your screen. When you are uploading, you’ll be presented with several options for what kind of privacy you want for your video. Your video can be private, public or unlisted. A public video can be seen and found by anyone, while an unlisted video can be seen from your channel, but won’t come up in search results. A private video is just that - private. Only you can see private videos uploaded to your account. You’ll also be presented with the option to choose when your video is published - right away, or at a scheduled time.

The video will take some time to process when you upload it - how much depends on how long your video is, but you can expect at least a few minutes’ wait. While it’s uploading, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can give your video a title, a description and tags so that people searching for content can identify what type of video yours is. You can also select what thumbnail you want to use for your video when it finishes processing, and even provide captions or translations at this stage.

Once everything is processed and you’ve described and tagged your video, you’re ready to send it out into the world. Click ‘done’ in order to upload your video to YouTube, sit back and see if the views pour in.

YouTube is relatively straightforward to use nowadays. Uploading your video should be a simple and straightforward process, and if you find your niche, your channel will begin to grow and thrive.