Initiated initially in India following the prohibition of TikTok in August 2020, YouTube Shorts became available worldwide in June 2021. Accessible through the YouTube app, it amassed two billion monthly active users by July 2023. Since its international release, YouTube has advocated for its short video platform. This includes automatically navigating users to Shorts upon opening the YouTube app and introducing the YouTube Shorts Funds as an incentive to encourage creators to contribute.
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Navigating the realm of YouTube can be thrilling, especially when exploring its newer features like YouTube Shorts. Whether you’re a seasoned content creator or a beginner eager to dive into the world of short-form video, understanding “How to Upload YouTube Shorts” is crucial. This comprehensive guide elucidates every step of the uploading process, ensuring you can effortlessly share your creative expressions.
What to Know Before Uploading YouTube Videos
Before uploading YouTube videos, there are several important factors to consider to ensure that your content is well-received, reaches your target audience, and complies with YouTube’s policies. Here’s a list of things to know before uploading YouTube videos:
Content Quality
To achieve stellar content quality, focus on good video and audio production, employing proper lighting, clear audio, and stable camera work. A meticulously edited video, with unnecessary parts removed and improved pacing, can significantly elevate the viewing experience, making the content more engaging and consumable.
Content Originality
Content originality is crucial. Producing content, not replicating someone else’s work, is essential to stand out. Abstaining from copyright infringement by using only permissible content ensures the longevity and reputation of your channel.
Audience and Niche
Understanding and identifying your target audience is pivotal, and tailoring your content to their preferences is equally crucial. Consistently creating content within a defined niche can help cultivate a dedicated and loyal audience, enhancing channel growth.
Video Titles and Thumbnails
Video titles should be descriptive and engaging, accurately depicting the content. An attractive, custom thumbnail complements the title and serves as a visual cue, enticing viewers to click and watch.
Video Description
A detailed and informative video description can enhance discoverability, including relevant keywords and phrases, optimizing search results. This, in turn, can lead to higher viewer traffic and engagement.
Tags and Hashtags
Implementing relevant tags can aid YouTube in categorizing your videos correctly. Additionally, the strategic use of hashtags can enhance discoverability in search results, leading to increased visibility and views.
Engagement and Interaction
Engage with your audience by responding to comments and creating a vibrant community. Encouraging viewers to like, comment, and subscribe can foster a positive and interactive environment, contributing to channel growth and viewer retention.
Consistency
Maintaining a consistent upload video schedule is crucial for keeping the audience engaged and fostering channel growth. Regular uploads can sustain and incrementally increase viewer interest and loyalty.
Community Guidelines
Being conversant with and adhering to YouTube’s Community Guidelines is imperative to ensure your content is within acceptable bounds, steering clear of offensive, hateful, or harmful content to maintain a positive channel reputation.
Copyright and Fair Use
Having a thorough understanding of copyright laws and YouTube’s policies is vital. Utilizing copyrighted material judiciously, under fair use principles, can prevent infringements and potential content takedowns.
Monetization and Partner Program
For those aiming to monetize, joining the YouTube Partner Program can be beneficial. It opens avenues to earn revenue through various features like ads and channel memberships.
Privacy and Personal Information
Respecting individuals’ privacy is non-negotiable, and refraining from sharing sensitive personal information without consent is paramount to maintaining trust and channel integrity.
Video End Screens and Cards
Leveraging YouTube’s end screens and cards can optimize viewer experience, effectively promoting other videos, playlists, or external links keeping the audience engaged and connected.
Mobile and Accessibility
Optimizing videos for mobile viewing ensures accessibility to a wider audience. Incorporating closed captions can increase accessibility, allowing content to reach a more diverse viewer base.
Promotion and Sharing
Promoting your videos through social media and other online communities can expand your audience and increase channel visibility, leading to potential growth in subscriber count and viewer interaction.
Analytics and Insights
Regularly using YouTube Analytics can provide valuable insights into video performance and audience engagement, enabling the refinement of content strategies based on the acquired data and subsequently enhancing content relevance and viewer satisfaction.
Requirements for Uploading YouTube Shorts
Uploading YouTube Shorts is a straightforward process, but there are certain requirements and recommendations to keep in mind to ensure that your content is optimized for viewer engagement and adherence to platform guidelines.
- YouTube Shorts should be concise, with a maximum duration of 60 seconds, catering to the short-form content preference of mobile users. The ideal aspect ratio is 9:16, the standard vertical or portrait mode on mobile devices, optimizing the visual experience for mobile viewers.
- Content must align with YouTube’s Community Guidelines, maintaining a standard of respect, legality, and copyright adherence. Offensive, harmful, or copyrighted content should be avoided without proper permissions or attributions.
- While there is no strict rule on video quality, high-resolution videos with clear audio are preferable as they significantly enhance viewer experience and engagement. Coupling quality with relevance and using appropriate hashtags can amplify your content’s discoverability.
- A precise and accurate video title and description clarify your content, offering context or additional insights about the video. This clarity aids in attracting the target audience and enhancing user experience.
- YouTube Shorts are created and uploaded through the YouTube mobile app, requiring users to have the most recent version of the app. Utilizing the “Shorts” camera mode within the app is crucial, as it is tailored for short-form content creation.
- Audio can be sourced from YouTube’s extensive music library or original compositions or recordings, offering creative flexibility. Lastly, engaging with your audience through comments, likes, and shares is pivotal. Active engagement fosters a sense of community and escalates your content’s visibility on the platform.
How to Upload YouTube Shorts from a Computer
While YouTube’s website seemingly lacks a direct option for uploading Shorts, it’s indeed possible to do so from a computer. Here’s a refined step-by-step guide to assist you in uploading Shorts from a PC:
- Navigate to studio.youtube.com using a web browser on your desktop and sign in to your Google account.
- Locate the Create button at the top of the page and select Upload videos from the dropdown menu.
- You’ll be prompted to choose the video you wish to upload. Ensure your video is prepped and meets the necessary criteria: it should not exceed 60 seconds and must maintain a square or vertical (9:16) aspect ratio. When these conditions are met, the uploaded video will be recognized as a YouTube Shorts video.
- After uploading, you’ll proceed to the video editing screen. Here, input a suitable title and description for your YouTube short video. Incorporating the #Shorts hashtag in either the title or the description is generally recommended to optimize the video’s visibility on YouTube.
Subsequent steps are analogous to the process of uploading standard videos on YouTube.
- Scroll to select an appropriate thumbnail for the video and assign the video to a playlist optionally.
- Then, specify the intended audience for your Shorts, selecting No, it’s not made for kids, and press the Next button.
- Continue by pressing Next on the Video Elements page and once more on the Checks page.
- To conclude, set the desired privacy level for your Shorts video—choose from Private, Unlisted, or Public. Opt for Public if you intend for the video to be accessible to all, and press Publish. Scheduling the video is also an available option.
Uploading YouTube Shorts via an Android and iPhone Device
Creating and uploading YouTube Shorts is seamless with the YouTube mobile app, allowing for direct video shoots and edits akin to platforms like Instagram Reels, Snapchat, and TikTok. The Shorts camera feature provides editing tools, including video trimming, music addition, text overlay, filters, and alignment.
Here’s a revised guide on how to construct and upload YouTube Shorts using mobile devices:
- Launch the YouTube app on your Android or iPhone device.
- Hit the + (Add) icon in the bottom tab and choose Create a Short from the available options. If needed, provide the required permissions like access to Microphone and Camera. If you encounter issues viewing YouTube Shorts on your mobile app, investigate solutions for resolving Shorts visibility problems.
- Upon accessing the YouTube Camera, press the red capture icon to commence recording your Shorts video.
- Multiple smaller clips can be compiled into a single video. To cease recording and generate additional clips, press the red button again. Refer to the progress bar above to monitor the number of clips, their duration, and the remaining recording time, each clip being demarcated by small white bars.
- By default, the Shorts are capped at 15 seconds. Adjust the duration to 60 seconds for extended videos by tapping on 15. Employ additional tools like Flip, Speed, Timer, and Flash for video enhancements.
- After completing, progress to the subsequent screen by selecting the checkmark icon below.
- The next step is the editing screen, enabling sound addition, text overlay, filter application, and timeline viewing. Modify the video to your liking before proceeding by tapping Next.
- Conclude by assigning a title, setting visibility, and defining audience preferences for your video. To finalize the upload, press the Upload Short button.
Tip: To optimize the video’s presence on YouTube, incorporate the #Shorts hashtag in the video title.
Uploading YouTube Shorts from Your Gallery
Besides the direct video creation option within the YouTube account, the flexibility to upload a pre-made video file created and edited through different applications and stored in your device’s gallery. To leverage this feature, adhere to the subsequent instructions:
- Initiate the Process in the YouTube App: Launch the YouTube app and locate the + (Add) icon at the bottom of the interface. Once located, tap on it and opt for “Create a short” from the given options.
- Select Video from Gallery: Once in the Shorts Camera interface, identify and select the Gallery icon at the lower section of the screen. Subsequently, navigate through your gallery to find and choose the desired video file you intend to upload.Important: Be mindful that this feature allows only the addition of videos from the gallery; images are not supported in this context.
- Edit and Customize the Video: After selection, utilize the slider at the bottom of the screen to trim the video to your desired length, and once satisfied, press Next. Following this, you are presented with customization options, allowing you to infuse text, adjust sound, or apply filters as per your creative vision. Conclude this step by tapping on Next again.
- Finalize Title, Privacy, and Upload: As the final step, allocate an appropriate title to your video and set your preferred privacy settings. Once these are in place, finalize the upload by tapping “Upload short”.
Can You Earn Money From YouTube Shorts?
Yes, you can potentially earn money from YouTube Shorts, but there are some important things to consider:
Here are a few points to keep in mind regarding earning money from YouTube Shorts:
Monetization Status: To monetize content on YouTube, including Shorts, you typically need to be part of the YouTube Partner Program and meet its eligibility criteria. These criteria often include having at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours on your channel in the past 12 months.
Ad Revenue: If YouTube integrates Shorts into the Partner Program, you may earn revenue from Shorts featuring ads. However, as of my last update, the ad placement and revenue-sharing details for Shorts were not fully clear.
Other Monetization Options: Even if Shorts are not directly monetizable through ads, you can still use Shorts to promote your channel and engage your audience. This can indirectly help you grow your subscriber base, increase watch hours, and eventually meet the eligibility requirements for the YouTube Partner Program.
Promotional Value: Creating engaging and popular Shorts can attract more viewers to your channel, increasing your chances of earning money through other YouTube monetization features, such as memberships, merchandise shelf, and Super Chat during live streams.
Stay Informed: YouTube’s policies and features may have evolved since my last update. It’s recommended to check the official YouTube Help Center, creator resources, and announcements for the most current information on monetizing YouTube Shorts.
Bonus: Add a YouTube Shorts Section on Your Channel
Adding a “Short Videos” section to your YouTube channel can help increase the visibility of your short content, similar to how “Popular Uploads,” “Playlists,” and “Live Streams” sections do. This feature can enhance the viewership of your short videos, offering them a distinct space on your channel’s main screen.
To implement this, start by visiting YouTube Studio (https://studio.youtube.com/) on a web browser on your computer. Navigate to “Customization” from the left sidebar and scroll down to select “Add Section,” then choose “Short videos.” It’s important to note that this section will be visible only on YouTube mobile apps, not on the desktop website.
For optimal channel presentation, you have the flexibility to rearrange the sections. This can be done by dragging them using the two-bar icon next to each section, allowing you to organize them according to your preference.
How to Upload YouTube Shorts: Final Words
YouTube Shorts provide a unique opportunity to get your message in front of a captive audience in a fun, interactive, and entertaining medium. The short format videos allow your business brand or creative work to experiment with new ideas that could be shared across social media and attract new followers and leads. So, Shorts will help demonstrate your brand authority, increase engagement, and build awareness for your products, services, and creative artworks.
