I am not attorney and cannot and will not provide legal advice. I am not legally responsible for any advice you take from this article.

A Copyright claim, or more commonly known as a DMCA, is the single biggest issue most YouTubers face. A DMCA is when an individual or a corporation files a take down request with YouTube claiming that your video(s) have infringed their copyrights. YouTube, by law, has to take down (disable) the video immediately after receiving this request and you’ll receive a copyright strike.

More often than not, a YouTuber did infringe on someone’s copyright (ie uploaded a music video, show, movie, etc). However, many YouTubers do experience what is known as a false DMCA. This is where someone wrongfully and illegally files a DMCA even though your video doesn’t have copyright infringement.

What many YouTubers fail to realize is that you CAN counterclaim the DMCA. Why should you? A successful counterclaim will both enable your video and remove the copyright strike. Getting the copyright strike remove will put your account back in good standing which increases your chances of partnership down the road.

When should you counterclaim?

You should counterclaim when you know for a fact you haven’t infringe anyone’s copyrights. May it be entirely your own content or the content falls under fair use.

What is Fair Use?

Fair Use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship.

What are some common false DMCAs & what can I counterclaim?

-Your video is mistaken for copyrighted content base on your thumbnail. Partners have the ability to use custom thumbnails. Sometimes these thumbnails are screen shots of footage or an event and used to attract more viewers to the video. Thumbnails CANNOT infringe on copyrights, because they fall under fair use.

-Your video is mistaken for copyrighted content base on your video title. No matter what the title of your video is, it CANNOT infringe on someone’s copyrights. This is the case for even “misleading” video titles.

-Your video is a parody (ie music video parody, dubbed over footage). Sometimes it seems a corporation will disapprove of a parody and will file a false DMCA. In this case, you should file a counter claim appropriately stating that either it’s entirely your own content or that the content falls under fair use.

-Your video contains copyrighted music. In some cases you can counterclaim with fair use. Most common examples of fair use of music are dance videos and covers.

-Your video contains copyrighted footage/content while you are giving commentary. The most notable examples are video games and movie reviews. As long as you are giving commentary you are protected under fair use.

-Your video contains footage that is publicly release (such as a trailer) that is 30 seconds or shorter. Fair use allows for you to use small snippets of publicly released content, often promotion content, even though there is no commentary.

How do I file a counterclaim?

The most preferred way to counterclaim a DMCA is through the use of an online submission forum found here. There it will take you step by step on filing your counterclaim. You will have to give your personal information such as full name and address. Why? Because as soon as you file a counter claim it becomes a legal matter and you will have to give legal statements. Misrepresenting any information is illegal and will result in the termination of your account.

How does a counterclaim take?

First YouTube reviews the claim, sends it to the third party that filed the DMCA, and informs you via email that it has been sent. As soon as you receive that email, the DMCA claim holder has, by law, 10-14 days to respond. Failure to respond will result in the automatic enabling of your video and removal of the copyright strike.

What if my counterclaim is unsuccessful?

At this point you need to provided more adequate proof that the video is entirely your content or falls under fair use, or you may indeed be infringing someone’s copyright.

As a YouTuber, one of the most difficult things to deal with is haters or “trolls”. All YouTubers, both big and small, deal with haters everyday. I often get ask, “How do you deal with haters?” This is sometimes difficult to answer for two reasons; how big are you and what is your personality like?

When you’re new to YouTube or still fairly small, the best way to deal with haters is to simply delete their comments. The last thing you want is the majority of your comments to be insults. That way someone won’t prejudge you and your videos because of those hate comments.

As you start to gain supporters and you grow as a YouTuber, you can let the hate comments sit there. Your supporters will either knock the hate comments out of view with their own comments, or they’ll defend you. Having loyal viewers that defends you show both you and new viewers that you must have something to offer.

Now many YouTubers are told not to respond to haters, because you’ll only get more hate. I disagree, because I’ve found that people will subscribe to you solely on how you deal with haters.

When someone attempts to hate on me, I often respond back with a wittier and more humorous insult. My responses have become so popular amongst my subscribers that I turned it into a segment called “Stupid Troll is Stupid”.

However, you may not like to insult others even if they are haters. If that’s the case, just respond back with a friendly comment such as a “aww thanks” or “<3”. This will show people that hate comments don’t bother you.

What are some ways that you deal with haters? Do you ignore them? Respond back to them? Or do you do something not mentioned in the article?

YouTube recent decision to allow all of its users to have access to boxing one another has been praised. Now non-partner YouTubers feel that they have the equal opportunity promote one another with hopes of increasing their subscribers, views, and reputation. However, what many don’t realize, both partners and non-partners, is that gaining subscribers via boxes may hurt them more than help.

The myth is that all the subscribers you gain from boxes will watch your videos, but that’s hardly the case at all. Not only will the majority not know who they just subscribed to, they also won’t bother to check out your channel or videos. So you may gain 5,000 subscribers from someone’s box, but you’ll be lucky to get 500 of them to watch your videos.

In the end, you’re left with what is known as inflated subscribers. What this means is that your video views never reach or exceed your subscriber count. Thus your reputation will never grow nor does your bank account if you plan on earning an income from YouTube. It’s no different than having gained fake subscribers from scams.

However, there are ways to avoid your subscriber count from becoming inflated; in-video cross promotion. You need to do collabs or get shoutouts from the YouTubers whose boxes you are in. This gets some of their loyal subscribers to become your loyal subscribers.

You can also send a message/comment to every subscriber that subscribes to you, thanking them for subscribing. This may in turn get them to check out your channel and videos. However, this takes more time and energy, and you will get fewer results than a collab/shoutout.

Now there are those who say “numbers don’t matter”, but you’ll often find that these very same people take pride in their inflated subscriber count they gained from boxes. So keep in mind, nothing comes easy even when it does seem easy. When you gain subscribers easily from boxes, it’s going to take some work and effort to get them to view your videos.

1. Don’t sub 4 sub

You may think that going around asking “sub 4 sub” won’t affect you in a negative way, but it does. I often find myself hearing about talented YouTubers who are losing respect from other YouTubers, because they see their “sub 4 sub” comments all across channels. It makes you seem desperate, untalented, and lazy. In the end you may have a few more subscribers, but you lost the respect of the YouTube community.

To read more about why it’s important to not sub 4 sub, click here.

2. Don’t crowd your box

Several YouTubers have a difficult time keeping the amount of people they have in their box low. Whenever you have more than four YouTubers in your box you’re devaluing any subscribers that they receive. I personally find myself less likely to subscribe to boxed YouTubers when the list is longer than how much toilet paper I have left. If I do subscribe, there’s a good chance I won’t remember to look out for their videos. However, when the list is small I’m more likely to subscribe and check out their videos. Now if you’re trying to help out a friend, that’s fine, but maybe you want to rotate the people in your box every few days.

Note: Collab channels are an exception to this rule where they box the participants.

3. Don’t box 4 box

This ties in with the above “don’t”s. Box 4 box is the same thing as sub 4 sub, but on a larger scale. A box should be used to reward and acknowledge outstanding YouTubers. When you’re giving your box space to anyone who will put you in their box you’re instantly devaluing its propose. You’re also losing the respect of other YouTubers who see your dozens of “box 4 box” comments.

4. Don’t spam others’ videos

Nothing is more insulting than when another YouTuber begs for others using video comments to view their videos. We worked hard on our videos and hope to get organic feedback. When we see, “I love ur vid check out mine” we get disgusted. First, we know nothing about you to want to check out your videos. Secondly, exactly how many times have you copied and pasted that same comment?

5. Don’t beg to be seen

Every YouTuber loves to receive messages and channel comments from their subscribers, and it can be time consuming to read and respond to all of them. With that said, nothing irritates us when we get messages begging for us to view videos and subscribe. This shouldn’t be confused for introducing yourself as a YouTuber, explaining what type of videos you do, and exactly why you think we should check you out. However, when you’re using internet slang and come off very demanding we take note of who you are and delete your message.

6. Don’t beg for collabs

Doing collabs with other YouTubers is a big part of the community. However, it’s very time consuming and we often have to be picky as to whom we collab with. It’s okay to ask a YouTuber if they can collab with you, but if they say “No” then please don’t beg. This makes you seem immature and gives you a bad reputation as someone who is unprofessional. It also helps to have already made several videos first, because having no videos gives us little to no idea what you can do.

7. Don’t beg for shout outs

If you want a YouTuber to shout you out and they say “No” then please don’t beg them. In matter of fact, don’t randomly ask for a shout out. Shout outs have to be earned otherwise they would have no merit to them. Now if you can make a deal where you provide something of equal value for them in return then it’s okay to ask. Until then, it’s best to continue working hard and hope that your efforts may one day be noted and promoted.

8. Don’t start over again… and again… and again

This really applies to smaller YouTubers, because that’s all you’ll ever be if you keep starting over on YouTube. Rarely does anyone have the perfect start on YouTube, so, don’t expect to have one yourself. If you don’t have the views, the comments, the ratings, the ideas, and/or quality then fix it instead of running away from it. You’ll always have the same problems no matter how many times you close your account and open a new one. In matter of fact, you’ll have more problems. So stick it out and start brain storming on how you can improve on your current channel.

9. Don’t be lazy

Sometimes you can’t avoid going on a hiatus due to school, work, or family related situations, and that’s understandable. However, some YouTubers just get lazy and will go weeks or even months without uploading a video. Here’s the great thing about YouTube videos, they’re quick and easy to create. If you only have an hour a day for the next seven days, use that hour on each day to work on a video to upload at the end of the week. If you don’t, do a simple vlog. Shane Dawson has been doing videos with blood tubes hanging out of him. So there should be no excuses for laziness.

10. Don’t have an attitude

As a YouTuber, you need to prepare yourself for both positive and not so positive input. Nothing is more insulting than when a YouTuber is polite and nice, asking me for my input, then do a 180 when my input isn’t what they wanted to hear. No matter what you do, for serious or for fun, people are always going to tell you want you can do better. How should you react? Suck it up, learn from it, and apply it. If you can’t handle constructive criticism then YouTube isn’t the place for you.

To read more Tips & Tricks, click here.

As you become more involved as a YouTuber you’ll start to learn terminology that you never heard before. One of these terms is “loyal subs”. What exactly is a loyal sub you might ask? This article will explain what they as well as why they’re important and how to obtain them.

-What are “loyal subs”?

“Loyal subs” is short for loyal subscribers. So what exactly is the difference between “loyal subscribers” and just regular subscribers? A regular subscriber will often watch you videos, if at all, and that’s it. They get their fill for entertainment and move on to something else.

However, a loyal subscriber does much more than that. They’ll watch all of your videos, rate them, comment on them, favorite them, tell their friends and family about them, and often do what you tell them to do. They’re actually more like your fans than they are subscribers, and without them no YouTuber would get big.

-How do I obtain loyal subscribers?

It’s actually easier to tell you how you don’t get them. You don’t get loyal subscribers with “sub for sub”, buying them, creating fake accounts then subscribing to yourself, nor begging for people to subscribe. What does that leave? Hard work or, if you get lucky, a shout out from a bigger YouTuber who has loyal subscribers themselves.

However, let’s focus on what you can do at this moment. As a YouTuber you need to continuously upload videos, constantly improve, and find ways to get your subscribers involved. Shane Dawson and Ray William Johnson are known for their “comment question of the day”. Other YouTubers do live shows. Then some will create videos answering questions from their subscribers. It also help to network with other YouTubers which we’ll cover in a future article.

Doing all of this adds up and quickly shows results, because it’s further branding yourself. Remember, to be a big YouTuber you need to brand yourself and your personality. You’re not selling a product, you’re selling yourself, and people “buy” when they subscribe. They only subscribe, because convinced them that you are the next best thing and that you’re worth their time. This is where they become loyal to you.

-What do I do after I have loyal subscribers?

Once you start to receive loyal subscribers you need to work even harder to keep them. They subscribe to you, because they like what you do and want to see more of it. If you fail to provide, they slowly start to lose interest in you. We see this all the time with bigger YouTubers who suddenly stop making videos. Then when they do upload a new video their views are cut by nearly 70%; thus, throwing out all of your hard work.

Loyal subscribers help to progress you as a YouTuber by supporting your videos in every way possible. There are no real short cuts to getting them, but they’re well worth the hard work. Then once you receive them, you need to work even harder to keep their interest.

Below is an example of selected coding that you would see within any embedded YouTube video. The bold part is where you would replace/insert the extra coding. Keep in mind, there’s two parts of this so do the coding for each of the two: embedding

embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/MDedb1Kgjys&insert coding here”

Turn off Title & Ratings
&showinfo=0

Turn off Search
&showsearch=0

Turn on Related Videos
&rel=1

Turn off Annotations
&iv_load_policy=3

Force Closed Captions
&cc_load_policy=1

Turn on AutoPlay (not recommended)
&autoplay=1

Loop Playback
&loop=1

Remove Full Screen Option
&fs=0

What if you need a custom size for your player?
If you want to change the dimensions, do so using a 16:9 aspect ratio and add 25px in height for the player controls. For example, lets say that you needed the video to be 320px wide:
–> 320(9)=Height(16) and then add 25px
–> Height=180 + 25 = 205px

Most of the time, however, I just go into the last part of the coding and change the dimensions where it says width and height. Mainly to fit the video into the articles on the website.

How to Customize YouTube Video Quality

Youtube already allows you to customize the embed code and allows the videos to play in HD, but in case you were wondering what the codes were for this and/or how to force play back of high-quality files (not HD);

Show in High-Definition 720p
&hd=1

Show in High-Quality
&ap=%2526fmt%3D18

If you haven’t seen part one yet, click here. Here’s part two of how to build a YouTuber website. In this video I’ll show you how to install WordPress onto your website, how to find and select a template, how to edit it and upload it. By the time you’re done you’ll have most of your website completed with an eye catchy design. Part three will be uploaded soon which will show you some basic tips and tricks to add the finishing touches to your website.

Here’s part one on how you can build your YouTuber website. I’ll show you how to get your domain and hosting for under $15. I also explain to you the importance of having a website, and why you should never go with free hosting. I apologize for the quality of the video. I’m testing out programs and somewhere along the lines the video shrunk.

Even though you have a Twitter account for your YouTube channel, you still have plenty of work to do. You’ll only see results with Twitter when you actually use it correctly. This article will show you the five most effective ways to promote yourself as a YouTuber using Twitter. Also, keep in mind that these tips and tricks can be applied to almost anything that needs promotion.

1. Tweet about your current video

When you tweet your video once there’s a chance that only 10% of your followers will see it. This is because they either live in a different timezone or your tweet gets lost amongst tweets from the other people they follow. It’s a good idea to tweet your video three or four times a day with two-three hours of time between each one. “If they’re subscribed to me so they’ll see my new video on the front page of YouTube.” This is a common misconception, because too often do YouTubers find that their videos don’t appear in their subscribers’ sub box. Which is why it’s important to tweet your videos.

“Well, I just don’t have the time to always be on twitter to make these tweets.” Luckily for you, you don’t always need to be on twitter. HootSuite.com is an amazing website that gives you the ability to schedule your tweets. Yes, you heard right. You can type out a tweet and use their program to have it uploaded onto Twitter minutes, hours, or even weeks later. In matter of fact, if you found this article via a tweet @PauseStopRewind then you just saw an example of a scheduled tweet.

2. Tweet about your upcoming videos

Weeks or sometimes months before new movies and television shows are released you’ll see promotions for them. This is done to build up hype and increase the amount of possible viewers. The same principle can be used to increase the amount of video views you’ll receive. Inform your followers when you have new video ideas, what stage of production you’re at, give them hints as to what you’re filming, and tweet the release date a few days before you upload the video. Anything you tweet about your video will build up hype. Then when that particular day comes, your followers will be there the second the video is uploaded.

3. Promote your live shows

You’ll find that many YouTubers host lives shows on websites such as BlogTV and UStream. This helps to build up their fan base, but we’ll talk more about the importance of live shows in a future article. If you do live shows it helps to tweet about them ahead of time. DFizzy is a good example of this. Hours before he goes live he tweets about where he’ll be live at and when. By the time he does go live, he finds that fans are already there waiting for him.

This is great, because more often than not people turn away live shows when there’s very few viewers. However, in DFizzy‘s case, more viewers will be tempted to stay at the beginning when they see there’s already other viewers there. Again, you can use HootSuite.com to help schedule promotion tweets.

4. Link to your YouTube channel

Too often do I come across YouTubers with a twitter, but never bother to list their channel link on their profile. Do I take the time to search them on YouTube? No, because I’m a busy guy, and so are many other people. By not including your YouTube channel’s link on your profile page, you’re missing out on channel views, video views, and possible subscribers.

The same can be said visa versa. If you have a Twitter that you use to promote your videos then you need to have it linked somewhere on your channel page and in every video. Also, make sure to stress why it’s important for your subscribers to follow you. Tell them that they’ll be able to be the first hear about your live shows, your new videos, and other projects you’re working on. This will catch they’re attention even more, and increase your reputation and popularity as a YouTuber.

5. Utilize your Twitter background

A popular trend amongst YouTubers are customized Twitter backgrounds that help to promote their work. Shane Dawson is an excellent example of this. He creates a new weekly promotional background that showcases his up coming video and contains links to his important websites. Other YouTubers choose to create a background with just their instant messaging screen names, emails addresses, and a short bio. Whichever you choose to do will surly have more of an impact than a regular Twitter background.

To learn more on this subject read “Creating an eye popping Twitter background”.

There are other ways to promote yourself on Twitter, but these are the most preferred and professional ways. While @replying your videos to bigger YouTubers can sometimes be successful, it’s also looked down upon if done too much. Also, don’t over tweet or follow people just to have them follow you. Otherwise you’ll find your branded as a Twitter whore and we already have enough whores.

Retweet this Tips&Tricks article to spread word about your favorite blog on your favorite YouTubers! Also, make sure to follow PauseStopRewind on twitter

I’ve been looking at guides and “how to” books ever since I started to take my YouTube channel a little more serious with the idea of one day becoming a partner. Recently I did a search on Amazon.com and found a number of books on the topics of digital video, editing programs, and YouTube. Within a week I received my package with about five books. One was titled The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Digital Video that I was able to grab for about $1.95 USD for a new copy (used to be $18.95 USD).

Even though it’s an older book, as in technology wise by about two years, it provided a great deal of information that will surly improve my videos. The author of book is Karl Bardosh, who has more than 30 years of experience in films and is an award-winning director, producer, writer, and editor. At the time he wrote this book he was a professor of film and television at New York University’s Tisch School and a producer/director for PBS. So in other words, this guy knows what he’s talking about.

The book is set up fairly well with four main parts; digital video basics, preproduction, production, and postproduction. Instead of normally skipping around, I actually read front to back. I suggest doing this, because of the amount of information that’s in the book and how each chapter builds off the previous one. By the time I reached the end, I found myself testing out different editing, lighting, and zooming techniques that I wouldn’t have thought of trying.

The book is actually teaches you the basics instead of expect you to be an expert.

What I enjoyed and got most out from this book is how to better organize creating my videos. Before, I would wing it and found myself having to go back and re-shoot too many times, got confused about which part of the video was going where, struggle getting the proper lighting, and countless other things that took too much of my time. Now I know how to script, storyboard, find and select locations, set up proper lighting, how to create the appropriate feel for my videos, and so many other useful techniques. This in the end saves me hours and has me feeling more confident about the quality of my videos.

Like I said earlier, the book is a little outdated, but for the price of only $1.95 USD for a new copy(plus the $3.99 for shipping) it’s really a steal. I would honestly suggest this to anyone who is just starting out making videos to some of the pros on YouTube. Also, since there’s so much information in there, you’ll always find yourself rereading it again and having it handy when you’re getting ready to film. Click here to order The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Digital Video.