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Ready to Be a Star? Optimizing Your Videos for YouTube

Softonic Editorial Team

Softonic Editorial Team

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YouTube videos may not be the only way to fame and fortune, but it’s definitely one of the easiest and perhaps even the most fun. Getting folks to watch your YouTube videos does require that you establish yourself as someone who can be relied on to post high-quality content, however, and this is where Windows Movie Maker comes in.

Windows Movie Maker is free and packs a full set of video editing features. This is the same software that used to be called Windows Live Movie Maker, and was also included in the Windows operating systems through version 7. Now, it is simply called Windows Movie Maker, and while it does not come standard on Windows 10, it is available for free download.

Ready to Be a Star? Optimizing Your Videos for YouTube

Start With a Good Recording

A great YouTube video starts way before you hit the video editor. While most cell phones and tablets come with their own video cameras, you get a much higher quality of video by using a digital camcorder or a digital camera with video recording capabilities. Don’t choose your video camera simply for the picture quality, either. You’ll need one that is able to capture good audio or use a separate mic and edit the sound later using your video editor.

Use Windows Movie Maker to Edit and Tweak for Optimal Viewing Quality

Once you’ve got your video shot, open it in Windows Movie Maker. Select a bit-rate of 700 to 1,000 kbps (1,200 or higher is just unnecessary). Save the audio as an MP3, and select a file output of .MOV or MP4. After you have made all your adjustments in Windows Movie Maker, save your work! There is nothing more frustrating than uploading a video to YouTube, only to realize you didn’t save the version after your changes were made.

Upload the Video to YouTube

When you have your video just like you want it, it’s time to put in on YouTube. Log into your YouTube account and choose the option to upload a video. It will ask you to confirm and then take you through a series of questions. Fill out each field carefully. Too many YouTube users rush through this process and don’t take the time to properly answer each of these questions. The result is that all the hard work on video editing goes to waste because nobody ever finds or views your video!

Instead, take the time to develop a smart, relevant title; write a unique description, and carefully add tags that will be meaningful to people searching for those terms. It takes about an hour for YouTube to post the video after upload, so don’t worry or become impatient if you can’t see your video immediately after uploading.

If you want to get really good at uploading YouTube videos, spend some time reading what YouTube and Google put out there for their users to read. This information will help you manage a YouTube channel that gets lots of viewers and likes.

If you love Windows Movie Maker, check out VideoPad for more editing options!

Softonic Editorial Team

Softonic Editorial Team

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