Uploading Your Videos to YouTube
The hardest part about uploading a video to YouTube is creating and editing the video. The uploading process itself is so simple a CEO can do it.
First, however, you have to make sure that your video file meets YouTube’s requirements, which are as follows:
- MPEG-4 format video with either the DivX or XviD codecs
- MP3 format audio
- 320[ts]240 resolution
- Frame rate of 30 frames per second (FPS)
- Length of 10 minutes or less
- File size of 100MB or less
If you shot your video with a digital camcorder or computer webcam, it’s probably in the right format to begin with, so there’s no conversion necessary. Your only concern is to stay within the length and file size limits.
To upload the video, click the Upload Videos link at the top right-hand corner of any YouTube page. This displays the Video Upload page; you now have a little paperwork to do.
First, enter a title for your video. Make sure it’s descriptive without being overly long. Next, enter a description for the video; this can and should be longer and more complete. (And don’t forget to include your phone number and website address in the description.)
Then enter one or more tags for the video, separating each tag by a space. Tags are keywords people use when searching; use as many tags as necessary to capture all possible search words and attract as many potential viewers as possible.
Now pull down the Video Category list and select a category for the video. Click the Upload a Video button when you’re ready to proceed.
Step two of the video upload process is where you specify the file you want to upload. Click the Browse button to open the Select File to Upload dialog box; navigate to and select the file you want and then click Open. This loads the filename into the File box on the Video Upload page.
With all of that done, the final step is to click the Upload Video button. YouTube finds the video on your hard disk and starts uploading it; the progress is shown on the Video Upload page. Once uploaded, take note of the video’s URL (to link to from your site and use in promotional material) and the embed code (to embed the video in your own website). Your video is now ready for viewing!
Learn more about creating business videos for YouTube on Michael Miller’s Video Blogging for Business blog.