8 tools and resources every YouTuber should use

As a YouTuber, you already wear a ton of different hats. You create content, edit, do thumbnails and act as your own community manager. Running a YouTube channel means doing the jobs of a half dozen different professions. While most of us accept this as a reality, others out there design tools and resources to make our lives easier!

These tools range from helping from productivity to keyword research. They enable access to stock videos and professional music. These tools and resources should be used by every YouTuber!

Better thumbnails: Canva

If your thumbnails need a little bit of a refresh - check out Canva. Canva is a free online graphic design software that makes things super easy. The service has a variety of preset templates, design ideas and millions of other assets to create great looking thumbnails. A lot of the elements are drag and drop, making it easy to use for anyone. Best of all, it’s completely free (with paid more features/assets.)

Improved channel management and SEO: VidIQ

VidIQ helps YouTubers better manager their channels. The service enables you to track views, identify valuable commenters and learn more about what your audience loves. It has a built-in Keyword tool that helps you figure out what to target. There’s also SEO help that provides a ‘checklist’ to make sure your title, description and other elements are helping you reach audiences. It also automates some features like end cards. While the basic offering is free, they also have a paid service that enables extra tools.

What to no Next: Google Keyword Planner + Google Trends

The Google Keyword Planner has generally been used by SEO experts to help them target specific niche keywords. For YouTubers, it can help with two things: one is finding good keywords to target. But the second is it can help you find topics for your channel. If there’s something people are searching a lot for, but with little content - you can target it and get major traffic. Google Trends is another great place to keep up on the latest. It provides insight into what the world is searching for over a set period. This can help you capitalize on what’s popular!

Sharing made easy: Buffer

Buffer is a great little tool that enables you to share your own content, and content you love easier! The simple tool also provides you with insight into your audience such as when they click links. You can also find out what content they are more likely to click on than others. It’s a great way to save time and learn from your fans!

Reading material: Tubular Insights + We the Unicorns

One of the best YouTube related blogs is Tubular Insights. The blog helps people understand and digest the professional side of YouTube. This includes analytics, business, brand deals and platform changes. It’s must read stuff if you take YouTube seriously. Secondly, check out We the Unicorns. This blog is much more about the entertaining and interesting side of YouTube. It features news on popular creators, updates to the platform and fun Buzzfeed-esque quizzes related to the top creators.

Monetizable music: Epidemic Sound

This is a little bit of a self-promotion, but we’re a service that helps you find perfect music for your videos. Best of all, we allow full monetization so every dollar ends up back in your pocket. For a small monthly subscription, we provide you with access to over 50,000 high quality tracks. They are sorted by genre, feeling, length and more. If you’re still spending ANY time trying to find music on Soundcloud or Reddit, you’re not valuing your time enough! Check us out - you won’t be disappointed!