How To: Become a YouTube Celebrity

 We all know them. We watch them all the time, maybe even on a daily basis. They're everywhere. TV. Film festivals. News. You name it. That just begs the question: How do they get to that position?! Or more importantly.. How do I get to that position?? I'll give you some pointers on how to get there.

Just go onto YouTube and browse through some of the top players. They put out normally one or two high quality videos a week. If you have any hopes of doing that, it all starts with your imagination. You will need ideas, and plenty of them. Get a notebook or use your phone. Every time something pops in your head, write it down! It could be your next most viewed. If you think you can handle that then you are already head and shoulders above a lot of people.

Anybody can wake up one morning and think, "Hey. I wanna become a YouTube phenomenon." In reality though, things don't just happen by thinking about them. You have to take action. If you want to make it big then you have commit your time to it. Think of it as a job. You have to work so hard for so long and do this well before you can get promoted. On YouTube it's the same concept. You will spend many long hours at your computer watching other videos, reading about film making, learning different editing programs, and spreading the word about you channel. The thing is though, even at it's worst, film making is much more fun and exciting than other jobs. If you don't share the same view then this just may not be for you. It's something that some people just pick up and can't put down. It's also something that people bang there heads against because it just isn't their style. Moral here is don't start if it's not something you love because you'll just get tired and quit. 

Before you even think about building a reputation on YouTube you're going to have to have quality content. Right now open a new tab in your browser and goto http://ebay.com/ (If the browser you're using right now doesn't have tabs I would suggest leaving this page, because you do not have what it takes). If you don't have an Ebay account, create one. If you do, login. Now sell that old camcorder you used to shoot your sons birthday last month. Okay that was harsh, but I just trying to get across a point: You must have a camera that shoots good video. It is highly preferred that it shoots at least 720p, but if you just don't have the cash then save up and do what you can. You don't see any MLB players walking out with some whiffle ball bat, no, you see them walking out with an official MLB bat. In the major leagues quality is the standard, not the exception. Ideally, you're going to want something that can shoot 1080p video. If you have the cash, I would recommend going for an HD-DSLR (Like the Canon EOS t2i Rebel or the Canon EOS 7D) because that will give you much more "bang" for your "buck" as well as a more "cinematic" look to your videos. Although audiences can forgive some not-so-pretty footage, that won't forgive you for the crackly audio that picks up the slightest breeze like a hurricane. No. You will need some sort of audio recorder. If you are really serious and wanted something that you could expand and use with for professional tools once you get to that point, then go with a Zoom H4N handheld recorder and then hop over to RedHeads and buy a windscreen. The setup will be just under $280 (shipped) but in the long run it will be well worth it. Besides audio and video, there are only two other major factors. Lighting is very, very important. It's another thing audience won't forgive. Doesn't matter if it's the next blockbuster, if it's blurry, choppy, or dark, they will just click away. Please always remember to have your scene properly lighted. I'm not asking you to have studio grade lighting, just open a window and turn on the overhead will ya? Last is your computer. Depending on what kind of videos you make and how committed you are you can decide on what computer you will need. If you have good content and really don't need a bunch of special effects, then I would say that a fast dual-core or quad core with at least 4 gigabytes of RAM and a decent graphics card will do fine. If you're going to get into 3D modeling or even just AfterEffects, you're going to need to do a little better. The optimum setup would be dual-screen, quad-core processor, good graphics card (nVidia GTX series is always good), and 8 gigabytes of RAM. You can get away with less, but that would be the optimum setup.

This is super important, but only if it's after the other steps. It only works if you have imagination, commitment, hardware, and content. I can't tell you how many people out there have great content, but they just don't have the fan group or word-of-mouth advertisement that the big guys have. So here are some tips from my SEO failure self:

On YouTube everyones is a friend so friend them all. Also subscribe.

Collaborate. What better way to make good videos and meet new people that can help you on your journey?

Social Networks. Create a Twitter for your channel and update it often. While you're at it make a Digg account and create a page for all your videos. Maybe bookmark them with Delicious or Stumble them on StumbleUpon.

Tell everybody. Tell your friends, your family, your neighbors, your not so friends, the hobo that lives under the bridge, tell anybody that will listen to you. I can't stress this enough. You need as many people to know about it and give you feedback as possible. Sure some of the feedback you receive won't be the prettiest, but those are the people who are giving you there opinion. You don't have to listen to anyone individually, but as a whole, your audience is usually never wrong.

Talk is cheap. We can talk about strategies all day on how to become a YouTube celeberity, but at the end of that day you really just need to do what works for you. Everything here is based on what normally happens, but I promise that if you don't start with something, you won't get anywhere. If the only thing you can get to record video is your webcam, go with that until you can get something else. Your knowledge will continue to develop and you will create better videos. If you made it through this whole hub then you've got the mentality. I hope that someday I see your video in the most viewed section. Good luck!