YouTube Tools for Growth: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, YouTube Studio & More

Imagine sitting in your cozy home studio, dreaming of your YouTube channel becoming the next big thing. You're passionate about your content, but the growth seems sluggish. One day, as you sip your morning coffee, you stumble upon a secret weapon used by successful YouTubers – a suite of tools designed to skyrocket their channels. 

These tools can transform your dreams into reality, just as they have for countless other creators. Today, we dive into these indispensable YouTube tools that can take your channel from zero to hero.

TubeBuddy: Your All-in-One YouTube Growth Partner

TubeBuddy is a YouTube-certified tool with over 60 features designed to help YouTubers, creators, marketers, and agencies grow their channels. It offers tools for productivity, keyword research, tags, bulk processing, and analytics.

Channel & Video Analytics: TubeBuddy provides video and channel statistics through its browser extension and web app. The Videolytics side panel offers video and channel data, including total views, comments, ratings, SEO insights, social media engagement, and best practice recommendations. Channelytics, available on a channel’s homepage, showcases live stats, including total and 30-day metrics for views, videos, and subscribers. The web app offers additional insights through a health report, retention analyzer, and usage stats.

Competitor Research: With Videolytics, you can compare videos on your channel against others, receive notifications when competitors upload new videos, and use the scorecard tab in the web app to compare your channel to others.

Keyword Research: TubeBuddy’s robust keyword and tag search tools, including SEO Studio, Keyword Explorer, Search Explorer, Search Positions, and Opportunity Finder, help you optimize your metadata and find trending tags to rank higher in search.

Tag Management: TubeBuddy helps you select tags in real-time as you type, discover relevant and high-ranking tags, translate tags, arrange tags, and create centralized lists for quick access. You can also view and copy tags from any video, including your competitors, through the Videolytics side panel.

Thumbnail Maker: TubeBuddy’s thumbnail editor allows you to create professional-looking thumbnails using still frames from videos. You can choose a background, add text and designs, preview, and publish. You can also save and reuse templates for future use.

Comment Management: Efficiently managing user comments can increase video engagement, channel loyalty, and distribution. TubeBuddy streamlines this process with canned responses, comment filters, formatting options, and the ability to identify your Patreon supporters.

Bulk Updates: Save time with TubeBuddy’s bulk update and processing features, which allow you to make changes to the metadata on all your videos simultaneously. You can bulk update, copy, delete, replace, and append items depending on the task.

Other Features: Explore TubeBuddy’s end screen templates, video topic planner, metadata split tester, milestones, social media integrations, demonetization prevention, mobile app, COPPA center, channel backup/export, and member perks.

Plans: Free, Pro, Legend, Enterprise (starting at $3.60/month).

Learn more: TubeBuddy

VidIQ: Elevate Your YouTube Game

VidIQ offers tools for creators, marketers, and agencies to grow their channels and brand awareness. It is YouTube-certified and includes powerful analytics.

Channel & Video Analytics: VidIQ’s Scorecard side panel provides video and channel analytics and statistics. The dashboard highlights an overall video score, views per hour, total views, and video duration. The rating considers various data points to determine the likelihood of a video appearing in YouTube search results and related/recommended videos. The closer a score is to 100, the better. The social media sections display Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter engagement stats. A status bar at the top of a YouTube channel webpage shows real-time performance results. The channel audit tool displays your month-over-month views, subscribers, and watch time percentages. While the web app isn’t as impressive as the browser extension, the analytics, video, and subscriber tabs provide valuable insights.

Competitor Research: VidIQ’s browser extension and web app have competitor tabs, allowing you to compare your channel to others for views, subscribers, and uploads. You can also review your competitors' trending videos for different time intervals. The Scorecard showcases insights, stats, and ratings for every video and channel.

Keyword Research: VidIQ offers several keyword and tag tools, including Keyword Inspector, Keyword Translation, Video Tags Keyword, and Bulk SEO. These tools help you improve your metadata and streamline activities to get more views.

Tag Management: VidIQ provides user-friendly and efficient tag management solutions. You can see the terms used for any video on the Scorecard under the video and channel tag headings. Copy tags by clicking the paperclip icon or download words to a CSV file. You can translate, reorganize, and copy tags on your video’s YouTube page and create tag templates to use later. VidIQ also offers recommendations, suggestions, and rankings for terms.

Thumbnail Generator: VidIQ’s thumbnail maker enables you to create eye-catching images in three steps. Select a video still, solid color, image, or current thumbnail. Then, add text, styles, shapes, and pictures, and create templates for future use. Click the save button, and your thumbnail is ready.

Demonetization Prevention: Demonetization is a recurring concern for YouTubers. VidIQ’s controversial keywords feature identifies words and phrases that could be problematic for advertisers and monetization. For example, “How to Shoot Great Pics With Your iPhone” would be considered troublesome because “shoot” could refer to tragedy or violence.

Other Features: VidIQ also offers trend alerts, most viewed achievements, description campaigns, comments, online videos/tutorials, and productivity tools. VidIQ has a fantastic YouTube channel and uploads content weekly.

Plans: Basic (free), Pro, Boost, Coaching, Enterprise (starting at $5/month).

Learn more: VidIQ

YouTube Studio: The Official Channel Manager

YouTube Studio is YouTube’s official tool for channel management, performance tracking, and news hub for creators. Available as a web and mobile app, it is packed with robust analytics to drive progress.

Dashboard: Displays channel analytics and violations, video performance, news, product updates, creator insights, and recent subscribers.

Content Management: The Content page allows you to manage video details, view analytics, comments, monetization, and other options for each video. It features data for visibility, monetization, restrictions, views, number of comments, performance, and publish date.

Analytics: The Analytics page displays channel and video performance for different periods. It includes real-time stats, views, watch time, subscribers, estimated revenue, and top videos. Channel analytics are divided into five tabs:

• Overview: Real-time stats, views, watch time, subscribers, estimated revenue, and top videos.
• Content: Impressions, CTRs, views, unique viewers, traffic sources, watch time, average view duration, and top videos and elements.
• Audience: Unique viewers, average views per viewer, subscribers, viewer watch schedules, and user demographics (country, age, gender, etc.).
• Revenue: Estimated earnings, revenue per mile (RPM), cost per mile (CPM), top-earning videos, revenue sources, ad types, and transaction revenue.
• Research: Research some of the top searches from viewers on your channel and across YouTube in the last 28 days.

Comments Management: Interact with other users and review and filter posts on the Comments page.

Subtitles & Translations: Add subtitles and get your videos translated easily and automatically by the YouTube community on the Subtitles page. This can help you reach a global audience to attract more views, subscribers, and revenue.

Copyright Management: The Copyright page shows videos that match yours through YouTube’s machine learning and artificial intelligence processes. You can ignore or request the video’s removal by the user who has uploaded your content to their channel.

Earnings Management: The Earn page outlines ways to make money on YouTube and payment details.

Creator Music: Discover a growing catalog of popular music and tracks under terms that fit you, with revenue-sharing options.

Customization: The Customization page enables you to choose the currency unit you want to see on YouTube Studio, update and view channel keywords, country, audience, branding, and eligibility details, set upload defaults for metadata, video criteria, and monetization, manage permissions, users, and comments, and view agreements, such as the YouTube Partner Program. Users can also send feedback to YouTube.

Cost: Free.

Learn more: YouTube Studio
 

Social Blade: Track Your Progress and Benchmark Success

Social Blade tracks user statistics and analytics for multiple social media platforms, including YouTube. It provides insights for content planning and benchmarking.

User Statistics: Tracks and compares social media metrics. Social Blade provides analytics for millions of social media and YouTube accounts through its website, browser extensions, and mobile apps.

Content Planning: Offers insights for trending content and video ideas. Social Blade reports help businesses and advertisers find influencers. Social Blade EDU consists of nearly 40 video tutorials to help aspiring creators.

Benchmarking: Compare performance with other YouTube users. Social Blade’s database is free to use, and premium subscription plans offer more data, charts, reports, lists, and other

Plans: Free, premium plans starting at $3.34/month, consulting services.

Learn more: Social Blade

Patreon: Monetize Your Passion

Patreon provides a platform to help thousands of video creators, musicians, podcasters, game developers, comic creators, and others make money off YouTube. Through ongoing funding and monthly subscriptions, creators can engage their fan base with exclusive content.

Funding: Monthly subscriptions from fans.

Engagement: Exclusive content, member-only live streams, limited-time offers, rewards, creator access, courses, services, and more.

Plans: Free, Pro, Premium (8-12% fee on income).

Learn more: Patreon

Bitly: Optimize Your Links

Bitly is used by businesses worldwide to build connections with their customers across every digital channel. Their link management and analytics platform empowers individuals and companies to embed branded call-to-action links to maximize their digital initiatives.

Shorten Links: Branded links for descriptions. Thousands of YouTubers, including myself, use Bitly to shorten and add links to their descriptions. It’s also the perfect tool to cloak standard and affiliate links.

Analytics: Track link performance.

Plans: Free, Starter, Basic, Premium (starting at $8/month).

Learn more: Bitly

OBS Studio: Broadcast Like a Pro

OBS Studio is an open-source software app for video recording and live streaming on Windows, Mac, and Linux. OBS features include real-time video/audio capturing and mixing, customizable transitions, hotkeys, scene previews, and more.

Recording & Mixing: Real-time audio/video mixing. Create scenes from multiple sources, including window captures, images, text, browser windows, webcams, and capture cards.

Customizable: Scenes, transitions, hotkeys.

Cost: Free.

Learn more: OBS Studio

Movavi Screen Recorder: Capture Every Moment

Movavi Screen Recorder is an excellent tool that you can use to record screen activity and capture screenshots. Whether you create a tutorial, record a webinar or video call, or capture online events, the Movavi Screen Recorder is a fast and convenient solution.

Screen Recording: Record tutorials, webinars, online events.

Editing: Screencasts, overlays, text. Additionally, create screencasts, draw on videos, record only audio, schedule recordings, capture your webcam, create overlays, and add text to work.

Cost: $44.95 annually.

Learn more: Movavi Screen Recorder

Adobe Premiere Pro: Professional Editing at Your Fingertips

Adobe Premiere Pro offers industry-standard professional video editing for desktop use. Users can import media from their professional cameras or phones (up to 8K), edit, add effects and color, and export footage in various formats.

Media Import: Supports media from various devices.

Editing: Templates, effects, color correction. Premiere Pro has professional templates; creators can customize their titles and graphics. It works seamlessly with other apps and services, including Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, and Frame.io.

Plans: Starting at $20.99/month.

Learn more: Adobe Premiere Pro

Pixlr: Enhance Your Visuals

Pixlr is an online photo editing tool and a suite of image editing applications. It provides a range of features for editing and enhancing images, similar to popular desktop software like Adobe Photoshop. Pixlr is known for its user-friendly interface, accessibility, and variety of editing tools.

Photo Editing: Cropping, resizing, filters.

Graphic Design: Templates, advanced editing. Pixlr E is an advanced, browser-based photo editor and template designer for social media marketers and businesses. Pixlr X is for quick and easy editing tasks, including cropping, resizing, adjusting brightness and contrast, and applying filters.

Plans: Free, Plus, Premium, Teams (starting at $0.75/month).

Learn more: Pixlr

Google Trends: Stay Ahead of the Curve

Google Trends shows how often a particular search term is entered into Google’s search engine over time. It can track the popularity of topics, events, and trends.

Trend Analysis: Find trending topics on YouTube. YouTube creators can use Google Trends to find out what topics are currently trending on YouTube. This information can be used for new video ideas that will likely be popular with viewers.

Content Ideas: Plan videos based on trending searches.

Learn more: Google Trends

Channel Growth

Are you ready to take your YouTube channel to the next level? With these powerful tools at your disposal, the path to YouTube success becomes much clearer. Don’t just dream about becoming a top YouTuber—take action today! Implement these tools, and watch your channel grow in subscribers, views, and engagement. Start exploring these tools now and unlock your full potential as a creator. Remember, every big journey begins with a single step, so why not make yours today?