annotations Articles

Rhett & Link's April Fools Uses Trick Annotations to Prank Viewers

Master YouTubers Rhett & Link have made a masterful April Fools video that will have you scratching your head at first. Why can't I get to the "Funny Baby Panda Kiss?" Why can't I see this video? Why are there so many ads? With a little ingenuity in chapter annotations, Rhett & Link have pulled off a great prank. But don't forget to watch the content.

YouTube, Get On This (Part 2): The YouTube Wish List Continues

No wait, there's more! In Part 2 of the YouTube Wish List, we talk about how nice it would be to interact with your commenters better than just the comments section. And more people getting a chance to use that YouTube Live Stream would be awesome, too.

YouTube, Get On This (Part 1): The YouTube Wish List

We like YouTube, we really do. They meddle too much in things that don't need to get fixed, though, and let other things slide. That's why we've created a YouTube Wish List. Now, we may not have the power to get these things, ever, but it would be awesome if even one of these things were becoming a reality soon. And this is just Part 1.

3 Ways to Disable Annotations and Turn Them Off for Good [Creator's Tip #81]

Annotations can make videos more interactive, as we've discussed before.  But sometimes creators go a little overboard.  Sometimes there's so much on screen you can't see certain parts of the video, and that can be really annoying.  Luckily, there are ways to get rid of ...

How To Let Viewers Choose an Ending to Your Interactive Video [Creator's Tip #80]

Here's how you can guide your viewers through a choose-your-own-adventure type of experience using interactive annotations that link to multiple videos. Just like stand-alone videos, however, your content must be compelling for it to work.

How to Increase Watch Time in YouTube with Skip Annotations & Chapter Markers [Creator's Tip #79]

Chapter markers can enhance your video's engagement by giving the viewers choices to find the content they need without having to scrub through the whole video looking for it. This is especially useful when it comes to long-form content like a Google Hangout or a speech/lecture video. Learn how to create YouTube skip annotations that work as chapter markers so as to keep your viewers engaged and increase your videos' watch time.

YouTube Annotations Course

YouTube Training Course - Learn to Master Annotations: YouTube annotations are one of the most important, yet underutilized tools available to creators and marketers.  Video annotations allow you to add powerful interactivity to your videos and can be used to entertain the viewer, encourage engagement, provide ...

HOW TO: Use Annotations to Increase YouTube Views, Rankings, and More [Creator's Tip #74]

On this week's Creator's Tip, we collaborated with Matt Ballek of VidiSEO to share with you some of the top reasons why you should be utilizing annotations regularly in your videos and to show you several tips and tricks to use YouTube's annotations effectively to increase video views, subscribers, and rankings.

NextUp at YouTube, Shows Takeoff to New Destinations, & More... [Reel Web #69]

In this week's Reel Web, we take a look at several online video related news items including: new mobile video apps released for Vimeo and YouTube, details about YouTube's newest NextUp competition program and its focus on collaboration, the pros vs. cons of using YouTube ...

How to Drive Traffic Between Your Videos on YouTube [Creator's Tip #68]

For this week's Creator's Tip, I provide some advice in the form of answers to a few common questions we've received from our audience of viewers on YouTube including: ways to make a living and build a career as a niche expert as well as ...

YouTube Shoppable Video Ads Spotted: Will They Sell Product or Just Annoy?

Shortly after the announcement that YouTube would be offering merch annotations and associated website annotations, another salvo was being fired for a test just in time for the holiday shopping season.  There are currently videos in which a viewer may click on a somewhat unobtrusive ...

Website Link Annotations, Creator Playbook 3.0, Foreign Language Captioning, & More... [Reel Web #68]

On this week's ReelWeb, we cover several YouTube news updates from the past week including yet another update to the Creator Playbook along with a revamped Creator's Hub, new YouTube annotation functionality that lets you link your videos to your own website, and additional foreign language ...

YouTube Officially Launches Associated Website Link Annotations - Link Directly to Your Site

Not long ago, YouTube announced they would be launching associated website annotations.  The program has only been in pilot mode for the last few weeks, but now it's totally here.  Partners in good standing who declare their YouTube channels the official representation of their brand ...

YouTube Merch Annotations Now Available to All Partners in Good Standing

Recently we talked about an announcement from YouTube where creators could use off-site annotation links, which would allow viewers to go straight to a website from links in the video.  Another announcement came in the form of Merch Annotations, in which creators could merchandise and ...

Tutorial: How-to Create a Custom End Slate for Your YouTube Videos [Creators Tip #64]

Creating a custom, interactive end slate (A.K.A. tail slate, outro, end screen) for the end of your YouTube videos is something that I recommend in all of my talks and to all my clients looking for best practices in YouTube marketing.  They offer a great way to ...