How to make YouTube Shorts; Complete YouTube Shorts Guide for Creators

Of course, the better your YouTube Shorts, the bigger your exposure. We are here to help you reach your goals so we gathered everything you need to know about making winning Shorts. From how to upload YouTube shorts to how long are youtube shorts in 2023, if you have questions, we have the answers! Read on and you’ll benefit from this growth opportunity fully. Let’s get to it.

Let’s start with the basics. What are YouTube Shorts? YouTube Shorts are short form vertical videos that are 60 seconds long or less. YouTube shorts are YouTube’s bid for incorporating short form content into their platform. Following TikTok’s meteoric rise and evolving consumer behavior among the younger population, YouTube came up with a short and vertical video alternative to protect its position as the market leader. While initially Shorts got a lot of YouTube app users googling how to disable YouTube Shorts, it soon became evident that the feature is here to stay. 

Initially, YouTube encouraged creators to crosspost successful TikTok content to YouTube to kick start shorts. Soon after, YouTube creators started to develop their own way of using Shorts, that is as a new way to promote their long form content. 

When was YouTube Shorts created? It was first launched in India in 2020 and rolled out in the US in 2021. But the moment when YouTube really put its weight on the vertical, short form content was when YouTube Shorts monetization was introduced in February 2023. A feature that is essential to the YouTube ecosystem and appealing to all creators. There are still some requirements to monetize Shorts. The YouTube monetization requirements 2023 for Shorts are 1000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views in the past 90 days. You can check our “Youtube Shorts Monetization: How to Earn Money With YouTube Shorts“ article for more information about monetization requirements.
 

Now let’s talk about how to make a YouTube short. If you already have a channel and are familiar with the process of video making you have all the essentials covered. The biggest challenge for existing long form video creators is shifting their creative minds into designing content that delivers value to their audience in 60 seconds or less.

Instead of thinking in long intros and well-designed B-rolls, you should focus on starting with an intriguing but short hook, holding your audience’s attention with anticipation and finishing with a reveal. It’s always nice to have multiple angles and plans but with Shorts you can also think simpler. Here quantity and consistency are more important than quality. 

Another great way to think about YouTube Shorts is to use them as a way to promote your long form content. Can you monetize YouTube Shorts? Yes, but you’ll still make more through your longer form content. As a result, many creators are designing their Shorts as trailers for their long form content. With the latest updates to YouTube, you can also link your Shorts to your long form content, thereby enabling your audience to directly watch your long form video after seeing your Short. Just make sure that you create intrigue in your audience and get them to keep watching!

One of YouTube’s greatest features is the ability to create YouTube Shorts from your existing videos. Here is how to remix a YouTube video into a Short. Start by opening your YouTube app as this is currently only available on mobile. Then open the video you’d like to remix into a Short. Below your video, you will see a “Remix” button. Click that and choose “Edit into a Short”. This option will only be available in videos published by you. 

You can also use videos from other creators to create shorts as well. Here your options will be to use the sound in a given video, cut a segment from the video or use the video as a green screen. 

With YouTube Shorts, you have the opportunity to experiment with tracks beyond the copyright free music for YouTube. In most cases, you can actually choose to use any popular commercial music in your creations. 

To add music to your YouTube Shorts, simply use the add music function in the YouTube App’s video editor. There you’ll find a library comprising many popular songs available to be used in Shorts. But before you decide the song you want to use, make sure to read our two important notes about music in Shorts. 

First, keep in mind that using music that’s already popular in Shorts could help your content reach a wider audience. So keep an eye (or ear) out for music that’s being widely used by creators. 

The second thing to remember is that the music licence of songs in the YouTube library for Shorts does not cover commercial use and for that, you need to find royalty free music for commercial use, just like Snapmuse. Meaning, if you are creating branded content or if you are a company creating the Short for commercial purposes, you should use copyright free music for YouTube to avoid copyright issues. You can get royalty free music from the YouTube royalty free music library. This is a good option for beginners but if you are two - three videos in, you’ll be looking for more options and better quality.

The easiest way to find good YouTube royalty free music is to use a platform like Snapmuse. These platforms offer YouTube copyright free music and most cover other platforms too. Especially if you are planning to promote your content by paying for ads, YouTube non copyright music is the way to go to avoid annoying copyright problems.

Alright! Now you know what YouTube shorts are, how to make them and when to use royalty free music on YouTube Shorts. Let’s now talk about how to get more views on YouTube Shorts. All platforms have slightly different types of content and present different opportunities for the creators. Getting acquainted with these will help you get more views.  

Your shorts could be videos in and of themselves but what most YouTubers do is to create Shorts to promote their long form videos. It isn’t necessarily about chopping your existing content into a short but more about creating a new vertical video that relates to your long form. The reason why most creators tend to do this is because what really sets YouTube apart is their monetization capabilities, and long form content has a higher pay per view rate.

For a video to qualify as a Short, it needs to be in a 9:16 aspect ratio and should have a 1080*1920 pixel resolution. 

Trying to create the perfect YouTube Short? Make sure that your video meets the below requirements: 

• Comply with YouTube's short aspect ratio of 9:16 
• YouTube Shorts dimensions should be 1080*1920
• YouTube Shorts length should be 60 seconds or under
• Complies with YouTube’s music licensing, content and community policies

The basic rules for YouTube Shorts are simple. The content should comply with YouTube’s music licensing, content and community policies, be in vertical format and should be 60 seconds or less. If you have a successful set of Shorts you might qualify for monetization. The rules about how to make money on YouTube shorts are straightforward. You need to have 1000 subscribers and 10 million views in the last 90 days. 

YouTube shorts need to be 60 seconds or shorter. This might prevent cross posting from other platforms if your vertical content is longer than 60 seconds.

Ok let’s ask the big questions. Why should you use YouTube Shorts?

YouTube Shorts are a great way to grow your audience. Experimenting with short form content will also strengthen your creative muscles and enable you to experiment with different kinds of content. Aside from honing your creative skills, you’ll quickly see that regular Shorts uploads will help you supercharge your channel’s growth.

Oh! There is also the possibility of making money from Shorts. Interested? Keep on reading...

One of the most popular questions YouTubers get asked is “do you get paid for YouTube Shorts?” Well, the short answer (get it?) is yes. But things are a bit more nuanced than that. 

Since it is more difficult to display ads on short form content, the payoffs are much smaller than long form content. On the “What's Good Podcast” two creators reveal that they received 57 USD and 120 USD for 1.5 million and 6 million views respectively. But don’t let this discourage you because the real value in shorts remains in their ability to grow your audience. On the same podcast, one of the creators notes that he got 482 subscribers from one Short alone. Now that’s some serious growth!

Did you start feeling like now is the best time to post on YouTube shorts? We thought so! Do YouTube Shorts make money? Yes! But how much YouTube Shorts pay depends on your content and how many times your content is watched. Now here is a tip that will help you increase the success rate of your Shorts. If you can get the audience to watch your Shorts a few times before they swipe, you can get a retention rate that is bigger than 100%. This will push the algorithm to recommend your content to a larger audience. Of course, to get the viewer revenue share YouTube requires you to meet monetization thresholds. 

Generally speaking, there are two categories of Shorts. Original content designed solely to be Short, and Shorts promoting your longer form videos. 

If you are shooting a Short for it to go viral, then the sky is the limit. You can take your pick from product reviews, reaction videos, dance videos, street interviews, tricks, how-to videos or anything else you think will get your audience watching. 

If you are creating a Short to promote one of your longer form videos then you might consider remixing one of your video’s highlight moments into a short. Alternatively, you can consider shooting a separate video in a vertical format that relates to your video. For example, if you are shooting a product review for a gamer mouse, you can create a short highlighting one of its features and prompt your audience to watch the longer video for more. 

The one thing to always remember is that if you intend on promoting your content through ads or if this is branded content, your YouTube Shorts music should be royalty free. This will protect your content from copyright infringements. To use royalty free music on YouTube, simply visit a royalty free music platform such as Snapmuse, Universal or Epidemic and pick the subscription package that fits your situation best.

Alright! Now you know everything there is to know about YouTube shorts. It’s time to start creating. Go grab your camera, experiment with new types of content, try to find what works for you. If at first your Shorts don’t get the traction you want and you find yourself googling how to delete YouTube shorts, let us tell you right now that forward is the only way to go! Keep creating. With consistency and determination, success is bound to happen!