Why Was Your Youtube Channel Suspended?
If you’ve ever had your Youtube channel suspended or terminated as I just did you’ll probably be feeling much as I am: Dazed, confused, angry, puzzled, ANGRY. You’re also undoubtedly wondering if there’s anything you can do. Well yes and no… Lets
In my case I lost 180 videos, 200 subscribers, over 200K views and lots of comments and shares. All told about 2 years work. Although many of the videos were unlisted: Private tutorials for customers; video challenge videos etc, several has performed very well and were consistently producing income for my business. Why then was my Youtube channel suspended, is there any recourse and how can you avoid this?
First off, this has been happening for a few years but possibly with Youtube now being the go to place for advertising, they seem to be on a bit of a crusade. I know a lot of marketers who have had the same problem recently. Lets look at the most frequent reasons.
- Copyright violations: Youtube and Google (who own Youtube but are not responsible for suspending or terminating Youtube channels) have very clear terms and guidelines on copyright. If you’ve used someone else’s music or content you will fall foul eventually. You could also find yourself in legal difficulties. So don’t do it. Read the policies carefully.
- Community guidelines: Again these are easy to find but not so easy to decipher. If Youtube receives notification from a viewer that your videos are contravening any of these you’ll get a strike against you. Two strikes and you’re out – Youtube channel suspended.
Can You Appeal?
In this case though you could be lucky and an appeal might be successful. People report things for various reasons – often false or spiteful – just plain trolling. In the first instance these reports are dealt with automatically: Your video is summarily given a strike. By using the email appeal process you can have a human review your videos. I know people who have had channels reinstated very quickly this way.
- Gaming the system. This covers a multitude of “sins” some of which you might not actually be aware you’ve done or have been doing without problems for some time. These can include: Adding tags in the description area as well as in the proper place provided; Too many tags/keywords in the title and description. Basically any over egging in an attempt to get more views is seen by Youtube as an attempt to game their algorithms and will get your Youtube channel suspended.
- Artificial views: As with all forms of social media it’s possible to buy views, comments and subscribers. Don’t do it.
- Scams and/or commercially deceptive material: This is a tricky one. Clearly if you are promoting dodgy “get rich quick” type stuff you’ll rightfully be found out. However anything business, money, income or lifestyle improvement related can be tarred with the same brush. One part of the guidelines confused me: It states that a video which is clearly aimed at taking a viewer from Youtube to another website will likely be seen as spam by them and may get your Youtube channel suspended.
What To Do Now?
This seems weird as Youtube provides some superb methods of doing just that. You can associate a website with your account and add clickable annotations and cards to your video which … you guessed it … take viewers to another website.
In my case I did both knowingly and unknowingly spice up the keywords and tags on a few videos. Youtube don’t give you a strike for this. They take the video down but allow you to fix it and any others that are guilty of this. I did that.
I’ve also certainly made good use of annotations and cards to take viewers to another website – that’s just marketing and as I pointed out, Youtube provide these tools. I have never used copyrighted material, paid for views, subscribers or comments and I do not promote scams, or get rich quick nonsense.
Furthermore I do keyword research to find out exactly what people in my niche are searching for in Google and Youtube. Again both platforms provide this information readily so that their community’s needs are well served.
I took some expert advice from a very successful advertiser I know. He said that it’s best to always include disclaimers. This is perhaps more relevant to anyone who promotes business training, systems or affiliate partnerships as I do. It’s also crucial for anything that claims an outcome of any kind: Healthcare, fitness, weight loss – to name a few.
I appealed the decision but in the first instance wasn’t successful. I then sent off a very long and detailed email asking for exact clarification on why my channel was terminated. Whilst I await an outcome I’m looking for alternatives to Youtube.
There are quite a few. Not many however offer A. A free, fully featured alternative. B. Any features like annotations, cards and associated websites. C. An audience size like Youtube.
Viable Alternatives To Youtube
But needs must. At the moment I’m looking at a couple of options. If you get your Youtube channel suspended and you are unsuccessful in appealing (provided its not for obvious reasons) You could try these too.
Wistia seems to offer the best alternative for marketing purposes although you will need the pro or enterprise package at $100 or $300 per month respectively. If your Youtube channel was providing you with a good income this is worth considering. They also offer lots of tracking and analytics.
Wistia, Vimeo and many others offer free versions too. These could be helpful for some of your needs: If you just want to host videos that you can embed on your websites or to share with customers and colleagues for example.
At the end of the day, marketers are having to be ultra transparent and compliant these days on all platforms. This is really a good thing but it sorts the dabblers from the professionals for sure. Getting a Youtube channel suspended will do that!
I have to face the fact that maybe it’s the end of free video marketing for my business. As an entrepreneur it’s not the first and won’t be the last challenge I’ll face. So if you get your Youtube channel suspended it’s not the end of the world.
I’m part of a community of internet entrepreneurs – Six Figure mentors and Digital Experts Academy. This provides me with a lot of resources when it comes to dealing with problems like this.
If you are currently doing or are thinking about getting into the internet marketing profession you should take at look at what they can offer. Click the link below to get their introductory video series.
By Dave Menzies
