How to Start a Website Like YouTube

YouTube.com is a website that combines video and community. Users have the ability to upload videos they've created, create playlists and share the videos and playlists with a worldwide audience. Companies use YouTube to promote products and share stories of satisfied customers. To create a site similar to YouTube, you must consider server space, rules and regulations, legal ramifications and how to properly use advertisements to offset costs of hosting such a massive website. This guide will help you think about what you need in place to start a website similar to YouTube.

Instructions

1. Research hosting options for streaming video. Purchase hosting package that gives unlimited bandwidth. Videos require massive storage space and take up considerable bandwidth when viewed. Add blog and forums capability to your hosting package.

2. Obtain appropriate advertisements for website. Advertising should benefit users with information about products and services that might interest them and help pay for hosting space. Rotate advertisements on the home page. Restrict the size of advertisements to avoid distracting users.

3. Find a video player using Flash to play videos. Flash animation and ActionScript coding are required to play videos on a website. Research companies who specialize in Flash development and ActionScript development. Find a video player you want to use and purchase it. The video player should play and pause video, control volume, and provide a full-screen view of videos.

4. Create a database for storing user information. The user database table should include a unique identifier, name, address, email, and interests. Develop web page for gathering user profile information. Capture information used from the web page and store in database.

5. Create a database for storing video information. The video database table should include a unique identifier, video name, video file path, video size, video ratings, video time, video author, and video description. Video information will be gathered when the user uploads video to website.

6. Create a rating system for videos. The rating system can determine which videos are placed in a featured video module on the home page; it also adds a community aspect to let a user know what others think of the video. Find AJAX code for a rating system and implement it on the video page template. Store ratings as a database record for that video when user rates it.

7. Incorporate the community components for videos. Add social media options such as Facebook and Twitter to share video with others. Add forums to the video template for comments about each video.

8. Create a web page for users to upload videos. Display video upload requirements to users. Add a "File Upload" button so users can locate video on their computer, fill in required information and submit to upload to hosting server.

Tips & Warnings

• Videos should be in the format of FLV (flash video), MPEG-2, or MPEG-4 for best displaying results. All other video formats need to be converted before uploading.

• Consider creating a personalized YouTube web page to simplify the process of creating a YouTube-like website from scratch. Another alternative would be to create a basic web page with YouTube videos embedded in the page for a user to watch.

• Consider using a content management system where you can add pages that include streaming videos as an alternative to developing a website from scratch.

References

• Digital Web Magazine - Building an Online Community: Just Add Water
• Streaming Video Hosting Costs
• YouTube Personalized Homepages Now Live

Resources

• YouTube
• Google Videos