Are you good at sketching or painting? Can you cook finger-licking dishes? Have you mastered a musical instrument? Well, whatever you’re good at, why are you keeping it to yourself? Why don’t you share your talent and skills with everyone?
Now, you might be wondering “How do I do that?” The first thing that comes to my mind is YouTube, simply because it’s one of the most visited social platforms in the world.
If you’re again wondering “How should I get started on YouTube?”, then fret not! Below, I’m going to explain how you can create a YouTube channel and get it up and running in five simple, but effective steps:
Five Steps to Create Your YouTube Channel
Choose Your Channel Niche and Name
The first and basic step to creating a YouTube channel is to choose a niche and give a name to your channel, First, let me explain how should you name your YouTube channel.
“Alex’s Gym Tutorials”, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you read this name? A person named Alex offering gym tutorials, am I right? Well, that is how you should name your YouTube channel. Simple yet descriptive that explains enough for viewers to understand what to expect from a YouTube channel.
Now, coming to the niche, you should always stick to something you love doing, such as a hobby or a skill you’re passionate about. It’s because you may be able to offer unique insights about your niche and have vast expertise to share with the audience.
That said, you can switch your niche even after creating your YouTube channel. However, I won’t recommend it since the new niche may not resonate with your existing audience.
Enhance Your YouTube Channel and Post Content Regularly
Once you’re done with the first step of choosing a name and niche for your YouTube channel, the next step is optimizing your YouTube channel and posting the content regularly.
I believe posting content regularly alone isn’t enough to grow your YouTube channel. You also need to optimize your YouTube channel to reach a larger audience.
The purpose of optimizing your YouTube channel is to make it look professional and established from the start. Below, I have explained how you can do that:
- Upload a profile photo of yourself or if you’ve created a business channel, add your company’s logo to the profile picture.
- Add your channel description and explain what your content is about.
- Always add a video watermark in your content for copyright protection.
- Share your social media handles (if any) on your YouTube profile so that your followers may follow you on other platforms as well.
- Create a featured video about yourself and the content you’d be posting. You may also share your journey or the idea behind creating the YouTube channel.
- Finally, verify your YouTube channel to make it more authentic and reliable to your viewers.
Invest in Better Quality Equipment
Before buying any equipment, explore the essentials you need for content creation. For instance, if you’ve decided to become a travel vlogger, you might need a camera and mic for quality videos and audio.
However, if you opt for a faceless YouTube channel, you can subscriptions to tools/software that help generate relevant content for your YouTube channel.
Also, another thing to keep in mind is the internet connection. Especially if you decide to create long-form content, you cannot risk your internet getting disruption. Uploading videos on YouTube was always a troublesome task as it took ages to upload a video until I subscribed to high-speed Spectrum Internet. Now, I can freely upload any type of content without worrying about delays, and with high-speed hotspot zones, I can also upload videos on the go.
Always Add Video Descriptions and Avoid Misleading Thumbnails
Misleading thumbnails are essentially clickbait, and I believe they’re one of the biggest turn-offs for YouTube audiences. As a YouTube content creator, you should understand that most people hate clickbait. Even though you may get the views, would people trust your channel again? I guess not! So, it’s best not to put up catchy clickbait for the sake of views.
Also, it’s a good practice to add video descriptions because relevant keywords may help your videos rank better on the platform and search engines. Plus, you may also add chapters to your videos, especially if you’re creating long-form content. This way, your audience would easily jump to the relevant part of the video they’re more interested in watching.
Always Keep an Eye on YouTube Analytics
The last step is to regularly assess your content’s performance. YouTube offers insightful metrics about how your content is performing on the platform. With YouTube analytics, you may get to know a lot of vital factors, such as:
- The number of subscribers, whether they have increased or decreased.
- Channel watch-time; ideally, the watch time should increase every time you check it, so you may know if people like your content.
- The best-performing videos so you get an idea of what type of content people like the most.
These factors should inform you about the content performance. And, based on these factors, you may tweak or stick to your YouTube content strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How can I promote my YouTube channel?
You can promote your YouTube channel by adding relevant keywords in the video description or by sharing your videos across different social media platforms.
Can I change my YouTube channel’s profile picture?
Yes, you may change your YouTube channel’s profile picture anytime you want.
How many subscribers do I need to monetize my YouTube channel?
YouTube allows monetization once a channel hits the mark of 1,000 subscribers.
