How To Start a YouTube Channel: 12 Steps Tips
Every day, YouTube users watch over a billion (yes, with A) hours of YouTube videos, and yet only 9% of small businesses have bothered to launch their own channels. As YouTube usage continues to soar, the opportunities for businesses willing to jump in continue to grow.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to create a YouTube channel for your business start and how to create compelling videos to engage existing customers and attract new ones as well. We also cover the most effective strategies for building a successful YouTube channel.
Reading: How to create a youtub channel
Starting a YouTube page isn’t as hard as it seems. You don’t need expensive video equipment or years of experience making YouTube videos. Use this 12-step guide to create your channel and grow your business today.
12 steps to starting a YouTube channel
- Create a YouTube channel
- Design your channel art
- Fill out your profile
- Plan your content
- Create a channel trailer
- Upload your first YouTube video
- Optimize your videos for search
- Upload new videos regularly
- Promote yours YouTube channel
- Engage with your community
- Put on YouTube ads
- Analyze your results
1 . Create a YouTube account
To set up a YouTube account for your business channel, you must be signed in to the Google account you want to use to manage the channel.
If you Having a Brand Account to run your channel instead of a personal channel makes it easier to scale down because you can add more than one manager using their own Google credentials without having to share the password information to your private email address.
Here is a quick overview of the steps to set up a new account for your company’s YouTube channel.
1. Visit YouTube while signed in to the Google account you want to use to manage your account and go to the YouTube channel switcher.
2. Here you should see your personal account, any brand accounts you currently manage, and the option to create a new channel.
3. When you click “Create New Channel” you will be taken to a screen where you can create a new brand account. Choose a channel name for your new account and click Create. You can also upload a profile picture like your brand’s logo here.
4. Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a YouTube page for your business.
2. Create your channel art
Okay, now that you know how to create a YouTube channel for your business, let’s take some time to make it look its best.
Here are a few simple steps you can take to give your channel a more professional look and make sure your customers know how to find you online.
Channel icon
On launch and Start a channel via scratch, your channel icon will be linked to your company account profile photo. To change it, YouTube will instruct you to update your account.
It is recommended that your image be a JPG, BMP , PNG, or Non-animated GIF saved at 800 x 800 pixels. You should also make sure it displays well in smaller sizes and both square and circular crops for the different places YouTube uses your channel icon.
Channel Art
Add Channel art is a great way to show your brand’s personality and create a more visually appealing YouTube profile. Your channel art should be under 4 MB and at least 2048 x 1152 pixels, although YouTube recommends 2560 x 1440 pixels for best results on all devices.
đź’ˇ Tip: Coins is a free tool Shopify can help you create of a youtube channel banner.
YouTube will show you a preview of each image you load to show you how it will appear on multiple devices. You can also edit the crop of your image.
3. Fill out your profile
To unlock all customization options for your channel, you must click the gear icon in the section below your channel art.
A pop-up window titled “Channel Settings” will then appear. Look for the option “Customize the layout of your channel” and enable it them. Click “Save”. You will now get a wider range of options organized into five tabs: Home, Videos, Playlists, Channels and About.
Go to the About tab, to edit your store’s details.
Under “Description,” provide a brief overview of your business, your products, and your mission. Keep in mind any keywords for your business and provide be sure to use them in your channel description so people can easily find you by browsing YouTube.
Make sure to include your contact email address as well . You should also include links to your social media accounts and shop as these links can be set to appear above your channel art and will be prominently displayed to your audience.
By default, most of your links are just the favicon (the little image that appears at the top of your browser), but the first link in the lineup also shows the link title, so make the most of those 30 characters, like it’s 100% Pure with his Shop Now call to action.
At the top right is a section titled “Featured Channels” where you can feature other YouTube channels owned by your brand or managed by your employees.
4. Plan your content
Now that your channel is up and running, it’s time to start thinking about your videos.
Videos can be an integral part of your content marketing strategy. It’s a fantastic way to provide your customers with quality, informative, and entertaining content that will keep them coming back for more.
Also, YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, so if you optimize your videos to that If they can be found in search, this can also be a great place to connect with new customers looking for what you have to offer. While video quality is important, it’s just as important to keep your audience in mind.
You can often come up with a dozen or so ideas for YouTube channels by brainstorming with your team.
Here are some of the different types of videos you can use to create content.
Educational Content
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More and more people are turning to YouTube to learn new things to learn. In fact, searches for how-to videos have increased by 140% in the last decade, which means there are increasing opportunities for businesses to engage new audiences by providing educational content related to their products.
Videos that teach new skills are great for building trust with your audience and pushing them further down the conversion funnel. I recently came across a solid example, courtesy of Retro Supply Co.
It sells retro effects you can use in Photoshop and Illustrator, including brushes, fonts, and more. On its YouTube page, Reto Supply focuses on teaching viewers how to use Photoshop and Illustrator more effectively. Sometimes that means step-by-step instructions using the brushes, and sometimes it teaches tricks like keyboard shortcuts that can help anyone, regardless of whether you use Retro Supply’s products.
Another great example comes from Snowboard Addiction, who has built over 140,000 YouTube subscribers on their channel by teaching people how to improve their snowboarding skills.
The videos not only help people improve their snowboarding, but how-to content introduces Snowboard Addiction to new audiences via YouTube search.
In terms of targeting its products, one could imagine could not wish for a better example. Snowboard Addiction sells training products and videos to help you improve your snowboarding skills, so there’s a natural progression from interested viewer to satisfied customer thanks to video content marketing on YouTube.
Brand Storytelling
When it comes to creating compelling video content, few things are more effective than great storytelling. Inspirational videos that fit your company’s identity are perfect for conveying your brand’s image and ideals to a wider audience.
These types of sophisticated videos should aim to create a lifestyle around your Build your brand and show customers that when they buy your products, they’re not just buying something, they’re buying an experience.
GoPro has come up with a diverse arsenal of YouTube content that builds an identity of adventure, exploration and adrenaline around its line of action cameras a leader in the field.
From helicopter skydiving to firefighter rescuing a kitten, the videos showcase the many ways GoPro customers can use their products to support the brand’s slogan, “Be a hero.” Unboxing videos are also growing in popularity. The idea here is to unpack your products and discuss each item. This also makes for great UGC when your fans and best customers also rate your products on their channel.
Entertainment
Building a YouTube strategy around entertaining videos that match your audience’s interests is one of the best ways to grab viewers’ attention and drive them to your products to steer. Comedy videos can be especially great for generating not only laughs but sales as well.
Vat19, an e-commerce gift shop specializing in offbeat products, has hit the ground running with its captivating , highly targeted content has built an impressive online empire. His YouTube strategy focuses on building absurdist comedy sketches around his wide range of novelty gifts to introduce new products to his audience. It currently has over two million YouTube subscribers, which means this approach is definitely paying off.
One of Vat19’s best-loved videos features a five-pound gummy bear being destroyed in a series of slapstick experiments becomes. The video looks and feels a lot more like a late night comedy show than a traditional video ad, making the CTA at the end encouraging viewers to buy the gummy all the more appealing.
During Vat19s Sense of humor that may not appeal to everyone, his videos are undoubtedly effective. The gummy bear video has been viewed over 25 million times. Vat19’s approach really shows what it takes to gain exposure (and new customers) on YouTube with fun and unique content.
5. Create a channel trailer for new site visitors
When creating a new YouTube channel, make sure you create a compelling channel trailer. A channel trailer is like a movie trailer. It’s designed to give people a preview of what your channel has to offer.
Your channel trailer is probably the closest thing a viewer will see to your channel art and icon. It plays automatically when people without a subscription visit your YouTube page. When done right, your channel trailer can help convert visitors into subscribers.
You can set up your YouTube trailer in seven steps:
- Upload the video you want to be your channel trailer.
- Go to the channel you want to manage.
- Select Customize channel.
- Go to the “Home” tab.
- Click on the “For new visitors” tab.
- Click on “Edit”.
- Select “Change trailer” or “Remove trailer” .
As you create your trailer video, think about what makes your own channel unique, your brand personality, and why people should subscribe to your channel. There is no one who creates a YouTube channel trailer instantly, but try to captivate your visitors in the first few seconds. Make a good impression on the views and finish by asking them to subscribe to your channel.
6. Upload Your First YouTube Video
Now that you’ve covered all the basics of creating a YouTube channel and spent time creating and editing your videos, it’s time to start with just few clicks to go live! Go to your channel and click Upload video to upload your video file using the YouTube video maker.
Once you’ve uploaded your first video, you’ll land in YouTube Studio, where you can edit the details of your video, upload videos, manage your channel, and grow your community. Here you can enter a detailed video description and more context on what the video is about.
7. Optimize Your Videos for Search
If you want your videos to get noticed, you need to keep an eye on your YouTube SEO. 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, so you must do whatever it takes to stand out from the crowd. There’s no getting around it, you have to consistently produce quality content to stand a chance.
Every element of your videos, from the video title to the description to keywords, can have a tremendous impact on how prominently they appear in search results. Let’s take a look at how you can improve your rankings on YouTube and reach viewers when they need to see you most.
Keywords
Before you start optimizing your videos, You should narrow down which keywords you will focus on.
Think about what keywords someone might search to come across your video and run them through a keyword planning tool like Keywords Everywhere, a free Chrome extension. It works right in YouTube’s search bar and gives you three key pieces of information for each term: the monthly search volume, the cost per click of advertising against that term, and the competition. This type of Youtube analysis is incredibly helpful in ensuring that your Youtube efforts are ultimately effective.
The suggested search results can also be a solid source of inspiration for future videos. It’s a good idea to experiment with keywords and create future content around popular search terms in your industry.
Engagement
One of the most important things YouTube determines when it comes to quality considering your video is its interaction.
Encourage your viewers to leave a comment, subscribe, share or click the thumbs-up button after watching, to increase your chance of appearing higher in search results. If you want to increase your engagement, try running a contest. Giveaways and contests are a great way to increase viewer engagement and connect with your audience.
When YouTube determines your rank, it also takes into account the number of views your video has. Make sure to share your new videos through your email list and all of your company’s social media channels soon after they’re published on YouTube to boost your views.
Format. The format of your video also plays a role in your overall search ranking. Although YouTube can’t look at your videos to determine their content, there are a few other things it takes into account to make an educated guess.
Filename. Be sure to include your target keywords in the name of the file you are uploading; YouTube will pay attention.
Length. In general, longer videos tend to be of higher value. So try to make it as comprehensive as possible – but always balance this with some valuable content, as “watch time” is another important metric for ranking in search results. If your video was supposed to be two minutes long, but you stretched it to 10 and viewers stopped after a minute, you won’t be ranked higher just because your video is longer.
Title. The title of your video should be concise and descriptive, and include your target keyword at the beginning.
Description. The longer the description, the better. Add as much content as possible: Include a detailed overview of everything in your video and any relevant resources your viewers might need. Your keywords should also appear in your description, paying special attention to getting your target keyword in the first sentence.
Relevant tags. Do your best to tag your videos with your target keywords and a handful of other related terms. Tools like Tube Buddy can give you insight into the tags your competitors are using in their videos. You can use tags to determine whether your video is also shown as a suggested video. So if you’re tagging competitors and people who are creating similar content, you can make good use of the 500 characters available for tags.
8. Upload new videos regularly
If you want your YouTube efforts to pay off for your business, it’s important that you create videos regularly. It’s very rare for your YouTube journey to become an overnight success, so consistency is key.
Channels that are consistent in their approach reliably increase viewership because it’s easier for people is to watch more videos and subscribe. You’ll probably notice this as you browse the feeds of your favorite YouTubers.
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The First We Feast celebrity food eating channel uses a consistent posting schedule and breaks videos into different series, like e.g. B. Cone Heads, Hot Ones, Tacos Con Todo, The Burger Show, and more.
First We Feast’s consistency in content creation helps drive subscriber growth. When a video goes viral, new viewers can find and subscribe to fresh, new content across the channel with the same premise. Since First We Feast’s humble beginnings in July 2016, the channel has grown to over nine million subscribers and features celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Dua Lipa, T-Pain and more.
9. Promote Your YouTube Channel
There has never been a better time to promote your YouTube videos and channel. YouTube has become the second most visited website on the internet, and people now watch up to six hours of video a day. It’s time to capitalize on people’s binge-watching tendencies.
Promote your YouTube channel across your other networks to maximize your YouTube ROI. You can promote your videos on social networks like Instagram (via Posts and Instagram Stories), Facebook or TikTok, or even collaborate with other YouTubers to increase the reach of your content.
If you decide to use product To create tutorials on your channel, you can promote them on your Shopify stores to convert website visitors. With a Shopify app like Yottie, you can add playlists to your Shopify store and promote product demos and other videos from your YouTube channel. If someone likes your content, they can subscribe to it directly from your site.
When it comes to promoting YouTube channels, you have many tactics to experiment with. Test different channels your audience lives in and keep the ones that work to maximize engagement and promote your YouTube channel to new followers and customers.
10. Get involved in the community
Your job as a YouTuber doesn’t end with the release of a new video. To make a YouTube channel successful, you want to engage with your viewers to start conversations about your videos and get more YouTube subscribers.
You can reply to people’s comments (even negative ones). , ask and answer questions, and flag people’s comments so viewers can see which comments matter most. You can also poll your audience about what content they want to see to increase viewership – which is crucial if you want to make money on YouTube.
For example, Kelly Noble Mirabella, entrepreneur and founder of The Baby Got Bot YouTube channel, uses YouTube’s commenting capabilities to engage with their audience and build a community around their brand.
The more you interact with your viewers, the more likely they are to continue watching your content and sharing videos.
11. Consider YouTube Ads
Accelerate the growth of your new channel with an effective advertising strategy. Besides promoting your YouTube channel organically, you can also invest in YouTube ads to reach and engage more viewers.
Before you launch a YouTube advertising campaign, make sure you know who your audience is want to achieve. Focus on understanding:
- Who you want to reach. Select specific audiences based on demographics, language and interests. For example, you could target 28- to 40-year-old new dads who subscribe to DIY channels and watch DIY videos.
- What topics you are looking for. YouTube ads allow you to reach viewers who are searching for specific topics or choose the video or channel you want to show ads on.
- Where they live. Consider the location of your target audience – country, region, city or zip code. You can also define a custom location by radius or point of interest.
Once you know who you want to target, you can create a budget and explore different ad formats to encourage people to to engage with you further Content. Keep in mind that while YouTube ads are helpful, they shouldn’t be the primary driver of growth. They should work in tandem with your organic advertising to maximize visibility and exposure on YouTube.
12. Analyze your results
Once your YouTube channel is up and running, you should monitor how it is developing. Here are some of the metrics available in YouTube Analytics:
- Watch time. Estimated time spent watching your content.
- Access source. This shows how people are finding your videos by showing the different traffic sources and the total number of views per source.
- Subscriber Rate. This tells you how many followers you lose or win on a video-by-video basis.
- Viewer Retention. This shows the exact times people stop watching your video. You can use this information to find out where you lost a viewer’s attention and what might have caused them to leave, which will help you improve future videos.
- Comments. In your YouTube Analytics dashboard, you can monitor who is commenting on which videos so you can easily reply and make your brand look accessible and engaging.
Decide what success looks like, and then translate that into relevant metrics for your business. For example, if you want to know how your audience is interacting with your content, you can look at watch time and see how many viewers are converting to subscribers.
A successful YouTube channel achieves its goals as efficiently as yours says strategy possible. Keep in mind that you may need to fine-tune it along the way.Review your analytics monthly and find out where you can make lasting improvements in your channel’s performance.
4 Additional Tips and Tricks for Starting a YouTube Channel
After doing all of the above covered, you should be on your way to building an audience and maximizing your business’s potential on YouTube.
If you’re feeling a little adventurous, however, I’ve rounded up some nifty YouTube hacks , which you can use to increase your audience, your subscribers and generate more traffic for your website.
1. Add a watermark
A watermark is perfect for bringing new viewers back to your channel and encouraging them to subscribe. These customizable images are overlaid on each of your uploads and provide viewers with a clear and simple way to opt-in, making it easy for them to hear about your latest videos (and grow your subscriber base in the process!).
To add a watermark to your videos, go to your channel page and click “Video Manager”. This should take you to the Creator Studio, where you can access some more detailed settings for your account.
In Creator Studio, click Channel in the sidebar.
A drop-down menu will appear. Click Branding, then click Add Watermark. You can now upload an image that will appear in the corner of each of your videos.
2. Enable an automatic request to subscribe to your YouTube videos
It’s important that you not only direct people to your YouTube page, but also encourage them to subscribe while they’re there.
If you have an existing subscriber base, like your email list or social media followers, you can make it easy for them to subscribe to your channel. Whenever you promote your channel with a “Remember to subscribe!” Call-to-Action, add “?sub_confirmation=1” to the end of your channel’s URL and a popup will automatically appear on your channel, prompting visitors to subscribe.
3. Link Maps to your site
As long as your account is part of the YouTube Partners Program, which currently means you have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watchtime over the past year, you can add Maps to your videos that appear on link external websites. If you have a Shopify store and participate in the YouTube Partner Program, you can use cards to link your viewers directly to your store so they can buy the items featured in your own videos.
Learn , how you can monetize your YouTube efforts further with Shopify’s guide to making money on YouTube.
4. Use Credits Effectively
Once viewers have watched a video to the end, you want to keep them close and make sure they don’t leave without subscribing to your video. YouTube makes this really easy with end credits that you can place over the last 20 seconds of your video.
You can add other videos, a subscribe button, or a link to another channel to grab viewers’ attention to maintain. This is important because YouTube’s algorithm rewards both your total watch time and how long you keep people on the platform. So ideally you want someone to watch more of your videos.
This is how First We Feast sets up end screens so you can continue watching.
It’s linked to a playlist of videos and a standalone video, both of which take you straight to something else to watch.
How to set it up yourself.
- Go to your Creator Studio and select a video you want to edit.
- From the main editing screen, click on “End Screens & Annotations” in the top menu, which will take you to the editing screen for the end screen.
- You can add four different elements to your screen.
You will see that the link option is not activated as I am not yet a member of the YouTube Partner Program with this trial account. Once you’ve done that, you can add links to your website as part of your default end screens.
Become a successful YouTuber today
If you’ve followed all of these steps carefully, you can She should be well on her way to becoming the next Youtube hit, but the fun doesn’t stop there.Always learn from other successful creators, test different types of content, and listen to feedback from your customers and fans. Now it’s time to upload videos!
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