So you’re thinking about creating a YouTube channel? Not only is it extraordinarily fun and creative, but it can be a major source of revenue if you’re successful. Some users make hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions every year on YouTube. Each one of them started where you are today. Whether you’re using it as a pastime, want to share knowledge, network, or are searching for ways to maximize a return, here is what you need to be a YouTuber. This is how everyone gets started.
1. Define What Your YouTube Niche Is
Anyone can create a YouTube channel. Think about why people would come to yours. Decide what sort of subjects you want to make content about. Be specific. Don’t cloud up your channel trying to do too many things simultaneously. A niche YouTube channel uses every video to target an audience and clicks without deviating from the type of videos and topics they’ve settled on.
2. Define The Goals Of Your Video
As you start strategizing what videos to make, you want to know the goal. This will make it easier to come up with a range of topics. Teaching skills. To offer people help with getting into shape. Purely to entertain. Unboxing videos. To make people laugh. The goals behind a video strategy further simplify what you’re trying to do and will help you deliver quality content to your viewers.
3. YouTube Video Equipment
You do not need much video-making equipment to start. You can use your smartphone camera, but a standalone high-quality video camera is better. For the best audio, use a wearable microphone or USB microphone. You don’t want bad lighting, either, so remove all fluorescents from the scene and use a ring or similar professional-grade camera lighting. Between video, audio, and lighting, these are the areas you need equipment.
4. Creating A YouTube Channel Banner
Your YouTube channel needs a visual aesthetic. Something definable. A custom YouTube banner, custom backdrop image, and correctly sized and formatted profile photo are all critical. Then, there’s the act of making YouTube thumbnails, which is an art. If you aren’t interested in becoming a graphic designer, you may want to look to a third party for help creating these banners and images. A YouTube banner maker will help you create a catchy design quickly.
5. Defining Your Font And Branding Colors
This goes hand-in-hand with making the YouTube channel visuals. You want to define a colour palette for your brand. You can use these colours in channel art, logos, thumbnails, and banners. At the same time, you’ll pick a font that is readable and eye-catching, in line with your personality, and that appeals to your target audience.
6. Pick The Right Video Editing Software
You need good video editing software to be a YouTuber. For beginners, this may be your most daunting task. Many simple and free YouTube video editors and paid software will understandably have more features. The more knowledge you build in these programs, the more impressive your videos will get.
7. Setting Up A YouTube Posting Schedule
This is where a lot of the really hard work comes in. That’s a posting schedule. You want followers to be able to rely on you for fresh videos on specific dates. The most popular content schedule is weekly. It can take a lot of time to make a video every week, however, so if you don’t think you can swing it, going bi-weekly and keeping up with regular timed postings is still best. You won’t want to be posting randomly or be inconsistent with how you post.
8. YouTube Likes, Shares, & Subscribers
Engagement! Likes, shares, and subscribers are the three key metrics by which you can judge a YouTube channel. To be a YouTuber, you will want to encourage these interactions and engage with the users who engage with you. Replying or liking comments is a big way to make engagement fun and build a community around your channel.
9. Optimizing Your YouTube SEO
As you start to title videos, add hashtags, and do descriptions, you’ll notice the importance of keywords. Using popular, trending, and relevant short-tail and long-tail keywords in your titles, tags, and descriptions will make it easier for the right audience to find your videos. There’s a lot to go over regarding learning YouTube SEO, but keywords are the start and essential at that!
10. Student Mindset To Maximize YouTube Reach
No one has all the answers about how to be successful on YouTube. You must learn how algorithms work, edit videos, promote yourself and operate the hardware and software. There is much to learn, and it’s constantly evolving, so a student mentality will be incredibly handy as you grow your brand online.