Do you have aspirations of starting a YouTube channel? Then this blog is really for you! In fact, in this blog we won’t just tell you in a nutshell how to make a YouTube channel, we’ll actually go into each step involved. From coming up with a topic to promoting your channel.
How do you create a YouTube channel?
To give a clear overview of what is involved in a YouTube channel, we have created the following roadmap. This one takes you step by step through the entire process of starting a YouTube channel. In fact, there is much more to this than just creating an account on the platform.
Step 1. Coming up with a good topic
Before you even start creating a new YouTube account, it’s important to do some preliminary research. This is because the idea is not only to think about what the topic is that your account should be about, but also to delve deeper into the target audience.
First, you pick a sub-niche. The reason you shouldn’t choose a large niche (such as fashion, celebrities or soccer) is that with this you have far too much other competition offering the exact same thing as you. Thereby, a small and clear niche creates more engagement among videos and a closer community.
When looking for a good sub-niche, you can scroll the YouTube home page in incognito mode for inspiration until you come up with some great ideas. Write these ideas all under one another on a list and then dive deeper into each topic. It is important that you do write down only ideas that you yourself find interesting.
Then see if there is not too much competition, and investigate if there are channels just started (max. 5 months old) that are running well. This way, you get an idea of what to expect for your own account.
Finally, do more research on the target audience associated with your chosen topic. And in doing so, don’t come up with a broad target audience, but specify as much as possible. So don’t take as a target audience; mature women, but rather: mature women between the ages of 30 and 40. Research what they find interesting and what kind of hobbies they have so that you can later use these ideas for videos on your channel.
Step 2. Creating an original concept
On YouTube, “watch time” is one of the most important factors that determines whether or not your videos will be distributed further by the algorithm. Watch time is the length that users watch your video without clicking away. The longer users watch the video, the better your watch time is.
To get a high watch time on YouTube, having original concepts is super important. Create for yourself a wordweb of ideas around your niche and also look at how you want to bring it out. Do you want to work with interviews? Are you more interested in documentaries or would you rather take a completely different approach?
For inspiration, it’s best to check out the competition. Still, the idea is to be as original as possible. Users must have a reason to follow your channel, having an original concept helps with this.
Is your wordweb finished? Then you can also possibly already look up these topics in the YouTube search bar. This will give you instant inspiration for good titles and thumbnails. Put these ideas, with examples of titles and thumbnails for yourself directly into an Excel document. That way you keep track and can easily find the ideas when you actually get started with the videos.
Step 3. What all do you need?
Now that the sub-niche, topics and target audience are clear. Is it time to look at materials and knowledge. After all, what all do you need when you want to start a YouTube channel?
Are you going to record video games videos? Then you need a good camera, software that can record your screen and an editing program to do the necessary cut and paste work afterwards. But in another niche, such as beauty, for example, you again need a nice background, ring lamp and tripod. Make an orderly list for yourself and start with second-hand material if necessary. This way you can still make good quality videos without too big an investment. Besides, you may well find out after a while that YouTube is not for you after all, and then at least you haven’t lost much money.
If you choose to get started with a cash cow channel (a faceless YouTube channel), outsourcing the entire process, you may not need material but you do need freelancers. You can find entire cash cow teams or individual copywriters and editors on freelance platforms like Fiverr and Upwork. Start this search early and be critical, as not every cash cow freelancer is equally good.
Step 4. Creating YouTube channel
Now it’s really time to start your YouTube channel! Fortunately, this is free and easy to do on YouTube’s own website.
- Go to YouTube.co.uk and click login in the upper right corner.
- Log in with an existing Google account, or create a Google account specifically for this page (we recommend the latter, it’s also useful later for collaborations).
- Click on your profile in the upper right corner and select settings.
- Now choose ‘add channels’ and enter the name of the new channel.
- Confirm your choice, and then your account is already created!
Now that your channel has been created, it’s time to set it up properly. For example, you need to create/set up a banner and profile picture and you can put down a channel description. It is important that you already incorporate important keywords (commonly searched words related to your topic) into this description and do a good job. This text is often read by users who are interested in your channel.
There are also lots of other account and privacy settings you can adjust. For example, it is important that you set the language of your account (are you going to upload English or Dutch videos) and you decide who can see your videos.
Step 5. Uploading videos
After you have created, recorded or commissioned your first video, it’s time to upload it to YouTube. You do this in the Creators Studio, which you can easily get to via the settings at the top right of your profile.
Click the create button and you will be taken directly to the upload screen. Upload your video and click continue, which will open the next screen. In this screen, enter the title and description of the video. After you’ve done this, there are lots of other settings you can adjust for each video.
For example, you can set whether this video is suitable for children, you have the option of adding YouTube maps and you can set an end screen. Plenty of options to discover for yourself at your leisure. Be sure to check each option as best you can to be included by the YouTube algorithm.
After uploading your video, it’s definitely smart to go back to the Creator Studio again. In fact, this is also where you will find all your Analytics (the results of your videos). For example, here you can see not only the number of views, but also where your audience comes from, what your watch time is and how your video has been reacted to. You can take this information to videos in order to optimize your channel and generate more and more reach.
Step 6. Promote your YouTube channel
Initially, of course, your goal is to reach 1000 subscribers and 4000 viewing hours on your channel. In fact, with these numbers, you can sign your channel up for the YouTube partner program. You don’t achieve this overnight, you will have to work hard to promote your videos.
Although you have several tips for making your YouTube channel and videos more visible on YouTube itself, it’s also smart to go beyond this in promoting your channel. For example, you can choose to promote your channel on your social media accounts or you can even create a social media account specifically for the channel.
It is also a good idea to look into collaborative opportunities. Perhaps there are other YouTubers who have the same number of followers and would like to increase their reach, or you could partner with a company to host a win. Is this not working out? Then you can always choose to invest in YouTube ads.
There are plenty of opportunities to promote your channel. Choose a method that suits you, the channel and your budget.
With these 6 steps, you should totally succeed in creating a YouTube channel. It may seem like a lot or even overwhelming at first, but it’s better to just start with this kind of thing. Then you’ll see how far you get and make sure you get better and better as you go along. Although, of course, researching a good topic and sub-niche should never be done in a hurry!
Did you find this blog interesting and want to know more about the YouTube platform? Then check out this blog, where we explain how to make money with YouTube!
