CAREER TIPS

HOW DO I START A SUCCESSFUL YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND BECOME A YOUTUBER?

First, you have to decide on a couple of things like what’s your purpose and what niche you want to target.
I’ll go through each step you need to take before starting a YouTube channel.

1. Why do You Want to Start a YouTube Channel?

It's important to define your purpose in the beginning. There are different reasons why people choose to become YouTubers like:

Marketing the business you already have

You're an artist

You want to show your hobby with the world

You enjoy recording and editing videos

You want to teach others a skill you mastered

You want to make money on YouTube

Whatever your reason is, make sure you define your purpose and goals really well before you move on to anything else.

2. What is Your YouTube Channel Going to Be About?

The niche you’ll be targeting is the foundation of a YouTube channel.

The main traits of a profitable niche:

DEMAND

In order to build a successful YouTube channel, the topics you talk about in your videos must be searched for. If no one is looking for your content, you won't have to show your videos to. You can use Google Trends to see how popular certain topics are over time.

This is mostly true if you are looking to make money on YouTube, rather than sharing your specific hobbies with the world. If you have a hobby that you wanna show off, don’t mind the demand – just own your skills and make people appreciate it! If you make something awesome, you’ll create the demand yourself.

COMPETITION

If you target a niche that's over saturated, it will be highly difficult to stand out from the crowd and gain visibility for your channel. Research the market to see how many channels are creating content on a certain niche and what's the quality of those videos. You want to find a niche where you can come up with improvements to what's already there.

Look at other YouTubers in the niche

• What kind of content do they deliver?
• Why do people watch them?
• How do they keep their audience engaged?

Read the comments and see if the viewers are suggesting improvements and ask for more insights, then ask yourself:

• What can I add to the topic?
• How can I present the subjects from a different perspective?
• How can I bring more value to the viewers

Come up with new approaches to the topic.

PASSION

Do you have any interest in the niche you chose? If the answer is "no" or "not really", take a deep breath and think about something else.

Being passionate about the subject you target is highly important if you want to build a successful channel. You'll have to post videos on a regular basis, read and learn a lot about the subject. If the topics bore you to death, forget about coming up with qualitative and engaging content.

Trust me or not, people can fell the difference between speaking with genuine enthusiasm and speaking with apathy.

Chose a topic that triggers your own curiosity in the first place, something that you'll enjoy talking about. Not only it will be easier for you to come up with content, but your content will be more entertaining too.

The Most Popular Niches on YouTube

If you need some YouTube channel ideas, here's a list of the most popular topics on YouTube now:

• Tech Videos
• Gaming
• Product Reviews
• Tutorials
• Storytime Videos
• Vlogs
• Food
• Fashion
• Beauty
• Weight loss & Healthy Living
• Travel
• Animals
• How To’s
• Humor

3. What Do You Need to Become a YouTuber?

#1 Time to record and edit

Building a successful YouTube channel might not require a lot of monetary investment, but you’ll have to invest your time.

How much time you’ll need, depends on your goals and the skills you have so far.

Sustaining your YouTube channel means regularly creating content, promoting it, coming up with new ideas and improving. Make an estimation of how much time you need to invest so you know if you can afford it.

#2 YouTube equipment for beginners

In the beginning, you don’t need to invest a fortune into the latest gear on the market, but you still have to invest at least in a decent camera and a microphone.

Camera

Your videos need to be in HD but there’s no need to obsess over having the best video quality in the beginning. A decent looking video can do well on YouTube if the content is qualitative.

Tripod

You need something to hold your camera steady wherever you are. There are different kinds of tripods, but this will be the easiest buying decision you’ll have to make.

Microphone

The audio quality is critical. People won’t follow through a video with poor audio because they won’t understand what you’re saying. You don’t have to invest in a highly priced microphone, but you want to make sure you can be heard clearly without trouble.

Lightning

Great lighting can transform a video to a great extent. It makes you look more light and appear clearer. It’s not a must in the beginning, but it can bring in many advantages. Mostly if you don’t have a spot in your house where the lighting is optimal for filming.

#3 Editing Software

Don’t feel overwhelmed because you have to use an editing software. There are many software products with pretty straightforward interfaces, really easy to use even if you have no editing skills. You can even start by using Windows Movie Maker. It usually comes installed with your Windows.

4. What Do You Need to Decide Before Starting a YouTube Channel?

#1 YouTube channel name

The channel name you choose is extremely important. It’s what people will associate with your YouTube presence. Keep it relevant so people know what to expect from your videos when seeing your name displayed on YouTube.

Tips for YouTube Channel name

Keep it short – Three words are enough for a YouTube Channel name as you want people to remember it. The longer the name is, the harder it will be to hold into people’s minds.

Make it readable – It’s hard to remember something you can’t even read out loud.

Don’t add numbers – It’s fine to use numbers if they have a specific play in your name. But if you want to add a random number or your birthday to the end of your name because the username you want is taken, just don’t. These kinds of channels are perceived to be far from professional.

Use wordplay – Wordplays are always easier to remember because they are usually fun to read. Rhymes, words that start with the same letter, puns – play around. Take as an example “Ready Spaghetti”, isn’t it fun and memorable? I’ll remember it even if I don’t follow cooking channels.

Use a tool to stimulate ideas – If you want some inspiration for your name, and even find the perfect pick if you’re in luck, you can use a tool like Spinxo. Just add some words that define you and your channel and this tool will generate some ideas for you.

#2 YouTube Channel Art

To make your channel look amazing you’re able to upload two kinds of images. The header, which is referred to as the channel art, and the logo, which is called channel icon on YouTube.

The way you present your channel should be nice and clean, with a “you’re in a cool place” vibe. It’s the home of your videos so you want it to look friendly to visitors and make them subscribe.

• The channel art must be 2560 × 1440 px so it can be properly displayed on TV screens.
• You need to position the text in the middle because the cover displays differently across devices.

You can do the graphics yourself following some guidelines if you have some design skills or you can use some help.

Use templates – YouTube channel art templates are useful because you don’t have to worry about positioning the text to properly show on each device. They are already positioned. The only thing you have to do is modify the text with your own words.

Have someone design your art – You can find professional graphic designers on sites like Fiverr, 99design, and such.

5. How to Set up a YouTube Channel?

Once you decided on your niche and figured out your game plan, let’s see how to create a YouTube channel. The process is simple and straightforward.

#1 How to create a YouTube account

The first step is to create a Google account. Because YouTube is owned by Google, you can only connect to YouTube through a Google account.

After your Google account is ready, head over to YouTube and click on your account thumbnail in the top right corner.

A drop-down list will pop up. Click on “My Channel”.

By default, it will automatically pull out the name associated with your Google account. If you want to use a different name, click on “Use a business or other name”.

Fill your name and hit “Create”.

Congrats! Now your channel is up. Hit “Customize Channel” so we go on to the next steps.

#2 Add the YouTube channel art

Your freshly baked YouTube channel is sad and empty so far. It’s time to make it look alive.

To add the cover for your channel click on “Add channel art” and upload your file.

It will show you how the channel art is displayed differently across different devices. Make sure your art is showing its main part on all devices. Not like in the example below:

To set up your channel icon, hover your mouse over the square in the left corner and click on the little pen that pops up. It will take you to your Google profile to change the image.

#3 Complete your profile

Adding the right description is part of how to make a successful YouTube channel. Head over to the “About” page on your channel.

When viewers will head to your YouTube channel, they’ll want to read about what your channel is about. Create an engaging copythat expresses what you do and triggers people’s curiosity to find more. You have up to 1000 characters to play around with, make the best of them.

Make sure to also add keywords related to your niche in the description.

You can also add links to your website and social profiles that will show on your YouTube channel in the right of the channel art.

The links you add to your YouTube channel will display on top of your channel art.

#4 Verify Your YouTube Channel

Once you’re done with fancying your YouTube channel, it’s time to verify it so you have full access to the YouTube perks like using custom thumbnails, uploading longer videos, sponsorships and more.

All you have to do is head down to YouTube features while logged in into your account and click verify.

You can choose to verify your account either through a phone call or via a text message. Add your phone number and you’ll receive a verification code.

Now your YouTube channel setup is done and you’re ready to start uploading videos.

I hope this is helpful.

I wrote a post about starting a YouTube channel if you want more tips on the subject. Wish yo luck!