From beauty gurus to gossip channels, YouTube has quickly grown into one of the world’s most popular social media platforms. The brand started by providing creators with a place to upload their own unique, original content just for fun, without any monetary compensation. Thanks to Google Ads and social media, many YouTubers who started uploading as a hobby have turned their passions into full-time jobs. Now, you can make a living doing what you love, and, in some cases, it can be quite a lucrative profession. With some channels making millions of dollars, more people are considering YouTube as a career path to get famous and make money. A lot of YouTube superstars started their channels in their own homes. If you’re interested in creating a successful YouTube channel, this guide has tips to help you start your own channel, choose an audience and engage with them, and learn other tricks to help you get the most money out of your videos.
Before you start your channel, you’ll need to decide which genre or type of content you want to produce.
Comedy: This genre focuses on getting laughs for increased viewer engagement. Whether it’s real-life comedic skits, pranks, or animations and parodies, many YouTubers find success at making hilarious comedy content.
Vlogging: A vlog is a personal video that features your life stories. Vlogs often feature funny moments about your own experiences, or they can focus on your travels, your adventures at work or school, or storytime videos like how you just broke up with your ex.
Gaming: This genre is one of the most popular content types on YouTube and the Internet as a whole. People want to know more about video games before they actually buy them. You can do some game walkthroughs, post reviews, record funny gameplays, showing your gaming setup, participate in competitive gaming, and more.
Fashion and Makeup: If you adore fashion and cosmetics, this is another popular YouTube genre to try. Beauty content creators show people how to apply makeup using different techniques, give advice on proper skincare routines, or take part in clothing hauls. These YouTubers are always on top of the latest beauty and fashion trends.
Educational and How-To: If you love to teach others, this could be the genre for you. You can make content about anything from how to clean your floors to the best way to fix your computer. Since this type of content is “evergreen”, it’s easier to gain more views and bring more people to your channel.
Health and Fitness: Use your love of health and fitness to deliver high-quality content to your viewers to help them live healthier lives. Whether you’re doing workouts, reviewing the latest diets or supplements, or showing people the best foods to gain muscle, it’s a great way to educate others about health, fitness, and wellness.
Once you choose your genre, it’s always a good idea to do some research. Watch a few YouTube videos from your favorite genre and focus on the most successful YouTubers to help you start gathering ideas. Take some notes about how they speak to and involve their audience, and note how channels combine two genres, such as vlogging and gaming. You can always create comedic content, but vlogging is the best way to help your audience get to know you better. Even if you combine these two, try not to do every genre on the same channel since it can confuse your viewers. The goal is to get a clear view of what your audience wants. You can always start with one genre and see its success, then try another one to increase engagement or change things when your audience wants more.
Here are some tips to help you get started with your YouTube channel.
You don’t have to go overboard with equipment when you’re just starting. It’s crucial to determine which types of equipment you like and see if you have success before upgrading to more costly equipment after gaining some revenue thanks to that AdSense money you rake in from YouTube.
Camera: Start recording your videos with your smartphone. Most people watch YouTube in HD mode, and most newer smartphones already have this by default. If you have some money to spend, consider getting a DSLR camera with a flip screen, so you can watch yourself on camera and have more control over your recordings.
Lighting: It’s best to start with natural lighting; however, you can’t control it when recording a video since natural light constantly changes. Try a lightbox kit with some diffusers or a light ring. There are plenty of budget-friendly options available, and this should be more than enough for your initial videos. Point the lighting straight at your face and position it higher than a 45-degree angle.
Microphone: Smartphones tend to produce annoying echoes, so go for a decent lavalier microphone or a mountable microphone for your DSLR camera. There are plenty of quality microphones available at a reasonable price, and even the most basic one will do wonders for your audio.
Background: Keep your background simple. You can record your videos in your living room or bedroom. Make sure your background is clear so that the videos are crisp and clean. You can choose something that showcases your personality and style. Just make sure your background isn’t taking the focus away from you, and remember that you and your content should always be the main focus for your audience without distractions.
Editing Software: Watch a few videos on YouTube to learn how to edit. Choose the best video editor software for your computer, or smartphone, then practice. Many computers come with free software, or you can download some editing tools for free. There are many tools to make your videos stand out from the rest and add value to your words, look for one that fits your needs. Practice with these tools, then invest in premium software once your skills improve.
Evergreen vs. Trending: Trending content is seasonal or popular at the moment, like a “Halloween costume ideas” video. Evergreen content is relevant regardless of the time of year, current events, or trends like a “How to do paddle boarding” or “How to fix a water leak”. You can get a lot of views quickly with trending content, while evergreen content will help you gain new subscribers and residual views as time goes on. Offer a bit of both to keep people engaged and make more money.
This is where all of your videos and information about your channel are, see this as your website’s homepage. You want it to look presentable and eye-catching for viewers to subscribe to it.
Update your channel art: Design a header that transmits your personality and what your videos are about. This is where marketing steps in, you have to make people remember you. Choose a color palette that fits the way you dress, your video’s background for viewers to associate that colors with you and your videos. Make it simple, a picture of you and some text that tells the viewer the days you upload videos so they tune in. Maybe a call-to-action for them to click on the subscribe button and the notification bell is a nice tactic as well.
Assign a featured video: Also called explainer videos, featured videos are the ones that stay pinned to your YouTube channel at the top. You can choose from the videos you have uploaded but the best practice is to create a video that explains what your channel is about and add it as your featured video for them to get a brief view of your personality and content.
Make an intro for your videos: While you don’t need this to be successful it’s an important asset to build engagement. Intros grab the viewer’s attention and make them feel they are watching a TV show. Create an intro that shows your personality using motion graphics to entertain the audience. Make it catchy and short, no more than 15 seconds. A good song will have the viewers enjoy the opening of your video by singing along!
Create a Schedule
Upload schedule: Ideally, you should upload at least one to two videos per week to keep your audience engaged. You also don’t want to flood your audience with too much content, or they might unsubscribe. Inform your audience of your upload schedule, so they know when to expect something new. Use YouTube Insights to help you determine the best time to upload. This shows you your audience’s connection and the best day and time, so keep that in mind when scheduling.
Get Started: Most people aren’t used to being behind the camera, so don’t worry about feeling foolish when you’re first starting. Once you gain new viewers, comments, and subscribers, you’ll begin to feel more confident and comfortable whenever you record and upload. You’ll adapt to it once you get the hang of it and will become a successful youtuber.
Video Formatting: 70% of YouTube views come from mobile devices, which means your video should be optimized for mobile. According to YouTube, the recommended video format is MP4. Use the H.264 video codec and a standard aspect ratio of 16:9. Going for 4K resolution will only make your video slower to load and hard to watch, stick with the HD since it loads faster and looks awesome when they are streamed.
Search Engine Optimization is a strategy that optimizes the user experience and improves your position on search engines and algorithms. YouTube works with Google and is technically a search engine platform, so putting effort into SEO will help you reach new audiences and give you a better chance to appear in Google and YouTube search results.
Write a Perfect YouTube Title to get Views: People tend to have a short attention span, so create short, compelling titles that capture what your video is about. Avoid using clickbait titles that can affect your average view duration, which is bad for the algorithm.
Video description: Create a description that encourages organic search so that the algorithm can determine what your video is about in fewer words. It also gives people a summary of the main topic you’re talking about.
Keyword Research: Use the YouTube search toolbar to do some keyword research. Type in one of your title’s keywords and see what shows up in the autocomplete, which will show you the most-searched titles. This will give you some fresh, new ideas you can use in your own videos.
Add tags to the video: Add some tags by using the main keywords inside your video title and description. Avoid using more than ten tags, so it doesn’t confuse the algorithm with irrelevant terms.
Create a captivating thumbnail: Make sure you design a creative, captivating thumbnail that summarizes what your video is about. The thumbnail should be clean and clear and show your facial expressions or fit the overall theme. Avoid using too many words in your image, making it look crowded and overwhelming to viewers.
Create captions and transcriptions: YouTube can’t read what you’re saying in your videos, so captions and transcripts can tell the platform exactly what you’re talking about. YouTube will take this information and use it in the algorithm to show your videos to new users.
Make longer videos: The YouTube algorithm prefers longer videos, so try to make longer content if you think your audience can keep their attention for a more extended amount of time. You can also check your video’s insights to keep track of the exact moment they stopped watching and take the necessary measures to avoid that in the future.
Promote your videos: Add a Call to Action at the end of your video and ask your audience to share it on their own social media platforms to increase views and improve your position in the algorithm.
Use Video Optimization Software: This software can help you optimize your video titles, keywords, and descriptions to increase clicks and drive new audiences. The software analyzes the words you use and then gives you new suggestions to try.
Build a community with your viewers by sharing some personal aspects of your life. This allows people to get to know you better by sharing your content with other people.
Respond to comments and questions: Answering viewers’ questions and responding to their comments increases engagement and builds community.
Do fun activities for audience participation: Make Q&A videos and answer questions from your audience or try other ways to create fun activities that get your audience involved in the process.
Create a space where your audience can meet and discuss your videos: Whether it’s a virtual hangout or a forum, come up with ways to create a space where your subscribers can meet and talk about you and the videos you create. This will exponentially grow your subscribers count since your audience will be sharing your videos and inviting new people to join your community, make sure you tune into their conversations once in a while to keep your community engaged.
Go Live: YouTube fans love live videos, so start a live video occasionally and just talk about whatever is currently on your mind or answer questions from your audience during the video.
Collaborating with other content creators can help you reach new people, but make sure you choose wisely. Some creators want to get as many eyes on their content as possible without using any strategy to reach a niche audience. Make sure that your collaboration works well with your genre and adds value to your personal brand.
Many original YouTube creators are no longer on the Internet, mainly because they failed to adapt to changing times and trends. Eventually, your videos will start to get fewer views, so it’s essential to change your strategy. Ask your audience what they want, and have fun exploring new trends, formats, and genres. The key to success on YouTube is your personality, so make sure your audience gets to know and love you for you, and not just for the content you produce.
Part of being a successful YouTuber is making money with your online content, so try these tips to help you earn revenue.
Join the YouTube Partner Program: To be eligible for the program, you’ll need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid public watch hours, and at least one AdSense account.
Ad Revenue: YouTube can suggest where to put ads inside your video, or you can manually choose the exact timestamp to place them. Manually adding ads gives you more control over when and where your videos are paused and where ads are shown. Be sure to put them in spots when you’re done talking or when you are about to make a transition or change to a new subject.
YouTube Premium Revenue: This option pays you a portion of money whenever a YouTube Premium member watches your video.
Channel Memberships: If you’re older than 18 and have over 30,000 subscribers, you can charge people to subscribe to your channel for more revenue.
Merchandising: Selling merch is a great way to make more money, and you can sell it on your YouTube channel if you’re over 18 years old and have at least 10,000 subscribers.
NFT’s: Short for Non-Fungible Tokens. This is YouTube’s new feature. It allows fans to send you tokens when you are live on YouTube which can be exchanged for money. This is very similar to how Twitch live stream videos work. Entertain your audience, ask them for tokens and get money!
Create Sponsored Content: You can negotiate with a brand to earn money, and it’s one of the best ways to make revenue on the platform. YouTube sponsored content is the most expensive type of sponsored content. Follow these tips to help you make sponsored content successfully.
Build a Media Kit: Your media kit contains all of your social media insights and statistics like the number of followers and views, engagement rate, and audience demographics. To make your kit more effective, add information about your goals and personality so that anyone who views your kit gets to know you better.
Look for a brand to partner with: As an influencer, you can partner with brands if you have something of value to offer them. Make sure your brand partners align with your genre and your personal brand. Sponsored content should always be creative and organic, even if you mention that it’s sponsored. When uploading sponsored content, you should also add the “Includes Paid Promotion” box to your videos.
Know Your Worth: In social media marketing, your rate will depend on your audience size and engagement stats. Look for websites that analyze YouTube data and statistics to help you determine your ideal rate.
Make your contact information visible: Always make sure that your contact information is visible so brands and sponsors can contact you. Ensure you include your inquiries email in your YouTube channel description and your social media accounts. You can also add this information to the end of your video descriptions.
YouTube is a massive social media platform with endless opportunities to make money. There is an audience for everyone, whether you love comedy, health and fitness, beauty, or vlogging. The best part about having a successful YouTube channel is that you don’t ever have to leave your home, and all you really need is a camera and a YouTube account to start chasing your dreams and following your passions.
