Hello, welcome to my guide on starting and maintaining a YouTube channel. Firstly I’d like to congratulate and welcome you into the world of YouTube. Now before we begin I’d like to give you a better understanding of what being a youtuber is and what it entails. YouTube is a fun and potentially life changing experience but it comes with its fair share of responsibility and annoyances. Something you must have is dedication or drive without this you will fail, similarly if you do this only for the money you will fail. You must show dedication you intend to build up an audience you must show them respect by maintaining your channel and keeping them in the know. They are people after all.
Now with that out the way let’s get you started Channel Name (you can skip this if you already have a channel name) It needs to be something that is easy to remember and sticks in the mind try not to use spaces, or many numbers one or two is fine but more than that and it becomes harder to remember.
Equipment this is big you need to know what you need to make sure your channel is ready for if you are a gamer then you need a capture card (Console) or some software (PC) to capture footage. You need a good microphone not a headset microphone but an actual recording microphone (Blue snowball or yeti are good choices). Editing software the one that comes built into your PVR doesn’t count. Free programs you can use are Movie Maker or IMovie both are free for PC and Mac respectively. If you are a vlogger then you will obviously need different things like a good camera and a room with decent lighting. Each type of youtuber will need different things help yourself and take the time to look up what you need.
Channel Art is the third big thing now that the channel has been created we need to discuss how your channel is going to look. This is dependent on a few things your personality can and should affect your channel art, your content are you a gamer? Or a vlogger, maybe a prankster make sure your channel art reflects that. Unless you have some experience with GFX you should probably not attempt to make your own banner until you have more experience. If you’re on the site (YTtalk) you should be able to ask someone to make one for you.
*Video Quality* this is starred because it’s EXTREMELY IMPORTANT this is the content that you will be judged on. Knowing that you have to make your content the best it can be so that if someone comes across one of your old videos they will still be very impressed by what they see. Before we move on HD content is almost mandatory now, if you don’t have HD content you are hurting yourself and you can’t compete as well against other youtubers. As for content itself do whatever you want I’m not here to say you can only do lets plays or you can only do certain pranks do, do whatever makes you happy but be entertaining. YouTube is a big place and you need to stand out or you’re going to have a hard time growing. Bring your personality into your content be happy, be loud, be emotional make yourself some body people want to watch.
*Commentary* Basically as I said before be interesting, don’t just speak in monotone actually talk and engage your audience, don’t look or sound bored and if you’re putting yourself in front of people (Vlogs, or live commentators) look nice, you don’t need to put on a dress or suit just don’t look like you just woke up. (Unless you’re doing a traveling vlog then do whatever)
Thumbnails being part of the channel art aspect of this guide having good thumbnails is key to getting attention, you’re relatively unknown (unless you are some big channel reading this) you need to convince people to come watch your video a good thumbnails helps. If you have access to Photoshop awesome if not then Gimp is a good free tool you can use. You can also use cooltext.com for interesting font designs.
Growing your channel, this will be the final par to this long guide (I deserve like 720 YT cash for this) anyway growing your channel can be hard when people don’t even know who you are. Now there are a few ways to combat this disadvantage. 1. Hop on social media this is crucial since this will give you a way to meet and interact with people as well as market yourself and your channel. 2. Collaborations are also really good ways of growing your channel just use common sense when doing this (i.e. don’t ask Pewdiepie, Smosh, Drift0r, or Syndicate). 3. Join forums which you have already done by joining YTtalk but there are so many others you can join. 4. Community channels are a good way as people can see exactly what you are all about and make their judgments based on you not what someone else says. Tying into I don’t mention shoutouts because I don’t think they help (if you want to know why I have a video detailing my thoughts and experiences with them)
There is so much more I could cover but I don’t want to write a book. Feel free to add onto any of the tips mentioned above; leave your own thoughts, share stories or whatever. I hope this helps.
Now with that out the way let’s get you started Channel Name (you can skip this if you already have a channel name) It needs to be something that is easy to remember and sticks in the mind try not to use spaces, or many numbers one or two is fine but more than that and it becomes harder to remember.
Equipment this is big you need to know what you need to make sure your channel is ready for if you are a gamer then you need a capture card (Console) or some software (PC) to capture footage. You need a good microphone not a headset microphone but an actual recording microphone (Blue snowball or yeti are good choices). Editing software the one that comes built into your PVR doesn’t count. Free programs you can use are Movie Maker or IMovie both are free for PC and Mac respectively. If you are a vlogger then you will obviously need different things like a good camera and a room with decent lighting. Each type of youtuber will need different things help yourself and take the time to look up what you need.
Channel Art is the third big thing now that the channel has been created we need to discuss how your channel is going to look. This is dependent on a few things your personality can and should affect your channel art, your content are you a gamer? Or a vlogger, maybe a prankster make sure your channel art reflects that. Unless you have some experience with GFX you should probably not attempt to make your own banner until you have more experience. If you’re on the site (YTtalk) you should be able to ask someone to make one for you.
*Video Quality* this is starred because it’s EXTREMELY IMPORTANT this is the content that you will be judged on. Knowing that you have to make your content the best it can be so that if someone comes across one of your old videos they will still be very impressed by what they see. Before we move on HD content is almost mandatory now, if you don’t have HD content you are hurting yourself and you can’t compete as well against other youtubers. As for content itself do whatever you want I’m not here to say you can only do lets plays or you can only do certain pranks do, do whatever makes you happy but be entertaining. YouTube is a big place and you need to stand out or you’re going to have a hard time growing. Bring your personality into your content be happy, be loud, be emotional make yourself some body people want to watch.
*Commentary* Basically as I said before be interesting, don’t just speak in monotone actually talk and engage your audience, don’t look or sound bored and if you’re putting yourself in front of people (Vlogs, or live commentators) look nice, you don’t need to put on a dress or suit just don’t look like you just woke up. (Unless you’re doing a traveling vlog then do whatever)
Thumbnails being part of the channel art aspect of this guide having good thumbnails is key to getting attention, you’re relatively unknown (unless you are some big channel reading this) you need to convince people to come watch your video a good thumbnails helps. If you have access to Photoshop awesome if not then Gimp is a good free tool you can use. You can also use cooltext.com for interesting font designs.
Growing your channel, this will be the final par to this long guide (I deserve like 720 YT cash for this) anyway growing your channel can be hard when people don’t even know who you are. Now there are a few ways to combat this disadvantage. 1. Hop on social media this is crucial since this will give you a way to meet and interact with people as well as market yourself and your channel. 2. Collaborations are also really good ways of growing your channel just use common sense when doing this (i.e. don’t ask Pewdiepie, Smosh, Drift0r, or Syndicate). 3. Join forums which you have already done by joining YTtalk but there are so many others you can join. 4. Community channels are a good way as people can see exactly what you are all about and make their judgments based on you not what someone else says. Tying into I don’t mention shoutouts because I don’t think they help (if you want to know why I have a video detailing my thoughts and experiences with them)
There is so much more I could cover but I don’t want to write a book. Feel free to add onto any of the tips mentioned above; leave your own thoughts, share stories or whatever. I hope this helps.
