Hello YTT! I know we have seen a few guides about starting your channel, however I have found they all seem to be leaving out some of the most important details to ensure you get off on the right foot before you even launch your first video. This is a guide for those of you looking to start a new channel and how you can be as prepared as possible for day 1. If you currently have a channel, a lot of this may not apply but trust me, the info is still genuine and worth the read.
EDIT: Uploaded a video going over the same content below, I'm sick, but decided the video might help out as this is a BIG wall of text.
Let me start with a list of things I feel should be done before you launch your first video; I'll elaborate on each section below. Why do all of these things need to be done you ask? We are all excited to launch our first video, but MANY channels die due to a lack of ambition, passion, patience, and sheer lack of motivation when they see little to no views, hardly any subscriber gains, and next to no one commenting on their videos. This leads to no motivation to upload or inconsistency in uploads.
We see this ALL of the time on YTT, thread after thread, "how do I break 100 subs? How come my channel isn't growing fast? How can I grow faster?" etc. etc. This list will help you get off on the right foot and give you the best chance for growth at the beginning and keep your motivation up throughout. It also will help keep you from jumping the gun, and going into YouTube half-cocked, trying to catch up and make corrections after you have had content uploaded, ads paid for, etc. etc. You may want to use it as a form of "checklist" as you progress.
(NOTE: These are not necessarily in order, though some are obviously dependent on others being done)
Questions to ask Yourself before you do ANYTHING:
YouTube sounds fun, easy, and simple. You may have that AMAZING IDEA that you need to put on YouTube. Do you have the rest of what it takes to be successful though?
- Do I have the Time?
- Recording whatever clip, let's say an average of 10 minutes.
- Editing this clip, we'll say an average of 30 minutes (it can be MUCH longer depending on your genre, do NOT underestimate here).
- Rendering, playback tests, uploading, responding to comments/social media, and more.
- Do I have the equipment?
- USB Mic (Headsets count, doesn't need to be a snowball or anything too fancy at the start).
- Web Cam (if needed, face cam doesn't need to happen for every genre).
- Recording software (this is REAL software, not watermarked recordings like free FRAPs)
- Editing Software (again, real software that isn't going to require watermarks)
- Other equipment as necessary for your genre
- Do I have the patience?
- Patience to restart a recording 10+ times due to interruptions, sneezing, coughing, etc. etc. etc. You will become OCD about your recording, and you will see yourself starting over often.
- Patience to allow your channel time to grow over time.
- Patience with those who critique your work and subscribers who may criticize you.
- Patience with YouTube and all of its glitches such as audio missing, corrupt videos, glitchy playback, missing videos from feeds, etc.
- Am I okay not being paid for AWHILE and putting money into this that I may never see a return on?
- Don't get caught up with the money, income will come with time if it’s meant to be.
- Unfortunately, equipment costs money if you don't already have it. Graphics cost money if you don't have it, don't know someone that will do it for free, and can't do them yourself.
- You may never see a return on this money.
Branding Yourself:
Everyone knows that you need good branding to run a channel. It doesn't necessarily need to be paid word, but the better graphics you can get, the better off you will be. The specific items I list are next to a necessity to have, and you want to do it from the get-go, not play catch up when your channel is in full swing.
- YouTube
- Create YouTube Channel and Personalized Link
- Upload YouTube Banner and Avatar
- Fill in About Channel and other info for channel setup
- Link to other Social Media pages (see next section)
- Create a Channel Trailer
- You may want to include footage from your first few videos, see "Create some content" below.
- Keep this under 60 seconds if at ALL possible.
- Include a call to action in the middle and end of your video.
- Include an overlay of some sort, providing an annotation to subscribe to your channel.
- Ensure you grab their attention in the first 5 seconds, do NOT put an intro sequence.
- Facebook
- Create Facebook Page and Personalized Link
- Upload Facebook Cover Photo and Avatar/Photo
- Fill in About Page, link back to YouTube channel.
- Twitter
- Create Twitter Account and Personalized Link
- Upload Avatar, Header, and if possible a background.
- Fill in about page/profile info and link back to YouTube Channel.
- Google +
- Link Google + (pretty much have to now) and upload a cover/avatar.
- Fill out about page/profile as needed and link back to YouTube channel.
- Other Sites As Desired
- For any other sites, ensure you follow the basic outline above to ensure all branding is completed.
Create Some Content:
Okay it's the moment you have been waiting for, time to create that quality content! But wait, there's still things that need to be done before you post your video and launch!
- Record the equivalent of 2 weeks of uploads (whether this is 2 videos for one a week, or 14 videos for daily uploads).
- Do NOT upload these publicly yet, we will be scheduling them instead.
- Edit each one with time and patience.
- Correct errors to re-record if needed.
Scheduling Videos:
This is the "consistency" that everyone talks about. Time to put together a plan, take action, and see if you made the right choices. If things don't work, you can always regroup and try again with the same channel, but I feel if it’s meant to be and you follow these steps, you will see some form of success with your launch.
- Figure out your upload schedule and stick to it.
- This doesn't mean you can't make small changes later, but you want to be as consistent as you can from day 1.
- Upload your first two weeks of videos, SCHEDULING each one within YouTube to meet your specific time-line.
- Ensure you are uploading each video at the same time of day. We are going for consistency.
- Schedule your first video about 1 week out, which will be your true "Launch Day"
Channel Launch:
This is where you are going to shine. Do not spam, post randomly, or just be a complete troll as this will NOT help you. It's a very fine line, but you can promote yourself to a point by building hype for your channel. Discuss the amazing ideas you have, how you have weeks of planning spent on this, you have videos up and ready to go, and let the countdown begin. As proof, I had 10 subscribers before my first public video. This may not be AMAZING, but some people take weeks to get to 10 and I think I greatly owe that growth to people on YTT and the bit of hype building I did on Twitter.
- Build up hype about your channel 24-72 hours before launch day (first scheduled video).
- Post on all of your social pages regularly to inform about your channel launch.
- Reach out to small channels of similar genre and size (0-100 stage from @uberdanger 's growth thread) and inform them of your channel launch!
- DO NOT SPAM, be polite, professional, and courteous and you may just get a small shout-out that could help jump-start.
- Reach out to a few communities on your various social pages (twitter accounts like IndieDB for indie gaming, Facebook pages for a certain game, etc.) and let them know you are going to post content related to them on launch day.
- Continue to record, edit, and produce content, attempting to stay at least 1 week ahead of schedule (preferably 2 weeks). Many channels miss an upload due to a life event that may cause inconsistency.
Once you have completed this list, I really feel like you will see the growth you deserve for the hard work you have put in. If you have quality content, you will be getting subs. It may not be through searches right away, you may need to draw people in through social media, but once they are there, they are going to like what they see.
For more details on what to do once you launch, check out
@Faptain 's thread:
http://yttalk.com/threads/the-new-channel-youtube-guide-for-beginners.107435/ where he gives some more GREAT insight on the things you need to do to keep the channel running when you are new. Also look for a new guide in the future from me on how to make videos that are "Searchable," that is able to be found by a normal search on YouTube.
Thanks everyone for reading the post, please if you have critique make it constructive, and I will answer any questions below!
