Yes go for it. As far as not getting traffic to it at first ... no you won't. However, that's what promotion & SEO are for. The SEO flexibility of your own website vs. a youtube channel .. website wins because you have the ability to create lots of text rich content that will pull new visitors through Google .. which will then convert to your youtube either directly as new subscribers or indirectly as new views through your embedded content. Not everybody hangs out on youtube .. many of them are searching blogs, using RSS readers, social media, becoming loyal to websites. Youtube is a big fish .. but it's swimming in the ocean.
Right now my official website is kinda like my own mini youtube all about my videos but I'm branching out as soon as I finish some other projects. So it will grow into a combination of video posts, traditional posts, digital downloads, user polls & interaction. Everything my channel offers and a bunch of stuff that youtube simply cannot provide.