How to Start a YouTube Channel: Step by Step Beginner’s Guide

The world changed in the last couple of years. Lockdowns, and strict rules to stay or work from home had a large impact on many people’s lives. And what did people do while at home? They did things that they wouldn’t do if they didn’t have so much time on their hands, like starting a YouTube channel for instance. In fact, by March 2020, that was one of the most typed sentences on search engines across the web.

People turned to do things they loved and cared about, and clearly they cared about starting a channel on YouTube. Also because there was a sort of shortage in content, in general and video content in particular, as lockdowns were put in place, many people saw that as an opportunity to make some money on the side. So, how do you start your own YouTube channel?

How to Start Your Own YouTube Channel From Scratch?

In a simple and sum up way, these are the steps that you need to start your YouTube channel from scratch:

• Open a Gmail account (if you don’t already have one)
• Click on your icon profile (top right corner)
• Click on the button “Create a channel”
• Get a name for your channel
• Create content

These are the main steps to start off your Youtuber career, but there’s more to it as we will see now.

Choose the Right Niche

One of the first things that you will need to do is to look for the niche that you are going for. Depending on the type of videos you want to do, you will have to decide what audience you want to target.

Sometimes you will have a broader niche audience; this means that your video content will be directed to a broader audience. For example if you are starting a YouTube channel that is service-based such as financial tips or real estate. However, if you are doing something more “crafty” such as showing your own talents in a specific area, cooking or knitting, you will have to be more specific when it comes to narrowing down your audience.

Here, you should have a strong understanding of what your audience looks like before you start to create content and post it. This is one of the keys to being successful on YouTube.

YouTube SEO and Keywords

Search engine optimization is crucial if you want to stand out from the vast sea that is YouTube. This is basically, choosing the right words so your channel pops up on the front page when someone Google anything related to it.

Being visible is what makes you successful, as well as having great content. For that, you need to choose the right keywords. This happens once you have defined your niche. There are many software that allows you to look up keywords and see what are the most effective ones to use.

However, there are other routes that you can follow, or add to your plan. Searching on YouTube will also give you an idea of how popular a certain niche might be, just by searching through keywords. If you do that, at least four different results will pop up in the search bar suggesting the most searched terms. You can use that to guide you.

These are often called long-tail keywords, or titles, but are not the only way to drive people to your videos. YouTube thumbnails are also an important sort of advertising for your videos. These are little snippets of your video content that appear once a user is scrolling down on YouTube. This is important and a great way to get potential viewers.

Another feature that you can use, although it has been falling in disuse lately, is tags. These are little keywords that you can attach to your video content and will make your videos pop up more frequently if the users type the same words.

Recording Your Video Content

This is where the magic happens! Recording your video content is a liberating activity. The question now is “How do I shoot my own video content?” Fear not, as we will give you some tips on how you can do that. First, you need to have the right equipment. Nowadays, you can even record your video content with your phone. The latest phones have incredible cameras that will make your videos look professional.

However, if you want the professional setting, you will need:

• A video camera;
• Lightning kit;
• A good microphone;
• Editing software;

Video Camera

If you don’t want to use a smartphone, or if your smartphone doesn’t have a great camera, you can go for more professional video cameras to shoot your YouTube videos. Here are a few to consider:

• Sony ZV-1

This is one of the top choices for Youtubers because it has pretty much everything you will need when shooting your video content. It has a compact size, an excellent autofocus and microphone input. The only disadvantage this camera has is the use of micro USB rather than the more sophisticated USB-C, but that is a problem that can easily be avoided by purchasing an adapter.

• Fujifilm X-S10

This is a great all-around type of video camera and is ideal for your YouTube videos. It has a great lens sensor and its size is very compact for the power that holds. It is also extremely easy to handle it and to understand what every button does. The only thing that might put some people off would be the lack of weatherproof, which doesn’t make it ideal if you are the outdoors type of Youtuber, however, if you plan to shoot all your video content at home, or in good weather, this camera should definitely be on your list.

• Panasonic GH5 Mark II

This is also a great all-around camera with great connectivity and a built-in live streaming option, which is great if you want to do some live videos. It’s compact and very light making it great to carry around. It’s a very versatile camera even though there is not much difference between its predecessor.

Microphone

Microphones are a very important part of YouTube videos, in fact, nothing transmits a good quality video like having a good quality sound, and this is one of the things that most Youtubers overlook when starting their YouTube channel. Here’s a list of excellent, yet affordable microphones that are great for YouTube videos:

• Rode NT-USB

This is a condenser type of microphone with a USB connection so you can easily use it to record your videos. You can control the volume through a headphone jack and the quality is one of the best you will find, especially if you consider this microphone to cost under $200. It is, without a doubt, one of the best price/quality microphones out there and a great start for anyone wanting to make YouTube videos.

• Blue Yeti

This is a very versatile microphone and can be used in several settings. Besides the voiceover mode, probably the most used feature when you are creating your videos, the Blue Yeti also has the power to change its settings for conference or even interview mode. If you take into account that this microphone can often be found for less than $100, making this a most for every YouTube out there.

• Blue Snowball

This microphone is a sort of downgrade from the Blue Yeti, however, don’t let that fool you. This is a great microphone that uses USB ports as its first connection. In fact, there are two different models of this microphone; the Blue Snowball that has 2 mic capsules, so it receives sound from every direction and is great for voiceovers, and the Snowball iCE, which has only a single cardioid and no adjustments on height but also a cheap and great alternative, especially if you are just starting out and don’t have a large budget.

Lightning Kit

Lightning is just as important as having a great camera, or great sound. Lightning allows your video to look professional and your skin to look flawless. Here are some of the best lighting kits out there for Youtubers:

• Neewer LED Panel

This is an extremely versatile lighting kit that comes with a diffusion filter that does wonders on skin, is light-weighted and allows plug-in connection to electricity as well as batteries to allow you to shoot videos away from home or a plug. It doesn’t come with a stand, but the panel is compatible with most standard stands so finding one shouldn’t be a problem.

• Godox ML-60

This is a great and versatile light for both studios and homes. It’s extremely easy to use and you can control the brightness and overall colour of the light. It’s also very compact, allowing you to carry it with you anywhere you go, as well as great batteries that can run for hours.

• Elgato Ring Light

This is one of the more popular options out there when it comes to lightning. Because it is a dedicated smartphone type of light, you can also download the app that allows you to adjust many more parameters of the light.

Editing Software

No hardware matters if you don’t combine it with great editing software. This is where your videos will take shape and become interesting to people. Nowadays you have many options when it comes to choosing your editing software. We’ll leave you a list of some of the most popular video editors for Youtubers:

• Shotcut

This is a great editing software and best of all is that it is free. It can work in pretty much all operative systems and is equipped with many great tools to help you realize the vision you have.

• Adobe Premiere Pro CC

This is a very popular video editor, and it comes many times when you purchase the Adobe pack. It has everything you need to customize your videos, a simple interface and many integrations with other Adobe tools which can offer you a lot of versatility. It is also compatible with macOS, iOS and Windows products.

• Final Cut Pro X

This is a dedicated Apple product that works on Mac OS. It is one of the greatest software for editing out there with long libraries of tools, high resolution, high flexibility, and the features that allow you to preview certain effects before you choose to apply them. It might be a bit more pricey than the other editing software on the list, but it is definitely worth its cost.

Monetizing Your Channel

There are some rules that you need to follow or accomplish before you can start making money with your YouTube channel. Here’s a list of some requirements you need to meet:

• You need to live in a country that allows YouTube partner programs. There are many countries that allow it, so all you need to check is if your country is on the list. Try typing “Eligible countries for Youtube partner program”.
• You will need to have at least 1,000 subscribers before you can start making money from your channel. There are many strategies you can put in place to reach 1,000 subscribers; it is not an extremely difficult milestone, so you should start with that.
• Your accumulated videos have to have a minimum of 4,000 hours of watch time in the past 12 months. You can’t rely on old videos that you might have on an old account. The best thing to do is start over and put out as much quality content as you can.
• You have to have a linked AdSense account. This might take some time to set up, so you should link your account with AdSense as soon as you can.
• Even if you’re not accumulating enough followers on YouTube yet, there is a proven way to make money on this social media network. With ConvertSocial you can negotiate with a specific brand on your own. Stores, services, and brands on the platform are ready to pay for every order customers make following your recommendation.

Working with ConvertSocial, you won’t have to waste your time seeking advertisers and negotiating with them, sticking to strict guidelines and briefs, and reshooting ads.

Register on the platform, create exciting and helpful content, and start earning right away.

Conclusion

It doesn’t cost you anything to start your YouTube channel, all you need, besides the basic equipment, is an excellent idea and motivation. Applying the right strategies and choosing the right niche is also what will drive your view count.

Make sure you envision exactly what you want to do with your YouTube channel and just start shooting your content. That is the easiest way to start a YouTube channel!