How to Start a YouTube Channel
I have been watching YouTube videos since I was in elementary school, and the site has grown exponentially into one of the biggest video media platforms. It has become a place for people to express themselves and have control over the content that they want to create. Many content creators have been able to build an entire career around their YouTube channels, through monetization, sponsorships and tremendous hard work.
But where do you even begin? It’s incredibly intimidating to enter into a platform with so many channels that already have immense followings and millions of views and subscribers. It seems like a daunting mountain to climb, especially when you don’t even know where to start. I had always wanted to start a channel, but I had no idea how to do it, what camera to use, how to edit it or what content I even wanted to create.
If you are thinking about starting a channel, my first tip would be to just get started, and use what you have. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a nice camera or expensive editing software. When I started, all I had was my iPhone, natural lighting from my window and the iMovie app on my laptop to edit. I would use books to prop up my phone with to get a decent filming angle. At first, I didn’t really know how to use iMovie, as simple as the program is, but the longer I used it, the more I learned by just exploring all of the options. Ironic enough, I would watch lots of YouTube videos about the ins and outs of iMovie, and also h0w to make my channel look more professional. I found a lot of channels that helped me create thumbnails, banners, icons and other elements for growing my channel.
There are many ways you can start making your channel look polished and professional. Thumbnails are the image or graphic that people see that makes them want to click to view your video. If you have a good thumbnail, people are more likely to click on your video, and ultimately leads to a higher amount of views. Another way to make your channel look clean and organized, is to add a channel banner, subscribe icon and video end screen. A great website for creating these graphics is called Canva, and it is very easy to use if you are new to graphic design. Refer to the settings in YouTube for the recommended dimensions of each graphic.
The next thing that I learned along the way is that you need to upload regularly and often. This will increase your chances of being on the recommended page, and also will increase your views and watch hours. In order to monetize your channel (start making money on ads), you need a total of 1,000 subscribers AND 4,000 watch hours across all of your videos. This is where you need to be patient because it can take a while to reach these checkpoints. It took me about a year to reach both of them and usually they are reached around the same time. Once you accomplish this, you can apply for monetization in the YouTube Studio settings, and once you are reviewed and approved, you can start making ad revenue from your videos.
Here are a few more tips if you are just starting out on YouTube. Try to make your videos at least 10 minutes or longer, so that you can maximize your watch minutes. This can also increase your ad revenue, because you can place more ads throughout your video. Don’t worry about making your videos perfect, just stay consistent. Stay on a somewhat strict uploading schedule, so that you are always posting fresh content on your channel. And the best tip I can give someone that is just starting out is to just be authentic, and to create videos that bring you joy. Don’t get caught up in the number of views and subscribers you have or what content you think people will like, create what feels most true to you. You can’t go into it with your focus on the revenue you could make, because then it becomes about the money and not about doing something that is fun and makes you happy :)
good luck!!
nena
