How To Start A YouTube Channel The RIGHT Way ? A Click By Click Guide

An optimal YouTube channel setup will help you to achieve:

Without an account you won?t be able to even comment on a video let alone upload one or start making money.

Luckily it?s free and easy and by following my video you can set up your very first YouTube account in under 3 minutes!

Part 2 - YouTube Channel Branding

The way you present your channel will say a lot to the audience in terms of what they can expect from your videos.

From imagery, to copy, to other channels you associate with, they all let the browser know what they?re in for and on what level you?re operating.

Make sure you get this right because first impressions count.

2a - Add a YouTube Banner

A YouTube Banner (or Channel Art) has changed over the years but has always been a key piece of YouTube Branding.

Create the artwork following the official specifications:

• Single 2560 x 1440 px image
• JPEG, GIF, BMP or PNG (no animated GIFs)

YouTube have actually provided a free template that you can use to create it ? click here to download it.

To Upload the Banner simply follow my video:

2b - Add a YouTube Icon or Avatar

In terms or artwork your Avatar is probably more important than your Banner because it follows you wherever you go across the platform so make sure it?s instantly recognizable ? even at small sizes.

You can get the full specifications from YouTube here, but here?s the details you need:

• Size - 800 x 800 px image
• File Type - JPG, GIF, BMP or PNG (no animated GIFs)
• Content - No celebs, nudity, artwork or copyrighted images

Then follow the steps in my video in order to upload the Avatar on to YouTube:

2c - YouTube Channel Description

The About section of your channel won?t be visited too regularly, I?ll admit that.

However your About section needs to be informative and enticing to hook browsers that do find it and even if no one ever sees it, the keywords you use in it can help you rank in search for the key terms you?re targeting.

With the above in mind you want to make sure that your description hits the following 5 points:

• Make it Keyword rich
• Sell yourself
• Outline your schedule
• Include Custom links (more on that in the next section)
• Add a Business email

For more detail on each point check out my article on how?to craft the optimum channel description.

And once you have it word-perfect, follow my video and add it to your channel.

As I mentioned in the previous part of this section it?s important to have custom web and social links in your channel description and once entered they also appear in a number of important places including an overlay on your Channel Banner.

By adding these links you give your channel a look of professionalism and authority and it also tells people you?re human (or ?legit? if you?re a business).

They also allow you to get that browser to a property you own and can capture their data or simply help turn them into a fan or follower.

Click here for my top 5 tips for optimizing your custom links (plus 3 bonus tips) and then watch the video below to see how to implement them.

This is one of the last steps to get the front-end of your channel set up.

It is also one of the most under-rated and under-used facets of a YouTube Channel, which surprises me as it?s one of the most simple to implement.

The basic idea is that you feature your competition.

SAY WHAT!?

Yes your competition.

By featuring similar channels in your space, especially popular ones, the viewer will make a psychological link between the two. This gives them not only a frame of reference for what your channel offers but also the other channels? authority and quality will ?rub off? on you.

Follow my video below to see how to implement this:

By enabling this feature a widget will appear on your channel underneath your Featured Channels widget.

It looks identical to the widget above it although this time it?s populated by recommendations from YouTube.

Ok so our stage is set, but what about all the cogs and levers behind the scenes?

It?s now time to look at the back-end settings of your YouTube channel.

Getting these rights can have a massive impact on your channel so make sure to follow along closely.

All that?s required to get verified is 5 minutes and a phone number ? follow the video below and you?ll be verified in no time.

Channel Defaults are one of my favourite features and despite how effective they are, are massively underused.

Implementing defaults will not only save you time by automating a lot of your channel?s metadata but it will also massively improve your channel?s SEO by making your metadata consistent.

Now before you set these defaults I suggest you read my in depth guide to getting them exactly right. You can check out below:

?Get More YouTube Views By Optimizing Upload Defaults 

You?re now ready to set your defaults in your channel so just follow my video here:

There are a bunch of other settings here that don?t affect the performance of your videos or channel but are related to the way in which you use YouTube as a viewer across devices.

Here?s a quick video that takes you through these final settings.

I like the term Advanced Settings here because the use of a number of these settings means that you?re thinking about and running your YouTube channel in a thoughtful and strategic way.

I know from experience that many people don?t use these settings correctly, if at all, and so by implementing the following steps you?re probably a few steps ahead of your competition.

This is one of the few places where you get to affect the SEO of your entire channel and all the videos that appear in it.

These should be similar to your default video tags and should include the higher-level terms that you wish your channel and videos to rank for.

Follow the video below to see how to add these keywords to your channel:

This feature is not as well known as it should be but it is one of the most powerful features on the entire platform.

YouTube only allows you to link out from video annotations to websites that they deem appropriate and that?s very limiting if you want to diversify your monetization.

However you can overcome this by associating your website to your YouTube channel which then effectively ?whitelists? your website so that it can be linked to via video annotations.

This is a little bit more complicated than most of the points here but fear not I have a comprehensive step by step guide to associating your channel here.

Many of the remaining settings here are purely a matter of preference and are unlikely to have any direct affect on the success of your channel. For that reason I won?t go into each one individually but I would recommend making your subscriber count public - even if it's low - because otherwise people think you have something to hide.

For many of you it?s earning money (and withdrawing it) that?s the reason for starting a YouTube Channel in the first place and I?ll deal with both of those points in this section.

To be able to make revenue from Ads played before, during and around your video you first need to be accepted on to the YouTube Partner Program.

This used to be an invite only program but it has been opened right up now and takes just minutes to join.

Being part of the Program also has a host of other benefits which I wrote about here, but if you just want to get straight to the money simply follow the steps in my video below.

You have your channel, you have your first video(s) - congrats you?re now a YouTube Channel Manager.

Welcome to the Club!

Your first job is to make your channel look like a fully-fledged YouTube channel.

For some reason the default for a new channel to YouTube is an ugly stream of your uploads.

You want people to subscribe to your lovely new channel right?

Ok, then I suggest we add a trailer that gets shown to any visitor who isn?t yet subscribed.

If the first video you uploaded isn?t a channel trailer or if you haven?t yet made one you need to get one up asap.

If you need help creating a YouTube Channel Trailer that will convert browsers into subscribers check out my quick guide here. 

Once you have it ready follow this video to add it to your channel:

Even though you have your trailer in place now, your channel is looking a little empty. A lot empty in fact.

We?re going to fill it up with those beautiful rows of videos known as Sections and for best results we?ll do it with Playlists.

Watch below to see how to put together such a playlist:

Almost finished ? you?ve come so far and done so much ? Well Done!

Now we have lots of Playlists we can fill up our channel so that it?s bursting at the seams with beautiful Sections and videos.

Here?s how to add a new custom section: