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10 Simple Steps to Make a Youtube Channel from Scratch!

Last updated: July 04 2020

Written and researched by experts at Avada Learn more about our methodology

It may be surprising to realize that YouTube is just 14 years old, as this video has become a staple of popular culture and a part of daily life for many people. YouTube has 1.9 billion active users per month, 25 percent of the world ‘s population.

Let that sink in – one of every four people on our planet visits YouTube at least once a month. YouTube is now distributed in 91 countries and 80 languages. YouTube is not only a multimedia platform; it’s part of the modern-day culture.

It’s clear that people love YouTube, and marketers also love YouTube just as much. 87 percent of video marketers used YouTube as a marketing channel to host and promote video content. When we look at video ads more broadly, 83 percent of advertisers state that video gives them a strong ROI.

If you’re ready to take advantage of YouTube’s power to your business, here’s a simple step-by-step guide on how to create a YouTube channel.

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Why should you create a YouTube channel?

YouTube
YouTube

Before we dive into our guide, let’s see why you should consider creating a YouTube channel in the first place. Setting up your own YouTube channel gives you the power to reach your target audience on a new medium. Not only does it allow you access to a massive and rising number of people, but YouTube will help:

  • Reach new customers: Your videos will appear on the platform in search results, putting your content in front of users who might not have known you existed.
  • Driving traffic to your website: After watching one of your awesome videos, a viewer who wants to know more will click on a button in your video description to check out your website.
  • Strengthen your SEO: Many companies use SEO videos to improve their searchability and increase web traffic. This efficient technique is easy to execute and can be highly successful.

Another great reason to start a YouTube channel is to squeeze the most out of the video content you’re already creating. If you spend time and money creating videos for your website, sales presentations, advertisements, and other purposes, why not put them on YouTube as well? Once you start uploading and stay consistent with your Youtube channel, it will start delivering the benefits mentioned above.

How to create a YouTube Channel For Business in 10 simple steps:

Step 1: Create a Google account

If you’ve signed up for Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play, or any other Google service, you already have a Google Account. In this case, you can skip to the next step.

Don’t worry if the name and email address associated with your existing Google account are not appropriate for your brand. Your existing Google account details will not be publicly linked to your YouTube account. It’s just the key to get you in the door.

If you haven’t created a Google account before, here’s how to get one.

  1. Go to the Google account creation page. You can create a new Gmail account here, or use an existing email address.
Google account
Google account
Google account creation page
Google account creation page
  1. Fill out the required information and click the “Next” button.

Step 2: Create a YouTube brand account

Your Google Account will immediately provide you with a personal YouTube channel. However, if you want to build a YouTube account for your company, you may want to set up a brand account.

With a personal YouTube account, you are the only person who is in charge and can manage your channel. Your channel will also be given the same name as your Google account, which means you can’t use your brand name. This isn’t ideal. When you create a YouTube brand page, you can configure your company channel and allow team members access to it. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Log into YouTube with your Google account.
  2. Go to your YouTube channels page. If you have never created a YouTube channel before, you will only see your personal account. If you have already got an existing brand channel, you will see it as well. To create a new brand channel, select the “Create a new channel” option.
Create a new channel
Create a new channel
  1. Fill out your brand name and click the Create button.
Create brand name
Create brand name

At this point, if you go back to your channel page, you will see both your personal account and the brand account you just created.

Channel Page
Channel Page

Your brand account will give you access to YouTube analytics, which offers you valuable insight into who is viewing your videos and what type of content they react to most. Read more on how to use YouTube for ads in our article.

Step 3: Add your brand identity

As with any social channel, when you start a YouTube channel, it’s important to show a strong brand identity.

Add channel artwork:

  1. Log in to YouTube on your computer. You can only edit photos on your channel from a screen, not a mobile device.
  2. Click the profile icon at the top right of the screen and choose your channel.
  3. Go to the profile picture to pull up the Edit Channel icon feature. Upload the image and adjust the crop. Your company logo is a great option for the icon of your channel. The minimum resolution of the image is 800 x 800 pixels. It will be made to 98 x 98 pixels on YouTube.
  4. Go to the banner image to bring up the Edit Channel Art feature. The suggested resolution of the image is 2.560 x 1.440 pixels. You can preview how your cover art looks on different devices and adjust the crop accordingly.
Edit Channel Art feature
Edit Channel Art feature

To ensure that your design is a cover image that works on all screens, you can refer to the YouTube template.

Add links to your YouTube channel banner:

  1. Log in to YouTube on your computer, go to your channel, and click “Customize Channel”.
  2. Click the About tab, then scroll down to the Links tab.
  3. Click the pencil icon to add URLs that will appear on your channel banner.
Add links to YouTube channel banner
Add links to YouTube channel banner
  1. Enter the links that you want to show up. You can pick how many links you want to use. If you attach connections to social networks, social media icons will be shown.

Read more: The Best Video Format for Youtube: Dimension & Size in 2021

Step 4: Upload your first video

Congratulations to you! You’ve created a YouTube channel now. It’s time to continue incorporating quality content.

  1. Sign up for your YouTube account.
  2. Click the “Create Video or Upload” button at the top of your screen. It looks like a camera.
Create Video or Upload
Create Video or Upload
  1. Click the “Upload Video” option.
  2. Choose the video you want to upload from your computer.
  3. While your video is being uploaded, add a title (up to 100 characters) and a description (up to 5,000 characters). Make sure that you use relevant keywords in your video description, but avoid keyword-stuffing.
  4. Click the “Publish” button.

Step 5: Create a YouTube channel structure

Once you’ve posted a couple of videos, it’s important to start organizing your channel. You don’t necessarily want all your videos to be bundled together, or for the most recent videos to always be shown first. Think of how you want people to navigate your YouTube channel, and create your YouTube account structure accordingly.

You can always modify the structure of your channel later, but it’s a good idea to first structure the basic framework properly when you start a YouTube channel. You can have up to 10 sections for each channel.

The first step is to categorize your videos into playlists. Each playlist you create can then become its own section. Here’s how:

  1. Sign in to your YouTube account, then go to your channel, and select the “Customize Channel” option.
  2. Select the “Playlists” tab.
Categorize videos into playlists
Categorize videos into playlists
  1. Select “New playlist”.
  2. Create a title (it can be up to 150 characters) for your playlist, and click the “Create” button.
Categorize videos into playlists
Categorize videos into playlists
  1. When you’re taken to a screen for your new playlist, click the Dots symbol.
  2. Select “Add videos.”
  3. Select “Your YouTube videos.”
  4. Choose the videos you want to add to your playlist and click “Add videos.”
Add videos
Add videos

What you should keep in mind is that don’t just create playlists without clear purposes. Each playlist should be created with a clear focus that flows logically from one video to the next in order to keep your viewers watching. The more you keep your audience watching, the more information you can provide for them

After that, you can use your playlists to create your channel sections. Here’s how:

  1. Log into YouTube on your computer, go to your channel and click the “Customize Channel” option.
  2. Go down to the bottom of the screen and click the “Add a section” button.
Add a section
Add a section
  1. Choose “Single Playlist” in the content drop-down menu
  2. Under the “Choose a Playlist” section, choose “My Playlists”.
  3. Select the playlist for which you want to create a dedicated section under the “Find Playlist” dropdown menu.
Find Playlist
Find Playlist
  1. Select Done.

Step 6: Create a channel trailer

If you don’t yet know what a channel trailer is, it’s a short video that lets you introduce new visitors to your channel. Use this to present to new viewers what you’re all about and what benefits they will receive when they watch your videos and subscribe to your channel.

This channel trailer video from SaraBethYoga does a great job of explaining what viewers are going to find on her channel and why they should stick around to discover what she has to offer. Here’s how to make your own YouTube channel trailer.

  1. Sign in to your YouTube account, and upload the video you’d like to use as your channel trailer.
  2. Go to your channel. and click the “Customize Channel” option.
  3. Select the “For new visitors” tab, then choose “Channel trailer”.
  4. Choose the video you want to use as your trailer, then click the “Save” button.

Step 7: Make your channel discoverable

Now that you have your YouTube channel set up and some awesome content ready to go, it’s time to make sure people can find your page. Here are a few ways to make your channel discoverable.

Add channel keywords

  1. Log in to YouTube and click the profile icon in the top right corner.
  2. Select “Youtube Studio” from the drop-down menu.
  3. In the left menu, click the “Settings” button. Then, in the menu that appears below, click “Channels”.
Add channel keywords
Add channel keywords
  1. Enter keywords specific to your content in the “Channel keywords” section. Make sure that you focus only on keywords that really relate to the content you’re planning to produce.
Channel keywords
Channel keywords

Allow channel recommendation

  1. Go to the “Advanced Settings” section, and switch on the option to allow your channel to show up in other channels’ recommendations.
Allow channel recommendation
Allow channel recommendation
  1. Scroll down to the “Advanced channel” settings option, click on it.
  2. You will be directed to a new dialog. In that new window, scroll down to “Allow my channel to appear in other channels’ recommendations” and click on it.
Allow my channel to appear in other channels’ recommendations
Allow my channel to appear in other channels’ recommendations
  1. Scroll down and click “Save.”

Add a great channel description

  1. On your YouTube channel page, click the “Customize Channel” option.
  2. Select the “About” tab.
  3. Move over to the description field and select the pencil icon to add a channel description. For the description, you have up to 1,000 characters, so use them wisely to create an appealing caption. Add relevant keywords to help make your channel more discoverable.
Channel Description
Channel Description

Step 8: Add team members

At this point, your YouTube channel is almost complete. Now, it’s time to add your team members to help you manage it.

  1. Log into your Youtube account, and select your profile icon at the top right corner.
  2. In the dropdown menu, select “Settings”.
Settings
Settings
  1. At the bottom of the settings page, select “Add or remove managers”.
Add or remove managers
Add or remove managers
  1. Click on the “Manage permissions” button.
Manage permissions
Manage permissions
  1. Click the icon at the top right corner to add new people.
Add new people
Add new people
  1. Enter the email address of the team members that you want to manage your account. You need to select a role for every person. Owners can take any action on this account, including deleting the account and adding new users. Managers can upload videos.
  2. Click the “Invite” button, and done!

Step 9: Verify your account to get access to more features

Here You need to verify your new YouTube account so that you can upload videos longer than 15 minutes and create custom thumbnails for your videos.

  1. Go to youtube.com/verify
  2. Select your country, then choose whether you want to get your verification code via text or an automated voice message.
  3. Fill out your phone number.
  4. Enter the verification code sent to your mobile and click on the “Submit” button.
Verify your new YouTube account
Verify your new YouTube account
  1. Click “Submit”.

That will get your channel verified, and the options to upload longer videos and create custom thumbnails are now available.

Longer videos and custom thumbnails are available
Longer videos and custom thumbnails are available

Step 10: Join YouTube’s Partner program to access even more additional features

Once you have reached more than 1,000 subscribers and received more than 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months, you can apply to join the YouTube Partner Program. Joining the program will unlock even more features for your YouTube channel, including monetization features.

  1. Log in to YouTube and click the profile icon at the top right corner.
  2. Select the “Creator Studio” option from the drop-down menu.
  3. On the left menu, click the Channel button. Then press Status and Features in the menu that appears below.
  4. Find the Monetization box and click Enable.
Creator Studio
Creator Studio
  1. Following these steps will take you through the monetization procedure, beginning with reading and committing to the terms of the YouTube Partner policies.
  2. Take some time and wait. It usually takes more than a month for applications for the YouTube Partner Program to be reviewed. To boost the odds of getting accepted, make sure that you completely comply with all the terms and conditions before you apply the application.

Read more:

How to Embed a Youtube Video in Shopify?

Final Words

There’s no denying that it takes time to learn how to make full use of YouTube for your business. However, the initial set up of a new account is relatively simple and straightforward. By following the steps outlined in this guide, your channel should be set up and running in no time at all.

I hope this article has provided you with valuable information about how to make a YouTube channel. Please feel free to leave a comment below for further discussion.

Sam
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Sam Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Avada Commerce, an e-commerce solution provider headquartered in Singapore. He is an expert on the Shopify e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Sam loves talking about e-commerce and he aims to help over a million online businesses grow and thrive.