Beginner’s guide to YouTube & growing from 0 subscribers
Let’s, just go ahead and get into it. I hope we can all agree that being a youtuber is more accepted, or at least more understood as a career choice compared to even a couple of years ago. Someone want to come up to you and say that their full time YouTube where I think that 8 plus years ago, people would have laughed and said that’s, not a real career and even today I do still get those comments, but you guys Have seen on YouTube there’s, a ton of videos about how to grow a YouTube channel how to get more subscribers, how much money youtubers make and even days in the life of full-time youtubers, showing you behind the scenes and how this is truly A real job and I used to think that in order to be a successful youtuber and really make enough money off of YouTube to make this a full-time job that you end to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, you had to be passed a million subscribers and Then you were truly making it when in reality, right now, I ‘
Ve got 80,000 subscribers and I’m, actually making more money. I’m making about 10k a month than I was in my full-time job that I left to pursue this as my career, and if you’re one of those people that’s, thinking it’s too Late to start a YouTube channel, it’s already an oversaturated platform.
There’s too many creators out there you won’t make it that’s. Just not the case honestly. I think you guys have an advantage getting starter a little bit later in the game, because you can take a look at already successful YouTube channels, figure out what they’re, doing right and really learn from their mistakes.
People that have been on YouTube for 10 plus years had to go through an extreme learning curve to figure out what worked, what didn’t work and, of course, how to just make better youtube videos. You guys now know what a good YouTube video is, and if you take a look at some of your favorite creators, you will see what they are doing right in their videos that really make them interesting and keep you guys coming back for more now, I’m, not saying that you’re, going to be absolutely amazing.
Your first couple of videos like they’re gonna, be complete bangers and you are just gonna grow from the very beginning that’s, just not the case, and I wan na see your first couple of videos. Your first maybe 50-plus videos they’re going to stink and that’s.
Okay, so I ain’t been on this platform for over two and a half years at this point made a ton of mistakes at the beginning, but in this video I want to bring it back to the basics. We’re gonna talk about how you can start a successful YouTube channel, and hopefully I’m gonna share some things that you guys haven’t thought about before.
Can things that you really need to consider? If you want to become a successful youtuber, the first thing I really need to do is kind of scale back your expectation of what it means to be a youtuber. I think it’s really easy to watch videos and you think, oh all, they do is make one video a week and then they sit on their couch and they watch Netflix or they go out to eat.
They make their favorite matcha or they go to a coffee shop when they’re, not in quarantine but in reality guys being a youtuber. It’s, a lot of work and even just creating one YouTube. Video a week. I create two YouTube videos a week.
It takes me days. It takes me days. It takes me two hours to make one video this video alone. I know that I’m gonna be filming for several days to get all the shots that I want to get and I’m guessing editing it’s going to take me two.
Maybe three days yep, I’m on day three. So a few things that just creating a YouTube video a week is easy. It’s, not a lot of work. That’s, just not the case and also they’re, so so much more. That goes into being youtuber.
Besides, just creating videos, when you start a YouTube channel, you’re, actually starting a business and with any business comes things like accounting. I have to pay my taxes quarterly and marketing things you probably wouldn’t even think about.
If you just want to be a content creator, you probably want to spend all of your time creating your YouTube videos. But if you are a one-man show, if you are the only person that is able to work on your channel and you do not have any help at all – you’re, actually going to be spending a lot of your time.
Doing things that you probably didn’t even think go into having a YouTube channel so before you really dive into this. I just want to be honest and say that this is a lot of work and if you do not think that you can dedicate the time that you need to have a successful YouTube channel, then maybe this isn’t right for you.
But if you are determined to be a successful youtuber, you know that you could have a successful channel and you honestly just love creating videos. You love creating content, then by all means dive all in because I love my job.
I honestly do this is a freaking dream come true now you may be feeling fired up and ready to just go on YouTube and create your channel, but the very first thing I actually want you to do is figure out what you want to create videos on It’s, not enough to say okay, I want to be a really successful youtuber.
You really need to figure out what you were actually going to share on your channel and when you watch other videos talking about how to grow in YouTube, this is going to be your niche. So this is your main category of your videos and if you take a look at my channel right now – and I mean niche is YouTube tips – I’m, sharing all the information about how to grow on YouTube, how to make money on YouTube? How to get more subscribers? All of that stuff you can find on my channel.
So my niche is really youtube tips, but let’s say you want to be a lifestyle youtuber, and you want to share all things about your life. You want to do vlogs, you want to do more, so, like lifestyle tips like how to live a healthy lifestyle, something like that.
Your main niche would be lifestyle, but you can create a ton, a ton of videos under that niche. So the first thing you really need to do is figure out. What do you even want to create videos on what interests you right now and what value do you think that you could provide to the world? And yes, I did say value guys: it’s, so easy to look at my channel and say: okay, she’s, providing value because she’s, educating other people.
But if you were in that lifestyle niche or let’s, say you’re, even in the gaming niche, you may moreso be entertaining people or keeping people busy or if you are sharing those healthy habits, you may be actually transforming.
Someone’s life and whether you know it or not, even if you’re just making someone laugh, you are providing a value to someone else. You need to think about. What can I share within my youtube videos? What’s? The main niche of the videos that I’m going to share on my channel and that’s, really going to be at the foundation on how you are going to build your channel up from.
There then comes the name of your channel. Yes, before you even get started on YouTube. Don’t create your account, yet you want to actually figure out what the name of your channel is going to be. So I’m gonna tell you guys a little story, something that I’ve, never shared on my channel before, but right now.
My channel name is the content bug and I actually created my brand back in October of 2016, when I was ashamed and embarrassed that I wanted to create a brand for myself that I wanted to be an influencer, so didn’t want to use My own name, and I knew that I was going to be sharing tips on how to create content.
I already had experience with that working in the digital marketing industry. You guys don’t want to hear my whole life story that I knew that I wanted to have content and my name because it’s good for your SEO, and then I was sitting on the couch with my dog, and I Call her bug it’s, one of her nicknames, so I came up with the content bug looking back now, I really wish that I would have been strong enough and I would have just chosen my own name as my channel name as my brand Name and that’s, the direction that I’m going to move in the future.
But if you are not sure what you want to name your channel and let’s, say you don’t think it would be right to name it after yourself. There are a lot of situations where I would just have your channel name, be your own name like.
If you are a lifestyle channel, have it be your own name, whether it’s, your first and your middle name or your first in your last name? I would really really recommend that, because your brand is you what let’s say that you have my favorite example: DIY channels, if you guys follow Lord DIY or generation DIY, who are very, very clever with incorporating their main keyword DIY.
That’s, their niche for their channel. They were very, very smart of incorporating that within their name, because it is good for search. So I already mentioned SEO. Seo stands for search engine optimization and in case you guys didn’t know or if you don’t look at YouTube.
This way YouTube is a search engine. People go on there to search for videos and you may not do it all that much if you already have creators that you absolutely love on the platform, but people are searching on YouTube and if you want your channel to be found, I would definitely recommend having One of your main keywords in your name, if you can’t know if it makes more sense to have your name, be your own name like your channel name, be your name.
Do it. I highly recommend it that’s, something that you obviously won’t get sick of because it’s, your name. It’s. Gon na stick with you forever compared to me, going with the content bug. I now don’t like it.
I don’t think that it fits my brand anymore and in the future I’m, probably going to be changing it to Katherine and Manning know. If you know nothing about YouTube, let’s. Just do a quick little crash course.
I feel like I can go on forever, showing you guys how to use the creator studio, actually uploading YouTube, video all the tips and tricks that go into that. They do have several other videos on my channel that dive into those things, especially the analytics.
You guys, are interested in learning more about that. So it will include those in the description bar down below and for now. I just want to show you how YouTube works and the bare minimum that you, you know to create a YouTube channel.
So right here we are on youtube.com. Obviously, you guys have been here before, because you’re currently watching this YouTube video you want to get to your channel over here. On the right hand, side you’re gonna click on your little photo that pops up right here.
Click on your channel – and this will take you to obviously your channel now you probably aren’t going to have videos on it. Yet so it’s, not going to look anything like this, but what you can do to get your channel set up first and foremost, is if you hover over this picture right here, you can add a profile picture.
I wouldn’t recommend changing this too much, but you definitely wan na make sure that you have a good photo that you like, and that can stick with you a for a while same thing up here. Your header image.
I do definitely have some tips when it comes to designing header images, but maybe that can be had another video for you guys if you click on this little icon right here, you can upload your header image and make it nice and branded and all that cool Stuff now you may be wondering how these appear right here, these little icons and stuff.
If you actually go to your About section, you want to add some information about you. So in your description, you want to add your email address, your location and your link. So right here are the ones that actually appear in the top here now that we have your profile covered.
The next area that you really need to know is the YouTube creator studio. So you can click on this YouTube studio button right here, but I’m gonna go up here again because you can get access to this at any point within the YouTube platform.
Youtube.Com go down here, click on YouTube studio, and this is where you’re, going to get access to some stats. So now your last video performed how your channel is looking right now and you’re, also going to get access to all of these other features over here on the left hand side.
But what I want to show you guys is how you can upload a YouTube video to your channel. So up here at the top you ‘ Ll, see this icon. If you click on create click on upload, a YouTube video and then you just drag and drop, or you find the file on your computer and that’s.
How you do it it seriously! It’s, so so simple and I say so so simple, but in reality when it comes to a YouTube video, so this one I have scheduled right now. There’s, a lot more information that goes into it.
So you need to add a title. You need to add the description. If we scroll down a little bit there’s, that thumbnail, you need to select if your video is made for kids, if it’s not made for kids. This is where you add your tags and there is a decent amount that goes into uploading, a YouTube video, but just for the basics, click on create upload, a video drag your file, and you are good to go no Mike.
I already said it’s, not like you’re going to create your channel. I’m just going to be amazingly successful in the start. I cannot promise you guys that honestly, it’s, going to take you a couple of months, even just to figure out your filming style, your editing style and what type of content you want to upload on your YouTube channel.
But once you have all of that figured out, I would really recommend that you guys take a look at some other videos on YouTube, especially on my channel, if you guys want to subscribe, but I do have a lot of videos talking about that algorithm.
How you can niche down use that to your advantage and SEO, like I already said, YouTube is a search engine. So if you learn really how to use that to grow your channel to get more views to get more subscribers going to help you to grow a lot quicker than I did when I was getting started.
The two main questions – and I want you guys to ask yourselves right now – is what do I have that can help me to become a successful youtuber, and what do I need to just start, my youtube channel. So let’s say you do not have anything to film videos on you.
Don’t have a fancy camera guys. You can get started with your phone at these days. Phones have really really great cameras and you can make it pretty far just off of your phone, so you saved up enough money to get a camera now, even when you do get a camera, you do not need the fanciest camera out there, the one that I Am filming on right now I think I paid $ 650, for so it’s, still a decent price, but it’s not like you need the camera.
That’s worth a couple thousand dollars. You know so you can actually create edit and upload a whole YouTube video on your phone. I do have another video on that which I will right here for you guys, but if you love a laptop or a computer, that’s, something that you already have that you do not need to buy in the future.
Let’s say. If you don’t have fancy lights, you don’t honestly. Even need fancy lights. You’ve got window lighting that is perfect to get started with your channel. Let’s say you want to start a car YouTube channel and you’re like I, don’t have access to cars.
What cars do you already have in your garage? What cars do your family members have that you could actually use like ask them to use before you create a YouTube video on it, but there are things that you already have resources that you already have that you do not need to go out and seek at This moment, but of course there are going to be resources that you are going to need to get so make sure you write a list of the things you have right now, the things that you can utilize and what things you’re going to Need in the future from there, I really want you to nail down what is going to be your uploading schedule.
So how many videos are you going to upload a week? I would recommend either doing 1 or 2 when you are first getting started. Do not try to upload 5 days a week. You are going to lose your mind, get started with one or two videos a week pick the days that you are going to upload and stick to that schedule.
Make it a non-negotiable? No matter what you have to get those YouTube videos up on your channel. Consistency is going to help you to grow a lot quicker on YouTube. The algorithm is going to realize it and they’re gonna know what days, especially what times, to push out your videos so try to be as consistent as possible as well as it creates a good routine for your audience once you have.
That done, I would backtrack a little bit and figure out okay. When do I need to film this video, so I have enough time to film it as well as edit it from me guys my videos, I filmed them the Monday eight days before they’re supposed to live.
That way. I have enough time to film the whole YouTube. Video also get extra clips that I want to include within the YouTube video the week before it goes, live and save enough time to edit it schedule it.
So it goes live Tuesday, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Every single time, no matter what figure out your filming schedule, what’s, going to work for you and put it in your calendar? If you have kids, if you need to get a babysitter or something to make it happen, make it happen, because this is important to you now.
Sadly, I erased the things that were on my whiteboard, but a few videos back. I did share my action plan of how I was going to create multi-million dollar business for myself some ideas on how I was going to get there and the roadmap to getting there.
So I definitely recommend you guys check out that video. I’ll. Actually include it right here for you, but that’s, exactly what I want you guys to do. What are your goals for the first year of your YouTube channel and what little steps you have to take in order to get there now? I would not recommend you guys saying that you want to have two hundred thousand subscribers your first year on YouTube.
Yes, it is possible, but I don’t think that it’s realistic and if you’re, not seeing results from the very beginning, and you think, oh, I’m, not gonna hit. My two hundred thousand subscribers that I originally dreamed of you’re, probably going to actually drop off.
So I want you guys to set realistic goals for yourself and figure out what you have to do to get there and it’s. Not enough to just say: okay, I’m, going to create one YouTube video a week that’s. All I need to do what growth will happen.
No, you need to educate yourselves honestly guys there’s so much. That goes into YouTube. The algorithm it’s complicated. There are a lot of factors that determine what videos YouTube, picks up, what videos they promote and what videos they suggest and if you want to go on YouTube, I really recommend the first place.
You focus all of your energy. Is your keywords, your tags figuring out how you can Puran search once you’re starting to get views, and you’re starting to get good engagement on your videos. Then that’s going to trigger the algorithm, and then you really need to learn more about how to continue to ride the wave and get suggested by YouTube.
So really education is gonna, be huge for you and I think that it’s, a necessary step that you have to take. If you want to grow your YouTube channel over the next year, you really need to learn some filming skills.
Some editing skills, like honestly guys there’s, so many videos here on YouTube that you can watch to help you create better YouTube videos. I even have them on my channel, but I know there are so many other amazing creators out there that have those videos as well, but that’s, really going to help you to take your videos up and not just to get people to actually Subscribe and beyond that, I think you I need to get creative on how you’re, going to grow your channel.
So are you going to promote your videos on Instagram Pinterest Facebook? Are you going to create a tik-tok like what else can you do that’s? Gon na help you to grow your brand and get you from here the very beginning, starting at zero, where we all start to of there, wherever you actually want to go, but the best piece of advice.
I can give you if you are just now looking to start. Your YouTube channel is to get out of your own way. Honestly, the only thing that’s going to hold you back it’s, not going to be your camera. It’s, not going to be your lighting that you have honestly it’s, going to be you, it’s, going to be self-doubt, and you thinking that you are not good enough, that your channel can ‘
T be what you honestly dream it can be, but you sticking with it you, following that uploading schedule that you set for yourself that’s, going to take you so much farther than a lot of other creators.
If you give up within the first couple of weeks, because you think it’s too hard guys, the only reason you failed is because of you and I don’t want you to live with that. I honestly don’t, so create your YouTube channel today.
Guys follow the action steps that it gave you within this video. If you have a whiteboard or another piece of paper, honestly just create your action plan on how you’re, going to get where you want to go right now, a lot of us have more time and than ever stuck in our homes.
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