- To customize your YouTube channel layout
from most YouTube desktop screens,
click on the profile image in the top right on corner
and go to the YouTube Studio.
From here down the left hand navigation panel,
you should see a customization link,
click that,
and you'll be able to set up your channel trailer,
featured sections, featured channel,
profile picture, channel banner,
video watermark, channel about section
channel links and more.
Lets do this.
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The changes that you make
on the YouTube Studio customization screen
will mostly impacts your YouTube channel layout
for both desktop and mobile.
Remember, this is your home,
make it as welcoming as possible for your guests.
The customization screen is divided into three tabs,
the layout tab,
which helps you build the foundations of your channel,
the branding tab, add style, design,
and color to your channel,
while the basic info tab adds text
and links to your channel.
Also, don't forget to publish any changes you make
and be sure to watch this whole tutorial
for lots of extra valuable tips along the way,
about how to set up your YouTube channel.
All right then, let's first take a look
at the video spotlight section.
Put simply if a non-subscriber visits your channel,
a channel trailer will automatically play like this.
In this video we're gonna guide you through
what it takes to get 4,000 hours of watch time on YouTube.
So settle in
because this is a big one.
I think that ten second clip from that video
pretty accurately describes what vidIQ is,
a YouTube growth channel.
It's not specifically a channel trailer video,
it's one of our best converting videos
from viewers into subscribers,
but if you were to make a dedicated channel trailer,
then here are a few quick tips.
Keep the video very brief,
no more than 45 seconds,
include a B-roll,
some of your best content
as you introduce yourself to camera
and tell people who should be watching and why,
and inject as much personality into the video as you can.
And of course, once that viewers have converted
into subscribers,
then you might want to show them
an entirely different video,
which is why YouTube gives you the option
to show a channel trailer to non-subscribers
and a different featured video to subscribers.
To change either of this
mouse over the appropriate box
and click the three dots
to either remove or change the trailer.
From this popup,
you can search your channel
for the video you would like to use
and click on it to select it,
don't forget to save and publish your changes
once you've made them.
Below the video,
we have the features that section of the channel layout.
These comprise mostly of playlists
or a collection of videos
and here's a pro tip for you.
Creates a playlist that welcomes them onto your channel
and shows the viewer
what type of content you make.
Here we've gone for some vidIQ walkthrough tutorial videos,
and guides on how to get 1,000 subscribers
and 4,000 hours of watch time.
Remember, we are create to obsess YouTube education,
and these videos reflect exactly that.
The second featured section
is devoted to our most recent uploads,
it quickly informs the visitors
that we upload regularly,
and we've uploaded recently.
That's a mark of consistency,
which is what visitors like to see.
To start tinkering with this section
from the customize page layout tab
in the Studio,
scroll down to the feature section.
This will show you all your current sections,
you are allowed a maximum of 10,
to reorder these
click and drag the icon to the left.
You can add a new section from the top right,
sections include recent uploads, popular uploads,
live streams and channel sections
that we'll come back to later.
In this example, we are going to add a new playlist,
which is very similar to adding a featured video.
This new section will be added to the bottom of a list
where you can click and drag to a place.
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For each section, you can use the three dots to edit it,
in some cases, it will allow you to change a playlist,
you can also view the playlist
that you've placed in the featured section,
and while we're here,
here's a never pro it.
If you are going to add a playlist to a featured section,
make sure to write a description for that playlist.
It will be displayed in the featured section
on your channel layout,
adding more context to the content
you're trying to show your visitors.
The featured channel section down the right hand side here
has been around on YouTube for years.
However, I have both good news and bad news about this.
The bad news is,
it's going away as it appears now at the end of 2020,
but the good news is,
you can now add it as a featured section on your channel.
From this popup you can change the title of a section
as well as search for any channel on YouTube
and add it to your list.
Once in the list,
you can click and drag it to reorder
or remove a channel from this section.
And as before, once you've added the section
to your channel layouts
you can reorder it.
Whenever you make these changes and publish them,
make sure to use the channel link
at the top of the customization screen
to see the changes on your YouTube channel.
And as we scroll down the channel page,
we now see our new featured channel section,
notice also how it's no longer
displaying on the right hand side.
I've gotta be honest,
I'm not sure I like this change,
what do you think?
Moving on to branding now,
this is where you can customize parts of your channel
with your logos.
For the profile picture
there are a couple of things to bear in mind,
although you are uploading a square image,
it will be displayed on YouTube as a circular image.
When you upload the picture,
it will show you how that crop will affect your picture,
so make sure you don't include anything important
in any of the corners of your image.
There are even more things to consider
with your channel banner,
it must fit three media types,
TV, desktop, or mobile.
This last one is the most important
since most people watch YouTube
on a mobile device these days,
and often when people make banners
that are cut off at the side
as they design it for desktop rather than mobile.
When you upload a banner image
YouTube will show you
how the image will look on different devices
and you can click and drag the corners
to resize it if you need it.
When it comes to YouTube file images and channel banners,
and you could probably extend this to
thumbnails as well,
I have one very simple piece of advice,
keep it simple,
don't try to reinvent the wheel,
communicate what your channel is about
in a way your audience can understand in a few seconds.
Also as a side note,
you can change both images from this page
by mousing over either the profile image or channel banner
and clicking on the camera icon.
This will redirect you back to the customization page
in the YouTube Studio.
The next branding feature is the video watermark
that adds a small square image
to the bottom right hand corner of your video.
It has the added benefit
of being a subscribe call to action on desktop,
where you can mouse over the image
and subscribe to the channel.
That's why we generally recommend
adding a subscribe style image
rather than a ton of logo,
as an added bonus
we are including this subscribe button image
in the video description,
so download it and use it as you please.
You can also customize when this watermark appears.
Again, we generally recommend having it visible
throughout your entire video.
Give your viewers as much opportunity
to subscribe as possible.
Now then, let's move from video watermarks and branding
to basic info,
starting out with the most basic of all things,
your channel name.
While it is now a super simple
to change your channel name from here,
you have to bear in mind the impact it has
on your Google accounts.
That's because if you have
a personal YouTube channel account
and you change the YouTube channel name,
that can actually change your Google account name,
however, if you have a brand YouTube account channel
changing the name of your channel
doesn't impact your Google account.
Yes, I know that sounds really confusing.
As you might expect,
this takes a little bit of explaining,
so we have put together a dedicated video over here,
make sure to check it out.
For your channel about section
speak directly to your target audience,
tell them the value they will gain
from watching your content,
rather than writing about what you the creator
wants to get out of the channel.
Also make sure to include some key words
that relate to your content
and note that you have 1,000 characters to play with.
You can also translate your channel name and about section,
but as of time of recording
you have to do this manually.
Next up, you can add links to your channel banner
if you want to,
to promote your website
over social media platforms
and so on.
The first link is super important
and I'll show you why in a second.
From here, you can reorder links
as well as adding and removing links if you need to.
You are allowed a maximum of five links
on the channel banner,
and on your desktop YouTube channel page
they look like this.
Notice how only the first link includes text.
That's why it's so important,
and notice how we've used graphics
in the channel banner itself to promote this link.
The reason we can do this
is because this part of the channel banner
is cropped out on mobile devices.
In fact, links don't even appear on the channel banner,
they are hidden deep down in the about section
of your channel.
And now for the final piece of this puzzle,
your contact email.
Again, some very simple advice here,
don't make this the same email as your YouTube account,
as this might present a backdoor way
to hack into your channel.
We do hope you found this guide useful
after all here at vidIQ
that's our mission to educate you on your YouTube journey,
and if you want more content just like this,
make sure to subscribe
and check out the beginner's guide playlist over here,
and if you wanna grow your channel
with awesome analytics and actionable steps
then download vidIQ.
We've got a little showcase video down here,
which shows you exactly what we can offer you.
Enjoy the rest of your video making day.