- In this video, I'm gonna show you how to create
a brand new YouTube channel from scratch
and optimize it for future success.
And we're gonna do it all in just five minutes.
Let's do this.
Let's assume you're a complete beginner
and you don't even have a YouTube account.
Click sign in and then create a new account.
Here you'll have three choices.
Generally speaking, it's best to choose the business option
as it gives you the most flexibility
and future proofs your YouTube channel.
You'll have to fill out all of this stuff yourself
because I don't know your name
and I do not want to know what your password is.
Now you have a YouTube account, you need a YouTube channel.
So, go to your incredibly bland profile picture
and create a new channel.
This is where you can upload
a much more exciting profile picture.
And it's where you can decide on your channel name.
When it comes to channel names,
my advice is to keep it simple, make it memorable,
and easy to spell.
And try to make it unique,
because if you channel name is generic
you'll be much harder to find.
Whatever name you decide on, you can change it later.
And that's all you need to do at this point
to create your own YouTube channel that'll look like this.
Oh, and if you go to your profile image again,
you can now navigate directly to your YouTube channel
or switch accounts, view all channels,
and set up another YouTube channel
if you're feeling somewhat ambitious
about this whole YouTube adventure.
Right now your channel won't have anything on it.
So again, go to your profile picture
and navigate to the YouTube studio.
This is the back end of your YouTube channel
where you can do loads of stuff,
including switching between light and dark desktop modes.
But yeah, I'm not gonna lie to ya, that's pretty bright.
(liquid rushing)
- My eyes, the goggles do nothing.
- [Rob] To spruce up your channel,
scroll down the left hand navigation bar
until you see customization.
Alternatively, if you are on your YouTube channel,
clicking the customize button
will take you to the same place.
Since your channel won't have any content yet,
the layout tab is a bit useless.
So head on over to the basic info tab,
where you can change your channel name if you want to
and add a brief description of what your channel is about.
Anyone visiting your channel on the YouTube mobile app
will see the first couple of lines
of your channel description,
so make sure that elevator pitch really does count.
Don't talk about yourself,
talk about the value you're going to provide for the viewer.
And with the rest of the description,
flesh it out with keywords
that may help your channel rank in search and discovery.
Unfortunately, until you get 100 subscribers,
you are stuck with this random website address
for your channel,
but you can't add links to any external sites you have.
They'll look like this on your desktop channel homepage,
but they don't show up on the YouTube mobile app.
And whatever you do,
make sure this contact email is not the same
as your YouTube account email.
What the hell?
Over on the branding page,
you can change your profile image and upload a banner
that appears at the top of your channel page.
Try not to over complicate your banner.
It should be designed to let the viewer know
if they are in the right place as quickly as possible.
Use objects that relate to your topic.
Match the design and colors with your thumbnails
and create a memorable slogan or value proposition
that speaks the language of your target audience.
When you watch YouTube videos,
you may have noticed this image
in the bottom right hand corner
that allows viewers to subscribe,
at least on desktop YouTube.
This is the branding video watermark image
that you can upload here.
We recommend a simple subscribe button,
since that's the call to action it represents.
And we've included this free image in the video description
for you to download.
(bell dinging) - [Rob] You're welcome.
And now for the most important thing you need to do
after you create your channel, verify your channel,
and you're gonna need one of these to do it.
So, back on that YouTube studio screen,
this time you want to go to settings,
followed by the channel section,
and then the feature eligibility tab.
When you verify your channel,
you unlock mission critical features
such as custom thumbnails, longer videos,
and live streaming.
Click the verify phone number button,
follow the onscreen instructions,
and you should get verified within a couple of minutes.
If you jump back to the advanced settings
in the channel section,
you'll see this question
about setting your channel as made for kids.
If you don't change this setting here,
you'll be asked about it every time you upload a video.
If you're confident your videos
are not strictly made for kids,
you can set this to no,
but research this question before you answer it.
Another thing you should do in the settings screen
is over on the community section under the defaults tab.
Holding inappropriate comments should already be on,
but take this improved strictness check box
as YouTube has been having a lot of trouble
with spam comments recently.
There are tons of things you can do
in the upload default section of a settings,
but the most important one is visibility.
Set this to private or unlisted
so that you have time
to properly prepare and optimize the videos
before you publish them.
Remember when earlier I suggested
setting up your YouTube channel as a business?
Well, this is one of the reasons why.
On the permission screen you can invite people
and assign them to different roles on your channel.
This is probably one to take note of for the future
when you're uber successful.
YouTube has a massive audio library,
stuffed full of free music and sound effects
that you can download and use on your videos.
If you use them, you won't get any copyright claims,
and you will be able to monetize those videos in the future.
(upbeat music)
Speaking of monetization, there is a screen
dedicated to tracking the progress of this.
You can set it up so that YouTube automatically emails you
when you meet the requirements.
Also at some point you will need to enable
two factor authentication on your channel,
and since it's an extra layer of security,
you might as well do it now.
And one more thing, if you're not in a YouTube studio,
click on your profile image and go to settings,
then advanced settings, and you can delete your channel
if you've realized this is all one big, terrible mistake.
(timer beeping)
(channel exploding)
Well, wasn't that quick and easy?
But now comes the hard part, getting views,
earning subscribers, building a community.
That's gonna take a little longer to explain.
But if you are passionate
and you are committed to this YouTube journey,
you might wanna check out this video over here.
Best of luck. Go change the world.