YouTube is the place to be for aspiring content creators for two reasons: A huge potential regulars and one of the most rewarding content monetization programs of any social platform.
Worry it’s too late? 98% of Americans visit YouTube monthly, and scrutinizingly two-thirds visit daily. Users stream 694,000 hours of video content every minute. But it’s far from oversaturated: There’s unquestionably never been a largest time to start a YouTube channel.
These 17 beginner YouTube tips will get you views, encourage people to subscribe to your channel, and alimony you growing from day one and beyond.
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17 YouTube tips for beginners
Tips for starting a YouTube channel
1. Pick the right waterworks name
The perfect YouTube waterworks name:
- Has your visitor or personal name in it.
- Has a word or phrase that categorizes it.
- Is short and easy to say.
Stuck? Just use your first and last name. Many of YouTube’s most successful creators use their name, such as Peter McKinnon, Michelle Phan, and of course, the inventor of the modern vlog: Casey Neistat.
2. Pick the right niche
Relax, this is easier than choosing a waterworks name. Why? Considering unlike death and taxes, you can transpiration your content niche.
You may think you’re passionate unbearable well-nigh something to fill hundreds of hours worth of content… But, you’ll find out for sure when the grind gets tough and you don’t want to get up early and mucosa flipside video well-nigh it.
You can transpiration your niche later, although it may risk alienating any regulars you’ve once built — so do spend some time defining what your waterworks is going to be about.
To pick your niche, ask yourself:
- What do I lose track of time doing?
- What could I talk to my friends well-nigh for hours?
- In my self-ruling time, what do I search/watch/learn well-nigh online?
3. Set a resulting posting schedule
The road to YouTube failure is paved with good intentions.
If you want to be a serious YouTuber, you need to treat it like the job it is. That ways setting a resulting and realistic publishing schedule and sticking to it.
Many new creators plan on one video per week. But if you’re just starting, you’re likely juggling a full-time job and other responsibilities. Once weekly may not be realistic for you.
Consistency matters increasingly than frequency. If you can only make a video once every two weeks, that’s fine.
Creator exhaustion is a huge issue. TikToker and YouTuber Jack Innanen summed it up as: “I get to the point where I’m like, ‘I have to make a video today,’ and I spend the unshortened day dreading the process.”
Sticking to a sustainable schedule will alimony you moving forward without urgent out, increasing the chances you’ll stay with your creator journey long unbearable to see results.
4. Make small improvements in every video
Spicy YouTube marketing tip: You can’t get views and subscribers without first having videos.
As popular YouTuber Ali Abdaal says, “Your first video is going to suck.” He recommends instead of trying to make every video “the best,” try to modernize one small element each time. Try a new title sequence, add some preliminaries music, or test a new editing software.
Those small changes add up over time to modernize your waterworks without stuff overwhelming.
YouTube SEO tips
5. Use relevant keywords in video titles
YouTube is a search engine, like Google — except the search results are all video.
Keywords help the YouTube algorithm understand what your video is about, making it increasingly likely to show up in the “suggested” post slantingly related videos. This ways you have a largest endangerment of reaching new viewers.
Keywords can be as simple as one word (“tech” in the example above). Phrases of two or increasingly words will often requite both YouTube and people a largest idea of your topic, such as “house tech,” “drawing tech,” and “smart home.”
Don’t go overboard here — one keyword in your title is fine. Plus: Alimony it short.
Studies show video titles under 10 words perform best in YouTube’s search results, with 81% of top-ranking videos stuff under this limit.
More importantly, aim for virtually 60 notation max for your title length, which is well-nigh 8-10 words (with spaces). You’re unliable 100 characters, but only the first 60 show in search results.
Source: Statista
Clueless well-nigh keywords? We’ve got increasingly YouTube keyword research tips, or try out a self-ruling online tool like KeywordsPeopleUse to quickly find… keywords people use.
6. Use relevant keywords in video descriptions
Keywords are important in descriptions for the same reasons as above. Dedicate the first few lines to describing your video, using 1-2 keywords.
7. Link to important info in video descriptions
Use the rest of the unravelment field to tell viewers well-nigh you, your business, and link out to your other platforms.
This can be a vanilla template that’s increasingly or less the same for each video, though consider tweaking it if:
- You have a sale, special offer, or event to promote.
- You mentioned any products in your video. (Include unite links!)
Otherwise, unchangingly include:
- Video timestamps (learn how to make these later in this article).
- Links to your other social profiles.
- Your website and/or a specific landing page.
- A short blurb well-nigh you/your company.
- Contact information.
Want an instant uplevel? Grab one of our free, editable video unravelment templates.
8. Set your waterworks tags
Channel keywords act like unstipulated labels for your channel, telling YouTube what your main topics are. The titles and descriptions of each of your videos are increasingly important for your overall YouTube SEO, but these take 5 seconds to set up, so why not, right?
From YouTube Studio, click on Settings then Channel.
You aren’t limited to a specific number of keywords, only 500 notation total. Alimony it to 7-10 keywords at most.
9. Use playlists
YouTube playlists help you rank higher in search results considering users are increasingly likely to alimony watching the next video, which increases your overall views and watch time — and makes YouTube think you’re pretty cool.
You can add other creators’ videos to your playlists — which is a good idea for collaborations later on — but at first, make your own. Group your videos by topic, or alimony a specific series together. (Bonus tip: Later on when you get big and famous with a fancy verified account, you can create official series playlists.)
Manage your playlists in YouTube Studio, either under Content -> Playlists or quickly add a new one from the top Create menu.
10. Try YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts are crucial for promoting your channel which is expressly important for new creators. As of Q2 2022, YouTube Shorts bring in over 30 billion daily views.
Shorts are videos under 15 seconds, although you can combine up to four 15 second segments into one 60 second Short. YouTube automatically categorizes any video under 60 seconds as a Short. Shorts have this red symbol in search results and feeds.
Shorts are moreover featured in a defended Shorts section where users swipe through them, TikTok-style.
Take a 15 second snippet from your latest video and upload that as a Short. Largest yet, grab a few snippets from each video as you’re editing it and you’ve now got 2-3 Shorts to publish throughout the week.
Read our YouTube Shorts guide for tips to make the most of this heady new format.
General YouTube tips and tricks
11. Record your videos well superiority of time
I said it older but it’s so true: Consistency wins on YouTube.
Stay superiority of production by having your videos ready 1-2 weeks surpassing they’re scheduled to go live. This helps minimize any unforeseen circumstances that can knock you off track, like getting sick or family emergencies.
12. Become (or hire) a video editor
Your YouTube content — what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, what’s unique well-nigh it, etc — is what hooks people, but good video editing is what keeps them watching and coming back.
Editing will take much longer than unquestionably filming the video but it’s time well spent. Borrow inspiration from your favorite YouTubers to start figuring out your own editing style and techniques. Your videos won’t squint as slick as theirs right away, but you’ll get better.
Depending on your budget, you could outsource to a professional video editor as soon as you start your channel. Although for most creators, the worthiness to do this only comes without their waterworks starts making money.
Either way, set a goal for yourself of hiring an editor once your YouTube worth starts making a unrepealable value per month. It will self-ruling up your time to focus on creating content.
13. Use chapters/timestamps
Video timestamps, moreover known as chapters, are clickable links permitting viewers to skip virtually a video. Not having them ways people may leave if they can’t find what they’re looking for easily.
Not using timestamps is like publishing a blog post without paragraph breaks. Gross.
You can add timestamps manually or YouTube can auto-create them.
To add them manually, type them into your video description. You need to:
- List at least 3 timestamps.
- Format them as “01:05 Name of Chapter”
- Use 0:00 as the time of the first timestamp.
You can moreover edit past uploads to include timestamps this way. Without you save the description, you’ll see clickable timestamps like the whilom example.
14. Diamond eye-catching video thumbnails
Your thumbnail is what really hooks people. They’ll decide in a millisecond if your video is worth watching based on it. Some creators spend up to 2 hours making one thumbnail image.
Your thumbnail should be so good that someone doesn’t plane need to read the title to know what the video is about.
Art with Flo’s thumbnails are well-branded with a worldwide verisimilitude palette and style, so viewers can instantly recognize their tutorials in search results.
A few thumbnail diamond tips:
- Use icons or logos (if workable for your topic).
- Keep text minimal.
- Add creative elements to reservation the eye, like hand-drawing, neon lights, etc (depending on your brand).
15. Review your analytics
To go forward, you need to go back… in time. Not with a Delorean, but by reviewing your YouTube analytics at least monthly.
Find your analytics in the left side menu in YouTube Studio.
Key metrics to help you understand how your waterworks is performing:
- Subscribers: Including unsubscribes.
- Top videos: Requite your regulars increasingly of what they want.
- Channel watch time: This should trend upward every month. Not? Rejig your content strategy.
- Traffic sources: See how viewers find you, including search keywords.
Plus, you can explore demographics and more, including ad revenue statistics once you meet the YouTube Partner Program eligibility requirements to monetize your content.
16. Caption your videos
Closed captioning your videos makes your content wieldy and inclusive to everyone. Approximately 1 in 5 people experiences a stratum of hearing impairment, and well-nigh 5% of the global population is deaf or nonflexible of hearing. Captions ensure you don’t exclude any of your potential audience.
You can either supply your own written transcripts, or have YouTube automatically caption it with streamlined speech recognition.
For creators just starting out, YouTube’s automatic captions are a unconfined option. You can edit the captions if YouTube gets any words wrong, and editing is a lot faster than typing captions from scratch.
However, once your waterworks starts taking off or earning income, consider hiring someone to professionally transcribe your videos. Go plane remoter and caption your videos in multiple languages — YouTube will show viewers captions in their preferred language — to build a global audience.
17. Be uncontrived with your audience
Last but not least: Be honest.
In your videos, say, “As a new channel, your likes, comments, and subscribes midpoint a lot, so hit the like sawed-off and subscribe, and scuttlebutt unelevated with your wordplay to (insert question related to your video’s topic).”
Your fans want to support your work so let them know in plain language how they can.
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