In today’s marketing landscape, video content is essential for success. To put it in perspective, 33% of people’s time spent on the internet is allocated to watching videos and 55% of people watch videos online daily. 

Although written content has been the basis of content marketing for several years, times have changed. Many would rather watch a video than read pages of content. 

In fact, a report from HubSpot suggests that 85% of marketers are using YouTube, making it the most widely-used platform for video. Additionally, thanks to our easy access to smartphones, the average person spends approximately 50 minutes a day watching online videos. 

These numbers are certainly impressive, but how do they apply to your content marketing efforts?

Below, we’ll walk you through the steps of starting your YouTube channel, and provide you with additional tips to set yourself up for success. 

Why You Should Make YouTube Videos for Your Content 

There are almost 2 billion active monthly users on YouTube, which gives you an enormous opportunity to gain visibility and spread brand awareness.

Successful channels are even eligible to make money from advertisements and monetization. Although YouTube gives a content creator 55% of this revenue and takes 45% for itself, it’s still worth having extra income from advertisements. You may even have the chance to gain sponsorships and begin affiliate marketing which provides an additional source of revenue for your business. 

Even if you decide not to use YouTube for money directly but only for branding and video marketing, you still need subscribers. They boost your play count, watch time, and user engagement. These are all super important for signals to YouTube’s algorithm. 

However, the largest benefits come from implementing video content into your website. Video content is easily shareable, engaging, and memorable. With it, you can increase dwell time and boost your SEO, while also enjoying more traffic to your website.

Step 1: Create Your Channel

The first step to starting a successful YouTube channel is creating it!

In order to do this, you will need a Google account. YouTube is owned by Google (this is why YouTube is so instrumental in boosting your SEO), so you will use your Google account to access and manage your YouTube channel.

Once you’ve got your Google account information ready, all you have to do is head over to YouTube and log in with that information.

Once you’re logged in, click the account thumbnail icon in the top-right corner of the screen to open the drop-down menu. From here, click the settings icon to go into your account settings.

In your account settings, there will be an option to create a channel.

It will ask for your name, but if this account is for your business, you’ll want to choose the option that says Use a business or other name.

You will then be prompted to enter the name of your YouTube Brand Account. Use the name of your business or something similar. Remember, this is how audiences will identify your channel and the people behind it. After you have confirmed your account name, your YouTube channel has officially been created!

Step 2: Customize Your Channel

After creating your YouTube channel, the next step is to customize it to make sure that your channel stands out from the rest.

You can upload photos to your channel and your account icon, making it easy to identify your brand at a glance.

After choosing some photos that fit your channel, click the About tab to add more details.

In the About tab, you can add a description of your channel. This is a great opportunity to tell your audience what you’re all about.

You can also add contact information or links to your website, which will give prospective customers the resources they need to easily reach you.

Step 3: Verify Your Account

Once your account is created and customized, you’ll want to verify it so you have full access to benefits like custom thumbnails and the ability to upload longer videos.

To verify your account, click on the account icon to bring up the drop-down menu, then click on Creator Studio. 

Or use this link: www.youtube.com/verify to verify your account using your phone number. 

From here, click on Channel and then Status and features.

Then, all you have to do is click the Verify button!

Step 4: Upload Search Engine Optimized Video

Now that you have your channel set up, it’s time to start uploading your YouTube content. 

With YouTube, uploading videos is as easy as clicking the upload button and dragging your video onto the screen. Using the best editing software for your videos is also an important factor for branding and video quality.

As your video uploads, you’ll have the chance to add a title, description, and tags to the video.

These details are incredibly important for YouTube search engine optimization and ensuring that your content reaches its intended audience. Here are some tips for helping your video rank:

  • Title – Your video title should be 5-10 words long. It should also include a keyword at the front of the title, which tells YouTube what the video is about. With this information, YouTube will suggest your video when people type your chosen keyword into the search bar. Adding other relevant information, such as the year or “how to”, can also help.
  • Description – Your video description should be about 150 to 200 words. In order to rank your video higher on YouTube, you should include the keyword that you used in your title multiple times throughout the description, especially in the beginning. You can also link back to your website in the description, which increases the chance that your viewers will visit your website.
  • Tags – The tags help YouTube categorize your video and suggest it to viewers who are watching related content. You should use your keyword here, too. You only need about five tags, any extra tags will only confuse YouTube. In addition to your main keyword, you should include a few alternative keywords that are similar to your main keyword. Then, include a few broader terms that relate to your keyword.

Step 5: Embed Videos to Your Website

Once you’ve begun creating content and uploading your search engine optimized videos, you’ll want to embed them on your website to further increase your traffic and your rankings.

Don’t know how to embed a video on your WordPress? It’s simple!

First, log into your WordPress dashboard and either create a new post or navigate to the post that you would like to add your video to.

Then, click the plus sign in the top-left corner to add a block to the current page.

Here, you will have the option of inserting a Video block, or a block specific to YouTube.

…or a block specific to YouTube.

After inserting the new block, you will be able to embed your video using its YouTube URL.

It’s important to use the URL here instead of uploading your video directly to your site. If you upload directly, you won’t get any SEO benefits!

The presence of links between your website and your YouTube video is essential for driving traffic and increasing your rankings.

How Do You Get Followers on YouTube with a New Channel?

You might feel a bit of an urge to buy Youtube subscribers, especially if you are a new channel just trying to reach that 1K mark. Youtube Analytics may also help you keep track of your metrics and which piece of content gets the most engagement and views. 

Let me tell you why it won’t work. The truth is that video creators behind Youtube’s top channels don’t spend time, effort, and money on growth schemes. Because bought subscribers don’t engage, they look shady to any real audience you have, and you risk getting caught by Youtube’s fake engagement policy. 

With that said, let me give you some great advice for earning free (real) subscribers for your new Youtube channel:

Create awesome Youtube video thumbnails

Thumbnails don’t affect your SEO or video ranking, but they certainly encourage people to click on your video instead of the videos above or below it. Visuals are such an important part of creating your own Youtube channel brand. 

They can also boost your channel name and brand. The best way to grab someone’s attention is using a custom thumbnail. Adding text, images or other elements to the thumbnail can make your video look much more appealing. 

Not only will you want to create great video thumbnails, but you’ll want to create awesome channel art, which includes a good channel banner. As a quick reminder, the appropriate size for a Youtube banner is a 2560 x 1440 pixel image.

So, how do you create awesome thumbnails? Use free websites to help you design your thumbnail graphic art such as Canva. You can also use Canva to help you design your infographics, your Youtube banner, and much more! 

Custom thumbnails tend to be more successful than random copyright-free images. Backlinko also suggests using bright colors in your thumbnails such as yellow, green, and orange tend to stand out more. Use your personality, your creativity, and your color palette! 

Use youtube’s clickable subscription tools

Youtube offers built-in tools that are clickable to help you encourage viewers to subscribe. Such as an end screen and a brand watermark. These methods work both for new videos and existing content. 

At the end of your video, you can remind people to subscribe to insert your call to action before Youtube moves on to the next video. You can add an end screen to videos during the uploading process as long as the video is around 25 seconds long. You can update any existing videos with an end screen as well. 

To add an end screen to an existing video, click on “content” in the left menu of Creator Studio, then click the video you want to update. Click “end screen” on the right side and add a “subscribe element” to your video. 

If you want to add a branded watermark you can always click “customization” in the left menu of Youtube Studio and then 

Create playlists for your videos

Playlists are a good way to increase your channel watch time which affects your ability to monetize. The neat thing about Youtube is that it will autoplay your playlist to your audience in the order you want. 

So, for example, if you created tutorials for beginners to the advanced, you can place them in the correct order for your viewers. Using playlists can also help your audience break down some of your information without watching hours of video. 

Collaborate with other creators

Outreach is a great tactic for any SEO from blogging to Youtube. Building a community can be a great way to gain subscribers. 

Use your connections to reach out to other Youtube creators to ask if they would like to collaborate with you so you can both leverage off each other’s viewers. Your audience trusts your brand, and their audiences trust theirs so collaboration can be a win-win for both of you! 

Once you begin to expand, you may even find that your audience may suggest different collaborations, so keep an eye on your comment section for ideas. You can ask for suggestions as well, which may also help you encourage engagement for your viewers. 

Be consistent when posting videos

Most Youtube SEO experts agree that posting a video once a week to start with, then increasing to 3 to 4 videos a week as your channel grows. 

The concept is that the more videos you post, the more your audience will grow. But, the goal is to prioritize quality over quantity. 

It would be best to focus on quality and consistency before banging out a ton of underwhelming content on your Youtube account. You can also use programs like Hootsuite to help you schedule your videos for publishing. 

According to a study by Boosted, the best level of engagement on Youtube happens on Fridays, Saturdays, and Wednesdays. On most days, the best time to publish your content is around 5 p.m., however, you can also post anytime before 9 p.m. with some level of success. 

However, keep in mind each social media platform has different days and times that perform the best so research is key here. 

Use a call to action (CTA) phrase

Ask your viewers to subscribe, it might sound simple, but there’s a reason every Youtuber adds a “hit like, share, and subscribe” bit after every video! Encouraging engagement is a great marketing tip for new channels. 

In fact, a good CTA phrase encourages high value with low risk to your audience and the average click-through rate across every industry is almost 5%, which is higher than Google ads. 

Try to remind your viewers why your channel is worth subscribing to. Make sure you ask for a sub after you’ve given them some new or useful information. Asking too often or too soon may result in sounding too salesy which can be a turn-off for some audiences.

That’s It! 

Like any marketing strategy, you need to be consistent in your efforts in order to achieve the best results. Upload videos regularly to keep your audience engaged and continue to enhance your SEO benefits.

You might even want to consider creating a custom intro for all your videos on your channel to help with branding.

Don’t forget to sign up for free and check out some of our other SEO tools!