The great thing about YouTube is that it's free and available to anyone who wants to start a channel. Besides being there in person, starting a YouTube channel is the best way to introduce your company to a worldwide audience of potential customers.
Once you have a certain number of subscribers on YouTube, you can apply for the YouTube Partner Program to earn from your channel.
You can also earn from making videos using affiliate marketing, print on demand, digital products and other business models.
This article will show you how easy it is to start a YouTube channel for your business to attract an audience of potential customers, to generate leads that will convert to sales. And did I say it's free?
One of the biggest benefits of starting a YouTube channel includes tapping into tons of free traffic. YouTube is owned by Google, so you also stand a great chance of tapping into Google traffic as well when your videos rank.
Discover a Tool That Helps Your Videos Stand Out
Watch the video below to learn about a tool that optimizes your videos so that they can be found by your target audience.
Once your videos are placed on YouTube, your content never dies. It stays there indefinitely, grabbing traffic and views until you remove it. You also have the ability to build your email list in YouTube, growing and expanding your audience each day.
The Benefits of Starting a YouTube Channel
Here are five benefits for starting a YouTube channel targeted to new business owners:
- Increased Brand Visibility
Starting a YouTube channel significantly enhances the visibility and reach of your brand. By consistently posting videos, you can reach a wider audience and make your brand more recognizable. - Cost-Effective Marketing
YouTube offers a cost-effective way to market your products and services. Creating and sharing videos on YouTube can be much cheaper than traditional advertising methods, providing a higher return on investment. - Enhanced Customer Engagement
Starting a YouTube channel allows you to engage with new, existing and potential customers directly through comments and videos. This interaction helps build a loyal community and provides valuable feedback for your business. - Boosted Search Engine Rankings
YouTube videos can improve your website’s SEO. By embedding your videos on your website and optimizing them with the right keywords, you can boost your search engine rankings and attract more organic traffic. - Showcasing Your Expertise and Building Trust
Sharing informative and valuable content on YouTube positions you as an expert in your niche. This builds trust with your audience, making them more likely to choose your products or services over competitors.
First, Set up Your Gmail (Google) Account
If you have a Gmail account, you can skip this and set up your YouTube channel. If you don't have a Gmail account, here are the steps you can take to set one up.
Gmail is free and it enables you to set up an email account that you can use for business or personal use. Your Gmail account enables you to sign up for several services that are offered by Google, including starting a YouTube channel.
Once you have this step completed, you'll be able to set up your channel and get your brand in front of a huge audience that builds your credibility and helps you establish the know, like and trust factor.
Set up your account by taking these steps:
- Go to www.gmail.com.
- Click Create account.
- The sign-up form will appear.
- Next, enter your phone number to verify your account.
- You will receive a text message from Google with a verification code.
- Next, you will see a form to enter some of your personal information, like your name and birthday.
- That's it!
A Few Steps You Should Take Before You Start a YouTube Channel
To start a YouTube Channel, you will need to create a few things before you get started.
First, think about the niche and theme you want to cover with your channel.
Write down what you want to help your audience accomplish with your videos. What ideas are they searching for? Are they looking for trendy things or unique things that aren't currently being covered on YouTube? Have you noticed gaps in what is currently being offered that you could cover better? What problems does your audience need help with? What questions can you answer for them?
Answers to these questions can give you lots of content that you can use for ideas and topics for your channel.
Once you have answered some initial questions, it's time to create images for your channel that will make it stand out from other videos that may cover the same topics as yours.
The goal is to stop the scroll, as your audience is looking through the search results. Make sure your images (video thumbnails) do the job of attracting your ideal audience and motivating them to click on your video.
Give thought to your title, keywords and call to action when creating your thumbnails. Select and include the brand colors and a logo for your business if you don't already have one.
You can use a free tool like Canva to create great looking logos and images for your business and channel.
Video thumbnails are very important when it comes to ranking your videos. They let viewers see a quick snapshot of your video as they're browsing YouTube. The video thumbnail is also what viewers see when they do a Google search and the video results are shown.
Optimally, a video thumbnail is a branded image that represents your business and what your video is about.
Once you start adding videos to YouTube, you'll see that you'll have the opportunity to add a thumbnail once your video is finished uploading.
You can choose a thumbnail from the three auto generated options YouTube creates, (like the examples below on the right) or you can upload your own custom thumbnail (shown on the left) if your account is verified. The instructions for verifying your account are listed below.
Check out the image below and look at the differences between the thumbnails on the top and the one on the bottom. Ask yourself, and maybe ask your family which one they would rather click and why.
Examples of Video Thumbnails
A best practice for optimizing your videos includes adding a custom thumbnail that has your branding. Using a clear, vibrant image that includes keywords, a title, and a call to action. Your image should also include on your brand colors, and logo is possible to make your video stand out among the competition.
Your video thumbnail is the first thing a person will see when they are browsing YouTube, trying to decide which content will give them the best solution or answer to whatever it is they're looking for.
If you use the screen capture provided by YouTube when processing your newly uploaded video, you can miss lots of opportunities to connect with an audience.
Consider that the screen captured thumbnails (shown on the right of the image) don't include keywords or describe what the video is about, which is really important.
In some cases YouTube will capture really unflattering images in addition to not telling what the video is about. When you use generic images, you can actually run away the people you are trying to attract.
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Direct people from your videos to a well designed, aesthetically pleasing landing page that has a lead generation form like this, using simple drag and drop functionality.
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The generic screen captures are just that, generic screen captures. They may not capture anything at all that tells viewers what your video is about. Without keywords or titles, they probably won't make a good impression with someone who might be looking for the information you cover.
When creating a great looking custom thumbnail, like the one below, keep in mind that the optimum thumbnail image size is 1280 x 720-pixels (16:9 ratio). Save your thumbnail as a .JPEG, .PNG, or GIF. And try to use a high a resolution image 300 dpi or at least 150, while keeping it under 2MB.
As you can see in the example below, an optimized, custom thumbnail can draw attention with bold colors and even a call to action that gives your audience an good idea of what to expect when they click to watch.
In the thumbnail below the title and image tie in with the theme of the video. The goal is to help entrepreneurs who might be frustrated with their business results.
There is a clear call to action and emphasis on the businesswoman who is clearly struggling. You know from the thumbnail that this video will be about learning how to improve your marketing. The only thing I would do differently with this thumbnail is I would add branding. There is no logo or website shown.
An Example of a Great Looking Video Thumbnail
I can't emphasize this enough, your YouTube thumbnails are an important part of your channel. This is because the thumbnail is one of the first things your audience will see. And you know what they say about having one chance to make a great first impression...
If you're looking for an easy way to create amazing looking images, sign up for a free Canva account. Check out our quick tutorial that explains how to use Canva made specifically for beginners.
To get started setting up your channel, try one of the thousands of Canva graphics, fonts, pictures and best of all, templates to jump start image creation.
You can customize them to match your brand, personality, or elements from your video. Start designing and see what you can create today.
Why You Need a Graphic Design Tool
You might be wondering why we're including this in our recommendations. The first reason is that you will need YouTube Thumbnails that you can use to promote your videos. You'll also need images that you can use on social media to promote your business, leading potential customers to your videos and other content.
You can save money on a Canva Pro account that gives you access to all their tools at a budget friendly cost. There is also an app within Canva that will allow you to bulk upload images you can use to create lots of content for your channel and blog. Watch this video to learn how the bulk feature works.
If you are a Rakuten shopper, you can also activate cash back when you sign up for a Pro Canva account.
If you're not currently a Rakuten shopper, sign up and get your savings. In addition to the cash back you'll receive from your Canva Pro account, we (you and I) will both receive $30 when you join and spend $30.
Next, sign up for a Canva Pro account and get additional features and benefits, including the ability to schedule your images directly from Canva to social media. Instead of paying an extra service for scheduling your posts, you can use Canva.
In addition to that, you can add up to 5 additional team members for collaboration. Pay monthly or save even more when you purchase an annual subscription.
Think cash back is too good to be true? To learn more about Rakuten and cash back sites, we have a blog post that explains it all. Learn more about how Rakuten and similar sites work to give you cash back when you shop in store and online.
What is a YouTube Brand Account?
You can connect your channel to a brand account if you want to use a different name on YouTube than your Google Account. Learn more about brand accounts.
If your brand account already has a channel, you can't create a new one. When you select the brand account from the list, you’ll be switched over to that channel.
- A brand account is an account that is specifically for your brand that is different from your personal Gmail account.
- If a channel is linked to a brand account, multiple people can manage it from their Google accounts. You don't need a separate username or password to manage YouTube channels with a brand account
How to Set up Your YouTube Channel
Fill out the details to name your new channel. Then, click Create. This will create a new Brand Account.
To add a channel manager, follow the instructions to change channel owners and managers.
One Final Step... Verification
Once you've set up your channel, there's one last step you'll need to take to create longer videos and include video thumbnails. You'll need to verify your account to unlock these additional features.
Keep in mind the following:
- Non-verified accounts can only upload videos up to 15 minutes long.
- Verified accounts are limited to videos that are 12 hours long, or 128 GB, "whichever is less," according to Google.
Watch this video to see how your can verify your account. It's a very simple process.
Now It's Time to Make Videos
Once you're done setting up your channel, it's time to start making videos! Check out this article on how to optimize your videos so that they rank for even more views and exposure on not only YouTube, but on Google as well.
The list below shows gives you an idea of the kinds of videos you can start creating. To start out, pick one or two types that you're comfortable with to avoid overwhelm.
Venture out to other types after you have gotten used to making videos. Consistency is the key to generating more leads and sales for your business.
Types of Videos You Can Use to Grow Your Business
How to Start Earning Money with Your YouTube Channel
Your YouTube channel can be monetized on day one by using affiliate partnerships. You can drive traffic to your affiliate products, earning a commission each time someone you refer takes the desired actions like buying a product. That's the first way you can start earning with your channel.
Next, to monetize your channel through your YouTube channel, you can apply even earlier to the YouTube Partner Program.
YouTube changed the requirements from 1000 subscribers to 500 subscribers in 2023. Watch this video for details on how to make this happen for your channel.
Requirements for the YouTube Partner Program
How to Apply to the Program Once You Meet the Criteria
Go to your channel and click your channel image and a drop down will appear. Click on YouTube Studio, or visit YouTube Studio. Once you're in YouTube Studio, click Earn from the menu on the left.
Once you're on the page, you'll see all the benefits you'll receive at the 500 subscriber mark, and ones you'll receive at the 1000 mark.
You'll also see where your channel stands when it comes to meeting the requirements. You'll see how many subscribers, watch hours and videos you'll need to publish to meet the criteria.
Best of all if you haven't met the criteria, you can sign up to be notified when you've met the requirements and are ready to apply.
What You Can Do Once You're Accepted to the Program
Once you've reached the 500 subscriber milestone, you can earn by activating the following:
- Channel memberships: to offer premium content and member perks to viewers who pay a monthly fee
- Super Chat and Super Stickers: to offer your fans the ability to highlight their message within a live chat or to get an animated image that pops up in the live chat
- Super Thanks: generate revenue from viewers who want to show extra thanks for your content
- Promote Your Merch: Promote your official merch products via YouTube Shopping
An Affordable, Beginner-Friendly YouTube Course
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Audiobook Recommendations
Here are a few audiobook recommendations that walk you through the details you need to run a profitable YouTube channel and earn passive income. The books are available in Kindle and on Audible.
The YouTube Formula
The owner of the largest YouTube how-to channel provides the secrets to getting the results that every YouTube creator and strategist wants.
Full of actionable advice and concrete strategies, discover how to drive rapid view and subscriber growth, build a brand and increase engagement, improve searchability, and monetize your content and audience.
YouTube Secrets The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following
The authors draw on almost two decades of experience as well as interviews with more than two hundred top creators to give you a step-by-step YouTube success playbook.
How To Start a YouTube Channel in 2024
Whether you want to use videos to promote your business, or just want to earn some extra cash from YouTube, this book will help you be creative, succeed and make money in today's digital world.
The goal is to use credible resources to learn as much as you can about how YouTube works and to make use of videos to grow a profitable online business.
Keyword Research for YouTube Creators
Everything you need to easily manage, optimize and grow your channel. Find high-performing, searchable video topics, and then craft the perfect titles and tags.