How To Start A YouTube Channel [2023 Guide]

You have finally made the decision to start your own YouTube channel. Congrats! This is a great step that will help you take your business further.

YouTube is the second most popular social media platform, with around 2.0 billion monthly active users (as of October 2022). 

Follow the below steps to create a YouTube channel for yourself. 

Create a Google Account (If You Haven’t Already Yet)

You’ll need a Google account to like, comment, and share content on YouTube. 

If you don’t have a Google account, follow these steps. 

• Go to www.youtube.com.
• Click on “Sign in” on the upper right corner. 

• It’ll take you to Google’s sign-in page. Click on “create account”. 

You will then be asked to enter a few personal details to create the account. 

Once you’ve created your Google account, you will be redirected to YouTube. 

If you already have a Google account, enter your login credentials on the same sign-in page (shown above). 

Note: If you have multiple Google accounts, choose the one you want to be associated with your YouTube channel. 

Use Your Google Account To Start Your YouTube Channel

Now that you have signed in to YouTube, you can create a YouTube channel. 

• Click on your profile photo (in the upper right-hand corner). 

• You’ll see a drop-down menu (just like this). Click on Settings. 

• You will then be taken to your account details. Click on “Add or Manage Your Channel(s)”.

• You’ll see a new page. Click on “Create a New Channel”.
• The first step towards creating a new channel is creating a brand account. You can choose any name (given that it’s available). The name can be different from your Google account. 

• After you enter the brand name, you’ll need to verify the account. You can choose from a text message or a voice call. Enter the code you have received via your preferred option. 

You will then be taken to your channel’s dashboard, where you can enter more details about your account. 

Fill The About Section

You can add the channel’s description to tell people what your channel is all about. 

Write a brief description of your brand and what people can expect from you. You can also add links to your website and other social media channels. 

Click on About on the channel’s dashboard. 

Then, you’ll be asked to enter details such as channel description, contact information, and contact information. 

Be sure to add relevant keywords for better discoverability. 

You can overlay your channel art for up to five links. It means that the banner on your page will contain icons for the links you choose to overlay. 

Click on “+ Links”, which can be found in the “about” section. Here’s how the option looks like. You can enter the name on the left-hand side and the links on the right space bar.

Once you’ve entered the details, it’ll look like this. 

Upload a Profile Photo To Help People Identify Your YouTube Channel

Your profile photo will help your viewers identify you (the creator and owner of the channel). 

Your profile photo will be visible at various places, including the search results page, and beneath the video on the play page. 

To upload a profile photo, you will need to update the image in the “About section of your Google Account”. 

Note that this rule is applicable when you’re using a brand account. 

Go to your “Account” under “Settings”. Click on “your profile icon” beside your Brand name. 

Click on “Customize Channel” on the top right-hand side of the page. 

Click on “change” under your profile icon. You might see this message. 

Click on “edit”.

For the channel icon, an image with 800 x 800 pixels is recommended.  

Add a Banner Image

You can add a banner image just the way you added a profile photo. 

Instead of clicking on “change”, click on “add channel art”, as shown below. 

You would like to upload a responsive banner that works well on every device, including TV, desktop, and mobile. 

When uploading a photo, you’ll see how your image will look in different devices. 

The recommended dimensions for your banner image are 1546 x 423. This size will help you prevent relevant text and pictures in your banner image from leaking off of someone’s screen, whether it is mobile, desktop, or TV. 

The maximum width for your banner image is 2560 x 1440, and your image’s file size must not exceed 4MB. 

Optimize Your YouTube Channel To Improve Visibility

It’s crucial to optimize your channel for visibility. This will help you attract people to your channel. 

To do so, click on “Customize Channel” on your channel’s dashboard. 

Click on the “Settings” tab (the cogwheel icon) on the right-hand side of the page. 

You’ll see a popup. Click on “Advanced Settings”. 

Here you can enter your location, channel keywords, link to your Google Ads account, add a Google Analytics property tracking ID. 

The keywords you add can be about your channel, the problems it solves, the products featured, your industry, and more. 

Start Uploading Videos On Your YouTube Channel

You’re all set. You can start uploading videos to your newly created YouTube channel. 

However, optimizing your channel for visibility is just the beginning. You will want to maximize your video’s reach. 

Here are the most important things you must optimize every time you upload a video. 

• Title: The first thing people see when searching for videos on YouTube is the title. Your title must be compelling, clear, and concise enough to entice searchers into clicking. 
• Description: Though YouTube allows you to enter up to 1000 characters, you must write compelling descriptions in as short as possible. Remember that your viewers come to watch the video and not read lots of text. Therefore, add only the most important information. 
• Tags: Tags not only help viewers what your video is about, but it also allows YouTube to understand the context of your video. This will help you widen your content’s reach. 
• Category: Choosing a relevant category for your videos will help you group your video with similar content on YouTube. 

Additionally, here are some innovative ways to increase YouTube likes as suggested by SocialWick in this post.

Optimizing your videos for search will increase the chances of your videos being found for relevant queries. 

Wrapping Up

Starting a YouTube channel isn’t tough. Start by creating a Google account. Login to YouTube with your Google account and create a YouTube channel. 

However, creating a channel isn’t enough. You will need to optimize it to improve visibility and discoverability. Add relevant keywords on your channel description, video title, video description, use appropriate tags and choose related categories. Happy YouTubing!