Starting A YouTube Channel? Here's Everything It Takes To Get Started On YouTube

Let me walk you through, step by step, everything it's going to take for you to start a YouTube channel. Everything from equipment, software, getting video ideas, and a few other things you might not even realize you do need and you don't need. The good news is we're kicking off a brand new series here on my channel all about getting started on YouTube. Topics like mistakes to avoid when you're getting started and even what I would do if I was getting started all over from the beginning on YouTube. So if you want to make sure you're getting every single one of these videos coming up, you're going to need to make sure you hit subscribe right now. Hit the bell notification so every Wednesday you're notified when a new video in this series comes out. Seriously, click that button. Click subscribe. Before we jump into the good stuff, I want to do a quick little shout out to those who are commenting on my videos. Thank you so much, Kathy Owen. I really appreciate your support in your comments. If you want to be featured as a shout out here in my video, make sure you're leaving me a comment below. You're subscribed to my channel and you might just see your channel on next week's video. Now, before we dive into equipment and software, you first need to make sure your channel is set up right. So. So let me take you behind the scenes of your channel setup and walk through all the things you need to do to get it set up. Okay, so once you log into the.

Back end of your YouTube channel, the first place you're going to go is down here in the corner settings. This is where you can really get.

All of your settings customized. So you'll want to make sure you.

Have US Dollars if that's what you need. As far as channel, this is where.

You can add your country of residence.

You can add your channel keywords here. You can also go into advanced settings and put if your channel is made.

For kids or not.

You can even decide if you want to display the number of people subscribed.

To your channel or not. You can make channel visible or hide it and then feature eligibility is where you're going to be able to see.

How you can gain access to features you're interested in.

So we have our default features here.

If yours aren't enabled, you'll just want to make sure you have all of these requirements and then features that require phone verification.

Next up is your upload defaults. And these are amazing to save you time from having to write the same.

Things over and over in Your description.

Box, you can see every time we upload a video, this is what is in our description box. Now, we don't add a description title or a default title because every title.

Is going to be different.

But but all of this information is.

Going to be the same.

And we also upload it in private.

So that we can then make all the additional changes that we need to make it.

As far as advanced settings, I don't.

Really mess with anything in here. And then monetization settings.

You can decide where you want your ads to play.

If you have access to ads here.

In Community, you can actually decide if you want to add moderators or if you want to block people from your channel.

It also lets you block words.

So if you don't want people to say certain things on your comments of your videos, or people are saying things that you don't like, you can block them or you can block certain words as well. You can also have potentially inappropriate comments.

Held from your channel. You can hold all comments from your.

Channel and you can also disable comments as well. The next place we'll close out of this that you can go to customize your channel setup is here in the customization. And this is where you can update the layout of your channel.

So you can add channel sections here.

You can decide what video you want to be. Your channel trailer, featured video for returning subscribers. This is also where you can update all of your branding, so your channel.

Icon, your channel banner, and also your watermark so you can create your own watermark here.

If you would like a video on.

How to create a watermark, write in the comments below.

Watermark video please. And I can do that tutorial for you.

It's really super simple, but you see.

We make it look like a YouTube feature so that people are more likely to hover over it.

And then they can subscribe to my channel from this watermark. And then the last piece here in channel customization is your about section. So writing a little bit about yourself, remember these first couple lines are going to show up on YouTube in different places. So it's really important to pitch your channel.

Then you can grab your channel URL.

Here you can get your custom channel URL and then you can add links to your channel banner.

The first one is going to be the longest one.

So I'll switch back to my homepage real quick so you can see what this looks like.

But these are kind of just places.

You want people to go next after your channel.

So you can see these links we talked about, they're right up here in the corner. My prep system is right here, followed by Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. And that's pretty much the basic settings you need to get set up on your YouTube channel right now. Now, equipment, one of questions I get and one of the reasons a lot of people wait to get started is until they have the perfect equipment. But the key here is to start simple.

Really start simple with your phone.

Honestly, I'm going to show you what this looks like on my phone and how I would get the best quality with my phone. So you see, I'm still using the selfie camera. And then what you need to do is you need to get good lighting. You'll see there's a window right here. So all you want to do is take this phone that you're doing, prop it up on a windowsill so you have this great lighting. See how great this lighting is? This is with no lights, because all my lights are over here. And you can literally film your YouTube videos just like this. Another thing to add to your phone if you are recording from your phone is to using a lapel mic that plugs right into your phone. This particular mic is the Smartlav by Rode. This is one that I've used quite a few times with my cell phone. And so all you need is this mic, your cell phone and your lighting. And you have great video equipment already. Now, if you're ready to take it up to that next level, not just on your phone, you could use something like a webcam. I use the Logitech C920. What's great about the webcam is like I said, you can use it for multiple purposes. YouTube videos, filming course content, online conferences. So I really like the versatility of a webcam as long as it can shoot as well in hd. You also may want to think about an external, external microphone. One again that I bought the same time I bought my webcam was my blue Yeti mic. I'm actually using it today. So if you hear some sound, it's coming from this particular microphone and I have it right below my camera. And this gets great quality audio. As long as you have the settings set up right, there are a lot of options out there for you to get started. I will link to my list of suggestions and things that I have found have worked for me. I will link to that list below this video if you're interested in checking that out. But if you're ready for even that next level and you're wondering, well, Trina, what do you use right now, well, you saw that I use that blue Yeti right now because my current shotgun mic, my rode shotgun mic that goes on top of my camera isn't working properly. I really like, like I said, the blue Yeti mic. And my new camera that I have been using is the Canon M50. Now this was a bit of an investment. It's taken me over six years on YouTube before I upgraded to this camera. And I also upgraded a lens as well. So I will link what lens I use. But the lens was another $200 purchase in addition to the camera. And that lens is giving me this crisp look. It's kind of a little bit blurry. That's what this specific Sigma 1.4 lenses. I'm not a tech person, I think that's what it's called. But that is a bit of an investment. This little guy right here, this Canon G7X was my first camera purchase from a YouTube channel and I loved it. Especially if you're a mom and you're wanting to take photos or video of your kids and not just always use your phone. This is such a pocket sized camera that you can throw into your purse. It films in HD and I love it. I just decided to upgrade a little bit for my YouTube videos, but I still use this thing and day to day with my kids. Like I said, with lighting you can literally use a window and that's great. My biggest recommendation to make lighting super easy is to get a ring light. It is a bit of an investment, but it will be just one light that you need to give you this even look on your face. I use the diva ring light, but there are many options out there. In fact, one of my clients, Virginia, did an entire video on her equipment setup, not only for her YouTube videos, but for her reels. And I love the different options that she gave for lighting. So I'm just going to link to her video right here for you to check out. I highly recommend checking that out because she goes into detail about all the lights and what she has found works best for her. It's key to remember here that your video quality is only going to be good if you have good lighting. So it doesn't matter how expensive your camera is, if you don't have lighting, your quality is just not going to be there. So lighting is a really important investment. All right, your channel is set up, you know what equipment you need. Maybe you shot some videos, now it's time to edit. Usually the biggest pain in the butt for everybody. Now you may out there, you may love editing. And yes, I love editing as well. But for the majority of people I speak with, they hate editing. So what should you use when it comes to editing your videos? So we're gonna break this down into the Mac, Apple family and the PC family. So first, with Mac or Apple products, you can use Imovie for free. And Imovie is a great option to use because it's like Final Cut Pro, which is what I use right now only on training wheels. It gives you great options, it gives you great editing capabilities. And I edited on Imovie for a long time before I even upgraded to Final Cut Pro. And I recommend people getting started on Imovie before going to Final Cut Pro, because Final Cut Pro has a lot of advanced features. But you can get started with the simple features first and then it makes sense to upgrade. I've personally found Adobe Premiere Pro much more advanced and a little bit harder for me to pick up. I tried a couple of times to dive into Adobe Premiere. I just couldn't figure it out. And so I remain a a Final Cut Pro person. I've created a course as well. If you want to learn how to edit in Final Cut Pro. Like me, the course is called Editing for Conversions. I will link to that below and it goes into complete detail on exactly how I use Final Cut Pro to edit my videos. Okay, now let's talk about the PC people, because I know you're out there and I didn't forget you. So a lot of PC people are like, well, what can I use that's like Imovie and free on my PC? So I've heard Windows Movie Maker is an option sometimes, but it tends not to be the best option. So I wouldn't even look at Windows Movie Maker. I would try something like Camtasia or Filmora. Yes, it's gonna cost you a little bit, but it will be worth it. You'll get the options to create those graphic intros or those text intros that you want to create. And it'll just give your video the extra quality or that extra oomph that you want your videos to have. Honestly, quite a few of my students and we even had Camtasia help sponsor the Video Reframe Summit earlier this year. Love Camtasia and Filmora and those are great options whether you are a Mac and Apple person or PC person. Both of those softwares work on both platforms. Let's move on to videos. Most people are in two camps here as well. I got lots of videos. I don't know where to Start and I have no videos. What should I start with? Now I share my Greenlight video system inside of my program Video Strategy Academy. Now, the Greenlight video system is all about finding the best videos, meaning the videos that you can get your content found around and the videos that your target audience is actually searching for. Basically, it's that crossroad between videos that you need to be creating to be found by your audience and videos you are passionate about. So that cross section, I love using TubeBuddy to help me find my Greenlight videos. Let me show you how I do that.

Now, like I said, I've done an entire video on how I use TubeBuddy. But just to give you a quick rundown, I will go up into the TubeBuddy Google Chrome extension. I will go into Keywords Explorer and what I am looking for is is the topic I'm wanting to create a video around being searched. So for example, how to grow a YouTube channel. We searched a whole heck of a lot, right? So TubeBuddy is going to say actually this particular topic doesn't have the amount of monthly searches, but if we go over to this particular keyword, we can see how to grow a YouTube channel fast is searched over 4,000 times a month. So you just want to make sure you're not too niche that your idea is not being searched. For example, maybe we want to do how to build a business without Facebook ads. Remember this is very specific. So while this term isn't being searched as in whole, maybe you want to just see what Facebook ads search results are. So if we take this out Facebook Ads explore, It's searched over 1.4 million times. A bit competitive. So when we add in that other piece, maybe just using how to build a business we explore. We're trying to see if this longer freeze actually helps us better. So how to build a business is only search 20,000 times per month. And that's great. You're looking for a sweet spot that's not going to be too competitive. You can see right here it has fair competition here. The search volume is right in the middle. So again I'm just making sure whatever I pick, like right now we are in cicada time period. So if I typed in how to get rid of Cicadas, probably only going to be searched every 17 years. So not the best topic for Evergreen. Right now it's hot and trending, but two months from now it's not going to be really important. So I really come into this keyword Explorer just to solidify my topic is going to be searched and there is evergreen need for it.

Now, yes, these are considered keywords, but I like to look at them, like I said, as topics. And to really make the greenlight system work for you is to create multiple videos around the same topic. So how can you stretch one keyword or one topic into multiple videos like I'm doing here on my channel? Today is the first of a series of starting a YouTube channel. And I'm going to create about four more videos following up on this particular topic. This gets you as the viewer excited to come back and watch the next one in the series. This allows me to build a playlist that people will want to binge watch my channel video to video to video. And I can also create an additional video, a compilation video where I can pull all of these videos into one longer video, basically like a masterclass system video. Because the key and success here on YouTube, if you're starting on YouTube, is to create content that people are going to to binge, that people are going to want to come back and watch.

Over and over again.

Don't worry though, if you're stuck on video ideas. A couple weeks ago, I did an entire video with 20 plus video ideas for you. I'll link to that right up here so you can check that out next. And I'm sure these 20 ideas have got to spark some ideas into you. Before we jump into this next piece, I want to know where are you at with starting your YouTube channel? Are you getting started from scratch? Do you have an older channel that you're trying to bring back? Have you done YouTube a little bit and you're just not seeing results? Let me know where you're at in your journey and what you're struggling with down in the the comments. Because that also helps me figure out what kind of content that I could create to help you. Because that's my whole purpose here in creating these videos, to make sure I'm creating the right content that's going to help you see success on YouTube. So let me know what you need help with down in the comments. The next thing that you need to do if you're starting a YouTube channel is optimize your videos. And this just doesn't mean tags and keywords. So let's go back into the YouTube studio and let me show you everything that you should do to your YouTube video once you upload it to YouTube before you publish it.

One of the first things you need to do to optimize your video is obviously adding a tag. Now you want to make sure this tag piques curiosity, right? It doesn't just need to be for robots, it needs to grab your audience's attention. So you need to have a title. You also need to have a description, basically a quick summary of what your.

Video is about and hitting kind of.

Those keywords that people would be searching. So we have keywords and tags, we have YouTube algorithm, we have keywords again, we have YouTube keywords, YouTube keyword research in a conversational tone that summarizes my particular video. Then you can see all of this is description box defaults. They were all uploaded with each video. You also want to make sure you scroll down here to the bottom, you add a custom thumbnail. This is where you're going to add your thumbnails and you'll want to add your tags. Why I also like TubeBuddy is they give you tags, examples right here or suggestions. So if you want to make it super simple as well, you can use TubeBuddy and get tags. So those are three things right off the bat for title, description box, thumbnail and tags. Then you'll also want to go over here to your end screens and you'll want to make sure you're adding end screens to your video. What should they watch next? Maybe a subscribe button, maybe an opt in to your website, right? If you have over 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time, you can have a direct link in your end screens as well. One thing that's been really hot on YouTube recently is chapters. And, and the way we add chapters is right here. We just put in the timestamp and then summarize what each chapter is. So if you're breaking your content down by steps or tips or phases, that's how you want to break that down. Because that gives YouTube even more information and can really help your audience consume your content better, giving you better audience retention.

When you're starting on YouTube, you need to have some consistency. Not because posting every single week you're going to be favorited by YouTube but, but the more consistent you are, the better you're going to get. The more you do these videos, the more you research these videos, the better you're going to get. Also the more videos you're putting out, the more opportunities you're creating for people to find you. If you have a larger video library, more and more people are going to be able to find you and you have the higher potential of one video even going viral. But if you aren't putting out new content consistently, it's going to be Hard for that to happen. You also want to be consistent with the same day and time because you want your viewers and your subscribers to think of your channel like any other TV show. Right? When Game of Thrones was out, we knew it was every Sunday at 10pm I think friends was every Thursday at 8pm the reason why you want this instilled into your viewers minds is because you want to create a habit with them to know to come back to your channel every Wednesday at 9am for a brand new video from you, just like a brand new TV series. Right? That's why consistency is important. So you want to have your viewers and your subscribers and even your email list and your social media following know when a video goes live. So when it does, you're creating videos. A surge of traffic to this video, people are clicking on it, people are watching it and that's going to send signals to YouTube. Oh, maybe we should recommend this to more people and more people. That's why it's so important to do that. Every single video you publish, promote it those first couple of hours so you can get those views on that video and all the things that you do have going on, whether it's in your life or in your business. Even with a YouTube channel, you need to get a system or a process in place to help you do this quicker. Because without creating a repeatable system that's easy for you to get a video out every single week, it's going to be hard to keep up. But I've actually broken down every single step that I do from ideation the whole way up to promotion in my system, the prep system for success. I also provide you with additional workflows and systems that I use inside of my business to get help me save time so I can put the research and put the studying of my analytics on my YouTube channel to help it grow. Because without that extra time, I wouldn't have the time to grow my email YouTube channel. And you can get my prep system for video success by going to the link on your screen right now or clicking the link in the description box. It's only $47. You get instant access to everything that I do and training videos and templates so that you can have a system put in place that I use for myself and my high end clients that you can get consistent on YouTube and you can start a YouTube channel that grows quicker than you ever imagined. Once you grab that workflow then I recommend you watch this video next next where I release and walk you through my entire strategy for my YouTube channel for this year. Yep. No holds bar. You're getting it all. Watch that video next.