You must be having this question in your mind if you are a Beginner?
Good that you landed in this blog: All your questions about starting a YouTube Channel and monetizing it will be addressed in a well planned approach in this article.
Is it too late to start a YouTube channel? Is it difficult for a beginner to start and monetize a YouTube Channel in current scenario? Can I make YouTube videos without any video editing knowledge or equipment? Can I get content ideas? All these questions might be troubling you right now, but don’t worry you will get all your answers with proper reasoning and logic in this blog.
Are you eligible to open a YouTube Channel? Of course, you are and you can very well run a successful YouTube channel without any advanced or technical knowledge. If you plan and strategize well in advance and most importantly, trust yourself and be patient, you too can also be successful. Its never too late.
There is no right time to start a YouTube channel, if today you have decided that opening a YouTube channel will help you choose a passion you follow then stick to it. Let’s get started and know how you can start your channel and grow it further using systematic approach as given below.
Table of Contents
What is YouTube?
If you already know it, please skip to the next heading. As a general information, YouTube channel is your personal online space where you can upload your video content and share it with the entire world for FREE by having very basic knowledge of internet world.
Here you can create playlists, upload unlimited quality and valuable content both in long form and short form videos. There is no language restriction, you can create videos in your comfortable language and upload it. It is very important to understand the policy and community guidelines before starting a YouTube channel.
Creating a YouTube channel will be your first baby step to build your own brand either as an influencer, or a business owner, or a content creator etc. So, let’s dive deep into the process of becoming a successful content creator.
How is the current YouTube platform different from YouTube 10 years back?
In today’s time YouTube is watched by everyone may it be a child, teenager, adult or age-old people, from nook and corner of the world. Amongst all the video portals, YouTube dominates and stands at the top.
Daily consumption of YouTube has almost doubled. Therefore, it is clear that there is a lot of competition among YouTubers. New algorithms (meaning platform updates) are launched by YouTube from time to time which are necessary for the common people like us to understand.
Today short form content is in trend because people like to consume more content in less time but this does not mean long form videos are not in demand. Comparatively short form videos are in high demand now a days.
The way of engagement with the audience has changed a lot and it is very much important for you to know this, so that you can grow and monetize your channel in a planned way.
What is a Niche and why is it important for you to know this term?
If you want to be successful in YouTube then it is important for you to know the meaning of Niche. Niche is an audience segment of YouTube which you want to specifically target.
For example, if you like to do body building or go to the gym and you have a lot of knowledge and passion related to body building then you can create videos which will target those people who like to watch content related to fitness and body building. Here your target niche will be Health and Fitness which is considered as Broad niche or Macro niche.
Broad Niche have many small very specific niches (audience segments) called as Micro Niche. For example: very specific audience targeted content related to Yoga or meditation or body building or exercise or nutrition and diet and so on. These micro niches match exactly with the interest of the audience or viewers.
Before you take the first step towards YouTube, it is very important to figure out your niche. Many of you may have a thought that “I do not know what is my niche, how will I build a good YouTube channel”. To find out your niche, consider the examples given below and try listing down in a diary or paper what you enjoy doing the most and what you love the most:
- If you enjoy spending time with family and you like to talk a lot – Then you can go for a daily vlogging channel (which comes under a vlog or general niche)
- If you like to eat while roaming and like to cook food or like to explore food junctions – Then you can create a food related channel; that can be either a cooking channel, or a food review or food vlogging channel.
- If you like doing yoga and meditation and you have a lot of experience in it – Then you can go for creating a Yoga and Meditation channel which is your micro niche.
And so on…
Important Tip:
Remember, that your passion or interest exclusively doesn’t decide your niche. You should have experienced it yourself and should be able to generate content from your experience that will be highly valuable and helpful for your audience. Only then there are high possibilities of your channel’s growth.
For example, you enjoy watching exercise, gym and fitness videos, but you have never been to a gym or did those exercises or got training from anyone, then you will not be able to help your audience with your videos and your channel may have high chances of no or less growth.
One well defined niche-based channel keeps you focused, helps you to create relevant content, gives you scope to create new unique content every day. Such type of content if created and shared with your niche targeted audience, it resonates well and gives you more subscribers, channel growth and revenue in return. This encourages you to build a community and create more content for your viewers.
How to find your target Niche?
To find your target niche, try implementing you passion, skills, knowledge areas, experience at one place. Research all the possible existing channels related to your niche and try to find out the gap areas or opportunities where you can add a unique value and re-launch the content.
Use tools like Youtube Analytics and Google Trends which will help you to find out popular topics and the need or demand of audience in your interested niche. This will help you to position your content in the YouTube in a better way.
How to select your YouTube Channel name?
Your channel name on the YouTube may become your brand identity, so choose the name of your YouTube channel wisely. If you want to grow your brand in your name which most of the freelancers or digital marketers do, then you should choose your full name as your channel name.
If you are choosing any other channel name other than your own name, then please keep in mind that it should be easy to pronounce, relevant to your niche, catchy and interesting so that viewers remember it for a long time. It also helps viewers while they are trying to find content related to your channel.
Choosing a correct name is crucial because it attracts your target audience and helps in increase the subscriber count ultimately resulting in the growth of your channel.
If you can add niche related keywords in your channel name, that also gives a boost to your search ability in YouTube algorithm and helps you to improve SEO (search engine optimization).
Alternatively, you can also take the help of AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini to choose an apt name for your YouTube Channel.
YouTube Long Videos or YouTube Shorts: Which Is better?
YouTube has following formats of videos:
- Traditional Long form videos: It helps viewers to dive deep into the topics and explore or learn in a much better way. If the content is unique and liked by a wider audience, it can bring in good engagement.
- YouTube Shorts: This type of content is quick, engaging, grab viewers’ attention easily.
- YouTube Live: This helps to engage with your channel community and build more engagement and ideas.
All the formats have both advantages and disadvantages, but it depends on your goal that which format you want to stick too. In my opinion, both long and short form content should be uploaded whereas long form content should be used for engagement and shorts should be used to drive in traffic to your channel. Engaging Shorts are quickly listed in YouTube recommendations.
Effective Strategies to Grow your audience or Subscribers in YouTube
- For the first initial 100 videos you should only focus on uploading the most valuable and unique content. Forget about monetizing your channel or growing your audience, but do keep a keen eye on your channel analytics. It will help you decide how the audience is interacting with your channel and from which age groups, locations, people category you are getting engagement.
- Second, focus on high quality consistent content that would help your audience segment know that you regularly keep adding value to their life or helping them learning something out of YouTube.
3. Third, always try to keep a “call to action” dialogue at the start of your content, letting the viewers’ know that you get a higher motivation if they like, save, share your content and subscribe to your channel. But it is important to understand call to action should only be implemented when you have uploaded considerable and valuable content on your channel. DO NOT ask to subscribe right from your first content.
Note: Call to Action is also required in the description section of your video asking your viewers to follow you social media handles, like, comment, save, share the video if they loved watching it, and finally asking them to subscribe to your channel for more such similar videos.
4. Fourth, try to increase the engagement with your viewers or community via comment section. This is a very good tool to attract more subscribers. Asking to comment can also be a very good “call to action” exercise.
5. Finally, when you have a good number of subscriber count, try to offer giveaways or rewards to your viewers. This will help your channel spread via word of mouth and referrals.
How to use YouTube Tags for maximum reach?
YouTube tags are those keywords that you would use to describe your video content. YouTube algorithm crawls through those keywords or tags and help you rank your video in its recommendation list. Relevant and popular or trending keywords of course related to your niche, helps your videos to reach more and more targeted audience.
There are many tools like VidIQ, TubeBuddy etc. that you can use to find relevant and trending tags for your video. I am not going into detail to explain you these tools, but I will sure make another blog specific to these tools that can help you grow.
You can also add hashtags in the Title and description but please make sure not to add more than 3 hashtags in the Title and not more than 15 hashtags in the description.
Description of your video also plays an important role to rank your video. Hence it is mandatory that you add relevant keywords naturally within your description.
How to get Free Subscribers: Myth or Reality?
You will come across many services and agents who would claim that they can get you free subscribers or a certain number of subscribers in exchange of some monetary benefits. Please be aware and very cautious from such services. It may ban your channel as YouTube algorithm is very smart to understand such activities.
Organic growth that comes through posting valuable content and the level of engagement you get from your viewers is the only natural process of getting more subscribers and growing your channel. Focus to build a genuine community instead of going for shortcuts.
If you are planning to start a YouTube Channel after reading this blog, you may check out the below equipment that may help you in your content creation Journey!
Tips for Beginners:
Do’s | Don’ts |
There are a lot of YouTube videos that explains you how to open and set up a good YouTube channel. Watch at least 10 of these videos from different channel and note down important steps in a diary | Do not try to copy famous YouTubers |
Understand the meaning of certain terms such as Niche, vlog, video length, tags, SEO, frames, end card, keywords, Title, Thumbnail, shorts, reels, posts, etc that are commonly used by a YouTuber. | We are consuming a lot of content on daily basis, Do not just jump into starting a YouTube channel by becoming overwhelmed from any influencer or seeing a successful youtuber |
Take guidance from an existing YouTuber of you know any. Practical experience helps a lot. | Do not think of getting immediate results |
You should have access to good internet speed, working laptop or mobile (better if it’s a laptop) and other basic equipment if you can afford. I personally do not recommend any expenses on equipment unless your channel is monetized. | Do not start a YouTube Channel thinking it will give you returns in terms of money on an immediate basis |
Make up your mind, consistency and persistence only can help you dive deep into the digital world. If you are not ready, take some time and have patience, do a comeback with better planning and strategy. | Do not start a YouTube Channel with an intention to start earning money from it. At least not in the initial one year. Do not start a YouTube channel if you are not sure about your passion and Niche |
Be Happy and confident. Do listen to your inner self. | Do not start making videos without having basic knowledge of how a video framework looks like. Its okay if you do not know editing, you can learn it but having a basic knowledge of how a video framework looks like is important. |
HAVE PATIENCE. | Do not jump into the digital world without having a basic knowledge how a social media world interacts and works together. This is very important for you to know as it can give you multiple sources of income |
Read this article to know more about how YouTube can be a successful online Business.
Frequently Asked Questions:
There are so many content options but few of them are quite trending in 2024 such as product or gadget reviews, “how to” content, personal vlogs, mysteries and facts, educational content, 24 days or 100 days challenge, health and fitness, etc. Such formats keep your viewers engaged with your channel and help you grow quickly.
Absolutely, it is. You will have to set clear goals and make unique and valuable content for the viewers that will give your YouTube channel growth and subscribers ultimately resulting in monetization of the channel. It is very important for your to be consistent, persistent, share something unique and valuable to the society and be patient. The growth starts slow, but takes a peak once you are consistent.
It is not at all difficult to get your YouTube Channel monetized provided you have applied the right strategies, focused goal and have a clear vision in your interested niche. You can create really valuable and unique content to share with your viewers and monetize the channel faster.
Definitely You Can! Before starting a YouTube Channel, it is important to ask some questions to yourself like what is your interested niche or target audience, what type of content you really love making, how much time you will be able to devote, how consistent you can be and so on. Apply the right strategies with appropriate targetting for effective results.