You’re probably here because you want to upload your first video on YouTube. It might seem scary at first, but this blog will guide you step by step on what you need to do as a YouTube beginner. We will show you how to make a YouTube channel, upload your first video and even optimise it to get your very first viewers.
Step #1 Set Up Your Google Account
You need to create a google account to link to your YouTube channel, which you can do here. We recommend that you avoid using your personal Google account for your YouTube channel for security reasons.
Step #2 Setting Up Your YouTube Channel
Once you have your google account set up, it’s time to create your channel on YouTube.
You can find this in the settings menu under create a channel.
The next step is to customise your channel with your branding. You will need:
- A custom profile picture: This could be a headshot or your channel logo.
- A channel banner: This is the first thing people see when they click on your channel, so make sure it convinces them to stay and watch more of your videos.
- A video watermark: This is a tiny graphic that appears at the bottom of your videos. This could be your channel logo or a small reminder to subscribe
You will also need to customise your channel homepage layout. Your channel homepage is your storefront, you need to convince people to watch your videos and subscribe, so make sure you highlight your best videos that will get people interested the most.
Step #3 Upload Your First Video
This is the most exciting step! You are seconds away from sharing your message with the world, so you need to make sure we optimise your video to get your audience to watch it.
Things to consider before uploading your video as a beginner YouTuber:
The Title: It’s best to include 1-2 keywords that have search volume behind them and have it summarise your video idea in a very simple and interesting way to get a viewer to click.
The Video Thumbnail: This is the first thing a viewer sees before they decide to click on a video, which makes it the most important part of your video creation journey. Whatever time you are spending on thumbnails, double it! If they do not click on your thumbnails, they won’t watch your video no matter how amazing it is.
The Description: This is the main part of your metadata, so make sure it’s optimised for your keywords, but also make sure it’s written for a viewer and not an algorithm.
Video Tags: This is the second part of your metadata where you highlight any relevant keywords. This does not play a huge role with YouTube’s algorithm anymore, so do not spend more than 5 minutes writing these.
End Screens & Playlists: When you upload several videos and build a library of content, you will want people to watch several videos. This is why end screens and playlists are a great asset to YouTubers, as this is your chance to sell the viewer more of your videos.
Step #4 Share Your Video Everywhere
It will be tough to get your very first viewers, but as you upload more content, YouTube will serve your content to more and more people. It could help posting those videos on your social media to start getting some feedback or even better submit your video to one of our competitions and kickstart your content creation career.