12 Tips to Start a YouTube Channel (The RIGHT Way)

Today I’m going to tell you the most important things that you need to remember when you start a Youtube channel.

First of all, you’ve already taken the most important step just by searching for this article!

As long as you follow the advice below and stick at it, you’ll have a successful YouTube channel before you know it.

You may have heard some of these tips before, but I’ve tried to nail it down to the most important principles you need to remember when starting a new Youtube channel.

12 Things to Remember When Starting a YouTube Channel

1. Consistency & Patience are Key

The first thing I would say when starting a YouTube channel, is to remember to have patience and consistency.

I wouldn’t judge anything off your new channel until you’ve got to at least 100 videos uploaded.

Once you’ve posted 100 videos and you’ve been consistent with your uploads – I mean constantly improving your video quality, consistently uploading new video content with a schedule – only then can you judge how your YouTube channel is performing.

You just have to be patient.

Starting is half the battle But then continuing is the most important part.

Get 100 videos out there.

Keep uploading videos, keep getting better, and keep going!

As soon as you’ve uploaded one video, start thinking about how you can improve the next video project.

I guarantee you that if you get 100 videos uploaded to your YouTube channel, then one of them will pop off and do well. Or maybe a few videos will do well and then you’ll start getting momentum from that.

But you just have to keep going with it:

• be patient
• consistently upload videos
• the views will come eventually

2. Respect Your Viewer

This is one of the most important parts of YouTube and building an online audience in general.

You need to respect and understand who you’re talking to.

One of the common mistakes I see new YouTubers make, is when they start talking in a way that doesn’t suit their personality.

People start using words that they wouldn’t use in a normal conversation with someone, talking in a way that doesn’t make sense for them.

I think this is because they’re not really appreciating who is watching the video.

You need to respect the person on the other side of the camera.

Try this – if you’re talking to the camera for the first time, imagine you’re talking to yourself, your family, or one of your close friends. This way you’ll talk in a way that’s natural to you.

You should respect that the person watching the video genuinely has thoughts, feelings and is an intelligent human being.

Always try to relate to the person watching the video and treat them on the same level as you would your best friend.

Don’t try to dupe your viewer into things, don’t try to trick them and don’t pretend to be a different version of yourself. This is your YouTube community that you’re building – respect them.

It’s basic advice and some people will do this naturally but, as you grow, it can be easy to start thinking that it’s an imaginary number on the screen when you start getting tens of thousands of views. You need to remind yourself that these are all real people.

You’re talking to real people with real problems, so always respect and relate to your audience.

3. Engage With Your Audience

If someone takes their time to leave a comment under your video, then that person has taken time out of their day to watch your video and reply.

So it’s only fair to reply to those comments too!

You should reply to as many comments as you possibly can (where humanly possible).

I understand that once you start getting a lot of views, it will be more difficult to reply to every single comment.

But the first 50 comments on the first day the video comes out? That’s possible.

Additionally, if someone has good criticism or good feedback for one of your videos, try to take it on board.

As long as it’s constructive criticism, we all know there are haters out there!

Hopefully, the feedback is something you can learn from.

4. Give Value to Your Audience

Always think about how you can be giving value to your videos.

Why should someone take time out of their day to watch one of your videos? How are you helping them? How are you improving their life?

• It could just be as simple as entertainment. You made someone laugh – VALUE
• It could be answering a specific question or need – VALUE
• It could be giving them tips on how to do anything – VALUE

It could be absolutely anything, but you need to think why if someone is taking the time to watch one of my videos, then how am I rewarding them for that? How am I giving value back to the person watching?

If you always give value, then the person watching will keep coming back, because they know they’re getting something from your videos:

• They know that you’re going to deliver value through what you’re doing
• They know that you’re going to deliver a high standard of content

So don’t try to trick someone into watching a video that is going to be a waste of their time.

Instead, give value to every one of your videos and you’ll have subscribers for life.

5. Talk About Your Passion

If you’re passionate about something, other people in the world are passionate about it too.

This is an undeniable fact.

If you have a specific interest or a passion – start making content about it.

Start making videos about what you really care about, because I guarantee there are a million people around the world that are interested in exactly the same thing as you are.

YouTube is just the middle-man that will help you to find the people that are interested in your passion.

Whatever you’re passionate about, whatever you take time to do as a hobby outside of your normal job – that’s what you should focus on creating content about.

If you’re passionate about something, the likelihood is that you can do it for the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years.

If you’re making consistent content about anything – even if it feels arbitrary and way too niche – I guarantee that Youtube will find other people that care about the same thing.

Then you’ll build up a community of people that are interested in the same thing as you are and will be happy to follow you on your YouTube journey.

6. Perfection is the Enemy of Progress

When people start on Youtube, they often think ‘I need to create the best video I possibly can’ or ‘I need to go viral to get my channel going’.

Then they spend months working on that one video project because it needs to be perfect before releasing it. Then maybe, because it wasn’t quite perfect, they never actually release the video.

Well, guess what?

That’s all an excuse. That’s you holding yourself back.

That’s you saying ‘I don’t want to put this out and put it up for judgment, because it’s not perfect yet’.

No YouTube video is ever perfect. No film is ever perfect. No book is ever perfect. No symphony is ever perfect.

What you can do instead, is get the video to the point where you can say – ‘Okay it’s 80% there so it needs to go up’ – and then you move onto the next one.

There’s no such thing as perfect.

You’ll improve your channel with every single new video you upload.

That’s how you make progress.

You can’t make progress if you’re trying to create the perfect video every time! The most important thing is just to start uploading videos.

So how do you know if a video is finished? Try this instead.

7. Set Yourself a Schedule

When starting a new YouTube channel, you will need to choose a schedule that works for you – and then stick to it.

For example, try setting yourself a target of producing ONE quality video per week.

Then when it gets to Sunday night or whichever day you choose to share the video, you have to post that video no matter what.

This way, you won’t be able to hide behind the excuse of ‘this isn’t a perfect video yet’.

You can put the new videos up and then move on, learning from whatever mistakes you made along the way.

You will learn how to do the next one better, you’ll continue to make progress and you’ll always be creating new content.

Again – the important thing is consistently uploading new YouTube videos and always improving your video quality!

8. The Highest Quality Video at the Best Frequency Possible

The aim is to make your video the best it can be, releasing new videos as often as you can.

So don’t try and blast out a new video every single day that you’re not proud of if it’s not your best work. This is how you can kill a new channel.

If you CAN create an amazing video every single day, that you feel is your best work, then go for it.

But if you can’t and you don’t have the time to do that, then figure out a time for you that works to create the best video content you possibly can.

Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect!

It doesn’t have to be the absolute best thing you’ve ever made, but you have to aim for high quality videos every single time.

Don’t start releasing a bunch of sub-par content every single day because you’re trying to meet that daily upload schedule.

If it’s something you’re not proud of, the person watching the video will realize that and tune out.

If you’re not respecting them by not releasing something you care about and something you are proud of, then the person on the other end of the camera will feel that and they’ll click off.

They’ll also probably stop watching your videos, because they just realised that you’re just putting out any old rubbish – not something that you’re passionate about.

So try and figure out a schedule that works for you to create the absolute best video you can.

But also – as often as you possibly can.

If that’s twice a week, great. If it’s twice a month, great. If it’s once a month, then that’s also great!

Just try to create a video as often as you possibly can and make it the best you possibly can at the same time.

9. Create a Hook in Every One of your Videos.

This tip is so important, whether it’s on Youtube or any film-making in general.

The first 15 seconds of every single video is the most important part of a successful YouTube channel.

That’s where the person watching is going to decide if they’re going to continue watching the rest of the video.

It may also even be where that person watching is going to decide if they’ll watch any of your videos ever again.

So you have to make that first 10-15 seconds grab the audience’s attention, enticing them into watching the rest of the video.

Think of any classic James Bond film you’ve ever seen. The first few minutes will always be this high-octane action sequence that grabs you and draws you in.

Then the intro rolls and the credits roll and then the actual film starts.

But the first bit is always designed to grab the person’s attention and get them to think ‘okay, I’m into this and committed now’ – and that’s how you have to see your Youtube videos as well!

No matter what the video is about, you’ve got to think ‘how can I grab that person’s attention in the first 20 seconds?’

Then, how can I get them to watch the next 20 seconds and then keep them for the rest of the video. How can I get them to watch other videos on my channel?

You can use your YouTube analytics to see exactly where people drop-off, and create new videos that keep their attention for longer.

Always try to think – ‘How can I keep the viewer’s attention for as long as possible?’

10. Target Long Tail Keywords

I would say this is the way you are most likely to grow when starting a YouTube channel.

If we think back to 5-10 years ago, ‘clickbait video titles’ worked because they weren’t being done so much. You could just have a title saying – YOU WON’T BELIEVE THIS – and maybe that video would do pretty well.

That doesn’t work so much anymore. There’s just a lot more competition.

You have to target long-tail keywords to appear in YouTube search.

If you can create a video title that also creates intrigue and makes it slightly clickbait, including long tail keywords at the same time, then do that too!

It’s far more important to understand target keywords and SEO, especially if you’re starting out and trying to grow to try and answer people’s search queries, than it is to create clickbait titles.

You have to think about targeting keywords within your video title, tags, description, and even speaking those specific keywords aloud in your video.

You can use an SEO tool such as Tubebuddy to help you with this. They have even have an option for beginners which is completely free!

If you combine all of these to target specific long-tail keywords within YouTube search, you will eventually get views on every YouTube video you create and be on your way to a successful YouTube channel.

11. Your Personality is Enough

Your personality is enough. Let it shine through in your videos.

You don’t have to be an over-the-top version of yourself.

You don’t have to pretend to be something you’re not, you are enough.

It’s a massive cliche to say just be yourself – but this really is the best way you could grow a target audience of people that are interested in you. BY BEING YOU.

Let the other person on the other side of the camera resonate and relate to you.

There’s a saying that goes, your mess is your message.

Let people know about the struggles you’re going through. Let people know about what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. Try to be honest and open in front of camera, because your personality is enough.

You don’t have to create a weird dramatic version of yourself. You don’t have to be something you’re not.

Your personality will come through naturally eventually – the more you make videos, the more comfortable you’ll be in front of camera. Over time, you’ll be able to talk to it the way you would talk to another person.

But if you ever find yourself straying, just remember that one fact – you are enough.

12. Start your Youtube Channel RIGHT NOW

The only way to have a successful YouTube channel.. is by posting Youtube videos!

It’s not rocket science. The only way you can build up a following is to post videos to your own YouTube channel. The first step is always the hardest, but unless you take it then you’ll never get anywhere!

You can have all of the training in the world. You could read this blog post 1000 times. You could watch 1000s of hours of how-to videos on YouTube.

The only real way you can have a successful YouTube channel is by uploading your first YouTube video and then continuing to upload videos consistently.

This is the number one tip I could ever give you – start now and start making progress.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

The main aim is to constantly create content. Upload your first video, then get the second video uploaded, then the third, then the fourth, the fifth, etc.

As long as you keep uploading videos and you are consistently improving, then when you finally get to that 100 video checkpoint, you will definitely have YouTube success.

READ MORE: Is it TOO LATE to Start a YouTube Channel?

Bonus: Creating videos is not rocket science.

Starting a YouTube channel doesn’t need to be daunting.

If you follow these rules outlined above, you will be well on your way to becoming a successful YouTuber.

How to Get Started on YouTube

Planning to start a YouTube channel soon? Remember these tips:

• Get your first video uploaded ASAP
• You Are Enough.
• Target long-tail keywords
• Focus on QUALITY over Quantity
• Set an upload schedule (and stick to it)
• RESPECT Your Audience
• Build your YouTube Community (with honesty)
• Be Consistent & Patient

That’s it! These were our top 10 tips for starting a YouTube channel (the RIGHT way).

Hopefully this will help you on your journey to one million subscribers! Or more, of course…

Are you planning to start a youtube channel? Do you already have your own channel? Let us know in the comments below.