The Basics of Starting a Youtube Channel - Workology

The Basics of Starting a Youtube Channel - Workology Uploading Your First Video I’m guessing if you’re on the internet, you’ve heard of Youtube. If not, Youtube is the largest video sharing platform in the world and more importantly, it is a tremendous opportunity for your business to grow.   Although there are now thousands of blogs on the internet, many leading marketers view Youtube as an untapped traffic source.   This is because despite how many millions of people watch Youtube videos, most companies aren’t doing a good job of exploiting the platform, and that means opportunity! If you can just make good videos your audience cares about, Youtube is likely a good option for your business. This article will walk you through the basics of setting and optimizing a Youtube channel.  It will also provide some introductory tips on how to succeed on Youtube.   Planning The absolute first thing you want to do is determine what your Youtube channel is going to be about.   You’ll want to produce videos that people want to watch, that’s obvious.  But they also need to be true to your brand’s voice and about a relevant, though not necessarily directly related, topic.   Here are a few ideas for the types of videos you can produce: How to videos Interviews with industry experts Comedic videos Product or service reviews Information on how to use your product Re-publish a podcast The Basics If you want to start a Youtube channel, first things first, you need to set one up for your business. Start by visiting Youtube  and logging in in the top right corner.   Once you’re logged in, click the upload button in the top right corner and you will be prompted to create your own channel.   You’ll want to set up your channel as a brand account. Once you’re done setting up your account, the next step is to optimize it for your business. Optimization Once your channel is set up, you’ll want to optimize it up to improve your chances of success. First things first, you’ll want to edit your cover image, logo and your channel description.   You can do this from the Youtube homepage by clicking “my channel” in the left bar. Once on your channel page, simply find the small pencil icon by hovering over the cover image, logo and channel description.  Click the pencil to edit each of them.   Try to upload something that stands out and make sure that your channel description accurately describes what your channel is about.   It’s also not a bad idea to add links back to your company’s website in the description! Uploading Your First Video Once you’ve figured out what your channel will be about, created an account and optimized it, you’re ready to upload your first video.   To upload a video simply go to Youtube.com and login, once logged in, click the upload button which looks like an arrow pointing up in the top right corner.   Simply select the video on your computer and you’ll be able to upload it.   Make sure you spend the time to create a good description that describes what the video is about, where in the video to jump to for specific topics and includes information about your company.   Setting Up Playlists Once you’ve uploaded a few videos, you can set up a playlist which is a group of videos that play in a specific order.   If you have a series of videos or want listeners to hear your videos in a specific order, you should consider setting up a playlist.   To set up a playlist, login to your Youtube account and click my channel in the left bar.   Scroll down until you see “Created Playlists” and click on that.   Once in the playlists section, you should see a button that says “+ New Playlist.” Simply click this button and you’ll be asked to name the playlist.   Find the button that says “add videos” on the right hand side of the screen to start adding videos to your playlist! Conclusion Setting up a Youtube channel is a huge opportunity for business to cut through the noise and get in touch with their target audience. Even better, although Youtube offers potentially millions of impressions, setting up a channel takes just a few minutes and this guide will walk you through the very basics.   If, down the line, you want to optimize your channel further, there are tons of resources on the internet to help you with everything from optimizing your videos for SEO to how to create a great video people want to watch over and over.   We hope this guide and others help your business use Youtube to generate traffic and grow.