How To Get Started On YouTube
Struggling to hit that elusive 100-subscriber milestone?
What if I told you there's a comprehensive checklist waiting for you, a step-by-step guide to break down the barriers that have held you back? Join me as I guide you through the essential steps to launch your YouTube channel successfully.
Episode highlights
- Essential steps to launch a YouTube channel
- YouTube Getting Started checklist
- Strategies for reaching the first 100 subscribers
- Channel branding and optimisation
- Quick research strategies and effective video planning
- How to create a powerful intro video
- Batch filming
I’ve created a checklist – it's not your average one-pager, it's a whopping nine pages packed with actionable insights.
Hit the ground running!
Links
Transcript
So you're convinced that you want to get started on YouTube and now's the time, but
Speaker:you just need to know the steps, like if only there was a checklist, a guide that
Speaker:would give you step 1 to 10 of what to do to get started on YouTube, you just go and
Speaker:grab it right now and get started, right?
Speaker:Well, I'm delighted to tell you that in this episode, I'm gonna tell you where to
Speaker:go and get that checklist and the steps.
Speaker:I'm gonna run through it all with you and then you can go and do it.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:You can go and get started and if you've got started already, and maybe you're on
Speaker:the road to your first 100 subscribers; maybe you've gone past a thousand;
Speaker:maybe this episode is not for you.
Speaker:But we'll talk about a bunch of stuff and maybe there's something in here that
Speaker:you can learn for your already successful and growing channel, in which case, head
Speaker:over to YouTube, find me on YouTube, King of Video, and subscribe to the channel.
Speaker:There's plenty of stuff there for you as well.
Speaker:I don't want to leave you out, but in this episode, we're going to focus really
Speaker:on getting started and I'd encourage you to go and download the checklist.
Speaker:So the checklist is available on kingofvideo.co.uk.
Speaker:It's called the Getting Started on YouTube Checklist.
Speaker:And I'm just going to go through in each of the individual things.
Speaker:Now the thing is with the checklist, a lot of the time, I look at these checklists
Speaker:and they literally, you download them.
Speaker:You give someone your email address, you download them and it's just
Speaker:like one page and a checklist and you're like, 'oh great.
Speaker:You know, like could you have given me more?' Actually, this
Speaker:checklist is nine pages long.
Speaker:It has the checklist at the end and there's just a little bit of detail
Speaker:and I'm just going to give you this information so probably, by the time you
Speaker:get to the page to view this, they'll probably be the link to the podcast,
Speaker:the episode you're listening, and the video, because it all works really well
Speaker:to do this and look when we talk about YouTube in general and when I talk
Speaker:about podcasting, I'm always looking for this stuff, to do this stuff, to
Speaker:add value to what I'm already doing.
Speaker:So this episode is a great example for that, you know to see how you
Speaker:can use it across multiple places.
Speaker:Also, make sure you're prepared for these things, because otherwise your brain
Speaker:goes, whoop, straight over somewhere else, especially if you're undiagnosed ADHD.
Speaker:Right, okay, so let's take a look at the checklist.
Speaker:I'm going to run through these parts on the checklist.
Speaker:There's one to ten?
Speaker:One to eight on the checklist.
Speaker:I'm going to show you what those things are, and then you can
Speaker:grab it and you can make a start.
Speaker:So the first one on the checklist, of course, if you're getting
Speaker:started on YouTube is, you must have a Google account.
Speaker:This is fairly obvious and I didn't think, I didn't use to say this to people until
Speaker:I found somebody that didn't have one.
Speaker:And then I was like, Oh my God, how can you not have a Google account?
Speaker:So you must set up a Google account.
Speaker:Please know that when you set up accounts for the first time, sometimes
Speaker:the stuff that I'm about to tell you after that takes a little bit longer.
Speaker:There's a little bit of a verification period.
Speaker:And so you might find some of these things take, 48 hours, a little bit longer
Speaker:as the accounts get created around the ecosystem, so just bear that in mind.
Speaker:So you've got to set up a Google account first at step #1.
Speaker:Step #2 is to create the channel.
Speaker:So you head over to YouTube and you can create a new channel inside of YouTube.
Speaker:Now, that used to be the case.
Speaker:I don't think it is anymore, whether you would create a personal channel
Speaker:or a brand channel, but I believe when you create a channel now, it
Speaker:automatically creates a brand channel.
Speaker:So a brand channel is great because you can have a manager.
Speaker:You can have an owner.
Speaker:You can have people that help work on the channel, whereas a
Speaker:personal channel, you can't do that.
Speaker:That's kind of one of the key differences and so a brand channel is
Speaker:just a better place to start anyway.
Speaker:Yes, you can have multiple channels if you want, but if you're just
Speaker:getting started, I highly recommend that you start with one channel.
Speaker:Now if you've had a channel for years and years and years and you've not used
Speaker:it, a new channel could be a good idea.
Speaker:I've seen this advice from some really big YouTubers recently, and they've
Speaker:said, a new channel is a good idea.
Speaker:It just depends on your goals.
Speaker:I would say it depends on your goals, and it depends on what you're
Speaker:trying to do with that channel.
Speaker:So yeah, it could be idea.
Speaker:It could be a good idea.
Speaker:I like things that have history behind them.
Speaker:So having an old channel sometimes feels good, but maybe the
Speaker:algorithm will not love you as much as if you created a new one.
Speaker:Okay, so, number 3 then, step number 3 is to brand the channel.
Speaker:Now, in this guide, do I give you the banner?
Speaker:I'm not sure if I give you it anymore.
Speaker:I used to give away a little template on branding your channel.
Speaker:It's now part of my Getting Started course, which if you download the
Speaker:guide, you'll get offered that as well.
Speaker:But you'll see an example.
Speaker:So this is my old one.
Speaker:Actually, I need to update it now.
Speaker:So recently, YouTube did a update where there used to be links on the right hand
Speaker:side and you click them and so I used to have a arrow you'll see this in the guide.
Speaker:They said download my freebies with an arrow to it.
Speaker:They've changed it.
Speaker:Now the link sits somewhere else that the links on the right hand
Speaker:side are no longer there, so I definitely need to update this.
Speaker:The one thing I'll say about branding the channel and creating
Speaker:a banner image is that it's fiddly.
Speaker:You need to test it across multiple devices.
Speaker:It's fiddly.
Speaker:The guide that I've got gives you a good, you really need to follow the
Speaker:guidance of where to put stuff in there.
Speaker:And don't discount the big image that people will use to watch on a TV.
Speaker:There's so many more people watching YouTube on TVs now,
Speaker:that you want to have that big banner that includes that as well.
Speaker:So a lot of people they'll just create a banner that's literally banner size,
Speaker:and instead you actually need a, um, a YouTube banner that fits for a TV as
Speaker:well, but has all the key information that would appear on a mobile phone,
Speaker:on a laptop, that kind of thing.
Speaker:Step number 4 is to get your first 100 subscribers.
Speaker:In this guide, one of the things I mentioned in the last couple
Speaker:of episodes, that my wife designs these, and I love that she puts
Speaker:in some extra information here.
Speaker:So, you can see it says there's certain points at which, certain
Speaker:milestones you get as a YouTuber.
Speaker:There's 100 subscribers, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000,
Speaker:10,000,000 subscribers right in there.
Speaker:Custom URL or vanity URL, it's not entirely true now.
Speaker:You can have a channel tag so that vanity URL becomes less of an issue.
Speaker:With 100 subscribers, you actually get your channel tag straight away.
Speaker:There's a YouTube Partner Programme.
Speaker:Again, in the guide, it says 4,000 watch hours.
Speaker:Actually, you only need 3,000 watch hours now, which is handy.
Speaker:It's gone down.
Speaker:The requirements have gone down.
Speaker:That's 1,000 subscribers.
Speaker:I think that's the key metric, really.
Speaker:I think when you're starting on YouTube, getting to 1,000 is where
Speaker:good things really start to happen.
Speaker:And I think I read somewhere that it's something like 5% of YouTubers
Speaker:only have 1,000 subscribers.
Speaker:It's a really small amount.
Speaker:So actually, if you can get to that amount, which is what I try
Speaker:to help people with in my programs, that's our first goal is to get
Speaker:there, because there's such a small amount of people that have got there.
Speaker:It's a good indication that you're actually really making progress, that
Speaker:people want to watch your stuff, and that you're serious about this YouTube game.
Speaker:But I give you some key, some ideas on how to get to the first 100 subscribers.
Speaker:If you head over to my YouTube channel, you'll see a video
Speaker:where I talk about this stuff.
Speaker:and you know, there's lots of different strategies you can
Speaker:use to get to 100 subscribers.
Speaker:I'm just giving you some of my best ones.
Speaker:Then, and actually it's funny because in the guide, I go research
Speaker:videos, ideas, create a video plan, film and publish an intro.
Speaker:I don't know if I'd do research before I set up my channel.
Speaker:I don't know if I'd switch that around anymore.
Speaker:I think the thing is, I think the thing is, with creating a
Speaker:channel and setting it up, I feel like you're setting an intention.
Speaker:You're kind of saying to the world, look, I'm here, I've got a
Speaker:channel, I'm going to do this thing.
Speaker:And so by putting research as #5, actually, we've created
Speaker:the channel, it's ready.
Speaker:Now we've got to come up with the content to put on it.
Speaker:So I think research can stay there for now, but I think it, you know, maybe I
Speaker:should do this as like a quick workshop where we did all of those things and
Speaker:then did the research in the same time.
Speaker:And you could do this as well, like there's nothing stopping you getting
Speaker:this done in super quick, speedy time, depending on how technical you are.
Speaker:So then, with Research Video Ideas, I give you some quick
Speaker:answers on how to research videos.
Speaker:Actually, there's loads more.
Speaker:We could go into a lot of detail there, but there's some
Speaker:quick places you could go to.
Speaker:I'll give you an idea.
Speaker:Quora, Answer The Public, YouTube itself, Google itself.
Speaker:There's some great ways to do some research, TubeBuddy, and
Speaker:there's a few of us as well.
Speaker:Once you've created your video research, and I use like a Notion document to
Speaker:come up with that research, I come up with And to kind of recommend 10 to 20
Speaker:video ideas that you might want to do.
Speaker:And then I create a plan.
Speaker:Oh right, in the creative video plan, what I'm talking about and what
Speaker:I'm referring to in that plan is, coming up with a 3-month, 90-day
Speaker:version of what your videos, what videos you're going to put out.
Speaker:So when I say 10 to 20, you get 10 to 20, you go through them, you create
Speaker:sort of 12, 13 of them and you say, yes, they're the ones that I'm going to do.
Speaker:And that's ready for three months worth of content.
Speaker:And really, if you did that, you'd be laughing, right?
Speaker:Because then you could do that once a quarter you know, I think I talked
Speaker:about batch filming before and talked about doing it every month,
Speaker:but you could do it once a quarter.
Speaker:Imagine if you could get 12 done in one go.
Speaker:I think that's too much, personally.
Speaker:I'd probably want to do three or four, but it's possible that you could do that.
Speaker:And at least if you did the planning once a quarter, then you'd always, if you know,
Speaker:did the filming every three months after that, every month after that, you would
Speaker:be able to create all this content and have a nice batch filming process as well.
Speaker:Tip #7 then, or checklist item #7 is to film and publish an intro video.
Speaker:You always need an intro video.
Speaker:Intro videos don't stay forever.
Speaker:So you could just, again, be declaring your intentions to the world.
Speaker:This is what I'm going to do on my YouTube channel.
Speaker:Come and stick around with me.
Speaker:I'm going to show you X, Y, Z.
Speaker:I'm going to teach you this thing.
Speaker:I'm going to show you that thing and then away you go.
Speaker:Like, I challenge you now, if you've not got a channel and you're getting
Speaker:started, I challenge you just to go and create a 2-3 minute video with a
Speaker:declaration of what you're going to do on the channel and just post it.
Speaker:Most people never get to the point of posting that first intro video.
Speaker:And it's ridiculous really because we might change it in 6 months time.
Speaker:We might change it in 3 months time.
Speaker:We might change it in 12 months time.
Speaker:Really doesn't matter.
Speaker:It's about getting something out there and then start getting this
Speaker:good quality content on there as well.
Speaker:Tip #8 then is to batch film the 4 videos.
Speaker:So you've got your list of your quarterly plan.
Speaker:You're gonna break that down into a list of four videos and then film
Speaker:your first 4 videos and then start publishing once you've got to video 5.
Speaker:That's the challenge.
Speaker:So you're a month ahead and you can publish one video a week.
Speaker:Okay, so the checklist is there.
Speaker:You can see it.
Speaker:There's another item on there at the bottom, which is a tip #9,
Speaker:which is all about getting lifetime access to my Getting Started course.
Speaker:If you go and download the checklist, you'll be offered the
Speaker:course, you get like a good deal the first time you download it.
Speaker:It's no obligation to buy it, but it's there if you want to, you know,
Speaker:the course is a great, a great way to understand all of those points.
Speaker:I go into detail of all of those points, even like setting up a Google account.
Speaker:I will show you the step by steps on setting up the Google account.
Speaker:So, again, I talked about, in the last episode or two, I talked about
Speaker:having no excuse to get started.
Speaker:This video, this episode is the same.
Speaker:I'm telling you the steps that you need to take like there
Speaker:is, there is nothing else.
Speaker:If you need step by step, the course is there to go and take.
Speaker:It's a low price course so that you can get started because it's in my
Speaker:interest for you to get started.
Speaker:I want you to succeed.
Speaker:I want you to do this thing.
Speaker:One thing's for sure.
Speaker:If you never get started, there's nobody will ever see your videos.
Speaker:That's for sure.
Speaker:You can guarantee that all the things that you're in your mind that you think, well,
Speaker:you know, this is going to happen, that's going to happen, all the negativity,
Speaker:all you're doing is staying safe.
Speaker:You're saying it's staying in comfort by not doing it.
Speaker:But all those things will definitely not happen if you don't publish but
Speaker:so much good stuff happens once you start publishing your videos and
Speaker:even with the podcast, you know.
Speaker:It's not a best selling podcast or in the charts or anything like that.
Speaker:It's not gonna blow you away.
Speaker:I'm not making hundreds of thousands of pounds on this podcast right now.
Speaker:But I've started and we've got consistency.
Speaker:I missed a week, but we've come back and we've got consistency and we've got
Speaker:to keep doing that in order to succeed on any platform, not YouTube, not
Speaker:podcasting, not Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker:Any platform will require the same level of consistency.
Speaker:Do it for a year, do it for a year.
Speaker:And if you want to know about that, Jerry's episode is definitely one
Speaker:worth listening to because he had a plan and you'll see how far he got to.
Speaker:Alright, my name is Matt Hughes, King of Video.
Speaker:Thanks so much for joining me on this podcast episode.
Speaker:Again, of course, share, like, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:You know, I'm so bored of saying those things.
Speaker:In the last episode, I was like, oh, you know, I've got to keep
Speaker:saying them, I've got to keep saying them to get the message out there.
Speaker:Maybe I'll just stop saying it.
Speaker:Maybe I'll just stop saying it.
Speaker:Do you really have to tell people?
Speaker:You have to give them a call to action.
Speaker:Go and find me on YouTube right now and subscribe to my
Speaker:channel and like this video.
Speaker:Let me know that the calls to actions are working.
Speaker:And then I'll look in a month's time or two months time and I'll
Speaker:be like, nope, nobody's listened.
Speaker:Nobody did the thing.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Thanks so much.
Speaker:Bye for now.
