How to Be a Successful YouTube Content Creator

Imagine a library with an endless number of books. That’s exactly what YouTube is. According to Backlinko, YouTube has now over 2.49 billion active users since 2024, and it is considered the second-largest social media platform next to Facebook. It is also the second-largest search engine platform next to Google, offering billions of informational videos from its users. But more than being an avenue to gain knowledge and information, it is not a secret that YouTube is also an income-generating treasure you can start just about now.

Given that YouTube is where people share their thoughts, ideas, and passion, monetizing it gives you a win-win situation if you figure out how to be a YouTube content creator. That is why the opportunity to create your own channel is never too late. In this article, we will dive into the nitty-gritty of starting your own YouTube channel from scratch.

What’s In It For You?

Starting your own YouTube channel has a lot of benefits. Apart from creating content you personally love sharing with others, you also get to meet people and communities who share the same passion as you.

But it is not just an online platform where you spend time meeting people, it is also a platform that you can maximize to build your brand, your community, and eventually your business.

However, the content creation industry has been going on for years. With millions of creators to compete with, it is essential to understand not just how to start your channel, but how to set yourself up for success.

Find Your YouTube Channel’s Niche

Just like setting up any other social media platform, selecting a niche for your YouTube channel is an essential part of the process toward success. This means you have to determine what interests, expertise, and other ideas you want to focus on that your ideal audiences will expect to see from your channel. Through this process, you can create your channel’s brand - one that will be considered unique and authentic about your channel.

To start this process, it is vital to self-reflect and recognize what topics and ideas generally excite you. You may also consider the skills and talents you have, along with your level of knowledge about the particular niches you want to focus on.

Although knowledge and expertise are crucial in niche selection, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be a master of it - but imagine creating a YouTube channel with a niche that you can journey along with your audience. Specifying these topics and ideas in your channel will not just establish your brand, but will allow you to stand out to your target audience.

However, YouTube niche selection is not a linear process. As you grow your channel, you will also develop the skill of optimizing your YouTube channel and strategize what kinds of content you may want to put out more on your platform. This will help you connect more with your community, thrive in the content space, and create more content that resonates with who you truly are.

Researching & Planning Your Content Strategy

Niche selection is just the tip of the iceberg. After identifying a niche for your channel, it is valuable to do proper market research to see which channels you are competing with, who your target audiences will be, and how you can strategize for your channel’s content and overall growth. Of course, despite your aim to be “original”, there will still be competition within your industry. However, doing your research will position your channel effectively in the competition.

You can start strategizing by checking out popular content and creators based on the niche you have selected. You can also widen your search from YouTube to Google to Facebook and other social media platforms that most people visit. By doing so, you will have an idea of what your content will look like, in addition to identifying what kinds of viewers may find your channel interesting and attractive.

When it comes to content, you may consider patterns from the keywords, content length, and tags that creators use based on your niche. You may also use free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) sites to check on the competition and volume of how many users search for particular keywords.

After this, you may develop your content calendar. You can plan out when to write your scripts, record your audio and videos, edit, and publish your videos to create not just consistency, but discipline on your end. Mixcord suggests posting video content on your YouTube channel at least two to three times monthly to gain traction.

Setting Up Your YouTube Channel

After steps one and two are done, it is time for you to finally open your YouTube channel. The process is pretty simple; you just have to follow these few steps to open the channel:

Step 1: Create a Google Account.

If you’re new to Google, visit Google.com and click “Sign in” from the upper right corner of your screen.

Once you’re on the sign-in page, click “Create account” to create your new Google account.

Fill in the following basic information asked on the form, such as your name, birthday, gender, and preferred email address.

After this, you may nominate a strong password for your Google account.

Once Google asks for you to review the account, you’re finally open to creating your YouTube channel!

Step 2: Sign in to YouTube using your Google Account.

Once you have your Google account done, visit YouTube.com and click “Sign in” from the upper right corner of your screen. This will redirect you to signing in to your Google account.

Once you are in, you may click the profile button in the upper right corner, and click “Create a channel”. This will redirect you to creating your new YouTube channel.

Input your channel’s name and upload your profile picture for the channel. You may need a 800 x 800px picture in .png or .jpeg format. Once these are done, you may now click “Create a channel”.

Step 3: Verify Your YouTube Channel.

To make videos longer than 15 minutes, you must verify your channel using your phone number. To verify your channel, click on your profile picture, then go to “YouTube Studio”.

Go to Settings and click the “Feature eligibility” tab to find where you can verify your phone number.

Under the intermediate features, you may click the “Verify Phone Number” where you’ll have to follow their instructions successfully. Click “Save” to save your changes.

Prepare to Create High Quality Video Content

For starters, creating YouTube content costs nothing. You can publish your content in any form anytime you want. However, when you really want to be successful in your career here on YouTube, you must be prepared to invest in high-quality videos to put up on your channel.

This means pulling up money to buy equipment, video-editing software, or even hiring video editors that will help you produce content that will capture your viewers’ attention, produce engagement, increase subscribers, and achieve long-term goals on your platform. Not only will these key indicators improve, but it will also establish your brand’s reputation and unlock more opportunities like partnerships and collaborations in the long run.

If you want to prepare to create high-quality videos, check out this article from Artlist that lists all the equipment you need as a startup YouTube content creator.

Strategizing Engagement on Your YouTube Channel

After publishing your first video, the next thing you may want to consider is how to build your audience's engagement on the channel. This process requires intentionality and strategy, ensuring that your content makes traction, and captivates their attention, which can eventually lead to engagements.

While making well-made visuals, elements, and engaging storytelling spiels can hook your audience’s attention, one of the sauces of creating AND sustaining audience engagement in your YouTube channel is providing value and curiosity to your viewers. That is why market research is essential! You are discovering what trends and ideas your people want to know more about.

Another tip on audience building is that when you build consistency in posting videos, your viewers accumulate, bringing traction to possible interactions among your community. Establishing a regular posting schedule and sticking to it helps build anticipation and encourages viewers to return for new content.

Consider Applying SEO for Your YouTube Channel

With market research in place and high-quality videos produced and published, it is also essential to keep in mind that producing organic viewers requires a little compromise to what you put out on your channel.

At some point, you may also want to comply with Google’s guide to rank on search engines. This means that when users search for answers, Google may consider your content as a valuable source of information and answers that users might be looking for.

As we have earlier mentioned, consider learning further SEO fundamentals and applying them to your content’s titles, descriptions, and tags. However, don’t put yourself in a box and play with your keywords and elements to create attention-grabbing titles, compelling descriptions, as well as thumbnails that can hook your potential viewers to click your video.

Generating Income from YouTube: Monetizing Your Channel

The best thing about YouTube is that it provides you an opportunity to earn as a content creator. There are three ways to monetize your YouTube channel: AdSense, memberships, and the merchandise shelf. These can help creators generate revenue from their content.

AdSense, Google’s advertising program, is a passive way of generating income by allowing creators to put ads in between their videos, allowing you to earn a share of those ad revenues.

The next form is through memberships. These allow creators to offer exclusive content and special perks to their dedicated viewers. In exchange for these benefits, viewers typically make a monthly subscription payment directly to the creator.

Lastly, merchandise shelf allows creators to sell their channel’s products directly to their viewers, making YouTube a worthy avenue of diverse revenue streams.

But there is a catch: to be eligible for monetization, your channel must meet specific criteria, including a minimum number of subscribers and watch hours. Additionally, you must have adhered to YouTube's community guidelines and copyright policies.

Maximizing YouTube’s potential to generate revenue requires strategies we have mentioned earlier. By leveraging YouTube's monetization options effectively, creators can turn their passion for content creation into a sustainable source of income.

Dealing with Challenges and Growing Your Channel

Establishing your own YouTube channel is not an overnight success. It has a fair share of obstacles that may seem frustrating, including the consistent creation of valuable content, standing out in the industry, as well as retaining your subscribers.

However, bringing your YouTube channel to the top spot and increasing subscribers really does take some time and effort. But by addressing your challenges strategically and consistently delivering content that truly matters to your viewers, you can build a loyal following and achieve long-term success on the platform.

In a Nutshell

YouTube is a powerful platform for sharing your passions and creating an egalitarian community for like-minded people. However, to become successful on YouTube, you have to be patient and persevering in the process.

Starting a YouTube channel is a lot of work, but it's also incredibly rewarding. More than having an authentic niche and producing high-quality content, you must also learn the fundamental skills you must have to win the race: consistency and life-long curiosity about how the content creation industry works.

If you're passionate about something, and you're willing to put in the effort, then what are you waiting for?

I encourage you to start your own YouTube channel now!