Take this opportunity seriously. This is probably the lowest cost of entry to starting and building an online business that actually puts money in your pocket. People of all ages, and from all backgrounds, are using YouTube as a foundation to create a good living for themselves and their families.
Like anything in this world, you will only get back what you’re willing to put in … If you treat this like a hobby, you will get hobby-like results.
The YouTube channel you’re about to setup is YOUR platform. You get to make this all about your passions, beliefs, and ideas.
As you create and post new video content to your channel, people who like or resonate with your message can subscribe to and be notified as you add/post new stuff.
If you have a business, or a coaching program, you can use YouTube to promote your products and brand too. Much of my financial success is literally due to my presence on YouTube.
Content I posted on YouTube 12 years ago still puts my in my pocket today.
I want to emphasize that you don’t have to have a big Hollywood production budget to profit from YouTube.
You can literally use just your cell phone at home to build a multi-million dollar business.
The video shown below was the first video I made for my company, TshirtRiches Inc. I’ve earned well over $2 million in digital course sales from videos I shared about starting a t-shirt business.
The $2 million does not include revenue I received from Google ($83,000), partnerships ($300,000), and product sales from coaching programs, website designs, affiliate commissions, etc.
This was the first video and as you can see, it was horrible.
My lighting was bad. It was unscripted. I said ‘ummmm’ a lot. It was just bad … Watch it below and enjoy a good laugh 🙂
As you can see, there’s nothing fancy about the way I started. You really can build something great if you’re willing to put in the time and work.
So let’s get started…
Step 1. Come up with a central theme, topic, or idea for your YouTube Channel
To create an online business that’s successful, it’s important you focus on something very specific.
One of my favorite sayings is, “you’ll find your riches in niches’.
And that’s what you need to do when building your channel. Find one topic to focus your channel around. It doesn’t matter if others are talking about the same topic you’re interested in.
Your experiences are unique to you, and that’s what will make you different from the others. There will be those who only resonate with you and not the others, and vice-versa.
When choosing a topic to vlog (video blog) about, make sure it’s one you enjoy. Don’t do it for the money, do it because you enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, you likely won’t be consistent enough to make this work.
Also, I personally believe that our ‘life’ is a course … Our ‘life’ is a business … Our ‘life’ can be monetized…
Whatever you’re dealing with, you can vlog about it and share it on your channel … There are others dealing with the same thing and your unique way of dealing/handling it could help others.
I’m currently dealing with health issues (type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease). I’ve decided to start a new channel that highlights my journey as I try to reverse my diabetes and lose weight).
Here are some other ideas to think about:
- What are your favorite hobbies
- What are you excited to work on everyday
- What do your friends seek advise about
- Are they seeking advice about relationships, divorce, fitness
- How did you start your Sunday school program
- How did you get through your 1st year teaching elementary school
- Are you currently backpacking through multiple countries
- Are you backpacking through one country
- Are you teaching abroad
- Are you raising a child with special needs
- How did you get through your divorce
- How did you manage your life after divorce
- How are you dealing with depression day by day
- How did you learn to speak a foreign language quickly
- How did you get into collecting antique guns
- How did you heal yourself of sickness, disease or cancer
- How do you raise your chickens in your backyard
- How did you train your English Mastiff
- How did you teach your parrot to talk
- How did you get a job in the circus
- How did you become a rapper, singer, songwriter, etc.
- How did you start your natural soap business
- How do you make natural soap
I haven’t even scratched the surface. These are all topics one can make a singular focus around.
My point in writing these out is to get you to go deep inside of yourself, and take an inventory of the value that’s already present.
Step 2. Naming your YouTube Channel
The rules for this one are pretty easy How fun and get creative. This is going to be your brand from now on and you want a name that’s easy and can easily remembered.
In my opinion, I believe your channel name should reflect what you do, or what you talk about on your channel.
Also, when choosing a channel name (username), make sure the name is available across all social media platforms. This keeps others from taking it and prevents your audience from getting confused and ending up on someone else’s network.
For example, my YouTube channel for TshirtRiches is TshirtRiches. My custom URL for YouTube is: youtube.com/tshirtriches
In the example above, I made sure to snatch up my YouTube channel (username) across the other networks:
twitter.com/tshirtriches | facebook.com/tshirtriches | pinterest.com/tshirtriches
I did slip and allowed someone else to snatch-up my tshirtriches username for Instagram. I had to come up with another variation.
Also, at some point, you will need to setup your own blog/website in order to really leverage and monetize your YouTube channel efforts.
In order to setup your own website, you will need a dot-com name (also known as a domain name).
While deciding on a channel/username, make sure the dot-com version of your name is available.
Using my example, I own the domain name: TshirtRiches.com
In doing this, I’m ensuring my brand stays consistent across all platforms. You want to own it all.
Don’t get caught slipping like me, lol.
When buying a domain name, I recommend NameCheap.
*check to see if the youtube username is not in use before you purchase your domain name
Their platform is easy to use and they’re priced well. When buying domain name from most other registrars, they will make your name, address, e-mail and phone number public.
To get around that, most of these services will charge a yearly fee to keep your information private.
NameCheap doesn’t charge extra for that … It’s included when you purchase each of your domain names through them.
To see if the domain name you want to use is available, simply do a search for the domain name on their website.
If the name is NOT available, you’ll see a ‘TAKEN’ message like the following:
If your selected domain name is available for purchase, you’ll see a ‘checkmark’ indicating your name is available (see example below).
If the domain name is available, you can purchase it. As of this writing, the price for a domain name with NameCheap is $10.98 per year.
Once you purchase it, it’s yours. No one can take it from you during that 1-year period of ownership. When you’re close to the 1-year mark expiring, you’ll be contacted to see if you wish to renew for another year.
If you choose not to renew, it’ll be released back into the ‘pool’ for others to purchase if they want it.
Many SEO experts suggest purchasing your domain name for 5-years. Apparently, Google’s SEO/ranking algorithm factors in your purchase.
The idea is that if you purchase a domain for just 1-year, you’re probably not really serious about building a real business. Scammers and spammers regularly buy a bunch of domains to wreak havoc across the web and burn it out over the course of the year and purchase other ones to use.
To get out of being lumped into that category, it may be ideal to purchase for a few years (even with that, I generally only do 1-2 years).
While you’re registering domain names, also consider getting your spouse’s and kids’ names too…
I own CartessRoss.com … I have my kids names: SkyeRoss.com and CharliRoss.com
I had to register different versions of my other kids names because they were taken. I wished I’d snatched them up earlier (but I got caught slippin’ again).
Your kids will appreciate this unique gift later in life. Great for them to use as resumes, or to simply blog.
Don’t slip like me, lol.
Step 3. Create a FREE Google account
Now that you’ve come up with theme and name, it’s time to setup a Google account. You can only have one YouTube channel per Google account.
If you already have a Google account, I recommend you create a separate account from your personal one.
To create a new Google account, follow the steps outlined below (if you have an existing Google account, make sure to logout of it):
- Go to www.YouTube.com and click the ‘SIGN IN‘ link in the top right corner of the page.
- Near the bottom of the sign-in box, click the ‘Create account‘ link.
- After clicking the link, it may present you with an option to create an account ‘For myself’ or ‘To manage my business’. You can choose either option (I’d suggest you choose the business option to get yourself in the mindset that this is a real business you’re attempting to build and create).
- Fill out your first and last name.
- Instead of using an existing e-mail address, click the ‘Create a Gmail account instead’ link.
- Insert the username you intend to use for your channel name (for my new channel, I’m using PlantBasedFoodCures@gmail.com)
- Select a strong password and click ‘NEXT’
- Input your phone number for security purposes (optional)
- Input a recovery e-mail address (optional)
- Insert birthdate
- Select Gender and click NEXT
- Agree to the Privacy and Terms
Once you’ve completed these steps, you now have a Google account (you may be prompted to verify your account via phone, e-mail or text).
Now that you have a Google account, you can access all of Google’s services with this single account login (services like Gmail, YouTube, Analytics, and AdSense).
For now, go back to YouTube.com and sign-in by clicking the ‘SIGN-IN’ link in the top right corner, using the login details you just created (if you see a ‘profile’ icon, you’re already logged in).
Step 4. Setting up and customizing your new YouTube Channel
After logging into your account, click on the ‘profile icon’ in the top-right corner, and when the dropdown options open up, click on the ‘My channel’ option.
When the following ‘Use YouTube as…’ box opens up, select the ‘Use a business or other name option’ (see below)
When the other box opens up, it’ll say: ‘To create a new channel, create a Brand Account’, enter in your channel name and select ‘CREATE’
On the next page, you’ll be presented with options to ‘Customize Channel’, but before we do that, click on the profile icon on the left side of the screen and upload a photograph of yourself.
If you’re using this channel for your business, use a logo or product photo.
*It can take a while for your logo/photo to show up, so give it time…
After submitting your profile icon/logo, click on the reddish colored PLUS symbol in the bottom-right corner of the page, and provide the additional profile information (the details you provide here will be public and searchable):
If you have a website, company contact details, and links to other sites or social media profiles, you can list them here.
Next, let’s work on customizing your channel…
Go back to YouTube.com and click on the ‘profile icon’ in top right corner and select ‘My channel’.
From here, you’ll see a blue ‘CUSTOMIZE CHANNEL’ button: Click it.
Before you start adding ‘channel art’ to your YouTube channel, I’d encourage you to browse other channels that are related to yours to see how others have their channel setup.
In the example above, they used a simple photograph of themselves surround by fruits and vegetables (this is a vegan channel), so it works fine.
You’ll also notice her logo on the left side, next to her brand name, FullyRawKristina… And to the right, you’ll notice the subscribe button.
Unless you’re a graphic designer, you may have to hire someone to create your channel artwork. You can find someone on sites like Freelancer.com to create them for you.
Your goal here is to keep it simple and easy for people to quickly grasp what you’re about. Try not to make your graphic/photo too busy.
Also make sure you have rights to the photograph you intend to use. Don’t grab random photos/graphics from the Internet.
To keep from delaying time, when you click on the ‘Add Channel Art’ button, you’ll be presented with the option to upload your own photos/graphics, or you can choose from some default graphics in the ‘Gallery’ section (you can always come back and change later).
After uploading your photograph or artwork from the gallery, roll your mouse over the new channel art (once you do that, you’ll see an ‘edit pencil’ icon appear in the right corner of the channel art: click that pencil icon).
Choose the ‘Edit Links’ text.
From here, you’ll see option to add a channel description, e-mail address for inquiries, and links to your website/social media platforms. Go ahead and fill out these details or come back to it later.
When writing up your channel description, make sure visitors to your channel understand your goals and vision for your new channel. Inform them what they can expect to see and learn.
Make sure your description includes the proper keywords and phrases a user might search in YouTube to bump into your content/channel.
Click ‘Done’ to save your content.
Step 5. Monetizing your YouTube videos, getting custom URLs, and more…
So in order to monetize your videos/channel, you must join and become a YouTube Partner. In order to qualify, you must meet minimum eligibility requirements.
- You must have more than 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12-months (not difficult to reach)
- You must have more than 1,000 subscribers
- You must link a Google Adsense account to your YouTube account
Once you become a partner, YouTube gives it’s ‘creators’ greater access to YouTube resources and features.
You can apply right now so that once the minimum requirements are met, your application automatically gets submitted.
Watch the video below to see how to apply:
Step 6. Getting a custom URL for your YouTube channel
A custom URL allows you to give fans/followers an easy-to-remember web address to your YouTube channel. The custom URL looks like:
youtube.com/YourCustomChannelName
An example: youtube.com/CartessRoss or youtube.com/TshirtRiches
You must meet certain requirements to be eligible for a custom URL.
- you must have 100 subscribers or more
- your account must be least 30-days old
- you must have an uploaded photo as channel icon
- you must have uploaded channel art
If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can update the URL. To get the section to claim a custom URL, login to your YouTube account and click here to go to the ‘Features‘ section’.
Look for the block titled “Custom URL”. It’ll either tell you that you’re eligible or ineligible.
If eligible, simply follow the prompts to customize your YouTube channel.
Step 7. Finishing Touches
In this quick video, we’ll select a few more options to customize that’ll make it easier for our videos/channel to get found.
Make sure to do the things outlined in the video above.
These little things will help you save time, and it helps your channel and videos get found on YouTube and Google Search when people use the appropriate keywords.
Step 8. Shooting Your First Video
Alrighty… It’s time to shoot a video. I’m not going to drag this out and make it overly complicated, because it’s not.
90% of the videos I’ve shot over the last 2 years have come directly off my cell phone, and a bunch came from my laptop.
So in this section, I’m not going to get into fancy high-end video equipment. Just start with what you have… If you have a mobile device with a camera, use it …
This could come in the form of an iPod, iPad, tablet, mobile phone.
If you have a video camera, or a camera that’s on your computer or laptop, use that. The goal here is to just start.
As mentioned in the video above, go ahead a create an intro video. This video should outline your vision/goals for the channel.
Map out what you hope to expect and show how your subscribers could benefit from subscribing/watching your channel.
Let the passion for your topic shine through in this video.
Don’t worry about all the fancy stuff, background music, or fancy graphics popping up on the screen — just get started now!
Step 9. Uploading Your Video to YouTube
By this point, you should have created your intro video for your new channel. I did mine, but first, let me show you how to upload your video to your YouTube channel (play video below).
Uploading Your Video With a Mobile Device: To upload video directly from your mobile device, you must download the YouTube app. Login to your account & follow the prompts to upload your video (see video below)
It’s REALLY that simple partner…
Now go shoot the intro video for your YouTube channel. Go do it now. Don’t delay. Don’t second-guess it. Don’t over think it…
Just go do it now… Take a look at mine below.
It’s very simple. Nothing fancy or clever. I can always come back and improve upon it at a later time, but for now, good enough is good enough.
Step 10. How to Make This Work for You!
So what do you think? Easy enough?
The only way this works is if you actually work it… Don’t sit around thinking about it, or dreaming about it.
Need help with your YouTube Channel? We can setup and customize your YouTube channel for you. Get all the details on the following page: click here!
