How to Start a YouTube Channel

1) Sign Into Your Google Account.

Before you can start creating a YouTube account, you must sign in to your Google account. (YouTube is owned by Google.) If you do not have an account, that’s okay! You can check out our quick tutorial on How to Create a Google Account. Once you sign up and sign in then move on to step 2 below!

2) Click on My Channel.

After signing in to your YouTube account, click on the drop down arrow next to your avatar in the top right corner. This is the same place where the, “Sign In” button usually is. After you click on the drop down arrow, a new set of options are made available. The first thing you want to do here is to click on, “My Channel”.

3) Decide the Name.

This is one of the most important steps when it comes to creating a YouTube channel. Deciding your channel name! You can either use your name by default or you can choose a different name of your choice by clicking on the “To use a business or other name, click here” button. Most people like to choose a different name instead of using their own names.

Choose Your Channel Name

When deciding on a name, be sure to consider what your YouTube channel is about. If you want to upload or create videos about cars, then you probably don’t want to choose a name related to cooking or other irrelevant names.

You want the name to represent and explain what your YouTube channel is about. For example, if you wanted to vlog about the latest fashion trends, you could pick a name like, “Fashion Trends Today” or “Carly’s Fashion Picks”. You get the point! Choose a name that describes your channel.

After deciding on a name, fill in the required fields below and be sure to read over the page terms before selecting, “I Agree”. Once you finish filling in the information required, click on, “Done”.

Fill In The Required Fields

4) Take a Quick Tour.

Once you finish the naming process, you are taken to your channel page. You may also see an option at the top right of your page that invites you to take a tour of your new channel. It’s quick and it helps you get familiar with different options for editing your channel.

3 Part Channel Tour

5) Edit YouTube Account Settings.

In order to edit your account settings, you must go back to the drop down menu by clicking on the downwards arrow and then select, “YouTube Settings”.

Creating a Custom YouTube URL.

It’s always great to have a custom YouTube URL instead of a default one. For example, your YouTube channel url may be “www.YouTube.com/user/blahblah8920128h0hd0dn0–9” etc. Instead, you can have a custom url for your channel that is branded. It can be “www.YouTube.com/user/YourChannelName”

This can be of great help when it comes to promoting your channel. It is something that others can remember more easily, you can include it on business cards, t-shirts, or other items because it is short and simple instead of one long random url.

So let’s create a custom URL for your YouTube channel. After reaching the YouTube settings page, click on the, “Advanced” button.

Click on the Advanced Button

You are now taken to the channel setting page. Click on the, “create custom url” button on the right of the default url.

Click on Create Custom URL

Now, you have the choice of creating a custom URL. Remember, these are the words that come after “User/” in the URL of “www.YouTube.com/user/YourURL “. Pick wisely!

Sometimes it can be hard getting the URL you want because a lot of options are already taken. In that case, try adding a word before your choice. For example, if you wanted your URL to be YouTube/user/JanesCookingTips and it’s taken, try adding a word before like, “Watch” or “Its”. So now you have YouTube/user/WatchJanesCookingTips.

After deciding on a URL, click on create channel url. You now have your own custom channel url.

Create Your New URL

Connecting Your Account to Social Media.

If you want to connect your YouTube channel to your social media accounts, click on “connected accounts’’ which is under the account settings menu on the left side of your screen.

Connecting Your Account to Social Media

You can connect your YouTube channel to your Facebook and Twitter profiles.  This is used to create statuses on your social media accounts every time you upload a video, like a video or edit your playlist. Be sure to click save once you’re finished!

Edit Your Privacy Settings.

In order to edit your account privacy settings, just click on the Privacy button under the connect accounts button on your account settings page.

Edit Your Privacy Settings

On this page, you can make certain actions private. This includes options like your subscriptions or liked videos and playlists. You can even edit settings regarding how people can contact you on YouTube.

Email Notification Settings.

After editing your channel privacy settings, feel free to click the Email button under Privacy on your account settings menu.

Edit Your Email Notification Settings

On this page, you can select how many times you want to receive notifications from YouTube through email. These notifications can be for subscriptions, newsletters, channel analytics, and other information. So pick and choose what you would like to be emailed about. You can even decide how often you prefer to be emailed.

You Are Done.

That should bring our journey to an end. These are usually the basic settings that you should go through in order to start a YouTube channel. For more advanced settings and features check out our other articles on YouTube channel customization