YouTube is the most popular video-sharing platform and has more than 31 million channels. The sheer number of channels illustrates the intense competition in this field. Today, content creators constantly look for the best YouTube equipment, shooting location, and editing tools. Armed with all of these, they intend to create quality content that will keep the subscribers glued to the channel.

However, keeping your viewers hooked to your YouTube channel is easier said than done. If you do not want to have your videos lost in a sea of content, you need to take proactive measures about creating a powerful YouTube channel. Here are ten tips that you must consider before you create your YouTube channel.

Consistent Posting

A look at some of the most popular YouTube channels will reveal that all of them are consistent with their posts. When you launch a channel, you cannot afford to wait for perfection in every single video.

Ideally, you should identify your resource availability and come up with a posting schedule that is convenient for you. Ensure that you stick to the schedule and deliver consistent content. When you force yourself to be productive for the first few days of your YouTube journey, and over time, it translates into a habit.

Doing the Homework

These days, you do not need a degree in filmmaking to create professional-quality videos. Do your homework and study content from television and OTT platforms like Netflix or Prime. Watching quality content will give you lessons in lighting, production quality, camera angles, etc. You can then incorporate these in your YouTube videos and give a boost to your video quality.

Gearing Up

No battle can be won unarmed, and video making is no exception to this. While you do not need the most advanced tools in your initial days, you do need a few basic pieces of types of equipment.

• Get yourself a camcorder that has in-built stabilization, a 50 X optical zoom range, and a minimum of 1080p video resolution. Choose an APS – C sensor with a maximum 1.6 crop factor.
• If you want to skip the camcorder and use your smartphone, make sure that your phone is equipped with in-built stabilization, has low-light compatibility, and a minimum resolution of 13MB. We recommend that you use a device with storage of at least 128 GB.
• For those who intend to use a digital camera, choose a device with a minimum resolution of 1080 p. Fixed lens with optical zoom work well, and you must focus on a device with mic input. That way, you can connect an external mic to the camera for your recording purposes.
• If budget is not a constraint and you want to settle for the best, choose a user-friendly DSLR camera. We recommend sensors in the ISO range of 25,600. Pick a DSLR that can shoot at 24 to 60 fps and has the provision of autofocus in video.

Setting the Right Benchmark

While consistency is an important aspect of your YouTube channel, you need to pay due attention to the video quality as well. To set the correct quality benchmark, you need to be ready to chop off the parts that compromise the quality of the video. Ensure that your video clip goes through multiple layers of editing so that only the best quality content reaches your viewer’s eyes.

Avoiding Overdoing It

When you set out to create your YouTube channel, you should pay special attention to the fact that there should not be any over-editing. While 3D effects and contrast graphics help you illustrate a point, they may not be necessary for every video that you create. For the best results, go for a simple setup and process. That way, the viewer will get the video’s raw feel, which will cause them to relate better to the content.

Establishing a Pattern

A YouTube channel will have multiple videos, and you must have some uniformity among your videos. The use of brand colors, logos, taglines, or a particular type of music will help establish a brand image. That way, when a viewer stumbles across one of your videos, they will relate it to the channel. It will boost your brand visibility and make your channel popular.

Transcribing Your Video

You must transcribe all the video content that you post on YouTube. Search engines do not index captions, and that is why the transcription boosts your online visibility. From the viewer's perspective, the transcriptions enable your video to reach users who have their devices on mute, are hearing impaired, or do not speak the language of the video. Studies establish that the addition of captions results in a 7.32% increase in the views of YouTube videos.

SEO Optimization of Video

The addition of primary keywords to the video title and secondary keywords in the description gives a major boost to the online visibility of your video. Pay special attention to the description section, as this will help a potential viewer get a perspective about your video. You can further optimize your video by adding tags that categorize the videos and help in ensuring that it reaches the target audience.

Adding Call-to-Actions (CTAs) and YouTube Cards

CTAs and YouTube cards are powerful tools to direct your viewers into watching other relevant content. If your YouTube channel has videos that are related to each other, you can leverage CTAs at the end of the video to guide the user.

With YouTube Analytics, you can identify points in your video where the viewers are the most likely to drop off. You can add YouTube cards at such points to direct the user into watching some other video from your channel.

Developing A Thick Skin

As you are considering starting a YouTube channel, chances are that you already know of its perks. What no one tells you is that the platform is not filled with not just angels. A slight miss from your end will be amplified, and you should be ready to bear the brunt and face the criticism. You should be able to tell apart constructive criticism and pure trolling. You must develop a thick skin that will allow you to ignore the trolls.

Every YouTube journey is unique, and you cannot expect to please every viewer all the time. The tips discussed in this article will help set out on your YouTube channel and attract viewers. As you create more videos, you will figure out the tactics that work for you and the ones that do not. Here’s wishing you the very best for your YouTube adventures ahead.

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