So you want to start a youtube channel? Maybe to you this means you want to start your own business, or maybe you just want to do something from home so that you can have more flexibility and control over your schedule. But even if you know that’s what you want, you might feel like you’re lacking the skills and experience you’d need in order to do so, so in this post, I’m going to share with you 5 tips to go from where you’re at now (with no experience or skills) to be able to start and grow your own successful youtube channel in 2023.
Choose your niche
The very first thing you need to do is decide what your youtube channel is going to be about, in other words, you have to pinpoint and nail down the right niche for your channel. If there’s one thing you should know about starting a successful youtube channel, it’s going into it with intention and a clear idea of what you do and who you want to serve.
That in itself is going to help you become successful on YouTube because having a focused niche allows you to more easily find and grow your audience, and at the same time, establish a name for yourself as an expert in your niche. This speeds up the process of your audience coming to know, like, and trust you. Which is essential to not only building a successful youtube channel, but building a successful brand.
Pick a niche you’re passionate about
Another thing i strongly suggest is to pick a niche that not only gets you the views that you want, but also lets you do the things you’re passionate about. Realistically, you’re gonna be devoting a lot of time and energy creating content for the topic you pick. So if you’re not really passionate or excited about the topic, one way or the other, your audience will feel it, and you don’t want your audience to feel that you’re not really putting in the effort into the content that you’re making, otherwise it will make them feel like your content is not enjoyable. Remember, people subscribe to your channel because they’re interested in that topic, so, when there’s not really an interest or passion coming from your side, it’ll be much harder to grow your YouTube channel, and unfortunately, I’m a prime example of that.
Back in 2012, I started my first youtube channel all about nail design, nail art and nail tutorials. And to be clear, I was not passionate about nail art. I simply chose the “nail art” niche for the sake of starting a youtube channel to get my foot through the door. But to be completely honest, i wasn’t interested in the topic, and it clearly showed through my content, and as a result, my channel never got off the ground.
I lacked the single most important part of starting a youtube channel, and that was passion. It wasn’t until 5 years later, when I finally decided to rebrand my channel and focus it around a topic i was actually excited about at the time, that I was finally able to get the traction and views that i wanted and ultimately gain 300,000+ subscribers in three months.
So really take this part serious and brainstorm a list of niches you’re actually passionate about. It’s going to benefit you in the long run and eventually down the road, once you have a dedicated audience, you can then consider how you might expand from that niche, but at least in the beginning pick a specific niche that you’re passionate about and stick to it. I promise it will make the process of starting and growing your youtube channel a lot smoother and quicker.
List YouTube video ideas
Once you have your niche or your main topic down, set some time aside to list 30-50 different YouTube video ideas. Because you could start a YouTube channel and think that you have a lot of video ideas, but after creating a few videos, you may realize that you really don’t have all that much to talk about when it comes to your main topic. So before you even get started, I strongly suggest you create a list of 30-50 different video ideas that you could possibly share on your YouTube channel. This is also going to help you stay organized with your posting schedule, as well as help you create a consistent flow of content, which will give you the ability to crush your goals a lot faster and easier. Which brings me to Tip #3, and that is consistency.
Consistency
This is actually something that I’ve struggled with in the past and I still struggle with sometimes. Balancing a youtube channel with every other part of life, whether that’s work, school or family, can be really difficult at times since it’s time-consuming. There had been times in the past where I would go months without posting a video, and ultimately, this ended up hurting my channel, because TRULY the key to success on youtube is consistency.
YouTube’s algorithm can track how often you’re posting, so if you’re not posting at all, it doesn’t think to promote your videos. Remember, YouTube makes money by selling advertisements on your videos. So when you create consistent content, you position yourself for YouTube to promote your videos. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to post every single day, it’s just about being consistent, whether that’s twice a week, once a week or three times a week. Whatever number works for you, just stick with that and stay consistent. The more consistent you are, the better your chances of growing faster on the platform.
Quality
Now another thing that I want to talk about is quality. So if you tell yourself, “I’m posting 3 videos a week,” only do that if you’re producing quality content. Content you’re proud of, that you would watch yourself and you’re not just throwing up for the sake of being consistent. You want to make sure that whatever you are posting is quality content that you would watch yourself. And when I say quality, I don’t mean the quality of your camera. What I mean is the ability to make quality content that keeps people engaged and watching for a long period of time. The more quality content you create, the more YouTube is going to reward you, and share your content with more people, and overall grow your channel.
Be yourself
The last tip that I have for you is something that you’ve probably heard before from other people and it may sound a bit cliche, and that is to be yourself! Don’t go on camera and try to be like someone else that you’ve seen or try to replicate other youtubers because that simply won’t work. To copy someone else’s way of life simply means you’re suppressing who you really are. This is why you have to be yourself.
You are unique in your own special way and you have your own special talents and experiences, and you can use those talents and experiences to win people’s hearts, because really, the only way to connect with people on a meaningful level is to let them see who you really are and to share your experiences and story. Now, that’s not to say that everyone will like it, but that is completely okay! We increase our self worth not by being what others want us to be, but by being true to ourselves.
Just go for it
And my last piece of advice for you is to just go for it! If this is something that you’ve been considering doing for awhile now, before you can listen to any of the tips i’ve mentioned today, you first have to put yourself out there and just go for it! One of the most underrated secrets to success is to start before you’re ready. A lot of people sometimes are like “I’ve been hesitating this for years,” and I always tell them, “you need to stop hesitating and start posting.” I know that you’re worried and maybe you’re a bit scared at the moment, trust me, I know the feeling.
I, myself, grew up a very shy person, so it wasn’t easy for me to develop the confidence to speak in front of the camera. It took me a while to get comfortable with what I do but, at one point, you have to just learn to let that go, punch fear in the face and take the necessary steps to get your channel started. Then set aside the time you can to work on it, work on it day by day, and I promise you, that in one year’s time, if you start today, you will have a very successful youtube channel.