Struggling to hit that elusive 100-subscriber milestone?

What if I told you there's a comprehensive checklist waiting for you, a step-by-step guide to break down the barriers that have held you back? Join me as I guide you through the essential steps to launch your YouTube channel successfully.

Episode highlights

• Essential steps to launch a YouTube channel
• YouTube Getting Started checklist
• Strategies for reaching the first 100 subscribers
• Channel branding and optimisation
• Quick research strategies and effective video planning
• How to create a powerful intro video
• Batch filming

I’ve created a checklist – it's not your average one-pager, it's a whopping nine pages packed with actionable insights.

Hit the ground running!

Links

• Getting Started on YouTube Checklist
• YouTube Community
• TubeFest
• Shorts Challenge
• KOV Links

So you're convinced that you want to get started on YouTube and now's the time, but

you just need to know the steps, like if only there was a checklist, a guide that

would give you step 1 to 10 of what to do to get started on YouTube, you just go and

grab it right now and get started, right?

Well, I'm delighted to tell you that in this episode, I'm gonna tell you where to

go and get that checklist and the steps.

I'm gonna run through it all with you and then you can go and do it.

That's it.

You can go and get started and if you've got started already, and maybe you're on

the road to your first 100 subscribers; maybe you've gone past a thousand;

maybe this episode is not for you.

But we'll talk about a bunch of stuff and maybe there's something in here that

you can learn for your already successful and growing channel, in which case, head

over to YouTube, find me on YouTube, King of Video, and subscribe to the channel.

There's plenty of stuff there for you as well.

I don't want to leave you out, but in this episode, we're going to focus really

on getting started and I'd encourage you to go and download the checklist.

So the checklist is available on kingofvideo.co.uk.

It's called the Getting Started on YouTube Checklist.

And I'm just going to go through in each of the individual things.

Now the thing is with the checklist, a lot of the time, I look at these checklists

and they literally, you download them.

You give someone your email address, you download them and it's just

like one page and a checklist and you're like, 'oh great.

You know, like could you have given me more?' Actually, this

checklist is nine pages long.

It has the checklist at the end and there's just a little bit of detail

and I'm just going to give you this information so probably, by the time you

get to the page to view this, they'll probably be the link to the podcast,

the episode you're listening, and the video, because it all works really well

to do this and look when we talk about YouTube in general and when I talk

about podcasting, I'm always looking for this stuff, to do this stuff, to

add value to what I'm already doing.

So this episode is a great example for that, you know to see how you

can use it across multiple places.

Also, make sure you're prepared for these things, because otherwise your brain

goes, whoop, straight over somewhere else, especially if you're undiagnosed ADHD.

Right, okay, so let's take a look at the checklist.

I'm going to run through these parts on the checklist.

There's one to ten?

One to eight on the checklist.

I'm going to show you what those things are, and then you can

grab it and you can make a start.

So the first one on the checklist, of course, if you're getting

started on YouTube is, you must have a Google account.

This is fairly obvious and I didn't think, I didn't use to say this to people until

I found somebody that didn't have one.

And then I was like, Oh my God, how can you not have a Google account?

So you must set up a Google account.

Please know that when you set up accounts for the first time, sometimes

the stuff that I'm about to tell you after that takes a little bit longer.

There's a little bit of a verification period.

And so you might find some of these things take, 48 hours, a little bit longer

as the accounts get created around the ecosystem, so just bear that in mind.

So you've got to set up a Google account first at step #1.

Step #2 is to create the channel.

So you head over to YouTube and you can create a new channel inside of YouTube.

Now, that used to be the case.

I don't think it is anymore, whether you would create a personal channel

or a brand channel, but I believe when you create a channel now, it

automatically creates a brand channel.

So a brand channel is great because you can have a manager.

You can have an owner.

You can have people that help work on the channel, whereas a

personal channel, you can't do that.

That's kind of one of the key differences and so a brand channel is

just a better place to start anyway.

Yes, you can have multiple channels if you want, but if you're just

getting started, I highly recommend that you start with one channel.

Now if you've had a channel for years and years and years and you've not used

it, a new channel could be a good idea.

I've seen this advice from some really big YouTubers recently, and they've

said, a new channel is a good idea.

It just depends on your goals.

I would say it depends on your goals, and it depends on what you're

trying to do with that channel.

So yeah, it could be idea.

It could be a good idea.

I like things that have history behind them.

So having an old channel sometimes feels good, but maybe the

algorithm will not love you as much as if you created a new one.

Okay, so, number 3 then, step number 3 is to brand the channel.

Now, in this guide, do I give you the banner?

I'm not sure if I give you it anymore.

I used to give away a little template on branding your channel.

It's now part of my Getting Started course, which if you download the

guide, you'll get offered that as well.

But you'll see an example.

So this is my old one.

Actually, I need to update it now.

So recently, YouTube did a update where there used to be links on the right hand

side and you click them and so I used to have a arrow you'll see this in the guide.

They said download my freebies with an arrow to it.

They've changed it.

Now the link sits somewhere else that the links on the right hand

side are no longer there, so I definitely need to update this.

The one thing I'll say about branding the channel and creating

a banner image is that it's fiddly.

You need to test it across multiple devices.

It's fiddly.

The guide that I've got gives you a good, you really need to follow the

guidance of where to put stuff in there.

And don't discount the big image that people will use to watch on a TV.

There's so many more people watching YouTube on TVs now,

that you want to have that big banner that includes that as well.

So a lot of people they'll just create a banner that's literally banner size,

and instead you actually need a, um, a YouTube banner that fits for a TV as

well, but has all the key information that would appear on a mobile phone,

on a laptop, that kind of thing.

Step number 4 is to get your first 100 subscribers.

In this guide, one of the things I mentioned in the last couple

of episodes, that my wife designs these, and I love that she puts

in some extra information here.

So, you can see it says there's certain points at which, certain

milestones you get as a YouTuber.

There's 100 subscribers, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000,

10,000,000 subscribers right in there.

Custom URL or vanity URL, it's not entirely true now.

You can have a channel tag so that vanity URL becomes less of an issue.

With 100 subscribers, you actually get your channel tag straight away.

There's a YouTube Partner Programme.

Again, in the guide, it says 4,000 watch hours.

Actually, you only need 3,000 watch hours now, which is handy.

It's gone down.

The requirements have gone down.

That's 1,000 subscribers.

I think that's the key metric, really.

I think when you're starting on YouTube, getting to 1,000 is where

good things really start to happen.

And I think I read somewhere that it's something like 5% of YouTubers

only have 1,000 subscribers.

It's a really small amount.

So actually, if you can get to that amount, which is what I try

to help people with in my programs, that's our first goal is to get

there, because there's such a small amount of people that have got there.

It's a good indication that you're actually really making progress, that

people want to watch your stuff, and that you're serious about this YouTube game.

But I give you some key, some ideas on how to get to the first 100 subscribers.

If you head over to my YouTube channel, you'll see a video

where I talk about this stuff.

and you know, there's lots of different strategies you can

use to get to 100 subscribers.

I'm just giving you some of my best ones.

Then, and actually it's funny because in the guide, I go research

videos, ideas, create a video plan, film and publish an intro.

I don't know if I'd do research before I set up my channel.

I don't know if I'd switch that around anymore.

I think the thing is, I think the thing is, with creating a

channel and setting it up, I feel like you're setting an intention.

You're kind of saying to the world, look, I'm here, I've got a

channel, I'm going to do this thing.

And so by putting research as #5, actually, we've created

the channel, it's ready.

Now we've got to come up with the content to put on it.

So I think research can stay there for now, but I think it, you know, maybe I

should do this as like a quick workshop where we did all of those things and

then did the research in the same time.

And you could do this as well, like there's nothing stopping you getting

this done in super quick, speedy time, depending on how technical you are.

So then, with Research Video Ideas, I give you some quick

answers on how to research videos.

Actually, there's loads more.

We could go into a lot of detail there, but there's some

quick places you could go to.

I'll give you an idea.

Quora, Answer The Public, YouTube itself, Google itself.

There's some great ways to do some research, TubeBuddy, and

there's a few of us as well.

Once you've created your video research, and I use like a Notion document to

come up with that research, I come up with And to kind of recommend 10 to 20

video ideas that you might want to do.

And then I create a plan.

Oh right, in the creative video plan, what I'm talking about and what

I'm referring to in that plan is, coming up with a 3-month, 90-day

version of what your videos, what videos you're going to put out.

So when I say 10 to 20, you get 10 to 20, you go through them, you create

sort of 12, 13 of them and you say, yes, they're the ones that I'm going to do.

And that's ready for three months worth of content.

And really, if you did that, you'd be laughing, right?

Because then you could do that once a quarter you know, I think I talked

about batch filming before and talked about doing it every month,

but you could do it once a quarter.

Imagine if you could get 12 done in one go.

I think that's too much, personally.

I'd probably want to do three or four, but it's possible that you could do that.

And at least if you did the planning once a quarter, then you'd always, if you know,

did the filming every three months after that, every month after that, you would

be able to create all this content and have a nice batch filming process as well.

Tip #7 then, or checklist item #7 is to film and publish an intro video.

You always need an intro video.

Intro videos don't stay forever.

So you could just, again, be declaring your intentions to the world.

This is what I'm going to do on my YouTube channel.

Come and stick around with me.

I'm going to show you X, Y, Z.

I'm going to teach you this thing.

I'm going to show you that thing and then away you go.

Like, I challenge you now, if you've not got a channel and you're getting

started, I challenge you just to go and create a 2-3 minute video with a

declaration of what you're going to do on the channel and just post it.

Most people never get to the point of posting that first intro video.

And it's ridiculous really because we might change it in 6 months time.

We might change it in 3 months time.

We might change it in 12 months time.

Really doesn't matter.

It's about getting something out there and then start getting this

good quality content on there as well.

Tip #8 then is to batch film the 4 videos.

So you've got your list of your quarterly plan.

You're gonna break that down into a list of four videos and then film

your first 4 videos and then start publishing once you've got to video 5.

That's the challenge.

So you're a month ahead and you can publish one video a week.

Okay, so the checklist is there.

You can see it.

There's another item on there at the bottom, which is a tip #9,

which is all about getting lifetime access to my Getting Started course.

If you go and download the checklist, you'll be offered the

course, you get like a good deal the first time you download it.

It's no obligation to buy it, but it's there if you want to, you know,

the course is a great, a great way to understand all of those points.

I go into detail of all of those points, even like setting up a Google account.

I will show you the step by steps on setting up the Google account.

So, again, I talked about, in the last episode or two, I talked about

having no excuse to get started.

This video, this episode is the same.

I'm telling you the steps that you need to take like there

is, there is nothing else.

If you need step by step, the course is there to go and take.

It's a low price course so that you can get started because it's in my

interest for you to get started.

I want you to succeed.

I want you to do this thing.

One thing's for sure.

If you never get started, there's nobody will ever see your videos.

That's for sure.

You can guarantee that all the things that you're in your mind that you think, well,

you know, this is going to happen, that's going to happen, all the negativity,

all you're doing is staying safe.

You're saying it's staying in comfort by not doing it.

But all those things will definitely not happen if you don't publish but

so much good stuff happens once you start publishing your videos and

even with the podcast, you know.

It's not a best selling podcast or in the charts or anything like that.

It's not gonna blow you away.

I'm not making hundreds of thousands of pounds on this podcast right now.

But I've started and we've got consistency.

I missed a week, but we've come back and we've got consistency and we've got

to keep doing that in order to succeed on any platform, not YouTube, not

podcasting, not Instagram and TikTok.

Any platform will require the same level of consistency.

Do it for a year, do it for a year.

And if you want to know about that, Jerry's episode is definitely one

worth listening to because he had a plan and you'll see how far he got to.

Alright, my name is Matt Hughes, King of Video.

Thanks so much for joining me on this podcast episode.

Again, of course, share, like, blah, blah, blah.

You know, I'm so bored of saying those things.

In the last episode, I was like, oh, you know, I've got to keep

saying them, I've got to keep saying them to get the message out there.

Maybe I'll just stop saying it.

Maybe I'll just stop saying it.

Do you really have to tell people?

You have to give them a call to action.

Go and find me on YouTube right now and subscribe to my

channel and like this video.

Let me know that the calls to actions are working.

And then I'll look in a month's time or two months time and I'll

be like, nope, nobody's listened.

Nobody did the thing.

Okay.

All right.

Thanks so much.

Bye for now.