If you are trying to get your YouTube channel up and running, you may be struggling to make it look professional. YouTube makes the process of setting up your channel fairly easy, and for this reason you need to go further to stand out from the massive crowd. Even if you have a very niche audience and your marketing on other platforms will get them to your YouTube channel, it is still important that what they land on looks impeccable.
The good news is that there are some great ways to make your YouTube channel look professional. These include getting the branding right – for which Wix’s YouTube logo maker is extremely useful – and paying attention to detail.
Here are 4 tips to get you on your way.
1. Prioritize Branding
The content on your YouTube channel is your priority in terms of content. But your next priority should be getting your branding right and this impacts content as well. Your branding is the perception of yourself you want to project. It is the persona you are creating for the benefit of your target audience. As such, it needs to be consistent. The simple reality is that if you try to be everything, you will end up alienating everyone.
Your branding includes the name of your channel, your channel logo, your banner on your channel page, and your copywriting in the “bio” and “about” sections. Right after you decide to buy YouTube subscribers, you will definitely need to work on your branding. It also includes your content. Your content should reflect your brand. If you have great videos that are not in line with your branding, you need to accept that they do not have a place on this channel. It is possible that you will benefit from having more than one channel for different kinds of content.
Alternatively, you can split your content into playlists, but they should still be somewhat related. Think about the channels you visit. If you go to a channel that posts music content, you are going to be confused to find sports videos, even if they are in separate playlists.
2. Create a Channel Trailer
Visitors may come upon your channel in a number of ways. You might lead them there from a social media platform, or YouTube might have recommended a video of yours. Either way, if they click through to your channel, they are interested in what you are doing. For this reason, you need to tell them what to expect. A channel trailer is the best way to do this.
This can be a video created for this purpose, or content that, in itself, sums up what your channel is about. If you want your channel to look professional, this trailer needs to look professional. A video clip shot on your iPhone with you giving an impromptu introduction may be great for a platform like TikTok, but it will look sloppy at best on YouTube.
3. Edit
This tip relates both to your content and your channel as a whole. All of your content should be edited with care. You should cut out any unnecessary bits, add flare using transitions, and include royalty-free music instead of silence. You should cut videos entirely from your channel if they do not add anything.
Your channel itself needs to be edited. This means that your most important content comes up first, your videos are separated into playlists, and you keep an eye on your comments.
This last has become more and more important as bots leave spammy comments on videos all over YouTube. If you want engagement, you may choose to let comments through without moderation. However, do not ignore notifications about comments, and delete anything spammy as soon as possible.
4. Use End Screens
An end screen on a YouTube video is what YouTube allows you to superimpose on the last few seconds of your video. It usually includes a Subscribe button, as well as recommendations of other videos. These can be chosen by you or by the YouTube algorithm.
End screens are important as they establish that your channel has rhyme and reason. There are plenty of channels that upload random content occasionally, and this is a fine strategy for them, as long as they are not trying to build a brand. But when building your YouTube brand, you need to show that you are working intentionally.
End screens give viewers another action to take on your channel, while telling them that the channel is run by someone with a plan. Instead of simply letting them form an idea of your channel based on one video, you let them know that you are more than someone who happened to upload a video.
Running a YouTube channel takes time and effort, and you will need to pay attention to detail if you are to look professional. Use the above 4 tips to get you started.