Chapter 2
The Technical Guide to setting up a YouTube Channel – Step by Step
1. Channel features for YouTube creators
Use YouTube's channel features to customize your channel and support your brand. These
features are available to all creators who have verified accounts.
To see what features you're currently eligible for, go to your account features page.
- Monetization: If you meet the monetization criteria, you can enable monetization to earn money from ads on videos.
- Longer videos: When your account is verified, you can upload videos longer than the 15- minute limit.
- Link to external sites: Use annotations in videos to link to external sites. Custom thumbnails: Upload a custom thumbnail for your video.
- Content ID appeals: Appeal rejected Content ID disputes.
- Unlisted and private videos: Make your videos unlisted and share your private videos.
- Live events: Learn how to create a live streaming event.
- Series playlists: Group videos into series playlists to help viewers discover them.
- Customize channel layout: Customize your channel's layout with branded banners and channel trailers.
- Hangouts on Air: You can create a live Hangout on Air event.
Video editor: Edit your videos' content using the YouTube Video Editor.
2. Manage your channel with Creator Studio
You can use Creator Studio in YouTube to organize your channel, manage videos, and
interact with fans. You can go directly to Creator Studio or follow these steps to navigate to
your Creator Studio:
1. Sign in to your channel at www.youtube.com.
2. In the top right, click your account icon.
3. Click Creator Studio.
Tools in Creator Studio
Dashboard : Check for notifications and alerts from YouTube, including the latest updates, stats, and notifications for your review.
Video Manager : Organize and update your videos from one place or dig into a particular video to adjust settings individually. Use tools to optimize a video, tweak its settings, or bulk update changes across videos with a single click.
Community : Communicate and collaborate with your fans and fellow creators. Review and respond to comments, read private messages, see videos where you've been credited, or review a list of fans (if your channel has at least 1,000 subscribers).
Channel : Adjust settings that affect your channel overall, such as signing up for monetization, controlling your upload defaults, or enabling live streaming.
Analytics : Review your channel's performance and get info on how your channel is growing. Find reports and data to help you evaluate your channel and video performance, including views, subscribers, watch time, revenue for partners, and more.
Create : Access the audio library and video editor to create new videos, add sound effects or unique music, or experiment with transitions.
3. Basics about your channel
Your channel is where you can organize your video content for your audience. As a channel owner, you can add videos, playlists, and information about yourself or your channel for visitors to explore.
Classic desktop experience
1. Sign in to your YouTube account on a computer.
2. On the left, select My channel.
3. Use the drop-down menu next to your name to view your channel as Yourself, a New
visitor, or a Returning subscriber. When you want to go back to viewing as yourself,
click Done at the top of the screen.
4. Use the tabs to navigate previewing the channel:
Home: This is what your audience sees when they visit your channel. They can view a
feed of your activities or preview different sections of your customized layout.
• Videos: Use this to see a list of all uploads publicly available for subscribers or all of the
videos you've publicly liked. You can sort by most popular or date added.
• Playlists: This is a list of all the playlists that you've created. Discussion: If you've turned on the discussion tab, this will display comments left on your channel.
• About: Use this to add a channel description (maximum length of 1,000 characters), set your channel country, enter a business contact email address, and define social or other web links.
• Links that you add here are featured just below your description and use the icon from
the corresponding social network when displayed. You can overlay up to five of these
links on your channel art as shortcut icons.
• To edit your About tab, hover over the content, then click edit
New desktop experience
1. Sign in to your YouTube account on a computer.
2. Under your profile picture at the top right, select My channel.
3. Click Edit Layout.
4. Use the drop-down menu next to your name to view your channel as Yourself, a New
visitor, or a Returning subscriber. When you want to go back to viewing as yourself,
click Done at the top of the screen.
5. Use the tabs to navigate previewing the channel:
Home: This is what your audience sees when they visit your channel. They can view a
feed of your activities or preview different sections of your customized layout.
• Videos: Use this to see a list of all uploads publicly available for subscribers or all of the
videos you've publicly liked. You can sort by most popular or date added.
• Playlists: This is a list of all the playlists that you've created.
Discussion: If you've turned on the discussion tab, this will display comments left on
your channel.
• About: Use this to add a channel description (maximum length of 1,000 characters), set
your channel country, enter a business contact email address, and define social or other
web links.
• Links that you add here are featured just below your description and use the icon from
the corresponding social network when displayed. You can overlay up to five of these
links on your channel art as shortcut icons.
• To edit your about tab, hover over the content, then click edit
4. Turn comments on or off
Classic desktop experience
• Manage channel settings
You can decide if you want to allow viewers to comment on your channel.
1. Sign in to your YouTube account on a computer.
2. On the left, select My channel.
3. Under your channel banner, click settings .
4. Turn Show discussion tab on or off.
5. If you have the discussion tab turned on, chose a comments setting:
• Display automatically: Comments will always show on your channel.
• Don't display until approved: Comments won't show on your channel until you
approve them.
Comments are not available on private videos. If you want to allow comments on a video
that's not publicly available, post an unlisted video instead.
• Manage video settings
You can decide if you want to allow viewers to comment on specific videos.
1. Sign in to your YouTube account on a computer.
2. Go to Creator Studio > Video Manager.
3. Select the box next to any of the videos you want to manage.
4. At the top of the screen, click the Actions menu.
5. Select More actions > Comments.
6. Select or unselect Do not allow comment
• New desktop experience
• Manage channel settings
You can decide if you want to allow viewers to comment on your channel.
1. Sign in to your YouTube account on a computer.
2. Under your avatar at the top right, select My channel.
3. Under your channel banner, click settings .
4. Turn Show discussion tab on or off.
5. If you have the discussion tab turned on, chose a comments setting:
• Display automatically: Comments will always show on your channel.
• Don't display until approved: Comments won't show on your channel until you
approve them.
Comments are not available on private videos. If you want to allow comments on a video
that's not publicly available, post an unlisted video instead.
• Manage video settings
You can decide if you want to allow viewers to comment on specific videos.
1. Sign in to your YouTube account on a computer.
2. Go to Creator Studio > Video Manager.
3. Select the box next to any of the videos you want to manage.
4. At the top of the screen, click the Actions menu.
5. Select More actions > Comments.
6. Select or unselect Do not allow comments.
7. An important step in managing and promoting a YouTube channel is to add the right
channel keywords.
Keywords can indeed help users to discover your YouTube channel when they make
searches on Google, YouTube and other search engines. So the first step is to choose the
keywords that specifically represent your channel and the type of content published.
Once done, sign-in to YouTube, click on your profile picture displayed at the top right corner > Creator Studio > Channel > Advanced:
Separate your keywords with a space and use quotation marks when search terms are in
the form of short phrases