Setting Up and Customizing YouTube Channel

After this step, you are welcome to set up and customize your channel to make it more branded, easily recognizable, and attention-grabbing. On your YouTube Channel, Home page click the blue button named Customize channel and choose the Branding section - here is the place to edit your Profile Picture, Banner, and Video watermark. 1. Create a banner. A YouTube banner, or YouTube cover photo, or YouTube background wallpaper is an image located at the top of your channel homepage. Its main task is to add more branding and recognizability to your channel, making the first impression, attracting attention, and working as another tool for building associative bonds among your viewers. That’s why creating a YouTube banner background is essential - this is another important element of your overall style that should be perfectly aligned with your brand and your Youtube videos thumbnails, which we will discuss later. YouTube banner size and dimensions. To make your YouTube channel banner visually attractive, you have to take into account and follow the recommended YouTube guidelines on YouTube banner size and dimensions. The recommended YouTube banner size is 2560 x 1440 pixels with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Also, keep in mind that YouTube banners are displayed differently on different devices. That’s why there is another concept you have to take into account when creating it. Every YouTube banner has a safe zone - the part of the image that will always be displayed across different devices. The safe area takes 1546 x 423 pixels, and this is the place you have to use to share the most important information about your brand. The best practices to create a YouTube banner. How to make a Youtube banner? There are several practices you are welcome to follow to create an effective background image for your channel. Make it branded. A YouTube banner is the first element your users see when landing on your channel. Use branded colors, a name, and a logo when creating them to immediately make a strong associative bond. Add text. For example, you can add your mission statement, slogan, or call to action but make sure to locate it in a safe area to ensure visibility from any device. Use a high-resolution image. In addition to YouTube profile picture size, its quality also matters. So, use a high-resolution image to make a great first impression. As for the practical ways to create YouTube images, there are two tactics to follow. You can either create it in a fully-custom way using the services of the designer or come up with it on your own, using a dedicated app, for example, Canva. The best thing about Canva is that all the templates you can use are already perfectly adjusted, so when creating a banner, you have no reason to worry about YouTube banner dimensions. Still, don’t forget to follow the tips we have shared above. 2. Write a description. To get started with writing your description, in the Channel customization block go to the “Basic info” section in your profile. While YouTube gives you enough spare space to write more about your business, you have to be smart with your channel description and share the most important information in the first three lines. Additional text will be hidden under Show more. So, make a short pitch describing your business industry, and then, show the value the watchers will get with the help of your channel. End it with a short CTA. As for the text you can hide, YouTube experts recommend adding an SEO-optimized text filled with relevant keywords for better discoverability, adding the links to your website and social media, sharing your contact information, and finalizing it with one more compelling CTA. 3. Add social media links. Adding them to your profile is one more opportunity to invite users to find out more about your brand. To add them, click on the Customization section, switch to Basic info, and add social media links in the corresponding lines. They will be visible in your profile description. What’s more, you can add them to your banner as well, and in this case, the social media icons are displayed on the lower right corner of your banner. To add them, set up the “Links on the banner” feature and add up to five social media links.

YouTube Video Branding

After you are done with technical tasks for setting up and customizing your Youtube channel, it’s time to add even more branding to it and improve its visual attractiveness. Creating video thumbnails and adding interactive links for more engagement are the best practices to do it. 1. Add video thumbnails. YouTube video thumbnails are the video cover images. To create a holistic impression, it is better to use the same-style thumbnails that should also be aligned with your brand identity. As well as your channel banner, thumbnails are the tools to attract the attention of the audience and hint at the content inside the video. Below are the best practices to create them. Keep the focus. Experts recommend using an as engaging image as possible for a thumbnail. For example, you can add an image of a face, express a certain emotion, or keep eye contact with the viewers. Add text. As one more option, consider adding a short text with attention-grabbing context to the thumbnail to warm up the users’ interest. Follow the recommended size. The recommended resolution of a Youtube video thumbnail is 1280x720 (with a minimum width of 640 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio). The image should have JPG, GIF, or PNG format sized up to 2 MB. Adding YouTube video thumbnails is pretty easy, still, you have to add them to each of the videos you create and keep them aligned. To add a thumbnail, choose Videos from the left menu, next choose a video you want to add it to, and click on a Custom thumbnail. Then, choose an image file upload it and click Save. As for the ways to create custom thumbnails, they are similar to the ones to create a YouTube banner. You can either consider professional design services or design them on your own using a dedicated app. 2. Add clickable links. Adding clickable links is another way to make your Youtube content more interactive and engage users with your videos. There are two types of links you can add: Cards. These are the links to other YouTube videos placed in the upper right corner of the video. To add them, select Content, then choose a video you want to add a link to and press on the pencil symbol on the lower-left corner. Press on Cards, then Add Card, choose the card type, and copy-paste the link. Then, press Save. End screens. These are the links placed at the end of the video and redirect users to other channels or playlists. To add them, choose the End screen from the video editing menu and choose the end screen option you need. We recommend adding “Best for the viewer”, “Playlist” and Channel Subscription options.