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With more than 1 billion hours of video watched every day, YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. That means you should optimize your videos for YouTube, so they rank well on Google and show up in YouTube searches.

YouTube keywords are the words you include in your video title, description, and anywhere that will help YouTube’s algorithm know what your video is about and what it entails. Keep reading to learn more about YouTube keyword research.

In this article

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

Researching YouTube keywords is essential to your success. Here are three reasons why you might want to consider YouTube keyword research.

Helps You Know What Your Audience Is Searching for

Keyword research allows you to understand what people search for when they are on YouTube. In turn, this helps you know what your potential customers are seeking. You’ll then include these terms on your content to increase the chances of your audience finding you on YouTube.

It Helps You Rank Higher

You can use YouTube videos to promote brand awareness and market your product. Having high-ranking videos is a cost-effective way to push your target audience through the sales funnel.

When creating YouTube videos, you need to ensure you are reaching your target audience. And that is why researching keywords is crucial.

Once you have performed YouTube keyword research and determined the most suitable keywords for your topic, you can now use them to create target content for your audience. In turn, this will help you increase the number of subscribers on your YouTube channel. Your chances of your video showing up on YouTube will increase, which will bring traffic to your business.

It’s the Cheapest Way to Market Your Products or Services

Video marketing is expensive, and that is why you have to find every possible edge for your video marketing if you want to lower your costs and increase your ROI. For this reason, keyword research will ensure your audience finds you without spending loads of money that you could have used on services like Google Ads.

Because keyword research allows your target audience to find you, this means more opportunities for you. Most of the users will share entertaining videos.

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

There are several ways of conducting keyword research for YouTube to find out what people are searching for and determine the content in your video. They include:

1. Using YouTube Search

Although this method doesn’t provide all available search options, it’s still good for getting an idea of the type of keyword with which you’re dealing.

You can start your research by typing the keywords into YouTube’s search bar and reviewing the displayed results. It might be helpful to check out similar videos or video playlists. If your search seems too wide, you can enter several keywords at once (separated by commas), which will help you find better results.

2. Using Google’s Keyword Planner Tool

This tool is helpful for keyword difficulty and monthly searches volume assessment. If you only want to know the number of organic visits a given keyword gets, Google Keyword Planner might be helpful. The tool allows you to create lists consisting of related keywords and provides information about CPC (cost per click) and potential traffic in general.

3. Using YouTube Suggestions

What makes YouTube unique is its ability to suggest content based on your location, subscription, and watch history. You can use this method to find keyword ideas if you have subscribed to relevant channels. Also, you can rely on YouTube suggestions to find out whether a topic is popular or not.

4. Using YouTube Analytics

YouTube has a built-in Keyword Tool that is extremely helpful for researching the best keywords to use in your video titles, descriptions, and tags. This method allows you to see video search keywords with which users are finding your content. It is possible to review top organic keywords together with the respective engagement metrics, including bounce rate and average view duration.

5. Using Third-Party YouTube Keyword Tools

Last but not least, there are several third-party tools available on the market that provide both keyword difficulty and organic traffic estimation data for YouTube keywords. Some of these tools also offer similar features, including recommendations based on your existing subscriptions. Let’s look at some of the popular YouTube tools that you can use.

vidIQ

Designed to boost YouTube views, vidIQ is an effective SEO tool. The tool recommends keywords, descriptions, and titles that will help you to get more views and subscribers.

Performing vidIQ keyword research that relates to your video is a breeze. With just a few clicks, you will know what people are searching for and create content that they want to watch.

The tool allows you to enable inline keywords to know the tags your competitors use on search results. Use them to help you generate ideas relevant to your content. vidIQ also suggests ideal keywords like YouTube.

TubeBuddy

You can also use TubeBuddy to find and evaluate a range of YouTube keywords. You can do TubeBuddy keyword research on its mobile app or browser extension. The tool also shows how often people click on the results and how often users search a keyword.

Keyword Keg

Using the YouTube suggest API, Keyword Keg shows you the terms users search most and the monthly number of searches. You’ll also see what other people are paying for CPC (cost per click). You can use this data to determine the best keywords for your YouTube videos.

Qusetion: Are keywords and Tags the Same Thing?

Answer: The main difference between tags and keywords is where you will place them. Keywords describe the content in your video to help search engines and YouTube’s algorithm find your video. Tags describe what the content in your video is about and how it’s connected.

Make Great YouTube Videos with Filmora

Having high-quality videos can make you stand out from your competitors. Filmora is a video editing software that allows you to create amazing YouTube videos. It has powerful editing tools that will enhance the quality of your videos.

You can also add over 800 cool effects and filters to your videos to make them fun to watch. With just a single click, you can add opacity and speed ramp effects as well as infinite zoom effects.

Additionally, you can adjust the dynamic range and white balance of Your YouTube videos. Furthermore, you can fine-tune the audio of your video to make it crisp and eliminate camera shake.

The best part is: Filmora is compatible with macOS X 10.12 or later and Windows 7, 8, and 10. It also supports all popular standard HD videos, audio, and image file formats.

Conclusion

Now that you know the importance of YouTube keyword research and how to perform keyword research, your target audience can find you easily.

Try It Free Try It Free

With more than 1 billion hours of video watched every day, YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. That means you should optimize your videos for YouTube, so they rank well on Google and show up in YouTube searches.

YouTube keywords are the words you include in your video title, description, and anywhere that will help YouTube’s algorithm know what your video is about and what it entails. Keep reading to learn more about YouTube keyword research.

In this article

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

Researching YouTube keywords is essential to your success. Here are three reasons why you might want to consider YouTube keyword research.

Helps You Know What Your Audience Is Searching for

Keyword research allows you to understand what people search for when they are on YouTube. In turn, this helps you know what your potential customers are seeking. You’ll then include these terms on your content to increase the chances of your audience finding you on YouTube.

It Helps You Rank Higher

You can use YouTube videos to promote brand awareness and market your product. Having high-ranking videos is a cost-effective way to push your target audience through the sales funnel.

When creating YouTube videos, you need to ensure you are reaching your target audience. And that is why researching keywords is crucial.

Once you have performed YouTube keyword research and determined the most suitable keywords for your topic, you can now use them to create target content for your audience. In turn, this will help you increase the number of subscribers on your YouTube channel. Your chances of your video showing up on YouTube will increase, which will bring traffic to your business.

It’s the Cheapest Way to Market Your Products or Services

Video marketing is expensive, and that is why you have to find every possible edge for your video marketing if you want to lower your costs and increase your ROI. For this reason, keyword research will ensure your audience finds you without spending loads of money that you could have used on services like Google Ads.

Because keyword research allows your target audience to find you, this means more opportunities for you. Most of the users will share entertaining videos.

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

There are several ways of conducting keyword research for YouTube to find out what people are searching for and determine the content in your video. They include:

1. Using YouTube Search

Although this method doesn’t provide all available search options, it’s still good for getting an idea of the type of keyword with which you’re dealing.

You can start your research by typing the keywords into YouTube’s search bar and reviewing the displayed results. It might be helpful to check out similar videos or video playlists. If your search seems too wide, you can enter several keywords at once (separated by commas), which will help you find better results.

2. Using Google’s Keyword Planner Tool

This tool is helpful for keyword difficulty and monthly searches volume assessment. If you only want to know the number of organic visits a given keyword gets, Google Keyword Planner might be helpful. The tool allows you to create lists consisting of related keywords and provides information about CPC (cost per click) and potential traffic in general.

3. Using YouTube Suggestions

What makes YouTube unique is its ability to suggest content based on your location, subscription, and watch history. You can use this method to find keyword ideas if you have subscribed to relevant channels. Also, you can rely on YouTube suggestions to find out whether a topic is popular or not.

4. Using YouTube Analytics

YouTube has a built-in Keyword Tool that is extremely helpful for researching the best keywords to use in your video titles, descriptions, and tags. This method allows you to see video search keywords with which users are finding your content. It is possible to review top organic keywords together with the respective engagement metrics, including bounce rate and average view duration.

5. Using Third-Party YouTube Keyword Tools

Last but not least, there are several third-party tools available on the market that provide both keyword difficulty and organic traffic estimation data for YouTube keywords. Some of these tools also offer similar features, including recommendations based on your existing subscriptions. Let’s look at some of the popular YouTube tools that you can use.

vidIQ

Designed to boost YouTube views, vidIQ is an effective SEO tool. The tool recommends keywords, descriptions, and titles that will help you to get more views and subscribers.

Performing vidIQ keyword research that relates to your video is a breeze. With just a few clicks, you will know what people are searching for and create content that they want to watch.

The tool allows you to enable inline keywords to know the tags your competitors use on search results. Use them to help you generate ideas relevant to your content. vidIQ also suggests ideal keywords like YouTube.

TubeBuddy

You can also use TubeBuddy to find and evaluate a range of YouTube keywords. You can do TubeBuddy keyword research on its mobile app or browser extension. The tool also shows how often people click on the results and how often users search a keyword.

Keyword Keg

Using the YouTube suggest API, Keyword Keg shows you the terms users search most and the monthly number of searches. You’ll also see what other people are paying for CPC (cost per click). You can use this data to determine the best keywords for your YouTube videos.

Qusetion: Are keywords and Tags the Same Thing?

Answer: The main difference between tags and keywords is where you will place them. Keywords describe the content in your video to help search engines and YouTube’s algorithm find your video. Tags describe what the content in your video is about and how it’s connected.

Make Great YouTube Videos with Filmora

Having high-quality videos can make you stand out from your competitors. Filmora is a video editing software that allows you to create amazing YouTube videos. It has powerful editing tools that will enhance the quality of your videos.

You can also add over 800 cool effects and filters to your videos to make them fun to watch. With just a single click, you can add opacity and speed ramp effects as well as infinite zoom effects.

Additionally, you can adjust the dynamic range and white balance of Your YouTube videos. Furthermore, you can fine-tune the audio of your video to make it crisp and eliminate camera shake.

The best part is: Filmora is compatible with macOS X 10.12 or later and Windows 7, 8, and 10. It also supports all popular standard HD videos, audio, and image file formats.

Conclusion

Now that you know the importance of YouTube keyword research and how to perform keyword research, your target audience can find you easily.

Try It Free Try It Free

With more than 1 billion hours of video watched every day, YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. That means you should optimize your videos for YouTube, so they rank well on Google and show up in YouTube searches.

YouTube keywords are the words you include in your video title, description, and anywhere that will help YouTube’s algorithm know what your video is about and what it entails. Keep reading to learn more about YouTube keyword research.

In this article

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

Researching YouTube keywords is essential to your success. Here are three reasons why you might want to consider YouTube keyword research.

Helps You Know What Your Audience Is Searching for

Keyword research allows you to understand what people search for when they are on YouTube. In turn, this helps you know what your potential customers are seeking. You’ll then include these terms on your content to increase the chances of your audience finding you on YouTube.

It Helps You Rank Higher

You can use YouTube videos to promote brand awareness and market your product. Having high-ranking videos is a cost-effective way to push your target audience through the sales funnel.

When creating YouTube videos, you need to ensure you are reaching your target audience. And that is why researching keywords is crucial.

Once you have performed YouTube keyword research and determined the most suitable keywords for your topic, you can now use them to create target content for your audience. In turn, this will help you increase the number of subscribers on your YouTube channel. Your chances of your video showing up on YouTube will increase, which will bring traffic to your business.

It’s the Cheapest Way to Market Your Products or Services

Video marketing is expensive, and that is why you have to find every possible edge for your video marketing if you want to lower your costs and increase your ROI. For this reason, keyword research will ensure your audience finds you without spending loads of money that you could have used on services like Google Ads.

Because keyword research allows your target audience to find you, this means more opportunities for you. Most of the users will share entertaining videos.

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

There are several ways of conducting keyword research for YouTube to find out what people are searching for and determine the content in your video. They include:

1. Using YouTube Search

Although this method doesn’t provide all available search options, it’s still good for getting an idea of the type of keyword with which you’re dealing.

You can start your research by typing the keywords into YouTube’s search bar and reviewing the displayed results. It might be helpful to check out similar videos or video playlists. If your search seems too wide, you can enter several keywords at once (separated by commas), which will help you find better results.

2. Using Google’s Keyword Planner Tool

This tool is helpful for keyword difficulty and monthly searches volume assessment. If you only want to know the number of organic visits a given keyword gets, Google Keyword Planner might be helpful. The tool allows you to create lists consisting of related keywords and provides information about CPC (cost per click) and potential traffic in general.

3. Using YouTube Suggestions

What makes YouTube unique is its ability to suggest content based on your location, subscription, and watch history. You can use this method to find keyword ideas if you have subscribed to relevant channels. Also, you can rely on YouTube suggestions to find out whether a topic is popular or not.

4. Using YouTube Analytics

YouTube has a built-in Keyword Tool that is extremely helpful for researching the best keywords to use in your video titles, descriptions, and tags. This method allows you to see video search keywords with which users are finding your content. It is possible to review top organic keywords together with the respective engagement metrics, including bounce rate and average view duration.

5. Using Third-Party YouTube Keyword Tools

Last but not least, there are several third-party tools available on the market that provide both keyword difficulty and organic traffic estimation data for YouTube keywords. Some of these tools also offer similar features, including recommendations based on your existing subscriptions. Let’s look at some of the popular YouTube tools that you can use.

vidIQ

Designed to boost YouTube views, vidIQ is an effective SEO tool. The tool recommends keywords, descriptions, and titles that will help you to get more views and subscribers.

Performing vidIQ keyword research that relates to your video is a breeze. With just a few clicks, you will know what people are searching for and create content that they want to watch.

The tool allows you to enable inline keywords to know the tags your competitors use on search results. Use them to help you generate ideas relevant to your content. vidIQ also suggests ideal keywords like YouTube.

TubeBuddy

You can also use TubeBuddy to find and evaluate a range of YouTube keywords. You can do TubeBuddy keyword research on its mobile app or browser extension. The tool also shows how often people click on the results and how often users search a keyword.

Keyword Keg

Using the YouTube suggest API, Keyword Keg shows you the terms users search most and the monthly number of searches. You’ll also see what other people are paying for CPC (cost per click). You can use this data to determine the best keywords for your YouTube videos.

Qusetion: Are keywords and Tags the Same Thing?

Answer: The main difference between tags and keywords is where you will place them. Keywords describe the content in your video to help search engines and YouTube’s algorithm find your video. Tags describe what the content in your video is about and how it’s connected.

Make Great YouTube Videos with Filmora

Having high-quality videos can make you stand out from your competitors. Filmora is a video editing software that allows you to create amazing YouTube videos. It has powerful editing tools that will enhance the quality of your videos.

You can also add over 800 cool effects and filters to your videos to make them fun to watch. With just a single click, you can add opacity and speed ramp effects as well as infinite zoom effects.

Additionally, you can adjust the dynamic range and white balance of Your YouTube videos. Furthermore, you can fine-tune the audio of your video to make it crisp and eliminate camera shake.

The best part is: Filmora is compatible with macOS X 10.12 or later and Windows 7, 8, and 10. It also supports all popular standard HD videos, audio, and image file formats.

Conclusion

Now that you know the importance of YouTube keyword research and how to perform keyword research, your target audience can find you easily.

Try It Free Try It Free

With more than 1 billion hours of video watched every day, YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. That means you should optimize your videos for YouTube, so they rank well on Google and show up in YouTube searches.

YouTube keywords are the words you include in your video title, description, and anywhere that will help YouTube’s algorithm know what your video is about and what it entails. Keep reading to learn more about YouTube keyword research.

In this article

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

Why Do We Need to Research YouTube Keywords?

Researching YouTube keywords is essential to your success. Here are three reasons why you might want to consider YouTube keyword research.

Helps You Know What Your Audience Is Searching for

Keyword research allows you to understand what people search for when they are on YouTube. In turn, this helps you know what your potential customers are seeking. You’ll then include these terms on your content to increase the chances of your audience finding you on YouTube.

It Helps You Rank Higher

You can use YouTube videos to promote brand awareness and market your product. Having high-ranking videos is a cost-effective way to push your target audience through the sales funnel.

When creating YouTube videos, you need to ensure you are reaching your target audience. And that is why researching keywords is crucial.

Once you have performed YouTube keyword research and determined the most suitable keywords for your topic, you can now use them to create target content for your audience. In turn, this will help you increase the number of subscribers on your YouTube channel. Your chances of your video showing up on YouTube will increase, which will bring traffic to your business.

It’s the Cheapest Way to Market Your Products or Services

Video marketing is expensive, and that is why you have to find every possible edge for your video marketing if you want to lower your costs and increase your ROI. For this reason, keyword research will ensure your audience finds you without spending loads of money that you could have used on services like Google Ads.

Because keyword research allows your target audience to find you, this means more opportunities for you. Most of the users will share entertaining videos.

How to Research Keywords on YouTube?

There are several ways of conducting keyword research for YouTube to find out what people are searching for and determine the content in your video. They include:

1. Using YouTube Search

Although this method doesn’t provide all available search options, it’s still good for getting an idea of the type of keyword with which you’re dealing.

You can start your research by typing the keywords into YouTube’s search bar and reviewing the displayed results. It might be helpful to check out similar videos or video playlists. If your search seems too wide, you can enter several keywords at once (separated by commas), which will help you find better results.

2. Using Google’s Keyword Planner Tool

This tool is helpful for keyword difficulty and monthly searches volume assessment. If you only want to know the number of organic visits a given keyword gets, Google Keyword Planner might be helpful. The tool allows you to create lists consisting of related keywords and provides information about CPC (cost per click) and potential traffic in general.

3. Using YouTube Suggestions

What makes YouTube unique is its ability to suggest content based on your location, subscription, and watch history. You can use this method to find keyword ideas if you have subscribed to relevant channels. Also, you can rely on YouTube suggestions to find out whether a topic is popular or not.

4. Using YouTube Analytics

YouTube has a built-in Keyword Tool that is extremely helpful for researching the best keywords to use in your video titles, descriptions, and tags. This method allows you to see video search keywords with which users are finding your content. It is possible to review top organic keywords together with the respective engagement metrics, including bounce rate and average view duration.

5. Using Third-Party YouTube Keyword Tools

Last but not least, there are several third-party tools available on the market that provide both keyword difficulty and organic traffic estimation data for YouTube keywords. Some of these tools also offer similar features, including recommendations based on your existing subscriptions. Let’s look at some of the popular YouTube tools that you can use.

vidIQ

Designed to boost YouTube views, vidIQ is an effective SEO tool. The tool recommends keywords, descriptions, and titles that will help you to get more views and subscribers.

Performing vidIQ keyword research that relates to your video is a breeze. With just a few clicks, you will know what people are searching for and create content that they want to watch.

The tool allows you to enable inline keywords to know the tags your competitors use on search results. Use them to help you generate ideas relevant to your content. vidIQ also suggests ideal keywords like YouTube.

TubeBuddy

You can also use TubeBuddy to find and evaluate a range of YouTube keywords. You can do TubeBuddy keyword research on its mobile app or browser extension. The tool also shows how often people click on the results and how often users search a keyword.

Keyword Keg

Using the YouTube suggest API, Keyword Keg shows you the terms users search most and the monthly number of searches. You’ll also see what other people are paying for CPC (cost per click). You can use this data to determine the best keywords for your YouTube videos.

Qusetion: Are keywords and Tags the Same Thing?

Answer: The main difference between tags and keywords is where you will place them. Keywords describe the content in your video to help search engines and YouTube’s algorithm find your video. Tags describe what the content in your video is about and how it’s connected.

Make Great YouTube Videos with Filmora

Having high-quality videos can make you stand out from your competitors. Filmora is a video editing software that allows you to create amazing YouTube videos. It has powerful editing tools that will enhance the quality of your videos.

You can also add over 800 cool effects and filters to your videos to make them fun to watch. With just a single click, you can add opacity and speed ramp effects as well as infinite zoom effects.

Additionally, you can adjust the dynamic range and white balance of Your YouTube videos. Furthermore, you can fine-tune the audio of your video to make it crisp and eliminate camera shake.

The best part is: Filmora is compatible with macOS X 10.12 or later and Windows 7, 8, and 10. It also supports all popular standard HD videos, audio, and image file formats.

Conclusion

Now that you know the importance of YouTube keyword research and how to perform keyword research, your target audience can find you easily.

Maximize Your YouTube Impact: Mastering the Art of Influential Channels’ Branding

How to Brand Your YouTube Channel to Get More Subscribers

Shanoon Cox

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

Epic Meal Time. Michelle Phan. Peter McKinnon. When you think of each of these YouTube creators, what comes to mind? The feelings and thoughts you have are vastly different because each one of these channels has its own unique branding.

Epic Meal Time’s YouTube brand is in-your-face and intense. It pumps you full of adrenaline and increases your heart rate.

Michelle Phan’s YouTube brand is calm, whimsical, and aspirational.

The color palette she chose is pleasing to the eyes and doesn’t evoke any of the stress we get from Epic Meal Time.

They have different branding because they want to reflect different feelings for different audiences.

Bad Branding Causes Mistrust

When a branding element does not align with the message or the tone does not match with the material, then the audience is not going to trust what you offer. Without trust, you won’t be able to get the advocacy that is essential for a YouTube channel to grow.

Imagine Michelle Phan using the aggressive colors of Epic Meal Time or vice versa. Pretty weird, huh?

What is YouTube Branding?

You might think that branding simply comes together while making videos, but that’s not true. Branding takes a bit of preparation and foresight.

YouTube branding is the idea your viewers have in mind and the emotion they get when they think about your channel.

Here are notable elements of your channel’s branding:

- Channel name

- Channel art

- Video thumbnail

- Video title

- Icon

- Watermark

- Catchphrase

- Style of video

How to Start Branding Your YouTube Channel?

Before you start designing thumbnails and coming up with a catchphrase, the first step in branding is understanding the purpose of your channel. Once you have a purpose, you will know how you want your viewers to feel.

Here is a quick exercise to find your channel’s purpose:

Draw a 3 circle Venn diagram.

In circle 1, write down everything you consider yourself an expert in.

- What do your friends know you for?

- What can you give advice on?

- What did you go to school to learn?

In circle 2, write down all the topics you are passionate about.

- What can you talk effortlessly about for hours?

- At a party, where do you lead conversations towards?

In circle 3, write down everything that people will pay for that you can supply. Here is where you find the demand of the audience.

- Can you give me travel advice?

- Can you make people forget about their stressful day?

- Do you have experience in a specialized field?

Understanding what people will pay money for will help guide you in creating content that has true value.

In the center, come up with all the ideas that can be associated with all three circles. This will be the ideal purpose for your YouTube channel as it harnesses your expertise, your passion, and the demand of a viewership.

Examples:

Epic Meal Time

Expertise = Eating

Passion = Fast Food Culture

Demand = Unique Meals

PURPOSE: Showcase a unique combination of fast food people won’t make at home.

Michelle Phan

Expertise = Beauty Products

Passion = Makeup and Fashion

Demand = Beauty School

PURPOSE: Give people more confidence in beauty products.

How Is Your Channel Different From the Others?

Now that you have your purpose, it’s time to separate you from others with similar purposes. YouTube is a crowded space for content creators. If your channel is mimicking another more successful channel, you will be in the shadows.

Good branding allows you to differentiate from others .

Pick a Unique and Memorable Name

If your name is Michelle Phan, and you are not the Michelle Phan, I’m sorry, but you will need to pick another name for your YouTube channel:

If you do have to pick another name or if your channel is an ensemble with multiple members, make sure the name you choose is original, memorable, and short (4 words max).

Picking an Icon

Not every YouTuber needs to design an original logo for their brand. In fact, if the channel is about you — the YouTuber — you are the brand, so using a high-quality picture of yourself as the icon is okay.

However, if your channel has a specific theme or topic and you want your branding to convey it so it sticks in the viewers’ heads, especially if it’s their first time viewing your channel. A clear logo will help in amplifying your message:

Create Video Thumbnails That Stand Out

The power of good branding is that your viewers will be able to spot your brand in a crowded space. On YouTube, the crowded space is the suggested video section.

Epic Meal Time thumbnails standing out amongst other loud thumbnails.

Once you have the feeling you want to evoke, test out different thumbnails. Go incognito, search up your videos, and see how the visuals appear beside your competitions. Do they all have the same style or is your far more impressive?

Good branding doesn’t happen in the first try so keep experimenting.

Designing Your Icon, Thumbnail, and Channel Art

There is a lot to consider when designing all the visual elements for your channel. I won’t get into all of it, but here are some tips that you should always keep in mind.

- Less is more: Don’t clutter your icons, thumbnails, or banner.

- Have a single focus: A channel and a video can have a lot of different topics, but the image can’t show everything a video can. Pick one important area and highlight that in the image.

- Quality matters: Your audience is savvier than ever. If they see a pixelated image, they will judge your channel poorly. That’s bad branding. Always use high-quality pictures.

- Make sure the color pops and the text is visible: Use eye-catching colors and visible text. This is a billboard, you have milliseconds to get people’s attention as they scroll past.

Want more resources for creating your channel’s visual elements? Yes? Well, we made this for you:

- How to Make YouTube Video Thumbnail

- How to Make YouTube Icons

- Free Youtube Banners

How to Make Your Visuals Consistent?

When a viewer finds your video and considers it pretty interesting, they will then go into your channel page to learn more. Here is where they make their decision: subscribe or not subscribe?

Consistent branding affirms the viewer that they are in the right place. Peter McKinnon’s brand is built upon his amazing photography, it only makes sense that his visual elements are awesome.

Peter McKinnon is best known for his photography and cinematography, and his branding amplifies that.

But Branding Is Not Designing, It’s A Feeling

Don’t get too caught up with a design.

Look at PewDiePie’s branding. You can argue that it is inconsistent and the design is not professional, but actually, his branding is spot on, because he is making you feel a certain way.

PewDiePie’s brand highlights its upbeat and unpredictable personality.

PewDiePie wants you to laugh. He is not branding his expertise like Peter McKinnon is, he’s branding his personality.

Consistent branding is about making the elements of your channel: channel art, logo, thumbnails, titles, etc. all harmonize together to evoke a sensation.

The humor in PewDiePie’s brand is consistent, even though his thumbnails don’t look like Philip DeFranco’s. It is up to you how you define consistency, and that will happen over time.

Philip DeFranco supplies commentary on current events with a satirical flair. Like a news broadcast, his branding and video format are consistent, while the daily news is different.

Inserting A Watermark

The main point of a watermark is to let the viewers know when they are watching your video that it is in fact your video.

Let’s be honest, YouTube content can all look the same, especially if you are making content that is quite general (like beauty or tech), so a watermark helps differentiate, so when viewers are ready to subscribe, they have an extra branding element connecting them to your channel.

Improvement Pill is a YouTube channel focused on inspiring and motivating its viewer to live a better life.

Above we see an example of a watermark from the YouTube channel Improvement Pill. You can see the watermark in the lower right-hand corner.

Improvement Pill is not the only channel that uses whiteboard animation to illustrate their story, and because of that, they need to set themselves apart. A watermark helps do that.

When a viewer lands on their video, the watermark gives the viewer another way to get more familiar with the channel, and if they are to scroll over the watermark a subscription button pops up.

Want to set up your subscription watermark? Here is a quick tutorial:

Coming Up With A Catchphrase

A catchphrase can be your greeting or sign off, but it doesn’t have to be an original line, it can simply be the way you say “hello.”

Check out some of the popular YouTuber’s catchphrases:

When coming up with a catchphrase that is connected to your channel’s branding remember how you want the viewer to feel. Do you want to leave them with a smile? Or do you want them to take action?

Final Thoughts On YouTube Branding

As you build and grow your YouTube channel, you can expand your purpose while still sticking within the overall theme. You might have started a channel that focused on the topic of nutrition, but as you grow, you will discover that your audience may also be interested in fitness tips or workout accessories as well. Take it slowly and grow with purpose.

Your branding doesn’t dictate the content you create, but it does affect how you go about making it.

Got more questions about branding your YouTube channel? Let us know in the comments below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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