Are you looking to start your own YouTube channel to help promote your handmade shops? 

Not only can you reach a huge, new audience, but making the videos can be a super fun process. 

For Creative Hive, YouTube has been an AMAZING journey. 

I have so much fun making videos for you – and it’s been great at bringing in sales, so I keep doing it! 

That said, running a YouTube channel that’s effective at what you want it to do is not for everyone. 

It’s super time consuming work. 

Today, I’ll dive into what you need to know before starting a channel of your own, so you can decide if YouTube is the right move for you. 

I started really investing in my YouTube channel a year and a half ago – and the growth I’ve seen has been incredible. 

I’ve spent a lot of money on courses and coaches and I’ve learned so much about running a channel!

Everything from creating high-quality videos, to learning YouTube marketing, and to understanding the ins and outs of YouTube’s algorithm. 

YouTube is great for so many reasons.

The Pros

As the second most popular website in the world, it has over 2 billion active monthly users.

So you know that with the right niche, marketing, and videos, you’ll definitely have people following you. 

Of course, those big numbers also mean that YouTube is competitive – but just like with anything, all it takes is a little strategy to stand out and do well. 

Having said that, YouTube is not nearly as competitive as social media like Instagram or Facebook. 

The reason is that YouTube has a high barrier to entry. 

It’s not easy making compelling video content, but it is a lot easier taking photos to post on social. 

You’ll see far less competition to stand out on YouTube compared to other social platforms. 

I particularly love that YouTube videos live for a long time. 

The lifespan of a social media post is a few hours after you post it, maybe a week, if you’re lucky. 

For the most part, they get pushed down the feed until they’re buried – and they just don’t stay relevant for very long. 

YouTube videos on the other hand, pretty much live forever. 

I regularly get subscribers, views, and sales from videos I posted years ago! 

I see each video as such a great investment. 

YouTube can be a fantastic way to promote your business. 

Loyal YouTube followers are more likely to support your brand – because you’re able to build a much deeper relationship with people using video. 

The more people know, like, and trust you, the more sales you’ll get.

The Cons

Even though running a YouTube channel is amazing for so many reasons, it’s also SUPER time consuming. 

While you might want YouTube to be an occasional side-gig that doesn’t take much effort, the truth is what makes a successful channel is one with consistent, high-quality, thoughtful content. 

Before you start a channel, make sure you’ve got lots of time to dedicate to running it. 

YouTube is really just content marketing. 

Like how writing blog posts and articles, is also content marketing. 

When YouTube was first starting out, it might have been a site primarily for silly comedy sketches or home videos, but today, it’s a content marketing search engine. 

To be successful, you have to know how to play the game. 

Content marketing doesn’t come easily for certain businesses or personality types. 

You have to position yourself and feel comfortable being an expert in your niche, so people want to come to you for advice. 

For example, if you’re in the kids and parenting niche – maybe you sell children’s clothing or children’s art – then you can use your channel to share parenting and family tips or fun activities for kids to do by themselves. 

If you make a really specific type of art that’s fun and engaging to watch, like glass blowing or resin art, you can use your channel to show off how your art is made. 

Think about what niche your business is in and what content your ideal customers are usually searching for, to reel in viewers. 

You’ll want to be careful about doing videos of you just making your craft though.

While these videos are fun to watch, it can attract an audience whose only intention is to watch and not necessarily to buy. 

Video Style

When you’re considering what kind of videos to make, remember that you have quite a few options! 

A lot of people, especially business owners, think their channel needs to be educational – but that’s not the case. 

Some people really don’t like teaching or it just doesn’t come naturally to them – and that’s okay!

Tons of artists run super successful channels that are creatively based. 

They might post:

• paint with me videos 
• studio tours 
• or creative challenge videos

Make sure that whatever you choose, it’s something that you can make consistently and frequently.

Posting regularly is absolutely essential to a successful channel, so you must make sure you won’t burn out with the types of videos you choose to cover. 

Don’t forget to consider if those types of videos will attract people that will BUY from you. 

That’s the most important thing! 

YouTube’s Algorithm

YouTube works on an algorithm. 

That algorithm pays attention to what channels post consistently, and they raise those channels up in the ranks. 

If you only post once a month, or inconsistently, YouTube isn’t going to place your video high in search. 

Which means your videos are unlikely to get seen. 

If you can post high-quality content, more regularly and consistently, they’ll reward you. 

When I decided to start a YouTube channel in 2020, I was releasing 2 videos per week. 

It was a TON of work, but it’s how I got traction so quickly. 

I reached several tens of thousands of subscribers in my first year, largely because of consistently publishing content. 

Make sure you’ve got a constant flow of ideas! 

I suggest having at least a few months’ worth of ideas in your head before you even start posting. 

The last thing you want is to have a long hiatus in posting just because you can’t think of anything.

Always be planning ahead. 

Video Content

Your ideas need to be relevant. 

If you run a crochet business, keep your videos related to crocheting. 

If you’re posting videos about your favorite soccer players, it will confuse your audience and make it hard to drive any sales. 

That example sounds extreme, but a lot of people make this mistake, so I have to mention it. 

This really is key. 

Think about your favorite channels – they probably follow a consistent theme.

If you see that they cover different topics, it’s usually because their audience is interested in them too. 

You also need to make sure that your video ideas are something people will be searching for on YouTube and Google. 

YouTube is a search engine, just like Google! 

If you want to drive traffic to your site, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with keyword research. 

Keywords are those words and phrases that people enter into Google and YouTube when they’re looking for something. 

For example, if someone wants to watch a video about how to crochet, they’ll search “how to crochet.” 

Those are the keywords.

If you google “keyword research tool” you’ll find a ton of different websites where you can search for different terms.

You can see how many people are searching these terms and what the competition is.

In other words, how many other people are using that keyword in their content as well. 

That way, you’ll know which words to use in your title and description to drive traffic to your site. 

If your title uses keywords that people are searching for and there’s not a lot of competition, you’ll have an automatic built-in audience for your videos. 

Is It Right For You?

I’m not going to lie, running a YouTube channel is a learning curve. 

You’ll need to learn how to record and edit high-quality videos.

This means the videos should be content people are searching for.

It’s what people actually want to see, it’s engaging, it’s easy to watch, the audio quality is great and you’re giving viewers a great watching experience. 

Part of this is getting comfortable with the technology and with being in front of the camera.

Or you can choose not to do those kinds of videos, then you’ll have to get comfortable doing voiceovers as you’ll probably need to speak over the videos you’ve created. 

You’ll also need to know how to design attention grabbing thumbnails, do keyword research, and come up with great video titles. 

On top of all that, you still have to PROMOTE your videos! 

Promoting your videos actually helps to kickstart the algorithm, so it can rank your video higher and reach more people. 

If you expect YouTube to do all of the promoting for you, your video’s not going to get very far. 

Remember that you’re competing with a ton of other channels – so you need to initially put in the work yourself to really stand out. 

If you can afford it, you can always consider hiring a team to run your YouTube channel for you. 

That way, your channel can be run by experts who know exactly how to build a successful brand on YouTube – and you can spend that time growing your handmade business. 

Of course, this isn’t an option for everyone, and if you can’t hire a team, don’t let that stop you from making videos. 

Just be sure to put in the research to really know what you’re getting into.

And be sure to carve out the time each week to dedicate to your channel. 

Remember, content marketing and YouTube is not something I recommend to most handmade business owners.

Don’t feel pressured to add yet another thing if your plate is already full. 

This works well for a very specific type of person and business model.

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I hope this post has at least helped you decide whether or not it’s right for you! 

Do you have a YouTube channel? 

Link to it in the comment section! 

Tell me more about what your channel is about, or what kind of channel you’d like to start! 

And if you enjoyed this post, check out my YouTube Channel for more great tips!