Note: YouTube Feed also has a free version. However, it does not support the Live Stream feature.
Once the plugin has been activated, you need to visit the Youtube Feed » Settings page from the admin sidebar. Here, you need to enter the license key and click on the ‘Activate’ button.
You can get the license key from your Accounts page on the Smash Balloon website.
Next, you need to visit the YouTube Feeds » All Feeds page from the WordPress admin sidebar.
From here, simply click on the ‘Add New’ button at the top.
This will open up the ‘Select Feed Type’ prompt.
Now, you need to choose the ‘Live Streams’ option and then click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.
On the next step, you need to connect YouTube Feed Pro with your Youtube account. You will be asked to provide your YouTube API key.
If you already have an API key, simply copy and paste it into the ‘Enter API Key’ box and click on the ‘Add’ button.
Create a YouTube API Key
If you don’t have an API key yet, then you need to go to the Google Cloud Console and sign in using your Google account.
Once you are logged in, click on the ‘Select a project’ button at the top.
This will open a popup window that will display all the projects that you have created.
Next, simply click on the ‘New Project’ button at the top.
This will take you to the ‘New Project’ page, where you can start by typing in a name for your project. This can be anything that will help you easily identify it.
Next, you must also select an ‘Organization’ and its location from the dropdown menu. You can select ‘No Organization’ and click the ‘Create’ button to continue.
Once the project has been created, you will be taken to the project dashboard.
From here, you need to click on the ‘+ Enable APIs And Services’ button in the top menu.
This will take you to the API Library page. It shows the different Google services that you can create APIs for and use in your projects.
Now go ahead and search for ‘YouTube Data API v3’ in the search box.
Once the ‘YouTube Data API v3’ result shows up, just click on it.
This will take you to a new page where you need to click on the ‘Enable’ button to activate the YouTube API key.
You’ll now be taken to the ‘API/Service Details’ page.
From here, simply click on the ‘Create Credentials’ button at the top.
Next, you’ll be directed to a new page where you must check the box next to the ‘Public Data’ option.
After that, click on the ‘Next’ button to create your API.
Your API Key will now be created and displayed on the page.
Simply copy the API key and click on the ‘Done’ button.
Next, it is time to head back to the WordPress dashboard.
Go ahead and paste the API key into the API Key Required box. Then, click on the ‘Add’ button to continue.
Add the YouTube Live Stream to Your WordPress Website
Once you’ve added your YouTube API key, you will be redirected to the ‘Select Feed Type’ page.
From here, you need to click on the ‘Live Stream’ option again, followed by the ‘Next’ button.
This will open the ‘Add Channel ID For Live Stream’ page.
Now, you need to visit the YouTube channel that contains your live-stream videos.
From here, go ahead and copy the text that comes after ‘/channel/’ or ‘/user/’ in the URL at the top.
Next, switch back to the WordPress dashboard and paste the code into the ‘Add Channel ID for Livestream’ box.
After that, click on the ‘Connect’ button to connect your YouTube channel with WordPress.
Once the channel is connected, you need to click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.
Customize Your YouTube Feed
Now that your YouTube live stream feed has been created, you can customize it. Smash Balloon’s YouTube Feed Pro offers many different display options.
First, you will need to choose a template on the ‘Start with a template’ page. You can choose from Default, Carousel, Cards, List, Gallery, and Grid layouts.
Once you have made your choice, simply click on the ‘Next’ button.
After you have chosen a template, an editing screen will open up that displays a preview of your YouTube feed to the right and customization settings in the left menu column.
Here, you can start by expanding the ‘Feed Layout’ panel.
On this screen, you can switch between the layouts.
You may also be able to configure additional settings depending on your chosen layout.
Next, you need to click on the ‘Color Scheme’ panel.
By default, YouTube Feed Pro uses the same color scheme as your WordPress theme. However, you can also use a ‘Light’ or ‘Dark’ color scheme for the video feed.
You can also design your own color scheme by clicking on the ‘Custom’ option and then using controls to change the background, text, and link colors.
To add a header to your YouTube feed, you need to visit the ‘Header’ panel. From here, simply toggle the ‘Enable’ switch to activate the header.
You can also use the controls to switch between standard and text header styles. Choosing the ‘Text’ option will allow you to change the text size and color.
You can also customize the appearance of the video player by going to the ‘Videos’ panel.
Here, you will see a list of options.
To customize the video layout and individual properties, you need to visit the ‘Video Style’ settings panel.
Here, you can select the video layout, background color, and border.
After that, open the ‘Edit Individual Elements’ panel. Here, simply check the boxes next to the elements you want to display along with the YouTube live stream videos.
You can show or hide the Play icon, video title, live stream countdown, descriptions, and more.
Next, you need to head over to the ‘Hover State’ setting. Here, you can choose the individual elements that will display when the user hovers their mouse over the YouTube video.
You can pick many elements, including video title, description, date, views, and more.
After that, you need to visit the ‘Video Player Experience’ panel.
From here, you can change the video player’s aspect ratio. You can also choose whether the video will start playing automatically or wait until the visitor clicks the play button.
After customizing the individual video elements, switch to the ‘Load More Button’ panel.
Here, under the ‘Load More Button’ setting, you can switch the toggle to ‘Enable.’ This will display more video suggestions after the live stream.
You can also choose the background color, hover state, and text from the settings in the left panel.
After that, switch to the ‘Subscribe Button’ panel and toggle the switch to ‘Enable’ if you want to activate the YouTube subscribe button.
You can also change the button’s color, text, and hover state in the settings.
Once you have customized the YouTube live feed, you can preview how it will look on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones. Simply click on the different buttons in the upper-right corner to preview the feed on different devices.
Finally, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top to save your changes.
Embed the YouTube Live Stream on a WordPress Page
The next step is to embed your YouTube live feed on a WordPress page. To do this, you must first click on the ‘Embed’ button at the top.
This will open up the ‘Embed Feed’ prompt. Here, click on the ‘Add to a Page’ button to continue.
The popup will now show a list of all the WordPress pages on your website.
Simply choose the page where you want to embed the YouTube live stream and click the ‘Add’ button.
The page you selected will now open up in the block editor.
From here, you need to click the ‘Add Block’ (+) button in the top left corner and search for the ‘Feeds for YouTube’ block.
Once you have found it, add the block to your page by clicking on it.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes or make them live.
This is how the YouTube live feed looks on our demo website.
Add a YouTube Live Feed as a Widget
You can also add a YouTube live feed to the WordPress sidebar as a widget.
First, you will need to visit the Appearance » Widgets page from the admin sidebar.
From here, click on the ‘Add Block’ (+) button in the top left corner of the screen and locate the ‘Feeds for YouTube’ block.
Next, click on the block to add it to the widget area.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to save your changes.
This is how the YouTube live feed looks in the sidebar on our demo website.
First, go to the Appearance » Editor page from the admin sidebar to launch the site editor.
From here, click on the ‘Add Block (+)’ button at the top and look for the ‘Feeds for YouTube’ block.
Next, you can drag and drop the block to wherever you want to display the YouTube feed on your page.
Once you are done, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ button to apply the changes.
Here is a preview of the live streams on our demo website.
We hope this article helped you learn how to embed YouTube live streams in WordPress. You may also want to read our ultimate WordPress SEO guide or check out our top picks for the best social media plugins to grow your site.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Do you want to start a successful YouTube channel for your business?
YouTube is one of the biggest video-sharing and social media platforms in the world. It can help you bring more customers and sales to your business.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily start a successful YouTube channel for your business with practical tips to promote and grow it.
Why Start a YouTube Channel for Your Business
YouTube is one of the biggest video-sharing and social media platforms in the world. With more than 2 Billion active users, it is also the second most popular search engine on the market after Google.
With such a huge user base, YouTube is the perfect place to promote your business and acquire new customers and followers.
Following are some of the top benefits of creating a YouTube channel.
Increased brand recognition – A YouTube channel helps you promote your brand and strengthen brand recognition among your audiences.
Increased sales – Videos are the most engaging content for any marketing strategy and engaged audiences are more likely to make a buying decision. This means more sales for your business.
Increased website traffic – YouTube videos can help promote your website on one of the biggest social platforms and search engines. You can add links to your products, services, landing pages, or blog posts in your video descriptions with a direct call to action.
Promote products/services – YouTube videos provide more opportunities to educate customers about your products or services. These videos can be embedded on your support docs which can reduce support requests while making sure that your customers make the most out of your products.
Build a loyal following – A YouTube channel helps you build a more engaging community around your brand and products.
Adds an extra source of revenue – YouTube Monetization options can add an extra source of revenue for your business. Your video content can also unlock many potential partnership opportunities with other businesses.
Starting a YouTube channel requires commitment. You’ll need to create a consistent content strategy and stick to it in order to make a successful YouTube channel.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily start a YouTube channel step by step.
Here is an overview of all the steps we’ll walk you through to create a YouTube channel.
YouTube makes it super easy to create a channel. You can make a channel by simply visiting the YouTube website and signing in with a Google Account.
Once signed in, you can click on your profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen and then select the “Create a Channel” option.
This will bring up a popup to fill out basic information for your channel.
You’ll need to choose a channel name and handle, and upload a profile photo.
Now, we want you to take a few minutes before choosing a channel name and handle.
Tips on Choosing The Perfect YouTube Channel Name
Your channel name and handle may help it appear in YouTube and Google Search results.
That’s why you need to use keywords in your channel name and handle. Keywords are the search terms that users would enter when looking for videos.
You may also want to consider what kind of videos you’ll be uploading when choosing a channel name.
For instance, will you be uploading tips & advice, general entertainment, infotainment, interviews, podcasts, documentary-style videos, and more?
Let’s say you want to create a YouTube channel for your gardening business. In that case, using gardening in the channel name and handle will increase the chances of YouTube algorithm displaying your channel in search results.
You can also use the existing brand name that you use on your business website. This helps strengthen your brand identity and keeps things consistent across different platforms (your website and social profiles).
For instance, we use our brand name for our YouTube channel with keywords that explain what our channel is all about (i.e. ‘WPBeginner – WordPress Tutorials‘).
Tips on Making YouTube Profile Photo
Your YouTube profile photo appears across the YouTube platform next to your channel name. This includes your channel homepage, below each video, and in the search results.
Many small businesses use their logo as their YouTube channel profile photo.
If you don’t already have a business logo that you can use, then you can create a YouTube channel photo using Canva.
This free online image editor comes with ready-to-use templates for different social networks including YouTube.
If you want to use any other image editing software or your own logo, then make sure that your channel photo is a square image with at least 800×800 pixels in size.
Once you have entered the channel name, handle, and photo, simply click on the Create Channel button to continue.
Youtube will now create the channel and redirect you to your new YouTube channel’s page.
2. Securing Your Brand Name
Before you upload your first video and start promoting your YouTube channel, it is important to secure your brand name.
This includes purchasing a domain name that matches your YouTube Channel name, making a WordPress website, and creating social media accounts for your channel.
Doing this protects your business from copyright infringement and blocks scammers from impersonating your brand on social media platforms.
Let’s start with a domain name and a website.
1. Making a Website for YouTube Channel
To make a website for your YouTube channel, you’ll need the following items.
A domain name. This is what users will type in their browsers to visit your website (e.g. wpbeginner.com)
Web hosting account. This is where all your website files will be stored.
Normally, a domain costs $14.99 per year and web hosting plans start at $7.99 per month (usually paid for a full year).
This is a significant amount and if you are just starting out then this may look a bit excessive.
Luckily, the folks over at Bluehost have agreed to offer WPBeginner users a free domain name with a generous discount on hosting.
Basically, you can get started for $2.75 per month.
Once you have chosen the domain name, click on the Next button to continue and finalize your purchase.
From here, you’ll first provide your personal information. After that, you can choose a plan duration (the 12-month plan gives you the best value).
Below that, don’t forget to uncheck all the options under Package Extras to further reduce the costs. Don’t worry you can always add them later when needed.
Finally, fill in your payment information to complete the purchase.
Bluehost will now register your domain name and set up your web hosting account. It will also automatically install WordPress, which is the best website builder on the market.
You’ll receive an email with instructions on how to log in to your hosting account.
For more details, see our step-by-step tutorial on how to make a website for beginners.
Remember, the goal here is to just get started with a basic website at first. You can work on your website later on as needed.
2. Securing Your Social Media Profiles
If your business doesn’t already have social media profiles, then it is time to create those and protect your brand.
Depending on your target audience you can choose which platforms would work best for your social media marketing strategy.
For instance, you would definitely want to create a profile on Facebook and Twitter. Optionally, you can choose to sign up for other platforms that may be useful for your businesses.
For instance, a business organization may want to sign up for LinkedIn, a lifestyle business may find Pinterest and Instagram more useful, and an educational website may want to build a community on Redditt as well.
It is important to choose the same brand name that you use for your business and your YouTube channel.
3. Making Artwork for YouTube Channel
Now let’s get back to your newly created YouTube channel which would be empty at the moment.
You can start working on your YouTube channel by creating channel art like a banner or cover image. This image appears at the top of your YouTube channel.
Once again, you can use Canva to create a very professional-looking cover art for your YouTube channel.
Canva comes with hundreds of built-in templates for YouTube channel covers to choose from.
Once you have found a template that matches your channel thumbnail and logo colors you can edit it using Canva’s built-in editor.
More advanced users can create their own cover images using image editing software like Photoshop, Illustrator, or Affinity.
Make sure that your YouTube banner image is 2048 x 1152 pixels in dimensions and no more than 6MB in file size.
Once your image is ready you can go to your YouTube channel page and click on the Customize Channel button.
This will bring you to the Channel Customization page. From here, you need to switch to the Branding tab.
You’ll notice that the channel profile photo you created earlier is already there. Next, click on the Upload button next to the banner image option.
Optionally, you can also add a watermark to your YouTube videos. It appears on your videos in the right-hand corner of the video player.
You can upload the watermark image from the Branding tab. Most channels typically use their channel profile photo or their business logo. Some also use watermarks as a reminder for viewers to subscribe.
You’ll need a square image with dimensions of at least 150×150 pixels. We recommend using a transparent image so that it doesn’t take up much on-screen space.
4. Creating a Featured Video and YouTube Channel Trailer
A YouTube channel trailer is an impactful way to introduce new users to your channel. A good channel trailer provides users with a glimpse into what kind of content your channel offers.
When enabled, this trailer appears at the top of your channel page and automatically plays for new users.
Similarly, you can also create a separate featured video for users who have already subscribed to your channel.
The downside is that they will not see this video at the top of your channel if they have already watched it.
These videos can be uploaded by visiting the YouTube Studio page.
From here, you can switch to the Customization tab and then upload your trailer or a featured video.
Not ready to make a video yet? Don’t worry we’ll talk more about making videos later in this article.
5. What Do You Need to Make Great YouTube Videos
You may have noticed the very high quality of videos uploaded by the most popular YouTube channels such as Mr. Beast, Lemmino, Veritasium, and more.
These videos are made using top-of-the-line cameras, professional lighting, custom-made graphics, and really good editing.
However, the vast majority of videos uploaded on YouTube are not as high-quality as you may think.
You can basically just shoot a YouTube video using your phone camera. Most modern phones are equipped with very capable cameras.
With a little effort and some inexpensive equipment, you can easily make very polished YouTube videos all by yourself.
Here is a list of equipment that you can use to get started.
1. A Good Camera
Digital cameras are becoming quite inexpensive and can shoot high-resolution 4k videos. If you are looking to spend some money then we recommend these starter digital cameras:
However, if you cannot afford a separate camera, then most modern phones come with very capable built-in cameras.
With an inexpensive tripod, some basic lighting, and an inexpensive microphone, you can easily use your own phone to shoot high-quality YouTube videos.
This brings us to other equipment that you may want to look into.
2. An Affordable Tripod or Camera Stand
A tripod or camera stand allows you to firmly place your camera or phone in one place to shoot videos.
There are hundreds of tripods, gimbal stabilizers, and selfie sticks available on Amazon.
Ideally, you would want to buy one that works with your camera or mobile phone and offers different heights and adjustments to shoot a variety of video styles.
For mobile users, Rode Vlogging Kit can be a good starting point. It comes with a 3.5mm audio jack to capture better sound quality and has a separate version for iOS devices.
3. A basic lighting setup
If you are planning to shoot most of your videos indoors, then adding some extra lighting can make a huge difference in video quality.
However, professional-grade lighting equipment can be very expensive. Luckily, there are a ton of inexpensive options that can do the trick.
For beginners, we recommend starting out with ring lights. These portable LED lights come in different shapes and sizes and include adjustments like tripods and extendable heights.
4. A Video Editing Software
Once you have shot your video, you’ll need to edit it to add graphics, background music, credits, and more. You may also want to cut out some parts or merge multiple video files.
Now you may have heard popular YouTubers talking about Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro. These are very powerful video editing software but they are also quite expensive and come with a learning curve.
Luckily, your computer may already have basic and easy-to-use video editing software installed on it.
Mac computers come with the iMovie app which is a very capable video editing software. It also has a trimmed-down version available for iOS devices.
iMovie includes some basic transition effects, the ability to add sounds and music overlays, trim clips, adjust the screen size, and more.
Similarly, Windows users can use Clipchamp which is a great free video editor and comes with dozens of ready-to-use templates for different video platforms including YouTube.
Alternately, the popular design tool Canva also comes with a built-in video editor. It includes a huge library of images, videos, transitions, and other elements that you can use in your videos.
Plus, it works on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices as well. It is extremely easy to use and a good option for absolute beginners.
All these video editing software options are beginner friendly and will allow you to create professional-looking videos for your YouTube channel.
6. How to Edit YouTube Videos
As we mentioned earlier that the vast majority of YouTube videos don’t have the production levels of the most popular YouTubers.
As a YouTube beginner, you just need to learn some video editing basics to polish your YouTube videos before uploading.
Let’s start with the shooting first.
Shooting Videos with Editing in Mind
When you are shooting your videos always record them in the highest quality settings available on your camera.
Use a tripod or gimbal to avoid shaky footage.
Use manual focus whenever possible to make sure that the subject of your video is always in focus.
Record in a quiet space or use a microphone to avoid background noise.
Editing Videos for Your YouTube Channel
Now that you have your video ready let’s bring it into your video editing software.
First, you would want to cut and trim the portions that you don’t want to include in the video.
Add background music when you need it.
Use transition effects to merge two video footage
Add text, images, and graphics to provide more context if needed.
Your video editing software will show you a live preview of your changes as you make them. Once you are satisfied with the changes you have made it is time to export your video.
Finding Media to Use in Your YouTube Videos
YouTube takes copyright violations seriously and can take down your videos or entire channel for any violations.
Make sure that all the media (images, video clips, sounds, and music) that you use in your video are royalty free or that you have written permission to use them in your video.
Luckily there are many open-source and royalty-free sources that you can use in your videos. Most video editing software choices we mentioned above include royalty-free media that you can add to your videos.
YouTube also has its own audio library with thousands of music and audio files that you can use in your videos.
You can find the audio library under YouTube Studio. From here, you can search or browse the audio files and download them to your computer.
After that, you can add them to your video using your video editing software.
Saving Video to Upload on YouTube
By default, YouTube allows you to upload videos of 15 minutes duration. Verified users can upload longer videos.
The video file size limit for YouTube is 256 GB or 12 hours duration, whichever is less.
Make sure that you export your video from your video editor software using the highest quality settings. Using H.264 (mp4 file format) for compression produces higher-quality results with a smaller file size.
Depending on your video duration and file size, it may take a while for your video editing software to process the video.
7. Video Editing Best Practices to Follow
As you edit more videos for your YouTube channel, you’ll be able to pick up new tips and tricks on the way to produce better results.
Following are just some of the very basic tips that you should keep in mind.
Always save your videos in the highest quality. This allows YouTube to display your video in the best possible quality to your users.
Longer videos take more time to process on your computer. Make sure that your computer is connected to a power source to avoid any interruption.
Similarly, video files are massive and may take some time to upload. Make sure you have a faster and more stable internet connection before you begin uploading the video to YouTube.
8. Making Thumbnails for YouTube Videos
A YouTube video thumbnail is the image used as a placeholder for your video across the YouTube platform.
They play the most significant role in boosting a video’s click-through rate.
Most experienced users spend a lot of their time creating and experimenting with different YouTube video thumbnail styles.
YouTube allows you to pick a thumbnail from your video after you upload the video. However, it is not recommended to use a video still as your thumbnail.
You’ll need to use an image editing tool like Photoshop or Canva to create your YouTube thumbnail. It needs to be at least 1280×720 in dimensions.
Here are some of the tips you can use when making a thumbnail for YouTube videos.
1. Use Hi-res Images – It is important to use high-quality images in your video thumbnail so that they look good in all sizes on all devices.
2. Grab user attention – You’ll need to make your images eye catchy by using bold colors, strong contrast, or emotional reactions. That’s why so many popular YouTubers have an image showing their surprised, amazed, disappointed, and other reactions.
3. Showcase Key Event – Show the main subject or event of your video in the thumbnail to build anticipation and provide users with a preview of the video.
4. Use Text Cleverly – Use text whenever needed to provide more context or insert an engagement hook for your audiences.
5. Keep it Simple – Avoid adding too many elements to your thumbnail to keep it clean and easy on the eyes. Cluttered elements in thumbnails can make it look unpolished to your users.
Once you have created a thumbnail for your video, you can add it after your video upload is complete.
You can also change the thumbnail for a video by editing it in YouTube Studio.
9. Uploading Your First YouTube Video
You can upload your video by visiting the YouTube Studio page.
Then, you just need to click on the Upload Videos button.
This will bring up a popup where you need to select the video file(s) you have saved on your computer.
Simply click on the Select Files button to continue. You can upload more than one video at a time if you want.
However, it is better to upload one video at a time to avoid any interruptions during the upload.
YouTube will now start uploading your video in the background. Meanwhile, you can fill in the video details such as the video title, description, thumbnail, and tags.
Once you are satisfied with the settings click on the Next button to continue.
Now, you’ll be asked to provide additional information about your video. For instance, you can add subtitles, choose an end screen, and add video cards to promote other content during your video playback.
All these video elements help you promote your videos and grow your channel.
After that, you need to click on the Next button to continue. YouTube will now check your video for common issues such as copyright infringements or inappropriate content.
If everything looks good, click on the next button to continue.
Now, you can choose how you want to publish your YouTube video. You can make a video private, unlisted, or public so that everyone on the internet can view it.
You can also schedule the video to become public at a specific time. This helps you schedule videos for the future and get ahead on your video calendar.
Finally, click on the Publish button to save your video. You can now preview your video on YouTube.
10. Mastering YouTube SEO
As we mentioned earlier, YouTube is not only a video-sharing platform but also the second most popular search engine.
It receives more searches than any other search engine on the market except for Google itself.
This is why you need to pay attention to YouTube SEO from day one.
This helps your videos and channel appear in YouTube searches more often.
YouTube SEO best practices will also help your channel appear in Google video results and you may even appear in featured snippets.
Following are some of the basic YouTube SEO tips that will help you optimize your videos for higher search rankings.
Use keywords in Title & Description – Keywords are search terms that users type to search for something. Using them in your video’s title and description increases its potential to appear for those search terms. You can also use your keywords in channel description, about page, and other areas to improve your YouTube SEO.
Add a custom YouTube Video Thumbnail – A good custom video thumbnail can provide search engines with more context about your video. It boosts your click-through rate which helps you rank even higher.
Add closed captions and subtitles – Subtitles and closed captions help you provide a video transcript for your video. This provides YouTube with plenty of context to match with the search terms.
Add Tags to Your Videos – Tags help you organize your videos into topics using them strategically has the potential to appear higher for relevant search terms.
Use Given Character Limit – YouTube has character limits for titles, descriptions, tags, and other fields. Make sure that you utilize these fields to provide more detailed information about your video. Here is a quick breakdown of character limits:
Video Title – 100, make sure that you use all of them and try to replicate the style of other popular YouTubers in your industry.
Description – 5000, use the description field to write a catchy but more detailed description of your video. You can also include links here to your website, relevant blog posts, products, affiliate links, and more.
Tags – 500, tags can help users find your content by categorizing it and letting YouTube know who to promote it to.
YouTube SEO is a highly sought-after skill and as you work on growing your YouTube channel you’ll pick up more tips and tricks along the way.
11. Growing Your YouTube Channel
Growing a successful YouTube channel takes time, some effort, and patience. In most cases success will not come overnight, rather your channel will grow bit by bit slowly and steadily.
Following are a few tips that will help you keep up the momentum and grow your YouTube channel.
1. Create High-Quality Videos
This goes without saying that users will abandon your YouTube videos if they don’t find your content useful or entertaining.
Producing higher quality content that answers users’ questions, provides them value (information, education, or entertainment), and keeps them hooked is the key to keep gaining subscribers for your YouTube channel.
2. Upload Regularly
Publishing regularly is one of the most common traits of almost all successful YouTube channels.
For beginners, this may seem hard at first. We recommend committing to at least one video per week. As you work regularly on your videos you will be able to pick up more tricks to produce higher-quality videos more quickly.
Whatever frequency you choose, you need to stick to it. This helps you keep your existing subscribers engaged which leads to acquiring new subscribers and more views.
3. Engage with Your Audience
YouTube is a social media platform as well. In the US alone, 62% of internet users access YouTube daily and the majority of them access it several times a day.
The easiest way to keep your audience engaged is through YouTube comments. Asking users questions in your videos or replying to them via comments helps you bring back those users. They are also more likely to view more of your content in the future.
4. Curate Your Content in Playlists
As your videos increase it will become harder for users to find all your videos on a similar topic.
For instance, let’s say you run a gardening channel with several videos about budget landscaping. You can help your users find them all by creating a playlist.
Creating playlists also helps with YouTube SEO as these playlists often appear in search engines.
5. Dig Down the Analytics
YouTube offers built-in analytics tools to track the performance of your videos. This helps you gain insights into your audience.
From here, you can analyze important data such as views, watch time, and demographics to improve your content and reach more viewers.
6. Promote Your Videos
To grow your YouTube channel you cannot just upload videos and wait for viewers to come.
You need to proactively promote your videos across all your digital marketing channels, email marketing, and through your website.
This brings us to our next section.
12. Using Your Website to Promote YouTube Videos
All popular YouTube channels have a website.
This helps them to continuously bring traffic to their business website from their Youtube channel which leads to more sales and growth for their business.
It also helps them send more users to their YouTube channel by promoting videos and helping new users discover their YouTube channel.
Here is a step-by-step playbook that you can apply to your website to grow your YouTube channel.
1. Start a Blog To Promote Your YouTube Channel
For many businesses, starting a blog allows them to consistently cover topics that their potential customers will be looking for in search.
This helps them gain free organic search traffic to their website which they can then convert into customers and subscribers.
Adding a blog to your website helps you repurpose content you have used in your videos and make them into articles. This increases your potential to rank for those particular keywords and get traffic to both your video and blog content.
Upon activation, the plugin will launch a setup wizard which will walk you through the basic setup.
Need more help? We have a step-by-step WordPress SEO guide for beginners, which will help you properly optimize your website for SEO.
3. Embed Your Videos in Blog Posts to Get More Subscribers
An easy way to get more views and subscribers for your YouTube channel is by embedding videos in your blog posts.
WordPress makes it super easy. Simply copy the URL of your video and edit the post or page where you want to embed the video.
On the post editor screen, paste the URL on the line where you want to display the video.
WordPress will automatically fetch the required embed code and display your video.
4. Submit Video Sitemaps for Better Rankings
Video Sitemaps are like regular XML sitemaps but only for your video posts. The include links to your WordPress posts or pages containing YouTube video embeds.
You can then submit this sitemap using Google Search Console. Google could then display your article with an enhanced snippet with a video preview.
Now adding YouTube videos to your blog posts and pages is quite simple. However, it is quite boring and doesn’t add any social sharing features to your video embeds.
SmashBalloon offers separate plugins for different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You can also buy the all-access plan to get all plugins.
First, you need to install and activate the SmashBalloon YouTube Feed Pro plugin. Upon activation, head over to YouTube Feed » Settings page and provide your plugin license key. You can find this information under your account on the Smash Balloon website.
After that, you need to click on the ‘Add Source’ button to connect your WordPress website to your YouTube account.
Smash Balloon will ask for your permission to access your channel information under your Google Account.
Simply follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup and get your channel name added as the source.
Next, you need to visit YouTube Feed » All Feeds page and click on the ‘Add New’ button to add a YouTube feed that you want to display.
Follow the on-screen instructions to select a source, template, and style for your feed.
Once finished, Smash Balloon will show you a live preview of your YouTube feed.
If everything looks good, then you can click on the Embed button to continue.
The plugin will now show you a shortcode that you can add to any post or page to display your YouTube feed. Optionally, you can also add it directly to a widget or a page.
Here is how it looked on our test website.
We changed the video template color scheme from light to dark and used the carousel-style gallery.
Smash Balloon allows you to fetch video feeds for your own channel, any other public channel, search term, or favorite videos.
It also works great on mobile devices and will automatically adjust your Gallery width for your smaller screens.
You’ll need to consistently upload new videos in order to make a successful YouTube channel.
You can choose your own frequency which gives you plenty of time to make a video. Many beginners start with one or two videos each month and increase it gradually to one video per week.
You can choose a day and time to publish your videos. This way your users would know when to expect a new video from your channel.
Now the real challenge for most beginners is to come up with ideas for new videos.
Following are a few easy tips to generate video ideas for your YouTube channel.
1. View YouTube Analytics – You can see what kind of content your users like by viewing your YouTube Channel Analytics. Then branch out your most viewed videos into deeper and related topics.
2. Get Hints by YouTube Search – As you type a keyword in YouTube search it would start suggesting popular search terms. These are the search terms that users are already looking for and they can be immensely helpful in generating new video ideas.
3. YouTube Comments – Your users would often post questions in the comments section below your YouTube videos. You can convert the most common questions into separate videos.
4. Your WordPress Blog – You can repurpose your most popular blog content into YouTube videos.
5. Ask Your Users – You can ask your users on social media profiles about what topics they would like you to cover next. Similarly, you can run surveys and polls on your website to gather user feedback.
6. Online Communities – Forums such as Reddit, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the discussion hubs of the internet. You can join the communities covering similar topics as your YouTube channel and see which topics come up more frequently under discussion.
Advanced users can use third-party tools to perform deeper keyword research. Following are some of the most popular keyword research tools for YouTubers.
Semrush – It offers a keyword magic tool where you can sort ideas by SERP features and select Video to explore video ideas.
2. vidIQ – A keyword research and video ideas generator platform made specifically for video content creators.
3. TubeBuddy – Offers YouTube SEO, video optimization, and keyword research tools as a browser extension.
14. Experiment with Different Video Styles and Formats
A YouTube channel doesn’t become successful overnight. It will take some time and effort until you find out what kind of content strategy works for your audience.
Meanwhile, we recommend trying different video formats to see which one of them brings you more user engagement, views, or likes.
You can try YouTube shorts to experiment with shorter video formats.
You can also try how-tos, interviews, video podcasts, essays, commentaries, and more.
Switching styles will help you figure out what your audience finds more engaging and then you can create more such videos.
Similarly, you can experiment by changing thumbnails for your older videos that are not getting any views.
You can also try different video titles and descriptions to see if they help you grab user attention.
15. Frequently Asked Questions About Creating a YouTube Channel
Now that your YouTube channel is up and running following are some of the most commonly asked questions asked by beginner YouTube creators.
1. How many views do I need to get paid on YouTube?
You’ll need at least 4000 public watch hours or 1000 subscribers in 12 months period to be eligible for the YouTube partner program, which gives you access to YouTube monetization tools including ad revenue sharing. For Shorts, you’ll need at least 10 million views in the last 90 days.
2. Can I start a YouTube Channel with my phone?
Yes, you can start a YouTube channel using your mobile phone. YouTube app for smartphones makes it super easy to create a channel, record live videos, or upload videos from your phone.
3. How to make money online using YouTube?
The easiest way to make money online using YouTube is by joining the YouTube partner program. Once you are approved, you become eligible to get paid for revenue sharing on ads displayed during your videos.
4. Can I start a YouTube channel without showing my face?
Yes, you can start a YouTube channel and upload videos without showing your face.
5. Do I need an LLC to start a YouTube channel for my business?
No, you don’t need an LLC to start a YouTube channel for your business. You’ll automatically be considered a sole proprietor for the YouTube channel and all your earnings from YouTube will be subjected to local taxes like income tax. However, some YouTube channels may register as a limited liability company (LLC) to protect their business from potential liabilities, insurance reasons, and other legal and financial reasons.
We hope this article helped you learn how to easily start a successful YouTube channel for your business. You may also want to see our list of other popular online business ideas or learn how to create and sell online courses to generate passive income.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking to embed YouTube playlists on your WordPress website?
Adding YouTube playlists to your blog posts and landing pages can increase user engagement and improve your search engine optimization (SEO). It also helps get more subscribers and grow your channel.
In this article, we’ll show you how to embed a YouTube playlist in WordPress.
Why Embed YouTube Playlists in WordPress?
If you want to make your content more engaging, then adding YouTube videos is a great way to grab your visitor’s attention.
There are a lot of benefits to embedding YouTube content:
You can keep people engaged and get them to spend more time on your website.
Video content helps boost your WordPress SEO, because the high engagement and low bounce rate send a positive signal to search engines.
It helps you to promote your YouTube channel and get more subscribers.
Embedding a playlist lets you keep the videos focused on a single topic.
A playlist also helps you to guide your visitors from one video to the next one in order, helping them to stay even more engaged on your website.
That said, let’s look at how you can embed YouTube playlists on your WordPress site.
Embedding YouTube Playlists in WordPress
WordPress by default does not allow you to embed a playlist. The easiest way to embed a YouTube playlist in WordPress is by using the YouTube Feed Pro by SmashBalloon plugin.
It’s the best WordPress plugin for YouTube and helps you create custom YouTube feeds for your website. It lets you add your YouTube playlists and offers lots of customization features.
The plugin automatically updates the playlist when you add more videos to it on YouTube. You can even embed live YouTube streams in WordPress.
For this tutorial, we’ll be using the premium version of YouTube Feed Pro because it offers more features. There is also a free version that you can use to try it out.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the YouTube Feed Pro by SmashBalloon plugin. Please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for more details.
Upon activation, you can head over to Feeds for YouTube from your WordPress dashboard and then go to the ‘License’ tab.
Simply enter your license key and then click the ‘Activate License’ button. You can find the key in your account.
Next, you’ll need to go to the ‘Configure’ tab and connect your YouTube account.
To do that, go ahead and click the ‘Connect to YouTube to Create a Feed’ button.
A popup will now appear informing you that the plugin will require read-only access to your YouTube account to retrieve the API key.
Simply click the ‘Continue’ button to move on to the next step.
Next, you’ll need to select your Google account.
On the next screen, the plugin will require access to your Google account.
Simply click the ‘Continue’ button.
You’ll now be redirected back to your WordPress website, and a popup will appear showing that you’ve successfully connected your account.
Go ahead and click the ‘Dismiss’ button to continue.
Next to the ‘YouTube Accounts’ section, you can see that you’ve successfully connected your Google account.
Now, you’ll need to create an API key so that the plugin automatically fetches your playlists and displays them in WordPress.
Let’s see how you can get an API Key.
Creating a YouTube API Key
You’ll first need to visit the Google Cloud Platform website and then login to your Google account.
After that, click on the ‘My First Project’ option at the top.
Now, you’ll see a popup window appear where you can select your projects.
Simply click the ‘New Project’ button to get started. You can also select an existing project if you want.
After that, you’ll need to enter a name for your project under the ‘Project Name’ field. We’ve called ours ‘YouTube Playlist’.
Then click the ‘Create’ button.
Once your project is created, you can click the menu option in the top left corner (3 horizontal lines) next to Google Cloud Platform and go to ‘API & Services’ from the menu.
Then click the ‘+ Enable APIs and Services’ option at the top.
This will open the API library page. Go ahead and enter YouTube in the search box to find the YouTube API.
Next, you’ll need to select the ‘YouTube Data API v3’ option.
After that, simply click the ‘Enable’ button to activate the YouTube API key.
Now, you’ll need to go to the Credentials menu in the left menu, and then click the ‘+ Create Credentials’ at the top.
From the options that appear in the dropdown, go ahead and select ‘API key.’
A popup window will now appear with the YouTube API key.
Simply copy the API key or store it on a notepad file.
Next, you can head back to your WordPress website and then navigate back to Feeds for YouTube from your dashboard.
Now, go to the ‘Configure’ tab and enter your API key.
When you enter the API key, you’ll notice more options will be unlocked in Feeds for YouTube, including the ‘Select a Feed Type’ options.
You can now choose ‘Playlist’ as the feed type and enter the YouTube playlist ID. There is also an option to change the frequency that your site will check for new posts in your YouTube playlist.
You can find the playlist ID by visiting your YouTube channel and then going to the playlist you’d like to display on your website.
The string of letters and numbers after the ‘=’ symbol in the URL is your playlist ID. Simply copy the ID and enter it in the Feeds for YouTube plugin.
Now that you’ve created an API key and added the YouTube playlist ID, let’s see how you can customize the feed and embed it on your website.
Customize and Embed Your YouTube Playlist
To customize your YouTube playlist feed, simply head over to the ‘Customize’ tab in the Feeds for YouTube plugin.
Here you can edit the width, height, and background color of your YouTube feed.
Next, you can scroll down and change the layout of the feed. The plugin offers multiple layout options, including a grid, gallery, list, or carousel type.
Besides that, there are also options for selecting the number of columns (for mobile and desktop), the number of videos, and spacing between the videos.
The plugin also offers more optional options to customize your YouTube feed. For instance, you can choose what info to display, like the play icon, title, views, date, and more.
There are also options for entering translations for info text, edit header options, changing the Load More and Subscribe button settings, adding moderation, and other advanced settings.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you’re done.
To start, simply create a new page or edit an existing one. Once you’re in the WordPress content editor, simply click the ‘+’ button and add the ‘Feeds for YouTube’ block.
Your YouTube playlist will now appear on your page.
Go ahead and publish your article to see the YouTube playlist feed in action.
Do you want to add your social media feeds to a WordPress website?
Showing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram feeds on WordPress can get you more followers and engagement on social media. It’s also a great way to keep your website fresh and interesting.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to add custom social media feeds to WordPress and even create a social wall that brings all your social content together in one place.
Why Add Social Media Feeds to Your WordPress Site?
Billions of people use social media every day to connect with family, friends, and even brands. According to our marketing statistics research, people spend around 2 hours and 29 minutes on social media every day. That’s plenty of time to promote your content to existing followers and connect with new people.
If you have one or more social media accounts, then you’re already off to a good start. However, it’s also smart to add these social feeds to your WordPress website.
By embedding social media posts in WordPress, you can promote your different accounts to the people who visit your website. This can get you more likes, shares, and engagement.
If visitors like what they see, they might even decide to start following you on different social networks.
Once you’ve embedded a social feed, new posts will appear on your website automatically. This can be a great way to keep your website fresh and interesting, even for regular visitors.
If you run an online store, then a social media feed can even help you get more sales. In fact, 43% of people use social media to make purchasing decisions.
It’s the best social media feed plugin for WordPress and it’s trusted by over 1.5 million users. With this plugin, you don’t have to spend time dealing with jQuery code, APIs, or trying to arrange your social posts in a nice layout. Everything just works.
Smash Balloon has separate plugins for all the major social networks including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. It even allows you to combine multiple social networks and show all of your posts in a single feed.
With that being said, let’s see how you can add different social feeds to your WordPress website. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the social network that you want to add.
Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world, with 2.9 billion monthly active users. No matter whether you have a small business website, a personal blog, a WordPress membership website, or something else, it’s very likely that your target audience are familiar with Facebook.
When you add a Facebook feed to WordPress, new posts will appear on your website in real-time. Visitors can also like, share, and comment on your WordPress posts, so this is a great way to get more engagement on Facebook.
You can even create a custom lightbox popup so visitors can see your full-sized images and watch your Facebook videos, without having to leave your WordPress website.
If you host regular in-person or online events, then it’s a good idea to create them as Facebook events on your page or group. Visitors can then mark themselves as interested or going to the event, invite other people, and share the event on their own Facebook page.
Once you’ve added these events to Facebook, you can easily promote them to the people who visit your website. Simply create a feed of your upcoming Facebook events and then add it to your WordPress website.
Adding an Instagram Social Media Feed in WordPress
With more than 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a great place to promote your website, products, and services.
Depending on your industry, Instagram may even be the most important part of your social media strategy. For example, Instagram is particularly popular among top fashion blogs, lifestyle, cooking, and photography websites.
If you’re posting beautiful photos and engaging videos to Instagram, then it makes sense to post that content to WordPress too.
You can add images in WordPress manually, but you’ll need to keep adding new photos as you post them to Instagram. This can take a lot of time and effort.
Since there’s no link between your WordPress website and your Instagram account, visitors can’t easily like or share these photos on Instagram. As a result, you may miss out on lots of social media engagement.
The easiest way to add an Instagram feed to WordPress is by using the Smash Balloon Instagram Feed plugin. This plugin allows you to embed a beautiful and professionally-designed Instagram feed on your website.
The feed updates automatically every time you post to Instagram, so visitors always see the latest photos.
You can even show other people’s photos on your site by creating a hashtag feed or displaying the posts that other people have tagged your account in. This can be a powerful form of social proof that encourages people to trust your website or business.
In the following image you can see an example of an online store that uses a custom Instagram feed to show user-generated content.
In this way, you can use a custom Instagram feed to create customer trust and make more money online.
However, this block only lets you embed a single tweet at a time. This is a quick and easy method if you just want to show a small number of tweets. However, if you want to embed multiple tweets then we recommend using Smash Balloon Twitter Feed.
This plugin allows you to create a Twitter feed that updates automatically as you post new tweets. You can then add this feed to any page, post, or widget-ready area.
Smash Balloon Twitter Feed also lets you create hashtag feeds.
This is useful for adding context and third-party content to your blog posts. For example, if you’re starting a fashion blog then you might create feeds for popular fashion-related hashtags such as #lookbook or #OOTD.
You can even use Smash Balloon to show the Twitter feed from a third-party account. This is perfect if you have a relationship with an influencer or affiliate marketer, and want to show their tweets on your website.
Blog posts with videos get 83% more traffic than those without videos. With that in mind, we recommend adding your YouTube videos to WordPress, too.
If you run an online store using a plugin such as WooCommerce, then videos can even get you more sales. In fact, 88% of people have bought a product or service after watching a video.
If you’ve created any YouTube videos showing your products or services, then adding them to your website could boost your profits.
If you only want to add a small number of videos to your site, then it’s easy to embed YouTube videos in WordPress blog posts. However, if you want to show more than one video, then it’s difficult to create a nice gallery layout using the built-in blocks and tools alone.
This plugin allows you to show videos from your favorites list, embed live streams, and more.
Adding a Combined Social Wall in WordPress
So far, you’ve seen how to add individual feeds from different social media platforms. However, many websites have multiple social media accounts, such as a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, and a Twitter profile.
If you create unique content for each platform, then you may want to combine all of that content into a single social media feed. This kind of social wall can convince visitors that you have a big presence on social media, and that you’re creating all kinds of interesting and varied content across the different platforms.
This single feed can get you followers and engagement across multiple platforms. It’s also a good choice if you have limited space, and don’t want to fill up your website with lots of separate social media feeds.
If you want to combine several social media accounts into a single feed, then we recommend the Smash Balloon Social Wall plugin.
It’s the best social stream plugin for WordPress and allows you to combine Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube social content into a single feed.
Already used the Smash Balloon plugins to create separate Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube feeds? Then you can add these feeds to your social wall with a few clicks.
Social Wall will then take your settings and automatically create a shortcode that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area. Simply publish your changes, and the social wall will appear on your website.
Note: To use this plugin, you’ll need to install and activate at least one of the Pro Smash Balloon plugins mentioned above. For example, if you wanted to show Facebook and Instagram content on your social wall, then you’ll need both the Social Post Feed and the Social Photo Feed plugins.
To get started, you’ll need to install and activate the Smash Balloon Social Wall plugin. For more information, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once the plugin is installed and activated, go to Social Feeds » Create a Social Wall.
Simply select each feed that you want to add to the social wall.
For example, you can combine posts from your Instagram and Facebook accounts.
On this screen you can also connect any extra social accounts that you want to use.
Simply click on a ‘Connect…’ button and then follow the onscreen instructions to connect the social media account.
After that, click on the ‘Customize’ tab.
Here, you can change the number of posts to show in the social wall, the feed layout, how often it updates, and more.
There are other settings you can use to change the wall’s color scheme, background color, button text, and more. Most of these settings are fairly self-explanatory, so it’s worth looking through them to see what changes you want to make.
When you’re finished, click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.
Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Configure Wall’ tab. Here, you’ll see a shortcode that allows you to add the social wall to any page, post, or widget-ready area.
