Step-by-step guide: a separate Google account, channel name and @handle, country of residence (why not Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan), phone verification, avatar, banner, description, trailer, and first videos. Every step is a concrete action in YouTube Studio.
Go to the steps →You can create a channel in two minutes, but most people do it carelessly: under a personal email, without a country, without a verified phone number. Later it turns out that videos longer than 15 minutes won't upload, you can't set a custom thumbnail, and monetization isn't available for the chosen country.
Below are 12 steps in the order you should do them. The first six cover creating the channel; the rest cover the branding every new viewer sees.
The algorithm doesn't promote an empty channel: you need your first 5–10 videos in one niche with a regular posting schedule. Goutub makes them without a camera or editing — you set the topic, and the service writes the script, adds the voiceover, picks the images, and assembles the video along with thumbnails and a description for YouTube.
Check these before inviting your first viewers.
Face or logo, large, with no small text: on a phone, the avatar is the size of a coin.
Keep text and logo only within the central 1546×423 px zone — the rest gets cropped on phones.
What the channel is about and who it's for. These are the lines shown in search and on the channel card.
Website, social networks, and a contact for collaboration — in the "About" section.
For unsubscribed viewers: what the channel is about, how often videos are released, and why to subscribe.
Even with just three videos: it keeps viewers on the channel and gets indexed in search.
Go to accounts.google.com and create a new email specifically for the channel. In the Google account, add a recovery email and phone number, and turn on two-step verification under "Security". Set the same country in your personal info that you'll choose for the channel in step 4.
Open youtube.com, sign in to the new account, click the avatar at the top right → "Create a channel". In the creation window, replace the account name with the channel name. The name should reflect the niche or the promise to the viewer, not your own name.
YouTube Studio → "Customization" → "Basic info" → "Handle". 3 to 30 characters in Latin letters, with no spaces, digits, or underscores, matching the channel name. You can change it no more than twice every 14 days.
YouTube Studio → "Settings" (gear icon at bottom left) → "Channel" → "Basic info" → "Country of residence". The Partner Program is unavailable in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, so choose a country where it works, for example Kazakhstan. This country must match the country of your future AdSense account, and it can't be changed later.
In the same "Basic info" section, enter 5–10 keywords about your niche. Then "Advanced settings" → "Audience" → "No, set this channel as not made for kids". With the "made for kids" label, YouTube turns off comments, notifications, and personalized ads.
Open youtube.com/verify and verify your number by SMS or call; a +996 number works too. After that, videos longer than 15 minutes, custom thumbnails, and live streams become available. One number can verify no more than two channels per year.
"Customization" → "Branding". Avatar: a square 800×800 px, with a face or logo shown large. Banner: 2560×1440 px, file up to 6 MB, with text and logo only within the central 1546×423 px zone. Watermark: a 150×150 px logo that appears on all videos as a subscribe button.
"Basic info" → "Description": the first two lines say what the channel is about and who it's for, followed by the release schedule and the value for viewers. Add links to your website and social networks (up to 14) and an email for collaboration: it appears in the "About" section.
"Settings" → "Upload defaults": a description template with a signature, links, and hashtags, tags, category, and video language. Default visibility is "Unlisted", so nothing goes live by accident. These fields are applied to every new video.
"Customization" → "Layout": a trailer for unsubscribed viewers (30–60 seconds) and a featured video for subscribers. Below are sections: popular videos, playlists by topic, Shorts. Create a playlist from your first three videos.
Prepare 3–5 videos in one niche, publish the first, and schedule the rest, for example Tuesday and Friday. The algorithm evaluates a new channel as a series: retention, thumbnail clicks, returning viewers. How to make your first video in 5 minutes — in the guide "How to launch your first video".
YouTube Studio → "Earn". Partner Program requirements: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over 12 months, or 10 million Shorts views over 90 days, with two-step verification enabled and no strikes. Create your AdSense account for the same country that is set on the channel.
Goutub builds a video from a topic in one go: script, natural voiceover, images, editing, and thumbnails. Put your first five videos on the calendar — and your channel launches with a schedule.
Make your first video in Goutub