- Is it worth creating a YouTube channel in 2026
- How to create a YouTube channel from scratch: step-by-step instructions
- How to use YouTube to promote a website
In 2026, YouTube remains the largest video hosting platform in the world with a monthly audience of 2.9+ billion users, while Shorts has 1.5+ billion. Many people want to create a YouTube channel to share knowledge and personal experiences, build a personal brand, grow a business, and earn thousands of dollars doing what they love. Considering the growing importance of media content against the backdrop of the active development of artificial intelligence and changes in Google algorithms, creating your own videos is also a way to promote a website even on a new affordable domain, increase authority, and gain an additional source of traffic.
Regardless of your goals, you first need to create a YouTube channel from scratch. This is much easier than developing your own website even on a CMS. However, at this stage, many users make trivial mistakes or overlook important details that later slow down the project's development. So let's break down all the details: from the initial registration to technical settings and visual design.
Is it worth creating a YouTube channel in 2026
There are already many bloggers in the world who earn from $50–100 to $5000–10000 on YouTube every month. They talk about credit cards, investing, self-development, showcase ordinary daily life and leisure, play games, and create funny videos. The highest income is earned by English-speaking YouTubers with viewers from Tier 1 countries (USA, UK, Canada, etc.), who can earn from $300 to $1500+ for 100,000 views just from Google Adsense. This is supplemented by direct collaboration with advertisers, affiliate offers, product sales, support from viewers, and other monetization methods, allowing a person to earn $2000-3000 a month with a small channel (15,000–30,000 subscribers).
A good example is American blogger Reno James, who simply shares about his life. His videos average 3-5 thousand views, with earnings at the beginning of 2025 amounting to $500–1500, and by the end—ranging from $3000 to $6000.
This is a frame from a video by American blogger Dave Jeltema, in which he talks about his earnings on YouTube with 50,000 subscribers. He creates content about YouTube, which allows him to get many views and a high RPM. He earns through Adsense, affiliate programs, sponsors, and consultations.
We have covered English-speaking YouTubers, but what about Ukrainian-speaking ones? Although for a long time Ukrainians watched more Russian-speaking bloggers, the situation has significantly improved in recent years. And now we have many million-subscriber bloggers in various fields:
- news channels—STB, Pryamyi Channel, New Channel;
- entertainment—My little Nastya, FILM.UA Group, Chotkyy Patsa, Peshka;
- popular science—Riddle UA, My World;
- sports—TGYM, Football 2.0, Anita Lutsenko;
- leisure—KUBASTIK, Liliya Tsvit, Nataliya Mashika.
These are channels that have already reached or will soon cross the 1+ million subscriber mark. Their owners have a good additional or even primary income.
By the way, Cityhost also has its own YouTube channel—subscribe to it, as you will find a lot of interesting information presented in a humorous format.
According to data from 24 Channel, the average RPM on YouTube in Ukraine is from $0.4 to $2.5 per 1000 monetized views. This means that for 100,000 views, earnings can range from $40 to $250. And although YouTubers in Ukraine earn several times less than in the USA ($5-30 per 1000 views), Canada ($5-20), the UK ($4-15), and Germany ($4-12), it cannot be said that they live quite poorly: hundreds of dollars come from Google Adsense, while thousands come from advertising, affiliate programs, and their own products.
The publication RBC-Ukraine, based on videos from "Economic Truth," published an article revealing the earnings of well-known Ukrainian bloggers in 2024.
What role does a YouTube channel play for website owners
A YouTube channel is important not only in terms of income. In 2026, artificial intelligence continues to evolve, and website owners are still getting used to changes in Google algorithms. This is compounded by Zero-Click, where users receive a comprehensive answer directly in the search results through AI overview or expanded snippet, causing 60% of search sessions to end without visiting a web resource. And here YouTube acts as a protective barrier: videos based on the author's personality, emotions, and visual demonstration still appeal to people, especially those who have already grown tired of AI.
You can create videos for YouTube, use them in articles on your website, thus gaining the following advantages:
- Capturing attention. A video that ranks well on YouTube automatically has chances of appearing in Google Search, Google Discover, and AI responses. So, if your web resource's page failed to capture the user's attention, a YouTube video can do this, in which you can place a link to the article, product, or service you need.
- Confirming authenticity. Of course, the website should have an "About Us" page, the author's name, and links to social networks. But a video with a real person allows you to finally convince users that you and your company can be trusted.
- Time spent on the site. Integrating relevant video on a webpage is an effective method to increase user time spent. When a person visits a page and spends 5-10 minutes watching the embedded video, search engines receive a signal that the web resource contains valuable, interesting content.
- Reducing the bounce rate. Instead of scanning the article and quickly closing the tab, the user stops at the video. This reduces the bounce rate, and consequently, the page ranks better in search results.
Overall, having a YouTube channel is a great opportunity not only to promote a website but also to retain traffic even with new Google updates, such as those seen with the March 2024 Core Update, August 2024 Core Update, March 2025 Core Update, and technical failures. This is a classic but no less effective diversification of traffic channels, which is critically important in the context of artificial intelligence and changes in Google.
Read also: How to pull a website out of the traffic pit after Spam Update and AI Overviews
How to create a YouTube channel from scratch: step-by-step instructions
The process is quite simple, clear, and quick: register a Gmail account, create a YouTube channel, go through verification, add a description, banner, and other similar details. An important part is setting up preliminary settings for the videos, such as a description with all your links. This way, you can upload videos to YouTube more easily and conveniently.
Despite the relative ease of the process, we will go through it together, and personally show you how to create a YouTube channel from scratch in 2026:
Creating a Google account
You may already have a Gmail account that you are used to. However, for a YouTube channel, it is better to create a new separate Google account that is not tied to personal data:
- Go directly to Gmail. And click Create account—For my personal use. It differs from For work or my business only in that in the latter, Google may offer additional services or paid features that we do not need for YouTube.
- Next are the classic steps where you need to provide your first name (mandatory) and last name (optional), day, month, and year of birth, gender. Then you can choose one of the suggested email options or create your own.
You can change the registration language of the Google account under the form by clicking on English (United States).
- At the last stage, it is important to provide and verify your phone number. Don't worry if you have already linked the number to another email, as you can use it for the new Google account as well. Plus, we recommend providing a backup email to maximize your protection.
You will be redirected to your email. And we recommend activating two-factor authentication (2FA) immediately through an app (Google Authenticator) or a hardware key (YubiKey), as this is a mandatory requirement for access to the creative studio in 2026.
You simply click on the account icon, go to Manage your Google Account → Security & Sign-in and set the highest level of protection.
Creating a YouTube channel from scratch
To create a YouTube channel, go to the video hosting and click Add account. Enter your email and password.
Note the additional account protection: if you did not specify a phone number for password recovery and a backup email in the first step, you will still have to do this directly in this form.
Now you can create an account, just click on the avatar, and then—Create a channel. Here you need to come up with a name for the YouTube channel and its identifier, i.e., a unique username that will be displayed in the URL, comments, and chats.
You will be prompted to upload an avatar immediately, but you can add it later.
Key technical settings for a YouTube channel
Congratulations on creating a YouTube channel in 2026! However, this is just the beginning, so click on the avatar, select YouTube Studio, and go to Settings.
Let's break down the key settings on YouTube:
- Country of residence. Even if you live in Ukraine but plan to create a channel for an English-speaking audience, specify Ukraine. There is a myth that if you choose the USA, the videos will be shown to Americans. In fact, this field only affects the currency of payments, tax forms, and availability of monetization. The recommendation algorithm is based on the language of the video and viewer behavior, not this field.
- Keywords. Enter 10-15 tags that describe your channel. Here, pay attention to whom the project is aimed at: Ukrainians—tags in Ukrainian, English-speaking users—in English, and so on. And of course, specify tags related to the content that will be on your channel.
- Default uploads. In the Upload defaults tab, there are two sections that allow you to specify information for all videos at once, thus saving time when publishing them. For example, in Basic Info → the Description block, you can add standard information, such as links to your website, social networks, and disclaimers (if there are affiliate links).
In Advanced settings, you can specify only the language of the video, title, and description.
You can also change the currency, set up comments, add moderators, allow or prohibit the use of your videos for short clips, link Google Adsense if you already have it, for example, connected to your website. But these are details that do not play a critical role at the beginning of creating a YouTube channel.
Read also: Top 10 Ukrainian YouTube channels about IT
Features of YouTube channel verification in 2026
In the settings, there is a Feature eligibility section for channel verification. Passing all three levels allows you to gain full access to functionality, including uploading videos longer than 15 minutes, editing thumbnails, and adding external links. We recommend going through all stages immediately after registration, as the request review takes an average of 24 hours on business days.
Let's go through all the stages of YouTube channel verification together:
- Standard features. You automatically pass the first stage, meaning that immediately after registering the channel, you can upload videos, add them to existing playlists, or create new ones. The only condition for maintaining these capabilities is the absence of active warnings about community guideline violations.
- Intermediate features. By default, the video thumbnail is generated from its content, and the chances of attracting viewers with these options are low. The second stage allows you to add your own thumbnails, just confirm your phone number. Plus, you will gain the ability to upload videos longer than 15 minutes and conduct streams.
- Advanced features. This stage is the most important, especially for website owners looking to find clients for their services or products or earn from affiliate programs. Here, you need to pass video verification (just perform certain actions on camera, as you did when registering with Monobank), take a photo of your passport or driver's license. There is also an option to wait an average of 2 months for the channel to gain history, but for many, this is a potential loss of clients. Moreover, this stage, besides external links, opens access to upload more classic videos and Shorts, test thumbnails, and dispute claims regarding content identification.
Video verification takes a few minutes. You simply go to the link, look at the camera, and perform simple movements, after which the video is checked within 24 hours. This video will not be published anywhere; moreover, it will be deleted after 2 months when your channel has gained history.
Useful tips for designing a YouTube channel
We have covered the main settings; now we just need to beautifully design our channel. For this, go to YouTube Studio → Customization.
And here we can improve the appearance of our project in the following ways:
- Add a banner. To display well on different devices, add an image of at least 2048x1152 pixels and less than 6 MB in size. To create a YouTube banner, the free version of Canva is sufficient: go to the service, create an account (or log in), click the "+" icon in the sidebar (Create), enter YouTube, and select Banner.
There are many free ready-made options that can be easily modified for your project.
- Set a profile picture. The platform recommends adding a photo or image of at least 98x98 pixels and up to 4 MB in size. It can be in PNG or GIF format (without animation).
- Change the channel name. Remember when registering the YouTube channel we specified the name Your Fast Hosting? This name can be changed twice within 14 days.
- Change the pseudonym. It can be changed twice every 14 days.
- Add a description. Tell about your YouTube channel: why you created it, what videos you plan to post, how you can help viewers. Add keywords for optimization, but without keyword stuffing. You can even add descriptions in multiple languages.
- Links. Do you have a website, channel, or social media page? Then be sure to add links to them. Even with a small number of views, the company can gain new clients.
- Watermark. At the very bottom of the page, there is an option to add an image of 150x150 pixels in PNG, GIF (without animation), BMP, or JPEG format up to 1 MB in size. When a user hovers over or clicks on it, they can instantly subscribe.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the design of the main page of the YouTube channel. For this, there is a separate tab in the settings where you can activate this feature.
In the early stages of the project's existence, there is no particular sense in this, as there is little content, and it is already displayed in the "Videos" tab. However, later it is useful to use it to add a channel trailer and improve navigation.
How to use YouTube to promote a website
Your channel is an additional source of traffic that can be used directly for earning, for example, from affiliate programs, selling goods and services, or for promoting a website. The latter point is extremely important in the context of constant algorithm changes.
And we have a few tips on how to promote your website using videos on YouTube:
- Links to articles. Use videos to show what cannot be conveyed through screenshots. Then redirect to the article with all the technical details. For example, you prepared a detailed material for the site "The best affordable hosting for the site with speed tests." Based on it, you developed a script for the video, briefly talked about the hosting services, and showed testing, then suggested viewers go to the website page to learn detailed information about each provider and your experience working with them.
- Quick access to products. Do you have an online store? Then connect it to YouTube through Google Merchant Center. This will allow you to tag products directly in the video so that the user sees the "View products" button and goes directly to the product card.
- Increasing conversion in the online store. Add videos showing the product and talking about it to classic photos. This works with many goods and services; for example, on the page with the offer to rent a dedicated server, you can add a video about its setup, speed, and stability testing. On the web resource of an SEO specialist for the service "Website page audit," you can add a video showing how this process goes and what the client receives. This will alleviate objections and increase the chances of collaboration.
- Increasing trust in the company. Reviews on official company websites were not trusted much, and after the widespread availability of artificial intelligence, when almost identical recommendations began to appear, they were completely ignored. However, video interviews with clients look genuinely real, which builds trust in both the brand and the product they talk about. If this format does not suit your business, comments under the video are sufficient, as people often share their experiences with companies, for example, asking questions, writing about positive and negative aspects.
- Improving behavioral factors. For content projects, especially in the era of AI, videos are also extremely important. We recommend placing them in the first half of the article so that the user gets acquainted with the topic, then clicks Play and stays on the page for 3-5+ minutes. This will both add views to your video and give search engines a clear signal that your content is valuable.
When you add YouTube videos to your website, use Schema.org microdata (VideoObject) so that Google displays it in search results with a nice image and timestamps along with a link to the web resource page. Most SEO plugins, including Yoast SEO and RankMath, do this automatically, but it’s better to additionally configure the title, description, and other details in the plugin itself. Plus, you can use the "Facade" technique, where instead of a heavy player, a cover with a Play button loads first, and the actual code only loads after clicking the button. This can be done with WordPress plugins like Embed Plus for YouTube (Gallery, Livestream, & Lazy Load), Embeds for YouTube, and WP Rocket.
Read also: How to create an entertainment website: from idea to profit
The WordPress plugin RankMath SEO offers all the necessary settings for YouTube videos. However, for setting up the markup, a paid version is required, as the free version has a limitation: 1 Schema per page.
As you can see, creating a YouTube channel from scratch in 2026 is a simple process, but at the same time requires knowledge of all technical details and current platform rules. For website owners, having videos is generally an advantage over competitors: it allows effectively combating artificial intelligence, confirming the authenticity of products, reducing objections from potential clients, improving behavioral factors, and at the same time achieving Google TOP. If your goal is to earn money, then affiliate programs and collaborations with advertisers work well on YouTube. The main thing is to start now and devote time to creating truly useful content!
