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YouTube Creator Studio: A Deep Dive Into Navigating and Monetizing Your Channel

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What is YouTube Creator Studio?
The YouTube Creator Studiio is where you manage all your YouTube videos, analyze your channel's performance, respond to comments, and monetize your content. It's like the backend of your channel where you can measure, optimize, as well as improve your content for performance and growth.

Are you waiting for a sign to start your YouTube channel this 2023? Well, this is it! In this post, we will give you a rundown of how YouTube Creator Studio works. This is the go-to destination for you future creators out there.

YouTube Creator Studio has loads of features mainly inspired by requests and ideas from viewers like you. Here there are improved analytics, a personalized dashboard, and real-time metrics to gauge your channel chance better.

Starting your own YouTube channel can be pretty terrifying, indeed. But thanks to YouTube Creator Studio guiding you through the basics up to the advanced stages of maintaining and monetizing your channel, including learning the best practices as a content creator, this task becomes much less daunting and a bit more exciting. In the meantime, here are answers to the most frequently asked questions you may have as a YouTube content creator.

Where is my YouTube channel dashboard?

YouTube Creator Studio Analytics Dashboard
Get a quick overview of your YouTube channel’s performance with its user-friendly Dashboard.

How do I get to YouTube creator studio, you may ask? If you wish to try out these incredible features, you can head to studio.youtube.com, or if you’re you’re signed in, click on your profile picture at the top-right-hand corner and choose YouTube studio.

Then you will find yourself in the Studio Channel Dashboard, which happens to be your landing page for the YouTube dashboard as a creator. Here you can try out the left menu to manage all your videos and your channel as a whole. Or even search across your channel, and if you’re searching for specific videos, you can also use the search bar at the top.

You will see some icons used for quickly uploading a video, going live, or creating a post. The Dashboard will give creators a high-level overview of your channel’s activity. Like how your latest upload and community post are doing, go right into the Analytics section for a more in-depth look.

Your Overall Analytics

YouTube Creator Studio Analytics
See where there is room for improvement with their real-time Analytics

A snapshot of your channel’s analytics can also be found here. The most recent subscribers of your channel or any channel violations you could have incurred. You will also find current news on YouTube. If the platform is experiencing an issue, you will see it via Known YouTube.

Next, you can check out your Videos page, where you will find a list of every video and live stream. You’ll see their visibility monetization status if you’re in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). It will show the date these were published or uploaded, together with the views, comments, likes, and dislikes. You can click on the filter bar if you wish to filter your list.

The Four Icons

When you hover over a video, you will notice four clickable icons. These icons, just like in other YouTube-related apps, allow creators to edit their video details, access their video-level analytics, review their comments, and much more. The Playlists, on the other hand, lets you create and manage your playlists. At the same time, Analytics is what you use for monitoring channel’s performance through reports and metrics.

Then you have the Comments page so you can review, moderate, filter, and reply to the comments on your videos. And the Subtitles page is where you can add subtitles to your videos. For those who are monetizing, you will see Monetization, which is the page providing YouTubers with their monetization overview as well as individual tabs to let you go deeper into specifics like memberships, merch, etc.

For those who are not yet monetizing, you will instead see a landing page with details of your eligibility status, if it’s applicable, your progress toward the requirements of the YouTube Partner Program. There’s the Audio Library, which lets you get hold of some free music and sound effects you can use in your YouTube videos.

How do you customize your channel branding and layout?

YouTube Creator Studio Customization
You can easily customize your branding and layout with their user-friendly interface.

The Customization page in your YouTube Creator Studio lets you change your homepage’s branding, layout, and basic channel info. In the Layout Tab, you can select and organize what viewers see each time they visit your channel. You can start by adding a Video Spotlight. This serves as the main video your viewer sees when they visit your channel, so you may showcase a different video depending if they are subscribed or not.

For viewers who aren’t yet subscribed, you have the option of putting in a channel trailer. This trailer can give them highlights about what you create and what people can expect from your channel, which then encourages them to subscribe. If they are returning subscribers, a featured video is a great addition. You have the option of changing and removing these videos any time you like by clicking the three-dot menu.

The Featured Sections

You can also add Featured Sections. These sections allow creators to customize what their viewers see when landing on a channel’s homepage. These consist of videos and playlists. It’s very helpful in organizing and showcasing your channel’s content. If you want to want to add a section, simply “click “Add section.” Then decide if you’re going to feature playlists, videos, or “channel.”

“Videos” will let you choose from a list that will pre-populate these videos for you. For “instance,” “Uploads” will automatically add new videos that you upload to your YouTube channel” publicly. “Popular Uploads” will instantly showcase the top 12 videos having the highest views. While “Playlists” allows you to highlight playlists curated by yourself or other creators.

The “Single Playlist” will display a carousel of the videos that you have added to that playlist, showing your most recently added video first. Then “Multiple Playlists” will let you group multiple playlists into a single section where you can add a section title, the “Channels,” which lets creators to showcase their other channels, their collaborators, or other favorite channels. And to showcase your content faster, get the help of a leading social media management software that will schedule and automate your posts. Learn more from our Dash Hudson review.

The Branding Tab

Next, we have the “Branding” tab, which lets you add various branding elements to help make your YouTube channel unique, and let people know what to expect should they subscribe to it. You do this by first adding a profile picture which will appear whenever your channel is represented on the form. We’re talking about your videos, comments, and even in user search results.

Then you can add a banner image for your channel. It will appear across the top of your channel to give viewers a visual sense of what your content and channel are all about. Just remember to follow the image size requirements for the best results. And finally, you can add a video watermark that will show on your videos at the bottom right-hand corner of the video player. Your viewers can also use it to subscribe to your channel. And to get more viewers to subscribe, get the help of social media marketing software to help your brand publish effective content and increase your reach. Learn more from our ContentStudio review.

You have complete control over when it will appear during your videos. It could be at the end, at the beginning, or throughout your entire video, There’s the “Basic Info” tab. This is where you can edit your channel name, add a description to your channel, or add translations for your channel name as well as description in other languages. You can also put links to the sites you wish to share with your viewers and add some contact info if you want them to email you regarding business. When you’re done making such changes to any of these tabs” simply “click “Publish” to make them live on your channel.

How do I use YouTube creator studio on my phone?

YouTube Creator Studio Mobile App
Stay connected and productive with their YouTube Creator Studio mobile app

Yes, you can! Featuring the YouTube Studio mobile app. The app allows you to manage your YouTube channel anytime, anywhere. Now you can stay connected and productive wherever you are. First, download the app from Google Play on Android or the App Store on iOS. Once you have it installed, sign in.

The first thing you will see is your Dashboard, where you will get a brief overview of your subscriber count, insights into the performance of your latest video, and some high-level analytics for your YouTube channel. You will also see the most recent uploads, comments, and any other known YouTube issues.

Your Dashboard serves as your snapshot of the latest things going on in your channel. Here, you have the option to take a deep dive into any of the other sections by tapping “View More.” At the top of your Dashboard are your Menu icon, Notifications, and Account icon.

Menu

Your Menu icon will pull up the other pages you want to explore in YouTube Studio, such as your playlists, videos, comments, and analytics. Your Videos page will show you a list of all your videos and live streams in the past. Filter by video visibility or search for a particular stream or video.

Sort your list by most viewed or most recent if you choose to. When you tap into one of these videos, you will see your video’s performance, as well as the comments. You have the option to share this video, and by tapping the pencil icon, you can also edit the title, thumbnail, visibility, description, and other settings. There’s also the Playlist page; tap into it to see what videos are in it. You can also share, watch, or tap the pencil playlist, the playlist’s description, title, and visibility or simply delete the playlist.

Notifications

Just like the desktop version, it also has the Comments and Analytics page. There are 2 other icons across the pages at the top of your mobile app. These are your Notifications and Account icon. The Notifications will lead you to alerts for your channel or videos. Studio mobile notifications alert you whenever there’s notable subscriber growth or when you get comments.

Tapping on the gear icon lets you enable or disable these notifications as well as customize your notification preferences so you will only get the notifications you like. You may also choose to clear all your notifications all at once or clear individual notifications through swiping. Lastly, your account icon allows users to switch accounts, manage their app settings, send some feedback, ask for help, or go to the YouTube main app. On Android, you can turn on the dark mode if you choose, and for iOS, you will need to turn on the dark mode from your own phone settings.

How do you go about YouTube Studio monetization?

YouTube Creator Studio Monetization
Monetization is more comprehensive than ever because the Studio tells you exactly when you should make your post public

Now creators can get a better understanding of their video’s monetization status and help them fix any issues before their videos go public. Now YouTube Studio will let you know when a monetization decision hasn’t been reached yet. This is what the “Checking” monetization icon in YouTube Studio is for.

This monetization icon lets you see when their automated systems are still checking your video against their Advertisier-Friendly Guidelines. Their systems have always had this but haven’t been clear until recently when this process is complete. So where will you see this icon?

This new icon is found on the Videos page in YouTube Studio after you go through the upload flow. Upon uploading a video, creators will be led through various parts of the upload process, which include the “Monetization” and “Ad Suitability” tasks. Then you go” to “Visibility,” and you make your video immediately public, they will show you a warning that your video may not yet be ready for running ads at the moment.

On Checking Your Monetization Status

For your video’s monetization status, you need to make sure you first upload it as Unlisted or Private to the Video’s page. Wait until their system is through your video’s ad suitability prior to making it Public. In this way, you can identify and resolve any possible ad suitability issues or request a human review before your videos go Public, as this will impact a creator’s ad revenue.

After going through the upload flow, your Videos page in the YouTube Studio will let you know if it’s ready or not. Once you see the “Checking” icon, this means their systems are still running. You’ll know when it’s done checking your video once the “Checking” icon is replaced by a green, yellow, or red monetization tab.

To Know if Your Icon Has Been Updated

Remember to refresh your page before checking if your icon has been updated. It usually takes less than 20 minutes and one hour at maximum. No ads will run on the video during this time. So, again, it’s best to upload your videos as Private or Unlisted first and wait until the checking process is complete.

Just be aware that creators won’t actually see the “Checking” icon in YouTube Studio whenever they upload a video. It’s because their systems are very quick or because they are using the creator’s input in self-certification for making the initial decision for monetization. If ever you don’t see a warning when trying to make your video Public during the upload flow, go to the Videos page and check if you see a green, yellow, or red monetization icon immediately. Once you see one of these icons, you’re ready to make your video Public.

YouTube Creator Studio: A YouTuber’s bestfriend

It doesn’t matter if you are utilizing YouTube Creator Studio desktop or mobile app. The important thing is you put in the time, effort, patience, and consistency as a content creator. YouTube Creator Studio is consistently developing systems to improve user experience, and the only thing left for you to do is, well, use it! For more tips and tricks on how to improve your content and make the most out of your channel, check out our post, How to Become a YouTuber: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide.

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