Article: The most successful channels on YouTube are designed with one specific audience in mind. The audience may be people who enjoy sketch comedy, people looking for product reviews, people interested in video games, people looking for fashion advice, or any other audience you can imagine. Good channels focus on one thing that they do best, and then excel at that. Besides choosing a niche, you'll also need to develop a personality. PewDiePie didn't get 40 million subscribers because he plays video games, he got them because he plays video games with a unique personality and approach. You'll want to cultivate an identity that sets you apart from the other content being produced in your niche. Before you launch your first video, you should have the basic building blocks of your channel established. This includes having a good profile image, unique banner art, and a basic description. All of this put together is the starting point for your personal brand, which is how viewers will relate to and remember you. Look at all of your favorite channels and see how they brand themselves. You'll find that virtually every popular channel has a custom look that helps identify themselves. Your profile image will appear next to the name of your channel in searches and comments on YouTube. It will be the first thing viewers see when your content appears in their search results, so make sure that it is representative of you and your brand. Your profile image can be a picture of you if you are the focus, or your logo if you are not the focus. This is the image that appears at the top of your Channel, and acts as the title. Channel Art is what makes viewers feel like they're on your "personal" YouTube, and helps cement your name in their mind. If you are creating your own art, YouTube recommends that the image be 2560 X 1440 px. This is the size of the image that will appear on the TV. All text and logos should appear in the center of the image in a 1546 X 43 px rectangle. Channel art can be commissioned from a variety of sources including oDesk and Elance. If you can, create a basic banner to get by for a while, and then use your first ad earnings to invest in commissioned art. Use this space to give a brief overview of your channel and to link viewers to your other webpages and social networking sites. The description of your channel appears in searches, but doesn't have to be incredibly in-depth. Make sure to link to your company website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, and any other place on the web where you have a presence.

What is a summary?
Determine your niche. Set yourself apart. Build your brand. Create a profile image. Create or commission Channel Art. Fill out your Channel's description tab.