As a beginner YouTuber, I spent months researching how to start a successful YouTube channel.
I looked for the best SEO tools and wondered how much ad revenue would I make in different niches.
And of course, watched a ton of YouTube courses.
But all the best resources on how to grow a YouTube channel were scattered in different places and platforms.
That is why I decided to compile all of the best courses in one place – Skillshare.
I think it’s the best platform to learn new creative skills.
Their courses are especially useful for mastering the necessary skills in order to start a new YouTube channel.
Best YouTube Courses
| Course | Platform | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
Skillshare | $0 | Thumbnails | |
Skillshare | $0 | Voiceovers | |
Skillshare | $0 | YouTube Basics | |
Skillshare | $0 | Productivity | |
Skillshare | $0 | Going Viral | |
Skillshare | $0 | Storytelling | |
Skillshare | $0 | Getting Started | |
Skillshare | $0 | YouTube Shorts | |
- | $149 | Video Editing In Premiere Pro |
Get free 30 days on Skillshare.
What are the best YouTube courses for beginner YouTubers?
YouTube requires having a full stack of skills.
As MKBHD put it:
In order to do well at a high level on YouTube you have to master a lot of different jobs in one. You have to be a good researcher, good writer, producer, professional editor, an accountant, graphic designer and a manager. Just like an octopus, you have to have multiple hands that do different jobs which you have to learn and master as a YouTuber.
I found that when it comes to starting a successful channel on YouTube these are the best types of courses to enroll in to become the best “YouTube octopus” possible:
- Best course for creating thumbnails.
- Best course for good voiceovers.
- Best course for getting the basics right.
- Best course for staying productive.
- Best course for going viral.
- Best course for storytelling.
- Best course for getting started.
- Best course for YouTube Shorts.
- Best course for mastering effective editing techniques.
There are really 2 levers that you have to pull in the right direction to grow your channel fast on YouTube – thumbnails and watch time.
YouTube cares how long viewers watch your video but if they don’t click on the thumbnail in the first place, there’s going to be no one left to watch it.
One of the best and most widely used software for creating thumbnails is Adobe Photoshop.
But there are also free alternatives that can do 80% of the job such as Canva.
This YouTube course is by Daniel Scott who’s a certified Adobe instructor.
He will teach you everything there is to know about Photoshop.
After going through it you will learn all the advanced and intermediate Photoshop techniques which will help make better thumbnails!
Audio is 50% of the video.
People will sit through bad video quality but not through bad audio quality.
Even if you don’t have a faceless YouTube channel there might still be times when you need to do a voiceover.
Knowing how to make your audio sound good regardless if it’s a voiceover or not is an amazing skill to have.
This class teaches you how to record professional audio quality without having expensive gear.
If an audio limiter, EQ, or normalization sounds unfamiliar then this course is for you!
If you’ve ever watched a tech review on YouTube you probably know who Marques Brownlee is.
He started YouTube just like you and me – without any prior knowledge, without views or subscribers.
It took him 100 videos just to gain 76 subscribers. That’s crazy.
Today Marques, known on the internet as MKBHD, gets millions of views with his tech review videos.
This course was made by him for specifically beginner YouTubers.
It has everything from shooting, planning, and editing the video, hooking the audience, and even tips on how to grow your audience.
When someone starts a YouTube channel or any other content creation business for that matter, they’re usually disorganized and unproductive in the beginning.
It’s hard to get all the processes right from the start when trying to write, record, produce, and publish a video all by yourself.
In fact, I struggled with this at the beginning of my YouTube journey as well.
I had files and projects scattered everywhere on my laptop, I made videos on random days when I “felt like it” and had no systems in place to produce content regularly.
Being productive in your content creation journey, especially at the start, could be beneficial to your channel’s success.
This course that focuses on creators was made by Ali Abdaal who also struggled to put systems in place at the beginning of his YouTube journey.
Now he has over 4M subscribers and is crushing it on the platform.
In this course, you’ll learn how to manage all things YouTube efficiently and effectively.
In other words, how to be a productive creator.
Almost every YouTuber’s dream is to go viral.
But how?
It seems to be so random what the algorithm pics to be the next viral hit.
Luckily there are things you can do, topics you can talk about, and strategies you can implement to maximize your chances of going viral.
This course is not made by a YouTuber but most strategies of going viral apply to whichever platform you create on.
In this course, Matt Bellassai will teach you to create hit online content that people read, watch, follow & share!
There are five crucial elements that every great story has:
- The Cold Open – telling viewers what to expect and hooking them into the story.
- The Intro – tells viewers what the video is about and raises stakes or obstacles that the hero in the story has to overcome.
- A concept in Action – making a captivating narrative that includes a false hope moment and goes all the way to the point of the hero’s success.
- The Golden Moment – presenting the moment of the hero’s success.
- The Outro – finishing the video with the core idea or takeaway.
This YouTube course teaches you the basics of storytelling on YouTube to maximize viewer engagement.
It goes over these five storytelling elements in detail showcasing how to create a clear storytelling framework.
You’ll learn how to begin editing your own videos to draw people in and keep them engaged throughout the entirety of the story.
If you still don’t have your YouTube channel set up or keep putting it off till the next month or year then this course is for you.
You’ll learn how to set up a great-looking channel, how to talk with confidence in front of the camera, how to grow your audience, and make the whole process fun instead of hard.
It’s perfect for complete beginners because the course teaches you how to think and go about YouTube in the beginning stages.
It also goes over how to beat perfectionism, set up your audio and lightning, talk to the camera, shoot b-roll, and a lot more.
This YouTube course is for anyone who wants to create more engaging YouTube Shorts that viewers want to watch & share.
I started posting YouTube Shorts on my channel 7 months ago and the results pleasantly surprised me.
I got over 10M views.
So I took some time to analyze why viewers seemed to like my YouTube Shorts and put all the lessons I’ve learned in this one course.
In this course I explore what made my YouTube shorts successful, and how I plan, script, shoot, edit, and optimize my YouTube shorts for SEO.
This is the ultimate course for beginner YouTubers.
It goes over exactly how to make YouTube videos in your bedroom from scratch.
If you’ve been entertaining the idea of one day starting a YouTube channel then this course will help you go from not knowing where to start and what to make videos about to being able to transform any idea in your head into video form.
Was this list of the best YouTube courses useful?
If you watch at least one of these YouTube courses I have no doubt that in the end, you’ll be a much better creator, even if it’s by 1%.
It’s also not a secret that if you rank for a high volume and low competition keyword on YouTube your channel can explode just from one video. I
n fact, that’s what happened to me.
So the next best thing to 10x your YouTube channel’s growth is to rank on YouTube search.
And it’s a lot easier if you don’t have to guess which keyword has low competition and high search volume.
You can find those keywords with keyword research tools for YouTube.
I’ve compiled a list of the best ones here so you don’t have to go looking and comparing their features on your own.
Thanks for reading 👋!
P.S. Here’s a free Notion template that has everything I know about growing a YouTube channel from scratch:
Get a free Notion template with the tutorial for the game of YouTube
🚀 10+ Notion pages about how to play the YouTube game
⚙️ List of tools & gear for YouTubers
🧑⚖️ How to make your first video and get your channel off the ground
💰 Detailed guide about finding your niche & making money
