For entrepreneurs, aspiring media professionals, or content creators looking to make money off videos, the first thing that comes to mind is YouTube. YouTube is widely known for its excellent features and functionality. Users can register on the site and then upload, react to, and create their own channel. YouTube is a robust online community.

YouTube is also the leading video content destination that’s been around for more than a decade. It is deeply entrenched in our everyday lives, with many young people spending time browsing YouTube videos for roughly an hour a day.

But YouTube is no quick buck: building a following and getting considerable organic engagement can take a while, let alone getting revenues from the platform. And even then, receiving millions of views on your YouTube videos won’t guarantee a significant return on investment.

To make a real living from your videos, the best option would be to create your own video-sharing website. It is a wonderful YouTube alternative where you can have more control over the interface and user experience, and sell videos on your own terms.

How to Make a Website Like YouTube

If you want to create a website like YouTube, the best thing to do is to contact an experienced Web Developer. Working with a web developer is better than going it on your own because they can help you to create a website that is not only customized to your specific needs but they can make sure that your website is mobile responsive. Having a mobile responsive website will ensure that all users can view your website like YouTube for increased success.

However, should you decide to make your website yourself, it isn’t that difficult to create a video-sharing website. You can make a video-sharing website like YouTube by following these four steps.

1. Get a Domain and Web Host

The first thing you need to do is to purchase a domain name for your website. There are several domain registrars where you can buy one like GoDaddy, NameCheap, HostGator, Dreamhost, and Bluehost. Alternatively, you can click this affiliate link to get low-cost hosting from SiteGround.

Why You Need A Good Name for Your Video Streaming Website

Choosing a good domain name is important because it marks your entrance to the world wide web and is your brand.

When you think up a name for your website, it will take a lot of thought. It should be unique, short, and keyword-rich. Your domain name not only affects the appeal of your business to your audience but can also affect your rank in the search engine results pages and SEO. A well-chosen domain will set the tone for your business, so please choose carefully.

Before purchasing your domain, make sure:

you’ve read the ‘terms of service’ before purchasing a domain
there are no hidden fees in add-ons
you get a credible WHOIS domain registrar

Why You Need a Quality Website Host for Your Video Streaming Website

Videos can be data-heavy. You should make sure that your website performs quickly and can deliver high-quality videos at the proper speeds. Otherwise, you will lose customers, also called a bounce rate, because your videos will take a long time to load and people hate buffering.

To avoid endless buffering you need to choose a web hosting provider that offers uninterrupted service, security, adaptability, and support for your website. You also have to choose the right service package so you don’t fall short on your website requirements or pay extra for features you don’t need.

Many domain registrars like the ones mentioned earlier also offer web hosting services. You can combine the two steps through a bundle package or buy a domain and hosting service from different sources.

If you choose to work with a web developer, they can help you throughout the development process to choose the right hosting provider. Experienced developers, can accurately predict the level of hosting you need to ensure that your website can meet the needs of all your users.

2. Install WordPress

WordPress is the easiest CMS to use especially for video-oriented websites, and it can offer various themes and plugins that will make your page look similar to YouTube. For this 4-step process, you can use WordPress to create your video site.

Although WordPress is a great option for creating a video sharing website like YouTube, a qualified web developer can offer you other options that may be more useful to create a successful website that makes money. Some video sharing websites, use programming languages like React to make their websites.

There are two ways of installing WordPress, depending on your web hosting provider: one-click installation or manual.

For one-click WordPress install, just follow the instructions provided by your host. After installing, login to your WordPress dashboard using the password of your choice.

For manual install, do the following steps (note that this works on any web host provider):

Download the latest version of WordPress as a .zip file.
Unzip the file, and then upload the WordPress folder to your web server using file transfer protocol (FTP). You can also upload it using File Manager or Secure Socket Shell (SSH).
Proceed to your hosting control panel (cPanel) and look for MySQL Database Wizard under the Database section. Create a MySQL database and user for WordPress.
Configure your WordPress account with the details you submitted to your cPanel and connect it to your newly-created database.
You may now run your WordPress installation and start downloading themes.

3. Choose and Install a Video Theme

You have two choices when it comes to designing your video-streaming website. You can either work with a web designer and create a unique and custom website or you can choose to work with a WordPress theme.

A WordPress theme is a pre-designed website that you can download and customize without having to code everything. It is the next thing to install to replace the default theme that comes with the WordPress installation on your hosting server. You can use its built-in features and edit the page layout with a few clicks and other drag and drop buttons.

Themes can be easily customized for your purposes. You can change the logo and site title. You can also organize the pages and content however you like.

Depending on your familiarity you can set up the menu and other site elements to meet your needs and desires. Choose a theme that is stylish and meets your site’s needs and goals.

To do this, you need to:

Access your WordPress admin dashboard using your browser by typing yourdomain.com/wp-admin and entering your login credentials.
Click ‘Appearance’ on the left panel of your dashboard, then select “Themes”.
On the search bar, type “video” so the search results will load video-oriented themes.
After picking a theme you like, click install.

Alternatively, if you’ve already downloaded a theme from your browser and want to use it, you can do steps 1 and 2. Then, click “Add New” to upload the .zip file of the theme from your computer. Click “Upload Theme”, and then press “Activate”.

In selecting a video-oriented theme, keep your users in mind and make sure that your website has the scalability that YouTube has. Users should be able to upload, feature, and share their videos. Their browsing should be smooth and easy with a content-curating system to assist them.

There are tons of video themes from WordPress to choose from. Here are a few premium themes that are easy to use:

Vivo: A premium WordPress theme that looks a lot like YouTube with features like front end video submissions, video galleries, videographer’s portfolio, and much more. Apart from great video-oriented features like automatic video thumbnails, interactive video sliders, and a mobile app-like view, this theme also has space for blogs and image galleries. It is compatible with a lot of useful plugins like Woo Commerce and Yoast, and its design is fully responsive with a creative menu.
OneVideo: This theme offers quality and beautiful aesthetics along with excellent options and settings. It is advertising-friendly with features like ad customizations, built-in trending monitor, and advertising manager. It also allows unlimited layouts, sticky sidebars, image lazy loading so your videos load while users scroll your page, image size options, and import of videos from YouTube.
VideoTouch: Personalizing this theme to fit your branding will be easy as it is highly customizable. You can embed videos, create and edit page layouts with a smooth drag and drop options, and support front end submission of videos as well as WooCommerce.
VideoTube: This theme lets you embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Hulu, and any site that supports embed code. It supports peer feedback with its built-in like system and allows you to collect and share online videos or upload your own.
Vlog: It is a popular theme for video blog and magazine-type websites. It has more than 200 post layout combinations and an advanced theme panel with unlimited sidebars for clean and easy customization. It is also optimized for speed and very SEO-friendly which is very important for video-sharing websites with heavy video files.

4. Launch Your Video Sharing Website

Before launching your website, it’s important that it has reliable storage. A good website should also have good bandwidth and network connectivity. By having these things you can ensure that your users have a quality browsing experience and come back to your website.

Once your website is ready to go live, all that’s left to do is to launch your website through advertisements and promotions to attract more traffic.

To promote your website, you need to:

Add content first. You can create your own video portal where no one else but you can post videos or have your users upload their own content through front-end video submissions. You might want to consider using accounts for dummy users and use them to upload videos so your webpage won’t look like a one-man show.
Hype it up using your own social media accounts or a pre-launch page.
Set up advertisement displays on your website for monetization.
Learn SEO basics and use services from Google like Google Ads, Analytics, Search Console, and more.
Work on getting public mentions, free or paid, from other trusted establishments to gain traction and start a community buzz around your brand.

All of these steps can be hard to manage on your own when you work with a web developer they can help you to advertise your site and often work with SEO experts to ensure website success.

How to Market Your Video Upload Site

The next thing to do is to invest in marketing so you could grow your user base and draw attention to your website. Without it, nobody will know your website exists.

Marketing your video upload site is important because:

Your audience is online.
Two-way communication between you and your audience is created which will personalize their interaction and experience with your business. This also helps increase their likelihood of becoming customers.
You can generate significant leads and drive quality traffic to your website.
It renders your brand and website more visible which will help establish your credibility.
Your competitors are doing it.

Promoting your website in an overcrowded web can be quite a challenge, so here’s a strategy outline to help you get started with your marketing efforts:

1. Get PPC Ads

Those sponsored ads you see at the top of search results on Google that are marked yellow are examples of pay-per-click PPC ads. PPC ads are also known as CPC ads or cost-per-click ads.

Pay-per-click advertising works by having people place bids on ad time and space. People pay an amount and then the search engine displays your ad on keywords or terms related to your business. This type of marketing is the most popular way of using search engines to generate clicks to your website non-organically.

PPC marketing helps you grow your customer base and generate traffic and leads at low costs. It works because people click on ad links and don’t mind doing it if they find what they need, and the results can be quantified and measured.

To craft a successful PPC ad, you should:

Find Keywords: determine the demand for certain keywords by using keyword tools
Make a Budget: work on your budget
Organize Keywords: organize your PPC keywords on a priority list
Write Ad Copy: produce an excellent ad copy with a powerful call to action and all the relevant keywords in
Create Landing Page: create a landing page for your ad to increase the likelihood of conversion

2. Use Social Media

You know what they say about fishing: the more bait you put into the water, the more fish you’ll catch. And it is true with marketing; only in social media, you don’t have to cast your net wide.

The video marketing statistics on social media is staggering. Video content generates 1200 percent more shares than text or images combined. This is true for all social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Video campaigns are getting more and more in fashion on social media. You should be aggressive about promoting your website on social media to establish your brand.

Leverage on social media platforms by opening a free account complete with all your business details. Social media advertising costs will be dedicated to gaining traction on your following.

You should focus on creating original video content that is shareable and engaging with links to your website, and gaining reactions and shares. Investing heavily in your social media presence is key to targeting your audience better.

3. Improve Website SEO

Video is the number one form of media used in content strategy, overtaking blogs, and infographics. This means that the web is very saturated with video content, and getting to the top will require you to outrank more competitors than usual. That is why you must prioritize improving your website SEO to drive more leads and conversion and attract your target audience better.

Working with a boutique web developer can help you to create an SEO-friendly website that creates success, as many of the testimonials in the link suggest.

4. Use Word of Mouth

Perhaps one of the most potent types of advertising is word of mouth. According to Nielsen, 92 percent of consumers take suggestions from friends and family more seriously than advertising, and 88 percent think online reviews are just as reliable as personal recommendations.

Therefore it is crucial to build a strong presence on and create a word-of-mouth network through social media and discussion boards like Reddit and Quora. It is also a good idea to shamelessly plug your videos to people you know like friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and family.

Moreover, you can work with brand ambassadors and social media influencers to amplify the buzz around your content. They have a following of considerable size, and on Instagram at least, 34 percent of daily users rely on their recommendations in trying out a new product or service. You can also become an influencer yourself and create an echo chamber for your brand.

Learning how to make a website like YouTube can be difficult. When you work with Idea Maker Web Development Agency, they can take the time and frustration out of the web development process and make everything simpler.