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Creating a Thriving Personal Brand w/ YouTube - A Journal & A Personal Guide.

SebastiaanVaz

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It's always a concern, of course.

YouTube breaks the "C" part of the CENTS framework. But from what I've seen: it's not as grave a concern as you may think it's made out to be.

Many YouTubers have overexaggerated the state of demonisation for sympathy points, and more views (not all, but this is quite common) .

It's true that a "fake guru" ro someone else can come in and try to take down my video...

But I can just as easily dispute that claim, and I'm sure that I'll win out. If not: I make a small video about guru's trying to silence me, and the streisand effect works in my favour.

I often think that the whole fear of being demonetized or copyright striked just prevents people from starting. As long as you make sure you are abiding by the licenses of the music you are using in your video, as long as you are using clips under fair use, you should be fine for the most part.

As for finding the movie footage... yeah, it can sometimes be a grueling process. Sometimes I might have a scene in mind and can search for a HD clip of that scene on YouTube and download it from there. Sometimes I just might not have a clip and will have to scour through different movies in order to get something I'm looking for.
Points made. Thanks for the clear answer. Since I've never uploaded other people's work before it's hard to predict what will happen. And of course, you don't want the video you've worked for so hard get taken down, or even worse get your channel taken down because you've got too many copyright strikes in a short period of time. I'm currently in research mode but definitely already preparing the first video. Doing the research etc. It's a long way to go as I also definitely need to up my editing skills, but I've set the goal that my first video is uploaded before the first of July.
 
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SebastiaanVaz

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What usually happens is that you don't get a strike. You just get your video demonetized. It's no big deal as long as you are not doing intentional sharing of copyrighted material on a regular basis (ie you upload unmodified copyrighted content just for the sake of "make it free babe"). So if you are talking and you include portions and then talk some more it can be blocked but in my experience it either gets demonetized or it gets blocked and then you basically try again but more carefully next time. Because you are not actively trying to profit from copyrighted material. You are just making a point. You could also film the video with your phone on screen and talk at the same time. That is much harder for the algorithm to "content id" because it's distorted. However you usually don't need to go that far.
Makes sense! Thanks for the answer :) I get your last point, but of course, it takes down the production quality if you put some 'manual filmed content' in there for the sake of avoiding content id. I believe that's already starting off the wrong foot anyway - black hat stuff.
 

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[MILESTONE] Update 7. The Algorithm Answered My Prayers, Insanity Ensued…

“Wait.. what’s going on? Has it finally happened? Has the algorithm picked up one of my videos?
Those were the first thoughts I had that morning… just before sh*t hit the fan, and everything changed.​

View attachment 33038


An Early Update
My intentions were always to post updates on this thread after the release of a new video.

But with what’s been happening in the last few weeks – things have had to change.

On my last post I reported we were at 214 subscribers, and labelled this as “exponential growth”.

Now, roughly a month after that post, the channel stands at 20,092 subscribers.

And for those of you just following this thread right now, I know what you’re thinking: “what the f*ck? How??” – at least, I know that’s what I was thinking.

I’ve had heart palpitations over the last few days because of the craziness that has just ensued, which meant I was up late in the evening unable to sleep, and lost my appetite for eating due to sheer adrenaline that has kept my body in a 24/7 alert state.

But today I woke up and things were better, I felt more focused, calmer, and ready to make this post as well as taking this YouTube channel to a whole new level.

This one is a long post, but I think it’s necessary.

Without further ado, here’s what happened since the last post, and my explanations as to why it happened:


The Algorithm Takes Notice
About maybe two weeks ago, I woke up and ran through my usual morning routine – and upon checking the channel stats, I noticed a sudden increase in views per hour to the channel.

Overnight, my average viewers to the channel (per hour) went from 1-6 to 20-40.

“Huh??” was the immediate thought. Initially I assumed that someone may have posted the video somewhere online, on a subreddit maybe, which must have brought some surplus traffic to the channel.

But then I checked the analytics and saw that the views were coming from “browse features” – meaning the video was being shown on the homepage/recommended tab for audiences.

Even then I was so shocked and surprise to see the influx of viewers… it blew my mind like nothing else.

But then things continued to snowball…


My First “Viral” Video

It continued to grow, hour by hour, day-by-day - more &more average views on the channel per hour, more comments (some very endearing ones too) started pouring in.

The “Fake Guru” video was, of course, the main powerhouse. The algorithm had picked it up and started pushing it out to a bunch of people… but gradually i.e I would have maybe an average of 100 views per hour on the fake guru video, and then after a day it would suddenly shoot up to 500 views per hour, then the next day it would suddenly shoot up to 1,000… etc etc. Currently the video averages about 1.5k views per hour (I’ll explain what this pattern is all about in just a moment).

To cut the long story short, at the time of writing this the video stands at 208.4K views.

What’s even better is the fact that I have set the channel up in such a way that I wanted to create a “catalogue” of videos (as mentioned in my previous post), and so once they finish watching one video, my audience would be curious to watch another – which in this case, was my “toxic world of self-help” video (makes sense, considering the topics of self help and fake gurus can be closely related).

The Self-Help video is at 63.7k views right now, the Money video is currently at 36.4k. And the others are in the thousands – tens of thousands. Yeah… pretty insane…

So, I want this to emphasise how powerful the “catalogue” concept is when building a YouTube channel. Everyone is told to pump out content like crazy, but someone who commented on my video made an amazing point: if your favourite artist was releasing an album every three month, would they really be that special anymore?

The principles of abundance vs scarcity play a part here. When something is abundant it has seemingly less value because after all, there’s plenty of it. But when it’s scarce, it’s far more valuable (I think I already mentioned this on the last post). But when a channel that posts once a month, people are far more inclined to think “Oh! I know that they’re not going to post a video for a long while now, and I know what I’m about to get is high quality”, which not only urges them to click the video, but also entices them to watch right through to the end.

Notice those two factors? “urges them to click the video”, and “entices them to watch right through to the end” – two factors that the YouTube algorithm heavily prioritises.

Not only that, but if all the content on your channel is on par with the same level of quality as that video, they’re more inclined to binge watch, meaning more views (that make up for the long gaps between uploads), and in my personal opinion a more loyal fan that trusts your work far more than the YouTuber that’s uploading 24/7. Pretty cool, right?


So, What About the Sudden Increases In Average Views Per Hour Every Day?
As I mentioned: once the algorithm picked up my video, I would get a consistent number of views per hour, then after a day, that average number would suddenly shoot up (not gradually), it would quite literally just shoot up.

I wish I could find the video that explains this, but here’s why:

From what I’ve heard/seen with my own eyes, once the algorithm picks up your video it will begin to split test it against someone else’s video to an audience of let’s say 100.

So it’s: Video A VS Video B.

Based on whichever video does better during this split test (calculated by looking at the click through rate, watch time, engagement rate, etc) it will then progress the video on to the next split test to an audience of let’s say 1,000.

If Vid A won, then it becomes Vid A VD Vid C.

And the trend continues until your video eventually gets beaten, and from there on the views start to stagnate and return to normal (it doesn’t necessarily die out, it’s just that the algorithm stops pushing it out as much).

I wish I saved the screenshots of this taking place live, because seeing it in person is far more powerful than just writing about it.

This also explains why you will suddenly get recommended a video that seems a little irrelevant to your interests – because that video has beaten enough split tests to be spread to a completely new audience.


Other Consequences of a Viral Video, and an Exploding Channel.

A few many other incredible things happened once the algorithm picked up my video – stuff that seriously blows my F*cking mind:
  • Last post I mentioned a Patreon account. That account now has 12 amazing Patrons, and I gross £47 a month from that at the moment.

  • I also received donations on my one-time donation link which has totalled since the last post to £133

  • My Instagram has blown the hell up. Before everything went crazy I had about 400 and something followers. Now I’m at 986 followers, I’ve got hundreds of message requests that I’m trying my best to get back to… although it is quite overwhelming, as someone that ghosted social media quite a lot (more on how this is all changing in a bit)

  • I’ve had a few “companies” approach me via email requesting video editing services, and an opportunity to have a zoom call with them – which I’m going to get back to. But I am most likely going to decline all of them (depending on the offer) due to the fact that I have built a strong momentum with the channel, and the best long-term strategy here is to ride that momentum out as much as possible. But this has given me a great idea in the far future for expanding the channel out and creating a media company that takes on clients and creates incredible content for companies (i.e presentations, advertising material, etc, that are designed to engage and hook employees/potential customers). If the channel continues to put out amazing content, then the channel itself becomes marketing material.

  • I even had the former CMO of Just Eat, Ash Ali, reach out to me via email congratulating me on my videos, and saying that it touches on many of the things discussed in his new book “The Unfair Advantage” – and that he would love to send me a free copy of it. To which I, of course, agreed to. What’s even more crazy is the fact that I attended a networking event (a few months back) days before making my first video that had Ash as the headline speaker!! (I don’t even think he knows this… crazy).

  • I’ve had many people reach out offering to work with me for free – which I’ve explained to them that I am incredibly grateful for the offer, and as soon as I start to create a bit more of a process with how I want to run the channel, and the community of followers I will start looking at how I can bring in outside help (paid, of course).

  • I’ve had several others reach out to me offering for me to go on their podcasts. I still need to respond to them, but I haven’t gotten round to it yet.

  • Others who have reached out to me have given me amazing tips on growing my social media pages, on improving my video production (in terms of the lighting of the videos when my face is present). It’s so mesmerising to have all of this advice & support, and they all do it for free. Incredible…

You can imagine that since the last post, going from slow and steady growth to the F*cking insanity that has happened over the 2-3 weeks, this has been overwhelming.

So… now let’s talk about the future plans:


Main Priority
At the end of the day, one crucial thing has allowed all of this to happen: having good quality content.

Yes, I targeted a niche subject that was rising in popularity with the Fake Guru video, but many others have done a video on the same subject – and yet my video is perhaps one of the most viewed when it comes to this subject (with the exception of Coffeezilla’s – a YouTuber that exposes guru’s- videos).

If the video wasn’t edited good enough, researched well enough, and presented well enough, this wouldn’t have happened. People wouldn’t have wanted to click to see more videos and binge the channel, people wouldn’t have bothered leaving incredible comments about how much they’ve enjoyed the content.

And so, my main priority is and will always be to put out great quality content.

Oh, and if my audience has been enjoying the content from the last few videos… they have no F*cking clue what is about to hit them with future videos.

I’ve learnt even more editing techniques, tried to make better scripts, etc. The game is going to be stepping up to a whole new level. And I have a “mastermind” plan for how to get this next video to be another banger and go viral (but more on this when the video gets finished).

But of course, as per the title of this thread, we’re trying to build a thriving personal brand. And so, I think it’s time that I tell you guys how we’re going to be changing our old ghosting on social media ways to creating some flourishing social media accounts


Social Media Presence.
So, the Instagram is popping off right now, I’m currently trying to reply to as many people as possible who message me – something that I’m doing that I think is incredibly effective is I send voice messages in my responses.

It’s quicker than typing a message, and it adds a whole new level of interaction with my audience. I can only imagine what it would be like watching someone that I love on YouTube respond to me with a personalised voice message. I’d be very impressed. So, I think it’s a tactic that I should absolutely adopt.

And it’s been a fascinating experience!

Some of my audience have responded to my voice messages with their own voice messages, and it’s so amazing to hear what my “fans” sound like.

I’m also going to be expanding to Twitter, and eventually, TikTok. I think Twitter is great to post re-purposed content and potentially have it blow up – and I think TikTok is such an untapped market at the moment for my niche, relative to other platforms, and I think it can bring a younger audience to the channel ( we can have both a mature and younger audience combined together… why not?). Still need to study how TikTok works and what sort of content I can put on there that could possibly do well… I’ve had someone on Instagram reach out to me who’s had a viral video on TikTok before, and I think I’ll set up a zoom call with him to get to know more.

Also, I’m going to be working on my LinkedIn for the sake of building more professional relations with people that may be in the entertainment/film/video production industry (all a part of a greater vision I have for the channel and business that I will not share for now because I don’t want to get too ahead of myself… although I will be executing on this vision right from the get-go because my God, this goes far bigger than just a YouTube channel, and I’m slowly starting to realise this).

Feel free to add me on LinkedIn – “James Jani”.


What Type of Personal Brand I’m Trying to Build
Rightly said by a few people in this thread, and in my older “Quidemy” thread.

A personal brand is just who YOU are at the end of the day, it isn’t really “built” per say, it’s your reputation.

So here’s the sort of reputation I’m hoping to translate through to my socials:

Most important to me is being someone genuine and relatable to my audience. No flexing content or anything of the sort.

Much more down-to-earth advice, and a documentation of my journey. I’ve been getting quite a bit of advice from some of the people that have reached out to me regarding how to execute content that displays this in the best way possible.

I think Ben Francis (founder of Gym Shark) does a brilliant job of this on his YouTube channel – he’s a super inspirational businessman, and has built up an incredible company at only 27 years old, definitely someone I look up to.

And I do intend to start distributing content to all my social channels, with teasers of videos and other such videos in the aim of increasing my reach to new audiences drastically.

Gary V has quite an amazing guide on this that I have saved somewhere, but I’m definitely going to be digging it up as soon as possible and executing on it.


Now, Time To Talk Money…
Let me just say, I don’t even care that much about the money right now, I have an amazing vision for where this channel/business can go, and that is what is motivating me to get up in the morning and work non-stop at this.

I’m super F*cking pumped.

But with that being said, the numbers and the potential earnings of this channel are… incredible, to say the least.

And when I started doing the maths, my heart really started beating like crazy.

In the upcoming months I hope to release a course on video editing - something that many people have been asking for in my comments and messages (the market is sending clear signals to me, that’s for sure). And so I hope to release a “beta”/MVP version of the video editing course soon,

At the start the course will be priced pretty cheaply (I’m thinking like £30), but over time I’m looking to get feedback from the customers about what they like, don’t like, what they find confusing, what they want to see more of, etc and continuing to develop the course until it hits the right sort of quality that is worth charging anywhere between £100 - £300 for (which is a fair price in comparison to other video editing courses on the market).

But what I want to do is create a course that is on the same level of quality as a “masterclass” course – if you haven’t seen how masterclass create their courses, I highly recommend looking at the trailers on YouTube… they’re incredible, to say the least.

I’m confident I can create perhaps one of the best video editing courses to exist in the market within 2 years time.

Also, the course encompasses EVERYHTNG, to take someone from a complete beginner to a pro (with that being said, I’m not a pro myself, and hence why the course will be in a constant state of development as I grow my skills as a video editor along the way) so when the MVP version is realeased it will go over the foundations, then down the line I will release another expansion that covers things like animations and what not, and then another expansion down the line that will introduce other elements, etc etc.

Now let’s look at the numbers, and why this is something insanely profitable:

Let’s assume that we get 1,000,000 views a month to the channel (so not necessarily on ONE video, on the channel as an entirety), a VERY plausible number considering the fact that I’ve received about 180k views in the last 48 hours, and that’s only been the last three months (imagine in 1 – 2 years time if I continue producing quality content, which I have every intention on doing!).

Let’s say we convert 1% of that audience.

That’s 10,000 customers.

If the course is £150, then that translates to £1.5 Million in revenue…

If we convert .5%, that’s still £750,000….

A month.

Yeah… easy to see why I was getting a bunch of heart palpitations when I started running the maths.

That doesn’t even include things like ad revenue (we’ll talk about that in just a second), other products (i.e I want to make a course on starting up a YouTube channel once the channel gets even bigger), sponsorships, donations, etc etc…

The opportunity here is beyond ridiculous…

As for ad revenue: I’ve started monetising my videos, and I’m just waiting to see what my CPM is (how much I get paid per thousand views), which is taking YouTube a little while to process the data for me to see.

I’ll probably expand on this in a later post, but your CPM on YouTube depends on many factors, but one of the biggest factors is your niche.

Gaming channels suffer low CPM due to the nature of their audiences likely being teens who don’t have money to spend on the ads that are presented to them. They’re likely going to have a CPM of £1 - £2.

But when it comes to the finance, business, entrepreneurship niche… things get a little more interesting.

Of course, I can’t confirm this for my own channel yet (and as soon as I do get confirmation, I will post about it), but some personal finance/entrepreneurship/business channels get reportedly a cpm that can range from £6 - £15.

So, if their channel gets 100,000 views every month, then they potentially earn between £600 - £1,500 a month). These aren’t crazy numbers, but then again, that’s only if they get 100,000 views a month.

If that number is 1Million, then the earnings are more like £6,000 - £15,000 in revenue.

Much better.

Again, without confirmation of CPM on my own videos, I’m not going to comment on it further – but it’s definitely worth noting that earnings potential could be huge when it comes to ad revenue as well.

***

Conclusion
A lot has happened in a very short period of time.

A lot. And I’m still trying to comprehend it.

But I wanted to say that I’m glad my videos have set people down a better path when it comes to business and entrepreneurship, I’ve put quite a few people on MJ’s works now, and I’ve got more of my audience thinking about solutions to problems, and not just blindly chasing money.

At this point, I have no idea what’s going to happen, who knows? Maybe the whole thing crashes and burns…?

But I don’t know about that…

I think I have something special in my hands right now, and you can bet everything that I’m going to work my a$$ off to make it into a reality, including that big vision I have that I will expand on in the future.

We’re only getting started.

Till the next update.
Damn... One of the most amazing updates I’ve read on the forum. Super excited for you, and super impressed with your Toxic video.

GOLD!
 

Visionary96

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GOLD! Awesome! (and rightfully deserved.) I think this is a very exciting thread at the moment because James IS going to reach 1 million this year. Guaranteed. Other YouTubers starting out will be able to harbour so much advice and value here and I think that's amazing.

I actually cannot fathom how much good energy exists on this forum. It's actually quite scary.
 
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Right. I’ve just caught up.

On creating a course:

Document as you go along?

People are following you, and your video quality is literally remarkable in that people are remarking on them. Many will no doubt want to be able to create videos like that.

Not only that, you’ve got experience creating and growing a YouTube channel and can advise people who want to do the same. You can teach people things you picked up acting that can help others who are nervous on camera (my goodness... but remember your very first video and how you were so nervous?)


You’re inundated with messages now which is great. What about giving people a chance to learn more from you sooner rather than later? Your course doesn’t have to be polished at all.

You could literally make a paid membership area where people can follow along as you build your business. I have a small paid email newsletter where I do that. I just write about what I’m up to and my learnings.

You mention Masterclass.com. I like their model and am moving my Google Ads course into another Thinkific instance where people can access all core courses for a price of “$x every 3 months“. You can test pricing of course. I mention this because I want to have some core courses, but then also add some quick progress-thread style courses and behind the scenes videos. People want to look over my shoulder and have asked to. I’ll see how that goes.

The beauty is that it’s raw, but some people will want that (or even prefer it).

Sooo... knock something up quickly, slap a price on it (ideally recurring), and let people give you their money.

Even if it’s $9/mth to follow your updates as you grow your channel, I’m sure you’d get more than a few takers. I would, even just to see how you figure out that side of it.

The tech is irrelevant. @Fox is using Kajabi. @Lex DeVille is using Wordpress. I don’t know what @lowtek is using.

I’m using Thinkific because it has a free level to get started with, although that’s only for three courses and no membership feature. To allow the membership/subscription feature I’ve upgraded to the $99/mth package (already paid for this month by my first subscriber).

My paid email newsletter is on Substack, but I may end up moving it into Thinkific as a progress-thread “course”.

Happy to have a quick Zoom to go over what I’ve been doing.
 

SebastiaanVaz

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James, quick question, as I'm preparing the first video and schooling (rather updating) myself on the YouTube algorithm, I see all these 'YT channel experts' talk about keyword research, tags, etc. Stuff that is, I believe, not really important anymore.

The research you've shared here is absolutely invaluable, because had you not shared the video's in the beginning of this thread and also the Reddit content from Internet Historian, I would have probably fallen for it.

Now I know better though. Meta data is nearly not as important as CTR and retention rate. The algorithm will do the rest; relevant keywords or not. Now, of course, for search it's still important you include some keywords. Like, I've searched for 'fake gurus' and your video is on top; GREAT work and in my opinion including those two keywords in your title, 'The Rise of Fake Gurus: The Dark Truth Behind Making MILLIONS from Online Courses.' is all that is needed to rank in search considering the rest of the video is amazing.

In my opinion, having a high CTR title alway trumps having the 'right' keywords in the title. What are your thoughts on this? Are my notions correct or is metadata still that important in your eyes?

P.S I believe a HUGE part of your success also has to do with the 'catalogue' notion from Internet Historian. I believe this is the one thing that almost all channels do wrong; they just upload content to stay 'consistent' and for uploading sake. All medium quality. I believe the less uploading with higher quality content totally relevant to your channel and viewers also is a much more stable strategy long-term. Consider what YouTube will be in 10 years. It will be just like TV 30 years ago. Content needs to be exceptional quality.
 
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Timmy C

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Great work!

Your video editing skills are quite good, impressive actually.

You have only been editing videos a couple of months?

I have been thinking about starting a Youtube channel for a while, and this is of great inspiration.

If you do not mind me asking what Microphone & software do you use?

Timmy.
 

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Great work!

Your video editing skills are quite good, impressive actually.

You have only been editing videos a couple of months?

I have been thinking about starting a Youtube channel for a while, and this is of great inspiration.

If you do not mind me asking what Microphone & software do you use?

Timmy.
Thank you!!

Yes - I properly started getting into editing when I started the channel, and from there on it was a case of constantly learning new things, and making improvements with each video.

Microphone: Blue Yeti Nano
Software: Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Photoshop.

I only started using After Effects from the "Recession" video onwards (I use AE for animation, and title graphics).
 
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I think the tech is less important?

I’m curious how you decide on what topic to create a video for, and then your current process for scripting it, recording the audio, then adding the video.

I had a YouTube coach for a few weeks and some of what he showed is related to what you’re doing, and some I ditched which also brings it more in line with what you’re doing. I’ll write up more later. You’re the guy getting results so you’re the guy people want to follow.

“People listen to experts, they follow leaders.” (Dan Gallapoo)
 

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James, quick question, as I'm preparing the first video and schooling (rather updating) myself on the YouTube algorithm, I see all these 'YT channel experts' talk about keyword research, tags, etc. Stuff that is, I believe, not really important anymore.

The research you've shared here is absolutely invaluable, because had you not shared the video's in the beginning of this thread and also the Reddit content from Internet Historian, I would have probably fallen for it.

Now I know better though. Meta data is nearly not as important as CTR and retention rate. The algorithm will do the rest; relevant keywords or not. Now, of course, for search it's still important you include some keywords. Like, I've searched for 'fake gurus' and your video is on top; GREAT work and in my opinion including those two keywords in your title, 'The Rise of Fake Gurus: The Dark Truth Behind Making MILLIONS from Online Courses.' is all that is needed to rank in search considering the rest of the video is amazing.

In my opinion, having a high CTR title alway trumps having the 'right' keywords in the title. What are your thoughts on this? Are my notions correct or is metadata still that important in your eyes?

P.S I believe a HUGE part of your success also has to do with the 'catalogue' notion from Internet Historian. I believe this is the one thing that almost all channels do wrong; they just upload content to stay 'consistent' and for uploading sake. All medium quality. I believe the less uploading with higher quality content totally relevant to your channel and viewers also is a much more stable strategy long-term. Consider what YouTube will be in 10 years. It will be just like TV 30 years ago. Content needs to be exceptional quality.

So I would definitely say that your SEO and other such meta data matter at the start - I don't think it should be ignored completely.

The most important aspects of your video that are necessary to rank in searches are the first few words of your TITLE, and the first sentences of your description. If both of these things match certain phrases/keywords - you have a higher chance of ranking on the search for those terms.

It seems like tags aren't used for much when it comes to SEO, but I have a suspicion that tags are used by YouTube to determine the subject of your video so that they know which ads they can run on it.

And yes, I definitely agree!

The "catalogue strategy" (I guess we’ll call it that for now) has definitely played a big role in keeping audiences tuned in to the channel, despite longer upload times between videos.
 
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I think the tech is less important?

I’m curious how you decide on what topic to create a video for, and then your current process for scripting it, recording the audio, then adding the video.

I had a YouTube coach for a few weeks and some of what he showed is related to what you’re doing, and some I ditched which also brings it more in line with what you’re doing. I’ll write up more later. You’re the guy getting results so you’re the guy people want to follow.

“People listen to experts, they follow leaders.” (Dan Gallippoo)

Yeah, I don't think the "tech" is all too important when starting out.

BUT, if the audio is bad, then it has the potential to have viewers tune off immediately simply because of the audio quality. This is why I invested in the microphone right at the start, and still used an iphone camera to record, because I was wary of just how off-putting bad audio can be on a video.

I'll talk more about the whole process of making a video down the line - although I'm going to be posting quite a bit about it on my socials, because it seems like my audience have a huge interest in it!
 

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So I would definitely say that your SEO and other such meta data matter at the start - I don't think it should be ignored completely.

The most important aspects of your video that are necessary to rank in searches are the first few words of your TITLE, and the first sentences of your description. If both of these things match certain phrases/keywords - you have a higher chance of ranking on the search for those terms.

It seems like tags aren't used for much when it comes to SEO, but I have a suspicion that tags are used by YouTube to determine the subject of your video so that they know which ads they can run on it.

And yes, I definitely agree!

The "catalogue strategy" (I guess we’ll call it that for now) has definitely played a big role in keeping audiences tuned in to the channel, despite longer upload times between videos.
The strategy I was to employ was to create a series of videos that are daisy chained together, then run ads to the first video to get it going. Obviously the quality has to be good enough that people want to watch to the end, and then binge watch the series. I didn’t get started on it as it wasn’t a priority for me. Something to consider though as a way of getting early traction and to test the initial video in the series.
 

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Something I didn’t like from the strategy I was to follow was that I was supposed to be on screen. I don’t think I need to be on camera, at least not all the time.

I wanted to create a script and read that, but couldn’t read it while looking at the camera.

I think the problem was because the goal was “To build a YouTube channel and personal brand” instead of “help people and get paid” (which I prefer as a goal as you all know).

It's funny how your Toxic video does NOT have you on camera much @Valier, and it's much more likely to build your personal because you're not trying to build a personal brand with that video.


An idea I had was to take content that resonates with folks in the forum, record me reading it, then get someone to create a video from it. Easy VSL could be a quick way to test this, but obviously it’s not as engaging as your videos @Valier. It’s a start though.

So those were the changes I wanted to make to my coach’s strategy, and to start with new channels and test how to get them going with paid ads initially.
 
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I'm currently using Samsung S20, is that good enough?
 

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You're the dude who just hit my recommended with a video tearing down how fake gurus use legit marketing to lie to people?

Very awesome. I like your work. Keep doing good stuff.
 

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In the time it took to read this thread your channel got 1300 more subscribers.

And I say you absolutely deserve it. The editing is masterful and the viewer wants to watch the video...it is magnetic....keeps pulling the viewer along.

Looking forward to your next ones...I subscribed and sent you a Paypal donation this morning.

You deserve this success!
 
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Something I didn’t like from the strategy I was to follow was that I was supposed to be on screen. I don’t think I need to be on camera, at least not all the time.

I wanted to create a script and read that, but couldn’t read it while looking at the camera.

I think the problem was because the goal was “To build a YouTube channel and personal brand” instead of “help people and get paid” (which I prefer as a goal as you all know).

It's funny how your Toxic video does NOT have you on camera much @Valier, and it's much more likely to build your personal because you're not trying to build a personal brand with that video.


An idea I had was to take content that resonates with folks in the forum, record me reading it, then get someone to create a video from it. Easy VSL could be a quick way to test this, but obviously it’s not as engaging as your videos @Valier. It’s a start though.

So those were the changes I wanted to make to my coach’s strategy, and to start with new channels and test how to get them going with paid ads initially.

Yeah, I actually think there are plenty of channels out there that don't include their faces, but are doing a great job.

I only wanted my face in there for the additional personal touch - but it isn't a massive dealbreaker if your face isn't there. But just like your senses, when one thing is cut off - everything else is enhanced.

So when you're not on camera, you have to put even more work on your narration, and making your tone, clarity, and diction even more clearer. But those are all things that can improve with practice anyway!
 

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In the time it took to read this thread your channel got 1300 more subscribers.

And I say you absolutely deserve it. The editing is masterful and the viewer wants to watch the video...it is magnetic....keeps pulling the viewer along.

Looking forward to your next ones...I subscribed and sent you a Paypal donation this morning.

You deserve this success!

Thank you so much for the donation, my friend!


I saw one the donation today, but never got around to sending a "thank you" email in response.

And those are very kind words :) - my ultimate goal with the videos has always been to create that sense of narrative and story that keeps you compelled to keep watching, which I'm so glad it's translated across!
 
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MJ DeMarco

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You're impacting lives my friend, even mine!

Got this via email...

33214
 
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Awesome progress. I'm buying that course when it comes out!
Me too.

Consider these as your “shut up and take my money” moments @Valier. I get them too and could have acted on them sooner.

Set some course up and let people give you their money. Do it this following week.
 

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Got this via email...

View attachment 33214

That is amazing!

Ahahaha, well - as I said, I'm glad I've put people on your books.

Just like Andy said, it's a perfect example of a productocracy.

I was paid a grand total of NOTHING from MJ to not only reccomend his books on three of my videos, but also dedicate an entire video to it - all because I believed in the messages and principles of those books and thought it was worth sharing and creating a video about.

Productocracy for sure.
 
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That is amazing!

Ahahaha, well - as I said, I'm glad I've put people on your books.

Just like Andy said, it's a perfect example of a productocracy.

I was paid a grand total of NOTHING from MJ to not only reccomend his books on three of my videos, but also dedicate an entire video to it - all because I believed in the messages and principles of those books and thought it was worth sharing and creating a video about.

Productocracuy for sure.
Me too.

Consider these as your “shut up and take my money” moments @Valier. I get them too and could have acted on them sooner.

Set some course up and let people give you their money. Do it this following week.

I'm trying my best to get some sort of course going, but I have to admit: things are getting quite overwhelming.

My biggest priority right now is getting this next video out... but my God is it a giant project that I can only reasonably expect to be out in the next 4-5 weeks, and I'm working pretty ungodly hours at the moment to do that, as well as keep up with important emails/messages that are being sent through.

I don't want to rush through the course either, whilst I aim to first make an MVP version of it, and gradually improve the course over time, I still want to make sure I'm teaching it properly and haven't just scrambled to put something together for the sake of a cash grab.

Right now, YT ad revenue is paying me ridiculous amounts of money, if I do say so myself - so I'm being a little patient with the course.

But I'll start recording lessons for it as soon as this next video is done.

Again, it's me completely on my own doing this at the moment, so it's definitely become a bit daunting over the last few weeks with what's been going on, but I'm going to get more to grips with the processes behind running this channel, and hopefully begin to outsource/hire others to help me and ease off the stress as time goes on.
 

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