Daily Youtube Kickstarter Show

[DennisD]

My slowlane/sidewalk friends think I've been "living the life". In reality, I've been coasting.

Picking up work here and there, spending the rest of my time on small projects and hobbies, gaming. I've been lazy. Well that's boring. I'm bored.

It's time to build something again.
So I'm hopping back on platform I've found some initial success: Youtube.

How I Chose My Niche

I started 6 blogs on Tumblr and ripped content from across the net. Each blog posted 5 times a day for 2 weeks.

The niches were things I've persued before but have stopped due to lack of time/resources.:

• Kickstarter
• Manosphere
• ComicBooks
• Fiction
• Trivia
• Random/Geek

After the two week trial period, each blog had less than 5 followers except the Kickstarter blog which had 14 followers. I decided to move forward with this niche. It's not an exhaustive test, but I hope if copy+pasted kickstarter pages generate followers, perhaps original content will do much better on social media.

Long Term Strategy
My endgame is to become so popular with kickstarter buyers that my channel becomes valuable to them.

I want this to be the platform that crowdfunding project owners NEED to get onboard with.

This can lead to advertising revenue from paid spots at the top/bottom of each show, entire sponsored episodes, and the ability to get a boost when launching MY OWN kickstarters.

Short Term Tactics
The idea right now, is to Email each individual project owner I do a review on, and ask them to host this video on their kickstarter page.

They get social proof adn boosted conversions as a result, and I get some viewers and potential fans.

My video will be placed DIRECTLY in front of kickstarter backers, which is the core audience.

Risks
A "kickstarter backer" may not be an actual demographic. That's like saying that an "amazon buyer" or "ebay shopper" is a demographic. Kickstarter has a wide variety of products and categories and I may be placing myself at risk by not niching this down even further.

However, I'm hoping that I'm right about something. I hope that Kickstarter backers are actually a demographic in and of themselves. I hope they're trendsetters that enjoy getting the latest and coolest stuff before anybody else. I hope that they like to support the underdogs and get joy out of buying on kickstarter as opposed to in stores.

If I'm right about this hidden demographic existing, I'm in for a fun ride. If I'm wrong, I'll clear the drawing board and start over again.

Video A Day
I firmly believe that if you do ANYTHING once a day, you set yourself up for success. People are in need of QUALITY CONSISTENT content. I can provide them this, while also getting BETTER at my craft each day.

By releasing every single day (I'm not including the weekends) I will grow a following rapidly. The sheer numbers are what drive this forward.

At the end of every month I will have released 20 videos, spotlighting 20 kickstarters, and potentially embedded on each of their 20 kickstarter pages. This is 5X the potential for VSEO that a weekly vlogger would generate.

Current Struggles

I'm embarrassed to say that one of my struggles is CLOTHING. I'm only 3 days in and I stress out before each video like a highschool girl going on a date. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WEAR!

With the last video, I have decided to wear a black shirt every single day. This eleminates a point of stress for me, and allows for me to shoot a few days worth of content back to back, without worrying about wardrobe changes.

Another similar sruggle is MUSIC. Good music is hard to find and expensive, especially when doing AN EPISODE A DAY. It's a huge struggle and puts a TON of extratime into each video. I have decided to just use the same music every day. This might change in the future, but for now it is what it is.

The final thing I'm dealing with is writing headlines. I need to think of some interesting angles that will get picked up on big blogs. My titles and headlines being the name of the product just won't cut it.

This will probably be something that I will need to come up with before I even write each video. Of course, doing a video a day, there's plenty of opportunities to practice.

 

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[DennisD]

My progress thus far:

I'm 3 days in and 3 videos successfully completed. I think they've gotten progressively better, so if you're only going to watch one, watch the latest.

I need to adjust my sleeping schedule to get these out earlier in the day. I'm used to waking up "whenever" but I think I'll have much better luck waking up at 6-7AM and getting these done by 10am, leaving me time in the day for other stuff.

 

[DennisD]

I just went through and watched all of these!

Thanks a ton, I appreciated it.

I haven't been posting here because I haven't had a lot of time as-of-late and any update I make, I want to be MEANINGFUL.
Basically: I ran out of cash and had to stop putting 100% of my effort into RebelFund so I can do clientwork.
Instead of 5 episodes/week, I'm doing 1 episode/week.. and will ramp it back up as soon as I can.

It looks like subscriber rate is unaffected, slowly climbing everyday.
I did my first sponsored episode.
Dude sought me out, found me email, and emailed me asking to pay to be on the channel.
It was a DAMN good product that deserves success so I was happy to.

This is some nice early verification that the show has real $making potential. I didn't plan on taking my first paid sponsor until I reached 500subs, and I was at 100 subs when I took his offer. The numbers I posted on my wall next to my desk are REAL GOALS and I'm more excited than ever.

Now I've just gotta find a way to do more episodes. I'm looking into how much it'd cost to hire and train an editor in my style. Yes, Editing is my 'unfair advantage' and I've done it professionally for years.... but I really need help. The mental exhaustion is getting to me, and with a show where I'm not only the producer, but also the performer, it really gets to me.

 

[DennisD]

So Week 1 is over. I will no longer be posting individual videos to this forum.
I will only share "Landmark videos" where a YT newbie can learn some lesson. Anybody who wants to watch them will watch them will subscribe, anybody who doesn't won't have them pushed upon them.

This is yesterdays video and I REALLY came on strong with the hook/jokes, but I think it went over well with the few who have seen it so far.
I genuinely enjoyed this video and hope it got a few laughs.

Love the idea, concept and execution. Remember to put just as much time into the marketing of each video as you do creating it.

Thanks. About this, I have decided to PPC a channel trailer for one of my videos.

After some research and talks with serious YTers, the climb from 0-100 is the hardest. The climbs from 100-1,000 and from 1,000-10,000 are EASIER in comparison.

For these reasons:

1. The youtube algorithm works better on videos with more views and channels with more subs. The "video suggestion" feature will give videos with more views more weight.
2. Virility NATURALLY happens with videos that get more exposure. More social shares, more reddit submits/upvotes, JUST as a result of more people seeing it.

So the more people that DO see it, the more people that WILL see it.

I wrote/recorded/cut a channel trailer today. I threw in my personality and a few jokes, and I also explain what the channel is and why you should subscribe.

ALSO, IT HAS THE STRONGEST CALL TO ACTION YOU HAVE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE!

I'm going to throw the minimum adwords $ at this and see how well it does.

WHY the minimum?

Adwords in-stream ads have a tendency to OVERSERVE channel ads, especially when they have nothing else to show the demographic.
I have spoken to youtubers who have gotten 6K+ views from a $5 adspend.

You stand the most to gain (for a small channel, with less than 1K followers) to spend as little as possible. Even 100 extra views would go a LONG way towards raising subscriber count. Since I have only 13 real subscribers at this point, the gains from an accidental overserving of my ads would really be something great. I'm not COUNTING on this to work, but at this point the #s work in my favor.

I plan to aim these ads NOT at people who show interest in kickstarter (very few kickstarter based videos on YT as a whole) but instead at people who enjoy channels with a similar attitude/style/humor as mine. I may make genre specific trailers in the future (gaming, tech, etc) but I'll see how this one goes.

 

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[DennisD]

Also, I'm curious about your business model. How will you be generating the majority of your revenue? Through media buying? Or will you be marketing something to your subscribers?

Most the kickstarter blogs and networks that exist right now are B2B. They're people giving "How to make a kickstarter successful" advice to their audience. I plan to buy ad space on these blogs that leads to a landing page. On the landing page is information on my YT channel, the current # of subscribers I have, the audience demographics, along with information on how much $ it would cost to get featured on my show.

The MOMENT I hit 10K fans, I'm opening up at these prices, gauging interest, and moving forward from there:

Cost for a 10 second shoutout at bottom of show: $100.
Cost for a fully feature episode about your kickstarter: $500

I have full right to reject/refund you if I don't like/want to spotlight your project, my fans come first and I will only take on projects I feel I can show off in an entertaining way.

If/when the demand gets high, I will raise prices and see what the sweet spot is. If I can't start that high, I will lower the prices.
When the channel makes decent $, I will be able to start outsourcing some of the work (writing, editing) and open myself up to further opportunity with other mediabased work.

The main goal for me has ALWAYS been to create a media empire. This is where I feel "at-home." If this generates some cashflow I'd love to get a fulltime blogger on board and pay them to write about kickstarters on a website.

I will ALSO leverage this platform to promote my own interestes. I have another YT show I want to create but lack the $ for, I have a task management app idea, a web app idea, etc.. I originally was going to pursue investors for the $, but with a kickstarter audience in front of me, I may be able to fund/spotlight myself.

 

[DennisD]

Alright,
super quick update:

Because of my longterm monetization strategy, I have a decent idea about how much $ my subscribers are worth and so I'm not afraid to spend cash to get them.

I put $15 into google adwords. Took me a bit to figure out the interface (I haven't used adwords since my minecraft site 4ish ago.)

I should be getting 250-1K views per day for the next two weeks (starting tomorrow or tuesday).

I targeted the ads so they'd only play on 8 superpopular personality-based youtube channels (so no sketch comedy, gaming, etc).

I chose youtubers like Swoozie, Ray William Johnson, Jenna Marbles, Rhett and Link, Jenna Marbles. All funny high-energy people that talk directly to the camera.

Hopefully the trailer will catch attention within the first few seconds before people skip the ad. Regardless of this ads success, I will create others and test to see which is most successful.

I found some very powerful marketing features within adwords... such as a remarketing feature which targets anybody who's seen my channel before, yet isn't subscribed. I can also target people who are subscribed to other channels and not subscribed to mine, and create specific videos to target their interests. SO COOL! SO USEFUL!

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk

 

[ChasingPaper]

If you have any questions PM me. I have a YouTube account with 2.5 million views, and almost 20k subscribers.

 

[Gale4rc]

it's tough to keep doing this and investing this much time into something that's not fruitful yet. I think it actually means I need to put MORE TIME AND ENERGY into it.

You've barely been doing this. Talk to me in 6 months and then there might be an issue if it hasn't scaled.

2k views 49 subscribers - You could've gotten more than this with one good link from a blogger instead of hustling people on social media. Please don't call what you're doing marketing, it's not. What you're doing is spamming people.

#toughlovei'mrootingforyou

 

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[DennisD]

Trying Something New

After watching the creator of annoying orange talk about his videos and how annoying orange popularized itself, I decided I will take time every now and again to experiment with different types of videos.

They may not be perfect, they may be successes or failures, but what's important is that I'm taking the time to actually DO them.
This is a video I scripted, animated, and created over this weekend.

More stuff to talk about that's upcoming.... but I've decided I will talk about things only after they're done. I don't want to say "I plan on this and this and this". It just takes away my steam.

I will do them FIRST and then talk about them.
Talking first is too dangerous a habit to fall back into.

Edit:
This just happened and it made me so happy.

 

[DennisD]

Today was my very first attempt at creating a video with a "clickbait" headline. I chose the project based on how much I LIKE it, but I based the video around the connection this game has to Breaking Bad.

This allows me to share with Breaking Bad and television audiences to generate traffic. I hope for this to be my most popular video of the four.

I am self concious abou tthe Castle wall backdrop. It doesn't fit with the theme of the show, but I have decided to push it out of my mind until I actually have a solution. @LibertyForMe suggested that a background wouldn't alter his viewing habits. If he likes a show, he'll watch it. If he doesn't, he won't. I will push this out of my head for now.

I am also struggling with video quality. It's a pain in the butt to not have the equipment I use professionally, but until this earns me money, I simply can't afford to make it better... so I guess I will just keep doing the best I can with what I have.

 

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[AubreyJ]

These are actually really good! I love the idea and I thought your videos are really well done- I liked the Birdy Blast joke. I could definitely see this becoming a successful channel.

As far as your clothes go, I think that wearing generic, solid colors (like your black shirt) is a good choice. It's simple, it allows you to tape multiple episodes without having to change over and over again, and it keeps the focus on the video itself instead of your wardrobe- you're not a fashion channel, so that shouldn't be the focus. I subscribed!

 

[Gale4rc]

I've been thinking about this.

What do you think I can do to spark this? I've mailed out a videos to 200+blogs (on the topic the actual kickstarter was based on).

This is how I want the channel to be percieved in the future:
I want my channel to be a SOURCE that other bloggers look towards to see what's up-and-coming in kickstarter. I want them to see something I vlog about, and they write about it in their blog.

This might happen naturally if I become popular enough... but I want to take further action to get it to happen SOONER.
Does anybody have any advice to accomplish this?

Message them first and build a relationship with them.

Instead of emailing them your youtube video try just starting a conversation with them via email and having your youtube channel in your signature, they will most likely check it out and then when you ask if they might be interested in covering it later you already have the relationship built and they might ask you first.

My general strategy is to Tweet at them or share one of their articles on twitter, leave a comment on their blog and then email over the course of a week and it works 80% of the time

 

[DennisD]

Looked at my channel analytics today.
To be honest, It was tough.

"Vanity metrics", I believe they call it.
Lots of information I can't do ANYTHING with.
All it did was make feel feel anxious.

Not doing that again.
For now on, BEFORE I look at analytic, I will have a specific purpose and a specific question I need answered. Putting a bunch of questions into my head isn't going to help me get to the next stage.

And what IS that next stage?
My current goal: get to 100 subscribers and every step I make should be to attain this goal.
No worrying about a single thing that doesn't influence subscriber count.

So, what do I do to attain this goal:

• As per @Gale4rc advice I am reaching out to bloggers, making contact, saying hi.
• I will also increase my twitter activity. I will reach out to and interact with the people who are fans of similar content
• I will write more blog posts for Lifehack, linking to my channel.
• I will set up IfTTT recipes to push my daily videos to every social media avenue I can. All it takes is a single person seeing a single video they like to gain a new subscriber.
• I already have some PPC ads running, waiting to see how those play out.

 

[DennisD]

AUTOMATING THE CHANNEL

So there's a lot more businesswise to making a legit youtube channel than meets the eye.

My current problem is time management. These videos are very unpredicatable in how long they take me to accomplish.
The easy ones will take me 2 hours, the hard ones take me closer to 8 hours!

Ripping stock footage, collection of stock images, sound leveling, creation of thumbnail, upload and syndication of these videos REALLY eats up a lot of my time. In the end, I have almost NO time left to do clientwork (moneymaker).

If I want this to be a FASTLANE BUSINESS and not just a hobby, there are systems I need to create and put in place to streamline things.
So I've started to put my brain to work and use tools and systems to get things accomplished so tasks take less time.

FOR INSTANCE:
I have set it up so that everytime a video is uploaded, my girlfriend and VA are notified via email with specific instructions. I am having them take care of:

• Subtitles
• Adding Annotations
• Creating Thumbnails
• Notifying Project owners I've made a video about them.
• Resource Gathering

I have created training videos to teach them how to do these tasks.
Here's video teaching my VA how to create a thumbnail:

Setting up these systems will help me long-term so I have more time for promotion and marketing tasks.

Sponsorship
I decided tp approach crowdfunding marketers and freelancers with a sponsorship opportunity.
When people start watching a new show, fans often go back and watch the entire backlog. Getting a sponsorship in EARLY means long-term exposure for the company.

I will pitch the idea of having a 10 second shoutout within every episode that urges viewers to check out the sponsor's website if THEY have an idea for a kickstarter project of their own.

If I play my cards right I can get some funding which will allow me to market this full time, as well as buy some better equipment. I will start pitching companies today.

 

[DennisD]

Thumbnail Research and Standardization

Thumbnails are now standardized. All will be a large BG image, a cutout of me with a glow, all-caps yellow text, and rebelfnd logo in the bottom right-hand corner.

Before I settled on this, I ripped 50 thumbnails ripped from the most popular videos from youtubers I emulate. Here are the thumbnails, if anybody's interested:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hqcj7ydmhcrmn6b/AADmodCM8RHQy2meRHYlA_Rua?dl=0

The video in an earlier post is me teaching my VA how to follow instructions in my automated emails.. to create the new style of thumbnails if anybody's interested in recreating my process.

I use IfTTT to automate these tasks. Everytime a video is uploaded, instructions are automatically mailed off with assets I have chosen and uploaded before hand.

Here is the new thumbnails in action:

End Card
I picked up a tip from the podcast TubeTalk. They said they use endcards with related videos NOT to increase views or session duration, but instead to drive subscriptions. When people see what other related videos you've done, they're more likely to subscribe themselves.

Of course, increased session duration and more views is always welcome.

I have now standardized this into my own videos (starting yesterday). I used to leave with the Rebelfund Intro. Now I end with an annotated endcard. Please see the end of the above video for an example.

There are now be TWO related videos on the lefthand side, a subscribe button, and a 1/4th sized video of me talking about the videos.

Automated Twitter Video Promotion
I've setup a new way of promoting each video I upload.

When somebody backs a kickstarter audience, they have the option to tweet about it. The tweet template is something like "I've just backed {Project Name} {Project Link}"

I've used IfTTT to set up an automated tweet for the most popular projects I've covered. Whenever somebody tweets "Just Backed RadioTopia" I autotweet to them

I'm going to set up an automated email (with video instructions) to either the GF or the VA to add these IfTTT recipes for each new video.

Hopefully I can get some views, subscribers, and shares through this. I've never tried anything like this before, so we'll see.

The theory is that these tweet go to BACKERS. Once you back a project, you're invested, you feel tied to it's fate. Any positive reinforcement that your $ went to the right place is appreciated by you. These people are emotionally primed (having backed the project THAT DAY) to be receptive to the video.

Of course, maybe I'm just full of horse shit. I guess I'll find out.

 

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[DennisD]

Automated @Replies Update:

EDIT: No, it's not fixed. The @reply doesn't process, twitter doesn't allow automated @replies as per terms of service so IFTTT doesn't allow it either. Looks like an employee task was just created.

I eneded up doing research and finding a workaround that let me STILL autotweet @replies to followers. I won't be sharing it here. It's against twitter TOS and I don't want people to know about it, because it's giving me a good traffic boost right now.

How do people feel about being autotweeted at? Pretty good, actually! No complaints at least, a ton of favorites and a few replies:

So this is cool. I'm glad that nobody sees me as spamming them (or if they do, nobody's actively complaining).

Video Quality
I feel more confident in my ability to create good core content. As I start writing the scripts further ahead of time, there's more time for me to reflect, add jokes, take away lulls, and all-around refine the videos. Two recent videos that I feel I did a pretty good job at:

I am looking to script everything a week ahead of time to further refine videos and maybe have them prerecorded.

Instagram
I recorded this video with intention to upload it to instagram:

It's a damn shame, because releasing one of those a day to instagram for each video would undoubtedly EXPLODE my account there. I KNOW it would.

But the app isn't letting me do it. I'll have to record the SCREEN with a cell phone and upload that. I'll see if it still comes out okay and is worth the trouble. I guess we'll see. The barrier to entry being high means I might end up being the ONLY PERSON ON INSTAGRAM WITH COMPELLING VIDEO.

Let me know if you know another way to get preedited video to instagram. I tried a few workarounds and it's just not happenin for me.

Tumblr
I originally verified this niche with Tumblr, I still have something like 22 followers on Tumblr, I decided that I might as well start posting here again.

I spotlight a few kickstarter projects a day, rip their photos, and give a paragraph of commentary... as well as post all my videos here. I'll do this for a few weeks, report in on how it's going. I have a feeling that Tumblr will become one of my biggest traffic sources.

I can't explain why, it's a gut feeling. I guess we'll see.


Money
Still no money made off of this. It'll come, I know it... but it's tough to keep doing this and investing this much time into something that's not fruitful yet. I think it actually means I need to put MORE TIME AND ENERGY into it.

I have a few other things in the works, you'll see.

I will update with anything else of relevance as it happens.


EDIT:
Two more updates for those who are interested. My current Subscriber Count, View Count, and sources of traffic. (the first 5 subs are just me from various accounts)

 

[DennisD]

This is pretty smart man. I approve.

I like the videos, you're a funny guy!

Thank you both so much.

get a few shirts made with a pocket screenprint of your logo so it feels like a more official uniform

This is brilliant. After a few weeks of a solid black tee, if I feel like I'll stick with it, I'll get some shirts made up. Great idea.

 

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Interesting. Sounds like a great opportunity. Your prices sound very reasonable. Also, do most kickstarters have problems promoting themselves? How big is the demand?

Once this starts to get popular, it would be a great way to get some exposure for campaigns. I think being able to spotlight yourself later on is a great idea too.

Good job man. I'm rooting for you. I just subscribed.

 

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[DennisD]

I really like the videos Dennis! Keep it up, I'm sharing them with some friends! They seem to flow pretty easily, do you put a lot of time into writing the script or just start talking and create the flow with some editing magic?

I spent time experimenting with this privately. I had videos where I just talked to the camera and edited later. Most came out okay, but some were boring. My on-the spot commentary is usually pretty funny, I have a natural sense for comedy/storytelling/pacing. However, it's not enough to carry every video every time.

Rebelfund is something I care deeply about and am actively TRYING to get an audience for. As something I do EVERYDAY, I decided I can't afford to have a 'bad day'. ALL of Ray William Johnson's videos are funny. I can't afford to have anything less than that if I want to actualize the growth I see in my head.

Of course, bad days will inevitably happen, but I should do everything in my power to minimize them.

So, I script all Rebelfund videos immediately before I record them. Many of the bits within the video are on-the-fly, but I always have a bare minimum of content scripted. I have the opportunity to read through it before it's cemented, and say "this isn't funny enough," or "This part is going on for too long, I need to break it up".

 

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[DennisD]

I thought of that guy watching your videos...except you're 100 times cooler, funnier and more authentic.

His only advantage (in my opinion) is covering topics of wider interest, like funny cats and making fun of funny videos

That means SO much, thanks! For real. Really.
Like.. really. No really.
Seriously, thanks.
Really...

Yeah, I was thinking about this too. He covered viral videos which were funny in themselves, AND he was also entertaining. The main reason I watched was for the videos, and the commentary is just bonus. However, all that people TRUELY care about is being entertained, so as long as I try my hardest to get THAT done, everything else will follow.

Anyway, much luck and hope this takes off.

Oh, it will, I won't rest until it does!
For real, having a hard time getting to sleep. All I can think about is this damned YT channel. It's nice to be so absorbed by something again, but it gets ridiculous.

I don't care about eating, or sleeping, or spending time with friends or family, or taking breaks. This must be how drug addicts feel.

 

[Travis Phipps]

Dude...I love this idea, your show, and everything about it. I subscribed. I have a bunch of ideas for you. I'll try to put something together for you and post it in this thread.

I'll be watching daily.

T

 

[Travis Phipps]

Yo Dennis,

It is funny you came up with the Shark Tank demo from my YouTube comment, because I'm already running ads for Shark Tank keywords for my PPC Consulting and Training Courses. I'll explain why I do this later...

I think it is a perfect demographic for you.

You beat me to the punch, I was going to offer to help you with your YouTube ads. I run ads inside YouTube for several clients, and have a lot of experience. We should jump on a screen share and I'll walk you through some of the options...since I'm your biggest fan, I'll be happy to help out for free. The first thing we need to do is get your channel to show up first when someone types in Rebel Fund Kickstarter...I have to scroll down pretty far to find you...and I'd never find you if I didn't know what I was looking for.

I have some other sneaky PPC tricks you may want to try out. For example, I would find some really popular kickstarter campaigns and run some search ads for the names...and then point direct the traffic to your website. I realize you are trying to increase your subscriber count on YouTube, but I do believe "owning" your audience will be important for your profitability in the future. I'd be happy to discuss those ideas on the call too...

This is an excellent idea you've come up with. There are thousands of ways to monetize this business. I realize it is early on, but there are some really cool things you can do with this. I just came up with these off the top of my head:

1. Taking a percentage of every donation you push to a kickstarter campaign (I don't know about the legalities, but I'm thinking like an affiliate program).
2. You can hold auctions for kickstarter campaigns to get their product on your channel (this may be far off, but people looking for money/investment might be desperate).
3. You can have tool sets for kickstarters (think sourcing products, distribution channels, import/export, cheap mfg, etc, etc). The key here would be to make money every time you sent one of the kickstarters to the resource.
4. After kickstarters have been funded, and they are just selling their product...you can become a "Kickstarter Marketplace". This is one of my favorite ideas. Have those suckers drop ship product for you, and you buy the product super cheap (not your standard 40-50%...but much bigger discounts). I _love_ this idea...
5. Some other top secret stuff we can chat about.

Anyway...I'm telling everyone I know about your channel. Telling them to subscribe.

Good luck!

Travis

PS: Do you have a website up yet? I just did a quick search and didn't see it. You need to start building your list, so we need to get you a site.

 

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[DennisD]

We should jump on a screen share and I'll walk you through some of the options...since I'm your biggest fan, I'll be happy to help out for free.

Appreciated.

I realize you are trying to increase your subscriber count on YouTube, but I do believe "owning" your audience will be important for your profitability in the future.

PS: Do you have a website up yet? I just did a quick search and didn't see it. You need to start building your list, so we need to get you a site.

The website is something I WILL get to, but I don't think the time for this is now. I know the way my brain works. I know through experience that if I have more than a single goal at a time, I fail 100% of the time.

If I can get to ~5,000 real human subscribers/watchers, I know from clientwork that growth will self-sustain and I can shift my focus towards other things, such as website/list growth. Right now, the ONLY thing I want to focus on is YT subs.

You can hold auctions for kickstarter campaigns to get their product on your channel (this may be far off, but people looking for money/investment might be desperate).

The top thing I want to do is start a calendar payment system where people can pay $ to book a day I spotlight their project and adjust the prices to meet demand. An auction is a cool idea too. Def. something to think about

You can have tool sets for kickstarters (think sourcing products, distribution channels, import/export, cheap mfg, etc, etc). The key here would be to make money every time you sent one of the kickstarters to the resource.

This is a cool idea too. Although, the goal of the channel right now is more B2C than B2B. Resources or services intended for project owners (other than straight advertising/product placement) is not something I want to pursue until I'm making $ elsewhere. Going into the Rebelfund brand notebook for future use.

After kickstarters have been funded, and they are just selling their product...you can become a "Kickstarter Marketplace". This is one of my favorite ideas. Have those suckers drop ship product for you, and you buy the product super cheap (not your standard 40-50%...but much bigger discounts). I _love_ this idea...

HELLS YES.
This is what I'm talkin about. A post-kickstarter marketplace would be a GREAT way to monetize traffic longerterm and has potential to grow into something HUGE. Once a few peeps are on board the rest would propel itself.

Thanks for the ideas and support, means a lot.

 

[evlttwin]

This really is a GREAT idea. Just keep trying everything on social media and you will eventually gain traction. It might not make money in the first few months, but once you get an audience I could see it exploding.

 

[tafy]

Dennis, just watched you vid on the ice cream scoop, was entertaining but I felt that you stretched it out too long.

My thoughts...
1. Be a bit more brief but do 3 products in one show. Then do every 3 days.
2. Im not sure that castleforge media branding is good for you here, you should brand it in your own name as you are the face of the videos. It confuses me when i watch your video then you have the castleforge branding show up at the end.

 

[Jakeeck]

Just wanted to say that I thought your "Never Lose Another Thing Again" was fantastic. Keep it up!

I also disagree with Gale. Your videos are no more "spam" than Facebook ads are, which recommend products based on your search history. That's pretty much exactly what you're doing, shooting out content to people who are clearly interested in this kind of stuff. If you got negative feedback, there'd be reason to stop doing it, as you know. I think what you're doing is smart. You've only gotten positive feedback so far.

 

[ChasingPaper]

@DennisDuty Just started progress thread for YouTube might be worth subscribing to so you can be notified. I will be posting some tips and such as I grow, and other things along the way.

 

[ilrein]

This is pretty smart man. I approve.

 

[splok]

Seems like a good idea for a channel, and if the video for a particular campaign end up being better than the backers own video, you'll probably end up on a lot of their campaign pages.

I'm probably the wrong person to comment on the clothes thing, but it seems fine to have a sort of uniform for the show. If it seems like something you'll stick with, get a few shirts made with a pocket screenprint of your logo so it feels like a more official uniform.

I think the same music is good too, as it helps set your brand. When you listed to radio shows/podcasts or whatever, they all have a standard intro/extro to brand themselves.

 

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[Deon]

I like the videos, you're a funny guy!