Growing a YouTube Channel to 100,000 Subs

[Andy Black]

One video a day eh? Nice goal. The other numbers will come as a by product.

Maybe I'll try and do a video a day again.
EDIT: I've just created one and uploaded it HERE.


Here's my current stats:

 

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[Fox]

New Video looks good. I like that is kind of low key.

Out of curiosity, are you sharing your video on your other social media platforms, and are those large at all? I think it is pretty impressive how much you've already grown to 300 some subscribers (just subscribed myself), but wasn't sure how much of that was previous "fans".

Thanks!

Only on my FB group. It has 5,500 people BUT Facebook doesn’t like to show YouTube links on the newsfeed. Most of my normal posts get a very decent response but I can tell the video posts are not getting shared that much.

Still working on that one.

Other than that no. Maybe I should look into places to post but I usually only use this forum and my fb group when I’m online. I had that one thread on Reddit before that did well but I haven’t been back in a while.

 

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[TKRR]

I like the new format! The face cam is adding a lot!

A video a day is super ambitious. I really only see vlogs or gamers achieving that since those are pretty easy to make.

Stepping up the thumbnail game is super important. Definitely play around with that. Look at other channels and see what they're doing. I've noticed some go really heavy with graphics, and others don't.

Damn, already 428 subscribers. Keep it up! This will be fun to watch you grow.

I'm doing the same thing; here's my channel.

Unfortunately, I can't produce a video a day, but I might play with the format in order to pump out more content. Hence 2-3 of my videos are short comedy sketches.



Interesting... I've noticed that too, actually. Some top ranked videos didn't have any tags, or they had 2-3. I don't know if that's because they already have a huge fanbase or what, but that is definitely something to explore and experiment with.

Yeah, I think my next post I'm going to limit to 3 tags. Just to see if it matters.

 

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[DanWasDrunk]

Do you have a channel trailer? If not, that should be your next move. There are a couple templates and tutorials on Youtube. Generally just keep it under a minute. Thirty seconds seems to be the sweet spot.

I created one yesterday and went from 16 subscribers to 29.

Tiny numbers compared to you, but any progress is good progress. Just a thought.

 

[dgr]

Why every January the Blender Guru channel earns a lot of new subscribers?

A possible explanation can be that at the start of the year a lot of people makes New Year's resolutions to learn new things? I don't know, but Andrew (the youtuber) uploads some beginner series each year at the start of the academic course (Sep. - Oct.)

2017:


2016:


I think this is a great strategy: starting a beginner series on Sep. and keep updating it on Jan.

When you have a lot of quality content in the channel, you are ready to use some of these tactics in a video that has more possibilities to have a lot of views...

Because another thing I've noticed is that before subscribing to a channel, a lot of people (including me) visit first the channel front page. That's a great place to let the visitors know what the channel is about and what can expect if they subscribe.

Having previous quality videos helps a lot. Along with a description in the header, etc.

Another thing successful youtubers do is to be more niche-specific at first, and evolve into more general topics once they have enough audience and engagement. Classical Seth Godin advice

This is pure analysis and theory. I don't have any real experience in growing a youtube channel. But this mystery has captivated my analytical mind this week

btw, I think @Fox you are doing it quite well.

 

[Andy Black]

Hey @Fox ... someone shared this great article in a Facebook group I'm in:

• How Buffer Grew Their YouTube Channel by 59% in 30 Days

 

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[Fox]

I was making quite a few mistakes with how I was using YouTube tags. I had a lot of general tags on videos thinking that would help. So in the video above I had tags like "travel" "vlog" "georgia". Totally pointless since it doesn't rank and its a waste of potential tags that can rank.

If you are uploading videos try have a super focused video idea with highly linked tags for it to rank well.

 

[Fox]

>>> Current Goals <<<
Videos
Goal: 100
Current: 7
Subs
Goal: 1,000
Current: 312
Views
Goal: 100,000
Current: 4,628
Watch Time (minutes):
Goal: 500,000
Current: 22,760

Results on the 2018 goals:

Goal: 100 videos
Goal: 1,000 subs



Smashed the sub goal but fell way behind on total video count.

Goal: 100,000 views
Goal: 500,000 minutes watched



Ha... one slight over and one slightly under - but very close!

Goals for 2019:
100 total channel videos
10,000 subs
1,000,000 views

 

[Andy Black]

As an unbiased comment, the vlogs are really high quality. Seems like the same standard someone with a massive following would have, really nice. As a side note didn't realise you were a Brit!

Agreed. (Although Fox is Irish.)

Great videos @Fox. Really inspirational and different from the usual web tutorials.

How many subs do you have on your channel at the moment?


Possible sneaky tip with channels is to make up your own tag and tag all your videos with it so hopefully one of your own videos shows as the next suggestion. I tried that with my own videos.

Also... I think there's an option when embedding videos to not show another video at the end of your own. Might not work embedding into the forum.

I'll shut up now as I've only a handful of subscribers and videos myself. Will let the YouTube heavy weights give better advice.



EDIT: Whoa... I've not really done videos in over a year. I didn't realise I had 275 subs and over 100 videos on YouTube. Some videos have over 1k views too.

I also think YouTube is a great channel. I might get back into my Snapchat ways... it was fun doing those low production vlogs and ramblings.

Following your progress with interest @Fox.

 

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[Andy Black]

Yeah, Facebook basically doesn't show the YouTube videos to anyone. Kind of bummer. I read recently that you should just put the video on Facebook (upload it there) then put in the description to check out your YouTube page for more videos like it. I suppose that is about the only thing you can do. Not sure if even doing advertising on FB would help.

I heard it’s best to put links in the second post in a Facebook thread. I haven’t tested it, just heard it...

...

This video might be of interest:

View: https://youtu.be/cWoABzDr6lw

 

[DanWasDrunk]

I like the new format! The face cam is adding a lot!

A video a day is super ambitious. I really only see vlogs or gamers achieving that since those are pretty easy to make.

Stepping up the thumbnail game is super important. Definitely play around with that. Look at other channels and see what they're doing. I've noticed some go really heavy with graphics, and others don't.

Damn, already 428 subscribers. Keep it up! This will be fun to watch you grow.

I'm doing the same thing; here's my channel.

Unfortunately, I can't produce a video a day, but I might play with the format in order to pump out more content. Hence 2-3 of my videos are short comedy sketches.

Found this article today... I think it is very useful information. One particularly interesting tidbit was the fact that Tags basically don't seem to matter anymore, because YouTube can analyze the video for content on its own. (scary, haha).

We Analyzed 1.3 Million YouTube Videos. Here's What We Learned About YouTube SEO

It is interesting cause I was looking up some of the keywords I was using to find stuff similar to mine, and almost none of the highest ranking videos had more than 1 or 2 tags, if they had any. There titles seemed to matter much more, but more importantly the content was better. VidIQ even gave some videos with millions of views 20 points or whatever for SEO....hmm I think there is something off there potentially. It seems a worthwhile exploration to remove tags and see what happens to a video or two.

Interesting... I've noticed that too, actually. Some top ranked videos didn't have any tags, or they had 2-3. I don't know if that's because they already have a huge fanbase or what, but that is definitely something to explore and experiment with.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Great thread.

I'm a fan of the channel and your experimental approach to getting this going.

Watched a couple of your videos and will continue watching. Good luck @Fox.

 

[minivanman]

I'm very hard to please but I think you nailed that stranded in Georgia video. From the music to the beautiful female. Great work!

Just an fyi... the way to get a lot of views on Youtube is to have a beautiful girl in the video. Did you know us guys will watch a 1 hour video of a beautiful girl talking about the dirt she found under a couch cushion? And if she is in a bikini some will watch it twice!

 

[Fox]

Great thread.

I'm a fan of the channel and your experimental approach to getting this going.

Watched a couple of your videos and will continue watching. Good luck @Fox.

I'm very hard to please but I think you nailed that stranded in Georgia video. From the music to the beautiful female. Great work!

Just an fyi... the way to get a lot of views on Youtube is to have a beautiful girl in the video. Did you know us guys will watch a 1 hour video of a beautiful girl talking about the dirt she found under a couch cushion? And if she is in a bikini some will watch it twice!

@Fox

Liking the videos so far, especially with the travel/drone footage. You've got some good camera skills. Come skiing/biking and we'll get some good action shots.

Also, just a heads-up. I've heard that Facebook has started penalizing groups where too many links are posted that direct people outside of FB... Not 100% sure about this but it would make sense that they want people to stay within their platform.

Thanks a million!

I will try get some more travel content up soon. I got a fun surf edit I am working on.



The stats aren't bad for the last few days.

I need to keep being consistent and also more organised with video ideas and production.

Todays video had some issues with background noise (construction) so I had to hold off for a few hours.
I ended up with something decent but not as good as it could have been.

Aiming for 1,000 subs by the end of this month but maybe its way too ambitious.

 

[masterneme]

Do you give any attention to Google+?
Are you sharing your uploads to web design subreddits?
Have you tried to make comments on other popular videos to attract some traffic?

Great job man I definitely want to see how this progresses.

Edit: Any thoughts about livestreams? The combination of Twitch+Discord is becoming very powerful (and popular).

Edit 2: I forgot about the new Youtube rules, so the question "are you monetizing your videos" is now "are you going to monetize your videos?"

I want to know your thoughts about this because it is said that if you don't monetize your videos they won't get as much exposure from the algorithm.

 

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[Andy Black]

Darnit. I'm watching this thread but didn't get any notifications.

Good work @Fox. Love the thread itself, even though I've not watched all the videos. It's everything a progress thread should have ... breadcrumbs for others to follow, an insight into what you're doing and why rather than just how-to steps. It's great to follow-along.

For anyone else reading, take note that @Fox is not proclaiming to be an expert at YouTube. He's confident enough to show himself making it up as he goes along. Also note how others are happy to help because he's adding value first, AND because he's listening and responding positively to feedback. There's some big lessons in there folks.

There's a lot of wisdom in the phrase: "People listen to experts, they follow leaders." (Dan Gallipoo aka Doberman Dan)


I'm not a YouTube expert, but went through a couple of Udemy courses a year or so ago.
Here's what I remember, but either didn't get round to doing, or didn't test:

1. Create your own tag and use it for all your videos so that hopefully YouTube will show one of your own videos after your own. E.g. foxtag12345
   
   
2. Paying for views can help with organic views. YouTube gets to see if people watch them all the way through, giving them a clue whether the video is relevant to the keyword it was found for. Those views could be super cheap from some country with very low cost-per-view ... and it will still help. (I've no idea if this is all true, but it makes sense).
   
   
3. Those closed captions really help, not just for @jpanarra, but for SEO. (Which reminds me I need to add them to the latest video I dropped in here... and @jpanarra linked to some documentation on doing that.)
   
   
4. Other stuff that I can't remember ... I'll dig out my notes.

Someone who's prolific on YouTube is Jerry Banfield (Will You Join Me, Jerry Banfield, at JerryBanfield.com?).

• He's a kinda earnest guy but interesting and churns out the content.
• He's big into Steemit at the moment, but had plenty of Facebook courses and probably has YouTube videos as well, oh and lots of gaming and self-development videos too. He seems to have incorporated daily video recording into his life. Totally different style to yours @Fox... but maybe someone worth just checking out to see what he does, why and how.
• He also had about 2,000 videos up on Udemy too before they banned him and he switched to Slideshare (Udemy Course Coupons + Promo Codes by Jerry Banfield << scroll down a bit for his wee announcement)

EDIT: Found this note from a course Jerry part created:
The COMPLETE Digital Marketing and Sales Funnel Blueprint!

 

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[jpanarra]

Thanks for the mention, I mean its a massive help for people out there like myself (Deaf or other challenges) that feel like our access to information from people like you who really want to help.

Also, you guys really have the nice feature of the auto-transcribe, (i dont because my language is visual) so if you plan on doing you tube, please take advantage of this feature so It'll help people out and not only that, it'll help you index your videos like Andy said. Its a WIN-WIN scenario!

For anyone who reads this. If you don't know how to turn it on or want to write the subtitles, just send me a pm and I'll be more than happy to help you out!

 

[Fox]

I've been following the thread and your channel and first of all I've wanted to commend you for your effort and consistency, both in producing and publishing content!
And also thanks for this progress thread, because it gives great insights into the process.

If you don't mind, a few tweaks may help you on the channel:
-the front page of the channel could be improved by having a little ad-hoc video that introduces you and the channel, with a description on the side.
-tied to that, would it be possible to modify the name of the channel to include something to do with Web Design? Like O'Rourke Web Design or something like that? Just to make the "brand" more connected with what you do, especially since you are at the beginning, so people would search more for the topic rather than the person.
-consider having a more personalized banner, with a tagline or "web design help" or something of that kind on it; this helps focus your channel as soon as somebody lands on it.
-write a few more lines on your "about" page, to describe what you want to give with this channel, why, etc.
-just a note, it would maybe look nicer if you had the full screen video of you instead of it being a window on your Mac desktop (like in the Website sale video).

Obviously these are just my opinions and suggestions, so feel free to discard!

Keep it up!

Yes! I need to work on all of these for sure.

One thing I won't be doing is changing the channel name though. I don't want to get locked into a niche and would rather build a personal brand. Who knows what happens over the next ten years and I don't want to have "coding masterclass" and I move into property in 3 years.

I for sure need to work on branding, a channel intro video, back ground image, intro reel, etc. This will be a focus point for next month.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

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[Fox]

Authenticity and a coherent brand are behind all successful youtubers.

I don't have experience with this, but this weekend a friend of mine introduces me to the Casey Neistat channel (he has a serious addiction to the channel) and I immediately was interested about how this guy has made it.

I like your videos, @Fox. They're very informative in a way is not usual to find out there. And you look very honest in them. But what I've found is that all these successful youtubers are more entertainers than teachers.

That's a pain for me because I prefer to teach, and to be informed first, and entertain, or be entertained, last.

But I suppose that you have to engage your audience (mainly your new visitors) emotionally first and then provide them value. Like any other selling process, I guess.

Anyway, maybe these videos can help to get some tips

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFLz_-u2CXM

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLz42Kkd5g

Thanks. I watch a lot of both of these channels to learn. The huge skillset that these guys have honed for years is the ability to tell a real captivating story. The can turn buying a gallon of milk into a captivating 10 minute movie. It’s something I will have to work on but I’m definitely aware of it. Such a key skill.

Thanks for sharing.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Thread upgraded to NOTABLE... I'm smelling a process here!

 

[Fox]

Thread upgraded to NOTABLE... I'm smelling a process here!

Thanks @MJ DeMarco. That encourages me a lot to keep going.

Very hard to get traction on YouTube starting off but I feel like its one of those things where after 1-2 years it just "pops". It is so impressive what these bigger YouTube channels have achieved. Anyone can start so its technically "zero barrier" but to get traction you need to master dozens of different skills. Its skills that are highly transferable also so its great to have to work on these everyday. Let's see if I can hit that 10k in 2018!

 

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[dgr]

Hmmm... I should be working but instead, I'm trying to figure out how some youtubers have grown up their channels.

Anyway...

Something I've found is that having a well know youtuber in your video helps a lot. It can be an interview with him (the best) or some commentary about him.

One example is this video from Stefan Kunz featuring Peter McKinnon:



Now see how his channel has exploded since that video (data available at UC770_BSzjKBesS4QzqMARCA YouTube Stats, Channel Statistics - Socialblade.com):



So, quality content on youtube does matter a lot. But who you know also matters. why not try to look for this connections?

An easier way to do this is using topics that receive a lot of attention. You can use them to channel that attention to your own channel.

Some examples from This Guy Edits, a channel about editing on film:



He didn't need an interview with Casey, but Neistat himself commented on the video.




A great movie scene classified as "wrong"? Great click bait!



More people or topics that attract a lot of attention and desire to know more.



A lot of people looking for Final Cut Pro X, for sure.



The typical list for beginners.


Another technique can be using evergreen topics that people are always looking for. Like this tutorial from Blender Guru about Color (this is one of the most informative channels I've found–this guy is great explaining things):



His channel has exploded since he appears in camera, and this is one of the key ingredients:



Notice how the change in the subs after this video (from Feb. 17)



Do you notice some other trends in this graph?...

The subs went up every January!

Why can be that? I'll try to provide a theory in another post. Not to create a cliffhanger, but because I can't attach more images to this post

 

[Lex DeVille]

These videos blow my mind every time. Makes manufacturing look cool as hell. Not that there's anything uncool about the multi-million dollar facility, equipment, and process going on there. That's cool by itself. But your videos make it look even more cool.

 

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[Fox]

Did a long overdue clean up on some channel things today:

Fixed titles to give a more clear value and be more searchable...

Cleaned up links within the description:



I had to get some new usernames on Fb and twitter but I think it reads a lot better now.

Also I cleaned up the tags on each video. Tried to link it much more to the the video content and remove any unrelated tags. Basically - one video > one keywork > one main tag focus.

I still got to switch out the thumbnails and also create a proper channel background.

 

[Fox]

I feel like most people's audio and video either:

1. Stays consistent
2. Gets better over time

Yours seems to fluctuate. Better some days, worse others, almost random.

Your travel stuff is shot beautifully, but there the audio is inconsistent. I found myself having to turn up and down my computer with each video.

I think you need to invest in a SYSTEM of doing things the same way every day to avoid the problem.

• What audio processing are you doing?
• What db level are you trying to shoot for with your audio?
• Do you know how to use Adobe Audition? (If not I can show you some easy tricks)

It's a shame to have a mic cover your face, and for you to not even get the full benefit. Sometimes it sounds like you forgot to plug that mic in and are working off of camera audio.

Thanks for the feedback.

So I use three different audio sources - the mic, the iPhone inbuilt audio, and also the proper camera mic.

Next month I arrive to Kiev and will be renting for a year. I’ll be making a proper recording set up in the apartment with boom mic etc.

I’m completely new to all of this so ya there is definitely a lot I can be doing to clean up my videos. When I arrive I’ll post up the set up and ya please give any feedback / suggestions you got.

Thanks

 

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[Fox]

you dont think zuckerberg is trying to crush youtube?

it will take some time but in the future i wouldn't count it out, remember MSN messenger & myspace?

anyways dont care to get into a debate, carry on...

Thats why you don't build 100% on a platform. But if/when it does decline Ill have a personal brand built that I can move elsewhere. Its good now and it is showing no sign in slowing down - so time to take action while others can guess what new app might pop.

 

[MTF]

I won't be much money but it is a start and I do think it helps YouTube list your videos higher.

It would make sense to rank them higher with the new partner requirements since they should theoretically filter out low-value channels.

As for revenue, I find it sad how little revenue it is considering how many people consume your content and how many hours they spend watching it.

I've been a YouTube partner since 2016. I stopped uploading videos a long time ago because the costs to produce them were too high (I worked with an illustrator and voiceover artist) compared to the revenue they generated.

My videos have continued generating income, but it's really low compared to watch time, the number of views, and the number of subscribers. Watch time was 67 days and 6 hours last month, there were almost 31,000 views, I have almost 24,000 subscribers and I made only $87.10.

It's better than nothing, but considering that in my case I would have to get over 350,000 views each month just to make $1000, it's not really lucrative. I guess in the end ad revenue should only be a small part of Youtube's creator revenue - they should focus on growing their customer base outside of the platform.

 

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[Fox]

Man, those YouTube numbers are great. It's shame you had to shut down the free group though! The production quality on your videos is great... how long do they take you to shoot and edit?

To do everything about 1-4 days (depends on the video).

But I have a small team so we split that time amongst us all.

For this last video for example:
- video script
- video itself
- b-roll
- editing
- final video touches
- checklist
- 15-page guide
- thumbnail
- video description on YT
- the email that gets sent out to launch this video
- the landing page for the free guide
- the email system for the landing page

Some of those are quick, some take a few hours.

It's funny once you do YouTube for a while and you think about when you thought that it was "just making quick videoes with a camera". It for sure takes work and the standard is always getting higher. But there is still a ton of potential there.

 

[c_morris]

I think for Feb I will be doing a lot of sales content instead.

Looking forward to this! Learning HTML and CSS is the easy part.

 

[Fox]

Me too. I just started a YouTube channel and I feel like I'm wait late to the game.

Your videos are pretty good. They're super high quality and I think you have a great niche there with web design. I'm actually doing something similar with reviews, as far as trying to make them educational, but entertaining:

View: https://youtu.be/lU04VkNNlk4


(I'm trying not to plug since I'm new to the forum, but it might just be easier to see what I mean.)

A lot of review videos out there are just straight education -- which I get -- but that can also get really boring. I would suggest you aim for a subtle balance of both. Some feedback I got was that I went a little too far for comedy and to tone it down.

The name of the game is just basically pumping out content on a regular basis and optimizing your traffic. Definitely ask for some feedback, especially online, and then adjust. Friends and people you know in real life might be too nice or they'll just say, "Yeah, that's pretty good. Good job!" Which isn't that helpful.

A couple things I noticed:

The first thing is, your intro in the "how I got started" video was super long. I actually skipped ahead to see you talking because I got bored after a while. And don't get me wrong, I love drone footage, but the attention span on the web is super short. This is just an editing issue and you'll learn how to balance it and play around with that as time goes on.

I'm not saying don't milk that drone, though. You'll get a ton of subscribers and traffic just for drone footage, so definitely keep shooting that. A LOT of channels that I subscribe to, the viewers are only watching for the drone footage and asking questions about it.

Also, with the web design tutorial, I would look at "let's play" gaming videos, or other tutorial videos. They usually have a facecam -- a tiny little box of their face -- in the corner. That way, we're not just staring at a screen and hearing a voice. It brings a little more entertainment into it. Just something to think about.



What kind of mic are you using? It sounds like a shotgun mic. I was using a $200 rode attached to my DSLR, but just recently bought a $25 lav and, honestly, it sounds great. For the stuff that you're doing, which is similar to me, I think a lav would suit you well. It really isolates your voice and tones down that background noise. I'm releasing a video later this week where I compare my rode and lav. Watch it if you're interested -- maybe I'll throw it up if I don't get in trouble.

Not saying you can't use a shotgun mic, but I was running into a lot of frustration because I was constantly hearing that my sound was bad from viewers (I made a couple comedy sketches before this channel), yet I was trying everything to optimize my rode and get good sound quality. But I just wasn't getting it. Finally, with the lav, it sounds pretty good. If the shotgun mic isn't on a boom pole, but is mounted to the camera and the camera isn't very close to you, your sound isn't going to be great no matter what you do. The camera or other background noise will drown some of it out.

It also might just be playing around with your sound in post. I'm not an pro and definitely not one in Premiere, but play around with some of the effects like dynamics and compressor/limiter.



Absolutely! YouTube just changed their monetization requirements and a lot of people got really pissed (to be fair those people were only making pennies anyway). But this is why you don't want to solely rely on any platform like YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram. It's their system, so you have to play by their rules, and they could change everything tomorrow without warning.

Thanks and welcome to the forum. Some good points - thanks for writing this up.

Not a web designer here, but I’d watch for your drone footage alone

Excellent job man!

Thank you, I had some issue in Georgia though where the drone started only flying around 10 meters away. I still managed to make it work to get some good video (I think!). Seemed to need another update or something. They are the most temperamental thing I have ever owned.