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Starting a YouTube Channel. Let's start getting creative again...

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Visionary96

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Title says it all. Why the hell not.

I have a lot more free time at the moment in lockdown and I feel like my creative juices are just not flowing that great at the minute. Things are, very routine right now for me.

So I'm going to document my subscriber/growth progress here and still I'm not sure if I wan't to do fortnightly or monthly updates, I'll decide that soon.

The general cliff-notes for why I'm starting a YouTube channel:

- I want to improve my speech and the way I present things. I have a slight speech impediment and really want to work on this in my life now.
- I feel like it's still a great platform for harbouring some good natural growth. Competition is high but not exactly instagram/blog high. Not everyone still wants to get in front of a camera and talk. It takes a bit of effort.
- I will be focussing the channel on on entrepreneurship, mindset, personal growth etc. My first couple of video ideas will be documenting my dopamine detox and sharing my experience from taking cold showers for 2 weeks.

When I was 15, I made YouTube videos all the time (reviewing movies and games) and I absolutely loved it at the time. While all the kids my age were smoking weed and drinking, I just loved making/editing content and always interacting with new subscribers. I even made some Adsense money at the time, and well, after a while, it just kinda fizzled out. Well I am about re-light the fuse and start getting creative again!

All I'm focussing on at the minute with this is getting good, getting entertaining content out there, making it look professional and try to be as consistent as I can with uploading.

Here goes nothing.
 
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Fox

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Nice! Youtube is great for pushing you to learn and progress.

Be sure to spend some time learning Youtube SEO - it will help a lot with getting found and getting traction.

Depending on your niche "how to..." videos are usually the best way to get going. Put yourself in the footsteps of someone starting off and make the videos that answer the most common problems/questions.

Best of luck.
 

ApparentHorizon

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Nice! Youtube is great for pushing you to learn and progress.

Be sure to spend some time learning Youtube SEO - it will help a lot with getting found and getting traction.

Depending on your niche "how to..." videos are usually the best way to get going. Put yourself in the footsteps of someone starting off and make the videos that answer the most common problems/questions.

Best of luck.

How long does it take you to put together a video? From the outline/script to the final SEO tweaks.

I've been sitting on an idea for a while, but I'm not sure I have the time to bang out 2-3 videos 10+ minutes consistently every week.
 

Fox

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How long does it take you to put together a video? From the outline/script to the final SEO tweaks.

I've been sitting on an idea for a while, but I'm not sure I have the time to bang out 2-3 videos 10+ minutes consistently every week.

For a very fast video (just me talking with not much editing) like 3-5 hours all in.

There are a lot of different bits like the idea, preparing to film, filming, editing, uploading, thumbnail, description, answering comments etc.

For something with more edits and perhaps slides or extra notes 1/2 days.

With batching though and having someone else edit you could do like 3-5 videos in one day though.
 
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Phikey

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Be sure to spend some time learning Youtube SEO - it will help a lot with getting found and getting traction.
Hey Fox, do you have any recommendations for courses/resources for learning Youtube SEO?
 

Fox

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Hey Fox, do you have any recommendations for courses/resources for learning Youtube SEO?

I took Sean Cannells (Think Media) SEO ranking course. It was like 1k and very in-depth.

There are some great channels on how to learn for free though. Since the "proof is in the pudding" if you search for Youtube SEO tips on Youtube you will find a few dozen people who are really good at ranking.

My best tip is to just start with what people are searching for. @Andy Black has some great advice on this on these forums - you want to find them when they are in that taking action mindset.

Thing like "how to get started with...", "how to get my first...", "how to learn..."

People use Youtube as an answer machine so being the person who has great videos for the top 50-100 questions is going to set you up very nicely. It can get a little repetitive but it works great for growing from 0-10,000+.
 

Visionary96

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Nice! Youtube is great for pushing you to learn and progress.

Be sure to spend some time learning Youtube SEO - it will help a lot with getting found and getting traction.

Depending on your niche "how to..." videos are usually the best way to get going. Put yourself in the footsteps of someone starting off and make the videos that answer the most common problems/questions.

Best of luck.

I will definitely start learning the SEO aspect of it. I actually just released a video last night of ' to make money on eBay without any stock/inventory/no shipping.' I used loads of 'make money online' tags so hopefully I'll pull some views in with that. Sitting at 3 views atm haha Gonna be a long road I think.
 
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AubreyJ

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I will definitely start learning the SEO aspect of it. I actually just released a video last night of ' to make money on eBay without any stock/inventory/no shipping.' I used loads of 'make money online' tags so hopefully I'll pull some views in with that. Sitting at 3 views atm haha Gonna be a long road I think.

If you haven't checked out TubeBuddy - you should definitely check it out! It is a great tool for keyword research
 

100ToOne

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I'm your fourth viewer :D

Your video thumbnail, title and actual video is good. Keep going, hopefully the more you make the more you'll succeed.

One thing you might want to try with though since you have nothing to lose, try personalising your videos.

For the title, instead of using:

How To Make $500 a Week Online With eBay! (NO SHIPPING OR STOCK REQUIRED) MAKE MONEY ONLINE 2020!

Try using something like (got it from another video):

I Spent 2 Hours Doing Surveys Online

And you be in the video. also you be in the thumbnail. Like try and be interactive with your audience and link them to a real human being instead of a voice behind a screen scrolling through pages.

like this guy:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3nxiiViuwE


After a while, your audience will be attracted to you, not your content. So even if you start making singing videos in a year, they will enjoy you more than what niche you're doing if you get what I mean.

Focus on personal branding more. Like include your face more.

Nowadays whenever I think about selling websites, web dev. freelance, the first thing I automatically picture in my mind is @Fox 's face.

Anyway best of luck, again nothing to lose when you test stuff.
 
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Visionary96

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I'm your fourth viewer :D

Your video thumbnail, title and actual video is good. Keep going, hopefully the more you make the more you'll succeed.

One thing you might want to try with though since you have nothing to lose, try personalising your videos.

For the title, instead of using:

How To Make $500 a Week Online With eBay! (NO SHIPPING OR STOCK REQUIRED) MAKE MONEY ONLINE 2020!

Try using something like (got it from another video):

I Spent 2 Hours Doing Surveys Online

And you be in the video. also you be in the thumbnail. Like try and be interactive with your audience and link them to a real human being instead of a voice behind a screen scrolling through pages.

like this guy:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3nxiiViuwE


After a while, your audience will be attracted to you, not your content. So even if you start making singing videos in a year, they will enjoy you more than what niche you're doing if you get what I mean.

Focus on personal branding more. Like include your face more.

Nowadays whenever I think about selling websites, web dev. freelance, the first thing I automatically picture in my mind is @Fox 's face.

Anyway best of luck, again nothing to lose when you test stuff.

Thanks and wow surprised you found the video this early on haha I was going to say my SEO is working but still sitting at 4 views hahaha

Yeah, I am going to edit the thumbnail tomorrow with my face in. As you say, more personal. Think I am also going to go into a more personal growth path with this, not about making money on certain sites via just screen capture. Good to get the ball rolling though!

Thanks man, appreciate the advice.
 

Visionary96

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Thumbnail improved. Not sure how editing a thumbnail may effect SEO, (anyone know about that?) but got nothing to really lose atm with only 8 views. Be interesting to see if a more 'personal' approach works. Video hasn't got my face in so I'm not sure if that will annoy people when they click on.

Next vid will be a lot more personal and engaging.


32674
 

Bobby_italy

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Thumbnail improved. Not sure how editing a thumbnail may effect SEO, (anyone know about that?) but got nothing to really lose atm with only 8 views. Be interesting to see if a more 'personal' approach works. Video hasn't got my face in so I'm not sure if that will annoy people when they click on.

Next vid will be a lot more personal and engaging.


View attachment 32674
You should look into modeling, wtf bro you’re really handsome(no homo) do some funny videos where you give financial advice to girls etc or try to go viral and then post guides, even the biggest youtubers in your niche got big by going viral!
 
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Visionary96

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You should look into modeling, wtf bro you’re really handsome(no homo) do some funny videos where you give financial advice to girls etc or try to go viral and then post guides, even the biggest youtubers in your niche got big by going viral!

hahah not sure about that man but appreciate the complement.

I do have ideas for sure. Just getting used to talking to a camera and speaking smoothly to start.
 

MMatt

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I have been in the YouTube game for 13+ years, since the days of google video.

YouTube can still make you good adsense money, but it's a emotionally challenging rollercoaster. Your view count and revenue can literally change 100%+ on the daily and it's not always in the right direction.

Some days could make me a living, others couldn't buy a meal at McDonald's.

With that being said, I wouldn't shy away from starting a channel for profit, in fact I am also making a new one during this time in history.

How-to's are a fantastic way to accelerate video views in the early days of your channel, as others have said here in this thread. These how-tos can be considered "evergreen" content because people are searching for these videos indefinitely.

The absolute easiest way to get views on a new channel is find a video that is doing well, and do better. Find what tags they used, and target the same search terms. The YouTube algorithm can easily spot if you have a good video by comparing your relevance to other popular videos as well as the watch time and engagement.

The modern YouTube algorithm favors maximum watch time, so try your best to get 60%+ video watch time and make long (10+ minute) videos.

At the end of the day everything I said could be completely irrelevant in 6 months but that's YouTube 101.
 

André Casal

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Hey bro, congratulations on re-starting your YouTube channel.

I've been actively recording YouTube videos for the past 6 months. My niche is software engineering and my videos are very technical, so I've only grown to a little over 100 subscribers in this time. I am, however, deeply enjoying myself with this.

Soon after I started, realising I knew nothing about YouTube, I purchased a course from Graham Stephan that helped me a lot. Probably not the best YouTube course out there, but it pushed me forward 90% of the way, so it was more than enough to get me started. The rest I figured out on my own.

Little technical piece of advice: audio quality is important, pay attention to it. Get your mic close to your mouth and decrease the gain to compensate. I've recorded a ton of videos where I can hear my MacBook Pro's fan spinning. It's annoying. Now I'm buying a mic boom to keep the mic close to me as I speak.

I'm looking forward to hearing your progress on this.
 
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Bobby_italy

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Hey bro, congratulations on re-starting your YouTube channel.

I've been actively recording YouTube videos for the past 6 months. My niche is software engineering and my videos are very technical, so I've only grown to a little over 100 subscribers in this time. I am, however, deeply enjoying myself with this.

Soon after I started, realising I knew nothing about YouTube, I purchased a course from Graham Stephan that helped me a lot. Probably not the best YouTube course out there, but it pushed me forward 90% of the way, so it was more than enough to get me started. The rest I figured out on my own.

Little technical piece of advice: audio quality is important, pay attention to it. Get your mic close to your mouth and decrease the gain to compensate. I've recorded a ton of videos where I can hear my MacBook Pro's fan spinning. It's annoying. Now I'm buying a mic boom to keep the mic close to me as I speak.

I'm looking forward to hearing your progress on this.
I actually found that course on a telegram channel didn't know people pay for it... honestly it is nearly useless unless you're in his niche and even then there's no actual "value" it's all the free info people put in youtube videos just slammed together.
If you don't mind spending 2 hours on google and learning everything yourself tho I can justify spending 10€ or however much it costs for the course.
 

André Casal

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I actually found that course on a telegram channel didn't know people pay for it... honestly it is nearly useless unless you're in his niche and even then there's no actual "value" it's all the free info people put in youtube videos just slammed together.
If you don't mind spending 2 hours on google and learning everything yourself tho I can justify spending 10€ or however much it costs for the course.
I agree. All of the course's content can be found online for free. Besides having the content all in one place, for me, the value of such a course is that it conveys a hierarchical structure of what's relevant and what you shouldn't pay attention to. When all the information is scattered you don't have this structure and you can end up spending a lot of time doing things that don't matter. A well structured course conveys how much time and effort you should spend on each topic.
 

TheProcess

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Title says it all. Why the hell not.

I have a lot more free time at the moment in lockdown and I feel like my creative juices are just not flowing that great at the minute. Things are, very routine right now for me.

So I'm going to document my subscriber/growth progress here and still I'm not sure if I wan't to do fortnightly or monthly updates, I'll decide that soon.

The general cliff-notes for why I'm starting a YouTube channel:

- I want to improve my speech and the way I present things. I have a slight speech impediment and really want to work on this in my life now.
- I feel like it's still a great platform for harbouring some good natural growth. Competition is high but not exactly instagram/blog high. Not everyone still wants to get in front of a camera and talk. It takes a bit of effort.
- I will be focussing the channel on on entrepreneurship, mindset, personal growth etc. My first couple of video ideas will be documenting my dopamine detox and sharing my experience from taking cold showers for 2 weeks.

When I was 15, I made YouTube videos all the time (reviewing movies and games) and I absolutely loved it at the time. While all the kids my age were smoking weed and drinking, I just loved making/editing content and always interacting with new subscribers. I even made some Adsense money at the time, and well, after a while, it just kinda fizzled out. Well I am about re-light the fuse and start getting creative again!

All I'm focussing on at the minute with this is getting good, getting entertaining content out there, making it look professional and try to be as consistent as I can with uploading.

Here goes nothing.
Wow I actually had a really similar idea a couple weeks ago - creating a YouTube channel about entrepreneurship and personal growth. All the best to you man!
 
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Visionary96

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Hey bro, congratulations on re-starting your YouTube channel.

I've been actively recording YouTube videos for the past 6 months. My niche is software engineering and my videos are very technical, so I've only grown to a little over 100 subscribers in this time. I am, however, deeply enjoying myself with this.

Soon after I started, realising I knew nothing about YouTube, I purchased a course from Graham Stephan that helped me a lot. Probably not the best YouTube course out there, but it pushed me forward 90% of the way, so it was more than enough to get me started. The rest I figured out on my own.

Little technical piece of advice: audio quality is important, pay attention to it. Get your mic close to your mouth and decrease the gain to compensate. I've recorded a ton of videos where I can hear my MacBook Pro's fan spinning. It's annoying. Now I'm buying a mic boom to keep the mic close to me as I speak.

I'm looking forward to hearing your progress on this.

Hey man, it's just iPhone at the moment, which with the right editing, is not as bad quality as I thought it would be. Even the microphone does a pretty decent job. Having said that, I don't have anything to compare it too.
 

Visionary96

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Wow I actually had a really similar idea a couple weeks ago - creating a YouTube channel about entrepreneurship and personal growth. All the best to you man!

Thanks my man. Will be a cool little hobby to do whilst still in lockdown. Let me know when you get your channel up and running.
 

TheProcess

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Thanks my man. Will be a cool little hobby to do whilst still in lockdown. Let me know when you get your channel up and running.

Yea for sure. I think that this hobby will also be useful for once the lockdown is over. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Gary V, but he talks about the notion of documenting your journey. That was my main source of inspiration for wanting to start a Youtube Channel. And yes I will let you know!
 

LeeRoyBrown

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hahah not sure about that man but appreciate the complement.

I do have ideas for sure. Just getting used to talking to a camera and speaking smoothly to start.

Hope you see good success with this. I'm in Dorset mate we went to Torquay years ago, it's lovely there!
 

Visionary96

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Hope you see good success with this. I'm in Dorset mate we went to Torquay years ago, it's lovely there!

Haven't been up Dorset way, but would like to one day.
It's nice when the sun's out like at the moment, but winter is a very different story hahah I do think corona's going to decimate loads of the self run cafes and restaurants here for sure though.
 

Gepi

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so other projects have been taking up my time, but I will be finishing my second video in a few days. First video (drumroll please)... gained 30 views and +1 subscriber haha Time to up the quality and do some more SEO research. Let's push on.
Hi there, getting even those very first views can be exciting. I just hit 4 subs on my month-old channel :hilarious: but I needed to share it a lot via different channels, as well. But even PewDiePie started with 0 subs once ;)
I started my own tutorial/time-lapse/how-to chan' where I am teaching and showing 3D skills to grow my audience for my 3D-printing jewelry biz, so not as a main thing, but really to support my freelance gig.
I think audio quality is very important. It needs to be really good, or else people are going to be turned off just by that hissing noise cheap micros make. For editing, I use VegasPro. Sometimes you can get good deals on this kind of software via humblebundles.
All the best to you!
 
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