YouTube channel about Google Sheets / Apps - Script - Progress thread

[Cybom]

Hello,

I've read a few threads on the forum from different people starting a YouTube channel and documenting the evolution so I've figured that I could also start a thread on my humble channel. I am also in a phase where the results are quite marginal compared to all the time I spend on it so I would not mind getting some other feedbacks / returns of experience.

So in short, I have started to publish videos 4 months ago after wondering what was the first thing I could do to stop faking action. I am aware a YouTube channel is not reallly following the control law of CENTS but that seemed to be a good first step for me. I am publishing 2 videos / week for these 4 months, in my native language (french) and mainly about the use of Google sheets / Google Apps Script. Why this topic? I think that was just one of the easiest topics to put in place at that time (just need to buy a microphone and make a video from my screen).

So after 4 months, I am getting a few results but not as much as I hoped. The views are increasing but I am still struggling getting people to subscribe with only 29 subscribers so far (15 in the last 30 days):



Rate of clicks:
The rate of clicks does not look so bad, the channel is on 3.3% on average and although it is not an impressive result, I think this is still fair from what I could read on that topic. I am also using TubeBuddy to optimize titles.

Retention of the audience:
I think this is my main issue, videos are usually around 25% (or even lower) and the best is only going up to 50%. I think I should focus more on this part for the upcoming videos and I am trying to put a plan in place to improve this side:

• Improving my speaking: it is actually also a reason why I started a YouTube channel and I can hear that I am already improving but I still need to learn more to better keep the focus of the viewers
• Improve my video editing and especially the creation of animations / specials effects to compensate for the lack of transitions from this type of video
• Make shorter and more impacting introduction

I have also recently tried to make a slightly different type of video talking about HTML. I thought this topic was quite similar but considering the small success of this video, it seems it is already too different from the original topic of my channel so I'll keep that on the side for now.

I will make an update of the status of my channel every month on this thread.
In the meantime, I'd be happy to read your comments and thoughts. If some of you have already tried to start a similar channel, I'd also be happy to read from your experience / results.

Thanks for reading me!

 

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[Andy Black]

Hello,

I've read a few threads on the forum from different people starting a YouTube channel and documenting the evolution so I've figured that I could also start a thread on my humble channel. I am also in a phase where the results are quite marginal compared to all the time I spend on it so I would not mind getting some other feedbacks / returns of experience.

So in short, I have started to publish videos 4 months ago after wondering what was the first thing I could do to stop faking action. I am aware a YouTube channel is not reallly following the control law of CENTS but that seemed to be a good first step for me. I am publishing 2 videos / week for these 4 months, in my native language (french) and mainly about the use of Google sheets / Google Apps Script. Why this topic? I think that was just one of the easiest topics to put in place at that time (just need to buy a microphone and make a video from my screen).

So after 4 months, I am getting a few results but not as much as I hoped. The views are increasing but I am still struggling getting people to subscribe with only 29 subscribers so far (15 in the last 30 days):

View attachment 46850

Rate of clicks:
The rate of clicks does not look so bad, the channel is on 3.3% on average and although it is not an impressive result, I think this is still fair from what I could read on that topic. I am also using TubeBuddy to optimize titles.

Retention of the audience:
I think this is my main issue, videos are usually around 25% (or even lower) and the best is only going up to 50%. I think I should focus more on this part for the upcoming videos and I am trying to put a plan in place to improve this side:

• Improving my speaking: it is actually also a reason why I started a YouTube channel and I can hear that I am already improving but I still need to learn more to better keep the focus of the viewers
• Improve my video editing and especially the creation of animations / specials effects to compensate for the lack of transitions from this type of video
• Make shorter and more impacting introduction

I have also recently tried to make a slightly different type of video talking about HTML. I thought this topic was quite similar but considering the small success of this video, it seems it is already too different from the original topic of my channel so I'll keep that on the side for now.

I will make an update of the status of my channel every month on this thread.
In the meantime, I'd be happy to read your comments and thoughts. If some of you have already tried to start a similar channel, I'd also be happy to read from your experience / results.

Thanks for reading me!

Interesting. I was thinking about learning a few Google Sheets scripts or Google Ads scripts recently but shelved it for the moment. I wonder how many people use either or want to learn them.

What's the views for the largest related videos in English vs in French?

Can you do short videos and see how they do on YouTube, TikTok, IG/FB Reels, and even LinkedIn?

 

[Cybom]

Hello Andy,

Thanks for the comments!

Roughly the best videos I could find in English are around 600-700k views and the best ones in French are around 70-80k so not 1/10 ratio but not so far.

I was actually thinking doing shorts from my bigger videos (just re-using the most interesting part with a new introduction) but haven't published any short yet. However I only considered doing shorts on YouTube so far. Somehow I saw IG or TikTok more suitable for travel vlog videos (most likely wronlgy ) and not for tutorials about Google Sheets or similar. I am also not a big user of these social networks on my side, being only on FB .

If you don't mind, could you let me know what's the rough percentage of traffic you can get on your side to YT from these external sources (compared to the traffic directly from YT) ?

Thanks!

 

[Andy Black]

Hello Andy,

Thanks for the comments!

Roughly the best videos I could find in English are around 600-700k views and the best ones in French are around 70-80k so not 1/10 ratio but not so far.

I was actually thinking doing shorts from my bigger videos (just re-using the most interesting part with a new introduction) but haven't published any short yet. However I only considered doing shorts on YouTube so far. Somehow I saw IG or TikTok more suitable for travel vlog videos (most likely wronlgy ) and not for tutorials about Google Sheets or similar. I am also not a big user of these social networks on my side, being only on FB .

If you don't mind, could you let me know what's the rough percentage of traffic you can get on your side to YT from these external sources (compared to the traffic directly from YT) ?

Thanks!

I don't do much on YT, TT, FB, or LI so my numbers won't matter much. I know @Fox has a million view video on TT and @ZCP had one pop too. Just because you aren't a consumer on a platform doesn't mean you won't get interest on that platform.

 

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[Cybom]

I don't do much on YT, TT, FB, or LI so my numbers won't matter much. I know @Fox has a million view video on TT and @ZCP had one pop too. Just because you aren't a consumer on a platform doesn't mean you won't get interest on that platform.

True, I am definitely not ruling out this idea, I'm going to explore more about the shorts this week.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me.

 

[Xavier X]

@Cybom Try integrating your content with a trending topic, which offers real value to your target audience. You might get a little traction. For instance, chatGPT has a bit of buzz around it right now, so integrate that.

If you're familiar with it, then make two new videos with titles like "How to Make Complex Google Sheets Formulas in 5 Seconds!" If you're not familiar with it, make an account on openai and try it out. It's very simple.

One of the most frustrating things about spreadsheets is creating effective formulas, for more serious users. Think up a Google spreadsheet problem with a moderate to hard difficulty level. Go on chatGPT, give it a prompt to write a formula for that problem, and then show its implementation in your Google Sheets.

I bet there are already videos addressing this on YT, as there always is, but you'll get your share of the pie, while genuinely offering a solution to people's problems. Below is a quick and simple example of what I mean. This is the chatGPT interface, where I asked it to write this simple formula.

 

[kendamakid]

Hello,

I've read a few threads on the forum from different people starting a YouTube channel and documenting the evolution so I've figured that I could also start a thread on my humble channel. I am also in a phase where the results are quite marginal compared to all the time I spend on it so I would not mind getting some other feedbacks / returns of experience.

@Cybom good luck on your journey. The skills you are learning (editing, voice..) will help you in the future regardless of whether the channel succeeds or not.

I would focus on the feedback from the current viewers and keep on making videos. It's hard to predict what users need or when you might have a big popular video.

I think @Xavier X suggestions on integrating ChatGPT is an awesome idea.

 

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[Andy Black]

Check out Miss Excel on TikTok and the other platforms. Ignore the dancing if that's not your thing and see what problems she solves and what videos are most popular.

 

[Cybom]

@Cybom Try integrating your content with a trending topic, which offers real value to your target audience. You might get a little traction. For instance, chatGPT has a bit of buzz around it right now, so integrate that.

If you're familiar with it, then make two new videos with titles like "How to Make Complex Google Sheets Formulas in 5 Seconds!" If you're not familiar with it, make an account on openai and try it out. It's very simple.

One of the most frustrating things about spreadsheets is creating effective formulas, for more serious users. Think up a Google spreadsheet problem with a moderate to hard difficulty level. Go on chatGPT, give it a prompt to write a formula for that problem, and then show its implementation in your Google Sheets.

I bet there are already videos addressing this on YT, as there always is, but you'll get your share of the pie, while genuinely offering a solution to people's problems. Below is a quick and simple example of what I mean. This is the chatGPT interface, where I asked it to write this simple formula.

View attachment 46858

Hello @Xavier X ,

Thanks a lot for the advice! I have of course heard and noticed all the content about it on YT but did not really consider it until now. I've just tested it now and actually find it pretty awesome.

I'm going to review a few other channels first with videos talking about Google Sheets or Excel & chatGPT ... and see how I can integrate it and maybe propose something a bit different than other channels.

@Cybom good luck on your journey. The skills you are learning (editing, voice..) will help you in the future regardless of whether the channel succeeds or not.

I would focus on the feedback from the current viewers and keep on making videos. It's hard to predict what users need or when you might have a big popular video.

I think @Xavier X suggestions on integrating ChatGPT is an awesome idea.

Hello @kendamakid,

Thank you for your support!
Being quite an introvert, it definitely helps for controlling my voice better. I also like the editing side actually but still have quite a lot to learn on that subject.

When I started I set up a goal of 2 videos / week for at least 1 year. For now I'm sticking to it but it can be hard sometimes when results drop or stagnate for a few days or even more than a week. Fortunately some other times are much better when you can see some progression with more comments / views / likes

Check out Miss Excel on TikTok and the other platforms. Ignore the dancing if that's not your thing and see what problems she solves and what videos are most popular.

Ahah indeed dancing is not really my thing but I'll definitely check it ... I'm also quite curious to see how you can combine dancing and Excel now

Thanks!

 

[ZCP]

hire @BigRomeDawg and have it professionally done!

 

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[Cybom]

Hello all,

Thanks @ZCP, but I'd rather progress by myself as I'm not only interested in the results but more on the process to get there

So here I am, 1 month later.


So in one month (this is actually the 5th month of the channel) :
- Total number of views has doubled
- Total viewing time has also almost doubled
- 15 additional subscribers

Shorts: as suggested by @Andy Black, I've started to publish some shorts on YouTube and I have also created a TikTok account. The first short had quite a lot of views on YouTube (that's actually the peak around 200 views in one day that you can see on the diagram, which felt a bit like a cheat code actually ... ) but the topic was also related to stock exchange so I think that helped quite a bit. On TikTok it went up to 47 views so I'd say a fair start although I don't have much experience.

Conversely my latest short was quite well received on TikTok (260 views in 1 day) and less on YouTube (20 views only after 1.5 days) ... right now I still don't know why this difference (might be because I currently cannot change the thumbnail of shorts on YouTube but I'm not sure at all).

Trending video (ChatGPT): as suggested by @Xavier X, I have also created a video explaining how ChatGPT could be used in combination with Google Sheets formulas (+ limitations that I have actually found while making trials with the tool). It quickly became the best video of the channel by number of views (in the first days) but I didn't manage to get anybody subscribe to the channel with this video. It might be a bit too detailed (around 20 min) and besides that, I published it before I improved my skills a bit further for video editing so maybe it would work better if I would re-do it now.

Higher quality video: last wednesday I published a video where I focused a step higher on the quality side. First I choosed a topic which seems to work quite well on competitor channels (including English channels) and tried to improve it a bit (how to create a Gantt chart but without diagram where most of competitor French channels almost always show a way with the diagram tool, which I don't think is the most convenient way ... but that's arguable). Then I also tried to improve further my editing skills and worked a lot on this video to include zoom effects, animations to illustrate the explanations in the video etc ...

Somehow it looks like it worked as it became the best start for a video of my channel with up to 150 views after 3 days. It looks that it was also suggested on YouTube homepage and that's the first time I see this mention on one of my videos. On the other hand only 10% of the video is being watched on average which is pretty low even compard to my other videos so I'm receiving mixed feedbacks with this video.

My 2 videos/week challenge: when I started the channel, I set a goal to publish 2 videos/week during at least the first 6 months ... Believing this was the best way to grow fast based on the analysis of other channels. I believe more and more this was a mistake for the following reasons:

1) When I publish a "good video", it always looks like the good inertia of this one (increasing views etc) is broken once I publish the next video. Somehow it looks like the algorithm takes the latest video and stops highlighing the one before... and it becomes a problem when the one before was actually a better video.

2) 2 videos/week is forcing me to make average/lower quality videos to be able to keep the rythm. Somehow it looks like the algorithm is degrading further the visibility of the channel when a good video is followed by a lower quality video. For example you can see on the diagram above, the drop following the peak of views per day. It really looks like the algorithm is so "disappointed" by the average video, which is published just after a much more promising one, that it makes the channel "pay" for that ...

3) Checking other channels on YouTube and also some threads on this forum ... the hypothesis that a high rate of videos is the best option to grow faster might actually be obsolete (or maybe dependant on the topic ...). Now I can see more channels where the number of videos is low (10-20/years) and really showing some exponential grow with really high quality of videos.

So all in all, I'm really doubting that my original strategy is the most appropriate and am really thinking about switching to another one. Maybe 1 video per week, one week with a short and the next week with higher quality video. Hopefully that would leave enough time for each video to be better "digested" by the algorithm.

Side note: I've also created a channel on a different topic for a one-shot trial. Basically I created an App a few months ago, allowing to take notes and pictures when you visit houses or appartments and I published it on the Play Store. So I created this new channel and published only one Short with the goal to only promote the App and see whether it could give more visibility to it... In two days, 2 people subscribed to this channel with only this video of promotion of the App... It took more than a month on my main channel to get 1 subscriber so I'm really thinking I might not have chosen the right subject

But I keep this on the side for now ... still haven't gave up with the Google Sheets channel!

That's it for today, as usual I'd be happy to read your thoughts or comments!

Thanks for reading me!

 

[Andy Black]

Hello all,

Thanks @ZCP, but I'd rather progress by myself as I'm not only interested in the results but more on the process to get there

So here I am, 1 month later.
View attachment 47268

So in one month (this is actually the 5th month of the channel) :
- Total number of views has doubled
- Total viewing time has also almost doubled
- 15 additional subscribers

Shorts: as suggested by @Andy Black, I've started to publish some shorts on YouTube and I have also created a TikTok account. The first short had quite a lot of views on YouTube (that's actually the peak around 200 views in one day that you can see on the diagram, which felt a bit like a cheat code actually ... ) but the topic was also related to stock exchange so I think that helped quite a bit. On TikTok it went up to 47 views so I'd say a fair start although I don't have much experience.

Conversely my latest short was quite well received on TikTok (260 views in 1 day) and less on YouTube (20 views only after 1.5 days) ... right now I still don't know why this difference (might be because I currently cannot change the thumbnail of shorts on YouTube but I'm not sure at all).

Trending video (ChatGPT): as suggested by @Xavier X, I have also created a video explaining how ChatGPT could be used in combination with Google Sheets formulas (+ limitations that I have actually found while making trials with the tool). It quickly became the best video of the channel by number of views (in the first days) but I didn't manage to get anybody subscribe to the channel with this video. It might be a bit too detailed (around 20 min) and besides that, I published it before I improved my skills a bit further for video editing so maybe it would work better if I would re-do it now.

Higher quality video: last wednesday I published a video where I focused a step higher on the quality side. First I choosed a topic which seems to work quite well on competitor channels (including English channels) and tried to improve it a bit (how to create a Gantt chart but without diagram where most of competitor French channels almost always show a way with the diagram tool, which I don't think is the most convenient way ... but that's arguable). Then I also tried to improve further my editing skills and worked a lot on this video to include zoom effects, animations to illustrate the explanations in the video etc ...

Somehow it looks like it worked as it became the best start for a video of my channel with up to 150 views after 3 days. It looks that it was also suggested on YouTube homepage and that's the first time I see this mention on one of my videos. On the other hand only 10% of the video is being watched on average which is pretty low even compard to my other videos so I'm receiving mixed feedbacks with this video.

My 2 videos/week challenge: when I started the channel, I set a goal to publish 2 videos/week during at least the first 6 months ... Believing this was the best way to grow fast based on the analysis of other channels. I believe more and more this was a mistake for the following reasons:

1) When I publish a "good video", it always looks like the good inertia of this one (increasing views etc) is broken once I publish the next video. Somehow it looks like the algorithm takes the latest video and stops highlighing the one before... and it becomes a problem when the one before was actually a better video.

2) 2 videos/week is forcing me to make average/lower quality videos to be able to keep the rythm. Somehow it looks like the algorithm is degrading further the visibility of the channel when a good video is followed by a lower quality video. For example you can see on the diagram above, the drop following the peak of views per day. It really looks like the algorithm is so "disappointed" by the average video, which is published just after a much more promising one, that it makes the channel "pay" for that ...

3) Checking other channels on YouTube and also some threads on this forum ... the hypothesis that a high rate of videos is the best option to grow faster might actually be obsolete (or maybe dependant on the topic ...). Now I can see more channels where the number of videos is low (10-20/years) and really showing some exponential grow with really high quality of videos.

So all in all, I'm really doubting that my original strategy is the most appropriate and am really thinking about switching to another one. Maybe 1 video per week, one week with a short and the next week with higher quality video. Hopefully that would leave enough time for each video to be better "digested" by the algorithm.

Side note: I've also created a channel on a different topic for a one-shot trial. Basically I created an App a few months ago, allowing to take notes and pictures when you visit houses or appartments and I published it on the Play Store. So I created this new channel and published only one Short with the goal to only promote the App and see whether it could give more visibility to it... In two days, 2 people subscribed to this channel with only this video of promotion of the App... It took more than a month on my main channel to get 1 subscriber so I'm really thinking I might not have chosen the right subject

But I keep this on the side for now ... still haven't gave up with the Google Sheets channel!

That's it for today, as usual I'd be happy to read your thoughts or comments!

Thanks for reading me!

If you look at @Valier 's channel (James Jani) you'll see he publishes whenever he wants but the quality is excellent. My thinking is that quality wins and publishing regularly improves your quality. If a schedule reduces your quality then maybe don't force it. (Take what I say with a pinch of salt though. I'm years in and still don't have 1k subs.)

 

[Cybom]

If you look at @Valier 's channel (James Jani) you'll see he publishes whenever he wants but the quality is excellent. My thinking is that quality wins and publishing regularly improves your quality. If a schedule reduces your quality then maybe don't force it. (Take what I say with a pinch of salt though. I'm years in and still don't have 1k subs.)

Thanks Andy.
Yes the thread from James Jani is definitely one of the most impressive that I have read on this forum!

The problem for me is that sometimes I'd like to make further editing improvements on some videos but force myself to stop and publish the video as it is because the deadline is there so I think all in all that definitely affects quality.

 

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[Cybom]

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all doing great. Another month, another review!
This is a special milestone for me as it was almost 6 months ago that I published my first video:



- Total number of views has increased by 2.1k ... around the same increase as for the previous month
- Total viewing time has increased by 100h, previous month was around 75h
- 25 additional subscribers, previous month was +15

As discussed with @Andy Black, I started focusing much more on editing and published less (1/week instead of 2 videos). There is definitely some improvement, not really in the number of views but more on the viewing time as you can see below:



I see this as a good signal considering the goal was to improve the quality of the videos to improve the audience retention. It also looks more consistent from one video to another video which is good.

What I really struggle to understand is the inconsistency in the increase of subscribers. It was progressing really well until 17th March ... then all of a sudden it stops with no new subscriber at all from 17th until now. It is not the first time it happens and I struggle quite a bit to understand that. When you start thinking "OK now the inertia is there, it won't stop anymore! " ... then it stops to restart slowly a few days later:


So right now I can see only two options:
1) This is somehow part of the algorithm... But I don't know why and don't really believe it
2) This might also be linked with the type of video I am publishing. There are two main types of videos: videos about Google Sheets itself and videos more oriented towards Apps Script (coding...).

The first type of video might be more beneficial but it's not fully clear when I try to analyze the data... There is one way to be sure though, I'm going to publish only videos of the first type for at least the two next months and see if the audience is more receptive.

Anyway, we can also always see the positive side:
- The audience retention is definitely better and more consistent
- I spent hours learning video editing and still spend hours editing each video but I'm also quite proud of the work I have done with those latest videos (and actually enjoying editing when I don't put useless pressure on myself to release a video on time)
- I have also received quite good feedback from some subscribers from the latest videos!

And the plan for the next weeks:
- Focus on Google Sheets videos and leave Google Apps Script on the side
- Continue the promotion on Tik Tok and Instagram, not sure what the real impact is but it cannot hurt

Thanks for reading the progression of this thread, I'd be happy to read any of your comments or suggestions. If you are also facing the same situation, feel also free to share here

Thanks!

 

[Cameraman]

What I really struggle to understand is the inconsistency in the increase of subscribers. It was progressing really well until 17th March ... then all of a sudden it stops with no new subscriber at all from 17th until now.

Don't worry about this. There's a periodic clean-up of subscribers to close fake and unused accounts. In the past when this has been done you could see large drops in your subscribers. This time it looks like it's been happening over a few weeks rather than a few days so you don't see the same drops, just a slowing.

Here's an example from my stats from two weeks ago and my subscriber growth is less than half. The clue to it probably being a clean up is that it started suddenly one day like a switch being flicked. At the same time my viewing stats and audience mix looked unchanged.

After three weeks of this, my subscribers are back to growing as they were.

Remember also that subscribers are a vanity number that's often manipulated. What counts are views and video retention if you want to drive YouTube growth and earnings.

 

[TyFrom99]

Don't worry about this. There's a periodic clean-up of subscribers to close fake and unused accounts. In the past when this has been done you could see large drops in your subscribers. This time it looks like it's been happening over a few weeks rather than a few days so you don't see the same drops, just a slowing.

Here's an example from my stats from two weeks ago and my subscriber growth is less than half. The clue to it probably being a clean up is that it started suddenly one day like a switch being flicked. At the same time my viewing stats and audience mix looked unchanged.
View attachment 47828
After three weeks of this, my subscribers are back to growing as they were.

Remember also that subscribers are a vanity number that's often manipulated. What counts are views and video retention if you want to drive YouTube growth and earnings.

Hmm your view to sub count seems low but I'm not an expert



same amount of subs with 1/5th of the views. Wondering why this is

 

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[Cybom]

Don't worry about this. There's a periodic clean-up of subscribers to close fake and unused accounts. In the past when this has been done you could see large drops in your subscribers. This time it looks like it's been happening over a few weeks rather than a few days so you don't see the same drops, just a slowing.

Here's an example from my stats from two weeks ago and my subscriber growth is less than half. The clue to it probably being a clean up is that it started suddenly one day like a switch being flicked. At the same time my viewing stats and audience mix looked unchanged.
View attachment 47828
After three weeks of this, my subscribers are back to growing as they were.

Remember also that subscribers are a vanity number that's often manipulated. What counts are views and video retention if you want to drive YouTube growth and earnings.

Hi @Cameraman
Thanks a lot for the advice and for sharing your figures. That's really good to read and it happens exactly as you mentioned, all of a sudden and without impact on views and viewing time which is even improving.

I'll pay less attention to the subscribers then, I may actually focus to much on it as YT is also kind of making a key statistics out of it.

Hmm your view to sub count seems low but I'm not an expert

View attachment 47829

same amount of subs with 1/5th of the views. Wondering why this is

Also not an expert of course but could it be impacted by the subject of the channel, the length of videos etc?

 

[Cameraman]

Hmm your view to sub count seems low but I'm not an expert

View attachment 47829

same amount of subs with 1/5th of the views. Wondering why this is

As I said, Subs are a vanity measure. Ignore them and focus on views, watch time and viewer retention.
I'll give you a clue to answer your question though. How many of the people who watch your videos immediately click to watch another at the end? That's one thing that will drive up views and watch time.

 

[Cybom]

Hello everyone,

Hope you're all doing great!
After another month, here is how the figures are looking:



- Views: 2.7k more, a bit better than last month (+2.1k)
- Subscribers: 24 more, similar to last month
- Viewing time: 125h more, a bit better than last month as well (+100h)



You can see a drop for the latest week but it should also be due to the fact that I could not publish a video the last WE because I was busy with something else. Apart from that, the viewing time was looking quite OK and I hope this will come back to this level with the video I have just published today.

This WE without video also tends to confirm that friday and saturday are the worst days for my channel... Which is understandable considering that people prefer to enjoy the beginning of their WE instead of watching videos about Google Sheets. Traffic usually comes back in the beginning of the week, starting on Sunday when there is a new video to bring more people.

In terms of audience retention, the latest videos are usually between 25 and 30% and I think it is quite faire for this type of video. I am more concerned about the click rate which is not so bad (3-4%) for a few of those latest videos but most of theem are around 1.5% and that might be a bit low ... I think the subject of my channel is limiting a bit this number (Excel seems still much more famous than Google Sheets) but I think I will also try to modify the titles of some of the videos to see whether this can improve.

Apart from this, I am not planning so much difference for the next month, just find popular videos subjects and publish similar videos.

Let me know your comments or thoughts, I am happy to read from you as usual!

Thank you!

 

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[Andy Black]

people prefer to enjoy the beginning of their WE instead of watching videos about Google Sheets

Last night was Saturday and I was watching videos on the Better Sheets channel that @John Clancy referred me to.

 

[Cameraman]

In terms of audience retention, the latest videos are usually between 25 and 30% and I think it is quite faire for this type of video. I am more concerned about the click rate which is not so bad (3-4%) for a few of those latest videos but most of theem are around 1.5% and that might be a bit low ... I think the subject of my channel is limiting a bit this number (Excel seems still much more famous than Google Sheets) but I think I will also try to modify the titles of some of the videos to see whether this can improve.

There are good or bad numbers. YouTube doesn't care. It's only comparing your latest video numbers against your earlier videos. If people are watching a video more than usual it shows the video to more people. If they click and watch it, it then shows it to more, and so on. Only compare yourself against your own past performance.

 

[Cybom]

Last night was Saturday and I was watching videos on the Better Sheets channel that @John Clancy referred me to.

Ahah true this may not be the (only) explanation. Maybe the fact that I am generally publishing on Sunday is also explaining this slow drop of views on Friday and Saturday. So far this is a trend that seems to repeat over the weeks.

There are good or bad numbers. YouTube doesn't care. It's only comparing your latest video numbers against your earlier videos. If people are watching a video more than usual it shows the video to more people. If they click and watch it, it then shows it to more, and so on. Only compare yourself against your own past performance.

From this perspective the latest videos clearly show some improvement over the previous ones in terms of viewing time. Only a couple of them show a lower click rate compared to older videos. The exposure time might also not be long enough because I have started to really focus more on the editing quality two months ago.

Thanks for your comments!

 

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[Cameraman]

Only a couple of them show a lower click rate compared to older videos.

From my experience, the CTR is a good indicator to watch. It shows how appealing your title and thumbnail are to people. It is though possible for it to change over time. Here's an example.


The CTR for this video started at about 1.8% and then dropped to around 0.6%. It was only when YouTube worked out who to show it to that it went to between 5% - 10% and stayed there. It pulls about 60 views a day now with 80% of that coming from YouTube Search.

Have you figured out who are you trying to appeal to and how?

I'm focused on making how-to videos that show up in search (YouTube Search or Google page 1). They tend to start with a small burst of 2k - 5k views in the first week and then drop off. It's only when (if) they are picked up in search results that the CTR shoots up. They then continue to pull 60 - 100 views a day consistently. With 250 videos in my library, it tends to generate 300-500 site visits a month to sign up for my newsletter or buy one of my books.

You may well be focused on entertainment, in which case the initial numbers need to be high because you don't find people watching the older videos. Unless you can design a strategy to get them to watch older videos.

 

[Cybom]

From my experience, the CTR is a good indicator to watch. It shows how appealing your title and thumbnail are to people. It is though possible for it to change over time. Here's an example.

View attachment 48478
The CTR for this video started at about 1.8% and then dropped to around 0.6%. It was only when YouTube worked out who to show it to that it went to between 5% - 10% and stayed there. It pulls about 60 views a day now with 80% of that coming from YouTube Search.

Have you figured out who are you trying to appeal to and how?

I'm focused on making how-to videos that show up in search (YouTube Search or Google page 1). They tend to start with a small burst of 2k - 5k views in the first week and then drop off. It's only when (if) they are picked up in search results that the CTR shoots up. They then continue to pull 60 - 100 views a day consistently. With 250 videos in my library, it tends to generate 300-500 site visits a month to sign up for my newsletter or buy one of my books.

You may well be focused on entertainment, in which case the initial numbers need to be high because you don't find people watching the older videos. Unless you can design a strategy to get them to watch older videos.

Hi @Cameraman,

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with me, really appreciated

I'm also focused on how-to videos and not at all entertainment. It is mostly short tutorials about Google Sheets or Google Apps Script (how to make a Gantt chart, how to create a folder in Google Drive with Apps Script, how to create drop-down menu ...)

I actually always had the feeling that the CTR was improving a while after the video was published so I had a closer look to statistics this evening and plotted the CTR (as of today) vs the number of days the video is online:



I think it is quite in line with what you are saying and it is also in line with the feeling I have on my side. Videos start with a pretty high number of views in one week (in my case it is still around 100-150 views), together with good CTR. Then the number of views per day drops and the CTR as well. And finally a while later some videos "find" a new inertia with more views and improving CTR.

For info here is also the chart showing the total number of views vs the number of days the video is online, that you can compare to the chart above:


You can see the number of views is somehow also corelated with the number of days (obviously) but the trend looks clearer with the CTR (the older the video, the higher the CTR).

Regarding my target audience, a part of it may be people who are new to Google Sheets / Apps Script but most of the videos are more oriented to people trying to realize a specific task with those tools. For example I have made videos to show how to make a timetable, to follow a investment wallet (with automated chart) etc.

I'm focused on making how-to videos that show up in search (YouTube Search or Google page 1). They tend to start with a small burst of 2k - 5k views in the first week and then drop off. It's only when (if) they are picked up in search results that the CTR shoots up. They then continue to pull 60 - 100 views a day consistently. With 250 videos in my library, it tends to generate 300-500 site visits a month to sign up for my newsletter or buy one of my books.

This sounds like a quite good traffic input to your site. Out of curiosity, what percentage of the 300-500 visits do you manage to subscribe to your newsletter?

Thanks!

 

[Andy Black]

how to create a folder in Google Drive with Apps Script

Hold on... I don't know Apps Script at all. I didn't know it could create folders in Google Drive. Now you have my wheels turning. Can you share that video here?

 

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[Cybom]

Hold on... I don't know Apps Script at all. I didn't know it could create folders in Google Drive. Now you have my wheels turning. Can you share that video here?

For sure I can but it is in french so that may be an issue

 

[Andy Black]

For sure I can but it is in french so that may be an issue

What's the top viewed English Google sheet video on YouTube, and the top French? I'm curious how much difference there is. You clearly have excellent written English. Is it worth doing the same video in two different languages?

EDIT: I just watched the first couple of minutes. I love the animations, and zoom in/out. I could follow it even though I've barely any French. Yeah, I'm interested in how well the same video would do in English.

Also, what's your thoughts on monetization? Is it to get consulting work initially? Or to sell courses? Do you do this (Google Sheets/Excel coding) for a living?

 

[Andy Black]

You might be interested in this thread I started a few years ago. I decided not to continue it but there was a lot of positive feedback.

HOT! - EXECUTION - An Excel Course?

I had coffee with a friend this morning. He said he’d need to get up to speed with Excel if he gets a job he’s in the running for. Hmmm... 1) Excel features in the top 5 best-selling courses online if I’m to believe this: Over 3 million people took these 5 online courses in 2019—here's what...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

I only created three videos on that YouTube channel. You can find them here:

https://youtube.com/@excelcorner

 

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[Cameraman]

I think it is quite in line with what you are saying and it is also in line with the feeling I have on my side. Videos start with a pretty high number of views in one week (in my case it is still around 100-150 views), together with good CTR. Then the number of views per day drops and the CTR as well. And finally a while later some videos "find" a new inertia with more views and improving CTR.

Yes, that's a very familiar pattern. Have you tried checking your traffic source for the past 28 days of the popular videos? It gives a better indication of how people are finding your best performing videos. The initial watch figures in the week after launch will skew your analytics and are misleading.

In my own case, my popular videos are the ones that are found on either Google or YouTube Search. I've recently been trying to get videos to rank on Google. When that happens you see the video build and pull more viewers in to watch other videos. My channel will never take off but I have around 4k views every 48 hours and it's consistent when I don't publish. If I publish a video it can lift to between 6k and 10k views for 48 hours but then falls back gradually over the week to the 4k level.

This sounds like a quite good traffic input to your site. Out of curiosity, what percentage of the 300-500 visits do you manage to subscribe to your newsletter?

As for my website, I just checked last month's figures and I had 103 people click the link to visit my newsletter signup page from YouTube. Unfortunately, the signup tracking for that page has stopped working for some reason. What I do know is that I had 154 subscribers over the same period of which 60% came via popup. Most of the remaining 40% probably came from the YouTube signup page. It probably works out at around 40-60 subscribers a month from YouTube.

Great video by the way. I don't speak French but I could follow quite a bit. It was well-paced and had good sound quality making it easy to watch. Have you considered adding English subtitles?

What does success with this channel look like for you?

 

[Cybom]

What's the top viewed English Google sheet video on YouTube, and the top French? I'm curious how much difference their is. You clearly have excellent written English. Is it worth doing the same video in two different languages?

EDIT: I just watched the first couple of minutes. I love the animations, and zoom in/out. I could follow it even though I've barely any French. Yeah, I'm interested in how well the same video would do in English.

Ahah thank you, my native language is French (although I am Belgian) and it still comes with an heavy accent when I speak English. I have tried to make a comparison between French and English and it seems you can make around x10 in views.

I can definitely try making one video in English but maybe I need to make a separate channel for that because I am not sure whether the algorithm would appreciate the mix between the languages on a same channel ... I'll dig a bit in this way.

Also, what's your thoughts on monetization? Is it to get consulting work initially? Or to sell courses? Do you do this (Google Sheets/Excel coding) for a living?

I actually still have a job as an engineer, not related to Excel or Google Sheets.
I started the channel for a few reasons:

1) Get started with something: I found this type of video quite easy to start and improve myself, especially for speaking, video editing and also learning how to attract and keep people interested
2) I originally set up a minimum one year challenge to reach 1000 subscribers (keeping the monetization in mind). I don't think I would stop if I am not there when the deadline hits but I cannot stop before
3) If I can get to monetization, it is nice but not the ultimate goal
4) If I get there, I would also like to explore more options like selling some courses or books. I wasn't convinced books about this topic could sell until I have checked Amazon, it seems there is some audience for it

Thanks a lot Andy!