HELP! My YouTube Channel is not Growing
So you reached your decision and decided to finally start off your YouTube channel, excellent, so now here comes the fun part, growing. Fun part? Yes, fun part.
It is mostly frustrating when you give into your YouTube channel so much of your time and effort to make good videos, finding tutorials to improve your editing, then you successfully render and upload your videos, only to wake up in the middle of the night to check two digit views on your analytics, and maybe one or two of your subscribers bailed.
One thing you always need to remember about YouTube, is that you start off with amazing content, the YouTube audience is very large, and always want something to find helpful of worth their time.
So just remember that there will always be an audience for you who are really waiting to find your content and the only thing standing in the way of you and your audience is YouTube’s algorithm. So the only task that you have other than making the content you like, is making YouTube’s algorithm your friend.
YouTube said that they constantly keep changing their algorithm to help new creators find their audience, and make sure that the audience gets the most relevant and enjoyable content for themselves.
This is so they can stay on the YouTube platform longer. So if you were wondering on which side the algorithm is for, rest assured that it is on everyone’s side. As long as you follow their requirements for your channel to be at a better position.
What should I do To Be Friends With The YouTube Algorithm?
#1: Always Begin Each Video With an Attention Grabber
By saying interesting, you know exactly what I mean. You can have a look at some of the big You Tubers and their ways of ushering their audience into their channel.
Well, actually, they don’t really need to struggle about creating the perfect attention grabber at the beginning, because they already established their presence and they earned good trust from their subscribers.
So the audience already knows that the content that is ahead of them is not going to be disappointing, so they can stick around longer.
But in most cases, to be always friendly to YouTube’s algorithm, always make an attention grabber. How am I going to do this?
Now, edit the most interesting parts of your video and make them extra short, like three or four seconds in a sequence. If it is a DIY (Do It Yourself) kind of content, you can flash some scenes from the final model. Or if you are making a hair styling channel, or make up channel, you’ll do them a big favor by letting them have a look at what they are expecting to see in the end.
This way, they will know that what lies ahead of them is really worth their time, and they will be prepared to stick around longer, hence giving you a point in YouTube’s algorithm for your video.
Stories, stories, stories.
You don’t need to be the best story teller in your school, or in your family. But since you are already on YouTube, it means you are a good story teller in the making. If you’ve grown up being the best story teller of your time, now here is where you blind your audience with shining light.
Know how to phrase your story in a way that, if you were the one listening to the story, you could not help to hear it being told. And that’s the key. If you tell a story in a way that you would find it to be boring if you heard it yourself, then you need to reshuffle your cards. Because, you might be locking out opportunities for yourself.
#2: Make Thumbnails Hard To Resist
This is among the top three checklists you need to have optimized to your best level before you click that publish button. Thumbnails are the closest your audience can get to your video before clicking on it, so make sure it tells them a lot from their first view. Remember, YouTube registers the number of clicks on your videos, relative to how much they are clicking on other videos.
How do I make the best thumbnail possible? I don’t know anything about Photoshop. Worry not, you don’t need any expertise in making the perfect thumbnail. We have seen multiple viral videos that have done well according to YouTube’s recommendation panel, and their thumbnails appear to be very simple.
Have you heard of Tube Buddy? This is a free and very good chrome extension for YouTube you can use for generation of your thumbnails. It is very simple to use and provides all the basic interfaces for filters and text input. You can customize your font type and size, and also add additional images to your thumbnail.
I would recommend the simplest thumbnail that is not overcrowded and clearly stands out. How do I stand out?
- Use a specific color theme for your thumbnails,
- Use a specific font for your thumbnail texts,
- User not more than 2 images inside your thumbnail,
- Make sure you can read the contents of your font from an arm length from your screen.
Remember, YouTube values clicks. So the higher the number of clicks on your videos, then the more your videos are going to get recommended on people’s pages. And this is exactly what you want.
Click bait??
Always deliver on the promise of your thumbnail. Now that YouTube is registering a high number of clicks on your videos, always make sure you deliver on the promise of your content.
Otherwise, if people do click on your videos then bail out only under a minute of your video, YouTube will definitely register this as “I was led here but I’m getting something completely different”
Automatically, your video will be flagged by YouTube and this can be the end of your video’s coverage. So always deliver on the promises of your thumbnails.
Make Viewers Wonder What’s Next
Even though the content of your video is not going to exactly deliver on what you promised, you can make them stick around longer, and people stick around because they like something. So be creative and figure out a way to make a viewer stay a minute longer into your video. Then develop another new move in the next minute. Don’t be surprised when suddenly your analytics shoot up, if you take in this retention tactic to your best effort.
#3: Commit to Posting to YouTube Several Times Per Week
Reports have always proven that regular video uploads tend to get a higher rank in their niche. How regular, not less than twice. This way, YouTube learns that new content that people might find helpful is here. And the primary goal of YouTube is to keep you on the platform the longest.
This is among the best ways to get your content recommended.
Make good use of playlists.
Playlists usher your viewers from one video to another, mostly from the same creator. This is a good way to lead your viewers to another video that is still made by you. More time spent on your channel, leads more recommendations to your channel as well.
#4: Keep Your Titles and Opening Intro Short
Once on YouTube, there’s almost unlimited content to watch. So attention spans are short. This is very easy to get a positive or a negative impression on your video to the viewer. Make your introductions very brief and straight to the point.
This way, you will tell your audience that you value their time and you want to give them what got them there because you did it well, and you deserve their attention.
A good bar should hit 10 seconds at most, and worth the time.