Well, you just started your YouTube channel and created some content you're passionate about.
After coming up with a cool name for your page and an awesome thumbnail, you begin uploading the video, but embarrassingly few views kick in.
Youtube doesn't hand out your content to just anyone watching YouTube.
It mainly focuses on viewers rather than the videos.
Since YouTube started, it gained over 1 billion hours of videos daily, which means that hundreds of hours of videos are uploaded each minute.
Wow. With more than 2 billion people watching YouTube, it's no wonder their algorithm is a supermachine.
It focuses on finding the right video of every individual viewer and keeps their eyes glued to the screen.
When creating original content, it's good to focus on making viewers happy.
Rather than hoping the algorithm get your video views.
It studies the viewer's personal choices when watching a video, its success and whether the video is popular or trending.
After it gets an idea of who you are, it'll start suggesting more videos you may be interested in.
This doesn't mean that your whole planning should revolve around the algorithm, but it's good to understand it.
Since it plays a crucial role.
The algorithm works behind the scenes.
How to grow your YouTube channel for free
When you open the YouTube homepage and see the selected videos you might want to watch, they collect data.
Check out the titles, thumbnails descriptions like to dislike ratio Yay who comments and watch time.
If they watch your video all the way, the algorithm is translated into that.
Ok, this is pretty cool. I'm going to share it with others.
- It's best to start researching good titles that people will want to click on.
- Avoid certain words that can be clickbait and be creative.
- Also, take some time to create eyecatching thumbnails that are click worthy.
- Thumbnails are modern-day movie posters.
- You wouldn't watch a movie with a bland poster that doesn't catch your attention.
The video will pop up on more homepages for other similar viewers.
By determining this, YouTube also targets people's watch history that reflects on their interests in certain topics and a particular channel.
Of course, when the person starts watching less of a certain page like cooking and starts watching stuff about movies, then the home page will display more content related to movies and only a very few about cooking.
So it's important to have good content that stands out among the billions of videos out there.
The suggested videos to watch next are also part of the algorithm, but it functions differently by now.
Youtube has hardly gotten you figured out now, so the algorithm can show you stuff of videos that are often viewed together, related topics and videos that the viewer watched in the past.
On a technical level, it suggests videos that perform well and have good likes and engagements.
It will also show your other videos in your channel that did well for viewers to see.
A good way to keep your audience watching is to tell them to go watch the next video in a sort of series.
If those videos did well, then it's possible to reel in more organic viewers.
Now it's important to create plenty of videos before launching your page so that you can have a huge large list for people to watch.
Think of it as going to a restaurant and seeing it empty.
Our minds will tell us that this place is bad since it's empty, they'll apply the same reasoning with your channel.
Creating follow up videos like sequels or prequels is also a good way to keep your audience engaged, but make sure to do it on time.
Otherwise, people's interests will shift somewhere else.
It's useful for having a snappy ending so that people can watch till the actual end and see the suggested videos that pop up on the end screen.
You can use playlists, links, cards, etc. When typing for a video on the search bar.
It doesn't necessarily show the most-watched videos right now, but how well the title descriptions video itself match the search.
They look at videos that have the most watch time and engagement, so if you want your video to stand out, write titles and descriptions that are relevant, you can use Google Trends to see what people are looking for.
You don't want to do anything clickbait because that will get viewers to stop watching after just a few seconds and have horrible comments and plenty of dislikes.
The algorithm will pick up if this video is no good and will throw it in the basement where other bad YouTube videos sit there to collect dust to dig deeper into things.
It's useful to check out the analytics of your channel to better understand the data and get to know your audience and their watching habits.
It's good to keep up with trends and use filters to organize your videos with the advanced mode.
- You can know what videos your audience engaged with the most and what video links work the best with your content.
You can also see what time of day is best for uploading your videos, and if you have fresh faces clicking in or returning fans with that in mind, you can begin monetizing your channel, which essentially means making money off of it.
But before thinking about all of that, you still need to revise your content and see who your audience is.
You go over your videos once more and realize that your video is at best mediocre.
The name of the channel is actually quite lame and the thumbnail has some clickbait vibes.
- You start again from scratch and create some new videos with improvements.
After a while, some of your videos get more views and likes you reach your 1st 100 subscribers, but after a while, you realize that your page has become stale.
The last videos you uploaded were similar to the previous ones and you keep punching in the same jokes over and over.
This is where the actual hard work begins.
After maintaining your channel for many months, you decide it's time to revamp some of your content.
You check in the advanced mode to see some loyal fans who will probably never leave you, but most of them are clicking out too fast and unsubscribing.
You can start doing new things like collaborating with other YouTubers that produce similar content.
It doesn't matter if the YouTuber has fewer or more subscribers than you.
What matters is that you'll combine forces to create a unique piece of content that will be memorable and entertaining.
It will attract more viewers from a different pool of audiences to your channel.
After the collaboration, you realize why your content has become widespread.
- You start doing some changes with the editing, animation, music, thumbnails and even include some famous YouTubers in your city.
- You find out that the number of subscribers has skyrocketed and become more popular.
- Other YouTubers are now asking you to collaborate with them, and you even got yourself some sponsor deals.
- You decided to take a small vacation for a week but then kept it going for about a month.
- You go back to your YouTube channel and realize there are fewer subscribers than before.
How to grow your YouTube channel fast
You got to upload consistently to keep your audience.
But it's a quick fix. You're now up to 3000 subscribers and living large.
But just because you're doing well doesn't mean you're sitting on your throne, you still have to revamp your content all the time and keep things fresh.
There are other things you can do now that you have a large audience, like going live now and then.
Youtube live is a great way to connect with your fans in a personal way.
- You can announce it on your page for them to show up.
The cool thing is you can do it on your phone or Webcam at home.
Also, consider YouTube shorts for the quick and easy content to keep yourself relevant, try starting a second channel where you can create content that's about something else you're interested in without worrying about its success or not.
- It can be more passive but entertaining or informative, and it doesn't have to be related to your primary channel.
- It can be something completely different, and when you become a YouTube celebrity, you can link your other social media accounts to go viral there as well.
Many audiences can migrate and see different content you have across all platforms.
Maybe your Instagram page is more personal and shows an insight into your life.
Once you reach a large number of subscribers, you can start creating original merchandise or merge and promote it on your pages.
There's no need to rub it in their face, but it's good to showcase it and even do collaborations with other companies that help create this merch.
Who knows? Notes.
It can be quite valuable and you can potentially run an Empire with it.
The most important thing is to know your audience and have fun at the same time.
