To grow your YouTube channel, you need to master the art of getting more subscribers. Some people resort to buying subscribers, which is an infringement of YouTube’s terms of service. However, with a smart strategy and plan, you can grow your YouTube channel to achieve your goals.
Below are five well-detailed strategies to help you grow your YouTube channel this year, so let’s dive right in.
1) Optimize Your Content For Search
YouTube SEO is essential in helping your content get discovered. It also improves your videos’ Click-Through Rate (CTR).
One way to optimize your YouTube video for CTR is by giving your videos offbeat names. Unusual names will make many people watch your videos out of curiosity. This will lead to getting the number of views your channel needs for social validation.
YouTube SEO is also an important aspect you need to consider to grow your channel. Below are tips that will help your content reach a wider audience:
● Use The Keyword In The Title – Keywords are critical on YouTube. With the right keyword, the algorithms can boost your video to the top of YouTube rankings. To find the right one, you need first to create a list of “seed keywords” that describe broad topics. Secondly, type these seed keywords into the YouTube search to see other suggestions. Then carry out a YouTube competition analysis. The goal here is to determine which topics get a lot of searches but have relatively little competition.
● Don’t Make The Title Too Long – Google shortens the length of the video title to 66 characters and adds ‘YouTube’ before the video. This creates an additional ten characters. The ideal YouTube video title should not be more than 50 characters.
● Opt For A Descriptive Title – Your audience should be able to tell what your video is about by reading the title.
● Choose An Engaging Title – As mentioned earlier, a quirky title will make more people click out of curiosity. More clicks improve your ranking.
● Do Not Use The Word ‘Video’ In The Title – This will only take up space and will not improve your ranking, so learn how to write catchy, engaging, and optimized titles.
2) Consistency
You should commit to posting to YouTube several times a week. YouTube channels that post content at least once a week get more recommended views and perform much better.
If you are still in the initial stages and trying to build a substantial audience for your channel, post a video three or more times each week. Your channel has high chances of rising through the YouTube algorithm when you keep a regular schedule with multiple posts per week.
Also, with a ton of content on the same topics, you can create a library of content that will help usher your viewers from one video to another. This will boost watch time and give your viewers a reason to subscribe.
3) Edit Your Videos Well
You should edit out distractions from your YouTube videos and make sure you only publish the best ones. This will help you improve the quality of your content and make it more interesting.
You should not give your viewers a reason to click away. When you have meandering talk, long pauses, jumping from one subject to another, or simply boring content, your viewers start looking at other recommended videos with more exciting content. That’s why you need to edit your videos diligently.
If you publish haphazardly in a hurry to adhere to your schedule, you’ll hurt your brand. Make a lot of recordings when shooting, so that you can select the best. If you are not sure about a particular take, shoot it a few more times.
You should also look into editing your videos so they have a more professional look and feel. This might scare you if you’ve never edited a video before, but it’s actually relatively easy to improve on this skill. Plus there are a lot of tools our there you can use to edit and create top-notch content. It’s just a matter of you doing some research to find the best YouTube video editor that suits your requirements.
4) Optimize Your Videos For Watch Time
YouTube’s top priority is to keep people on their site by making them watch more videos. The more videos that people watch, the more money YouTube makes. YouTube’s algorithm places considerable emphasis on watch time because it means people will watch your videos more if they are high-quality.
Watch time is the amount of time that has been spent watching a video on YouTube since it went live. It’s really that simple. Videos with higher watch time are most likely to show up at the top of search results and recommendations. The more time people spend watching your video, the better it performs.
Here’s how to create videos optimized for watch time:
● Create Longer Videos – You might have come across advice that advocates short videos. Forget about that, as longer videos perform better than short ones. Make your videos as long as they need to be to make sense of the topic. Longer videos are boosted by the YouTube algorithm and outrank shorter videos because they result in more watch time. You should focus on packing in as much value as you can in a single video.
● Edit Out The Fluff From Intros – The first 15 seconds of a video are vital on YouTube. You have 15 seconds to grab your viewers’ attention. A video’s intro is crucial, but you need to cut out all the background information and fluff.
● Script Every Line – Video scripts are just as necessary as any other part of the production process. You need to script every single line, or if you’re confident enough, follow a detailed outline. Without a script, it will be hard for people to follow your videos. Your delivery is also likely to be on point when you have scripted everything.
● Pattern Interrupts – As the name suggests, pattern interrupts are sections of your video that are different from the rest of the video. These sections could include elements such as animations, on-screen graphics, sound effects, and even different camera angles. Pattern interrupts give superb results and can be one of the reasons why your audience retention rate will turn out to be high.
You can also air live streams on YouTube Live. Live streams offer perfect engagement opportunities with your viewers as you can communicate directly with them. Live videos tend to have longer watch times.
5) Use Custom Thumbnails
Thumbnails are a big determiner in how many times your videos are watched on YouTube. Statistically, 90% of the best performing content on YouTube has custom thumbnails. This is so because of suggested videos.
Suggested videos are a huge source of organic traffic on YouTube. When someone is watching a video on YouTube, your video appears in the suggested video section on the right sidebar. YouTube endorses your video by showing someone that they might enjoy watching it. That is why your thumbnail needs to stand out.
Also, if your video gets many clicks as a suggested video, the YouTube algorithm will register that and suggest it to more viewers. Remember, the goal of YouTube is to ensure that viewers watch more videos. That is why they will recommend a video that is likely to get more clicks.
Here are tips to help you when it comes to creating YouTube thumbnails:
● Deliver On What It Promises – Primarily, your thumbnail should be relevant to the video’s title and content. Ever heard of clickbaits? Nothing pushes viewers away faster than a video that has nothing to do with the thumbnail. Viewers are going to feel tricked, and this will result in less watch time.
● Stoke Viewers’ Curiosity About What’s Next – You can try and tell a story with your thumbnails. Show an image that sets up a specific story. Leave your viewers wondering about what happens next or happened before. It is even better if you can use an image that contains some form of action. Keep in mind that thumbnails should be half of the story. The other half is in the title.
● Go With Small Designs – YouTube recommends 1280*720-pixel thumbnails, and that’s what most people follow. Frankly speaking, the images might be great, but nobody ever sees a thumbnail of that size on YouTube. While you want to follow YouTube’s thumbnail recommendation, you have to design the image for viewing on a smaller size. To guide you through this, always zoom out to see the image at the size that it will appear on YouTube. The image should make sense and stand out even at the size of a postage stamp.
● Have A Consistent Look And Feel – Many people will be able to recognize your videos even at a glance when you maintain a consistent look and feel. You might consistently use the same logo, text font, familiar color, design element, or a person’s face. Whatever you opt for, be consistent and stick with that style in all of your video thumbnails. People also become more aware of your brand when your thumbnails are consistent.
● Be Emotional – Most people are likely to respond to excitement. When you see someone showing enthusiasm, you want to know what they are enthusiastic about, and maybe join in so you can be excited too. Show an elated face on your thumbnails and focus on the eyes as they can convey excitement very effectively.
In Conclusion
You can grow your YouTube channel without opting for blackhat methods. All you need to do is develop content with your audience and YouTube’s algorithms in mind. For your viewers, make sure you use thumbnails that grab their attention. Be consistent with the design so that viewers become more aware of your brand. Always deliver on what is in the thumbnail and title.
Fortunately, more clicks increase your visibility, as your videos will be boosted more by YouTube algorithms. Upload your videos consistently, and create longer videos. Also, thoroughly edit your videos to get rid of all fluff and unnecessary information.
These simple tricks will make your YouTube audience numbers soar and help ensure that you reach your goals.
