How to create a successful YouTube channel

According to statistics, YouTube is the second most visited site in the world after Google and even ahead of Facebook and Wikipedia. About 400 hours of video are uploaded every minute and users watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube video each day, more than Netflix and Facebook Video combined. 70% of YouTube visits come from mobile devices, and the use of the YouTube TV app has doubled in the last year. A trend that will continue in the future and that shows how YouTube is stealing more and more viewers from traditional TV networks and channels.

Creating a YouTube channel is quick, easy, and free. But creating quality content that reaches a large number of people is already a science. There are many quality videos that reach a very small number of users. There are also many low-quality products, which are very popular. There are many factors and algorithms that use YouTube to judge which video is good and which is not. Algorithms that are dynamic and change over time.

If you have a YouTube channel that, although it has been around for some time, is still not gaining popularity, then in this article we will look at the possible reasons and mistakes for this to happen. In short, some of the reasons are:

• A small number of uploaded videos
• Non-permanent upload
• No specific niche
• Poor quality of production, be it due to laziness or small efforts
• Non-professional vision (lack of branding or design)
• Bad thumbnails
• Lack of marketing efforts
• Lack of clear direction and plan

Permanence

If you are not persistent and do not upload videos regularly, then there is no way to get things done. You don't have to upload every day, but there is still some rhythm and perseverance. If you upload 3 videos at once and in a month is the next video, both YouTube and users will forget about you. If you've only uploaded about 20 videos and it seems like a lot, it's really nothing. Only after going through about 100 uploaded videos will you have a clearer idea of what's happening with your channel, what's good, and what's not. You will have gained some experience from which you can learn a lot.

Niche

Think about what YouTube channels you follow. Most have focused on one or more similar niches, right? They can be cars, reviews of equipment, cooking, pets, cosmetics, etc. You can also use sub-niches. The more specific a niche is, the less competition there will be. Focus on a clear direction.

Audience

What type of videos do you make? What is the purpose of the videos? Who are these videos aimed at? Think about your target audience. Videos that are interesting to pregnant women are unlikely to be interesting to students for example. Research your audience, talk to relatives and friends who would join the audience, ask them what they would expect, what they would like, share ideas. Think from the perspective of the people watching you. Share the finished product to get feedback. Are the title and photo of the video clear enough to attract attention?

Design and Branding

Create a good-looking logo, profile picture, and banner for your channel. Take your time, these are things that change very rarely, every few years for example. If you do not have the skills to make a quality design, then seek help. Invest a small amount of money if necessary. In sites, like Fiverr you can easily and quite cheap find a designer to create a logo for you.

Once you have the logos and branding, use them everywhere, be consistent. Use the same fonts, the same colors.

Thumbnails

Design again plays a big role in this category. Take a thumb photo of your video in such a way that it attracts attention and stands out. Imagine that someone is wondering among 10 videos which one to play. Users first look at the photos and then eventually read the title of the video. So your goal is to get your video noticed thanks to a well-crafted thumbnail. From now on, the user can watch the video and if he likes to view other things of yours or just subscribe to the channel.

Titile and Description

Let the title attract attention, but still do not overdo it. It should not be very long and make it as clear as possible from what the video is about. You decide how much you want to use clickbait and how your audience will react.

Planning and shooting a video is not easy. We often have various difficulties and unexpected obstacles that delay its creation and uploading to YouTube. Sometimes we don't have much time and we want to upload to YouTube as fast as possible. In these cases, however, we do not pay attention to the description of the video and miss on the little details. The description is important. Enter as much information as possible into it and use keywords that are related to the video itself. Google and YouTube search engines read text, and it's important to feed them as much information as possible. This description helps them understand what our video is about.

The description of the video is also a good opportunity to put links to your accounts on other social networks, where your audience can follow you (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat).

What does the competition do?

Surely you should have at least one YouTuber to inspire you and consider him a good example, to like what content he does and how they present it. Study it. It's not about copying it step by step, but to see how it works - how often they upload videos, what and how it’s shared on social networks, how the videos are structured, how they communicate with their subscribers, etc.

Marketing, advertising, and social networks

Think about how your videos can reach the maximum number of potential viewers. And don't limit yourself to the YouTube platform. Create profiles on Facebook (find groups in your niche), Instagram, Twitter, niche forums, etc. Be active, comment on posts and videos even of your direct competitors. Think from the point of view of not just writing a comment without any value like "Bravo!", But try to help someone who has a question on a particular topic. Be an active part of society, be useful, people will notice you and reach out to your profiles and content.

Change

If it's been a while (2 years or 100 videos, for example) and things don't work out, you may need to make a bigger change. Don't be stubborn and don't think that you are the greatest in the world and that others don't appreciate you. Do not blame others, but look for the cause in yourself. Do not be enslaved to your ego.