You probably started out with the idea, if I create it, they will come. Buuuuut, they aren’t coming. At least not as many as you hoped. A lot of people come up with reasons for this such as, “The algorithm is against me!” or “YouTube is trying to squash small channels!” We are saying this with all love in the world, but the brutal truth is that the reason your channel isn’t succeeding might be that your content just needs some work.

Today we are going to take a hard look in the mirror. Please, try to be open-minded and come along with me as we attempt to do things a different way. I know different is scary, but it also produces different results. And if we are ever going to “make it on YouTube,” different results is exactly what we need.

Addressing the Hard Truth

We understand that your channel is your baby. We get it. It’s so hard to see the faults. You have put countless hours into creating this masterpiece. It’s easier (and more comforting) to blame YouTube for causing your channel to not grow.

We talked to Rob Wilson on our podcast recently.

Rob is the face of the vidIQ channel and has a passion for helping channels grow.

We asked what his thoughts were when creators who are the authority in their niche come to him because they are not getting the views that they feel that they should.

(Maybe you feel like this.)

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He started off, but shooting down the idea of creators thinking of themselves as an “authority” in anything. He thinks it is much more helpful if we just think of ourselves as being “a passionate _____.” Maybe you are a passionate tech enthusiast/musician/educator/user of quickbooks/etc. But starting off with that mentality is a great place to begin. Do not think of yourself as a guru who deserves to be praised. Instead, just think of yourself as a person who is passionate about your topic. You love to do this and you just want to share your knowledge and wisdom to help others. This is how you have to begin.

Ask for Feedback

Now that we got out of the way, are you still blaming YouTube for your lack of growth? Are you not sure if your channel needs work? Well, what do others tell you? (And we are not talking about what your mom tells you here. But what kind of feedback do you get from people that will tell you the cold, hard truth.) Have a trusted friend watch your video and watch their face. See how they react and in what places they look away.

Secondly, what does the data tell you? Check out your analytics. If 90% of the people who click into your video click away in the first few minutes, that’s pretty telling that your hook needs work. Are your impressions really low? If so, it’s time to focus on your title and thumbnails. The data doesn’t lie. Regularly analyzing your data can be very enlightening.

Now, if you only have 10 videos, this is going to be difficult. If this is you, you really need to focus on more quantity before you can start analyzing the data. YouTube’s job is to find the right viewers for the right content. At 10 videos, this isn’t happening yet. So be patient! There is no hack for the system. You can not short-cut experience. Don’t worry too much about the end result and just enjoy creating. Enjoy the learning process. Try to make things better with each video. If you want to learn, focus on quantity. If you want to build an audience, focus on quality. Obviously it would be great to do both, but when you are just getting started, learning has to be your focus.

Experiment

Look at your top performing content. What’s different about these videos than your others? Analyze it. Did you tell a story? Did you do anything differently? In your other videos, did you edit the life out of them? Remember, we should not all strive to be like Mr. Beast. The pauses do not need to all be removed. You do not have to have something pop onto the screen every 5 seconds. But your content can’t be boring either. Where is the balance for you? Experiment with different things and see what happens.

Also remember, you aren’t trying to make a perfect video. Thinking that perfection is the goal is overwhelming and leads to burn out. Take a few videos and really focus on nailing your hook. With each video, try to get a little better than your last one. Then, take your next few videos and really focus on your retention. Can you beat your last video? These need to be your goals, not perfection.

Balance your Emotions

You must balance your emotional investment in your videos. Your time in does not equal your views out. Create a video as well as you can for the time and move on. At some point, done is better than perfect. You have to be ok with that.

Let your videos breathe before you obsess over their performance. It’s so easy to see that “X of 10” and panic. If it doesn’t immediately hit 1 of 10, you do not need to change things. Give it some time. You can always go back and change your title or thumbnails and see if they perform better.

Speaking of Thumbnails….

Do you ideate your title and thumbnail before you start filming? The RIGHT answer is yes, but this is SO difficult for so many people to make a habit of doing. But, doing it first makes a HUGE difference. If you haven’t been doing this regularly, try it and see if this will take your content to the next level.

I mean, just think about it. Your title and thumbnail need to feed directly into your hook. How can you plan your hook if you haven’t even come up with title and thumbnails yet? (And yes, your hook should also be planned before you start filming.) If you haven’t been doing these things, this is a great place to start leveling up your content.

Chances are, at the end of the day you should spend twice as much time on your thumbnail and make it half as complicated. Then for your title, you should try to emphasis one curiosity and the basic desire of your target audience. So instead of “How to write titles to get more views for your YouTube videos,” you should say “Small channels do THIS to double your views in 5 mins.” Small channels are the target audience and the desire to grow without a ton of time invested is their desire. And the audience left wondering “how do I do this?” They have to watch the video to find out.

We have spent countless hours in retention graphs and have seen that as soon as you give the answer to the idea you’ve pitched in your video, the retention drops. So if you haven’t thought of these titles in the beginning, there’s a chance you will give it away too early and lose all your viewers. Now we are not saying drag it out forever. (People hate that.) But, we have seen it given away as early as the thumbnail! When this happens, people can see the answer without even watching and move on because there is no intrigue left.

The Right Perspective

Through all of this, the key is to make sure you are viewing your content from your viewer’s perspective. From your thumbnail, to your hook, to your content, keep the viewer in the front of your mind. Your videos are not about you and showing how much you know.

This is YouTube. It’s not just about delivering the information. Your viewers are going to keep watching and subscribe, not because you deliver the most accurate information, but because they like you and the way that you deliver that information. It’s not just your knowledge. It’s your personality. Primal branding plays a huge role in this. It’s not uncommon for people that don’t give the best information to actually get the most views. And that’s because they are delivering their information in a more personable way. We aren’t saying you need to be crazy and run around like a spectacle. But we are saying, be a person and connect. Really looking at your views as individual people watching your content is so key in doing this.

When you realize the algorithm truly just represents people, your perspective shifts. Your mindset in your creation process shifts and a deeper connection naturally happens. Ask yourself: What will attract your ideal viewer, keep them engaged, click to watch more, engage with your community, and keep them coming back? Those are the things you need to be doing.

Power Tip

You can now add shorts to a playlist! So next time you are swiping on the shorts feed, you can add a video to one of your playlist. This is so helpful for you to sort helpful content in a way that you can view it again later.

Keep Changing Lives!

Tim Schmoyer

​YouTube . Instagram . Facebook . Twitter . Linked in​

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