For this week's YouTube Channel review,
we are going to take a look at someone's YouTube channel
trailer and talk about some of the things that make it great,
some of the things that they can improve.
And I'm also going to give you guys some tips
and ideas for a basic structure for an effective channel
trailer, as well as some tips to make it really
perform the best that it can.
All that's coming up.
Hey guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer, and welcome to "Video Creators,"
the channel that is all about helping you
guys grow your YouTube audiences and your channel
so you can spread a message that changes lives.
And one of the most effective ways of converting viewers
into subscribers is to have a channel trailer
and to make it a good one.
Maybe you've noticed, maybe you haven't, but if you
go to your YouTube Analytics, you'll
find that the number one spot where
you are getting most of your subscribers from
is most likely just your front of your channel page there.
More so than individual videos, and playlists,
and things like that, it's that channel page.
And the reason for that is often because someone
finds one of your videos, they like it,
and they say, what else does this person have?
And they go to your channel to check it out.
And that's where they're going to decide
if they're going to subscribe to your channel or not.
So it's really important to have some great assets right there
on the front of your channel that
will make it easy for someone to know who you are,
what you're all about, and make it easier
for them to know that, yes, this channel's for me.
I want to subscribe.
And so the channel trailer is one very important asset
to that whole process.
Today, we're going to look at this channel by Mr. John Bane.
He has a PC gaming channel.
And you can tell just by looking at his header image-- really
important-- Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
And I can't read what that is, but if I look really carefully,
it's sometimes more.
Posting schedule, let's have some fun, create some awesome.
OK.
So this is his channel.
We're going to take a look at his channel trailer
here and focus in mostly on this.
So let's play this and watch it here together.
And then let's critique it and give you guys some suggestions.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What's going on, everybody?
This is John Bane.
I want to welcome you to the channel.
I appreciate you taking time to check out
some of the videos here.
Hopeful, you found something that you like.
If you did find something, you're in luck.
We've got plenty of stuff coming out every Wednesday, Friday,
and Sunday.
And I try to sneak in some stuff for you guys
every now and again too.
We also do some streaming on Steam and YouTube.
And it's pretty fun, actually.
I've met a lot of good people out there.
Been having a blast, actually.
And plan to keep on doing that as long as it stays that way.
We try to have a good, fun, positive time here
any time we can, every time we can.
That's just how we roll.
We're all about some Steam, and we're all
about some early access games.
Big fan of doing crafting, survival, RPGs,
and adventure games.
Currently, on the channel, we have "Scrap Mechanic,"
"ARK-- Survival Evolved," and "Besiege."
They've been really fun lately, and I'm
going to try and throw in a couple more
for you guys if we can.
We've also got some private servers up
for some of these games that we've
got going on and coming up.
Looking forward to hanging out with you
guys on there while we're doing some streaming
and some video making.
And of course, you can keep up with us here at YouTube,
but we also are on j0hnbane.com.
That's J-zero-H-N-B-A-N-E.com.
We're also on Twitter, same handle.
And we're on Google+.
We're on Facebook.
We're on Instagram.
We're on [MUMBLE]
Anyway, we're out there.
So, guys, stick around, check us out, subscribe,
have a good time.
Send me a comment.
Send me a message.
I'll be happy to respond.
And you guys have a good night.
Great.
Awesome.
So a couple things that he's doing well here.
Number one is he has a channel trailer.
You'd be surprised how many channels just
don't have anything at all.
And it's really important because after someone
sees this header image, the next thing that they want to look at
is, all right, I get an idea.
Now, in this case, he kind of does this PC gaming,
but it doesn't really tell you what he's about
or what separates him too much.
We'll talk about that in a second.
But then the next great opportunity for you to pitch
is, now don't just read this, but here,
let me give you an idea here.
So he's got one.
Really good.
A second thing is that he keeps it moving.
He was showing a lot of stuff onscreen here, you guys notice.
As he's going through here, he's got this stuff
popping up behind him.
So it holds your attention.
He's got these things that are going on
and keeps it moving, right?
So that's good.
Third, and this is the third thing, he's very personable.
It gives you an idea of who he is and whether or not
you're going to like him.
Because here's the thing, is that one
of the things that people are thinking
about when they're watching this channel is, do I
like this person?
Especially in gaming, it's such a personality-driven type
of thing.
Is this someone that I like?
Is this someone I feel like I could hang out with?
Is this a person that's going to be
fun to watch and hang out during their let's plays
and things like that?
So the personality here is kind of like,
what you see is what you get, do you like it or not?
And so that's something that subconsciously, people
are thinking of.
And he answers that question for you here
as he goes through his channel trailer.
So three good things.
Let's talk about three areas of improvement,
and then I'll give you guys a structure for how John here
could remake this channel trailer if he
wanted to do a different one.
First thing I would say for this one
though, it's just him talking.
This type of content, this channel trailer
actually does not reflect the rest of the type of content
on his channel, where he's doing a lot more stuff with let's
plays and things like that.
So when you do your channel trailer,
you want it to reflect, give the person an accurate
idea of what they can expect from your channel.
Two, the channel trailer should be used to only make one point.
And in this case, I counted up all the things
he was talking about, he's making
a lot of different points.
And he doesn't get to ask people to subscribe
until the very end.
And even then, it's like an afterthought.
It's kind of covered up anyway with the top
here of the title of the video.
So I would recommend it's got to be shorter
than a minute and a half.
It's kind of long.
30 seconds is great.
A minute's OK.
If you get to 90 seconds, you're getting pretty long
for a channel trailer.
So just use that one point, and that's just to subscribe.
That's the only thing this is supposed to accomplish.
And then the third thing is he does
a lot of talking about what his channel is doing,
what he's doing there, which is great,
because that's a part of it.
But the thing is, especially in a niche like gaming,
there are so many people doing let's plays in gaming, right?
So you've got to not just say what I'm doing.
Because it's easy for someone to say,
yeah, you and a million other channels.
Maybe.
I don't know if that's the number.
But you know, you get what I'm saying.
So I think it's important to talk not just about what
you do, but why you do it.
What is your mission, if you have one?
What is your goal?
What drives you that compels you to do this?
And if you have a belief, and we talked about belief
and how those impact your audience development
in a previous channel review.
But something that just is more compelling that sets you
apart from everyone else who's doing something similar as you
are on YouTube.
Because every channel is different.
And John's channel is unique because it's John.
No one else is going to make content
like John because he's the only John Bane there is, right?
So that alone already sets it apart.
But you've got to make it a little bit more compelling
and talk about why you're doing it
and not just what you're doing.
Talk about what, but always leave with the why.
So let me give you guys some ideas and tips going forward
here for your channel trailer.
Let me give you a quick channel trailer outline.
Four things you got to do in this thing.
Number one is first, you start off
by addressing your target audience.
And the reason why you do that is
because you got to make that person feel like,
yes, this place is for me.
He's talking to me.
And it hooks them.
It grabs their attention.
As opposed to someone else's, hm, maybe
you're not targeting that person.
Address the target audience that you're going after.
Number two is then pitch the value proposition
of your channel.
What value do you propose to deliver to that viewer
if they were to subscribe?
What value are you providing through your channel?
And tell them about what your channel is and why it matters.
Number three-- and he does this in the very beginning,
but I would suggest do it as the third thing in the channel
trailer-- is to mention your posting schedule.
When can people come back and expect new content from you
and know to come look at your channel for new videos?
And then four, end it with a very strong call to action
to subscribe.
That's ultimately the main thing you're going for here.
You don't want to tell people to follow
you all the different places, join the email list,
leave a comment below.
Just subscribe.
That's main point of the channel trailer.
A couple tips to help-- let me give him
a better still frame here.
Oh, there's a good one.
Three tips to help you guys make a good channel trailer is, one,
it should be about 30 seconds to a minute
long, like we already said.
Two, write a solid script and also, like I said,
use plenty of b-roll.
Don't just tell people what you do,
but actually show them while you're
narrating it, if that's the case, in your channel trailer.
Give them plenty of examples.
Show them lots of clips for them to see
to get a visual idea of what your channel is all about.
Three, consider this right here, the channel title
and description.
Now this is a great opportunity for him to make a title.
And instead of just calling it Channel Trailer,
it could be Welcome to John Bane's Gaming Channel,
or This is What I'm All About, or something like that.
It could be a more enticing title,
because it does show up right here,
rather than Channel Trailer.
And then also consider the description of that video
will show up right next to it.
Which he's doing more than a lot of people already doing
at this point, so that's good.
He's welcoming people.
Welcome.
We're all about having a good time.
And things like that.
I would include putting in all caps, SUBSCRIBE.
And then put direct link to your subscribe URL right there.
Maybe add in some posting schedule.
He's not calling out a target audience here.
Who is this content specifically for?
Call them out in here.
Anyone who's in their audience, they start reading this,
they're like, oh, yeah, that's me.
Right?
This is for me.
So put that in there.
So pay attention to this stuff.
And then fourth-- and this is something
that a lot of creators overlook--
is that make sure you disable monetization on your channel
trailer.
Because nothing is more frustrating than a person who's
coming to your channel for the first time,
thinking about subscribing, and they
want to watch this to see what you're all about,
but first, they have to sit through an ad.
Disable monetization on this video
so that people can get right into your channel trailer
and hopefully, make it easier for them
to subscribe and reduce the abandonment
rate on that channel trailer.
I would love to hear from you guys
in the comments below what tips and advice you
have for channel trailers.
And for John, there's a link to his channel in the description
below of this video here.
You can go check him out.
And if this is your first time here,
I would love to have you subscribe because every week,
we review channels under 1,000 subscribers or less.
I forgot to mention that.
This one has 140 at the moment.
And he's promoting fun.
He's promoting awesomeness.
And I like to promote channels also
that have a message that is meaningful
that they're trying to spread.
And I know a lot of you guys have that.
So this channel's all about helping you guys grow
your YouTube audiences and spreading
your message so it reaches people and changes their lives.
That's ultimately what all this is about.
So thanks for hanging out with us a little bit today, guys.
Subscribe, and I'll see you guys again next week
for another YouTube channel review.
See you then.
Bye.