- There are countless channels on YouTube
that have been wildly successful
and creators like you and I can learn a lot from them.
So today, let's take a look at just one.
They've built a dedicated following of 6 million subscribers
in just two years, and they happen to be one
of the most popular true crime channels
on the entire platform.
They have over a billion views across their entire channel
and every time they post a video,
it gets millions of views in the first 24 hours.
I want you to take a guess right now
as to who I'm talking about, and by the end of the video
let me know in the comments if you are right.
The reason I say that is
because I'm actually not gonna tell you who this is
and the reason I'm not telling you who this is
is because it almost doesn't matter.
For now, we're just gonna call them Alex,
which is definitely not their name.
They're doing so many things
on YouTube that anybody can learn from.
So I don't want you to be distracted
by who they are just yet.
So let's start with the most obvious thing
that Alex is doing correctly
and that is their channel focus,
which happens to be about a topic
they are insanely passionate about.
And that's really the theory
that you've heard us say time and time again.
Your channel needs to have a focus
but that important bit there is
that the focus should really be something
that you as a creator are passionate about.
Alex uses a storytelling format to cover different crime
and mystery stories that actually happened in real life
and in order to understand why they chose this format,
I'll share a quote with you.
"I loved telling strange, dark,
and mysterious stories ever since I was a kid
sitting around a campfire in the summer.
My YouTube channel has allowed me to explore all sorts
of crazy tales, but I have always wanted
to get more detailed, complex, and intriguing."
So the takeaway here is that having passion
and expertise in a topic can really help you grow
on YouTube really, really fast.
You don't wanna pick a topic for your channel
just because you think it's profitable or super popular.
Remember, Alex has over 6 million subscribers
and the topic is true crime.
So you don't need to be Dream or Mr. Beast
to have millions and millions of subscribers.
Next, we need to talk about the content itself.
And content is king.
A carefully researched topic is going to improve the quality
of your video, and that video has the potential
to spread to a lot more people.
So when you're researching anything you're doing on YouTube,
be sure you're using reliable sources.
The last thing you wanna do is put your credibility
on the line with a new and upcoming channel.
And you may have seen it coming, but we are going back
to that age old YouTube advice of quality over quantity.
So let's go back to Alex's approach to this.
And the thing about Alex is that they don't
just share a story for the sake of sharing a story quote,
"My biggest issue is choosing a topic
not because I can't find material, I'm just picky.
There are thousands of subjects.
I have them all listed and organized on my computer.
Sometimes I find a great story and know it's the one,
but there are days I spend 12 hours
on the computer and have nothing to show
for it because I've just been reading through topics
and not liking any."
Alex aims to share accurate facts
but also looks to include different twists
and turns in their storytelling,
so by the end of the video, there's always
something that you just didn't see coming.
Quote, "Whether it's a revelation at the end or a redirect,
like, 'No it wasn't this person who did it,
it was that person,'
the twist is the most satisfying part of telling a story."
The takeaway here is that Alex's content is based on
in-depth research and accurate information.
It aims to bring viewers along on a journey that will end
in some kind of discovery, and indeed, this type
of storytelling can definitely grow your channel.
Next, let's talk about on camera presence,
because it's not about how you look or what you say,
but it's how you say it
and the manner in which you present yourself.
So let's take a look at Alex's on camera presence.
He likes to illustrate his points with wide eyed
facial expressions and arms waving around,
the cadence picking up as you get
to climactic moments in the story.
This poise in his voice and the gestures therein
help people stay engaged with the story he's trying to tell.
His audience can listen to him tell grim stories
for hours on end.
So let's take a look at a few clips from his videos
to get an understanding of what I'm talking about here.
- When she got there, the house was empty
so she just went inside.
She made her way to her bedroom
and she lied down in her bed to try to get some rest.
This horde was not having it.
They were only there to kill him.
And so they all have machetes and knives
and they're looking at him
through the bars and they say, "You know we're gonna
come in there, we're gonna cut you to pieces."
And so then they start banging on the door.
They're trying to hack the lock open
and Moah, he can't do anything.
- Quote, "As a storyteller, you must be fully committed.
A lot of the stuff I do on camera, I naturally do."
So the takeaway here is that the best thing you can do
for yourself is be yourself on camera.
And this won't happen overnight, by the way.
When you first get started using a camera
and or a microphone on your channel,
it's gonna kind of suck and you're going to need practice.
But my bonus tip for you right here
is that everyone's videos kind of suck
when they first start on YouTube.
All right, we're gonna talk about editing now
and this one's kind of interesting
because the general advice we like to give is
that you need to be adding a lot of pattern interrupts,
different clips and sound effects and things
like that to keep your video moving along
and keep the audience engaged.
A good rule of thumb is to change your visuals
in a video every four to six seconds to kind of
keep it from being monotonous.
However, in Alex's videos, you won't find a lot
of B-roll or transitions or fancy effects
that create these four to six second pattern interrupts.
Sound effects are actually the element that keep
viewers engaged in these videos.
It's the hammering, the sawing, and the crashing.
This all adds to the overall mood
that Alex is trying to create.
We give a lot of advice here on this channel
about the best practices for editing your videos.
We're always telling you to include these pattern interrupts
and use different techniques that keep the video
moving along.
However, certain types of content
on YouTube call for a different touch.
Alex's channel is a great example of this.
So besides just listening to us, be sure
that you're researching the different editing
techniques that people in your niche are actually using
on YouTube so that you can make videos
that that audience will respond to.
All right, so at this point
we've talked about channel focus,
we've talked about quality and editing,
but what about actually winning the click
in the first place?
Let's go into detail about titles and thumbnails
and this is the point where we're getting really close
to revealing the actual identity
of the creator we're talking about today.
So in this channel, we actually cover titles and thumbnails
quite a bit and right now I'll put one on the screen
in the form of a card that you can click for later.
However, on the screen right now
you can see a bunch of titles and thumbnails
that our mystery creator is using to great effect.
And these all spark a level of curiosity.
The titles and thumbnails compliment each other.
For example, this title says, "This statue will kill you,"
and we see the thumbnail is a red arrow pointing
at the statue.
We see Alex in the corner
of the video using a confused, shocked look on their face
to intensify the curiosity and win the click.
You'll also notice the outline he put around himself
to help separate him from the rest of the thumbnail.
All right, so enough games,
the channel we're looking at today is MrBallen,
and let me know in the comments if you got it right.
Their actual name is John Allen, a former Navy Seal.
They have over 6 million subscribers, as we've said
and one of the most popular true crime channels on YouTube.
They actually joined YouTube in 2015
but only started posting these true crime stories in 2020
and in just two years grew to over 2 billion total views.
And this year, MrBallen actually announced a non-profit
and the link is down below if you would like to learn more.
It's called the MrBallen Foundation.
It was created to honor victims
and support families affected by heinous crimes
through education, training, and financial support.
In this video, we covered a lot of different tactics
but we didn't really get into super detail.
So if you wanna learn more
about titles and thumbnails, for example,
you're gonna want to click this video here
where we go into a lot more depth.