Struggling to get more views and subscribers? Here are 6 reasons why
your YouTube channel sucks and how to fix it. Number one, you're not targeting the right
audience. YouTube says that the algorithm follows the audience, so if you're not attracting many
views and subscribers on your videos, it means you're not targeting the right audience. For
example, if you're trying to appeal to a very broad audience so you can appeal to everyone,
you'll probably appeal to only a few people. My recommendation is to narrow your niche so
you'll attract a specific segment of your broad audience. They'll be more committed to watching
your videos. For example, if the majority of your videos on your channel are about dog training,
focus on creating a series of videos on a specific breed of dog. If you do this,
you'll attract a specific audience that is more motivated to watch your videos.
What do you suck at the most on YouTube? Post your answer in the comments below.
Another thing you can do to target the right audience is to survey your audience
on YouTube. You can add a poll to a Community tab. If you have an email list, pull your list,
look for recurring questions that are posted in the comments, or study the comments of
your competitors' videos, and look for those recurring questions. Keep in mind a question
that pops up in the comments is probably the same question that many people are asking.
Number two, your thumbnail sucks. If you get a little click-through rate on your thumbnails,
it means that people are seeing your thumbnails in the search engines or on YouTube, but they're not
clicking on it to watch the video. Here are some things you can do to improve the click-through
rate of your thumbnails. Study the thumbnails of your competitors' videos that are getting a ton
of views and make a similar thumbnail. Don't copy the thumbnail but incorporate the same elements
into your own thumbnail. Keep in mind the title on thumbnail should work together to win the click,
but don't place the same title in your thumbnail. Use contrasting colors,
bold text, and a few words or no words at all. Including your face on a thumbnail also helps
you win the click, so try different expressions in each different thumbnail. Happy faces tend
to do better than sad faces. Remember this, the thumbnail is the first thing viewers see in the
search engines on suggested videos which appear on the right side of the watch page or the videos
that appear on the home screen. Your thumbnail has to stand out from your competitors, so before you
make a thumbnail, try to look at your competitors' thumbnails, then make a different design.
Another important reminder is to make your thumbnail before you record your content.
You don't want to upload your thumbnail as an afterthought because you're not going to
invest much time into the design. If you create your thumbnail before recording your content,
you'll come up with a much better design than if you created a design
after you finished recording your content. Number three, your audience retention sucks.
If you want to get your videos recommended by YouTube, you need to keep your viewers
engaged throughout your video. YouTube's goal is to keep viewers on that YouTube platform
as long as possible, therefore, you need to keep viewers engaged throughout your video,
as well as keep them watching more videos in a row so they'll stay longer on the YouTube platform.
If you do this, there's a higher chance of your videos being recommended by YouTube.
Here are some things you can do to boost the retention rate of YouTube videos. Grab the
attention of the viewers in the first 30 seconds. You can do this by asking a question, making a
bold statement, or doing something entertaining. If you get a retention rate of 70% in the first
30 seconds of your video, it's more likely your viewers will watch the rest of the video.
Reset the attention of the viewers every few seconds. Viewers these days have the attention
of mosquito, therefore, you want to reset the attention of your viewers every few seconds to
keep their attention throughout the video. You can do this by adding motion graphics,
transitions, adding text, or even changing positions.
Another thing you can do is pace yourself throughout the video. Instead of talking fast,
you can slow down your speech, then continue. I also recommend smiling before you hit record
because it helps your viewers to relax and makes it easy for them to consume your content. Track
the performance of your videos in YouTube analytics. Click on the Engagement tab in
YouTube analytics to see the key moments for audience retention for a specific video. You'll
be able to see how many people are still watching a video at the 30-second mark, top
moments of audience retention, dips, and spikes. The dips in your audience retention graph means
that people are losing interest and bailing your video. Perhaps this is where you're waffling or
repeating yourself in your video. When you upload your next video, try to eliminate those dips.
Spikes in your audience retention graph means that people are very interested in what you have
to say or are re-watching that particular part of the video. Try to aim for an average percentage
viewed of 50% or more for each video you upload. The higher the retention, the higher probability
your video will be recommended by YouTube. Number four, you're not uploading consistently
or often enough. The main reason I was able to achieve 100,000
subscribers recently was that I was uploading new videos every week for several years. For several
years, I was uploading three videos a week, two regular videos, and a live stream every
Friday. I only recommend this if it fits into your life schedule and doesn't stress you out.
Recently, YouTube introduced Shorts, and these typically get a ton of views. If you want to
increase your upload schedule to two times per week, you could make one regular video and one
Shorts video. The main thing is to be consistent with your uploads, so you upload at the same day
and time every week so your viewers will know when your video is ready to be released. Your
goal is to keep viewers return to watch more of your videos so you can build up a
strong fan base that watches your videos. Number five, don't just focus on search.
For many years, I just focused on ranking my videos for specific search terms. The
beauty of the strategy is that my videos would rank on YouTube, Google, or both,
and will be evergreen content. Videos that I uploaded years ago still rank on the first page of
Google and YouTube. As a result, these videos help grow my channel day after day, week after week,
year after year. If you have a small channel, I highly recommend using a search-based strategy so
you can build up a core audience on your channel. YouTube says that 70% of all traffic on YouTube
comes from suggested videos. These are the videos that appear on the right side of the watch page of
the video that the viewer is watching. To get your videos suggested by YouTube, you need to create a
catchy title, a clickable thumbnail, and get a high engagement on YouTube videos. Rewatch the
beginning of this video to learn how to do this. People often ask, "Why do my videos stop getting
views a few days after I've uploaded the video?" When you first upload a video,
YouTube exposes that video to a small audience. If that audience likes a video,
they'll recommend that video to more people, and you'll get more views. If that audience doesn't
like the content of your video or there's too many competitors targeting the same content,
you'll see a decrease in views for that video. The best thing to do is to move on and create
another video that your audience wants to watch. Number six, you haven't customized your channel
homepage. Your channel homepage is the first thing viewers see when they come across your
channel. You only have a few seconds to grab their attention and motivate them to check out
the videos on your channel. You can do this by uploading an attractive channel banner,
a channel trailer, and adding sections containing playlists to your channel
homepage. Your channel banner should encapsulate the content of your channel in just a few words,
For example, the value proposition on my channel banner is grow your audience with video. Your
channel trailer should outline the benefits of subscribing to your channel because it will be
viewed by non-subscribers. Alternatively, place your most popular video in the spot because it's
already been proven to attract a lot of traffic. The rest of your channel homepage should contain
sections of your most popular playlists. Place your most popular playlist at the
top of YouTube channel homepage and your most popular video at the beginning of that playlist.
When a viewer watches the first video in the playlist, they'll more likely watch related
videos that are in the same playlist. When a viewer binge watches multiple videos in a row,
it increases the probability of your videos being recommended by YouTube.
I also recommend writing a summary of what your channel is all about on your About page.
You can also add up to five links to your About page that will appear on your channel banner.
Having a nicely designed channel homepage will invite more viewers to check out your
videos and convert them into subscribers. The benefit of converting more viewers into
subscribers is that subscribers are usually the first ones that watch your videos. This
drives a few velocity of your videos in the first 24 to 48 hours of them being uploaded.
Let me ask you a question. What if you could immediately boost the views on the YouTube
channel? Watch this video on the screen right now for five ways to immediately
boost the views for videos you've already published on YouTube. You'll be glad you did.