- Are you ready to start a YouTube channel?
Well, in this video,
we're talkin' about 10 things that you need to know
when you're starting out, and I'm not doing this alone.
I got my buddy, Nick Nimmin with me,
and we're gonna go through 10 things
that you need to know
when you're starting your YouTube channel right now.
(air whooshing)
So this video is part of a four part series
all about how to get
your first 1,000 subscribers on YouTube,
so I'm gonna put the full playlist
down in the description so you guys can check that out,
and I'll also add it to the end card
at the end of this video,
so make sure you've watched the entire playlist,
'cause there's a ton of info
for anyone who's starting out on YouTube.
Guys, if you're new here to this channel,
my name is Jeven Dovey, I do a lot of filmmaking tutorials,
product reviews, and I love helping other creators
find success on YouTube,
so make sure you hit that Subscribe button
and turn on those bell notifications
so you don't miss one of these videos.
All right, I don't wanna waste any of your time,
so let's just get right into the tips,
and I'm gonna start with number one,
and that is your content matters most.
So the worst thing that you could do
is focus on all of the strategy
and everything that goes into building a channel
before you figure out what kind of content
you're even gonna create.
So you really have to remember,
when you're on this YouTube journey,
you always have to come back to your content,
because the videos that you're creating
are what matter most,
and you need to be making sure that you're putting out
the best videos that you possibly can.
This is gonna be something that you're gonna grow over time.
Your video right now is gonna be very different
than the videos that you're producing a year from now,
two years from now.
If you look back at my first videos, they were awful,
but you have to go through that,
and each time you make a video,
just think about one thing that you could improve.
Audio, lighting, camera, one aspect,
and see how you can make it better in the next video.
All right, Nick, take it from here with tip number two.
- Thanks, Jeven.
So the second thing that you want to do
is you want to make sure that you pick a niche,
and you make content around that niche,
and the reason this is so important on YouTube
is because if you're putting out content
that is around a bunch of different topics,
then YouTube doesn't really get any clarity.
Their system doesn't really get any clarity
on who to actually show your content to.
Now of course, each video is kind of like
its own little universe, so to speak,
but it also works across your channel
when you're trying to build an audience,
and it also is important because,
let's say that you published a video today,
and that video is on one topic
that is a home run for the people that watch your videos,
and then you publish a video tomorrow
that is something that your subscriber base
didn't really subscribe to your channel for.
Well, what's going to happen
is when YouTube serves your content
to the people that didn't sign up for that type of content,
then they're gonna be less likely to click on it,
which is gonna hurt the click-through rate
on that particular video,
which is gonna hurt the performance of that video overall,
which is something that you don't want.
So let's put this into a real life situation,
let's say that you built the foundations
of your YouTube channel on camera gear,
and all the videos that you've been putting out
have been about camera gear,
and then you put out a video about fashion, as an example.
Well, what's gonna happen is YouTube is going
to try to show that fashion video initially
to a very small sample size of your subscribers,
and based on how they respond to it,
can dictate how that video's going to perform,
because they're gonna be less likely to click on it.
If they do click on it, they're gonna be less likely
to watch it, because fashion isn't what they subscribed
to your channel for, and it just might not be in alignment
with the interests that your viewers have, anyway.
So what you wanna do, is you wanna make sure
that with the content that you're putting out
that you are serving a particular group of people
with a specific type of content.
- So tip number three is you need to do keyword research,
and if you're wondering, what is a keyword,
it's basically what your content is about.
A keyword is that word or that phrase
that describes what that content is about,
and keyword research is basically going through
and figuring out keywords people are using to find content.
If you're not doing keyword research,
then you're essentially shooting in the dark.
You're just throwing darts blindly,
and you don't wanna be doing that.
You wanna make videos with a purpose,
and know that people out there
are searching for that specific keyword,
or for that specific phrase,
so a tool that I use is Keywords Everywhere.
This is a free extension,
and it just puts a little number
at the bottom of every search bar,
and it tells you the search volume for a specific keyword.
Another awesome way to do keyword research
is just start typing in YouTube.
As soon as you put in a few words,
YouTube's gonna show you a bunch of suggestions.
Those are all keywords that people are using,
and keyword phrases, so look at that
for ideas on videos that you can create.
Now, another awesome tool is TubeBuddy.
Both me and Nick use TubeBuddy,
it's an awesome tool with a ton of features
around keyword research,
so if you really wanna dive into this,
I highly suggest checking out TubeBuddy.
- Another thing you wanna keep in mind
when you're starting your YouTube channel
is that your first videos
are not gonna be that fantastic in most cases,
so the content that you're making right now,
when you watch that a year from now,
you're gonna look back, and you're gonna say to yourself,
oh my gosh, I can't even believe
that I put that on the internet,
but it's okay, because we all go through that.
It's part of the process, right?
So, it's just important to not beat yourself up too much,
and just keep uploading, because the more
that you upload content,
the better that you're going to be at making content.
- So one strategy to build your YouTube channel
is to get more videos on your YouTube channel,
and the reason for this, is the more videos
that are out there, the more opportunity
that someone is going to find your channel.
If you have a channel that has five videos
versus someone who has 50 videos,
then there's a much better chance
that a viewer is gonna find
that person's channel with 50 videos.
However, I say this with caution,
because I don't want you to go through
and just start pumping out videos
without actually focusing on the content.
Remember the first thing that I said?
Content is what matters most,
so when it comes to putting out more videos,
you need to first figure out videos
that captivate your audience,
that keep people watching from beginning to end.
You want to make sure that your audience retention
is high on each video, and once you can figure that out,
then you need to set up a schedule.
Once a week, I highly suggest starting with once a week,
and then, once you really get the flow and you get going,
you can start doing more than once a week.
That's how you're gonna build up this library of videos.
You gotta start with your content,
you gotta get consistent, and then you can start
pumpin' out more and more videos
once you know what works,
and once you know what is gonna captivate your audience
and keep your audience watching your videos.
- Community on YouTube is also extremely important.
So, a lot of people,
when they're first starting out on YouTube,
and they're trying to get that first 1,000 subscribers,
all they're thinking about is,
I need to collaborate with a big channel
so that I can get a shout-out,
so that I can get featured in a video
or something like that, but it's more important
to actually start networking with people
that are already in your space
that are around the same size as you are
so that you can come up together,
because YouTube is a community environment,
and what you wanna do
is you want to start networking with everybody,
but you also wanna network with people
that are around your same size
so that as you're going through this process,
as you're learning how to use your stats,
as you're learning what works,
and what doesn't work in your content,
you can share that information with others
that are around your same size,
or that are on the same mission as you are,
so one, you can create those friendships,
and two, so that you can learn
and grow together here on YouTube,
which brings us to the next point, competition.
- So let's talk about the competition
in your specific niche.
Now, there's a couple ways to think about this.
You can think that the other creators
that are creating similar content are competitors.
They are the other people
that are taking viewers away from your channel.
However, YouTube's a little bit different.
YouTube is a community, so I don't think
of all these people as competitors.
I think the biggest competitor is you, and only you,
because you're the only person who's gonna stop you
from making content, stop you from moving forward,
whereas all these other people in your niche,
they're great people to pay attention to.
See what's working on their channel,
and use that information to help you grow your channel.
I wouldn't be worried if there's more people in your niche
because that means that there's more people out there
who are interested in that content.
If we were worried about competition,
me and Nick wouldn't be doing a collab together right now,
and I think that's one of the coolest things
about YouTube in general, is that all of us
are in this together, we love working together.
Collab-ing is a huge thing that you can do on the platform,
and it's a great way to propel your channel,
but you gotta not psych yourself out,
and you gotta not push yourself down,
and not create content because you're so worried
about what other people are doing.
Stop worrying about all that noise that's going on,
focus on those tactics that will grow your channel,
and use those people around you as information
on what's working, and what's not working
in your particular niche.
- Another thing that's important to remember
when you are trying to get
your first 1,000 subscribers on YouTube,
or actually any amount of subscribers on YouTube,
is that there are ups and downs.
So, sometimes you're gonna put out a video,
and it's gonna rock, and you're gonna be like,
oh, guys, this is amazing,
and then you're gonna put out one after,
and it's gonna flop, and you're gonna say to yourself,
oh my gosh, I did the same stuff, what's goin' on,
why is this not doing well?
But it's just part of the ups and downs,
and the same thing happens with your stats overall,
like sometimes, you're gonna have a few months
where you're up, a few months where you're down.
Sometimes you're gonna climb for awhile,
and then you're just gonna start fallin' off,
and you're gonna start freakin' out, right?
Don't freak out, embrace it.
Try to figure out why things aren't going well
at that particular time, but don't freak out,
it's part of the process.
You'll come back up as long as
you keep making great content,
which is what Jeven referred to in option number one,
and the reason that
that's so important to understand
is because sometimes your videos
could get connected next to a very powerful video
that's sending you a ton of suggested traffic,
and then another video comes in,
and they end up bumping you out of that spot,
or that video loses its juice,
and then they're not able to transfer that juice
to your videos and so on,
which can negatively affect what's goin' on with you,
and it might not even be anything that you've done,
so because of that,
it's important to just embrace the ups and downs
instead of stressing out about them.
- All right, tip number nine is that you need to start
with what you have.
Don't worry about this camera,
don't worry about my audio, my lighting.
You don't need to worry about what I'm doing.
You need to focus on what kind of cameras
do you have to work with right now.
If it's just your phone, and that's all you have,
then start with your phone, because what you use
to shoot on is not as important as what you're shooting.
Content is king, focus on your content,
just start shooting with what you have right now.
- Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to YouTube
is that it's in a constant state of change,
so sometimes they're adding features,
sometimes they're taking features away,
sometimes they're doing things to benefit the creators,
sometimes they're doing things
to benefit the advertisers,
or the users of the platform,
so just know that there's always changes taking place here,
and try as much as you possibly can
to not get caught up in the hype,
because there's a ton of opportunity here on YouTube
that you can tap into, and you don't want
any of the YouTube changes to cloud your vision
of the opportunities that can come from
being a content creator here on YouTube.
To learn even more about getting started on YouTube
and to continue on with this series,
make sure that you click on this video right here,
this is gonna take you over to my channel,
where you can watch the next video in the series.