A youtubers best story – no-one ever tells you this about starting YouTube! The ugly truth no one ever likes to admit in their advice for how to start a channel!
Don’t get me wrong, being a content creator is great! But if you are expecting huge you tube growth then it’s not all sunshine. The video in this article highlights a youtubers story revealing some home truths.
I don’t want to discourage you from starting YouTube because its good fun! But if you think it’s a quick, easy way to to get famous on youtube, then maybe its time for the ugly truth.
Starting YouTube
I decided to start a Youtube channel mid-summer 2017. I had already posted a video back in 2005 when YouTube first opened and it had 3000 views so I thought leaving this on the channel would help my ratings.
I finally got around to filming and editing my first video. I’ll admit it wasn’t the most riviting of topics, but, a place to start none-the-less. I uploaded the video and waited with baited breath.
By the time I was ready to upload the following weeks video, my first one had clocked in a total of 7 views. Of which, 3 were me checking the link to see if anyone had watched it. As you can imagine, I was very disappointed.
Whenever you read about starting YouTube, most talk as if it is expected to get a couple 100 views minimum. Some even suggest 1000 views per video as a standard.
Now i’m not sure if this was true in the past, or whether it is more favourable if you start a channel in America or else where. But as a new British channel based in England, this was a poor start.
I had however also read that it can take up to 2 years before your channel can get traction on your channel. Not that I want my channel to take that long, but I had commited (to myself) to uploading videos on a weekly basis. Anything less than this I figured would not allow any momentum.
My second video covered off a topic that had been playing on my mind for a while. Boarding a loft. I thought this was the perfect video to boost the channel and cover something that all home owners will need to face. I even researched a few other videos that were doing well, and titled my video appropriately.
I uploaded the video, and it did a lot better than the first one. However, 48 hours in, the views started to slow down after reaching 30.
Wow, when did YouTube get so tough. Why the hell did I wait so long to upload videos, if i had continued 10 years ago I would have been laughing (so I thought to myself).
YouTube Ten Years Ago
I posted my first video on YouTube a decade ago. My philosophy was completely different back then. Social media wasnt a big thing and the concept of sharing my media was not something I was super comfortable with.
I had spent 2 years working part time after uni so I could spend time writing songs of which I released approximately zero. Thats not 100% true as I did put 3 of them on MySpace (without download option) but once Myspace died, so did my sharing of content.
Moving forward to 2017 and I’m not sure anyone knows what privacy is. Even if they go out on date night they upload their photos to instagram and all their personal moments get shared immediately on facebook with all their close and distant friends and family.
Which brings me right back to video sharing. Vlogging didnt make sense before, but now, it is perfect for those who dont have someone to hold the camera for them. Yes it is a bit werid at first, but very quickly it can become addictive to the viewer if they relate to the person vlogging. Ever since the term “selfie” was invented, vlogging has been considered an acceptable behaviour.
Not Just Vlogs
After posting several videos about me going to parks and beaches, I had built a little bit of a following. I had at least 20 subscribers (or subs as YouTubers like to call them) and I felt I was doing well.
The problem was, after a few more of these, I reached a plateau. Both from a followers point, which was simply – I had already asked friends and peers to sign up.
The second was that the “trip to park” type videos had become less interesting to myself. A shame as I already had at least 2 more stacked up from my week off in August.
So I thought it would make sense to try a few different things. I really wanted to make a video go viral. I’m sure a lot of people would, but I thought it would help the channel out.
Going Viral
I made a short video under 2 minutes where I showcased some camera moves that combined fitness instead of expense. Seemed good to me.
To help give it a head start, I signed up to google adwords to give it extra push on that fateful first 24 hours. As I didnt want to break the bank I laid down a solid £5-10 on the advert and then off it went.
As you can imagine, this video accelerated a little faster, and within the week I had done over 300 views. The problem though remained the same. The organic views weren’t coming in any faster. The click through rate on the ad was slow and I had binned a fiver to get a few extra views faster.
Is there any way to fast gate YouTube? …probably not!
Tech Reviews
As winter started to draw nearer, I realised I needed to find a way to continue filming inside. Weather would prohibit me filming outside during this season and so I thought it would be perfect to start by reviewing a light. Luckily I had purchased the light earlier in the year specifically for filming.
I went through the review thoroughly and before I knew it I had nearly 45 minutes of review content. This was a real mission to reduce down. I finally got it down to 15 minutes and posted the video as a “thorough” review.
Did it get more views? Unfortunately not, all it did was alienate my current viewers, which were my friends and family. What it did do however, was open a new audience. I had 30 views that week. This was back to week 2 territory, but this was new people I didnt know and people genuinely interested in the light.
This was a good thing, it meant that I was finally hitting outside the friend base and to an audience.
Conclusion
This brings me to the end of the first 3 months as a content creator on YouTube. What could be any better than to post a summary video as a celebration.
At the time of writing, the video for this article went online about 5 days ago and has broken the back of 50 views. I also have had at least 3 new subscribes from watching this video. These are all baby steps but I feel as if I am being myself and reaching people that find my information valuable.
So at the end of it all, can I provide you with a short list of tips to start? Unfortunately I can’t say any one single thing has worked for me.
What I will say though, it helped knowing what I was going to film before making the video. This allowed me to be more organised and have a pitch in mind on how to promote the video and title rather than “a day at the park- part 2” – which I can assure you gets very low views.
As for next week, I’m all out of ideas so back to the standard vlog probably, but at least I know where I need to be going. Looks like it will be a long road ahead, good job I enjoy filming.
Your Thoughts
Hope you enjoyed this artlcie/video. This is my story, feedback and journey of the first 3 months on YouTube.
- Anyone else in a similar position?
- Do you have any advice that helped you break through?
If anyone else is in a similar position and would like to share some small youtubers advice then I would be very grateful!
See you in the next video!
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