I, like many YouTube channels out there, started my channel not knowing a single thing about how videos were made, what good presentation looks like, or how YouTube works. However, through the lessons I learned from experience and advice from other YouTubers, I have picked up a lot of good tips and tricks since I started. So without further ado, let's get into some advice:
Planning:
This seems like a step that wouldn't be that difficult to figure out, but even I hadn't done it when I first started my channel. When you are starting a channel the first things you should do before even uploading a video are getting high quality graphics for your channel such as channel art and icon. Another good thing to do before uploading any videos is doing some practice videos. Just make a video with the intention of uploading, but show it to some of your friends or family to get their opinions. Take any advice they give you and work until you are satisfied with the product.If you have already started a channel, you still can upgrade your graphics and improve your content quality. You will notice that if you didn't do this before starting your channel, you will go back to your first videos and cringe. The last thing that would fall under the category of planning is figuring out your channel's direction and target audiences. You want to make sure that your channel is built around a common topic and consists of similarly presented videos. This leads into the next topic which is organization.
Organization:
I see channel after channel that can't seem to stick to a single type of video or a few similar types of videos. If you want people to come back to your channel, it is a must to settle on one type of video to create. For example, I have decided that my channel's focus is going to be Pokemon top 5 and theory videos, which has been my focus for a great majority of my channel's existence. You also want to set an uploading schedule so that people know when to come back or expect new videos from you. On my channel, I upload a top 5 or theory video every Friday at around 2:30 PM EST, and people come back every Friday expecting a new theory or top 5 video. They know what they're signing up for. I do have let's plays on my channel, but I am going to be moving them to a second channel soon because they seem to distract from my main content.
Mindset:
It seems like there are so many small YouTubers out there who are concerned more about their stats than their content quality. I tend to consider myself a statistics man myself, but at some point you have to stop worrying about getting more subscribers and focus on improving your content. You can have the best optimized video for search engines, but if the quality isn't good, you aren't going to build your audience. Instead of focusing on how to get more subscribers or more views, focus on how you can make your videos better. When you change to that mindset, you will notice that the views and subscribers will come with time and improvement. This is not to say that gaining subscribers and viewers is a bad thing, but only focusing on that will not get you anywhere.
Production Quality:
In relation to the last topic, ways to improve your quality include upgrades in equipment, improvement in editing techniques, and optimization of equipment. I am not saying that you have to go out and buy a $1000 camera or a $600 microphone, but just investing maybe $100 in video equipment is definitely worth it. I have probably only invested about $200 in video equipment, and I have already earned most of that back from my videos or trading in old equipment. It's easy to say, "I would be so much better off with [INSERT ITEM HERE], but I don't have the money." You don't really need to invest all that much to make good quality content. I use a $100 mic, a $10 pop filter, and a $75 webcam, and that's all the equipment I need to produce the content that my viewers enjoy. You just need to work with what you have and upgrade when you can. Another thing you can do to improve your videos is editing well. I can't tell you how many videos I have seen with low resolution images with no transition, and it really bugs me. I am not saying that you have to be an expert with movie grade video editing software, but at least use something like Sony Vegas, Camtasia, or Adobe Premier to edit your videos in a clean manner.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO if you will, is a rather long topic that I could cover in a separate post of the same length as this entire one, but I am going to try to condense it to the very basics of SEO. Basically, making sure you have a catchy title, description and tags built around the title, and a good, eye-catching thumbnail are the main parts of SEO. For example, I made a video about some of the unsolved and solved mysteries from when Pokemon X and Y came out. The title of the video was "Pokemon X and Y Mysteries: Solve and Unsolved". Because YouTube weights the first two lines of the description for the first week of the video being uploaded, you want to fill those lines with words in or relating to the title to maximize its value in the search engine. The way I use my first two lines is just write out the title of the video in the description, and then post information describing the video such as what I did for my Pokemon X and Y video:."This video covers mysteries from Pokemon X and Y and I do solve some of the previously unsolved Pokemon X and Y mysteries." Then tagging is pretty easy because all you really need to do is write the title of your video in as many ways as you can think of, and then add your channel name so that you get your videos in your own suggested video section. Making a thumbnail that accurately depicts what the video is about and also makes you want to click on the video is also key because that is the main reason people click on videos in the search results. That's all I am going to say about SEO for now, but there is a lot more about it than this, so feel free to do your own research.
Stay Away From Sub4Sub and Stuff Like it:
When you are first starting a channel, you may think that sub4sub is a good thing because you are gaining subscribers, but what it really does is just show a number of subscribers that doesn't accurately depict the size of your audience. I once saw a channel that had 1,500 subscribers, but their most popular video only had 600 views. It's something that really turns me away from a channel when I see something like that. Sometimes people honestly have just really inactive subscribers, but it really is obvious sometimes. The reason I say that sub4sub is so bad is because you are just getting subscribers that are going to be inactive. I will admit that I tried it for a short amount of time, but I found it to be really dishonest, so I stopped shortly after starting. Other things that I highly suggest staying away from are posting comments or sending PMs, even if done in the most polite way, that say "Check out my channel" or "Check out this video". THOSE ARE SPAM! Honestly, nobody likes spam, and if your viewers find out that you are posting stuff like that, they will either unsubscribe, stop watching you, or have a lower opinion of you because of it.
Understanding Reality:
Something else that I notice is that there are tons of channels complaining about how they aren't getting views, subscribers, etc. when they don't work on the topics provided above. However, once you do use the topics you have to accept the fact that you're not going to go from 100 to 50,000 subscribers in a month unless you are really lucky. Your channel will definitely grow slowly in the beginning, but what you can do to speed up that process is find friends through forums or searching for similar YouTube channels, and cross-promote and collaborate together. That way, you introduce yourself to another audience while helping introduce your friend(s) to your audience. Even with these techniques, you shouldn't expect to become a sensation in a short amount of time.
Staying Positive:
So you have implemented all of the factors I have posted, done more research to figure out what you can do to get the best results, and you still are not getting much better results. This is a real possibility, honestly, but you just have to be patient and stay positive until you get your big break. I have been making videos on my channel since December of 2013, and I definitely started out growing very slowly. The early stages of your YouTube channel will probably be the hardest because it will seem like you aren't getting any recognition for the hard work you put in, but you just have to wait it out until you get your breakout video, which leads into my final point.
Breakout Video:
The topic I want to end this on is the breakout video. We all have seen viral videos that are a one hit wonder, but what I am talking about is a video of yours that just so happens to blow up and attract a large audience to your channel. For me it was my X and Y Mystery video which currently has about 48,000 views, and now it is a video discussing which Pokemon game will come next at about 5,500 views in just over a month. Now, obviously you don't have control over which one of your videos will become that breakout video, but you just have to make every video like it will be that breakout video. Some ways that I have found to help raise the chances of any of your videos becoming a break out video is posting them on places like Reddit and Memebase, but do it in a way that it relates to the subreddit or section of memebase that you post it to. One of my friends posted a video to Pokememes and got 7,000 views in a week from that video.
That's all the advice I have for now. I know this post was really long, but there are a lot of things that I have wanted to say for a long time. I hope that someone found this helpful, and good luck with all of your channels.
Planning:
This seems like a step that wouldn't be that difficult to figure out, but even I hadn't done it when I first started my channel. When you are starting a channel the first things you should do before even uploading a video are getting high quality graphics for your channel such as channel art and icon. Another good thing to do before uploading any videos is doing some practice videos. Just make a video with the intention of uploading, but show it to some of your friends or family to get their opinions. Take any advice they give you and work until you are satisfied with the product.If you have already started a channel, you still can upgrade your graphics and improve your content quality. You will notice that if you didn't do this before starting your channel, you will go back to your first videos and cringe. The last thing that would fall under the category of planning is figuring out your channel's direction and target audiences. You want to make sure that your channel is built around a common topic and consists of similarly presented videos. This leads into the next topic which is organization.
Organization:
I see channel after channel that can't seem to stick to a single type of video or a few similar types of videos. If you want people to come back to your channel, it is a must to settle on one type of video to create. For example, I have decided that my channel's focus is going to be Pokemon top 5 and theory videos, which has been my focus for a great majority of my channel's existence. You also want to set an uploading schedule so that people know when to come back or expect new videos from you. On my channel, I upload a top 5 or theory video every Friday at around 2:30 PM EST, and people come back every Friday expecting a new theory or top 5 video. They know what they're signing up for. I do have let's plays on my channel, but I am going to be moving them to a second channel soon because they seem to distract from my main content.
Mindset:
It seems like there are so many small YouTubers out there who are concerned more about their stats than their content quality. I tend to consider myself a statistics man myself, but at some point you have to stop worrying about getting more subscribers and focus on improving your content. You can have the best optimized video for search engines, but if the quality isn't good, you aren't going to build your audience. Instead of focusing on how to get more subscribers or more views, focus on how you can make your videos better. When you change to that mindset, you will notice that the views and subscribers will come with time and improvement. This is not to say that gaining subscribers and viewers is a bad thing, but only focusing on that will not get you anywhere.
Production Quality:
In relation to the last topic, ways to improve your quality include upgrades in equipment, improvement in editing techniques, and optimization of equipment. I am not saying that you have to go out and buy a $1000 camera or a $600 microphone, but just investing maybe $100 in video equipment is definitely worth it. I have probably only invested about $200 in video equipment, and I have already earned most of that back from my videos or trading in old equipment. It's easy to say, "I would be so much better off with [INSERT ITEM HERE], but I don't have the money." You don't really need to invest all that much to make good quality content. I use a $100 mic, a $10 pop filter, and a $75 webcam, and that's all the equipment I need to produce the content that my viewers enjoy. You just need to work with what you have and upgrade when you can. Another thing you can do to improve your videos is editing well. I can't tell you how many videos I have seen with low resolution images with no transition, and it really bugs me. I am not saying that you have to be an expert with movie grade video editing software, but at least use something like Sony Vegas, Camtasia, or Adobe Premier to edit your videos in a clean manner.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO if you will, is a rather long topic that I could cover in a separate post of the same length as this entire one, but I am going to try to condense it to the very basics of SEO. Basically, making sure you have a catchy title, description and tags built around the title, and a good, eye-catching thumbnail are the main parts of SEO. For example, I made a video about some of the unsolved and solved mysteries from when Pokemon X and Y came out. The title of the video was "Pokemon X and Y Mysteries: Solve and Unsolved". Because YouTube weights the first two lines of the description for the first week of the video being uploaded, you want to fill those lines with words in or relating to the title to maximize its value in the search engine. The way I use my first two lines is just write out the title of the video in the description, and then post information describing the video such as what I did for my Pokemon X and Y video:."This video covers mysteries from Pokemon X and Y and I do solve some of the previously unsolved Pokemon X and Y mysteries." Then tagging is pretty easy because all you really need to do is write the title of your video in as many ways as you can think of, and then add your channel name so that you get your videos in your own suggested video section. Making a thumbnail that accurately depicts what the video is about and also makes you want to click on the video is also key because that is the main reason people click on videos in the search results. That's all I am going to say about SEO for now, but there is a lot more about it than this, so feel free to do your own research.
Stay Away From Sub4Sub and Stuff Like it:
When you are first starting a channel, you may think that sub4sub is a good thing because you are gaining subscribers, but what it really does is just show a number of subscribers that doesn't accurately depict the size of your audience. I once saw a channel that had 1,500 subscribers, but their most popular video only had 600 views. It's something that really turns me away from a channel when I see something like that. Sometimes people honestly have just really inactive subscribers, but it really is obvious sometimes. The reason I say that sub4sub is so bad is because you are just getting subscribers that are going to be inactive. I will admit that I tried it for a short amount of time, but I found it to be really dishonest, so I stopped shortly after starting. Other things that I highly suggest staying away from are posting comments or sending PMs, even if done in the most polite way, that say "Check out my channel" or "Check out this video". THOSE ARE SPAM! Honestly, nobody likes spam, and if your viewers find out that you are posting stuff like that, they will either unsubscribe, stop watching you, or have a lower opinion of you because of it.
Understanding Reality:
Something else that I notice is that there are tons of channels complaining about how they aren't getting views, subscribers, etc. when they don't work on the topics provided above. However, once you do use the topics you have to accept the fact that you're not going to go from 100 to 50,000 subscribers in a month unless you are really lucky. Your channel will definitely grow slowly in the beginning, but what you can do to speed up that process is find friends through forums or searching for similar YouTube channels, and cross-promote and collaborate together. That way, you introduce yourself to another audience while helping introduce your friend(s) to your audience. Even with these techniques, you shouldn't expect to become a sensation in a short amount of time.
Staying Positive:
So you have implemented all of the factors I have posted, done more research to figure out what you can do to get the best results, and you still are not getting much better results. This is a real possibility, honestly, but you just have to be patient and stay positive until you get your big break. I have been making videos on my channel since December of 2013, and I definitely started out growing very slowly. The early stages of your YouTube channel will probably be the hardest because it will seem like you aren't getting any recognition for the hard work you put in, but you just have to wait it out until you get your breakout video, which leads into my final point.
Breakout Video:
The topic I want to end this on is the breakout video. We all have seen viral videos that are a one hit wonder, but what I am talking about is a video of yours that just so happens to blow up and attract a large audience to your channel. For me it was my X and Y Mystery video which currently has about 48,000 views, and now it is a video discussing which Pokemon game will come next at about 5,500 views in just over a month. Now, obviously you don't have control over which one of your videos will become that breakout video, but you just have to make every video like it will be that breakout video. Some ways that I have found to help raise the chances of any of your videos becoming a break out video is posting them on places like Reddit and Memebase, but do it in a way that it relates to the subreddit or section of memebase that you post it to. One of my friends posted a video to Pokememes and got 7,000 views in a week from that video.
That's all the advice I have for now. I know this post was really long, but there are a lot of things that I have wanted to say for a long time. I hope that someone found this helpful, and good luck with all of your channels.
I will definitely be following this in the future 
So yes, patience and staying positive are key! 
) But we all gotta go through that before we realize the true challenge of it.
