Advice on how to grow my channel?

[delstacy24]

One thing I'd probably mention. Put some effort into your YT channel page, nice background but thats all thats there.

I have always wondered how important that really is? It seems to me that nobody is even going to bother looking at your channel unless they have seen at least one of your videos and were impressed by it. So if I am wrong about this please explain why.

 

[ghostlyrich]

I have always wondered how important that really is? It seems to me that nobody is even going to bother looking at your channel unless they have seen at least one of your videos and were impressed by it. So if I am wrong about this please explain why.

if they click on your video and then say wow! this guys cool! and click on your channel and you got a wicked channel background that looks pro there's more chances of a sub dress to impress my friend

 

[delstacy24]

if they click on your video and then say wow! this guys cool! and click on your channel and you got a wicked channel background that looks pro there's more chances of a sub dress to impress my friend

Could be, and I will work on my channel a bit when I get chance, just in case. Truth is though, I haven't been to all that many people's channels. So far when I see a video I like I tend to click on the button above the video that takes me to their other videos. Perhaps I need to expand my horizons, I don't know.

 

[thecomputertips]

go to network website they usually have forums, create an account and post in their video review sections

 

[RadiiatedAtec]

Well it was nothing I had control over. I was just plodding along making videos. Someone more popular would find my channel and they'd mention it in their next video, and boom, all of a sudden I'd get a stack of subscribers. It's nice when it happens, but it doesn't happen often. The first time was probably about 5-6 months after I created my channel.
Like these other guys say, maybe "network" with others that have similar videos - comment on their uploads, etc. Maybe they'll like your videos and spread the news.

Oh, the other thing I noticed is when a popular YouTuber likes one of your videos, it shows up in his subscriber Feed (if he has it enabled). So once or twice I've noticed a spike in comments and subscribers and found out it was due to a popular YouTuber "liking" one of my videos and his subscribers saw the Like in his history and decided to have a look.

that does make sense i guess. how big where these youtubers who gave you the shoutouts and liked your vidoes etc?[DOUBLEPOST=1351243696,1351243618][/DOUBLEPOST]

go to network website they usually have forums, create an account and post in their video review sections

ok thankyou!

 

[Discern4]

how big where these youtubers who gave you the shoutouts and liked your vidoes etc?

A couple had around 500 subscribers or less. The biggest one had about 18,000, and from that shoutout I got something like 700 subscribers. So really I just got lucky. That particular guy makes it a habit to shout-out various starter channels that have similar content to his own - so a lot of people have been helped by him. It was then I realised the difference a shoutout can make. Even the small shoutouts have been such an immense help and I'm really grateful. It really is difficult getting views on YouTube these days because there's simply so many people uploading stuff.
As for someone "liking" my video, one guy that did that had some 20,000 subscribers. He was one of those bigwig guys in my niche that I never thought would see my videos. All of a sudden I got like 20-30 new subscribers overnight and I couldn't figure out why till I saw that guy had "liked" it and it was showing in his feed.

It looks like you've only had your channel going for a couple months, so you really shouldn't be too disappointed. The amount of subs you have at the moment is probably about the same I had at the time.

 

[RadiiatedAtec]

A couple had around 500 subscribers or less. The biggest one had about 18,000, and from that shoutout I got something like 700 subscribers. So really I just got lucky. That particular guy makes it a habit to shout-out various starter channels that have similar content to his own - so a lot of people have been helped by him. It was then I realised the difference a shoutout can make. Even the small shoutouts have been such an immense help and I'm really grateful. It really is difficult getting views on YouTube these days because there's simply so many people uploading stuff.
As for someone "liking" my video, one guy that did that had some 20,000 subscribers. He was one of those bigwig guys in my niche that I never thought would see my videos. All of a sudden I got like 20-30 new subscribers overnight and I couldn't figure out why till I saw that guy had "liked" it and it was showing in his feed.

It looks like you've only had your channel going for a couple months, so you really shouldn't be too disappointed. The amount of subs you have at the moment is probably about the same I had at the time.

oh well congratulations i guess! i guess i'll just have to keep going at it, well done and good luck in your future!

 

[Discern4]

As for something you can personally do to help your channel, I would recommend trying TubeToolbox.

This is a program that automates certain tasks with YouTube like sending messages, and it IS legit. If you use it properly, you will get genuine subscribers that are interested in your videos and your views will definitely increase. Of course, this all depends on how interesting your videos are to your target audience.

It's not a free program, but it looks like at the moment you can try it for a week for $2. I bought a subscription a while back. I've only used it twice but it gave me hundreds of hits and a healthy dose of subscribers.

This is how it works:

You tell the program which videos on YouTube have similar content to you, (or you tell it which videos have the kind of viewers you are after) and it will make a list of all the users that have commented on those videos.

So essentially it's making a list of people that would likely be interested in your videos.

Then it lets you send a message to those viewers and attach one of your videos. You just write a message saying something like "Hi, if you're interested in ______ then please check out this video. If this is not for you, please ignore this message!" Of course, you can promote your video a bit in the message to make it sound attractive (don't lie!), but be mindful that not everyone wants to receive such messages, so be polite.

TubeToolbox will then automatically send the message to the people on your targeted list. In order to comply with YouTube it will only send a certain amount of messages per hour (I think it's about 30 messages an hour).

I just let it run day and night for about 3 days and watched my inbox grow with new subscibers and comments. Again the reason its effective is because you're targeting people that are *already* interested in your type of video. This program just helps you get the exposure to that audience. If you use it wisely, I don't believe it's any more 'spammy' than posting your video on a forum dedicated to your particular interest. Except with TubeToolbox your video gets exposed to a lot more like-minded people.
I actually had people thank me for sending them a message. And I had people tell me to F-off. The majority of people were fine, but about 5% were really rude. So be prepared for some jerks that can't simply delete your message and move on.

As I say, I've only used it twice. I don't want to abuse it and lose respect from my viewers. But once or twice when you really need a boost it can certainly help. Especially when its so difficult these days to stand out in the YouTube crowd.

 

[RadiiatedAtec]

As for something you can personally do to help your channel, I would recommend trying TubeToolbox.

This is a program that automates certain tasks with YouTube like sending messages, and it IS legit. If you use it properly, you will get genuine subscribers that are interested in your videos and your views will definitely increase. Of course, this all depends on how interesting your videos are to your target audience.

It's not a free program, but it looks like at the moment you can try it for a week for $2. I bought a subscription a while back. I've only used it twice but it gave me hundreds of hits and a healthy dose of subscribers.

This is how it works:

You tell the program which videos on YouTube have similar content to you, (or you tell it which videos have the kind of viewers you are after) and it will make a list of all the users that have commented on those videos.

So essentially it's making a list of people that would likely be interested in your videos.

Then it lets you send a message to those viewers and attach one of your videos. You just write a message saying something like "Hi, if you're interested in ______ then please check out this video. If this is not for you, please ignore this message!" Of course, you can promote your video a bit in the message to make it sound attractive (don't lie!), but be mindful that not everyone wants to receive such messages, so be polite.

TubeToolbox will then automatically send the message to the people on your targeted list. In order to comply with YouTube it will only send a certain amount of messages per hour (I think it's about 30 messages an hour).

I just let it run day and night for about 3 days and watched my inbox grow with new subscibers and comments. Again the reason its effective is because you're targeting people that are *already* interested in your type of video. This program just helps you get the exposure to that audience. If you use it wisely, I don't believe it's any more 'spammy' than posting your video on a forum dedicated to your particular interest. Except with TubeToolbox your video gets exposed to a lot more like-minded people.
I actually had people thank me for sending them a message. And I had people tell me to F-off. The majority of people were fine, but about 5% were really rude. So be prepared for some jerks that can't simply delete your message and move on.

As I say, I've only used it twice. I don't want to abuse it and lose respect from my viewers. But once or twice when you really need a boost it can certainly help. Especially when its so difficult these days to stand out in the YouTube crowd.

It sounds like a good idea but as you said, I don't want to be spamming people because it can be quite annoying :/

 

[Discern4]

Now and again I get a message in my inbox asking me to check out someone's video but it's usually not my interest, so I just delete it (and I understand they're just trying to promote their channel, so it doesn't bother me at all). Though if someone sent me a video that was similar content to my channel, then there's a good chance I'd check them out. When you target the right audience with your message, most people don't seem to mind as long as you only do it rarely.

But I have another idea for you if you're not comfortable sending messages:

Have you signed up with Google AdWords? Before you think "it's too expensive", I'm not saying to actually buy ads. My idea is just to sign up and connect it to your YouTube channel. When you create an AdWords account they will want you to connect it to a YouTube channel so that you can promote your videos. Go as far as doing all that and having everything set up (you might have to set up credit card info, etc), and perhaps go as far as creating an ad for your video. But don't actually pay for anything. Just let it sit there.
AdWords will do a promotion now and again and offer things like a $100 voucher to put towards ads. They seem to send them out when they see that you're not using their service. I signed up with them and did a little promoting but the results weren't really great, so I stopped using it. Since I stopped using it, they've sent me two $100 vouchers over the past 18 months. The second one I got just recently, but I never actually cashed it in so it's expired. If it was still valid I could've given it to you lol

You may even be able to find additional vouchers on the net if you do a search.

I would not recommend sinking money into AdWords as your bang for buck is awful compared to the targeted marketing you can do with TubeToolbox. But if you're able to obtain a voucher somehow, then you might as well take advantage of it.