Hi there guys,
I know there's a bunch of these stories out already. But here's mine, perhaps I can help a few of you guys with it. This is meant mostly for Gaming YouTubers. Keep in mind, I don't know the ins and outs of YouTube. I am not a professional nor an expert. This is simply my experience and the one purpose of this post is to help others.
My name is James and I have been making Gaming videos for the pasts year and a half now. I have spent about 80% of that time doing completely the wrong things. However, in the past two months I have gained about
500+ subscribers daily on average, which for a guy starting with 1K is insane.
So here's what helped me turn things around and skyrocket my channel.
One more thing to keep in mind: you cannot control everything. Sometimes channels explode and people cannot find an answer for why that happened. But I think I've got a good idea of what's going on right now.
The past
It took me
6 months and 11 days to reach my first 100 subscribers. Feel free to head over to my channel and watch some of my older videos. The audio quality, the video quality, the subject of the video, the commentary, the intro and outro - literally everything about it was just downright BAD. I just played whatever I felt like and didn't really think about it. Despite this, I managed to slowly crawl my way up to 1K, which took well over a year and nearly 200 videos.
The turning point
I always reached out to people for tips on how to be a better YouTuber. Every single time it came down to small, micromanaging things such as branding, an intro, whatever. Sure those are important quality factors that should be done correctly, but nothing helped me actually create an audience.
That's when I spoke to a good friend of mine, who unfortunately is no longer a content creator himself. But at the time, he gave me the most valuable tip I have ever been given.
"It is all about the games you play" he said.
I told him I was on the right track! Playing games like
GTA V and
Garry's Mod with friends. Boy, was I wrong. It's not about the quality of the game. It's about
trending. Things that are trending are incredibly important for us YouTubers. This applies not only to gaming, but to any form of content and genre!
So, if you're a gamer looking to grow on this magical platform:
play the right games. Sit down and research for hours. What new games are coming out? What games are popular? Which games are expected to become popular? What new updates are being made to popular games? What are people looking for (on YouTube)?
For me it happened with an indie game called
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. They released a new update and I tried to be one of the first to cover it on my channel.
I had a subject for the video, I showed that in title and thumbnail and I covered it clearly in the video. Back that up with standard quality points, such as audio/video/branding and you've got the complete package.
For example: a video with the title "tabs gaemplay episod #1" with a random screenshot will never get any real traffic. Why would it? Right underneath your video it says "THE DARK PEASANT VS 1000 PEASANTS". Yes, clickbait you may think. But the truth is, if it's in the video, emphasize it!
Make clear what's fun about your video so people are attracted to your channel. Have you ever seen a store go: "meh we sell TVs but they're nothing special"? Nooooooooo of course not. They probably sell "The best television for the money!" because that is what draws people's attention.
TL;DR: (1)
Trending games with an (2) interesting subject and a (3) clear message.
This requires creativity. And that is what YouTube is all about, creating entertainment.
Thank you for reading this and have fun making your channel a little bit better every day! There's so much more to YouTube, so perhaps I will be back with more. Of course I am still learning lots every day! Let me know any questions I will try to answer them ASAP. Thanks.
-James
ProjectJamesify on YouTube
