It took me a little less then 7 months but I finally hit 1,000K subscribers! This forum really helped me in a lot of ways to get to where I am & as a thank you I wanted to give some tips & tricks that I've learned to get 1,000K in only half a year. I know most people say that you of course need good content, original content, and good quality videos to succeed but there are also a lot of other factors that come into play. I've learned that one of the biggest things you (or any company for that matter) need to be good at is marketing. You could have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it, no one is going to buy it!
1. Post EVERYWHERE (but don't spam!)
YTtalk was one of the first websites I cam across to share my videos & get advice. When I joined I gained a bunch of subscribers right away which helped my views. I didn't promote my videos or channel in any way except for my signature though! I simply went around and answered people's threads as well as wrote an introduction for myself. People respond better to you connecting with them on a more personal level instead of you throwing your videos & channel in their face. I have never subscribed to someone who has asked me to do so! When you do get the opportunity to say something about your YouTube, I don't recommend asking people to check out your channel but instead ask for people to check out a particular video that may interest them.
My Example: I made a video of me unboxing my contest winnings from Loot Crate. They were Funko Pop! My Little Pony figurines. So in order to promote my video, I posted it to the Facebook fan pages of Loot Crate, Funko Toys, and My Little Pony. Also, I accompanied my video with a friendly message instead of just saying "Please watch my video!" I wrote things like, "Thank you Loot Crate for brightening my day with these adorable winnings!" or "You guys have to get these Funko Pop! figurines, they are the definition of adorable!"
I also did a bunch of Google searches to find social networks that would be relevant to my channel. I've gotten views from the following websites: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, EmpireAvenue, Anook, CreatorRepublic, YTtalk, and Wikia (youtubia & let's play). That's how many places I went around and put my content on. The more places people can find your content, the better!
Lastly, YouTube is not the only place you should be tagging your content. When you post links to your videos on Twitter, use hashtags that people may search that are interested in your content. When you post to Tumblr, tag your video with search tags that people often visit. If you don't tag your videos on social websites, no one is going to find them unless they are already looking for your specific content.
2. WHY U NO concentrate on title, description, & tags?!
I can't tell you how frustrated I get when I see someone on here ask how they can get more views or what they are doing wrong, and then find that they have lacking titles, no description, and I'm sure not many tags. One of the most important element of people finding/viewing your video is the title. DO NOT put a title such as "Let's Play Minecraft - Part 2" or "Minecraft Monday" because it's extremely generic & about a million other users have videos with similar titles. They sound boring. Instead, pick your favorite moment from your let's play video & create a title around that.
My Example: I made a Cat Mario video a while back that actually became one of my most popular videos. It's title was "STOP CAT SUICIDE!! - Cat Mario #1" & it is the video most found by YouTube search according to my analytics. Using capitals in the beginning of your title can draw attention to your video in searches but make sure you don't over use them! Another title example of mine is for my most popular Minecraft video "SCARIEST NIGHT IN MINECRAFT EVER: My First Time Playing". People respond most to titles that have numbers in them "Top 5 whatevers" and to things that make a statement "Funniest Game EVER!" or "Scariest Movie EVER: My review of whatever".
Then there's the description. The most important part of your description is the first 2 lines. Your first line of text should have keywords in it that are similar to your title. The rest of your description should include links to your various social network pages if you have them, a request to subscribe, like, or comment if they enjoyed your video, information on your video itself (ex. where you can get the game/product you're talking about), and at the end I always write out my tags I'm going to input into the actual "tags" section. I'm not sure if this actually helps bring up your video in searches more often, but it's better to be safe then sorry!
Your tags section you should fill up until you reach the maximum amount of tags. Nobody knows for sure which keywords will work the best for your videos. To improve the chances of receiving hits, you should try a few different keyword phrases to make the most out of your video. Instead of inputting the tags "gamer" "minecraft" "funny", you should input the tag "funniest minecraft gamer". You can test out how effective your search tags will be by searching the phrase yourself on YouTube. The less results you get, the more likely your video will come up!
3. Change Up Your Thumbnails
This will be easier for people who have Photoshop experience, but you should refrain from using the same thumbnail for each video in a series. You can use the same template, but change up the images or text a bit. The reason for this is that if someone watched one of your videos in the series & clicked that thumbnail, but later on sees the same thumbnail in a search or on their feed, they may be quick to assume that it's the same video they've already watched. People have a very short attention span, so taking the few extra seconds to read your title & realize it's a different video in a series may not happen every time.
My Example: If you look at my PokeMMO series, I have the same basic thumbnail template. However, for each new video I change the number on the thumbnail, I change the picture of myself to a new one, and I change the Pokemon on the thumbnail. This way, people will see them and say, "oh I never saw the Eevee episode!" not, "I think I may have seen this episode already."
4. DON'T Monetize too Early!
If I had a dollar for every time I've read a thread on here about monetizing videos/making money off videos, I'd be a rich girl. If you are under 100+ daily views, there is really no point to monetizing your videos. I am up to 300+ daily views and I still only make around $5 A MONTH from monetizing. When you first start your channel, your videos will be making pennies...if that. Monetizing an unknown channel can hurt your growth because people don't want to sit through an advertisement to watch someone they've never heard of. You want to grab your audiences attention right off the bat with the beginning of your video. I have clicked away from videos so many times because I felt it wasn't worth it to sit through the advertisement to watch the video. Monetize later, drawing in and keeping your audience should be a top priority, not making pennies.
5. Cut Your Video Length!
This especially goes for the let's players reading this. If you are a new channel, I recommend not posting videos longer then 5 minutes for vloggers/skits/musicians and no longer then 8 minutes for gamers. You want to keep your viewers watching and with people having a short attention span nowadays, you don't want to make them watch a video that's too long. If you keep your videos shorter, your audience retention will also increase which will place your video higher in searches.
You should also watch your length when it comes to intro videos. I would say 4 seconds or less for an intro. If your intro graphic/sequence is more then 4 seconds, your run a high risk of people clicking away from your video. If anything, place a short highlight from your video in the front of your video, then follow it with your intro, then start your video. Kind of like TV shows do, your main goal is to grab your viewers attention early!
6. Post Often (but not too often)
It helps if you can set up a scheduled for posting videos and stick to it. However, if you are like me and don't have constant time to make video (thus just fitting them into your schedule when you can), it's okay to not have a schedule as long as you post often. I promise my views at least 1 (or more) new videos every week. Thus, they know I will be giving them new content every week at the minimum. I try to post a new video every other day and that has seemed to earn me more subscribers & views recently. I do advise against posting TOO often though. I would say posting 1 new video a day is a safe amount. Posting more than 1 video every day can hurt your channel if you are new. Giving your viewers too much content in their news feed tends to annoy them. Plus, if your viewers like a video series you are doing, they will keep coming back to see new episodes. But if you upload them all too fast, you will miss out on more views on a daily basis of people coming back to check for a new video.
7. Don't Give Up
I can't believe the number of threads I've seen of people complaining that they aren't gaining subs. Then I go to look at their channel, and they've only been around for a month. Unless you have a video go viral, it is going to take longer then a month to get a decent amount of subscribers. I've noticed a pattern of about 2 years before people have a high following so don't get discouraged. The more subs you gain, the easier it will be to get more. When I first started it would take 2 months to get up to 100 new subs, then it would take 1 month, then less then 1 month, and so on. Keep doing YouTube if you ENJOY IT. Don't start a channel for the "fame" or "money" because the likelihood that it will actually happen is VERY slim. When it stops being fun to make videos...then stop your channel for a while. If it's still fun, then keep going. You will get to a decent subscriber count eventually if you have good content & people like you.
I will continue to add to this list as more advice/tips come to me. I hope you all are able to take something away from what I've learned gaining my first 1,000 subs. I still have a LONG way to go before I become anywhere close to being "KNOWN" and the odds are against me for that ever happening. But in the mean time, I'm having so much fun on YouTube so that's all that really matters. Reaching 1,000 subscribers who I can talk with and get feedback from is just an added bonus.
Also, yes I am aware that being a girl may have boosted my subscribers & views. However, my advice still works. I have seen plenty of girls on YouTube who don't grow fast/at all. Your gender and/0r looks will only get you so far. Then your content has to take over. Plus my current demographics are almost even between females and males watching my videos. I'm really proud of that fact, means I'm appealing to the majority rather then horny boys...although I'm sure I have some of them as well. lol.
