Dutchie in Review mode!

[Dutchie Abroad]

Hello everyone!~

I've started my channel one month ago and uploaded 10 videos so far (with another one coming out today). I've been doing the best I can, utilizing the info on this forum and my own intuition. However, I feel like I need a second opinion on how I am doing.

So a little more info on my channel. I am a Dutch girl of 24 who moved to England 2 weeks ago. On my channel I make three different types of videos:
1. Vlogs about daily life and exploring England (upload once a week)
2. Sit-down-talk videos about things I experience in England (once every two weeks)
3. Sit-down-talk videos about working in the hospitality (once every two weeks)
I'm currently uploading a sit-down-talk video every monday and uploading a vlog somewhere on Thursday/Friday/Saturday, depending on how busy I am with work.

I started this channel for two main reasons: (1) to stay in contact with my friends and family in the Netherlands and (2) because I love filming and editting. So far I have accumulated 44 subs, which I am very happy with! I'm not in this for the fame or money, but I love sharing my experiences and meeting new people through it.

So what could you do for me? I would love you to take a look on my channel and give me:
1. A first impression of my channel (banner art, avatar, thumbnails, etc).
2. A critical review of my titels and SEO.

It'd be great if you could give me some feedback on my video(s) as well, but that is not absolutely necessary. I mostly want to know how a new viewer would experience my channel/home page. I'd appreciate some contructive feedback, not just 'you're doing great' or 'your thumbnails are bad'. Please tell me WHAT I do well and WHAT I can do BETTER! I'm here to learn

Thanks in advance <3
~Carla

 

[Jed]

Hi. So to start off with your channel design.

Your banner is ok but I think it could be better. I like the base idea for the design with the flags in the text but I think that all of the blue red and white is clashing with each other, in terms of the text and the background. I think that English flag that is the background could be replaced by a radial gradient background. I would also remove the white text outline on all of the text because it makes them seem like they don't belong there (unless you are going for the cutout look in which case you could have a cork background and some paper with the text on?) this is what I think would look good and is just really my opinion it's not law. i really like the avatar you have holding the two flags it's a nice personal touch and it gives your banner a lot of personality which is good.

Your profile picture is good, it's a nice clean shot of you it looks like you're taking in everything around you and enjoying every second of it. I think it captures the feel of your channel well. I don't really have much else to say about it.
Your thumbnails need some work I feel. There is a lot of text which is way too small to be read and just looks like squiggles on the screen and kind of creates noise because it's something visual which isn't giving me any information at all and just ends up with the thumbnail looking kind of cluttered.If you're going to have any text on your thumbnail it needs to be readable. So you need to make them bigger. Also you need to make sure that any text you use doesn't clash with the background because some of the colour you use make it harder to read what the text is saying because they are clashing with the background. Experiment with different colours and use the one with is the most easy to read on your thumbnails.

I think your titles are ok. They explain what's going on in the video and aren't too clickbaity which is nice. I don't really think there's much more I can say about them. In terms of SEO and how well you're ranking. You rank first when your full title is put in. But the chances of somebody actually searching your full titles as they are are quite slim. When I searched for a more likely search that pertains to your title, your videos don't rank highly at all so you might have to tinker with your tags a bit more to rank higher in more general searches. If you need help with that there are plenty of people here that can help you with that.

As I'm here I might as well review your actual videos too:
Your camera quality and audio are ok, although your audio can be a little quiet sometimes so you might want to look into that. You frame yourself nicely in the shot, so you don't waste much if any space on screen. You might want to try to utilise jump cuts to add a bit of movement and progress to your videos and remove any time during which you are using fillers or thinking. It just speeds up the flow of the video. You could also look at some other editing techniques and transitions but I would definitely recommend learning jump cuts the're simple but very useful. You could maybe add a little music to help the viewers to feel whatever emotion you are trying to make them feel, your audio may be a little too quiet for this. I like the constant change of angles though, it's something different and different in this case is nice and refreshing. I have the same problems with your end card as with your banner but a little less so I think it works a little better with the end card.

I know I have been super critical but overall for somebody who has only been doing this for a month you're not doing badly at all. Hopefully these critiques will help. A lot of the things I have said are my opinion and the only opinion that really matters when it comes to your channel is yours. If you agree with me, great; follow my guide. If you don't great, stick to your guns. I hope all of this helps

 

[6StringMadMan]

Have you opened up your analytics to see where you are getting your traffic from (youtube search, google, suggested, etc)?

 

[Dutchie Abroad]

Thank you so much for your elaborate response Jed!

unless you are going for the cutout look in which case you could have a cork background and some paper with the text on?

That's actually a really good idea! I always new it was a bit too much with the English flag on the background, but I didn't have another solid idea. This might work very well!

Your thumbnails need some work I feel. There is a lot of text which is way too small to be read and just looks like squiggles on the screen and kind of creates noise because it's something visual which isn't giving me any information at all and just ends up with the thumbnail looking kind of cluttered

Oh, I'm actually kinda surprised by this! I;ve always made sure my text is readable and even on my phone I can read the text just fine. I have been adding more text to them lately, might have to stop doing that. I'll experiment a bit with the text colors and such

When I searched for a more likely search that pertains to your title, your videos don't rank highly at all so you might have to tinker with your tags a bit more to rank higher in more general searches. If you need help with that there are plenty of people here that can help you with that.

Yeah, I figured that, but I just really don't know what I should put in them. If you have any tips for this, please do!

Your camera quality and audio are ok, although your audio can be a little quiet sometimes so you might want to look into that.

Yes, audio is the first thing I want to upgrade! I'm saving up for a mic at the moment

You could also look at some other editing techniques and transitions but I would definitely recommend learning jump cuts the're simple but very useful. You could maybe add a little music to help the viewers to feel whatever emotion you are trying to make them feel, your audio may be a little too quiet for this.

I actually already use jumpcuts, or so I thought. I cut out any silences (and even sometimes remove my 'umms'). Do you mean with jumpcut that you actually start and stop in a different position? The music idea is really nice, might add that in after I upgrade my audio!

I know I have been super critical but overall for somebody who has only been doing this for a month you're not doing badly at all. Hopefully these critiques will help.

I think you've actually been quite kind Thank you so much, I appreciate the thought you put into all of this!

Have you opened up your analytics to see where you are getting your traffic from (youtube search, google, suggested, etc)?

I look at my Analytics quite a lot, but not so much at the traffic source to be honest. It currently looks like this, but I don't really know what this tells me exactly n.n"
Browse features views 151

Channel pages views 200
External

views 129
Suggested videos

views 107
Notifications views 98
Direct or unknown

views 40
YouTube search views 42
Other YouTube features views 14
End screens

views 1
I currently have a total of 943, though analytics is at 782 due to the delay of info.

 

[Jamie Lee Bones]

Hi there, Dutchie in England! Here are some first impressions for you!

Overall Channel theme; I think it's a really cute and interesting focus! There's enough diversity in upload but also all the different 'types' of videos your doing are semi-related so it keeps it nice and niche.

As far as banner, it took me a little longer than I think it should have to understand the text was each flag.. and I think it's due to there being a flag in the background as well? It come off just a little distracting cause there's so many flags everywhere. BUT I love the avatar and love the text flags. Maybe just mix up the background with something simple so those two things stand out a little more.

Your thumbnails need some work I feel. There is a lot of text which is way too small to be read and just looks like squiggles on the screen and kind of creates noise because it's something visual which isn't giving me any information at all and just ends up with the thumbnail looking kind of cluttered.If you're going to have any text on your thumbnail it needs to be readable. So you need to make them bigger.

I second the thumbnail critique. It was the first thing I noticed on your channel. One of the things I do for text in a thumbnail is to put a semi-transparent box behind the text so that it pops more. I'd also recommend (as I've gotten this advice from a YouTube channel for Video creators, a video specifically for thumbnails) to fidget with your exposure, brightness, saturation, and clarity for the background photos. The thumbnail is a teeny picture so everything needs to be slightly exaggerated in order to see the details of the photo. That way when someone is searching in Youtube, your photo pops!

I like you're titles a lot, they're very concise! ALSO: How are you able to do those double bars in your titles? I really like those!

Once other piece, is when going to your page and maybe after a few more videos.. I'd start to put things into playlists and have them displayed below. It helps up the view count, if say someone is interested in just your storytime videos. They can click the storytime playlist and just watch 'em all!!

Hope this was helpful!

 

[Dutchie Abroad]

Thank you so much for your critique Jamie!

As far as banner, it took me a little longer than I think it should have to understand the text was each flag.. and I think it's due to there being a flag in the background as well? It come off just a little distracting cause there's so many flags everywhere. BUT I love the avatar and love the text flags. Maybe just mix up the background with something simple so those two things stand out a little more.

Yeah, I'm fiddling around with it now. Too many flags indeed xD Glad you like the avatar, I drew it myself!

I second the thumbnail critique.

Thank you for the confirmation on this. I have been fiddling with the settings, but maybe I need to put in a bit more effort indeed.

Glad you like my titles! The double bars are just a keybboard function. You have the back ward slash button ( \ ) and if you do shift and that button, you get a straight line ( | ).

Once other piece, is when going to your page and maybe after a few more videos.. I'd start to put things into playlists and have them displayed below. It helps up the view count, if say someone is interested in just your storytime videos. They can click the storytime playlist and just watch 'em all!!

Thank you for reminding me! I was meaning to do this when I have more videos, but I totally forgot xD

Thank you so much for your time and review! It was very helpful n.n

 

[Jamie Lee Bones]

Glad you like the avatar, I drew it myself!

WHAAAT!?! That's amazing!!! You might wanna look into draw with me videos, if you're ever looking for content I mean You'd be really good!

 

[Dutchie Abroad]

WHAAAT!?! That's amazing!!! You might wanna look into draw with me videos, if you're ever looking for content I mean You'd be really good!

Thank you, that is so nice of you n.n What are draw with me videos exactly?

Also, I changed my banner. I really liked the curk board idea, so I added some pinned photos. THe board is also slightly orange, with represents my Dutchness as well Hope you guys like it!

 

[Jamie Lee Bones]

What are draw with me videos exactly?

They're kind of where you draw original characters and stuff. I follow some people who do twitter polls for characteristics and then they record themselves drawing the characters chosen by audience. It's a great way to get audience participation

 

[Dutchie Abroad]

They're kind of where you draw original characters and stuff. I follow some people who do twitter polls for characteristics and then they record themselves drawing the characters chosen by audience. It's a great way to get audience participation

Ahh, like that. I feel that I can't draw well enough for that n.n" plus I'm not an art channel. But I'll keep it in mind