It's hard to start a solid YouTube career.

[YouTuber1978]

I can see where you are coming from with this but why would they build in automation to let you share your video when it goes public to Twitter? Are you saying using that feature will mean YouTube will penalize you for using it?

You raise an interesting point. Why would YouTube build in a feature that they penalize you for using? There's a couple of different sides to this. The first is the difference between use and abuse. It's a fine line. There's lots of cases where a small amount of something is ok but a lot can get you in trouble. Take keyword density in your description. YouTube wants you to right a description and they want your description to contain Keywords so they know what your video is about. If your description is "This is a review of the 2016 Chevy Corvette" you're fine. If your description is "In this review of the 2016 Chevy Corvette we take a look at how the 2016 Chevy Corvette stacks up against other Chevy Corvette models and other competitors to the Cheverolet Corvette such as, the doge charger, 2015 chevy corvette, ford mustang, dodge challenger hellcat, porsche 911, cheverlet camaro, Dodge viper, and other sports cars"

You're running a really high risk of the YouTube algorithm flagging your description of having a "keyword block" and having your video pulled. Same thing with social shares. Post it one place it's probably ok. Post it 100's of places I think they penalizes you if they're able to track where it was from.

Second piece to this is that the organizationally google is divided into teams. The people that work on the algorithm are not the same people that work on the UI who are not the same people that work on the social shares, etc. I think the algorithm engineers work independently of other people in YouTube. It maybe an unintended consequence of their weighting the algorithm so heavily towards audience retention that social shares have a net negative effect.

 

[CaptainSauce]

The only thing you need to focus on is improving your skill set. Good single videos or new popular games are pointless because that's just a flash in time. Actually improving your skills at video production is what will bring in more active, loyal viewers. High quality content does not go unnoticed on YouTube for long, there are just a lot of people that don't understand what high quality is. You should be able to compare yourself to some of the biggest YouTuber's content. If you can't stack up to them, there's no reason for someone to watch you over them. One of the best ways to impartially judge your own videos is to watch with someone else present.

As for the "don't promote ever" advice, that's total bs. Promote with some common sense. Don't spam your stuff in every "promotion" subreddit, forum or page. There are no viewers there looking for content, only other content creators who will check you out briefly. It's like a vacuum salesman setting up shop at a vacuum salesman convention. I know people who have had tremendous success with posting unique gameplay or reaction gifs to reddit, and by providing a video link steered a lot of traffic to their channel. Ive had success with groups of specific games, with the matching videos having 10+ minute audience retention times with many of the views and subscribers coming from those groups. 44% of my views today are coming from YouTube's suggested videos, with the retention of those videos being almost the exact same as from "external" aka promotion views. I would love to see some evidence that YouTube knocks your ranking because of same IP address links.

 

[Luigi Lottino]

I feel like the over all problem on YouTube is money. That's the issue. If there was no money making on YouTube, then people would have a different mind set. YouTube would actually be about CREATING, SHARING and COMMUNITY. Now it's all about make this video and get money. There are MANY youtubers on this forum, who have been here a long time, and totally have their heads on right. They are doing this because they love to make videos and they dont give a damn about subs. If you go back and look at almost every famous YouTuber and their really old content, IT WAS SO CRAPPY hahahaha and the reason was simply because they thought it was funny/interesting/whatever at the time, and posted. No crazy effort nothing. and people came. Most famous youtubers all say the same thing, "Whoa didnt expect to be famous now"

Another thing is that there arnt really many famous youtubers out there that havnt been at it for 4-6 years already. So many beginners think this happens over night. but it takes years. If you decide that having a youtube career is your dream, there's nothing wrong with that. but then treat it like a business. you will need a 5-10 year plan, "x" amount of hours into it every single day. Heavy Networking creating real relationships etc. That's how business works. and thats NOT how youtube should work for people who are creating content because they love it and just want to do it for fun.

The problem is that new youtubers are going into it to be famous. It's not realistic. Even being super original and having the best content wont help.

But that's just my opinion...Sorry if it makes no sense hahaha, I wrote this down so fast because I am still at work, and my boss is taking a dump LOOOLLLZZZ!!!

 

[WilliamRayWalters]

The people that work on the algorithm are not the same people that work on the UI who are not the same people that work on the social shares, etc.

If that's the case, and they don't, at the very least, share information to each other that might have an adverse effect on how the algorithm ranks videos, then that's horrible and would be completely counterproductive. Unless of course, they realize that 95% (probably more) of all videos that make it to Youtube are not good enough quality to ever be ranked highly by the algorithm, so the best way to maximize revenue for the masses is to encourage self promotion and take whatever views they can get. Of course, they would have to be working with the assumption that quality content will rise to the top regardless of what promotional actions the uploader takes, otherwise that strategy would allow solid quality content to slip through the cracks, never being given the chance to flourish.

It seems far fetched to me that those departments wouldn't share information and work together, but who knows.

 

[YouTuber1978]

I've had success with groups of specific games, with the matching videos having 10+ minute audience retention times with many of the views and subscribers coming from those groups.

I think if you've found a way to promote that allows you to keep your audience retention high then you're probably not hurting your channel.

For the rest of us that haven't found that unicorn I'd avoid anything that drops your audience retention.

Don't believe me? Here's one of the senior engineers at YouTube talking about it.

reelseo.com/youtube-game-algorithm/

I would love to see some evidence that YouTube knocks your ranking because of same IP address links.

Like he talks about in the video they don't publicize a lot of what they do. I think you have to look at what Google, YouTube's parent company is doing. With Google they've actually come out and said they penalize you for excessive promotion. Just do a google search for the term "google penalty". What I do know with YouTube is that the cookie they place on your computer when you visit YouTube combined with what you're signing off on as a content creator in the terms of use and privacy policy certainly has given them the ability to track what you're doing. Wether or not their actually using that information I can't say with 100% certainty but we know that we've signed off on them tracking it and storing it so I think it's a pretty safe bet they are using it. Combine that with what we know about Google and I'd certainly be careful if you're going to link spam.[DOUBLEPOST=1444713892,1444711461][/DOUBLEPOST]

Unless of course, they realize that 95% (probably more) of all videos that make it to Youtube are not good enough quality to ever be ranked highly by the algorithm, so the best way to maximize revenue for the masses is to encourage self promotion and take whatever views they can get.

This is probably actually it. When you spam it does get people onto the site, but then they're suggesting what they think are good videos based on audience retention to keep people on the site. On one hand they like you spamming but for other reasons they punish you for it. They get the best of both worlds...

 

[CaptainSauce]

I think if you've found a way to promote that allows you to keep your audience retention high then you're probably not hurting your channel.

For the rest of us that haven't found that unicorn I'd avoid anything that drops your audience retention.

Don't believe me? Here's one of the senior engineers at YouTube talking about it.

reelseo.com/youtube-game-algorithm/

I know audience retention took over for views a few years ago, im just saying promotion doesn't always mean lower view times and a higher YouTube ranking isn't always the most beneficial for growth. When you're incredibly small you get much more gains through people seeing a link than potentially having a video suggested to them. How many 200 sub YouTubers do you have suggested to you? It can be better to get 2-3 subs out a video through promotion than none and be 999999 ranked rather than 1000000. The only way to find the good places to promote is to try promoting.

Im also speaking strictly about gaming, which op is producing.

 

[PeteInfinite]

This is probably actually it. When you spam it does get people onto the site, but then they're suggesting what they think are good videos based on audience retention to keep people on the site. On one hand they like you spamming but for other reasons they punish you for it. They get the best of both worlds...

If audience retention is that much of a factor I think this confirms that promoting should absolutely be done only on places where you know people (though you can't know before you try it) will watch the majority of your video. Obviously having your close friends/family/circles is a good place to start since they are more prone to watching it entirely, but after that with Twitter/Reddit/etc you have to be very cautious. If you find a very specific subreddit for that subject you're talking about in your video you might be fine, but it's risky.

 

[IB360HD]

Long story short this is what people don't get.

YouTube is an investment. You test your dedication and will with every video. You need a dedicated schedule, attractive titles, thumbnails, advertising methods, CONTENT & PERSONALITY, THE WHOLE 9 YARDS.

A lot of people don't understand that unless you are completely unique, there is no place here for you on YouTube. You have hopped on the train far too late. If you board a packed bus with 60 seats, and you're the 75th on the bus, do you believe you'll be having a comfortable ride?

Truth of the matter is that a lot of people think that they are unique and different when sadly, THEY ARE NOT. They are not doing anything better than their competition and quite frankly they're doing a lot worse.

The fastest growing market is the Entertainment market. But I also believe gaming is dead. I watch Kouppa, K$pade, iMav, GS, ChrisMD, PatrickHDGaming all of them and all ended up unsubscribing after years of watching the same s**t. I'm still subbed to Chris, Patrick & Kouppa. Why? CAUSE THEY HAVE GREAT, UNIQUE PERSONALITIES.

Face it, if you and your content is not unique and different, you will fail in your market.

I'm not saying that you are or aren't, as I haven't seen you yet, but if you're not getting the views and subscribers you want then it's obviously because you're not doing enough work or you're just not unique. Do you upload previews of your footage to your social media? Do you tell everyone you possibly can about your videos? Do you construct your videos to the extent that when you release them, you know you could have done nothing better or more? Do you call people "haters" for their critique or do you thank them endlessly for giving you an opportunity to fix your mixtakes?

Questions that need to be answered to see how dedicated you really are to this YouTube business. It sucks you're in such a saturated, boring field where your chances of bringing variety are slimier than a piece of thread. You must be unique. Take it from cleatsandclevage. Anyone can be a sports anchor. She did it damn near naked. Now she's rich and famous. UNIQUE.

- @IB360HD

 

[HypnoticRawDog]

until you get around 20k plus subs it's going to be difficult to grow just stick through it. Try to just do you tube for fun and improve yourself with every new video.

 

[Harpuia]

The way I see it, it's hard to start a solid Youtube career, but to me, what's even harder is working 70 hours a week continuously at a job you no longer love for people who've always spat on you for being who you are.

But at least it was steadier money I guess, right? lol.