Setting up to launch a adword campaign - and consulting?

I'm going to be 100% honest with you. Advertising your channel like that is probably the worst thing that you can do. Building up your channel by sharing your videos with your friends or just having people find your videos is the best way in my opinion. This is because it leaves you time to improve on your videos before tons of people see it. Trust me. When time progresses and your videos get better you will get the views and followers that you deserve. And not to be offensive or anything but the quality of your videos are no where close to deserving a large following or even a decent following.
So my advise to you is to enjoy making your videos and don't worry about the followers. The numbers will come in due time. Work hard to improve your content and you will defiantly see the results. Hope this helps you out!!!

Thanks Ryan - in fact, really thank you! Because one of the challenges I've been having is I get NO feedback on my videos. Because what I get (and I think most toy/kid channels get in the beginning) are people who are looking for subs so all they say is "great job", "love the video" when you know they haven't really seen the video at all.

Since you are honest, what do you think I need to improve on. Some of the channels I've been "studying" are Yippee toys, Genevieve's playhouse and toy monster (the channels with no (or hardly andy) humans in it). I noticed that one thing that these channel did to vastly improve their video was lighting. I also think that the pace of my videos is terrible. What else? - I know there is tons but it would help me to know specifically what I can do (that doesn't involve getting really expensive equipment - at least not at the moment).

Thanks!
 
Thank you for this information but it is also absolutely demoralizing...

I see some channels that upload 2 videos a day...it's amazing - that is DRIVE!

The learn numbers with a child actor - I think I have come across these videos - these are the ones where the child is pointing to some thing and saying "this is red, this is pink" etc etc, yes? Those are mind-numbing but my kids seem to respond to it - so they are onto something. I don't know about those, but feel that some of the children-centered shows there is a correlation between popularity and the child's charisma. I just recently watched one of Ryan's toy review videos (I know, where have I been) and I can't deny Ryan is adorable and so articulate. I also have noticed, as you say, there are newer ones that I feel are really making serious investment, buying pretty expensive toys on a daily basis. I have to respect the "all in" spirit those parents (I'm assuming the parents are the driving force) have.

Yep, that's the one. They hit that idea first, and of course have skyrocketed. The key on Yt these days (kids/toys vertical) it to get a new idea, execute it flawlessly, and of course have larger than life, charismatic kid personalities engaging with the kid audience. The top channels all share that one characteristic. Come to think of it, most successful actors in Hollywood and TV hit show also have that "special sauce" personality. In Yt, the parents who can recognize and encourage that personality to come through, rise to the top (with a lot of work behind the scenes of course).[DOUBLEPOST=1500095954,1500094993][/DOUBLEPOST]
My main competitors is Rainbow art ( Rainbow Learning second channell) and - paint colouring pages for kids tv . When this two started to grow ( colouring Pages for Kids tv - sterted growing first about 3 month ago) my views began to drop gradually. I can't understand why they are so pushed by algo. Because of them a lot of coloring channels pop up in the last two month with hope to gen millions hits per video.. I will see what I can do to improove my thumbnails.They are looks good on the side bar.

I don't know much about the coloring space, but having a quick look at it, it seems to share some similarities to ASMR. There was some article about ASMR and it's high view counts. Maybe, that could be the secret sauce. Figure out why people watch coloring videos (as opposed to coloring themselves), and see if you can somehow tap some of the emotional triggers that ASMR uses. There was that Adult Coloring Books craze about 2-3 years ago on Amazon, those books were everywhere, not only online but at the supermarket, pharmacies, stands in the middle of shopping centres, etc, just like fidget spinners are now. Perhaps looks at some of the Amazon bestsellers from that genre (I think the top one was Secret Garden) - perhaps you can bring in some elements in from the books too?[DOUBLEPOST=1500096177][/DOUBLEPOST]
I'm going to be 100% honest with you. Advertising your channel like that is probably the worst thing that you can do.
Not sure about that. Do you have some hard data to back up your statement?
I can attribute our initial growth spurts as a direct result of Adwords campaigns I ran on playlists dedicated to Thomas & Friends, Cars, Giant Surprise Eggs, Easter Egg Hunts, etc. The highly targeted campaigns brought dedicated traffic, sub conversions at $1-$2, and Earned Views up to 200%. New videos released had an engaged audience ready to receive them as a direct result of Adwords.
I can say with 99.5% certainty, had I not ran consistent, targeted campaigns, we would not have growth at the rate we had.
 
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Yep, that's the one. They hit that idea first, and of course have skyrocketed. The key on Yt these days (kids/toys vertical) it to get a new idea, execute it flawlessly, and of course have larger than life, charismatic kid personalities engaging with the kid audience. The top channels all share that one characteristic. Come to think of it, most successful actors in Hollywood and TV hit show also have that "special sauce" personality. In Yt, the parents who can recognize and encourage that personality to come through, rise to the top (with a lot of work behind the scenes of course).[DOUBLEPOST=1500095954,1500094993][/DOUBLEPOST]

I don't know much about the coloring space, but having a quick look at it, it seems to share some similarities to ASMR. There was some article about ASMR and it's high view counts. Maybe, that could be the secret sauce. Figure out why people watch coloring videos (as opposed to coloring themselves), and see if you can somehow tap some of the emotional triggers that ASMR uses. There was that Adult Coloring Books craze about 2-3 years ago on Amazon, those books were everywhere, not only online but at the supermarket, pharmacies, stands in the middle of shopping centres, etc, just like fidget spinners are now. Perhaps looks at some of the Amazon bestsellers from that genre (I think the top one was Secret Garden) - perhaps you can bring in some elements in from the books too?[DOUBLEPOST=1500096177][/DOUBLEPOST]
Not sure about that. Do you have some hard data to back up your statement?
I can attribute our initial growth spurts as a direct result of Adwords campaigns I ran on playlists dedicated to Thomas & Friends, Cars, Giant Surprise Eggs, Easter Egg Hunts, etc. The highly targeted campaigns brought dedicated traffic, sub conversions at $1-$2, and Earned Views up to 200%. New videos released had an engaged audience ready to receive them as a direct result of Adwords.
I can say with 99.5% certainty, had I not ran consistent, targeted campaigns, we would not have growth at the rate we had.

I never heard about ASMR before and will work on cracking this nut. To me it looks like close up shots giving participation effect to the viewer . But it not teach anything because you can’t see all picture that someone draw. I will change my editing style for 2-3 videos and see how it will works. My current approach do not working and I need to change something anyway.
 
Thanks Ryan - in fact, really thank you! Because one of the challenges I've been having is I get NO feedback on my videos. Because what I get (and I think most toy/kid channels get in the beginning) are people who are looking for subs so all they say is "great job", "love the video" when you know they haven't really seen the video at all.

Since you are honest, what do you think I need to improve on. Some of the channels I've been "studying" are Yippee toys, Genevieve's playhouse and toy monster (the channels with no (or hardly andy) humans in it). I noticed that one thing that these channel did to vastly improve their video was lighting. I also think that the pace of my videos is terrible. What else? - I know there is tons but it would help me to know specifically what I can do (that doesn't involve getting really expensive equipment - at least not at the moment).

Thanks!

No Problem! I'm really glad you can take some criticism. Some people these days are just too arrogant to listen.
I'm gonna start off by commending you on your consistency. It is extremely important to post consistently and you do it better than a ton of people.
Now some things you can fix. In many of your videos the white gets really bright and it can be a pain for the eye to watch the screen. So lower your exposure. Also the music that you use in your videos are so loud that it can be hard to hear your voice. And going on with the audio, your voice is kind of muffled so maybe get a better mic or idk maybe you can fix it with the mic you have.
So those are some things that you can fix for your videos. I can also give you some advice for your channel in general. You can really work on your thumbnails. Thumbnails are extremely important and you should spend a good chunk of time working on them. You can use this website called Pic Monkey which helps you with making your thumbnails stand out. Pic Monkey can also help you create a better profile pic and channel art. You can search up Youtube videos to learn how to use it. And lastly your descriptions are wayyyyy too complicated. Not saying that its way too long cuz long is good but way too complicated. Your target is kids so try making it kid sized (if you know what I mean).
Hope this helps you out! Keep working hard. I can really see the hard work put into your channel.
 
I'm just going to throw this idea out there - in the old days (1 or 2 years ago), maybe $10 or $20/day or per new video did the trick. But there has been an influx of new, trendy, committed channels this year. Maybe there has been more media coverage around the world, there certainly have been a number of Youtubers being interview on morning shows in australia (and we all know what the media focuses on in interviews with Youtubers - $$$). More and more people are joining the "gold rush", just as they did in previous gold rushes (actual gold rushes of yesteryear, the PC shop on every corner in the 90s, the coffee shop on every corner all trying to be the next Sbux, etc, etc). As more channels start up, it's harder and harder to get onto the right sidebar of whatever vertical you are in, especially so in kids.

Take "learn colors" with kid actors. About 6 months ago, there were very few channels, then one broke out with the kid and all the various toys to learn colors with. New concept on an old idea. Daily execution. Now there are literally hundreds of channels with kid actors running those videos. Many are new, committed, have access to cool toys, and run with the latest trends. It's very hard to do learn colors now and break into the right sidebar. Perfect time was 3-4 months ago, just prior to the influx.

Getting back to adwords, you'd be looking at a sizeable investment now, I'll throw a figure out: $2k-5k/month, to break through the mass of videos in the "learn colors" vertical. Otherwise you'll just be buried under the mass of content.

You then need to look to other strategies. Derral had some good ideas in his video (another post). As soon as something gets popular, you have a mass of prospectors with their pan ready to pan the river bed for alluvial gold, and the occasional gold nuggets.[DOUBLEPOST=1500078030,1500077775][/DOUBLEPOST]

In many cases, irrespective of perceived or actual quality, there is a first mover advantage. The channel that sets a new trend, in many cases, will get 10X the traffic to its first video on that trend compared to an immediate copycat video. The first one who sets trends gets very high channel authority if that trend becomes viral. Not in all cases of course, there are exceptions, but as a general case. It also depends on authority of the 2nd and 3rd and subsequent copycats, if they are strong channels or can send high traffic (so basically additional channels opened by a primary strong channel with traffic redirection), they can challenge the first mover in the trend.

It's getting harder to just follow and replicate channels, especially with the AI of the algo. It looks much more at viewer behaviour, not simple associations build between channels via Seo (I predict the imminent death of Seo as we know it). You're not getting the views of the popular channel because the viewer behavior does not dictate you get the views. You need to look at ways to entice viewers to click on your videos. What can you do different to the other channel that will make viewers click your thumbnails?

I can completely agree with KTR on this. I'm spending currently $10 a day and it does bring views and some subs to my channel, but once ads stop, the AI is not on my side and nothing is being driven to my channel.

I attempted the learn colors, numbers, and animal names thing as well with a few videos and of course, can't seem to get on the suggested videos. Sadly, I hopped on this band wagon too late... and should have done this 6 months ago.

I'm currently, trying to figure out a way to revive my channel. As that even our videos that did ok, which were McD toys, are not even being pushed now.
 
Yep, that's the one. They hit that idea first, and of course have skyrocketed. The key on Yt these days (kids/toys vertical) it to get a new idea, execute it flawlessly, and of course have larger than life, charismatic kid personalities engaging with the kid audience.

So does this "new idea first skyrocketing" only work for an already established channel?

For a new channel I can't see it working from an algorithmic standpoint - ie. no authority/views/subscribers, plus main keywords are going to encompass words from this "new idea" that theoretically no one else is a) searching and b) using in their video metadata (to try and appear in suggested vids)
 
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So does this "new idea first skyrocketing" only work for an already established channel?

For a new channel I can't see it working from an algorithmic standpoint - ie. no authority/views/subscribers, plus main keywords are going to encompass words from this "new idea" that theoretically no one else is a) searching and b) using in their video metadata (to try and appear in suggested vids)

You would need some level of channel authority, or a way to send traffic to the new channel. We did it a little bit (no where near skyrocketing though) on our new baby channel getting a video to take off to almost 6M views. But I had traffic directed to the channel and each new video there from multiple sources and methods. For a brand new channel with no way to generate traffic, nor willing to pay for adwords, I don't see it happening at all. If it does happen, the video would need very high virality, and be picked up by buzzfeed or similar. Something like that video with Jackson dangling a kid off the balcony or that shark getting into the underwater cage.[DOUBLEPOST=1500191979,1500191467][/DOUBLEPOST]
I can completely agree with KTR on this. I'm spending currently $10 a day and it does bring views and some subs to my channel, but once ads stop, the AI is not on my side and nothing is being driven to my channel.

I attempted the learn colors, numbers, and animal names thing as well with a few videos and of course, can't seem to get on the suggested videos. Sadly, I hopped on this band wagon too late... and should have done this 6 months ago.

I'm currently, trying to figure out a way to revive my channel. As that even our videos that did ok, which were McD toys, are not even being pushed now.

The AI will turn out to be a curse, and perhaps the end of us all. In the background on the evening news, there's a sound bite from Elon Musk, he's seriously worried about the direction AI is heading, apparently it can now beat the world's best players in some games.

I see trends and videos exploding, going supernova and then dying in a flash, sucking the channel and hopes and dreams into a black hole. The more they let AI run the recommendation backend, the bleaker things will look. Face it, it's not human, it doesn't have emotional intelligence, it can't model the wonder and curiosity of a 2 year old discovering new videos. Now that 2 y.o. will be denied varied and off trend content because the AI is giving 300M views/month to a channel crushing everything they can think of with a car and stuffing the recommended slots with those videos - crush watermelons, cakes, durians, trumpets, anything for sale they can get their hands on at Makro. Makes you wonder - do the viewers drive the trends, or does the AI stuff everyone's feed with the videos hence creating the trend? Then that trend dies, and the AI picks some other 'out there' wild thing to send everyone to, while hard working Moms and Dads are left wondering "what the f**k is going on, why is my channel dead?"

I got a bad feeling about AI. It's about as good for the planet as the Manhattan Project was.

And the really sad thing is, while before Yt gave us the ability to be our own boss and set our agenda, we are now slaves to the AI. If the AI does not like our videos, our traffic is dead. Our subs and viewers don't even get a chance to see them, the video is killed out the gate. Instead of catering to viewers and the various nuances of our audience, we now have to bow and crawl in front of the AI, trying to understand what it wants, why it likes some videos and not others, and trying ways to please it, hoping it will shine its grace and send us some traffic.
 
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No Problem! I'm really glad you can take some criticism. Some people these days are just too arrogant to listen.
I'm gonna start off by commending you on your consistency. It is extremely important to post consistently and you do it better than a ton of people.
Now some things you can fix. In many of your videos the white gets really bright and it can be a pain for the eye to watch the screen. So lower your exposure. Also the music that you use in your videos are so loud that it can be hard to hear your voice. And going on with the audio, your voice is kind of muffled so maybe get a better mic or idk maybe you can fix it with the mic you have.
So those are some things that you can fix for your videos. I can also give you some advice for your channel in general. You can really work on your thumbnails. Thumbnails are extremely important and you should spend a good chunk of time working on them. You can use this website called Pic Monkey which helps you with making your thumbnails stand out. Pic Monkey can also help you create a better profile pic and channel art. You can search up Youtube videos to learn how to use it. And lastly your descriptions are wayyyyy too complicated. Not saying that its way too long cuz long is good but way too complicated. Your target is kids so try making it kid sized (if you know what I mean).
Hope this helps you out! Keep working hard. I can really see the hard work put into your channel.

Thanks Ryan! That was helpful. I think I will work on one thing at a time - for sure the thumbnail is a good thing that I can do right away. I'll look into pic monkey - I have just been using powerpoint. haha. most of toy channels are bright and I think this is what the kids are attracted to. The lighting - point taken - I wanted to make sure the videos were BRIGHT since that is what the top channels have - but right now i have cheap lights and adjust the exposure - maybe I went too high. What I noticed with toy channels is that when they "make it" it's the lights that improves drastically (gets brighter). ANd the sound balance is always my challenge - I agree that sometime I made the music too loud! I'll be more careful about that. Do you have a mic that you recommend?

I always welcome constructive criticism. I appreciate you gave me ideas that I can actually work on. Responding to criticism is the only way to improve in my opinion - I"m not sure why people would not be receptive. I guess is someone is just being mean then it could be a problem but you were not...so, I appreciate it![DOUBLEPOST=1500222188,1500221509][/DOUBLEPOST]
I can completely agree with KTR on this. I'm spending currently $10 a day and it does bring views and some subs to my channel, but once ads stop, the AI is not on my side and nothing is being driven to my channel.

I attempted the learn colors, numbers, and animal names thing as well with a few videos and of course, can't seem to get on the suggested videos. Sadly, I hopped on this band wagon too late... and should have done this 6 months ago.

I'm currently, trying to figure out a way to revive my channel. As that even our videos that did ok, which were McD toys, are not even being pushed now.

I would think $10 a day is quite a lot - but it's a little depressing to think you need to throw in more. It's hard with kids' channels because I honestly am starting to think that the quality of the video does not correlate with views. It's a bit unique niche in that way. It also feels like everything has been done!
 
Thanks Ryan! That was helpful. I think I will work on one thing at a time - for sure the thumbnail is a good thing that I can do right away. I'll look into pic monkey - I have just been using powerpoint. haha. most of toy channels are bright and I think this is what the kids are attracted to. The lighting - point taken - I wanted to make sure the videos were BRIGHT since that is what the top channels have - but right now i have cheap lights and adjust the exposure - maybe I went too high. What I noticed with toy channels is that when they "make it" it's the lights that improves drastically (gets brighter). ANd the sound balance is always my challenge - I agree that sometime I made the music too loud! I'll be more careful about that. Do you have a mic that you recommend?

I always welcome constructive criticism. I appreciate you gave me ideas that I can actually work on. Responding to criticism is the only way to improve in my opinion - I"m not sure why people would not be receptive. I guess is someone is just being mean then it could be a problem but you were not...so, I appreciate it![DOUBLEPOST=1500222188,1500221509][/DOUBLEPOST]

I would think $10 a day is quite a lot - but it's a little depressing to think you need to throw in more. It's hard with kids' channels because I honestly am starting to think that the quality of the video does not correlate with views. It's a bit unique niche in that way. It also feels like everything has been done!


To add more brightness and professional look to you videos you need - adobe premiere pro cs6. This will help you with quality a lot.
 
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