Dutchie Abroad
Exploring the world one video at a time!
Something that I notice a lot on this forum are people that are complaining that they don’t get any views. Some have done sub4sub in the past, others have only been around for a few weeks and some have been doing this for ages. But I can tell you, the number one reason that you are not getting any views, is because nobody can FIND your video!
Let me take you on a little thought experiment. Imagine a large forest, full of lush trees, but also filled with low growth, such as bushes and weeds. This forest is called Youtube. In this forest there are a lot of little clearings in the trees and everyone is free to start their own little cinema (channel) in one of these clearings. Awesome, right?
So, you head off to one of the clearings and start building a little cabin to house your cinema. It’s not much yet, just one screen, a few chairs. You pour a lot of effort into making your film posters (thumbnails) and making a beautiful nameplate (banner) to place on top of the building. Everything is set for the big release! The evening comes. And nobody shows up. What happened?
Take a good look around your little clearing. You are surrounded by trees and bushes, blocked from all sides. There are a lot of people in the forest, you can hear them walk by, laughing and chattering to each other. But they only walk on the paved roads. Only very few venture through the bushes. What can you do? Pave some roads of course.
On the biggest clearing in Youtube forest stands the Youtube cinema. It’s in the centre of the forest and they cleared away a lot of bushes and trees to accommodate buildings for their workers. You have a good sense of where this clearing is, so you take your tools (SEO) and start clearing a path towards the Youtube cinema. You can only remove the bushes and weeds, winding around the trees and rocks. This first path might not be straight, or the prettiest, but you manage to connect your little clearing to the Youtube clearing. Good job! But there are many, many paths connected to the clearing of the Youtube cinema. Some big cinema’s even have huge, paved roads with streetlights and signs! Your one, little road won’t be enough.
You now know what to do. You pick up your tools again and start clearing paths to other big clearings. The Twitter cinema, the Facebook cinema, a wobbly little path to the Reddit cinema. Not all paths connect, not all paths can be maintained. But slowly but surely, you little clearing gets more and more paths that connect to clearings of others. You might even get to know other people who have a little cinema of their own, paving paths between your clearings.
Now that your clearing has paths to reach it with, people will walk down them. Some people are randomly straying over small paths, others are lost, but some have a destination in mind and are happy to find you! Over time a few of these paths will become broader, straighter and more used. You will be able to chop down some trees and allow more and more people to use your road. Congratulations, your audience can now find you!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Thank you for joining me on this little adventure. What I would like to tell you is: No, you’re not per definition doing something wrong when you don’t get any views. You could have the best videos in the world. But as long as you don’t reach out and pave some paths, nobody will be able to find you.
Another very import thing that this story tells you is: It takes time! You paths will often start out wonky and small, but if you take time to involve yourself in other communities, the path will broaden and more people will find the way that leads to your content.
Thank you for reading and I hope I have shed some light on the monster that is called: Networking!
Let me take you on a little thought experiment. Imagine a large forest, full of lush trees, but also filled with low growth, such as bushes and weeds. This forest is called Youtube. In this forest there are a lot of little clearings in the trees and everyone is free to start their own little cinema (channel) in one of these clearings. Awesome, right?
So, you head off to one of the clearings and start building a little cabin to house your cinema. It’s not much yet, just one screen, a few chairs. You pour a lot of effort into making your film posters (thumbnails) and making a beautiful nameplate (banner) to place on top of the building. Everything is set for the big release! The evening comes. And nobody shows up. What happened?
Take a good look around your little clearing. You are surrounded by trees and bushes, blocked from all sides. There are a lot of people in the forest, you can hear them walk by, laughing and chattering to each other. But they only walk on the paved roads. Only very few venture through the bushes. What can you do? Pave some roads of course.
On the biggest clearing in Youtube forest stands the Youtube cinema. It’s in the centre of the forest and they cleared away a lot of bushes and trees to accommodate buildings for their workers. You have a good sense of where this clearing is, so you take your tools (SEO) and start clearing a path towards the Youtube cinema. You can only remove the bushes and weeds, winding around the trees and rocks. This first path might not be straight, or the prettiest, but you manage to connect your little clearing to the Youtube clearing. Good job! But there are many, many paths connected to the clearing of the Youtube cinema. Some big cinema’s even have huge, paved roads with streetlights and signs! Your one, little road won’t be enough.
You now know what to do. You pick up your tools again and start clearing paths to other big clearings. The Twitter cinema, the Facebook cinema, a wobbly little path to the Reddit cinema. Not all paths connect, not all paths can be maintained. But slowly but surely, you little clearing gets more and more paths that connect to clearings of others. You might even get to know other people who have a little cinema of their own, paving paths between your clearings.
Now that your clearing has paths to reach it with, people will walk down them. Some people are randomly straying over small paths, others are lost, but some have a destination in mind and are happy to find you! Over time a few of these paths will become broader, straighter and more used. You will be able to chop down some trees and allow more and more people to use your road. Congratulations, your audience can now find you!
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Thank you for joining me on this little adventure. What I would like to tell you is: No, you’re not per definition doing something wrong when you don’t get any views. You could have the best videos in the world. But as long as you don’t reach out and pave some paths, nobody will be able to find you.
Another very import thing that this story tells you is: It takes time! You paths will often start out wonky and small, but if you take time to involve yourself in other communities, the path will broaden and more people will find the way that leads to your content.
Thank you for reading and I hope I have shed some light on the monster that is called: Networking!
