Sooner or later, every YouTube channel owner starts thinking about how to develop a YouTube channel. In this article, we will tell you how to promote your YouTube channels, how to evaluate them, and how to recruit the first subscribers.
To better understand this question, we checked a bunch of YouTube tutorial videos, which told how to get your first 1000 subscribers on YouTube fast (someone even wrote that it could be done in 1 day). All these tutorials try completely different principles, tips, and recommendations for promotion. Some of them look unrealistic, some of them do not use actual in 2021 promotion techniques. But we checked all of them and are ready to save your time and show you how to do your first thousand followers and even more.
Basic rules
Every year content on YouTube is becoming even better and better, and you need to catch up with it. Make good quality content. However, the quality is relative. But the picture has to be good: no one will look at a pixelated image. Bad sound doesn’t work either. If you are not ready to buy a camera (you can check affordable options in the article Best cameras for kids), you can always use your phone. Just follow the basic rules for your video to look good :
Good-quality content
- Choose locations with natural sunlight for filming, or buy good light bulbs to create suitable lighting in the room.
- Use separate microphones for sound: there might be a lot of extraneous noise if you just shoot with your phone.
- Fix the camera during the shooting, so it does not shake, and use a stabilizer if you shoot on the move.
- Be sure to review the footage and re-capture the bad moments (Even the best video editing software can’t help with this).
- Good video editing is not an option. Check free video editing software for example check Movavi.com to make your videos “strike” to the viewer’s hearts.
You should be interested in what you are doing
You can make videos about almost anything, and still, you will find your audience, even if you unpack a frozen pizza. The main thing is to do it with joy. The viewers sense a catch, so don’t fake it, just shoot what you like. Look at Timothy Sykes. He talks about really difficult subjects such as trading but makes it look breathtaking.
Attractive channel
The desire to subscribe is influenced not only by the content of the videos but also by their design. A beautiful, high-quality decorated channel evokes trust and a feeling that the author is serious about their work. What is included in the design:
- Channel picture. It all starts with the small round image – a company logo or personal photo. We advise you to pick a recognizable picture without small details. It should be readable, simple, and neat.
- Header. The header is the first thing people see when they enter the home page of any YouTube channel. That’s also where they can subscribe to you (the second way is to click “Subscribe” under the video). Your header should answer the viewer’s two main questions: “What the channel is about” and “Why should I subscribe?” You can also add a CTA to subscribe in the header. Don’t forget to include links to your social networks and website (if any).
- Video covers – people may click on a video without even reading its title, if it has an attractive and informative cover. It should match the topic of the video.
You can look at channels of the best YouTubers to check out how attractive a channel can look.
Regular updates
Regularity is very important for YouTube. YouTube is ready to give traffic to your channel only if the content on it will be updated with a clear frequency. Regular updates mean a regular increase in followers. Just make new videos regularly and watch your recent subscribers’ number grow.
Keep it optimized
Channel and content optimization play one of the key roles in the promotion. It’s enough to get everything right, and this will already lead to more traffic. After all, how do users find certain channels and decide to subscribe to them? At first, they find a video they like. After that, people go to the channel and subscribe, or they watch other videos of the author and then subscribe. Optimization is necessary for YouTube to better “understand” what the video is about and to find a relevant audience for it (those who are already interested in similar or related topics, that is, more likely to want to watch and subscribe).
Start with the selection of key phrases. These are queries that users can theoretically search for your content. You can pick them up in the search prompts on YouTube: you type a query in the search bar that reflects the subject of your video and look at what people are looking for. And then save the appropriate phrases to your video.
It’s over one thousand!
After your channel looks good, you can start your way to getting subscribers.
The first thing you can do is…
Link seeding
An old but good method that always works. Distribute a link to the channel or individual videos on other sites, forums, and blogs. This can be done in the comments or through the publication of your articles. With forums, you can work on the type of commenting:
- Find themed forums and choose topics that have few responses.
- Give a meaningful, interesting comment with a link to a channel or video at the end.
- Write that on your channel you cover the issue in great detail. Those who are relevant, will go to the channel.
You can also post these kinds of comments on related YouTube channels.
Attract traffic from social media
Don’t forget about the possibility of connecting your social networks. Let’s dwell on this option in more detail:
On Instagram, you can leverage your profile header. Post a link to your channel there so that subscribers and new visitors to the page are aware that you have a channel. You can also cut the most interesting moments from videos and post them to stories with a link to the video.
In TikTok you can also place a link to your channel in your profile header and publish highlights from your videos.
Facebook gives you more options for implementation. Here you can publish a link in the status and the main information section, throw links to new releases, and do a newsletter to friends. The main thing to keep in mind when posting links is the lead-in. Be sure to tell why your channel is so useful or interesting and why it’s worth subscribing to.
Advertising from a blogger
Bloggers can integrate your channel advertising into the video, talking about it as the video progresses. This is the most native format, which isn’t even always seen as advertising.
You can create your commercial, and the blogger will insert it into their video and give you a shout-out.
But the cost of blogger advertising is quite high. For example, bloggers with an audience of up to a hundred thousand people charge $15 – $50, and bloggers with an audience of up to two hundred thousand – up to $70. As for the top 15 vloggers, the advertising prices can be high, but the feedback is worth it.
Classical Advertising
This includes any free and paid advertising methods that are guaranteed will gain you followers fast and easy:
- Channel or video advertising within YouTube;
- Mutual PR in special communities;
- Advertising on websites;
- Video reposts;
- Comprehensive promotion from an agency (Or freelancers).
There is no easy way
Promoting on YouTube is hard work. You have to constantly experiment with methods, pick up new keywords, and so on. But the main thing is not to give up and release videos regularly. You shouldn’t expect a big increase in your audience after the first publications. But the more videos you upload, the easier it is to gain an audience and monetize your channel.
