Six Tips to Help You Make the Most of Your YouTube Channel

So, you have a YouTube channel, and now you want to become a world-renowned YouTuber with millions of followers, making obscene amounts of money? First off, let’s be clear. The only way you can make your YouTube channel a massive success is if you put in a whole lot of hard work.

There are currently just over 40 million YouTube channels in operation, and over 500 hours of content is uploaded every minute. Those are mind-boggling numbers. Another number may well give you pause for thought when it comes to trying to make your YouTube channel a prosperous one. Around 0.25% of all channels make money.

That’s a sobering thought. In order to be part of the YouTube Partner Program, in other words, be in a position to make money from your endeavor, you need to have at least 1000 subscribers and over 4000 watched hours of content.

Getting to those sorts of numbers is something of a mountain to climb, but with the right amount of preparation and planning, it is entirely possible to do so. Hopefully, the following tips and ideas will help you in your pursuit of conquering the mountain that is YouTube.

Know Your Niche

Given the sheer weight of options on YouTube and the number of established players, you can not afford to wing it. Whatever your YouTube channel is going to cover, and how you choose to go about doing so, you’ll need to know your stuff. That’s why it’s always advisable to stick to a sphere of knowledge you already inhabit.

Yes, you can research other avenues, but there’s nothing quite like approaching a topic or market that a) you have experience of and know well and b) you are personally mentally invested in. Think to yourself, ‘Is this a channel I’d watch?’ and if the answer is anything other than a resounding yes, then you should rethink your plans.

Get Into a Routine

Often those who try to make a name for themselves on social media believe, wrongly, that it’s an easy undertaking that doesn’t require a great deal of structure or effort. They are wrong and even more incorrect now that the major players in the market are so well established with such large audiences.

When you start, map out how much time you can commit to the project—set times and dates of recording of the content, as well as relevant editing. Stick to the same times and days when it comes to posting your videos, and don’t let up on the regularity. It’s very common for people to start their YouTube channels and then quickly lose interest when they don’t have an instant audience.

Keep at it, and be prepared to wait for your viewership to increase. These things take time to bed in, so be aware of this fact when you first get into gear.

Make Your Channel Look Professional

To help your channel’s reputation, which is effectively your brand, you should make everything associated with it as professional as possible. Luckily this needn’t cost the earth as the technology required to have good quality sound recordings, as well as state-of-the-art cameras (if necessary), has become far more accessible to those with tight budgets.

However, your approach should cover everything, including the details, even when it comes to how to make a YouTube banner that will help attract attention.

Optimize Your Videos Effectively

When it comes to optimizing your videos, you should take care when it comes to titling your videos and your channel, as this can have an effect on the size of your audience. Similarly, the titles should be punchy and, to some extent, click-baity in nature.

Don’t push things too hard in this direction, as today’s social media audience is very savvy and won’t appreciate being sent down a blind alley. In other words, don’t use titles and descriptions that are flagrantly inaccurate.

Learn as much as you can about Metadata and how it can help expand your reach and increase the size of your digital footprint.

Create and Film a Quality Video and Edit It for Multiple Markets

Learn to make the most of all the video material you shoot. If you are making videos of 10 minutes or so, then learn how to cut clips that can be used on other platforms as well as enticing teasers and previews.

The old adage, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, is very applicable here. Frame your subjects well and invest in a quality editing program in order to make your videos as professional in appearance as possible.

There is a time and place for rough and ready content, but on YouTube, it’s likely that any video that is aired, which is frankly amateurish, won’t retain the attention of viewers for very long.

Interact With Your Audience

In order to help create an engaging platform, it’s important, especially from the outset, to interact with your viewership. Whether that’s shouting out to them in your content or responding to comments, you need to foster the interest in your product, and the best way to do it is to make a connection.