The age of digitalization has taken over us and everything is online. Brands, creators, businesses, and almost every influential personality have their own social media handles and a YouTube channel. Content creators leverage YouTube to create revenue streams that help them sustain a stable lifestyle.
Growing your YouTube channel is not an easy task and requires plenty of effort and optimizations. However, once you crack the algorithm and principles there’s no going back, and the only way is upwards.
Why YouTube Views Are Crucial for Channel Growth?
The views are very crucial in scaling your YouTube channel, the visibility increases once your video gets more views. YouTube recommends your video to others when traffic emerges. For your channel to get monetized, you must cross the threshold of 4000 hours. If the channel does not gather 4000 hours of viewership in the last 12 months, it will not get monetized, and you may not benefit anything from your channel.
In terms of YouTube shorts, you need 10M views on your YouTube shorts videos in the last 90 days to achieve monetization on your channel. Hence, garnering views after building a YouTube channel is one of the most important things in your journey to becoming a YouTube content creator.
How to Start a YouTube Channel: A Step-by-Step Guide
You must be equipped with a Google account before creating a YouTube channel. If you don’t have a Google account, you would first need to Sign Up and create a Google account, the same account can be used for making your channel.
You can customize your channel to draw maximum attention. You can change the cover image, and your channel logo, and also choose a creative name that aligns with your channel’s content. For example, ‘Travel with Sky’ is a more befitting name for a channel that showcases travel videos. Therefore, make sure that your audience easily recognizes the content your channel will be showcasing through the channel name itself.
Creating a channel is the first step, growing it and scaling it is a challenging step. You can browse YouTube and check for your competitors and the kind of content they are providing for their audience. Make a note of the common things that all major channels are providing. After drawing inspiration, write down the stuff that you can do that is unique, hence you can make your channel stand out.
Creating Content That Attracts More Views on YouTube
As we discussed in the previous stanza, you must create content that is trending or has the potential to reach a maximum audience in the future. Generic content like travel, cooking, tutorial videos, and based on tech shall grow no matter what if the content uploaded is top-notch.
Understanding What Type of Content Works
You should have a deep understanding of people’s behavior and what will make them stay on your channel. You must not go beyond your skill set and make something that is out of your approach but at the same time, you must be aware of how to approach people with your content.
Your videos should have elements that not only make a user stay on your channel but also make the audience share your video among their circle. You must craft engaging and shareable videos on your channel. That is one mantra to stand out.
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How to Optimize Your YouTube Videos for More Views
Once you reach a threshold, you can start optimizing your YouTube videos. The optimization process includes using a great title that fluently describes the contents of your channel. Apart from the title, the thumbnail of the video should also be relevant and display relevant text on the image. Lastly, a good description with all the relevant information and timestamps of the video should be written in a very simple format, so that it is understood by all kinds of users. Tags must also be used in the description box.
1. Leverage YouTube’s Algorithm to Get More Views
One of the important points to note while aiming for bigger things from YouTube is the algorithm of YouTube. Once you crack the algorithm, your channel will get a boost in no time. YouTube promotes videos that have a high watch time and engagement, for example, if your 10-minute long video fails to retain users for more than 2 minutes, YouTube will not consider it as meaningful content and shall not promote it.
However, if users stay on your videos for a longer time and also like the video, share it with their friends, and comment on the video, it signals to YouTube that the content is meaningful. If the engagement gets high on YouTube, it automatically gets promoted to new users.
Hence, focus on uploading quality content, and optimize your videos with strong descriptions visually pleasing thumbnails, and a compelling title. Through these means users will click on the video and spend more time on your channel, eventually helping YouTube to analyze the worth of your content.
2. Promote Your YouTube Channel and Videos on Social Media
Along with YouTube, you must be active on other Social Media handles like Instagram and Facebook. Almost every mobile user is on social media platforms, and sharing your YouTube content on social media handles will help you drive enormous traffic.
This cross-promotion is necessary to stand out from the crowd, share your video among your friends, and ask them to share it on their WhatsApp groups and other social media handles. Share your video in the form of a trailer, include the best timestamps of the video, and share video files to give a glimpse of what the video will be about.
3. Encourage Engagement and Build a Community to Boost Views
Building a loyal subscriber base is very important in building your YouTube channel from scratch. You can build a loyal community by actively replying to comments on your videos. You can host live sessions and connect with your audience on a deeper level. These activities create a sense of loyalty and your audience base starts treating you as family.
A small loyal subscriber base helps more than a big subscriber base that does not foster a sense of community.
4. Collaborate with Other YouTubers to Expand Your Reach
One of the best ways to increase views and grow your YouTube channel is by collaborating with creators in the same niche. Reach out to creators and collaborate with them, or invite your people from the same niche in live streams. Through this practice, you can gain subscribers from the list of other creators, and other creators will also benefit from it.
Collaborating with other YouTubers will also give you exposure, and you will learn new things that you can incorporate into your future content.
5. Utilize Playlists and Video Series to Increase YouTube Views
Start a series of videos that can be amalgamated into a playlist. Create a playlist of similar videos that follow a sequence. This will be healthy for your channel as the audience will always be on the lookout for a new video in the playlist.
Certain examples of playlist videos that you can make on your channel are:
- How to videos
- Videos in Hindi
- Videos in English
- History Lessons
- Poetry Lessons etc
6. Leverage YouTube Shorts for Quick Growth
YouTube shorts can give you instant growth if optimized correctly. Shorts need to be optimized according to the latest trends. YouTube Shorts made in the right manner can direct users to your account potentially increasing the chances of spiking your subscriber base.
Shorts should not be lengthy and must impart the relevant content in less time. With the low attention span of users in modern times, lengthy videos might not grab their attention. Where scrolling is so easy, stopping a user from scrolling your Shorts is a challenging task that requires exceptionally well-curated content that caters to the audience’s needs.
7. Maximize Your YouTube Channel with Analytics
You can modify your strategy and track performance through YouTube Analytics. YouTube gives you access to the data of your account which helps you analyze the performance and which type of content is giving a boost to the channel.
The data can also be utilized by understanding which time of the day your audience is most active. Through this, you can post your further videos during that time. These small strategies can bring a big change in your channel’s viewership.
How to Become Popular on YouTube: Proven Strategies for Growth
Having a successful YouTube channel requires a lot of hard work. There are certain strategies that you must follow to get an edge and increase your chances of being a known creator in the realm of online content creators.
1. High-quality Content
Ensure you have top-notch content on your channel, something that is not common and only available on your channel. For example, if you are giving guitar lessons on songs, make sure to cover those songs which are not already available on the internet. Or if there are already videos available, you can still make one if you have a better outlook compared to other videos.
2. Consistency
Most of the YouTube channels do not perform and end up being crumbled because of the lack of consistency in the creator. Suppose you have a travel channel, if you do not upload regular travel videos, you will lose credibility among your subscribers and YouTube will not recommend your videos, eventually you will lose interest and leave the channel.
3. Using the Right Gears
Use good gear, like better microphones, quality cameras, and good mobile phone cameras if not DSLRs. Use editing software to edit your videos. Tripods, a lighting system, and a good setup are required to stand out of the crowd.
4. Collaboration With Fellow YouTubers
You can also gain popularity through collaborating with well-known creators who are working in the same domain. You can also enroll in podcasts and develop an online presence.
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Common Mistakes to Avoid When Trying to Increase Views on YouTube
Creators sometimes make mistakes that heavily affect their channel and they get adverse results. We will list down some of the mistakes, and make sure you don’t commit them while preparing for your channel.
1. Inconsistent Upload Schedule
Some creators upload videos any time of the week inconsistently. You should always upload videos in accordance with your Analytics data. Make sure your video is uploaded at the perfect time which aligns with Analytics.
2. Clickbait Titles and Thumbnails
Your content should be honest, and should not deceive users. These are black hat techniques and do not last for long. You should never use clickbait titles or thumbnails, it can get reported and YouTube might penalize you for that.
3. Poor Video Quality
Having a low video quality does not entertain a user and is counted among grave mistakes. Always shoot your videos from a decent camera phone, if not a DSLR.
4. Overloading Ads
Content creators sometimes make the mistake of advertising brands too much in the video such that it becomes more like a promotional video. Do not incline your content towards promoting other brands. This is not taken sportingly by the audience.
5. Ignoring Engagement
Some creators do not engage with their audience through the comment box or live sessions. You must open up with your audience and maintain a healthy relationship to build a loyal base.
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Conclusion
Building a YouTube channel from scratch might be a gruesome task, but highly rewarding if you play your cards right. Ensure you follow all the instructions mentioned in the blog religiously and disregard unhealthy practices, you can see your channel grow in no time. Of course, sometimes being patient is the toughest thing when you are expecting to monetize your channel, but being on track and posting content consistently can help you build a great channel.
FAQs
Q.1: How can I increase views on YouTube and grow my channel?
Ans. Following healthy practices like focusing on the quality of content, collaborating with other creators, community engagement, and posting content consistently can help you increase views on YouTube and grow your channel.
Q.2: How do I get more views on YouTube without spending money?
Ans. You must select a niche where you can create content while staying at home. Popular niches that do not require money are tutorial videos, cooking channels, book review videos, and guitar lessons. These kinds of channels require zero investments.
Q.3: What are the key steps to start and make a successful YouTube channel?
Ans. Key steps include finalizing a niche, drawing a roadmap and consistently working on the content that can help you start a successful YouTube channel.
Q.4: How can I increase views on my YouTube videos consistently?
Ans. Create content tailored to your audience, and optimize your content with SEO techniques like keyword-rich titles, descriptions, and tags. Promote regularly on social media, and engage with your community, these practices can help you increase views consistently.