I started my YouTube Journey on the 25. of January 2022
And it took me exactly 407 Days to reach my first 100 subscribers.
Here is where I messed up and how you can do it better!
After posting my first video on YouTube about how to start YouTube - I know cliche right, I tried to upload regularly but didn’t have a niche nor a real posting schedule.
I only knew that I wanted to make videos about skill learning to show that anyone can reach their goals if they really set they mind on it and started making videos about how to make your own music and music video, Tips on how to learn Japanese and other pretty random things.
Not having a smaller niche was my first mistake, my second was that I didn’t film a couple of videos in advance to maintain a consistent upload schedule to get my first videos rolling.
I posted mainly once a moth irregularly with more or less break in between because writing a script, filming myself and editing still took a very long time and I had no routine on doing it.
So it’s no surprise that while putting so much effort into thinking of content and making videos, which I would call pretty decent for a beginner, no results where showing and I finally quiet after going through hell on my long distance cycling journey in summer.
Third mistake right here: I expected that I would just wake up one day with hundreds of new subscriber, when in reality it looked more look one per every new video I made.
After feeling quite defeated, for really no real reason at all, growth takes time and hoping for a miracle was like hoping to win in the lottery, pretty unrealistic, I had some pretty hectic months where I didn’t manage to film a single video.
And this kept on stressing me out. Because I haven’t given up on YouTube quiet yet but I knew that the longer I take a break the harder it would be to pick up again and not get punished by the mighty "Algorithm".
At the point of my break, I had managed to get 25 subscribers in 8 months work with 12 videos published. So you could say that every video got me two subscribers while also half of the 25 being friends that would have probably subscribed even if I had published no videos at all.
So while I didn’t have enough time to sit down and film anything I did have time to think about my channel and gather videos ideas.
And I manage to gather enough ideas to fill a whole year which magically also got me motivated to start recording again.
Now let’s look at things I did to help me finally reach 100 subscriber. The information’s before where all kind of negative.
Instead of just making one video again and uploading it directly to YouTube
I took my winter break and made 8 videos and scheduled them on a weekly basis
to start uploading in January again.
I cant describe how hard it was to not publish them right away.
And I did see a slight increase in views and subscribers with staying consistent and uploading once a week on the same day.
I really want to say that consistency was the key for picking up speed and getting to 100 subscribers in those next three months, but I felt that would be too naive to say.
While I did stay consistent and still am, I only got those 100
subscribers because one of my videos happened to hop on a viral streak and blew
up. And it’s even one I didn’t spend any time scripting or editing. For some
that would be a happy thing but I feel like it messed up the algorithm for me.
Not only was it kind of a hit in the stomach regarding that quality should be
better than quantity. It was also a video I though was not worth publishing at
first because it was nowhere near my niche and also I wasn’t happy with the
editing.
So, while my subscriber count rose, I noticed that my main weakness was that undefined niche and my tendency to make videos that are fun for me but not really benefiting to my channel.
That’s why I sat down one day and really though about the audience I wanted to reach and the videos those people would want to watch, instead of thinking about what I would like to make.
So I rewrote a years’ worth of video titles and ideas and defined my niche further to help me reach my next milestone of 1000 subscriber before I turn old and grey. But this is for another video.
To summaries it all together here are my suggestions for new YouTube starters:
- Really think about the kind of videos you want to make and define your niche.
- Start by making at least one months’ worth of videos before uploading to get some experience and be able to stay consistent.
- Always try to make your videos 1% better than the last one when it come to editing, lighting, audio or content
- Try looking into trending videos right now to get a viral one to boost your channel in term of watch hour.
- And finally don’t give up!