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This is My Best Advice for Starting a YouTube Channel for Anyone who wants to Grow on YouTube and has been struggling with views and subscribers as a Small YouTuber.
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Roberto Blake is a Creative Entrepreneur, Keynote Speaker, and YouTube Certified Educator. He is the founder of Awesome Creator Academy and host of the Create Something Awesome Today Podcast.
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=================== text video ====================
so you want to start a youtube channel i
know this is something that a lot of
people are trying to get into i’ve been
on youtube for a number of years i’ve
grown my brand to over 500 000
subscribers on the main channel and i’ve
even started up my podcast again so when
it comes to like starting up youtube
channels helping youtube content
creators grow it’s something that i’ve
done successfully for a long time and i
can break it down to some very simple
and practical things i’m even going to
give you some tips when it comes to
making better quality content even as a
beginner and some things you need to
know about efficient editing so you
don’t overwork yourself for very minimal
results when you’re starting out so this
is going to be my best advice for new
youtubers and small youtubers on how to
grow a youtube channel and this is gonna
be the no-nonsense version so if you’re
looking for a cheerleader you’re in the
wrong place i’m gonna give it to you
straight so go get a snack go ahead and
strap in because it’s about to get real
one of the first things we have to
address is expectations versus reality
you are probably not going to blow up on
youtube yes yes i know how dare i tell
you that you’re not gonna do it you’re
not gonna make it you’re not gonna be
the next viral sensation like i said
expectations versus reality most
youtubers do fail most of them fail
ninety percent of youtubers never get to
ten thousand subscribers i’m going to
tell you exactly why the reason that
most youtubers fail is because they have
unrealistic expectations because they
don’t know
what success looks like you don’t know
what you don’t know that’s why you’re
watching this video and one of the
things you need to know
is that you can’t expect much when
you’re just trying to learn everything
you don’t know how to video edit yet you
have no experience why would that
produce results you have no idea how to
make thumbnails do design and branding
you don’t know how to optimize videos
you probably don’t know how to write
headlines and do copywriting you don’t
know how to do sound design and effects
you know you probably could benefit from
epidemic sound who’s sponsoring today’s
video more on that later you don’t know
how lighting works or microphones or any
number of things you’re gonna have to
learn eight to twelve skills over the
course of time on youtube
that by themselves any one of those
skills could have been a career that
pays you 55 to 85 000 a year well
roberta you just talked me out of being
a youtuber and just getting one of those
jobs well i’m getting to that the point
is you need to know this
i’m going to name three huge creators
you’ve probably heard of at least one of
them and i’m going to tell you the
results that they got on youtube and
what would have happened if they had
quit early and got discouraged so as of
making this video mkbhd marquez brownlee
he has 15 million subscribers do you
know what he got out of his first 100
videos on youtube
78 subscribers 100 videos 78 subscribers
mr beast who you’ve probably heard of is
probably as of the making this video
right about to hit 100 million
subscribers one of the most epic people
of our lifetime
his first 100 videos he got about 704
subscribers out of that
pewdiepie who has been the biggest solo
youtube content creator competing with
media companies with over 100 000 sorry
100 million subscribers
his first 100 videos he didn’t get 10
000 subscribers he didn’t get 5 000
subscribers how many subscribers do you
think you got he got 2
500 subscribers so expectations versus
reality the fact is most of you are not
going to get
1 000 to 10 000 subscribers out of your
first 100 videos because those are your
introduction to being a content creator
and learning the basic concepts of
producing a good looking video a good
sounding video a well-lit video and
learning the basics of video editing of
learning uh when to do jump cuts when to
insert b-roll what color correction and
color grading is what sound design is
and and how to adjust your background
music so it doesn’t overpower your voice
on video these are basic things that
you’re gonna have to learn along the way
and you’re probably gonna have to make
100 crappy videos in order
for you to learn anything at all about
making even one good video practice
makes progress and so most youtubers
fail because they quit too early to get
anywhere on youtube on average it takes
people making 500 plus videos and that
can be daunting to do all that work and
see very little results so let’s talk
about how you can get those results just
a tid bit faster just a little bit
faster but first let’s go ahead and have
a word from our sponsor today epidemic
sound when it comes to creating quality
content on youtube audio is often more
important than video if you’re trying to
grow as a youtube content creator you
need to retain your audience and you
need to rack up
watch time get people watching to the
end of your videos and one of the things
that makes or breaks your content is
going to be the audio quality the sound
design and something that can help out
is smooth background music that fits the
tone of your videos and that’s where
epidemic sound comes in ebonic sound
probably has one of the largest
libraries of music and sound effects
that you can find anywhere this music
and these sounds can be used in your
youtube videos without fear of copyright
claims and copyright strikes seems like
copyright on youtube gets worse every
single day but epidemic sound can save
you from that i’ve been using it in my
own videos for years it’s really great
to be able to have reliable music that i
can put in the background of my videos
to help with watch time and retention
and the best part is you can sign up
today with a free trial link is in the
description down below thank you to
epidemic sound for sponsoring this video
and for everything you do for content
creators and now back to the video since
i talked about watch time and retention
just now something i want to do is i
actually want to help you make better
quality content in terms of that watch
time and retention because this is going
to help you get monetized on youtube
it’s also going to help you get
subscribers in fact let me tell you
something about turning viewers into
subscribers and this is all going to
make sense to you if you can get
somebody to watch your video all the way
to the end or watch more than half of it
you have a much better chance of turning
that viewer into a subscriber and into a
loyal or active audience member just
keep in mind that when people subscribe
to your youtube channel it is not a
guarantee that they will have your
videos recommended on the youtube home
page the next up after they watch a
video or the suggested feed that is
something that happens depending on how
much of your content they watch and that
means watching videos to completion but
also watching videos for a very very
long time because youtube’s goal is to
keep people on youtube as long as
possible if you were wondering the
secrets of the youtube algorithm just
walk backwards from gee
what would keep people on youtube as
long as possible as long as you are
contributing to that you’re helping
youtube and google’s bottom line and you
will be rewarded accordingly yeah i
think it’s an accident that your
favorite creators are making longer and
longer videos but it’s also not an
accident that they’re editing those
videos and producing those videos in a
way that almost ensures that you watch
as much of the video as possible and
watch to the end and that’s a big part
of their content strategy but also a big
part of their editing and the way that
they’re producing their videos so when
it comes to editing some of the things
that will really help you with retention
and watch time is first of all
prioritizing your audio by having a good
microphone that’s as close to you as
possible maybe sound treating your room
in some way you can see that i’ve got
some of that sound treatment stuff going
on and that’s going to eliminate the
audio distractions you can also help
with mood and tone
through background music again good
opportunity to grab epidemic sound and
sometimes sound design when i talk about
money or cash just having a cash
register go off that’s sound design when
i want to pop up something on the screen
having a plop or a beep or a boop that
having
that sound effect is going to actually
help make the video more engaging it’s
subtle little things also pattern
interrupts on screen you don’t have to
be fancy and do animation on screen or
something like that pop it up every
three seconds some people do that and it
actually works people like mr beast do
that all the time but anything you can
do at a basic level to just make the
experience of watching a video better
and make it something that doesn’t feel
painful that helps a long way good
lighting helps because that eliminates
distractions i’m not seeing a grainy
dark hard to you know watch video having
the video subject be properly in focus
that’s why we do spend money on good
cameras as we do it for the auto focus
and the shallow depth of field the
blurry background look again you can
make that affordable you can just go
ahead and depending on what you do you
can just buy a prime lens instead of a
zoom lens you can get prime lenses for
like under 500 bucks sometimes you can
use even cheaper you can get them for
like 200 bucks and depending on how far
away you can get you get the blurry
background look you want a wireless
microphone that makes it easier to make
content no matter how far away the
camera is or lets you move around or do
things without affecting the audio
here’s the good news you got a wooden
floor something i’ve learned about when
i moved into this house guess what you
can just go ahead and get a wireless
lavalier mic i use them from deity
microphones i’m gonna link to my gear in
the description those will be affiliate
links you pay nothing extra i get a
commission but i’m gonna put those
affiliate links there because a lot of
you you don’t know what to buy so okay
let’s go ahead and let’s get some prime
lenses that might be affordable that you
know are going to let us get a good look
for our videos let’s get some affordable
lighting so those videos can be well lit
so it’s going to be better produced
let’s go ahead and get a good microphone
so it’s going to be easier to edit and
process the audio and that’s going to be
cheap deity it’s like 150 160 for a
wireless microphone and it’ll be the
last one you have to buy for a while so
you’ll be good to go probably for the
first couple years of your youtube
career with just a decent camera
a good lens one good light and a decent
wireless microphone you don’t have to
break the bank you don’t have to go 10
grand in debt on gear to start a youtube
channel and yeah you could do it with
your smartphone but i’m gonna be real
with you i think that a good you know
1200 1500 investment could put your
video quality on par with a channel that
has a hundred thousand subscribers
already and that could make a difference
in launching your career but if you just
need to get started and you need to not
be intimidated make the best of your
smartphone but i would invest in a
wireless microphone for that you know
smartphone that just lets you get better
audio if nothing else and maybe a light
now that you have good quality video
going in we can have good quality video
going out and when it comes to editing
you don’t need to do all this fancy
editing you don’t have to do the mr b
style of editing you don’t have to do
the emma chamberlain school of editing
you can get you know tens of thousands
hundreds thousands millions of views on
youtube with simple
jump cuts just simple jump cuts
okay
a basic color correction that you can
learn from just one video tutorial you
could learn the basics of color
correction and then you could just make
a preset for it and set it and forget it
if you’re filming in the same room all
the time and and you can be done with it
you could learn that maybe in a weekend
apply it to your video content have
basically a template for it and then
it’s going to be good all the time and
it’s not going to take you hours and
hours and hours to edit your videos
going forward this is going to help you
be consistent it’s going to help you
have a good quality of videos this is
going to make things simple as for your
audio
learn and do a basic tutorial on audio
processing and you know just better
overall audio and this is going to be
something you can again probably get the
basics of you won’t have mastery in a
weekend but you can take a weekend and
you can learn the basics of it and i
promise you it’s going to be better for
you to do that with your audio than
taking it straight out of camera without
a specialized microphone
you also want to get that microphone
like i said and that’s going to help you
then go ahead get a free trial of
epidemic sound and go ahead and start
adding some sound design in terms of
either low background music and maybe a
few sound effects where appropriate some
good sound design and you’re good to go
you have videos that are now on par with
the top youtubers and you don’t have to
break the bank to do it you don’t have
to do grueling editing sessions it’s not
a guarantee that just putting more time
into an individual video is going to
guarantee these massive results that
expectation and the quality over
quantity conversation without anyone
ever telling you how to make quality
videos or be consistent at them is
holding so many of you back and it’s why
you get discouraged after making dozens
of videos and never get to the point
that professional creators get to
making hundreds of videos so if you want
to start a youtube channel all of this
is important it all matters now in terms
of how much content you need i know
people tell you quality over quantity
quality over quantity and i’m tired of
hearing it because that’s not a
realistic piece of advice
for a beginner what is i think the best
advice that i could give to a beginner
is learn how to make quality content by
making quantity content just like three
of the biggest creators who all made 100
videos two of them didn’t even get a
thousand subscribers doing it none of
them got to 10 000 subscribers after 100
videos
they had to learn the process of making
good videos before quality would ever
come into the conversation and you can
only do that through repetition and the
faster you go ahead and make those
videos with the goal of don’t just
upload the upload get one percent better
learn one new thing every time that you
upload and by the time you get to 100
uploads you’ve had a hundred lessons a
hundred practice runs and you should be
able to see progress
not perfection but progress and not
measured in how many views you got but
in the abilities that grew you as a
content creator knowing more about audio
after every upload knowing more about
lighting after every video filming
session knowing better and more
confidently how to make judgment calls
about your edits and your cuts and what
to keep and what to get rid of and again
my final piece of advice when it comes
to this is you do need to probably niche
down
and pick something that you like and
enjoy doing you have to find something
that you actually are good at and
confident in doing okay because those
two things are going to be what hurts
your endurance if you pick something you
know you’re not good at and that you
wish you were good at then it might hurt
your confidence to just feel like the
progress is slow and if you don’t even
like it if you’re not passionate about
you’re doing it for the money or you’re
doing it because you think it’ll go
viral you’ll burn out a lot quicker so
you won’t have a long career and you
won’t keep growing because you won’t be
able to be consistent it also has to be
something that you figure out how you
are going to make money at at some point
because you need to be able to afford to
do this without it compromising your
living situation or making things
awkward with your family and then you
also need to know that there is growth
in this niche you need to know that this
is something people even would want to
watch you know what holds small
youtubers back you want to know the
secret as to why people don’t grow on
youtube they often will make content
that they haven’t proven that anybody
they have no proof that anyone would
want to watch these videos
don’t upload a video that you can’t say
there’s an audience for you have to
figure out that there’s an audience for
something and you have to verify that
and i’ll probably make a dedicated video
about that and what’s holding small
youtubers back but if you’re making a p
a video a piece of video that basically
you don’t know
that there’s
a hundred thousand a million people that
have ever watched a video about that and
can watch a video from a stranger about
that topic you probably need to do a
little bit more research and again when
you’re in your experimental phase it’s
fine to just make videos when you’re in
your experimental phase i know it feels
like i’m giving conflicting advice here
but it’s like there’s a difference
between trying to grow your skill level
and get comfortable on camera and just
making if you want to make random videos
don’t expect to grow while you’re doing
that use those random videos as
throwaway videos to learn and expect
nothing from the audience in for any of
that respect and just expect nothing
from the audience
when it’s time to grow it’s time to
focus and treat it like a career treat
it like a business treat it like
something that you want to do for the
next 10 or 15 years
and make sure that you have your
priorities in line doing something you
don’t like for 10 15 years not a good
time doing something you can’t make
money at for 10 or 15 years not a good
time doing something for 10 or 15 years
to never get anybody to care about it or
pay attention to it
not a good time
doing something and knowing you’re not
getting any better at it for 10 or 15
years also not a good time
and so that’s my best advice that’s my
best advice from somebody who’s made
over 1500 videos on this channel over
the last couple of years growing an
audience from zero to 500 000
subscribers
my three years of making consistent
content i made a couple hundred videos
interestingly enough from 2013 2016 i
grew from zero to a hundred thousand
subscribers so i don’t go viral i don’t
get millions of views on every upload
but i do know how to be consistent and i
do know what i’m talking about so there
you go if you enjoyed this video and you
found it helpful first of all leave me a
comment and let me know what the most
helpful piece of advice was
around this also if you enjoyed this
video watch my playlist on other youtube
tips to help you grow also watch my
video on how to get monetized on youtube
specifically if you’re getting started
because that will be important as always
thank you so much for watching and don’t
forget go out there and create something
awesome today
take care
