Today I’m going to talk to you about the 3 things I learned from getting my first 1000 subscribers on YouTube. If you have a YouTube channel, or you’re thinking of making one, here’s the mistakes I made so you don’t have to make them.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos to try to reach my first 1000 subscribers. I listened, but I didn’t implement what I heard properly. Looking back now, I can see exactly where I went wrong and what lessons I have learned.
The first lesson I learned was to focus on thumbnails. This might sound cliché, but I promise you that thumbnails make a huge difference. I used to design my thumbnails on my computer without taking into account what they looked tiny on mobile. Most of my traffic comes from mobile devices, so I changed my perspective on how to design them. The face should be close to the camera. You should use as few words as possible, and don’t put anything important in the bottom right-hand corner – that’s where the timestamp goes.
The second thing I learned is that more work does not mean more views. This goes for thumbnails and editing. It’s all about the subject matter; getting your viewer to buy in and care about where it’s going. Put production value second, because you don’t need fancy editing and graphics. One thing you do need though: good audio quality.
The third lesson I picked up from reaching my first 1000 subscribers is to let go of the results and focus on the process. Become outcome independent - don’t sit there refreshing your analytics. Concern yourself with content creation. Focus on what you do every day and have patience.
If you want to learn more about getting an online following, visit https://www.digitalnomad.com/Podcast/