How I Kick started my YouTube Channel
Just 50 days ago, I stared at the new YouTube account I created with the intention of building my own YouTube channel. I stared at it while pondering over the hard work that needed to be invested in it and the time and mind power that needed to be harnessed. I asked myself if I was ready for the commitment. There’s no reason to start something new if you are not ready to commit to it. I reassured myself for the 10th time.
I started off with a very awkward introductory video. I am sure most YouTubers can relate to that!
I’ve been following a few YouTubers for quite sometime and I’ve learned a thing or two about editing videos to make them ‘fast paced’ and ‘action packed’. I will explain these terms later on.
So my goal was to build a video base surrounding Daily Vlogs, Crazy entrepreneurial ideas, Tips and tricks for startups and motivational and uplifting videos. I started off with a very awkward introductory video. I am sure most YouTubers can relate to that!
Here’s my first awkward YouTube video:
The fresh feeling of Fresh Beginnings
Oh we all know this feeling. It felt good to finally start this channel and create and publish my first content. It gained a few likes and a few views (something like 10 views and 2 likes) mostly because I shared it on facebook and my friends decided to click on it. Nevertheless, it felt good to start something fresh. I decided to make it a ‘daily’ thing and so I mapped out the plan for the next few days.
Finding myself
After posting 3 videos, 3 things changed in me:
- I changed my Channel name
- I further specified my channel’s niche
- I styled my content
name..
I started my channel with the name ‘Access Denuied’, which I found very amusing and clever at that time since I am a bit of a Tech geek and the words Access Denied + Dinuka (my name) caused the product ‘Access Denuied’. Terrible mistake. I realized that I needed to keep my name short and simple. Not too complicated and not too hard to remember. Look at channel names like Pewdiepie and iiSuperwomanii.. aren’t they a dandy to remember?
I changed my channel name to Dinster. Plain and simple.
niche..
It was only after the 3rd video, did I find myself and the niche. After my 3rd video, titled “OVERNIGHT SUCCESS is a LIE” I decided that I need to sail my ship toward a motivational and vlog themed way. My view count went from being a bare 5 or 8 views to 30 views in roughly 3 days.
style..
Creating content and publishing them will not suffice in the current YouTube ecosystem. You need to embrace your own style and flaunt it to get noticed. You also need to ‘click bait’. Now click bait, isn’t that ‘bad’ as it sounds. Click bait can be used as a good thing as well as a bad thing.
A video with the title ‘I HAVE THE CURE FOR CANCER’ will undoubtedly get a lot of clicks. After the ‘click bait’ stage, if the viewer finds themselves staring at a cute cat or a video footage of a random stranger talking random stuff instead of the ‘cure for cancer’, the video will end up with 1000+ dislikes for sure.
Click bait needs to be used to grab the attention of the viewer (10% of the work) BUT your content needs to keep the viewer from leaving or hitting the dislike button (90% of the work) and also get them to subscribe, leave a comment and like the video (bonus points). Click bait is necessary but your content needs to do justice to your ‘oh so grand’ thumbnail.
Here’s a sample thumbnail for one of my videos:
I made this thumbnail for my video titled ‘Playing HERCULES After 14 Years’
Progress is addictive
The thrill of making content for YouTube is an acquired taste. You need to keep doing it to feel the urge to do more. Trust me, after you get started every new video you push out to your channel will make you want to do another video tomorrow. The YouTube dashboard doesn’t make things better either. It shows in-depth details about every video you posted and their progress.
This is a realm you can’t consciously leave unless… you give up early.
Here’s a comparison of how my stats grew as I posted a new video every day..
Pay attention to the View count, Subscriber count and the Watch time in each snapshot :)
A snapshot I took after 9 videos
A snapshot I took after 13 videos
A snapshot I took after 20 videos
Do it for the right reasons
YouTube made a lot of people millionaires. We’ve heard their success stories. But if your final goal is become a millionaire off your videos, you have already failed this game, lad. Youtube is for content creators and only a handful of content creators make it to the big league. If you ask them for their secret, their answer would be ‘I didn’t do it for the money. I love making videos’. The biggest key to success on YT is to focus on the quality of your content. That is the only way you can gain exposure, love and attention from the ever wondering and valuable YT viewers.
Don’t do it if you need money. Get a job if you need money. Youtube is for the novice to advanced content creator. If you love making videos, Youtube is waiting for you.
The journey is just starting, Dinsters!
Thank you for taking the time to read my progress so far. Please subscribe to me, that’ll really help me move forward as a passionate Youtuber! :)
My Channel — https://goo.gl/VUkvvz
