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Growing your list of YouTube subscribers can be frustrating, especially if you’re just starting out.
No, believe us, we truly get it.
With plenty of videos ranging from cute cats, people reacting to videos of cute cats, product reviews, shocking news, celebrity gossips, and mukbang, among other things, just how do you get a portion of YouTube’s 2.3 billion users to subscribe to your channel?
Well, it’s not easy, but it can be done.
Here are some tips for how to get more YouTube subscribers.
Niche Down
It's crucial to determine very specifically what your channel’s about. What type of topics will you cover? Who is your target audience?
Here’s a hint: "Anything and anyone under the sun" isn’t a good answer.
Your purpose and goals, who your audience is, and what type of topics you’re going to cover in your videos have to be clearly defined. This can help you acquire a better outlook and enable you to make better decisions.
For instance, if your channel is about becoming a freelance writer, and your goal is to help writers increase their income, then you should create various videos specific to that concept.
You could, perhaps, teach people how to find clients online, discuss how important creating a schedule and sticking to it is for productivity, and how to create content that gets high traffic.
Be Consistent in Your Posting Schedule
While you don’t have to upload videos every day, you have to at least set a schedule for adding new content to your channel. This way, your subscribers will have something to look forward to and will know when they can expect new content from you.
You might also consider including teasers of your upcoming projects at the end of your current video so they’ll know that something is coming up soon.
Consistency is important. If you randomly post once every other month, you can't expect real results. At the same time, however...
Content Quality Matters More Than Quantity
More than the number of videos you upload in a week, you should focus on the quality of the videos you upload. The quality of your content will determine whether or not people will continue to watch your videos and patronize your channel.
High-quality content will capture your viewers’ attention. There are too many videos uploaded on YouTube nowadays that most people don’t have enough patience to stay and watch, because they don’t catch their interest.
If you want to learn how to get more YouTube subscribers, then create content that matters. Your audience needs to become emotionally invested.
Important note: This doesn't mean you need to be perfect!
Perfection is a killer of productivity. Pull the trigger and take action. Just bear in mind that you need to be creating new content consistently.
Take Time to Enhance the Look of Your Channel
They say first impressions matter, and this is certainly true when it comes to your YouTube channel. Your YouTube channel is like a magazine’s cover page. People are more attracted to magazines with pretty or striking covers. Aesthetics make an impact. So, design your channel in a way that can catch a visitor’s attention.
Here are some things you have to pay attention to.
YouTube Channel Art
Your channel art is the rectangular image you see on top of your channel’s page. It should catch the eye and be relevant to your brand. While your channel art image might not do a lot for SEO, if it captures your audience’s attention, it could potentially convince people to stop for a bit and explore.
YouTube Channel Description
Be sure to add your channel’s description – text describing what your channel is all about. This is important because of two things: It helps viewers understand more about you, and it’s very useful for SEO.
When making your channel description, include a brief introduction of yourself, what types of videos you create, and what your content will do for them. It’s also good to include a section informing them of what your upload schedule is, and add a call-to-action encouraging them to subscribe.
YouTube Channel Icon
Next on the list is your channel icon.
A YouTube channel icon is your brand's complimentary branding.
As mentioned on Backlinko, a channel icon is a small, visual representation of your channel on YouTube and in Google. Channel Icons appear on Channel Pages, in the YouTube search results, and on video watch pages. Your Channel Icon appears in more places on YouTube than any other element of your channel.
It will be shown all over YouTube – on your page, whenever you submit a response, whenever you post a video, and whenever you give a heart to a comment.
It’s the face that people will see and associate with your brand. So, make sure that the image you choose is high-quality, relevant, and easy to recognize.
YouTube Channel Trailer
Your channel trailer is a short video that automatically plays whenever someone visits your channel. More importantly, it’s another opportunity for you to convince people to hit that subscribe button.
Your trailer is your channel’s teaser, so if you want to know how to get more YouTube subscribers, keep these things in mind.
Assume That the Person Watching is New to Your Channel
When you make your channel trailer, it’s always safe to make one dedicated to people who just found out about your channel. This means you’ll have to address it to new viewers. Thus, you should introduce who you are, what you do, what your channel is about, and how you can help them.
Keep it Short
People don’t have a long attention span, especially if they’re just browsing. A minute and 30 seconds is the recommended video duration for your channel trailer, and it’s important to make the first 10 seconds of your channel trailer catchy. You need to give them a reason to keep watching.
Emphasize Your Branding
The theme, colors, music, and voice you use should be consistent all throughout your channel. This improves brand recognition and recall, making it easy for people to identify you.
End With a Call-to-Action
Also, don’t forget to add your call-to-action. Ask them to subscribe to your channel and to hit that notification bell to get alerts whenever you upload a new video.
Optimize Your YouTube Videos
Always remember to optimize. Use keywords in your channel description and video descriptions to make it easy for search engines to find you.
Invest in YouTube tools and don't reinvent the wheel.
Understand the YouTube metrics that get your videos seen and what to concentrate on beyond vanity metrics.
Create Longer YouTube Videos
The next item on our list of tips for how to get more YouTube subscribers is to opt for longer videos.
Watch time is an essential part of YouTube’s search algorithm. If you want your video to show up in search results, then you will have to take measures to improve your watch time.
What is Watch Time?
This term refers to the total amount of time viewers spend watching your videos. The more time they spend, the better it is for your rankings. Thus, longer videos have more chances of getting seen by potential subscribers.
Improving your watch time requires strategy. You have to keep your viewers interested to encourage them to stay on the page and watch until the end of your video.
One of these strategies is using a pattern interrupt so your viewer doesn’t get bored. Visual effects are another idea. In short, find ways to make your video interesting.
Reply to and Heart Comments
Engagement is important. As much as possible, try to respond to your viewers’ comments. And if there are comments that you like, don’t hesitate to hit the heart button.
Whenever you do that, the person who left the comment will get notified, so it makes you more visible.
Furthermore, when you reply to questions or comments, you’re exhibiting your knowledge on the subject matter and establishing your authority.
Engage With Other Creators and Other Content
Comment on other people’s videos. If you feel that your video is relevant to their content, then add a link to it in the comments.
Connect with others.
It can help you gain more subscribers. Just be sure to be genuine in your interactions — not spammy. It's about forming authentic relationships.
Create Playlists
Playlists aren't just useful for organizing your videos. They’re also great for making it convenient for your viewers to find what they should watch next from your channel. Since videos on playlists automatically start as soon as the previous video ends, viewers are more likely to stay and watch more of your videos in one sitting. If they like your content, then they just might hit that subscribe button.
Furthermore, playlists are indexed separately in searches, which means that there’ll be more opportunities for people to discover your videos. Here's an example from THINK Media.
Give Them an Incentive to Subscribe
Most people won't click on the subscribe button without an incentive. And when we say "incentive," we mean what benefits they'll get (not necessarily material or monetary things) when they become your subscribers.
There are countless content creators. You can’t expect to be the only person vlogging about the topic that you’ve chosen for your channel. You have to provide value that will make them want to get notified whenever you upload something new. What makes your channel unique? What can you provide that can add value to your subscribers’ lives? What's in it for them?
Make it a Habit to Check Your Video’s Performance
Here’s our next tip for how to get more YouTube subscribers: See which video has the most clicks, most engagement, and which video got you the most subscribers. You can find this information in your YouTube analytics.
Find Your Subscriber Magnet
The video that got you the most subscribers is referred to as a subscriber magnet. It means viewers who watch that video are more inclined to click that subscribe button.
Once you identify your subscriber magnet, utilize it! Add it to the end screen of your other videos so more people will be able to see it.
Embed Your YouTube Videos on Your Website and Blog
To increase your videos' visibility, you can embed them on your website or your blog posts. This way, people who read your blog can watch the video and possibly visit your YouTube channel. Again, this increases your chances of getting more subscribers.
Provide Translations
People all around the world are using YouTube, but not all viewers can speak or understand English. If you want more non-English speaking viewers to see your channel, thus increasing your watch time and exposure, help them understand your content. You can do this by providing YouTube translations.
Promote, Promote, Promote
Not many people will know about your YouTube channel unless you find ways to promote it. Therefore, you have to promote often, every opportunity you get. Use a creative hashtag to get even more audience reach!
Start With the People You Know
If you’re only just starting on your YouTube channel and your subscribers are too few for comfort, promote your channel first to the people you know.
Utilize Other Social Media Accounts
Add a link to your YouTube channel on your other social media accounts. Platforms like Facebook prioritize native content, so instead of adding the link to your video on the actual post, extract a few seconds from your video and upload it directly on Facebook, and then give your followers the link to the full content in the comments. That way, they’ll know where to watch.
Utilize End Screens
The end screen is a YouTube feature you can't do without. Allocate about 10 seconds at the end of your video for links to your other videos so viewers can click on them easily.
Add a Subscribe Button
Make it hassle-free for your viewers to subscribe. Include a subscribe button on your videos and add one on your channel art.
