YouTube is one of the most popular social media platforms. More than 1.5 billion hours of content is watched on YouTube in a year which is a lot. If you are looking to start a YouTube channel and are looking for ways to increase the number of subscribers then you have come to the right place.
You can, of course, buy YouTube subscribers to improve the appearance of your channel to attract more people and we have talked about that on this website and have given a list of trusted websites which can help you with that. But today, we have decided to give you different suggestions which can put you on the right path to gain more subscribers on YouTube. So, let's get into it.
Here are the Effective Ways to Get More YouTube Subscribers:
Know What Your Channel is About and Be Consistent:
If you are looking to gain subscribers who would keep returning to your channel you have to know what your channel is going to be about. Though it sounds simple it is really hard to do. You might want to directly jump on the next trendy thing and try to emulate that on your channel but it will not work or even if it does it will be volatile.
Let's take a look at the most successful YouTuber i.e. PewDiePie. What does he do? Why do people identify with him? If you really want to see his growth then go to his channel and start checking out really old videos and you will see the pattern he followed. Currently, his subscriber base is way too high and he has the liberty to experiment and try new stuff out knowing full well that his fans will enjoy it. But he generally does a couple of types of videos.
He plays games or reacts to stuff. Another very successful YouTuber is MrBeast. The pattern he follows in his video is very obvious and he has been doing it consistently for a long time.
So, what should you take away from this? Understand what your channel should be about and stick to that. Posting random stuff will not gain you, subscribers, unless all of your videos are viral or something. Of course, if it is not working even after you have tried various methods then you can try new things out to see what is working. But don't make videos you don't care about because if people respond to something you will be wanting to make more of it but if you don't really like what you are doing you won't last long.
Research What Works:
We advised you to understand what you want your channel to be and be consistent with it. But should you just start doing what you care about? No. If your goal is to gain more subscribers then look at other YouTubers who are doing the thing that you care about and want to make your channel about. See how they are structuring their videos. Look at their video captions, thumbnails etc. Then think about how you can make it your own.
Let's take a very simple example. You have found out that you really like cooking and you would want your channel to be about that. So, should you just start making recipe videos? You can do that but the growth might be slow. But what if you decided to upload cooking challenges videos as well. Now, challenges are a popular video format.
People love a good challenge video. Research what other cooking channels are doing and what challenges they are trying out. You can either use those same challenges or come up with something. Just make sure it is interesting and something you would want to watch a cook try out. A simple example can be - Using only 5 ingredients to cook 5 dishes or Using only 5 ingredients to cook for a week.
Have A Relatable Personality:
Most popular channels on YouTube have so many subscribers because people relate to the person and enjoy their personality. Without a relatable personality, you cannot gain loyal subscribers on YouTube who regularly come back to your channel and watch your content. Let's take a look at PewDiePie again.
Why is he the most popular YouTuber on the planet? Is this because he has ground-breaking content or some high-quality stuff? No, it is because we love his personality. Of course, your personality might be relatable to some and not to others and you just have to ensure that people who are coming to your videos always have something for them.
At first, it might not be easy to figure out a personality which works. Let's take a look at another YouTuber, Davie504. He plays bass and does different kinds of video most of which have something to do with his career as a musician. Over the years he has experimented with various personalities and settled on the one which works best. You can see the way he presents himself in his older videos is very different from what he does now. His content is very interesting and most of the heavy lifting is done by the way he behaves. He has sort of created a character for his channel which people find entertaining.
Now, imagine if he just played bass in every video or taught it in a normal manner. He still would have gained some followers who like bass and want to but currently, a huge chunk of his subscriber base are people who don't know bass and have nothing to do with it. They are just attracted to his on-camera personality.
Pick a Schedule and Publish Frequently:
If you are just starting out then you have to keep publishing videos quite frequently. This does not mean that you will end up publishing garbage content. You have to work extra hard to ensure that the content is good and then publish it as frequently as you can. Every popular YouTuber has gone through this phase.
They had to post good content as frequently as possible. If you publish more than once a week then your chances of performing on YouTube are better than channels which do not publish as frequently.
So, we suggest you start making a schedule which is comfortable for you but also allows you to publish two or more videos every week. Now, the hard part is sticking to it. You have to be determined and have an end goal in mind.
One thing that works for many is to have a short-term goal. For example, you can set a goal to upload 10 videos in a month. Then follow through. Once you achieve this goal you will be motivated to keep doing it. This way you can get into a schedule. Being a YouTuber is also about tenacity. So, keep grinding and you will grow your subscriber base.
Post-Good Quality Videos:
We want to stress on this point because most people are turned off if your video quality is poor. This does not mean that you will go bankrupt trying to buy the best equipment. If you are just starting out buying cheap gear can help you too.
People generally get annoyed if they can't listen to the person and will not watch your video. So, just invest in some good equipment. If you take YouTube seriously it means that you are in it for the long run. If your equipment is good then you can keep using them for years without having to replace them.
Shoot the videos in a well-lit room and make sure your microphone does not catch background noises and if possible shoot at a location where outside noises will not affect your video. Good lighting is an important aspect of shooting a good-quality video. If you are shooting your videos outdoors then wear a mic.
Nobody should be straining their ears to listen to what you are saying. Make sure the background of your video is good as it also makes a huge difference. Use quality video editing software to edit your videos and make the transitions and cuts as smooth as possible.
Learn to Optimize Your Videos:
If more people are able to find your video then more is the chance of you gaining more views, likes and subscribers. So, you have to ensure that your videos come in people's searches. One of the ways to do it is to optimize your videos to have them rank higher in search results. Having keywords in your video title can improve your video ranking and help increase your reach. Try using exact keywords in your video title. Next, you have to focus on the description of the video.
Describe your video nicely and add any other information that you would want your viewers to know. Include relevant links to your other videos. Also, add keywords in your video description which can again help with the visibility of your video.
Adding timestamps is a good practice to follow. Research which video tags are popular and use the relevant ones. Have a good and catchy thumbnail. Put your channel logo or name at the start of your videos (and at the end) to ensure people know who they are watching. Most people don't even look at the channel name below so this is one way you can get them to notice.
Publish Longer Videos:
This is something most of you have noticed already. Most popular videos (not including the viral one-minute videos) have more than 10 minutes of runtime. This is because the YouTube algorithm seems to favour content which is longer. If your video is longer than 10 minutes then your video will rank higher in YouTube search results.
So, plan your videos in such a way that it is around 14-15 minutes long. This will ensure that for a given keyword your video will have a higher rank. For example, if you are uploading cheesecake recipe and your keyword is cheesecake recipe then your video will have a chance to rank higher for that keyword.
Be Interactive With Your Audience:
This is another good tip that we give to our readers who are looking to grow on Social media. If you interact with your audience then will want to return to your content.
This is one way to gain loyal subscribers. Of course, once you grow you might not be able to do that too much but try to be responsive. One good way to be interactive is to respond to your viewer's comments.
Pin a comment that you like. Also, in your videos ask your viewers to suggest video ideas. This way they will feel involved and you get to have lots of free ideas for your next video.
Pay Attention to The Appearance of Your Channel:
Your videos are not the only aspect of your channel. Your YouTube channel needs to appear welcoming and informative to viewers as well. Make sure your channel is optimized to rank well and it does not look too shabby.
Organize your videos in relevant playlists making it easy for your viewers to find stuff they would like to watch. Delete older videos which did not work and are of poor quality. These videos did not work when you uploaded them and will not work any time in the future so delete them.
Also, make a nice trailer of your channel informing the viewers what they should expect. These videos are set on auto-play so when a viewer visits your channel this video automatically starts and informs them about the channel. If they are interested in your niche then they will subscribe.
Promote Your Videos:
Gaining popularity on YouTube is not easy. You have to keep at it and work hard to ensure people see your videos. Ask your friends and family members to share your videos. If you know 100 people then you can at least expect to get 100 views and you can also buy YouTube Views. Promote your channel on all social media platforms where you are active.
If you already own a website which has good traffic you can direct it to your YouTube channel by recommending certain videos which may be relevant to the blog post. Join YouTube communities on Reddit and other social media platforms and interact with other budding YouTubers and promote each other's content.
If you know someone who already has a YouTube channel with a good number of subscribers you can ask them to look at your content and if they like it ask them to collaborate with you or promote your channel.