How to Grow Your YouTube Channel: 10 Tips for Success

YouTube, since its creation in 2005, has been a mainstay for many to share videos and grow as creators of online content. It is one of the largest social media platforms in the world with billions of active users. This makes YouTube the perfect platform to reach a wide audience and grow as a content creator.

In this blog post, we will provide you with tips on how to be successful on YouTube and reach a wide audience. Let's get started!

How to Get More Views on YouTube

Videos are a great way to connect with audiences as they will stay for the duration of your video. Users of YouTube (both through the website and the app) consume hours of content every day, which makes it the perfect option for you to grow your channel.

Many who have found success on the platform as YouTubers have learned the site’s best practices as they navigate through the constantly changing platform.

There are some good strategies that you can implement to help you grow your YouTube channel quickly. While you do not have to use every single one, these are helpful suggestions to help you maximize your YouTube channel’s outreach.

1. Stick to a Niche

If you are just starting your channel, think of a topic or genre you would like to discuss as the main point of view for your audience to take from.

It’s hard to grow a channel posting about completely random topics. Post videos within the same genre to boost your views and build a dedicated audience.

For example, if you want to get into creating content about video games (let’s play, reviews, etc.) and then post a makeup tutorial, you may give your audience a mixed message about your role as a creator.

The people who came for your gaming content may not be interested in makeup. If they see content they don’t expect and/or don’t like, they may watch less or even unsubscribe. Future visitors who see this juxtaposition of disconnected topics are less likely to subscribe as well.

You want your audience to watch your videos and feel like you will be consistent with the content you provide. You want to have a level of consistency that your audience can look back on.

If you have more than one primary interest, consider creating multiple channels. Dedicate each channel to a specific content niche.

2. Create High-Quality Content

Make sure your content is visually appealing so that your audience isn’t squinting to view the video or cranking up the volume to hear the audio.

No matter what you are filming, you want to make sure you have nice lighting that ensures the clarity of the images you are shooting. Make sure that your subject is in focus so that the end result is not blurry.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on high-end video equipment to make your content visually appealing. However, you should have video equipment that provides stability and reliability.

Do your research and invest in quality equipment. There are plenty of affordable options. Even smartphones can capture quality videos and photos.

3. Decorate Your Filming Space Accordingly

If you want to get more views on YouTube, you should also have a filming space that looks nice and related to the content you are filming. The background should be clean, and simple. Pick up the space and focus the camera to pick up primarily the wall area behind you when filming a sit-down or talking portion.

The background doesn’t have to be completely bare to be clean. Add some simple decor to make it more appealing. For example, if you want to review films, have a wall of movie posters. This will connect your audience to the content of your channel in a visual way as opposed to verbally acknowledging it.

4. Create Winning Titles

One of the first things people will notice about your videos when they are scrolling through YouTube’s options is the video's title. Most topics on YouTube have thousands of videos, so creating a catchy title is important for getting viewers to yours.

Have a creative and enticing title that will draw the viewer into clicking on your video.

Choose buzzwords that will make viewers want to learn more about what is going on with your content.

Make sure your title makes sense and is an accurate representation of your video.

Choose keywords for your title that are common and short.

If your videos are parts of a series, it’s a good idea to add episode numbers so viewers know which videos to watch in which order.

Your video titles serve as calls to action without explicitly saying “click on me” and are meant to serve as either a teaser or an explanation of the video itself.

5. Design Enticing Thumbnails

A thumbnail is a visual representation of the video you post. It is something that provides a potential audience insight into what your video is about.

Along with titles, the thumbnail is one of the first things people see about your video and can influence the choice to watch immensely. Strong thumbnails along with captivating titles promote high click-through rates.

A thumbnail can potentially be the difference between someone clicking on your video or scrolling through it. You want to create video thumbnails that are visually appealing and send a message to the potential viewer as to why they should watch your video.

The best images to use with thumbnails are faces, as humans hone in on them as recognizable images, and if it is your face, you can create a greater connection between yourself and your audience.

You can also use close-ups of imagery, such as foods or other images, to entice your audience into learning more about why those images relate to your video.

With simple drag-and-drop graphic design tools like Canva, you can create impactful, enticing thumbnails in no time. Add a few words, combine multiple images, and use professional-looking templates to craft yours.

6. Follow SEO-Best Practices

While your channel could be recommended to viewers based on similarities you have with other YouTube channels, they can also find your channel through YouTube and Google organic search results.

Both YouTube and Google search through thousands of different results based on an individual’s search, and they will choose the best selections based on their search engine optimization principles.

Optimizing your videos for best SEO practices helps you get to the top of the SERPs. This is crucial to reaching out to potential new audience members.

The best ways to be on the search engine results page (SERP) are to have concise and common keywords, appropriate tags, a well-written description, and to post longer videos.

7. Post Consistently

Posting consistently does not necessarily mean every day. Sticking to a regular schedule ensures your viewers know when to expect you.

It can help viewers to know when your posting schedule is, as it can be similar to their favorite TV show airing a new episode.

Whether it is twice a week, once a month, or every day, posting consistently can help your viewers keep your content in the front of your mind.

Choose a schedule that you can stick to while providing consistency to your audience. This also decreases the burnout that forcing daily uploads can cause.

8. Monitor Your Success

You need to monitor your success and take action accordingly to get more views on YouTube.

YouTube will provide you with data for your channel that will give you a glimpse into how well your channel is performing overall.

The dashboard shows you the number of viewers, the click-through rate (CTR), the average watch time, and the percentage of subscribers vs. non-subscribers who watch your videos.

Examine how your audience engages with your content by looking at your channel’s YouTube analytics and optimize your content accordingly.

9. Analyze Competitors

Examine your competitors' popular videos just like you would analyze your success. Research the keywords they target, analyze their titles and thumbnails, and read the comments section on their videos.

This way, you will gain valuable insight into how to grow your YouTube channel because competitor analysis helps you understand what your target audience wants and what you should avoid doing.

10. Use the YouTube Shorts Feature

YouTube was historically a platform for long-form videos, but with Shorts, you can post shorter TikTok-like videos. This can help you reach people who prefer shorter videos, but YouTube Shorts are also smart tools to use to entice people to watch your longer content!

Do something that will grab the attention of the viewer within the first few seconds. Since Shorts can be up to a minute long, you want to ensure viewers don’t just scroll past your Short.

If there is a video that seems like it would work well as a loop, work with it! Make sure it is short and has complimentary audio at the end and beginning so that the loop makes sense.

Lean into the cringy, yet popular trends, as they will drive more traffic to your channel. While all of your Shorts don’t need to be trends, sprinkling in a few can help you reach more watchers. Just be sure to tie the trend back to your content niche!

Shorts can be clips of your longer YouTube videos.

It’s also easy to recycle TikTok videos or Instagram Reels as YouTube shorts. Just be sure to download TikTok videos without the watermark.

11. Make Your Videos Accessible

Accessibility matters, especially in online content that you make. To ensure you have the biggest reach to a potential audience, you need to make sure that your audience can access your content without struggle.

Using a subtitle generator and adding subtitles to your YouTube videos goes a long way toward making videos accessible to those who are hard of hearing or from another country.

You can automatically add subtitles to your videos with Maestra’s subtitle generator. The process is simple and easy to navigate so there is no excuse why you shouldn’t add subtitles to your videos.

Statistically, you will have more viewers, user engagement, and watch times. Plus, your video ranking will increase just by adding subtitles.

Don’t rely solely on YouTube’s automatic closed captioning feature. Depending on the audio you have for your video, it can be difficult for the generator to transcribe accurate captions. You should always take the time to ensure the accuracy of your subtitles and transcripts with Maestra.

You can also translate subtitles to reach even more people around the world. Maestra can also assist with that as it supports 125+ languages.

Making content accessible to the largest amount of people is vital to your channel’s success. Not having subtitles can negatively affect viewers who feel like they cannot enjoy your content because they don't understand what you are trying to say whether due to a disability or language barriers.

12. Use Hooks to Engage Your Audience

First a few seconds of your videos are essential for capturing the attention of your viewers. That's why you should open your videos with a hook.

You can start with interesting statements or questions so that your audience starts thinking about what you said and is intrigued.

Or, you can show short clips from your video to grab their attention. This will also leave them wanting more if you choose the right clips for your audience.

13. Categorize Your Videos

YouTube allows you to create playlists. By leveraging this feature, you can group videos focusing on similar topics together.

This can work great for you because a viewer interested in that specific topic can easily find other videos to watch. Playlists also allow autoplay, so your viewers can continue watching without any interruption.

14. Collaborate with Other Creators

To grow your YouTube channel, you can collaborate with other YouTubers. What you need to keep in mind is that collaborating with someone from a different niche won't be helpful at all.

If you want to gain new viewers and subscribers, you need to make sure that people interested in the type of content that you produce see your videos.

15. Promote Your Channel

Don’t rely solely on your YouTube channel to generate its own audience and promote itself. You can do a lot more in order to entice viewers to watch your content and subscribe to your channel.

If you stream on another platform, such as Twitch, you can cross-promote both your YouTube and Twitch channels by posting Twitch streams as long videos. Encourage viewers to tune into your live streams when they occur. The same concept goes for podcasts.

If you have a blog page, you can also embed your YouTube videos when writing a blog post. This will encourage viewers of your blog to look into your YouTube channel.

In general, promote your YouTube videos with your social media. If you already have an established audience somewhere else, drive them to your YouTube videos and channel.

Grow Your Channel Today!

Growing a YouTube channel can seem like a tall order, but if you take the advice listed above, you will find the task less daunting.

Maestra can help you by providing you with tools to help make your channel more accessible to the largest audience possible through our subtitle generator tool.

You can get a free trial or book a demo to see what other benefits Maestra can provide you and your growing channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make my YouTube channel grow faster?

There are certain practices you can use to help you grow your YouTube channel fast. To make your YouTube channel grow faster, you need to learn and apply these strategies. You can try implementing all of them, or analyze your channel and decide on which strategies to use to maximize your YouTube channel’s outreach.

What is SEO in YouTube?

Just like Google’s SERP, YouTube offers a list of videos to users. The order of videos listed or recommended to a user is determined according to certain factors such as the metadata, the keywords you use in your titles, descriptions, and thumbnails, the number of comments, likes, and shares, and the accessibility features you provide like subtitles.

Do hashtags work on YouTube?

Yes. You can use hashtags to improve the discoverability of your videos. Viewers can click on hashtags to find related content, and thus you can get more views on YouTube. However, use hashtags sparingly. Don’t overuse them and add related hashtags only. One great way to use hashtags is that you can create content for a popular trend and add those trending hashtags to your video to reach a wide audience.