How to Grow a YouTube Channel

At first I had NO CLUE what I was doing on YouTube.

Then I found some friends who are legit YouTube EXPERTS (e.g. Nick Nimmin a YouTube Certified Pro and TechLead who I worked with at Facebook).

And I copied everything they said. 🙂

Today I am sharing these tips with my friend Neville to help grow his channel. 

 

 

#1 — Optimize Your YouTube Channel Home Page.

Feature ONE of your most popular videos at the top of your channel home page. 

Then feature your “popular uploads” in the second section. 

In the third section, here is where you can feature your newest content “uploads.”

Next, optimize your About page. 

Put links you care about the most in this section. For example, make sure you have a Subscribe link using “?sub_confirmation=1” added to the end of your YouTube Channel URL.

That way they get the popup to subscribe when they click the link. 😜

#2 — Optimize Your YouTube Video Descriptions.

Start with your top 5 to 10 most-watched videos.

Organize the descriptions using emojis and bullet points to make it easier to read. Here’s an example you can copy. 

Remember to include:

🔔Subscribe link

📝Blog post if relevant

✉️Email newsletter

👨‍👧‍👦Social media group/links

💸Your business website(s)

#3 — Use Your Website.

Do you have a YouTube video for all your top blog posts? 

I recently recorded a video and embedded it at the top of this Tony Robbins post. 

EASY way to increase watch time.  

These blog posts already are getting organic search traffic so it makes sense to 1) get the YouTube watch time and 2) connect with the audience by giving them content I know they already like. 

In Google Analytics, just go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages to see ‘Pageviews’ and ‘Avg. Time on Page’ for video ideas.💡

#4 — Grow Your Subscribers.

Next, check your top subscribers (aka peeps who subscribe to you and have big audiences). 

Hit them up (use about page to find their email) for collaboration and cross-promo. 

• “Hey, I can create a video about x which based on your top videos your audience will like. Can you do the same for my channel? Win-win. Yay!”

#5 — Channel Analytics = GOLD (Analytics > Advanced Mode).

• Watch time is the #1 stat. YouTube makes money with ads. Longer people are watching, more opportunities for ads.
• Specific videos show where viewers subscribe from. (Subscription Source > YouTube watch page) 
• Keywords show what people are searching for to find your videos.  (Traffic Source > YouTube Search) 
• Playback locations show where people are consuming the content (Playback location > embedded in external website)

#6 — Use Your Email List & Autoresponder.

SendFox is an email list tool we built for YouTubers and content creators (like ME and you!). 

In my SendFox autoresponder welcome email, if someone clicks a link to my YouTube video, it automatically sends a follow-up email asking them to subscribe to my channel. 🙂 

Also, as soon as people sign up for my email list, I redirect them to a bonus page where I ask them to subscribe to my YouTube Channel. 

TOP TAKEAWAYS

• Add “?sub_confirmation=1” to your YouTube channel URL to get subscribers.
• More people subscribe from the individual videos, not the channel page. So update your video descriptions.
• Use emojis and bullet points to organize descriptions.
• State your credentials early in your videos.
• Leverage popular blog posts and embed videos (put video towards top of article).
• Hit up your top subscribers for collaborations.
• Visit your channel analytics page (advanced mode) weekly!
• Plug your YouTube channel in your email autoresponder
• BONUS: Use Google Trends when brainstorming keywords and content ideas.