I don’t know about you, but I thought in order to be successful on YouTube, it would be as easy as simply creating videos that were helpful.
That’s what most of the free YouTube advice out there says to do.
But after growing my channel to over 24,000 subscribers at the time of this post, I can tell you for certain, that advice is wrong!
In fact, the first couple years of growing my YouTube channel, I had no idea what I was doing.
I was learning from free advice and simply putting out what I thought were helpful YouTube videos every week.
Over the course of two years, my YouTube channel only grew from 300 subscribers to 1,700 subscribers.
But once I implemented these five organic YouTube growth tips, my channel quite literally exploded.
I went from 1,700 subscribers to well over 10,000 subscribers in one year.
I am 100% confident that if I had known these five organic growth tips for YouTube when I first started, my channel would have grown a whole lot faster.
So let’s dive in to the five organic growth tips for YouTube that I wish I knew when I was getting started.
Spoiler alert: One of my tips is creating really good videos. And for that, you are going to need a really great YouTube script template. You can grab my exact YouTube script template completely for free below.
#1: Study Your Competitors
Studying your YouTube competitors might just be the number one piece of advice that you can get for your channel.
Why reinvent the wheel and start from scratch when there is already data out there that you can look at in leverage?
Here’s what to look for on your competitors’ YouTube channels:
- Viral videos: You can see what type of content is working in your niche by finding competitor videos that have more views than subscribers.
- Freebies: Looking at what freebies your competitors are offering to their audience to grow their email list is a great way to spark ideas for your own!
- Products: Gain inspiration for your own digital products by seeing what products your competitor is offering on their YouTube channel.
How to research your competitors
I have a spreadsheet with all of my competitors listed on it that I update on a weekly basis. This is helpful for me to see which of the following are performing well for other YouTubes:
- Trends
- Thumbnails
- Titles
- Topics
Once you understand what’s working for others in your niche, you can model your YouTube channel after them to gain results more quickly.
If you want to model my YouTube video flow, check out my YouTube script template completely for free below.
#2: Improving Your Thumbnails
I’ll be honest, when I first started my YouTube channel, I had no idea just how important thumbnails are.
They are quite literally may even be the number one most important thing.
Before, I was using Canva‘s thumbnail templates and branding them in my colors thinking that was all I needed to do.
But my thumbnails did not perform well! They had very low CTR (click through rate).
I started using Canva and my branding colors because I wanted to create a brand that was recognizable to my followers.
However the goal on YouTube is to gain more reach and grow your followership.
All with the goal of converting those followers to your email list so you can help them even more than you do with your free content on YouTube.
How to design high-performing YouTube thumbnails
- Look at your competitor research to see which videos got the most views
- Notice what the thumbnail for those highly watched videos looks like
- Pay attention to the design, layout, and text
For instance, in my niche, having numbers and money in proof is very important to have a high-ranking video.
#3: YouTube Video Titles
The importance of YouTube video titles are similar to thumbnails. And you’ll approach them in the same way.
- Look at your competitor research to see which videos got the most views
- Review the titles
- Pay attention to the structure, wording, and length
In addition to my competitor research, sometimes I will go to YouTube and type in a few keywords about the topic I want to talk about.
Then I’ll go to the top right hand corner of my screen and choose to filter the videos by ones that are 4-10 minutes long, that have the most views, and are a year or newer (so I can use data that is up-to-date).
Want to snag the exact YouTube script I use to title my videos, choose thumbnail styles, and structure my content? You can download it for free below!
#4: Increase Your YouTube Video Watch Time
Once you’re hitting 5-10% click-through rate on your YouTube videos and your titles and thumbnails are performing well, it’s time to focus on watch time.
Watch time is important because it tells YouTube that viewers are enjoying your content. And then YouTube knows to prioritize pushing your video out to more people.
I know a lot of YouTubers it helps the algorithm to tell their viewers to like or comment, but I personally don’t agree with that.
I believe that video platforms like YouTube, TikTok and even Instagram are looking more at the percentage of time viewed on your video than the actual likes and comments.
The longer viewers are watching your videos, the more opportunity there is for them to consume ads, which is how YouTube makes its money.
#5: Study Your Data
Wait three hours after posting your YouTube video.
If your click-through rate is not 3% or higher, even if you have a small channel, swap it out for a better thumbnail and see if it improves.
If not, switch it back to the best thumbnail that you have and try to make the thumbnail better for the next video.
Also, make sure that you are looking at the percentage of time viewed on your video.
I am for 35% or higher. If I can get 40 or 50%, I am thrilled.
I know that that video is most likely going to go viral on the homepage because YouTube is seeing a lot of people are watching it and they’re going to
want to push it out.
I know at the time of this post, YouTube is supposedly releasing a split test feature, but they haven’t released it to everyone quite yet.
So I use this amazing software called Thumbnailsplittest.com.
This is another tool to gather your data so you can make informed decisions on what is performing best.
In Conclusion
It’s not only important to be putting out videos consistently on your YouTube channel, but consistently getting better with each video.
Better click-through rate, better retention, better content. That is how you’re going to grow your channel and grow it quickly.
Now that you know how to grow your YouTube channel with these five organic YouTube growth tips, you might be wondering how much somebody can make their first two months of being monetized on YouTube.
I share all about it in this video.
And don’t forget to download my completely free YouTube script template!