I’m writing this blog post for those of you out there just starting out making video content for YouTube or those who are thinking of beginning. Many of these ideas are simply best practices that I have learned over the years. I’ve learned them through trial and error as well as from other Youtubers.

I tend to learn the most from others out there. My peers are my teachers. Although I produce lots of content and have a decent sized subscriber base, there are many of my fellow vloggers out there who know a lot more about how Youtube itself works.

Now, as I’ve said, these are simply some best practices. Most I follow, but others I do not. If I followed all of them myself I may have more success than I do now.

This type of post is nothing really new for me. I have written similar things in the past, but as time goes by, YouTube itself evolves and the ways of interacting have changed.

Once upon a time, when I was a new partner, I was actually able to email a “real person” in partner support and request a collaboration video of mine to be spotlighted (a practice long since gone). Basically they placed it on the main YouTube page and it went viral. That sort of thing doesn’t happen any more. Times have changed.

Here are some quick and dirty tips to start getting noticed.

1. Choose a theme for your videos. What will they be about? Will they be about cooking, travel, your hobbies, vlogs, sports you like, etc? My advice is to choose a topic you are passionate about. If you are passionate about your subject that enthusiasm will come through in the videos. You will also love producing the comment and watching your channel grow.

2. Produce regular content. Whether it’s once a week or five times a week, start producing content on your channel. You can’t expect to get viewers to subscribe to your channel if there are no videos or if you only post occasionally. Even I go through my subscription list a few times a year and unsubscribe to people who haven’t made videos in months.

3. Use playlists to organize your videos. If you have a variety of themes this is a great way to organize them for both yourself and subscribers.

4. Meet other youtubers who have similar themes to you. Maybe, once they’ve noticed you and if they like your content, they may mentor you or promote you. The key thing is to NOT ASK TO BE PROMOTED! We YouTubers hate that. It’s annoying. You have to earn your subscribers, not beg someone to help you gain them. What you need to do is form a relationship with that bigger YouTuber. This takes time. Don’t be in a hurry. If you get impatient with that vlogger and start spamming them or getting aggressive or creepy, they will ignore you (or block you). Start leaving interesting comments on their videos. Engage them on Twitter or on their Facebook page if they have one. In time, they may start liking you and thinking your cool. Then they may take notice of your channel. Then they may help you through advice or promoting you.

5. Don’t expect success over night. It normally takes years to achieve it. It’s often more of a slow burn on YouTube. If you have passion and keep pluggin away, there’s a good chance success will find you in time.

6. Get into YouTube for the right reasons. There are many reasons why people start a channel. Some want to meet others (social reasons), some want to share their passion, some want to educate and some want to become rich and famous. If your reason is the latter, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. People who start a channel to “get rich” tend to be very impatient and give up quickly. As I mentioned before, it normally takes years to become a success.

7. Set a schedule. Many successful YouTubers have a set weekly schedule for their videos, maybe every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Maybe your videos come out twice a week. Maybe a different style or theme comes out on a certain day each week. Find a schedule that works best for you. Many viewers like the comfort in knowing their favorite YouTubers’ videos will come out on a particular day. (btw…this is a practice I have never been good at following)

I hope those tips have helped any of you out there planning to start a new YouTube channel or those of you just beginning your video-making journey.

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