How to Get More Subscribers on YouTube and Grow Your Channel
It is not an uncommon concern. Every creator wants to know how to get more subscribers on YouTube. That being said, you really just need to focus and figure out just how to get more traffic, more views, and even how to ensure your videos are watched from beginning to end (yes, YouTube does seem to consider how long average views last when ranking your videos!).
So, let’s begin this in-depth exploration of just how to get more subscribers on YouTube by starting with the most basic detail: knowing your audience.
Understand Who You’re Making YouTube Videos For
It is easier than you can imagine to make your video content and upload it to YouTube, but did you make the right video? Is it something that will appeal to your “ideal” audience? As one expert reports: “Video is still content, so you need to start with an audience”.
If you want to get more subscribers on YouTube, begin by asking yourself three key things about your audience:
- What type of viewership are you creating content for?
- What type of interests does that viewership have?
- What does your ideal viewership want in a video? Do they want a tutorial, a demonstration, a review, some educational or informational material?
Answer these three questions and you’ll be able to create targeted content that will help get more subscribers on YouTube as well as an increase in social media shares that lead to even greater numbers of views and subscribers.
Upload Your YouTube Videos At a Consistent Time
One way to get more views on YouTube is to make it very clear on your YouTube channel and social media pages that you upload at a specific time every day or week.
Just consider, the potential viewer who finds something they love in your library of videos sees at the end of the video that you “upload new videos every Monday”. They click subscribe and return to view everything new you create. This will help increase your return viewer count, as you build momentum from more and more people returning to your YouTube channel in the long-run.
Verbal CTAs Encourage Viewers to Subscribe
You made the effort to make a relevant, creative and inspiring YouTube video, so don’t forget that you also need to remind your viewers that they can always subscribe to keep on top of your latest uploads. A verbal CTA or “call to action” (encourage viewers to take a specific action) can be fun and entertaining or simple and straightforward.
Be sure to integrate it into each video, and even make something fun out of it by pointing to a CTA graphic or link. Don’t forget to always give your viewers a good reason to subscribe. It could be fun or serious, but be sure it is relevant to your target audience.
Know What Your Target Viewers Are Searching For
Analytics have always been a reliable way to assess all your marketing efforts, regroup and make changes as dictated by the information. If you look at your search queries data from YouTube, you see what viewers were most often typing in before clicking to your video. These are the terms that bring the largest number of your viewers from internet searches.
Don’t ignore these terms! Use them as guides for creating even more content along the same lines. Go ahead and tweak the keywords or terms, include them in the descriptions and titles and watch as you get more views on YouTube that can be converted into subscriptions.
Examine Your Most Popular YouTube Videos
Directly in line with the previous method, you’ll want to review your most popular YouTube videos and see if you detect a theme or something similar about them that you can emulate in order to retain, engage and get more subscribers. Don’t just rehash the themes or styles you find – be creative at all times.
For example, let’s say you find that there are a few keywords that are repeatedly bringing views and subscribers to your channel. Use those terms, but put a unique spin on things. If the videos were informational, you could try to create tutorials or other relevant but associated content.
Make High Quality YouTube Videos on Your Channel
You have to give a tremendous amount of attention to the overall quality of your content. While there was a time when your webcam was adequate to your needs, today’s viewers are far more sophisticated and demand quality video content.
If you are firmly dedicated to growing your audience, you can get more subscribers on YouTube by building a reputation for high-quality video content. It is not only about the quality of the shot, though. It is also about the editing, the content contained and the relevance of everything shown or said.
Dedicate Time Your YouTube Viewers
It’s important to understand that building trust and relationships with your viewers can help you get more subscribers on YouTube by turning casual viewers into a part of your channel’s community. While we strongly encourage you to focus on the fundamentals by replying to comments and questions, engaging via Q&A’s that ask for feedback or to share your thoughts, you can always do more.
Make YouTube videos asking for suggestions about new videos. Give previews of upcoming videos or subjects you’ll cover. Use live streaming events to put yourself in a one-on-one situation, interacting in real time with your audience. Let them know you want to hear from them rather than just speaking to them all the time.
Engage With the Creative Community on YouTube
Engagement is also possible within the creator community on YouTube. Keep up and connect with creators in your niche. Leave comments or ask questions. Give them feedback – especially if they are generous enough to do the same for you.
You are going to always learn a lot from doing this, but it also introduces you to their community, and the same for them when visiting your channel. It can also lead to collaborations, which are easily one of the best ways to grow your YouTube channel.
Making Milestone Content a Part of Your Channel
As you begin to get more subscribers on YouTube, you are going to be able to get even more creative. This is the time to create what many call “milestone” content.
For example, you hit 15,000 subscribers; now is the time to make a special video about your journey and the journey your subscribers have enjoyed with you. However, don’t limit milestone content to just milestone moments.
You could also create smaller milestones and upload exclusive content that revolves around their achievement (every 1000 subscribers, if a video gets 1000 likes, etc). This can encourage viewers to take actions that will help grow your YouTube channel in excitement for your exclusive content, which could be special audience involvement videos, live streams, or even contests.
More Viewers Will Lead to More Subscribers
As we’ve been saying above, more people on your YouTube channel means more opportunity to get subscribers, so focus on increasing your viewership. There’s obviously a ton of ways to do this, but here are a couple of them that can work really for you:
Good Video Titles Will Help You Get More Views on YouTube
If you want to get more views on YouTube that can be converted into subscribers, then really put some thought into the titles of the videos you create. Use wording and phrases that your target viewership searches for, but also get creative about your titles. Make them interesting and relevant, and always make it clear what the video is about.
Using Relevant Thumbnail Images
Don’t let YouTube choose the default thumbnail image for your videos. Instead, take the time to create your own, or select a relevant frame that makes it very clear just what the video is about. Be sure it is a clear and appealing shot, and it is far more likely to attract a click and potentially a new subscriber.
Optimizing Your YouTube Metadata
Many new creators don’t focus on optimizing their metadata (data that YouTube uses for ranking videos) to reach more people. If you have taken the time to know your audience and the suggestions mentioned above for using information from search queries and popular videos, you already know what types of keywords / phrases would be relevant for the metadata fields on your channel.
Remember, that YouTube takes intro consideration information regarding how long people stay to watch your videos when ranking them in search results, so don’t be at all misleading in your titles, tags or descriptions as this can actually end up harming your videos’ performance.
Collaborate with Other Creators
Cross promoting is a great way to get more subscribers on YouTube, and you can do this also by collaborating with other creators on YouTube as well as on social media.
For example, do a YouTube search with relevant keywords/phrases to look for other channels in your particular niche and then connect with creators at a similar stage to see if they’d be interested in collaborating. You can even start with social media collaborations, and potentially progress to video projects from there..
Growth Takes Time, So Be Sure to Enjoy Your Content
Finally, if you are going to authentically grow your YouTube subscriber base, it takes time. There is the time needed to perfect, refine and best understand your audience and begin making YouTube videos that appeal to them enough that they subscribe and become an active part of your channel’s supporting community.
The good news is that you have a YouTube channel because you’re interested in being a YouTuber.
This is the time to let that interest really shine.
If you want to grow your YouTube channel to the greatest extent possible, it is incredibly helpful if you have a deep interest or passion for the content you create. It will keep the fires burning if your first group of videos don’t perform as well as you expected, or even if you get a few unwelcome trolls leaving pointless and empty comments.
In time, you will be able to get more subscribers on YouTube by keeping in mind the many steps listed above. Don’t quit, YouTube has a massive global audience and there are many people out there just looking for your content.
