Hi All! I am George Pierce and I have a very different slant on getting YouTube subscribers and that is what this post is about. Allow me to warn you that what I share is not what you have been hearing and seeing and reading. it really is different. If you are interested in getting more subscribers for your YouTube channel, I invite you to keep reading.
DO NOT WORRY ABOUT Subscribers!???
Allow me to begin with a little story. I had been working for a large corporation and happened to have run several of their businesses on the east coast with good results. I ultimately became what they called a troubleshooter, which was to go to a failing location and bring it back to life (make it profitable). In every case, with every business, I DID NOT PROMOTE the business until my house was in order.
Promoting a bad business is worse than a waste of time. You will drive everyone away and all of their friends.
Promoting an empty channel is not good advice, IMHO.
If your channel is new, I suggest that you focus on your channel, and on your content. Focus on getting your house in order, before promoting it.
Not worrying about subscribers, during the beginning days of your channel, allows you to more focus on your videos, which are what matters most, especially in your early days.
Not worrying does not mean doing nothing, however.
Although subscribers will happen, we still want to make it easy for our viewers to subscribe.
Some people are going to subscribe regardless, but most people need to be nudged. Here are a few newbie-friendly tricks that you can use to make subscribing easier, and how you can nudge more people into subscribing.
Include a subscribe link...
#1 in your description
#2 in your video (add a 20-second or linger outro, include asking for likes, comments, subscriptions, and watch this next)
#3 in your channel art
Reply to all
#4 comments
#5 questions
You should also
#6 Create Playlists
#7 Create a channel tagline
#8 Create a logo for your channel. Canva dot com is a free site that makes it easy.
All of the above are fast and easy, set them up quickly and move on.
And remember to put most of your focus on
#9 creating great content
As your channel grows (once your house is in order), you can put more focus on gaining subscribers, and it will be easier. Promoting a channel with little to no content has little 'perceived value', possible subscribers are apt to leave and never return. Promoting your channel once you have added content has a much higher 'perceived value' and thus a higher chance of getting subscribers.
You will soon find that certain videos are "subscriber magnets'. (YT Analytics)
Now it is time to
#10 Promote those videos regularly on social media.
#11 Use the highly watched parts of your magnet videos as content for shorts.
#12 Build a welcome video (channel trailer) around one of your top magnets.
DO NOT get subscribers for the sake of having subscribers, paid or free. or otherwise. Not only is this a violation of YT rules, it literally HURTS your channel!
Please think about this for a moment. You have a bunch of subscribers, but when YT lets them know that your channel has just published a new video, what is going to happen? Almost NONE of those subscribers are going to watch your videos. This sends a bad signal to YT. If almost none of your subscribers are watching your videos, the message that YT gets is that you are making BAD videos, videos that no one wants to watch. Instead of helping your channel, you have unintentionally hurt your channel.
DO NOT beg for subscribers. Again, you really do not want subscribers that are not interested in your content.
On the other hand, when your viewers are interested in your content, consider
# 13 Letting them know that by subscribing, you can let them know when new videos are published.
You can also
#14 Use your YT Blog (click on Create as if you were going to upload a video, then click on Create Post) to let your viewers know
#15 What is coming up,
#16 to say thank you for watching
#17 to remind them to subscribe so you can let them know each time you upload a new video.
I am not a proponent of if you build it, they will come, subscribers beget more views and more subscribers, but there are what are called 'quality subscribers' and those are the ones that you and I want to target.
Those are the ones that are going to watch almost every one of your videos right to the end. This sends YT a loud and clear signal that they cannot ignore. Your subscribers LOVE your videos!
When YT discovers that your subscribers are loving your videos, YT will share your videos with more and more people.
Your benefit is that your channel gets the exposure it deserves.
Thank you for reading.
Much success,
George Pierce
PS. I invite you to look over my shoulder as I share how you can make money on YT and never make a video.
Comments
The internet is awash with information and 'how to' guides especially ... but quantity does not equate to quality, far from it. It's a delight therefore to find that your series of instructive posts goes from strength to strength and continues to deliver the only kind of guidance which is of any real benefit ... practical experience-gained insights. I learn new stuff every time I read you George but, more than that - and what really matters - what you have to say inspires the confidence born of the authenticity of who and what you are. No self-styled 'guru' or artificial bot (for god's sake) can provide that.
Thank you so much, Tom. It is great to hear from you, I look forward to more of your posts. What inspired this post is a new channel, I miss the excitement and the conquest and the journey, and so on, and this new channel allows me to have that experience and not be in such a hurry that I fail to enjoy the ride.