Eight Tips to Grow Your YouTube Channel

To keep viewers watching your YouTube videos, there are some things you can do which will serve to optimize those videos in all phases of the production process. By taking a little extra time and investing a little more effort into your video productions, you'll be able to produce content which more users enjoy, and which your most loyal followers derive increased satisfaction and engagement from. Here are some tips on things you can do to produce better YouTube videos, and grow your channel to a size that you might never have thought possible.

Make your production workflow sustainable

Even if you're producing some high-quality YouTube videos currently, it may not be helping much to grow your channel if it takes you an excessive amount of time to bring them online. Studies have conclusively proven that by providing regular uploads at expected times is much more effective at creating and retaining followers than producing maximum quality productions.Whatever it is that you're filming, make sure that it's content which you can create consistently on a regular basis, and that you have a streamlined workflow which can help you accomplish your production quickly. By constantly refining your workflow and finding areas to improve upon, you'll eventually develop a very sustainable production workflow, and that will go a long way toward establishing a loyal following.

Post videos frequently

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, it's very important that you commit to a regular schedule for uploading your videos, because your followers will be looking for them. This is even more important if you're just starting out and trying to establish some kind of following. You can quickly attract attention by posting multiple times per week, and raising awareness for your channel. It will also help to accumulate a library of content which can guide users from one video to the next, and that will give them a reason to subscribe your channel.

Start videos with a hook

Each of your videos should begin with some kind of hook which captures audience attention, so that they want to view the rest of the content. As an example, if your video is about building something, you can show the finished product right at the beginning to inform viewers what they can accomplish. Another great technique you can use to hook your viewers will be to start your video with a story.This can be especially effective if you begin the story, but leave out the ending, which can be revealed at the end of your video. Personal stories and anecdotes are also very appealing to video viewers, and can be very effective as a preface to some particular experience or lesson that you're trying to teach your followers.

Keep opening credits brief

You should always bear in mind that your viewers' attention spans are going to be fairly short, so if you have a long title sequence at the beginning of a video, you may lose much of your audience before the actual video begins. A long sequence of opening credits is also a serious deterrent to binge watching, because your viewers will have to watch the same opening multiple times, and will probably lose interest in what follows. You're much better off to make your opening credits and titles very brief and very punchy, probably no more than about five seconds. This will be enough to convey the information you're trying to display, while keeping your audience's attention for what follows.

Include promotional end screens

At the end of each of your videos, it's a great idea to add some kind of a promotion for your channel, your website, or even your videos themselves, as one last opportunity to get your point across. End screens serve as interactive images and graphics which can link to other videos, web pages, playlists, or channels, or they can be used to encourage someone to subscribe your channel. End screens should be appended to your video within the last 20 seconds of the total run content, which means you need to plan out the exact placement. It's also a good idea to include narration during the end screen, because that will tend to extend the engagement with your viewers.

Edit out all distractions

A good production will be very tight, and will include no distractions which might cause your viewers to lose interest. That means you need to edit out any rambling talk from video subjects, all long pauses, bouncing between subjects, or just extended stretches of boring video. Any departures from the main topic need to be either visually engaging, or must include a story which captures the attention of your viewers.

Design appealing thumbnails

You'd be amazed at how much of an impact video thumbnails have on the success of your YouTube productions. The reason for this is because of suggested videos, which are the number one source of YouTube organic traffic. Whenever someone is viewing a YouTube video, the thumbnail should stand out when it is designated as a suggested video in the sidebar at the right. If your video appears as one that is a suggested video, this basically means that YouTube is endorsing it by tacitly suggesting that a user watching a different video will probably enjoy your video production as well.

Create longer videos

Just as it's important to keep your opening credits short, it's advisable to make the actual video content as long as it takes to adequately cover your topic. For several years, it was thought that shorter videos would be better at engaging audiences which have short attention spans. However, it has been demonstrated that longer videos can engage users for a longer period of time, provided that the video itself is compelling, and can retain their interest.

There's a very simple formula for determining the right length for your video, which is just that you need to take as much time as necessary to convey all information without padding the video in any way. Currently, the videos which perform best on YouTube average between seven and 15 minutes, although videos which last 20 or 30 minutes have also been found to be very popular, because their content is deemed extremely interesting by viewers.