Need Advice Ok I give up

[CelticSpike]

so took the first proper look at my analytics today and it makes for very depressing reading.
my watch times tank pretty much immediately, so its either my voice and/or personality that turns people off instantly. Those are 2 things I can't exactly change that much.
Might try uploading some videos without any voiceover to see how they compare, or will just throw in the towel on this whole thing.

sorry just needed to vent somewhere

 

[itstom]

I'm going to be honest with you here... I don't think it's your voice or personality.
I do think your videos are a bit too long. I would chop them up in shorter videos up to 10-15 mins.

Or if you want to keep these long videos consider adding timestamps in the video to tag certain levels etc.
You usually have some intro, tech description and then jump into the video and yo ugo through couple of levels/challenges etc.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should be trying to get involved with retro scene on reddit, different forums, other youtube channels(don't post links or beg for subs).

You also have to bear in mind that you've picked a very specific niche that might not have such a huge audience... Before making a video about a certain game check keyword explorer and see if there's any searches for that game etc otherwise you'll need that community part I've mentioned above

 

[Ater]

I'm at work so I can watch your videos right now. But it may not be your voice/personality (it can be) it could be a lot of different things. It could be your audio/video quality. It could be the length of your videos. It could be the topic of your videos. It could be your script. It could be the way you tell a story. It could probably be a hundred different things.

If I look at my own videos I have videos that get 20% audience retention and I have videos that get 60% audience retention. It really varies a lot depending on the type of the video, the topic, the length etc.

 

[CelticSpike]

I'm going to be honest with you here... I don't think it's your voice or personality.
I do think your videos are a bit too long. I would chop them up in shorter videos up to 10-15 mins.

Or if you want to keep these long videos consider adding timestamps in the video to tag certain levels etc.
You usually have some intro, tech description and then jump into the video and yo ugo through couple of levels/challenges etc.

i have only done the tech description on one video. on the rest i get straight into it after the intro.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you should be trying to get involved with retro scene on reddit, different forums, other youtube channels(don't post links or beg for subs).

already being as active as i can be, between here other YT channels, reddit, twitter and facebook.

You also have to bear in mind that you've picked a very specific niche that might not have such a huge audience... Before making a video about a certain game check keyword explorer and see if there's any searches for that game etc otherwise you'll need that community part I've mentioned above

did that for my goldeneye video and had very high ranking keywords in my tags, which led to my highest views yet. and from those views i didn't get a single like, comment or sub that wasn't a family or friend.
I had a timestamp so people could skip the techie bit, and the video is only 29 mins long which for a gaming lets play is pretty short. my analytics showed barely anyone actually watched past the techie bit

 

[itstom]

With timestamps this is what I was referring to -https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9884579?hl=en
Add them within your video description

This shows me that in general people watch beginning of your videos, see how game performs and jump out...
Try recording a shorter video.

As for likes, comments etc. How often do you like, comment or subscribe to channel with low likes, comments and subs?
It takes time, sometimes your videos will pick up get more people in sometimes not...

Keep experimenting, check your click through rate on videos, test different thumbnails there's loads of things you could do...
Try making a video of 15-20mins with compilation of your favourite game on system X or anything like that

 

[Beanie Draws]

so took the first proper look at my analytics today and it makes for very depressing reading.
my watch times tank pretty much immediately, so its either my voice and/or personality that turns people off instantly. Those are 2 things I can't exactly change that much.
Might try uploading some videos without any voiceover to see how they compare, or will just throw in the towel on this whole thing.

sorry just needed to vent somewhere

I understand those feelings, I've been there and felt those frustrations so the depression is normal. The best thing to do isn't to give up, but take stock, have a rest, and come back into it with a clear mind. How many subs do you have? I have 28k subs and I still go through that struggle. My watch time averages between 8%-15% for my tutorials, and 20%-30% for my speed drawings which is disheartening.

Sometimes it might not be your voice or personality necessarily, but it could be your editing, lighting (low quality lighting, low quality sound will often turn people off right away) and if it IS to do with your voice, you CAN learn to adapt it. How else do you think actors act?

Also, watch a livestream of your favorite big youtuber, they're generally always more low key than their on camera persona. You CAN craft a personality, you CAN learn how to deliver a speech, I personally listen back to what I've recorded if it's talking head, and if it's boring to me, I try to re-record with more dynamic energy, more emphasis, and learning to not use the same, cadence?

The voice is an instrument, and singers are always learning to change and adapt their voices to different styles. Actors always learn to change the tone of their voice. It's all about time.

I've been doing this for 5 years and I get burned out from time to time. You might "throw in the towel" but if you love what you do, and you want to do it for MORE than JUST views, you will be back. So just take time, practice because we're all trying to get better with each video and sometimes the results aren't what we hoped for and it gets depressing, but you pull your socks up and you soldier on

 

[CelticSpike]

thanks everyone for the support and encouragement. i just hit a really negative place after looking through the analytics .
I am going to try a more scripted voiceover for the next one and hopefully see some better results

 

[Legacy]

You are at the very beginning of your YouTube journey, so don't give up. It is perfectly normal to not get great results at your point in your journey. Even I don't always get great results with videos even at my subscriber count level and point in my YouTube journey. When you first start out at anything, you are inexperienced and you take time to learn how to improve. But, the more you upload the better you become. You can also try doing some of the things that other people here have suggested and improve the lighting and audio of your videos to see if that does anything. But like I said, you are very early on in your YouTube journey so you could even just get better with time and more practice behind the camera and uploading videos which could also lead to better results.

Good luck and don't give up!

 

[TubeBuddy]

thanks everyone for the support and encouragement. i just hit a really negative place after looking through the analytics .
I am going to try a more scripted voiceover for the next one and hopefully see some better results

Also do research build content that can help you be discovered, and help you go that extra step in search and long term

 

[JessBookgirl75@gmail]

CelticSpike,
Never give up. Just keep on trying and trying until you hit the jackpot.
Jessica

 

[Cubey]

I feel the same

correct!

 

[SILTHW]

so I uploaded a video last night and could really use some feedback. this is my shortest video yet, and I have added subtitles and chapters and tried a new approach of playing the game first and then adding voiceover afterwards and trying really hard to be funny and entertaining.

Kindly post this to the YouTube Feedback forum so you get the best responses!

 

[kaybee]

Hello.

In my opinion you should make videos for self-enjoyment rather than looking out for people to view it. I know this might sound very cliche, but if you are not doing youtube for other than self-joy, you will end up being pretty frustrated with the lack of feedback, specially in the very begining if your channel. I just started my channel 2 weeks ago, and I started it without any expectations, I just did it cause I enjoy making the videos and editting those, this way I was already prepared in case I had very few views/watch time. Learn from your mistakes and improve with them.

I'm a very small youtuber so I will give you my feedback as a viewer. I think your videos are pretty long and perhaps it'd be more interesting to bring videos that aren't 100% related to a "let's play" genre. Because people want to watch let's plays from big youtubers not from us, that's just my two cents anyways!

 

[Don Alabee]

so took the first proper look at my analytics today and it makes for very depressing reading.
my watch times tank pretty much immediately, so its either my voice and/or personality that turns people off instantly. Those are 2 things I can't exactly change that much.
Might try uploading some videos without any voiceover to see how they compare, or will just throw in the towel on this whole thing.

sorry just needed to vent somewhere

the length of the video really matters.

 

[chupadoodles]

Hi there, I don't think it is your voice or personality but I think it is because your topic is quite specific. At a glance, I actually find the thumbnail quite interesting, but I don't know what it is about and the length is quite long. So maybe relook at how you can market your content.

This is coming from the perspective as a viewer. I'm a mini YouTuber so I can somewhat understand how you feel. Keep at it! Don't give up !

 

[Damon]

You only have 28 videos up. Get 150 videos posted, then we'll have this conversation.

 

[Notthang]

never give up buddy