Hello.
I made a YouTube channel 5 months ago. I just crossed 300 subscribers the other day.
My niche is 4k virtual walks from my country, Denmark.
This is what I have learned so far.
I had a plan from the start. I got inspired around Christmas time 2020. I found a Youtuber who also made 4k virtual walks, and I though it was cool. He has nearly 200k subscribes and makes great videos. He travels around America, to all the known locations like Disneyland, Hollywood etc.
Of course I can't compete with that, since I live in Denmark. It's a very small country. 5.8 mill people.
But we do have great nature and beaches, castles and other fun and interesting stuff.
I started slow, like uninteresting walks. My camera work was bad, I walked to fast. The sound was bad. There was a lot of stuff I had no clue about, so it was a slow start.
What I did do right from the start though, was I paid a guy on fiverr.com to make me a cool logo, a short intro animation and some other graphics for my channel and my Facebook page I made.
I since then added intro music. I got business cards made and got my logo on a couple of t-shirts, for when I'm out. Everything helps. I take myself and my work more serious. Even though it's a hobby and I'm not making any money, it actually costs me alot. I guess all hobbies do.
But my video quality is much better, then when I started. I walk slower. I got an external microphone. I use time on planning my next video, like where to go. What kind of events is going on and stuff like that.
I contacted a guy who owns a boat and make tours around the biggest lake in the country. I made a virtual boat ride, and I send a YT link to the guy, after I uploaded they video. He liked it so much, he put it on his website. So when ever someone is on his website for booking a tour around the lake, they check my video out. He is one of the main reasons I get so much traffic on that video. The analytics show that I don't get a lot of subscribers from that, but I do get a lot of watch time.
So now I go to other events. Like when Denmark played in the UEFA football tournament. I made a cool video, unfortunately I used copyright music, but it doesn't matter. I don't make money. Yet.
Another thing I do, is when I go to a city and make walking video, I go that city's Facebook page, join it and share my video in it. It also gives me traffic. I also joined many Nature Facebook groups, and some let me share my video's, but I cannot say that they should subscribe, like and share, they don't like when I try to commercialise myself. So I don't do that.
The biggest thing I do to get new subscribers, is I find other people on YouTube in my niche. Other people who make virtual walks. From all over the world.
I subscribe to them, and watch their videos, I give them a like and I comment on them. So I engage with my colleagues and it pays off. 100%
But it's also a lot of work, but I enjoy it. And when their subscribers see my name and my comments, they also go check my videos out.
I also give everyone a like and a thank you for watching, if they comment my videos. Everyone gets response from me.
Yesterday I joined TubeBuddy community and I started to use SEO on my videos.
I uploaded a new video today, and my watch time and views is already better. I'm so grateful
I hope my long post will help you. Keep going. Never give up. Like everything else in life