YouTube Question What did you learn from your 1st Year of Youtube?

[KS Moto Cafe]

Hey Tube Buddies!

As I just wrapped up my first year of starting my YT Channel, I thought I would take the time to provide an update and share some of my lessons that I had to learn in order get to where I am today. I launched my motorcycle YT channel last year December 2020 because I wanted to share my experience, lessons, and view points as a new rider. But in all honesty, I just wanted to film and edit videos where I could really see if I would be able to gain a real audience online. I suppose I could have made a channel just about anything because I have many hobbies but I thought the topic of motorcycling would be more interesting to cover.

Here were my goals when I first started out:
1. Get at least 500 subscribers by end of the year
2. Produce at least 1 episode per week
3. Don't burn out or let this affect my real job or family

Here is how it turned out after a year:
Goal 1. Achieved - I was fortunate enough to complete this goal early in the year and it gave me confidence to continue building the channel. What really helped was making content that was commonly searched on YouTube by other motorcyclist and using the SEO tool from TB to boost my chances.
Goal 2. Achieved - There were some weeks that I cheated with a short video rather than a full episode but I managed to upload at least one video per week. This helped YT know that my channel is staying active.
Goal 3. Still working on it - It was very difficult to not get overwhelmed or stressed by this. At times I wanted to quit and go back to being a content viewer rather than a creator. But I wanted to achieve my first two goals more than goal 3, so I kept pushing forward.

Things I wish I had done differently:
1. I wish I didn't spend so much time working on different versions of the intro video. My first intro was 45seconds long and I thought it was energetic and interesting to captivate the audience. But as you would have guessed, my audience hated it because it was 45 seconds with no real value to them. So I changed it up to a 15 second intro, which again I thought was punchy and short but even then it was too long! So finally I just cut it all out and decided to go with a quick snip bits of the catchy parts of the episode as a "hook" and then get right into the full episode after a cliff hanger. This helped me retain my audience longer and I had less annoyed viewers. What I didn't realize was that once you get monetized, the viewers will have to put up with back to back 5-15 second commercials and their willingness to watch another 15-45 seconds of fluff will be a big nuisance. So, it makes sense to just jump into the topic advertised on your thumbnail or title.

2. I wish I was more disciplined on time management. The time it takes to plan, film, edit, post, promote, and interact with the audience adds up to a very large number. I basically took my "free" time for granted when I first started out and I was obsessed. Initially, I spent as much as 15-25hrs a week trying to create a weekly video. What this meant was that I was spending less time doing other activities like exercising, hanging out with friends and family, and taking a break from "real" work. Now I try to keep the hours less than 12 hours a week (if possible). Nothing is more important to me than ensuring my family is happy. So now, if I have to miss a week or two because I didn't have the time to film or edit my videos, I don't stress over it because in the end YT won't care - the machine keeps on rolling and will still be there when you are ready to get back into it.

3. I wish I had defined the measure of success or performance of the channel or video earlier on. Initially it was all about getting subs and views. This is normal when you start out; which is why the most common questions asked on this forum is how to get more _____? I was exactly the same way and to be honest, deep down I am still counting the numbers but I am less affected by it because it wasn't healthy to worry about things like this. But now, my measure of success or performance for each video is the amount of spent creating/editing vs hours watched. If the ratio of hours spent vs hours received is greater than 1.0, then it is becoming a successful video. If the ratio is less than 1.0 after 2 weeks, then I study whether if it was the topic of the content, my SEO, or my CTR.

Tools that helped my channel.
TubeBuddy Pro - Once I started using the pro version and capitalized on the SEO optimization, it let me understand the YT algorithm a bit more and shaped how I title, describe, and tag my videos.
Decent Audio Recorder - Quality audio is king on YT. I can definitely see a clear difference between my videos that have good clear voice audio vs ones that don't. The audience retention is truly affected by this more than the video quality.
Choosing the right video editor - Editing is a lot of work. Use the one that is the most efficient and effective for you. I am too cheap to buy a quality editor therefore I had to go through various free video editing programs. The one I am most comfortable with is ShotCut and it does wonders if you know what you are doing. It isn't very user friendly to the untrained eye but for those who are familiar with old Adobe Premieres, this should seem familiar.

Conclusion
I know this is coming off as unsolicited advice but I know I would have appreciated reading something like this when I first started out. The most important part of this entire journey is to never forget to enjoy what you are doing. I know it can be a challenge sometimes to stay focused and enthusiastic when the numbers are down but as long as you have someone watching and enjoying your content - you should feel proud of that. Connect with your audience as much as possible but also protect your privacy because there are a lot of scammers out there! Don't get swindled into buying subs or views because YouTube will destroy your channel when they audit your channel. My next year's goal is to double my growth and actually produce less but higher quality content.

Thanks for reading this and if there are some experienced content creators here that want to chime in their first year experience, feel free to comment below!

 

[Woodward]

Thank you for sharing your experience. This is going to be very valuable for people, especially those who are just starting out on YouTube.

I am amazed how you achieved goal 2 as that is not easy to do, especially when you are just starting out.

I currently still have a 10 to 12-second introduction and I am looking at reducing it to an even shorter time.

Yes, clean audio also makes a big difference. I now cringe at some of the audio of my earlier videos.

All the best for your journey.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

This is such a wonderful article... I have nothing I can add. You covered it all perfectly, kudos!

 

[MattCommand1]

I, for one, am glad you offered your insights. It was good reading. I haven't quite reached 1 year yet on this channel but it is 5 weeks away. Definitely a lot of learning on my part. I am not sure what lessons I would impart. I had some loose goals but I accepted the fact that I had to do a lot of learning and I gave myself 6 months of time just to make an assortment of videos and generally experiment without the pressure of having to deliver a lot of views and subscribers.

Regarding intros, I experimented with 5-second intros for a few months but ultimately did away with it. I wanted my retention as high as it could be. I let go of my ego to get rid of my intro. Honestly, it wasn't too hard because I didn't have a good intro anyhow.

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

All the best for your journey.

thanks so much for those kind words! I will continue to work hard and share my results for others to learn from!

 

[KS Moto Cafe]

This is such a wonderful article... I have nothing I can add. You covered it all perfectly, kudos!

Now you gotta share what your first year was like champ!

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Our first year was... we it wasn't really our first year I guess. On Easter day of 2016 I decided I wanted to turn my passion for the beach and fishing into a sustainable form of income and decided on YouTube. So I started studying YouTube religiously.

I cancelled the cable, I stopped listening to the radio and I did not play a single video game for two years. I only watched and studied YouTube stuff. I wrote notes, I watched videos, I listened to podcasts and I studied.

In the summer of 2017 I upgraded to a a six-year old cell phone (my prior phone was probably a decade old at that time) and started filming. I'm frugal, and went as cheap as could be. I started filming some practice content to get the hang of filming, editing and doing channel art on a phone. I didn't film my first actual fishing video until May of 2018, over two years since I had first decided to go all in on YouTube. I wouldn't really suggest that others take that same approach; you should really just dive right in and start filming and putting out content. One of the more difficult aspects was learning to have a consistent film/editing schedule that coincided with a good work/life balance. But I will say that the studying paid off; I got my 1k subs and 4k hours all on the back of that first video alone. I knew how to do SEO, I knew how to make a good video and I had picked a good niche. If you don't study and have a well thought-out plan of attack before going into it you must expect that you are going to learn this stuff as you go. There is nothing wrong with that, but you can expect to go through a few changes in your style, your niche etc.

I will say that one thing I would advise others to do is to look at their approach to YouTube as more of a business venture or more importantly an extension of an already existing business venture. So many creators just want to hop on the XBOX and play COD while collecting a check for ad revenue, and that just is not the way things work.

There are a couple things you should really do before you start. Have an earnest, sit down conversation with all parties actively involved with the channel. Wives, friends, parents... anyone who is going to be filming, editing or on camera. Even if you are going at it all alone you need to have this same conversation with yourself; what is the channel about? This involves several key criteria you need to consider:
1. What are the things you are good at... you need to be an authority in your space. You need to be able to answer questions about your niche. You don't have to be the best in the niche... but you really need to pick the thing that you are best at presenting.
2. While looking at different topics/niches and determining the things that you are good at you should also consider what you can do to separate yourself from others. As mentioned you don't have to be the best at what you do but it does help to stand out. This can be a creative new approach, a different point of view or something totally different.
3. How is this monetizeable? You should ask around about the CPM's for your niche but the more important consideration should be the products/services you can sell, the affiliate marketing and sponsorships available within this niche.
4. Determine expenses and figure out your schedule. For me I went cheap. An $80 cell phone and I begrudgingly paid full price for Kinemaster ($20 per year). I wanted to turn a profit and was not willing to invest in big time equipment for this endeavor. As a business I required my channel to turn a profit. My schedule was one video per week with a livestream every Thursday. I got pretty good at batching my content and now during peak season I post 2 videos per week and a livestream. This has fit in just fine with my work/life balance and my weekly routine.

That was our first year; planning. And while we may have dragged that out a little longer than necessary it definitely paid off!

 

[MattCommand1]

Our first year was... we it wasn't really our first year I guess. On Easter day of 2016 I decided I wanted to turn my passion for the beach and fishing into a sustainable form of income and decided on YouTube. So I started studying YouTube religiously.

I cancelled the cable, I stopped listening to the radio and I did not play a single video game for two years. I only watched and studied YouTube stuff. I wrote notes, I watched videos, I listened to podcasts and I studied.

In the summer of 2017 I upgraded to a a six-year old cell phone (my prior phone was probably a decade old at that time) and started filming. I'm frugal, and went as cheap as could be. I started filming some practice content to get the hang of filming, editing and doing channel art on a phone. I didn't film my first actual fishing video until May of 2018, over two years since I had first decided to go all in on YouTube. I wouldn't really suggest that others take that same approach; you should really just dive right in and start filming and putting out content. One of the more difficult aspects was learning to have a consistent film/editing schedule that coincided with a good work/life balance. But I will say that the studying paid off; I got my 1k subs and 4k hours all on the back of that first video alone. I knew how to do SEO, I knew how to make a good video and I had picked a good niche. If you don't study and have a well thought-out plan of attack before going into it you must expect that you are going to learn this stuff as you go. There is nothing wrong with that, but you can expect to go through a few changes in your style, your niche etc.

I will say that one thing I would advise others to do is to look at their approach to YouTube as more of a business venture or more importantly an extension of an already existing business venture. So many creators just want to hop on the XBOX and play COD while collecting a check for ad revenue, and that just is not the way things work.

There are a couple things you should really do before you start. Have an earnest, sit down conversation with all parties actively involved with the channel. Wives, friends, parents... anyone who is going to be filming, editing or on camera. Even if you are going at it all alone you need to have this same conversation with yourself; what is the channel about? This involves several key criteria you need to consider:
1. What are the things you are good at... you need to be an authority in your space. You need to be able to answer questions about your niche. You don't have to be the best in the niche... but you really need to pick the thing that you are best at presenting.
2. While looking at different topics/niches and determining the things that you are good at you should also consider what you can do to separate yourself from others. As mentioned you don't have to be the best at what you do but it does help to stand out. This can be a creative new approach, a different point of view or something totally different.
3. How is this monetizeable? You should ask around about the CPM's for your niche but the more important consideration should be the products/services you can sell, the affiliate marketing and sponsorships available within this niche.
4. Determine expenses and figure out your schedule. For me I went cheap. An $80 cell phone and I begrudgingly paid full price for Kinemaster ($20 per year). I wanted to turn a profit and was not willing to invest in big time equipment for this endeavor. As a business I required my channel to turn a profit. My schedule was one video per week with a livestream every Thursday. I got pretty good at batching my content and now during peak season I post 2 videos per week and a livestream. This has fit in just fine with my work/life balance and my weekly routine.

That was our first year; planning. And while we may have dragged that out a little longer than necessary it definitely paid off!

I just love hearing these origin stories. So awesome.

Lots of would-be Ytubers like to throw money at their channel and equipment to compensate for the actual time and work involved. Having some money to get some starter equipment is fine but some believe in really going all out which, to me, is a cover and attempted compensation for other shortcomings such as time or energy.

It is one reason why I decided to go for it. It is based on how much work, creativity, and resourcefulness, not how much you can buy your way into it like lots of dummies try to do. Sure, get 100,000 subscribers but have only 4 videos in the entire library. LOL!

It is slow, steady work and progress.