Seems like so much has changed the past few years with YT and possibly just as much the past 6 months. It would be great if we could all post a few tidbits of our recent experience on YT and perhaps give some advice for new channels in 2023. Here's a few things I've learned based on my own experiences.
1) Limit your channel to 1 narrow focused topic. This allows the YT AI to really dial in your target demographic resulting in better recommendations.
2) If you simply HAVE to focus on more than 1 topic, limit it to 3 and focus on a singular topic for several videos in a row. This allows momentum for each topic which could result in more views and at the least better recommended views.
3) Treat shorts and longs like two different markets each with their own demographic target. Shorts seem to prefer more visual pizazz, brash graphics, sound effects, music, etc, something that gets their attention right away which helps get that impulsive sub. Long content seems to prefer a more laid back approach where the message, content of the video itself is more important than production bling. However... when combining good production skills & good content, that's what increases the odds of a sub dramatically imop.
4) Shorts Scheduling. If you're capable of posting daily or more than once a day, I don't think it matters too much when you post. Eventually you'll get some audience metrics telling you when your audience is online the most, that may be something to consider when you have a few hundred subs. But just starting out, you're in affect "seeding you channel" so I wouldn't be too concerned when you post shorts. Typical times 9:00am, 12:00noon, 6:00pm, 9:00pm should be just fine. If you're only posting 1-2 shorts a week it probably makes sense to adhere to some schedule, but I wouldn't stress too much over it.
5) Long Form Scheduling. There's enough research data out there to show scheduling does make sense for long form videos. So once you get in your groove and have a stable production pipeline, stick to it.
6) Gaps in production may not be a good thing. I would "hyperfocus" and bump out a lot of content, things would be rolling along well, then I would take a few days or weeks off, and my channels would slow to a crawl. What I would do differently instead is go ahead and produce the videos, but don't release them all at once, release them over days or maybe even over weeks. At the very least... try to produce 1 video every 2 weeks.
7) Personal connection with viewers. I see this over and over again. Channels where the viewers have some kind of relationship with the channel host seems to increase the odds of the channel being successful. If you're shy, etc, etc, try to get over it. It's hard...I know! So what if you have a faceless channel or a channel where there is no spoken word? Tough call, you can still succeed but maybe add some personal photos, comments, etc, in the community tab once in a while or maybe even a behind the scenes video of your production with a meet and greet style of video, etc. People seem to really enjoy meeting the team behind the channel!!
8) Careful with adding external links too soon. I verified this with other new channel owners as well, but it still seems a bit random. Adding external links in your video description (amazon affiliate, etc) might cause the YT AI to not push your video. Granted this a good way to monetize your channel from day one, but I would wait until you have 50 or so videos, or maybe 100+ subs before doing this. I had shorts with under 50 views that had affiliate links in them. I deleted the video, removed the links, reuploaded the same video and started getting 1000s of views. Your results may differ, but this happened to me so much I stopped adding them.
9) Are shorts worth it? I used to think shorts were a valuable took for any channel. But since shorts views do not apply toward the 4000 hours required to get long form monetized, shorts monetization requirements are insane, the revenue form shorts is abysmal, what good are shorts for most channels? Hard to say... it does seem like it's easier to get views from shorts than longs, but it also seems to take a lot more views from shorts to get a sub than it does from longs. You'll have to experiment and decide for yourself, but again.. for channels that will never be monetized from shorts.. what exactly are they doing for your channel? There is plenty of debate out there questioning if channels with both longs and shorts confuses the YT AI and ends up stagnating growth. All I can add is, I have one channel with zero shorts and overall growth is acceptable.
10) How many views does it take to get a sub on your channel? Divide your total views (on your about tab) with your current subs. The lower the number the better, this means your content is hitting the right demographic target and they like your content. Higher numbers could represent that while you're getting views, the content is not focused enough or not compelling enough. Imop a good views/sub number is 200 or less, with 100 or less being fantastic. Typical numbers are probably 300-400. Anything over 500 I would be concerned with. My broad based channel gets an incredible number of views from shorts and longs, but my views/sub value is over 500 and there really is nothing I can do since the channel itself is about a very broad subject. For comparison, my narrow focused singular topic channel without shorts, the v/s is currently at 75.
Hopefully others will chime in with their own experiences. Maybe we can find some repeatable data to experiment with. Thanks in advance for anyone else commenting.
1) Limit your channel to 1 narrow focused topic. This allows the YT AI to really dial in your target demographic resulting in better recommendations.
2) If you simply HAVE to focus on more than 1 topic, limit it to 3 and focus on a singular topic for several videos in a row. This allows momentum for each topic which could result in more views and at the least better recommended views.
3) Treat shorts and longs like two different markets each with their own demographic target. Shorts seem to prefer more visual pizazz, brash graphics, sound effects, music, etc, something that gets their attention right away which helps get that impulsive sub. Long content seems to prefer a more laid back approach where the message, content of the video itself is more important than production bling. However... when combining good production skills & good content, that's what increases the odds of a sub dramatically imop.
4) Shorts Scheduling. If you're capable of posting daily or more than once a day, I don't think it matters too much when you post. Eventually you'll get some audience metrics telling you when your audience is online the most, that may be something to consider when you have a few hundred subs. But just starting out, you're in affect "seeding you channel" so I wouldn't be too concerned when you post shorts. Typical times 9:00am, 12:00noon, 6:00pm, 9:00pm should be just fine. If you're only posting 1-2 shorts a week it probably makes sense to adhere to some schedule, but I wouldn't stress too much over it.
5) Long Form Scheduling. There's enough research data out there to show scheduling does make sense for long form videos. So once you get in your groove and have a stable production pipeline, stick to it.
6) Gaps in production may not be a good thing. I would "hyperfocus" and bump out a lot of content, things would be rolling along well, then I would take a few days or weeks off, and my channels would slow to a crawl. What I would do differently instead is go ahead and produce the videos, but don't release them all at once, release them over days or maybe even over weeks. At the very least... try to produce 1 video every 2 weeks.
7) Personal connection with viewers. I see this over and over again. Channels where the viewers have some kind of relationship with the channel host seems to increase the odds of the channel being successful. If you're shy, etc, etc, try to get over it. It's hard...I know! So what if you have a faceless channel or a channel where there is no spoken word? Tough call, you can still succeed but maybe add some personal photos, comments, etc, in the community tab once in a while or maybe even a behind the scenes video of your production with a meet and greet style of video, etc. People seem to really enjoy meeting the team behind the channel!!
8) Careful with adding external links too soon. I verified this with other new channel owners as well, but it still seems a bit random. Adding external links in your video description (amazon affiliate, etc) might cause the YT AI to not push your video. Granted this a good way to monetize your channel from day one, but I would wait until you have 50 or so videos, or maybe 100+ subs before doing this. I had shorts with under 50 views that had affiliate links in them. I deleted the video, removed the links, reuploaded the same video and started getting 1000s of views. Your results may differ, but this happened to me so much I stopped adding them.
9) Are shorts worth it? I used to think shorts were a valuable took for any channel. But since shorts views do not apply toward the 4000 hours required to get long form monetized, shorts monetization requirements are insane, the revenue form shorts is abysmal, what good are shorts for most channels? Hard to say... it does seem like it's easier to get views from shorts than longs, but it also seems to take a lot more views from shorts to get a sub than it does from longs. You'll have to experiment and decide for yourself, but again.. for channels that will never be monetized from shorts.. what exactly are they doing for your channel? There is plenty of debate out there questioning if channels with both longs and shorts confuses the YT AI and ends up stagnating growth. All I can add is, I have one channel with zero shorts and overall growth is acceptable.
10) How many views does it take to get a sub on your channel? Divide your total views (on your about tab) with your current subs. The lower the number the better, this means your content is hitting the right demographic target and they like your content. Higher numbers could represent that while you're getting views, the content is not focused enough or not compelling enough. Imop a good views/sub number is 200 or less, with 100 or less being fantastic. Typical numbers are probably 300-400. Anything over 500 I would be concerned with. My broad based channel gets an incredible number of views from shorts and longs, but my views/sub value is over 500 and there really is nothing I can do since the channel itself is about a very broad subject. For comparison, my narrow focused singular topic channel without shorts, the v/s is currently at 75.
Hopefully others will chime in with their own experiences. Maybe we can find some repeatable data to experiment with. Thanks in advance for anyone else commenting.
