Avoid These Common Mistakes When Starting a YouTube Channel
If you're starting a YouTube channel, you might wonder how to make it successful. While everyone learns from mistakes, making too many can hurt your chances of success.
That’s why today we’ll be discussing 11 common mistakes creators make when starting a YouTube channel.
Whether you're new or experienced, keeping these tips in mind will give you a solid foundation for your channel.
1 - Not Knowing Your Audience
You're probably reading this portion planning on skipping it, which proves that this is truly one of the most common mistakes new creators make.
If a doctor prescribed you medication without asking how you feel would you take it? Reasonably not. The same is with content.
If you don't know what your audience wants, you're just going to create content nobody is looking for, and this is where most creators blame it on the algorithm when the problem is them.
Instead, research your target audience's interests and problems. What are they looking for? What style do they like it in?
Once you answer those questions, you'll be able to put the pieces together and create content your audience will watch relentlessly.
2 - Lack Of Ideation
Without good ideas, you'll be posting content just for it to be overlooked by creators doing the same thing and overshadowed by creators who come up with great ideas.
A creator who seems to never have a bad idea is Michael Reeves.
His content is new, innovative, and is something anyone outside of his particular niche would be interested in.
Now how do you come up with good ideas?
There's many ways but the best most simple to understand and execute is by finding outliers. Outliers are videos that do really well according to other videos by the same creator.
Let's say you're in the finance niche, and you find several outlier videos titled "How I'd Make 10k/month, if I had to do it again". One thing you can do is outright use that video idea or find a way to put a twist on it. For example, "How I'd Make 10k/month in less than (time frame)".
Now, you could do this yourself by manually typing your niche in the search bar and analyzing every video that pops up, OR you can use 1of10 to simplify and automate the process entirely. Your choice!
3 - Long Intros
No, you don't need to tell people your backstory before every video.
Long intros can lose the viewers interest before they even get to the main content of your video.
People generally want to get to the point quickly, and lengthy intros can increase the chances of deciding they can get what they want quicker by watching another video and clicking away.
Keep your intros short, establish what you'll be talking about briefly, and flow right into the topic of the video.
4 - Poor Video/Audio Quality
What used to be applauded is now expected.
Back in 2015, you were considered a professional if you had good audio and video quality.
However, now it's expected of creators to create atleast 1080p 60fps visuals and good-great audio quality.
Now, you don't need to be Casey Neistat's level of quality. Nowadays, an iPhone will do.
5 - Bad Thumbnails
If no one clicks on your video, no one is viewing it.
Thumbnails are the first thing people look at when scrolling through their recommendations. Why not spend more time making sure they're the best they can be?
The most common mistakes I see are thumbnails having too many elements and the title and thumbnail not complementing each other.
Overall, it depends on the niche, so I strongly recommend seeing how outlier videos in your niche design their thumbnails and using those as inspiration for yours.
6 - Perfecting The Video
No video is perfect. Striving for perfection can delay the process and schedule you plan to upload.
Give yourself a time-frame within which you know you can make a high-quality video and release it when the time comes.
If not, you'll only be working uphill.
7 - Posting Inconsistently
How would you expect to grow if you only post "when you can"?
Not consistently posting can affect your audience because they won't know when they can expect to watch a new video of yours and will most likely miss it when you do decide to upload. But it also affects the way you look at YouTube. Is it something you genuinely WANT to do or feel you HAVE to do?
The answer to that question can tell you whether you'll succeed on YouTube or not.
8 - Over/Under Editing
Finding the right balance in editing is crucial. Over-editing your videos can make your content too stimulating and artificial, while under-editing can cause poor pacing, leading to bad average-view- duration (AVD).
Like many things on YouTube, it's different for every niche. Aim for what works in your space, and maybe even have a friend or two give you some criticism.
9 - Ignoring Analytics
There are two ways to look at analytics, and none of them are "wrong," so to speak.
YouTube analytics give you insight into what works and what doesn't in your content. If you don't look and read them you'll never truly learn what your audience likes and doesn't like.
The hard part for newer creators is knowing what to do with those analytics, and it's simple.
Average-view-duration (AVD) shows how long someone watches a video.
Click-through-rate (CTR) shows the percentage of people who clicked on the video.
Those two are simply the basics, but understanding what they mean can change how you view analytics as a whole.
10 - Hyper-fixating On Analytics
Remember how I mentioned there's two ways to view analytics? This is the other side of the spectrum.
While it's important to use analytics and take full advantage of the information it tells you. Think of them as more of a guide than taking them from face value.
Here's what I mean:
If your AVD is low, you may think your thumbnail or title are awful and need to be replaced ASAP. However, what's really going on is YouTube is showing your videos to more people than usual, testing to see if they'd enjoy them.
15% CTR at 100 impressions is worse than 5% CTR at 10,000 impressions, right?
That's just one example I see often, so remember, analytics are just a guide.
11 - Expecting Immediate Success
Good things in life take time. MrBeast didn’t become famous overnight, he worked on YouTube for years before his big break. Marques Brownlee also didn’t get famous right away, he reviewed tech he already had.
Set realistic expectations and understand that growth is exponential. One video will blow up causing the rest to follow it's momentum, that how things usually work.
You just need patience.
Those are the common mistakes to avoid when starting your YouTube channel. If you avoid these, you'll be on your way to success, whether that's views, subscribers, or clients.
If you ever need help creating ideas for your YouTube channel, the best place to find them is at 1of10.com!