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.