Trying to Grow on YouTube? Here Are Five Things No One Tells You

Published in

Octoly Magazine

4 min readMay 1, 2019

When you first start a YouTube channel things are really fun. You are navigating this exciting new world and meeting some amazing, like-minded people. Once you get into a groove you may want to expand your YouTube presence and start generating an income from your work. This part of the process is still fun, but it can get tricky. Here are a few things no one tells you about growing on YouTube.

YouTuber burnout is real

Even the biggest names on YouTube suffer from burnout. The stakes are high on YouTube and you constantly have to be creating, maintaining and growing to keep up with the pace. This can cause feelings of anxiety or even depression if left unchecked.

What you can do: The thing about burnout is that it is caused by overwork. It is important to remember why you started your YouTube channel. If things aren’t feeling fun anymore then take a step back and re-evaluate. It is okay to take a break for a while if you need to. YouTube will be there when you get back.

You may not need to create more videos

Many people believe that creating more videos is the key to growth. That isn’t necessarily true. It is possible to grow a huge following just uploading one a month. The key is to create amazing content that focuses on quality, not quantity. One YouTuber who does this really well is Wendy of Wendy’s Lookbook. Wendy doesn’t post often, but when she does you can expect a showstopping video.

What you can do: If you are trying to grow your Youtube channel but you simply don’t have the time to upload each week, don’t worry. Try to harness your creative energy into making videos that are very creative and inventive. You will easily be able to grow your channel without the added stress of posting frequently.

Do certain things by the book

There is a reason YouTube encourages creators to focus on title keywords, great thumbnails, and cool channel trailers. Those strategies work and they can help you grow your channel.

What you can do: If you are hitting a growth wall, make sure you are following the basic rules for growth — which can be found on the YouTube creator studio.

This isn’t the platform for short-form video

On Instagram, we know that shorter videos perform better. So it is easy to have the same thoughts when making your YouTube videos. But Youtube is all about the longer videos. In fact, the YouTube algorithm rewards videos longer than 10 minutes. This is another reason to focus on quality instead of quantity.

What you can do: If you are struggling to create videos that are long enough then publish fewer videos so you can fill the ten-minute time slot.

Always be yourself

Like anything, fads on YouTube come and go. I mean, remember when people were applying concealer with condoms? Participating in one or two YouTube fads can be fun, but don’t fall into a trap of thinking you need to be part of them all. It will dilute your overall message and it is easy to feel overwhelmed when you are constantly trying to keep up.

What you can do: When it comes to fads and video challenges, don’t get too swept up in the hype. Keep your channel true to you to avoid burnout.

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