If you are struggling to gain those first subs, or maybe you´ve already got started to gain traction with some subscriptions but you can´t get to the one-thousand mark then you´ve found the right article.

I´ve done my own research and after consuming tons of content here are the best ways I think everybody should focus on in order to get past 1,000 subscribers and beyond.

1. Start Before You´re Ready

There are actually two different sides on this.

For one side, you have to put out content and start taking action if you want to get results as soon as possible.

And, on the other hand, if you just upload bad videos, without editing a single thing and you just ramble on a few ideas that came across your mind you´re not going to get very far.

Nowadays YouTube has raised the bar and needs that creators really commit to the process of making good videos.

It is better to upload a great quality video once a week than pouring out one video a day about some random topic that you haven´t done almost any research on.

But, what´s the minimum quality level required?

Simple! There is none!

But, what you can do if you really need to get a sense of well or bad you´re doing you can check out other YouTuber´s first videos.

Just to give you a quick example here´s one of the first Sean Cannell videos back in 2010.

Now he has over 600 thousand subscribers on ThinK Media, his second channel. And more than eighty thousand on this one. 🤔

Ignore the fact that nowadays he has learned a ton on production and editing and just focus on how he behaves when facing the camera. Check out one of his latest videos and you´ll get what I mean.

So, yes! you need to get started, the best process for you to learn and be better at something is by DOING IT.

“Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.” – Dale Carnegie

Takeaways!

• Get started. Whether is just by practicing in front of the camera or actually recording yourself to upload a video.
• Quality before quantity. It doesn´t mean you have to have a fancy camera, what I mean is quality of content. Do your research.

2. Expand Your Reach

According to the YouTube Creators Academy team, it´s easier than ever to expand your reach and get to a worldwide audience.

They even stated that, on average, 75% of the views you will likely get come from outside your own country. That is crazy!

So, you might as well consider right now to grow an international audience if you want to get quicker results regarding your subscriber numbers.

YouTube has tools that allow you to do things like translating your titles, descriptions, and subtitles before or after you´ve uploaded a video.

You can even optimize this if you already have a small audience. Just go to the Analytics dashboard and look for the Demographics report so you can check out where your audience is coming from.

Then, you´ll just have to translate your video features into those exact languages and you´ll get an increasing likelihood to rank in those countries much higher.

Keep in mind this is not an overnight success type of strategy, it takes time, but it certainly pays off!

3. Learn Proper Keyword Research

This is a BIG one most people miss.

In order to be found you have to be searched and to do that, you need to get some keyword research done!

Start by making a hit list of terms and searches people make on the search bar of YouTube itself through typing keywords related to your niche or topic of interest.

Keep in mind that YouTube, like Google, is a search engine. Therefore you should use the autocomplete feature to get ideas for future videos.

You don´t want to be put long hours of shooting and editing to find out that nobody wants to see your morning routine because you haven´t used the right keywords on your title.

On the other hand, you have to be very strategic when naming your videos. Not only because they have to be searchable but also have to be clickable.

Meaning that they should grab the viewer´s attention in some way. That´s why list & how to types of videos are so popular. 

They present a pretty attractive way of consuming content. Here are some effective examples from Neil Patel´s Channel you might want to consider for upcoming postings.

PRO TIP! Long tail keywords that are at least 4 or 5 words long tend to work better for newbies posting their very first videos online. 

4. Be a Life Long Learner

Apply some of the best YouTube practices. Face the platform as a pro athlete, with a mastery mindset.

Let´s get clear, YouTube success it´s a marathon, not a sprint. Commit to the process of constant improvement and you´ll get there.

It´s like the saying goes, “Life-long leaders are life-long learners”.

Branding

One of the factors you have to address is your brand. Whether you like it or not regarding your audience you are a brand.

Maybe you are a personal brand, it´s just you, your content, and how you present it to the world. Period.

Think of making a logo, a cool but simple intro, maybe trying to come up with a niche art channel design.

Video Production

This is another important topic you´ll have to get into eventually.

Lighting, sound, editing, it´s all part of the composition process when you create new content for YouTube.

Don´t get me wrong, it doesn´t mean that you have to get the best lights from Amazon and buy a high-quality Rode Mic to get started, not at all!

I just mean that these are things you have to consider and learn more about. You could try to film near a window in plain daylight, get close to the microphone if the sound isn´t as good.

YouTube Analytics

A great tool you MUST get to know right from the start.

I suggest you go through the Creators Academy and learn all you can, more in the beginning than ever.

They do a great job when it comes to helping new YouTubers get discovered in the platform!

That way you won´t waste a single minute creating awesome content by avoiding making all the obvious mistakes most newbies tend to make.

Communication

You should learn and/or practice more talking to the camera, how to use your hands and overall body language to communicate effectively with your audience.

Remember the video I´ve shown you above. Be enthusiastic and try to get your energy up before you press record.

Social Media

We´re going to talk about how to use social media to leverage your YouTube strategy but for now, let´s just say you´ll have a lot to study.

Monetization

Last but not least, for most people the most exciting part of being a content creator.

MO-NE-TI-ZA-TION!

There are a few common ways to monetize your videos like affiliate marketing, Adsense, selling online courses and a couple that not everybody knows about (Patreon or Fame bit for example). I would say check all them out!

5. ¡Keep Posting Videos!

It might be common knowledge but it´s not common practice, at all!

There are thousands of “unfinished” YouTube channels out there with just a couple of videos, that never saw the light of day. A lot of people that complains about how hard is to make it in the platform nowadays.

And they´re not wrong actually… It is hard.

Just practicing it´s not enough, you could be practicing wrong.

Learning is an active process. We learn by doing. Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind. – Dale Carnegie

On the path to a thousand subscribers, you have to be open to learn new strategies and methods to get more views, to make better content, to communicate clearer, be a better editor, etc.

You have to be willing to evaluate yourself in order to improve if you want to provide great value through your videos and not just get maybe a couple of views here and there.

Check your audio quality, how does your video sound, maybe it´s the fact that your not doing a good keyword research before even recording the damn thing, or you´re not hooking them in the first seconds of your video, or whatever it may be.

Yes, it could be more than just one reason, and that´s why you have to pay attention.

6. Get Constructive Feedback

If you want to get better at making beautiful videos that people actually want to watch then you should think of asking friends and family what they think about your content.

Ask for honest, constructive feedback, look for specific points you could easily improve and get a more professional look.

Invest some time in showing your close ones some of your videos and ask for a sincere opinion, if it´s not that positive or isn´t constructive at all it doesn´t matter, as long as it´s honest. 

You´ll get a ton of value and you´re going to fasten your learning curve if you do this. In fact, most pro YouTubers do.

Sometimes it´s difficult for ourselves to make an accurate assessment of how good or bad our content is.

It´s a lot more effective if you get some feedback from the actual people that want you to succeed.

7. Leverage With Social Media

Did you know that the number of shares your video gets is a HUGE ranking factor? Well, it is!

YouTube actually states that there are some social signals that make your content stand out from the crowd and increases the possibilities of being featured in many search results.

For instance, if your video gets a couple shares on Facebook and because of that gets much more views and exposure YouTube sees that as a major factor of relevance for your main keyword.

That`s why you need to encourage your audience to share your content with friends if they know someone that could benefit from your videos.

Remember! Provide value first, then ask for something in return.

But, what social media platform works best?

Well, the truth is that sending almost any out-source signal to your YouTube videos help, although there are some that work better than others.

For example, you might want to check out our article on How to Promote a YouTube Channel on Google+.

I`ve written about using Instagram to leverage your social media strategy too.

The point is that you should utilize as many different social networks as you possibly can. Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, among other make great resource you can easily take advantage of.

8. Make Better Content

It all comes down to improving step by step your content creation process.

Once you`ve been doing this for a while you`ll tend to form a pattern and good habits that will help to fasten the whole process and get even better results at the end of each recording.

However, when you are starting out and you have zero or little subscribers you really need to step up and provide really high-quality well-research content that helps and it`s useful for the viewer.

That`s your first and main marketing strategy at first.

Here are two things you can do to get the best out of each video.

Focus on Research

Go in-depth with your information and try to be as thorough as possible so you can find the best data out there.

Do not press record until you`ve fully completed this step.

After you`ve done some good research you start summarizing and creating a basic outline of your video that you can use as a guideline through the filming process.

Be an Attention Master

Attend to the 15-second rule!

You have to capture people`s attention on the very first seconds of your video.

Be enthusiastic and present your content on those first seconds so people can know exactly what are they going to get from watching your video.

Then, roll out the intro and start the video by delivering your message.

9. Quick Competition Analysis

This is a big one most people don`t usually do when they think of a possible video idea.

And it should one of your first steps once you`ve decided what to talk about.

Type your keyword and see how the first results look, here are a few things you should check out.

• Length of the first four videos. You´ll have to make it at least as long as those four if you want to rank.
• Content quality. Do they respond to the exact query of the viewer?
• Social signals. How many views, likes, and comments do they have?
• Optimization. Check for Title, Tags, and Description and see how well have they use those features, is there room for improvement?

This whole process shouldn`t take more than a few minutes, and you´ll get a good idea of how hard it can be to outrank them.

PRO TIP! I am not getting tired of saying it, go longer with your keywords. The more specific the better chance you`re going to have of finding lower competition keyword results.

10. ¡Be Fully Optimized!

There are a number of things you have to optimize if you want to crush it on the platform and get to those first thousand subscribers and get past that.

The more you optimize each feature or element the better it can affect on how well your content ranks and gets eventually more subscribers.

Add Your Personalized Link

What this means is that whenever you share the link to your channel, whether is in your description, or when you publish something on social media, or you simply share it with friends, make sure to use your own custom URL.

“What´s that?!” You´re probably thinking, let me tell you…

It´s actually called a subscribe pop-up link, and it looks like this.

youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=(YOUR USERNAME)

In order to get your people to subscribe to your channel, you must replace the “YOUR USERNAME” section with your actual username.

What this customized URL does is to drive people to your channel page and shows a pop-up box that encourages people to subscribe before they can watch your videos.

It´s a great feature I strongly suggest you use in order to increase your subscription rate.

Customized Thumbnail

Thumbnails are basically what makes people click.

You MUST create good thumbnails if you want to get more viewers to your channel and therefore more subscribers.

Use tools like Canva or Pic Monkey, both of them are awesome resources and are also 100% free.

They are specially designed to be used for different digital platforms, including YouTube thumbnails.

Title, Tags, & Description

After you´ve finished with your keyword research your title is the first thing you need to address.

Once you´ve got that covered you can focus on tags and the description. Tags can be optimized by using tools like Tube Buddy that show what tags are other YouTubers using to rank their videos.

Look for other competitors in your niche and use some of the ones they use most, then add more specifically related to your own content, don´t overuse tags, something between 5 and 10 will work.

Finally, write a compelling description, add related keywords and synonyms to your main focus keyword.

Use the first two lines of your description well, they are the ones that show up first everytime someone takes a look at your video before even clicking on it.

Use Cards & End Screens

Both very effective features that you have to incorporate to your channel optimization plan.

Cards are preformatted notifications used to promote other related videos from your channel or encourage people to subscribe, work really well if are used in conjunction with scripted calls to action.

On the other hand, End Screens are, in my opinion, even more effective.

They are a powerful tool which encourages the viewer to keep watching your content by promoting other videos and can also add a call to action for them to subscribe, at the same time.

You won´t disrupt the experience of watching your video as it shows at the very end of it after you´ve provided some value and they´re more prompted to be pitched and subscribe.

CAUTION! Do not forget to add the subscription logo watermark on the right-down corner of your videos.

11. Google Trend Method

Now, if you want to fasten your growth this is a strategy you can try out.

Go to Google Trends and do some quick research on what´s trending right now on some of your larger audiences. But, how do you do that?

It´s easy! You´ll have to check out your analytics data first and see where your audience is coming from so you can browse those some countries into the Trends platform.

You´ll get what are the most popular topics right now, I suggest you choose at least two or three for the next step, which is doing some competitive analysis.

Take the respective keyword associated with the trend you´ve chosen and then take a look at how many results the search bar shows. Like this.

I took the keyword “Is Facebook Down” which is trending right now and found just 7 videos that directly answered the query, most of them are YouTube Live type of videos, what a great strategy!

Look at how many views they´ve collected!

In fact, two of them are from the same person, with two different channels. It actually works!

If you do a nice piece of content that really helps or provides value to people you´ll get a few subscribers just by doing this.

Browse through the very first videos, watch out for the length of each video, if they are directly answering the people´s query or not, thumbnail, overall video quality, etc.

Anything that could lead you to decide if you should go for that topic or not.

Once you´ve found one that´s not too competitive you should start researching more on the subject and press record when you´re ready!

12. Positioning Yourself

It means that you have to position yourself as a brand, a credible source in your niche, not necessarily an expert.

You can become an authority in your market after you´ve done several videos and actually learned and applied in some way what you teach, you know after you´ve “walked the talk”.

Positioning yourself is key to get recognized in the platform and have a recurring audience that browses through your content because you come up as a trusted brand and individual.

It means that you need to work on your overall message, your WHY, what´s the mission or goal you have with your videos, what´s your approach to helping people out.

Do you want to entertain them? Do you want to teach to do something? Learn something about themselves?

Get those answers first and craft your about section so that your viewers can actually relate to you and your core message.

This involves different factors that need to be addressed once you´ve started and got better at it one video at a time.

For example, branding, how do you approach your audience, what´s your tagline, your slogan, having a clear plan you´ve thought through help, start with that.

13. The Next BIG Thing

YouTube is in the early stages of adding two great features on the platform, 360-degree video (360) and virtual reality (VR).

You can even search for 360 videos and watch some examples right now.

If you have a Virtual Reality viewing device, for example the Google Cardboard, you´ll be able to watch some of the videos that are already uploaded.

It is the ultimate way to experience what the YouTuber/Vlogger is doing and where he/she is at.

Whether is with your mouse, if you´re on your desktop, or just with your mobile device, you can turn in all direction and take a close look on the landscape.

In fact, this type of content has a name, it´s called spherical video.

The purpose of this is that you´re allowing the viewers interact with your content, instead of just passively sit back to watch.

Documentaries or music videos are both popular examples of this type of experimental filmmaking.

There´s an infinite potential to create great content with it and impulse creativity and imprint your own style as a creator.

So, if you want to get ahead of the curve start making some 360 or VR videos right away!

14. Target Your Audience

In order to be successful on the YouTube game, you got to get clear on what your goal is, as I´ve said before, find out what´s your “why”.

If you want to create an awesome Fitness channel because you love weightlifting then great! Do that.

The point is to be clear when you set your purpose so you can then focus on who´s your target audience.

In fact, YouTube makes a strong statement by making a whole section within the Creators Academy lessons about this.

You´ll find it´s much easier to grow on the platform if you concentrate your efforts around one single topic.

You can make much quality content that way compared to creating a whole bunch of different videos that are too spread out and don´t send a clear message on what your brand is all about.

15. Top Mistakes to Avoid

If you really want to get to those first 1000 subs as fast as possible then you might want to take a look at the following list of the most common mistakes beginner make when starting on YouTube.

In no way this is a fully comprehensive list, it´s just to give you a quick idea of some things you must avoid so you can attract people to your channel, not repel them.

• Looking into the viewfinder instead of the lens. You don´t want to fall into the temptation that looking at yourself offers, you MUST look into people´s eyes. Remember, it´s not that different from having a one on one conversation with someone else. Think about it, how rude if would if during the entire conversation you´re looking at yourself in the mirror. 😕
• Spamming other people´s YouTube comments. Don´t spam, have conversations with people, add value and engage with their content.
• Bad YouTube titles. Please! Don´t use your channel´s name as a title, nobody is looking for that. You want to make your videos searchable first.
• Being inconsistent. Show up at least once a week, try to be consistent and keep a schedule that your audience can count on.
• Weak Intro. The first 10 to 15 seconds are critical, it is when you create interest in your viewers. Hooking them with a question may be a good idea.