So you want to learn how you can grow your vlogging channel on YouTube and get the most out of your videos, right?

Well, you came to the right place!

I am going to show you what are the ins and outs of starting a vlogging channel and growing its following as fast as possible.

In fact:

We´re going to dive deep into the common mistakes most people make when getting started on the platform and how to avoid them.

1. Customized Trailer

Let´s start from the top. Well, sort of.

As you probably know any random viewer that gets to your channel will watch your channel trailer first thing, that is if you have one.

Most people don´t take the time to create a customized channel trailer that showcases what the channel is about and what´s your story.

In fact, there are a huge number of channels that don´t have a trailer at all! HUGE mistake.

Here´s how to solve it:

Step #1 –  Make a short video that sets the tone and from which you present yourself and tell your viewer what your channel is about and who´s for. Directly speak to your target audience.

Step #2 – Make sure to edit your video so it has a strong call to action at the very end asking for people to subscribe. Craft a nice pitch.

Step #3 – Edit and configure your trailer so it automatically starts as soon as someone gets to your channel.

If you nailed this one right you´ll boost your growth right from the start!

What´s the best part?

You´ll be following YouTube´s Academy advice.

2. The First Seconds Matter

You want to captivate viewers not only in the first seconds of your channel´s trailer but more so in every video you make from now on.

There´s something called the 15-seconds rule which states that it takes no more than that for people to decide whether to keep watching your content or not spend a single more second on it.

In fact:

Attention span has decreased since the early stages of the internet from 12 to 8 seconds according to Cision. 

Although this is related to text content you can easily find a correlation in video consumption. It might not be 8 seconds but it´s not much more than that.

Make sure to take advantage of those first seconds!

Here are two common methods on how to do it right:

1. Choose a clip from your video that could grab people´s attention quickly and effectively. It could be something outrageous or just a small piece of content that shows what´s coming up.
2. Introduce yourself and rapidly tell the viewer what´s going to get from watching your content. Be enthusiastic and put some thought into your words so you don´t waste anybody´s time.

3. Be Educational, at First

One major thing a lot of people usually get wrong is that there are other people that want to watch them eat cereal in the morning, or go about their life on a day to day basis.

What´s the worst part?

They tend to waste so much time in content that will never see the light of day.

Be sure to make your videos good and educational first, give lots of value, provide helpful tips and advice that you´ve learned throughout your own life experience.

Then you can ask for something in return.

Whether is that they subscribe to your channel, join your email list, or buy something from you, it doesn´t matter. It all follows the same principle.

Peter McKinnon Example

This now famous vlogger started with some personal, more opinion-driven type of videos and it barely got any views on his channel.

So, when Peter realized that it wasn´t going to be easy if he kept going that route he made the right turn.

And began to put out some educational, more helpful type of content out there, just like this:

In fact:

He broke the record for almost any vlogger in the last couple of years and surpass a million subscribers in about 9 months!!

As you can see he made his very first videos around three years ago, and then two years later decided to change his strategy and make a really helpful video with cool tricks and tips compressed in a 2 minutes video.

Make sure you watch it get some ideas on how you can do the same for your channel.

4. Outline Your Story

Another great way to keep people watching your content is having some sort of framework around your videos.

Meaning that you create an outline from where your story is coming from and where is it going.

In other words, having a structure that lets people know that you´ve thought this through.

How to go about it?

Easy! create a simple script that you can divide into small paragraphs (or at least bold titles) that make up your storyline with a beginning, middle, and an end in mind.

On the other hand, if you want to improvise a bit it should work well as it´ll showcase more of your personality.

Actually, the right balance between authentic and scripted type of videos make the perfect kind of content for vloggers!

5. ¡Daily Vlogging is Dead!

Whether it´s Casey Neistat, Peter Mckinnon, or any other successful vlogger in the YouTube world the fact is that daily vlogging is as good as dead!

They´ve actually tried it but it didn´t work as well, and more importantly, it wasn´t sustainable.

You´ll find there´s already plenty of content on the platform, people prefer to watch something that actually entertains and contributes in some way to their lives.

Focus on Content Quality

You can always make the strictly vlogging type of videos, but make sure to give them some thought and create always quality content.

As the example given you want to balance between how-tos, tutorials, and educational videos with some video blogs of your day-to-day grind.

Remember:

“Above all, you want to create something you’re proud of.” – Richard Branson

6. Add Pattern Interrupts

You can add text throughout the course of your video to make a point or clearly state something.

You can edit and make use of jump cuts, maybe change the scenery you´re at and keep the audience engaged that way.

In addition to that, you can simply create small clips where you stand in different places while you talk.

The point is to keep your viewers watching right until the end of your videos.

Why?

Well, watch time is one of the most important factors for your videos to rank and show up in the YouTube featured videos.

Also, trying to figure out ways to make dynamic content that entertains your viewers will also impact positively the way they act when you ask them to subscribe to your channel or take any sort of action whatsoever.

7. Leverage With Cards & End Screen

The use of both, cards and end screens, are highly recommended features by many YouTubers, and the platform Academy itself.

Want to hear the good news?

You´ll not only get your viewers to watch more of your content but you´ll also increase your Session Time, one of the most important ranking factors in the YouTube platform. 

You may wonder, what the heck is that?

Let me explain.

In a way, YouTube takes in consideration two different “Watch Times”, the first one is related directly to your video and how well it can rank depending if your viewer keeps watching right until the end or not.

The second one is called Session Time.

It is the time that the person spends on the platform after they´ve watched YOUR video, and it credits to your account, which leverages your ranking juice!

Awesome! right?

So, what´s the bottom line?

Keep your viewers watching and make use of end screen to take action and follow up with other related videos!

PRO TIP! Creating playlists it´s another great way to increase Session Time and therefore your numbers.

8. The Water Fount Formula

This must be one of the most powerful methods to leverage yourself and your content creation strategy.

The Water Fount Formula is a way to repurpose your content very efficiently.

Here´s how to do it:

Step #1 – Create your video, make it useful and try to add some outline or structure to it.

Step #2 – Use that same video and transcribe the content into the text form. At the same time, download the audio into a .mp3 file.

Step #3 – Now you have enough video clips, text, and audio to structure a marketing strategy throughout any possible social media platform you can think of. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Linkedin, are all great examples.

Like a water fount, one single video can be used to create many different mini-posts and clips that get more viewers to your channel from any platform that accepts content creation.

9. Encourage The Viewer

You want to involve the viewer in the process, you should try to make them part of your videos.

Make them an active participant on your content, ask them questions at the end of your video, ask them to subscribe, share, or like and comment on your video.

In fact:

Having a strong call to action where you ask them a specific question in the last 10 to 20 seconds of your video works best than anything else according to Brain Dean´s from Backlinko. 

You should always dive into the comment section, reply to your viewers, be the very first in leaving a comment on your video and encourage your audience to take part of it.

In addition to that, make sure to listen what are some of their suggestions if any.

10. Learn About the Principles

There are some basic but very insightful principles that can make any vlog a grabbing attention machine.

I´ve recently read the book “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, which talks about this.

What do they say?

They´ve stated that there are six fundamentals in making “something” stick in this digital age, and that way making its effect last for as long as it possibly can.

Here they are:

• KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. Which means stripping down your message to the core by removing all the not essential details that are not as important as the message itself, which sounds more easier than it is. Bottom line? Simplify!
• Be unexpected! As we´ve talked before, make us of disrupting “patterns”, present things in a new way, think of how you can make your message stand out.
• Concreteness. Basically, making your ideas concrete is the easiest of the six steps since it only involves associating your message with tangible things. 
• Credible. A detailed knowledge about your topic may help with this, people believe more those who are well-informed. Another proved way is to he includes helpful statistics that strengthen your message. People love numbers!
• Add Emotion. As vlogging is a very personality based type of content you NEED to elicit that part of yourself and deliver your message with enthusiasm and energy. One great way to do this is by emphasizing how your message will benefit audience members by appealing to their self-interests.
• Story. Telling stories is considered the best way to make your message memorable. There are three very effective plot structures you can use: the “challenge” plot (overcoming obstacles), the connection plot (building bridges), and the creativity plot (discovering new things).

I highly recommend you to check that book as it will show you how to evoke curiosity in people, make your message stand out from the rest, and will help to deliver content that “sticks” with your viewers.

11. Design Pro Thumbnails

It´s no secret that beautiful thumbnails make up a good strategy to get more clicks, and therefore, more potential subscribers for your channel.

But, how does a beautiful thumbnail actually looks like?

I know, Peter McKinnon once again, but let me clarify, I´m not an actual fan, I actually think this guy makes a great job as a Vlogger and his rapid growth is living proof of that.

Now, according to YouTube guidelines and advice from some successful YouTubers here are the best practices you might want to follow in order to create eye-catching Thumbnails. 

• Optimize for 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall, with a minimum width of 640 pixels.
• A 16:9 aspect ratio it´s the most used in YouTube previews.
• JPG, PNG files are accepted and the most used by YouTubers. (Remember about the 2MB limit)
• Try to optimize color grading with Photoshop. Some basic adjustments in Lightroom can make the whole difference between a good shot and a great one.
• Showing your face creates a great impact and it´s widely recommended by fellow YouTubers.
• Last but not least, in case you´re going to use letters make sure to use no more than 50 characters total and try to make them bold.

12. Attention Grabbing Titles

Doing some keyword research may not be part of being an actual Vlogger but it sure is a big part of being a YouTuber.

In fact:

Keyword research is one of the most underestimated strategies beginners tend to skip over.

HUGE mistake!

You need to asses the competition in order to rank for any given keyword and know how many videos, how well produced are they, do they answer people´s query, etc.

In order words, keyword research is a BIG part of your overall branding positioning and a key element of your content creation process.

After you´ve done some research and have chosen a set of possible keywords you´ll need to craft an effective title that grabs people´s attention when they scan the search results.

Here´s how:

Step #1 – Move your main keyword forward and make sure it makes sense to keep it there if possible.

Step #2 – Use power words that evoke curiosity or are emotionally compelling like “Amazing”, “Ridiculously”, “Effective”, “Hack”, etc.

Step #3 – Try to make some of your words Upper Case if it makes sense and can spark some interest in the viewer.

Step #4 – You can utilize emojis if your title it´s not already too broad or needs some spicing. 😉

13. Optimize Your Channel

We´ve talked about optimizing your YouTube trailer video to engage with the new viewer that gets to your channel.

Now, what about the rest?

You should focus on giving away a “feeling” that you´re an actual channel and a serious YouTuber if you want people to subscribe and/or even give you a single second of their time and attention.

First of all, have a congruent design between your banner and the rest of your channel art, create your trailer (set to auto-play), and make a playlist of your most popular videos.

Like this:

Needless to say, you should have a nice picture of yourself in the “logo” section.

14. Brand Yourself

Another great method to reach a broad audience and have a consistent pattern that makes it easier for people to recognize you and your videos is by using personal branding techniques.

Here are a couple of great ways to stand out through proper branding.

• Use the same colors and/or letter fonts to showcase any topic or make an explainer video.
• Make storytelling part of your arsenal. In fact, telling stories about yourself should be one of your main goals if you want to really bond with your viewers and give a more authentic vibe with your videos.
• A logo and/or a slogan that you can use at any time and shows throughout your videos is another effective way to make your content more memorable.

15. Learn From Others

“Formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn

A continuous learning curve must be your first and foremost goal in order to attain a broader reach and serve as many people as possible in the future.

You should always try to learn a new thing that you can implement on your own videos.

YouTube itself is a great platform to benefit from and where you can find amazing content from some of the best people in the world, use it!

However, keep always in mind that action will be your greatest teacher. 

If you don´t take action and apply what you´ve learned so far you´ll, without a doubt, fail.

16. Vlogging Consistency

I wanted to share this as one of the last tips as it´s one of the first you may here out there.

Although it´s very important to keep a consistent schedule I want to clarify what are the actual reasons why this is.

YouTube´s algorithm doesn´t care about your vlogging consistency in order to rank your videos.

People care!

If you want to grow an audience through Vlogging then one of the very first and more important things to do is commit to a consistent schedule and maintain it.

Here´s how to make the most out of your video grind:

Post on a Thursday or a Friday!

You want to post your videos on the best days and time possible, and according to Entrepreneur, those are the peak days.

Now, if you want to optimize this setting to the max you should your own research and take a closer look at the numbers.

Go to your YouTube Analytics dashboard and see where are those peaks of views and watch time retention throughout the whole week, or even through an entire month.

You want to be aware at your own numbers as things can vary a lot from one YouTuber to another.

17. Support Your Community

Last but not least, you should always support your community.

What do I mean by this?

You MUST dive into the comments and reply to every and each one of them, at least for the first 24 to 48 hours after you´ve released a new video.

It is key that people see that you actually care enough to take the time to reply.

You´ll find there are so many examples of already very successful YouTubers that do this and disregard the fact that they have a massive following already.

Practice humility at all times and do not appear as if you are above this.

In fact, make the first comment your own and elicit participation through it. A common practice between big channels.

Do Some Collabs

As a BONUS for reading the entire post, I wanted to leave with this!

If there´s any common treat among those Vloggers that succeeded on the platform you´ll get the feeling that they had some help.

And you´re absolutely 100% right!

You NEED to do at least a couple of collaborations in order to peak and get many subscribers in a smaller period of time.

YouTube states that doing collaborations is a big part of creating great content and growing in the platform.

In fact:

They give great tips on the matter!

Final Thoughts

Now that you´ve learned what are the best tips and hacks you can implement to grow your video blog fan base it´s time to take action.

Let me know if the information has helped you in the comment section below.

If there´s anything I can update or make better I´d appreciate the feedback!