Today I´m going to talk about how to start an art YouTube channel that gets views and subscribers right from the get-go!

Although there are some great channel and videos that have set a high standard for new artists on the platform there´s still room for new content creators that want to educate and/or entertain an audience.

And I want to show you HOW to do it, so let´s start right now.

1. Get More Views From Search

Yep, you can get views and subscribers both from YouTube as well as Google.

Actually, the video snippet on the search results is one of the most effective features to increase the exposure of your video and double if not triple the number of views you get per video.

Now, in order to get your video shown on the search results every time someone types something related to what your content is about you HAVE TO do two things.

First, you´ll make sure to say your main keyword, at least two or three times throughout your video, and be sure to say it eloquently so that the algorithm can understand you.

Second, you´ll upload or correct your transcript.

As you may know, YouTube can understand what you are saying and that´s why the software creates (automatically) a transcript that Google takes into consideration whenever it ranks one of your videos.

In fact.

That´s what Brain Dean from Backlinko´s website has found to be true in his case.

In short:

Say your keyword out loud and upload a transcript so that Google is able to understand 100% of what you are saying.

2. Everybody Loves a Good Story

Storytelling is one of the most popular and effective strategies successful YouTubers tend to implement in their video-making process.

It´s been proven that we are wired to listen, like, and share stories, it makes us humans, and it has that feel of authenticity we all love.

You can see it in every artistic YouTuber out there, one of the many successes you can easily find that has made this his main strategy is the animations maker Domics.

He shares in (almost) all of his videos some stories from his past and how he struggled to overcome them and does it in such a funny way that you can easily both relate and have a laugh at the same time.

So, stories are a good way for you to capture your audience attention as well as deliver your message in such a way that actually gets through the noise that making content online usually fights against.

Here are 5 tips TED talkers use for better storytelling that you can use too!

1. Relate, Don´t Brag. At the end of the day, no one cares about your awesome accomplishments, how you graduated top of your class, or how you found the cure for blindness, what people want to hear more about is your failures. The mistakes that make you human, relatable, how you overcome them, how the struggle made calluses in your mind in such a way that you are now stronger than ever. John Bates, CEO of Executive Speaking Success & Business Coaching, says that “People don’t connect with your successes, they connect with your messes”. 
2. Evoke An Emotional Response. Facts and figures won´t have the effect you want unless you connect them with an emotional message. Instead of speaking just about numbers and technical stuff try to spark emotion with your message.
3. Start In The Middle. John Bates also says to start your stories, sort of, in the middle, where the exciting stuff happens, people don´t want to be put to sleep by your exact chronological monology of what happened, they want to be surprised and engaged.
4. Use Your Senses. Show don´t tell, use your senses to tell your story, speak about how it smelled, what you´ve seen, what did you feel when you touched her, or whatever it may be. Add to your storytelling some sensory details that people can easily relate to and feel what you´ve felt. What this does is create a mental picture in your audience heads that is far more powerful than words will ever be.
5. Get To The Point. Try not to rumble by giving unnecessary information because people will lose interest very quickly, get to the point, deliver your message by choosing three points (if not one) that you want to get across, that´s it.

3. Increase Your CTR With This!

You probably know that CTR is a HUGE deal, right?

Well, in case you didn´t, CTR stands for Click Through Rate, which means the percentage of people that clicks on your video when it appears on their feeds or search results amongst the many that don´t.

The effectiveness of your thumbnail, title, and description can make the difference between your channel getting discovered by millions each day or letting your content sunk to the bottom of the page.

Therefore, working a bit more on those three key factors might be a good idea.

However, here I´m going to talk only about your thumbnail design, title, tags, and description will be covered in one of the next tips, so keep reading.

So, as I was saying, what makes a thumbnail a GOOD thumbnail, one that attracts viewers, gets clicks, and compels people to take action.

Here are three characteristics I´ve found from my own experience:

• Distinctive Colors. You should use colors that can stand out when compared with other videos and, also, that are distinctive from the colors that are used within the platform, which are red, white, and black. Some good options would be using orange, purple, blue, and yellow. It´s not that you can´t use white, red, and black, just don´t make them a big part of your thumbnail.
• Triggering Words. Using words that evoke curiosity within your titles as well as your thumbnail is another great way to make people click and increase your CTR rate as well as your rankings. Words or phrases such as “little-known”, “secrets”, “powerful”, “smart”, “effective”, “stupidly-simple” have their own distinctive meaning and can make want to watch your content.
• Showing Faces. The final common denominator that´s been proven to increase CTR is showing a human face on your thumbnail. People are compelled to click on a thumbnail that shows another person on them, period.

4. Improve As You Go

You shouldn´t expect to make everything look perfect on your first try, improve both your art and filming as you go.

People like both authenticity and originality, make sure to express yourself through your art and push the boundaries of what you think is possible in order to get better.

If you take the time to show your progress you´ll get loyal followers that will get inspired by your journey and will be prompt to keep up with you on a weekly (if not daily) basis.

You don´t have to be perfect at everything to get started, in fact, it´s far better if you don´t.

It works the same way that when I talk to you about storytelling and showing vulnerability and relate with your viewers by letting everybody know that you are human and you can make mistakes too.

That is why a piece of content where you show your past works and how much you´ve improved works so well, as you´ll see in the point.

People crave for content that shows REAL stuff, unfiltered, pure, and relatable content.

Plus, it´s a great way to make sure you don´t stop by trying to make everything look perfect and you simply take action and produce MORE.

5. Get Inspired By Other YouTubers

Now, this doesn´t mean that you have to copy the work of other YouTubers, not at all.

What you should do is get inspired by them and make their art part of your own by adding your unique style or a particular point of view.

Both inspiration and “originality”, in a sense, come from mixing other people´s work and leveraging on that to create something new.

There are many content creators that can be a great source of inspiration, and it doesn´t even need to be from someone that is related to your niche or artistic background.

You could take things that you like about the way Domics tells his stories, or make great tutorials as Draw With Jazza does whenever he uploads a new video.

There are no hard-and-fast rules you can follow, the goal is to get out there and find your own source of inspiration.

Now, one way you can start is by getting into every channel that you like and want to learn more from and check their “most popular” video to see if you can get some ideas from their best-performing content.

Or, you can simply check out some of their latest videos and see if there´s something that caught your attention.

For example, Draw With Jazza makes great “reaction videos” or talks about the business side of how to turn your art into profit.

6. Documenting Over Creating

It pays off to document and show your true self as you struggle with your drawing or painting, people LOVE to see that you can be vulnerable too, they can easily relate to that.

In addition to that, this is an effective way to make more content without the extra hustle that takes to craft a brand new in-depth tutorial video.

It is a great strategy to engage with your viewers and grow a loyal fanbase.

In fact, that´s what Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia and successful media content creator, usually pushes:

On the other hand, this adds to what I told you about being vulnerable and showing how you improve your craft as you go.

Document the journey, make people part of what you are going through, be transparent, don´t try to be somebody else, by YOU, and people will show appreciation.

7. Best SEO Practices For Artists

In case you´ve never heard of SEO before it stands for Search Engine Optimization, which translates to the sort of practices that lead to making better content that ranks well on search engines, such as YouTube or Google.

For example, increasing your CTR rate, as I´ve already talked to you about, is a well-known SEO practice that can get you in the first places of many different searches made by users.

That being said, there are a few other strategies that you might want to consider in order to dominate the search results for your particular niche.

Let me tell you what are they:

• Bold Titles. You want to grab people´s attention as well as let the algorithm know exactly what your video is about in order to rank and the number one way to do just that is to uppercase your main keyword and put it up front.
• Uploading a Transcript. The second best thing you can do to improve your SEO is to upload your own transcript so that there´s a far better chance to rank on Google search, as well as say your keywords (at least) twice.
• The Right Description. You don´t need to write a really long description to improve SEO, just make sure to include your main keyword as well as any other related keyword that you know is close to the one you want to be found for.
• Smart Tags. You must look into what are some of the used tags by your competitor whenever you upload a video that is similar to theirs. Plus, adding some “personal” tags, like using your full name or the name of your channel will help to increase traffic from suggested videos as you´ll show up as a next video when someone watches your content.

And these are just a few of that so-called SEO practices, there are a bunch more that can help you rank on the top of YouTube.

Follow YouTube Guidelines!

YouTube itself shares a lot of great tips and tricks that not every content creator follow or even realize there´s such a resource available to them.

For example, I found that YouTube says, through their own research on metrics, that most viewers make the decision to keep watching your video (or not) just after 15 seconds watching it!

So, you want to make a good impression with your video then do it later, leave the flashy effects and cool transitions after you´ve captured the viewer´s attention.

You MUST browse YouTube´s Creator Academy catalog to see if there are some tips that apply specifically to your end goal and some of the little-known secrets that YouTube shares through its official channels.

In fact.

You can find inside the “Get Your Music Channel Started” there is a lesson that can be applied to (almost) any artist on YouTube, make sure to check it out.

Although it mainly talks about music-related content and channels you can take some of its tips and apply them to your own artistic channel idea.

8. Take Advantage Of The Community Tab

Once you get to that level where you can actually use this new feature you MUST start getting in contact with your viewers more often.

It is a great way to build more trust with them and make your relationship grow.

The community tab is an effective manner to contact your fans directly and ask them what they want to watch next, what´s their opinion about something, or make polls that can give you some clue of what your channel next video should be about.

As YouTube continues to evolve and create new features and tools for content creators you should always keep an open mind and adapt as it´s likely that they make these changes for the better.

One thing you could do is to look at what other creators are doing with the community tab and see if you can come up with some ideas of your own.

You can also check out what YouTube guidelines are about the use of the community tab:

9. Benefit From Doing Collabs, The Right Way!

Another common strategy most top YouTubers find quite successful is collaborating with other creators that have a similar audience to theirs and grow their fanbase much quickly that way.

Now, although there is a clear benefit on doing collabs there is also a right way and a wrong way to do them.

Here are some great tips from other video makers that have made collaborations a great way to promote growth on their channels:

• Have a Plan. You MUST plan ahead what your purpose is, whether you want to make a guest appearance, a collab video, or simply exchange mentions you should plan ahead of time to let the other party know what your intentions are and have some ideas to propose and that you can work with together.
• Similar Audience, Not Channel. Look for similar audiences, not a similar channel, it is far better to look for a fanbase that is similar to your own because if you search for the same type of channel that your own people won´t be compelled to subscribe or even watch your content.
• Be Respectful. Finally, you want to be determined and serious on the way you approach another fellow YouTuber, as well as respectful. It is okay to contact more than once a content creator to make a collaboration work happen, just don´t be too insistent.

10. Pace Yourself

You should make your videos and focus on what matters.

This means that you must pay attention to the most important part of making videos, the usefulness/helpfulness of your content.

Pace yourself, see how YOU feel about your creation, do you like it? …yes? no?

This also applies to take your time to properly learn your craft as it turns into a responsibility once you begin to build a large enough following.

It is crucial that you actively listen to your fans so that you can improve and make a real difference when creating content online.

There are too many “self-made gurus” out there that pretty much sell their knowledge to make a quick buck here and there so it is really refreshing to see REAL content creators sharing their process and progress in a very transparent and authentic way.

11. Voice Over Mastery

You want to get your viewers engaged with your content, and if you are not going to show your face all of the time then let your audience hear you as you instruct them what to do.

Voice overs are a big part of some art-related YouTube channels, mainly because the tutorial itself is what´s important, not the person that shows you how to do it.

That´s why working on your voice overs so that they sound crispy clear, in a good-sounding tone, and with some post-production work apply to them is key.

Here´s how to master voice overs:

• Invest in a mic or get close to it. Clearly, you should invest in a good mic that captures your voice really well, being the Blue Yeti microphone the number one choice for most beginners. But, in case you don´t want to spend any money on this then get your current mic (or your phone´s headphones mic) closer to your mouth using some sort of sheet or tissue to soften the “pop” sound, almost any soft clothes can work, and see if it sounds better, it probably will.
• Simple post-production. Secondly, you should (at least) apply noise reduction to your audio clip, which is a feature that almost any software will provide, even free ones. Now, if you can make a few more adjustments it´d be great, here´s a quick 5-minutes tutorial to do just that on Audacity, which is FREE:

• Soundproof system. Finally, you should have some sort of soundproof system in place, trust me, it makes the whole difference. Whether that means that you place custom foams all over your room or you cover yourself with sheets it doesn´t matter as long as you are able to reduce echo and clear the room from any kind of external noise or sounds, which is the end goal of any soundproofing system anyways.

If you use this simple yet effective three-step process you´ll be on your way to great sound quality.

12. Master Camera Basics

There are many things that can effectively improve the way your videos look like and how you can grab people´s attention in order to make something that looks professional.

As well as with the point where I talked to you about getting inspiration from other artists and YouTubers one skill that you should really look into is how to use your camera in order to get your ideas to work on video.

Plus, it will also provide you greater tools to create better content and make your creative spark really show.

For example, Casey Neistat was one of the first to introduce the concept of really creative daily vlogging and using the camera for much more than a simple stand-still on a tripod kind of thing.

In fact, if you check out his video where he shows you his studio you´ll see all sorts of gadgets and artifacts that are manually crafted to capture and film footage for specific goals.

One great example of this, that you can use (or build) yourself is the homemade over-head shooting rig.

Which is simply awesome.

Now, I wanted to give you a real-life example of how to get creative with your camera, but let´s talk about what are the camera basics you MUST understand in order to get the best out of your gear.

1. Aperture. This means how wide the lens can open in order to let more light go in and get a brighter image, especially great in low-light conditions, and it´s also good to get that quality depth of field that can help you focus on your objects. You don´t need a fancier camera to do this, but you need to invest in a fancier lens.
2. Shutter-speed. It´s easy to set up, your shutter-speed should double your frame rate. If your frame rate 29.9 then your shutter speed should be at 60.
3. ISO. Finally, get out of “Auto” ISO, it will only give more digital noise than it´s needed for your image. For a more quality image manually adjust ISO to your particular lighting requirements.

And those are the three simple steps you need to take to film better videos with your camera.

Now, if you are going to shoot with your phone then consider investing in an app like FilMiC Pro, which gives you more control over these three features, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

13. Get Better Skills Online

Once you start making videos every week and see how important is to grow and get better at your particular art you´ll find that there are unlimited options to educate yourself online.

Now, in order to improve your craft, you should look into platforms such as Skillshare or Udemy, which are great for getting better at (almost) anything you could think of.

You can find experts in your field that show you EXACTLY how to do something and become a master at it for a really cheap price.

Although getting the best knowledge possible online is only half of the complete path to progress these are some of the best places you can get it for the lowest cost possible.

After that, you have to apply what you´ve learned!

14. Benefit From Proven Video Ideas

You can easily find video ideas that have proven to work really well on the platform as there are lots of people that want to see that particular type of content.

Now, how you can find those proven videos within your niche or specific art?

Let me tell you…

First, you go to each and every one of your favorites content creator´s channel, click on the “videos” tab, and sort by “most popular”.

Like this:

Then, you´ll take notes of which of the first ten videos that show up on the search caught your attention, and after repeating the same exact process with a few more channels that are similar to your own you´ll have a full list of proven video ideas you can choose from in order to make your next video.

Now, a word of advice, if these so-called “proven ideas” are very popular then chances are that you´ll have to create something that is (at least) similar, or much better, in quality if you want to appear as a suggested video for the same keyword or search.

In addition to that, you shouldn´t stop at learning from what sort of topics or video ideas you can target but also closely look at how the video was filmed and edited, how does the thumbnail look like, how long it was, everything you can think of can work as an advantage or improvement you can apply to your own content.

15. Make GOOD Use Of Playlists!

Playlists are one of those things that not every YouTuber tends to (properly) take advantage of, therefore I want to give you a way to stand out from the crowd on that regard.

Here´s the key aspect of playlists not many people know, playlists also rank on search, as well as videos!

Yep, you can create a playlist with some videos that you´ve already made and had it rank on YouTube for a competitive keyword that will surely get you more views and subs.

Like this:

So, how YOU can take advantage of this?

Let me tell you.

First, choose between 3 to 5 videos that are related to each other, meaning that they cover similar topics or that can work as a full tutorial of some bigger topic.

Second, create a playlist with a keyword that you want to be found for, that´s it!

For example, if you have 5 videos that talk about the different aspects of drawing cartoons then consider creating a playlist and name it with a BIG tough-to-rank keyword like “How To Draw Cartoons”.

PRO TIP! If you really want to leverage the power of SEO you can also add keywords you want to rank for on the name of your channel. That´s what Cartooning 4 Kids did.

16. More Fans On Social Media

There´s a good and a wrong way to promote your YouTube channel on social media.

For example, it is not recommended to paste the link of your videos directly from YouTube into a brand new post on your Facebook feed.

It is far best to upload a smaller portion of your video clip instead of linking to it, so it works as a trailer for those who want to see more of it.

This is what is called Native Content.

Native content, especially videos, are a great way to promote anything on social media platforms.

Why?

Simple! Facebook wants you to stay on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram want the same.

Actually.

Facebook native videos get 10x more shares than YouTube videos according to John Koetsier from Forbes. (source)

And there are a few reasons for that.

One of which is that native videos start playing automatically, while YouTube videos need to be tapped on.

They play right in the Facebook interface, while YouTube videos need to load an external mobile web page, something that takes a few more precious seconds which is when the user clicks off.

The result of that is Facebook sucking in more native content and promoting less and less content that comes from external linking.

Therefore, if you upload what it seems to be exclusive content for that particular platform where you want to grow an audience on then you´ll see how much better that content performs.

17. Editing Leads To Growth

If there´s one skill that you HAVE TO try to develop, whether you invest more time or money in, is video editing.

People´s attention span is only going to get shorter with time, in fact, according to YouTube data viewers that click on your video tend to click off after only 15 seconds of watching your content if you don´t effectively capture their attention.

Which is crazy… but sadly true!

So, how do you capture and hold viewers attention?

First, you simply address their main concern, what they´ve been looking for when they click on your video, let them know on those first 15 seconds, that they´ve come to the right place.

Second, you start developing your video editing skills in order to hold their attention with graphs, text animations, screen captures, and all sorts of effects and edit tricks you can use to increase audience retention and therefore your viewership.

Now, this doesn´t mean that you need to get super professional with your editing, it just means that you have to pay attention to it and take advantage of the benefits a good edit can do for your content as well as your fans.

It might just be to start using a few simple text animations to point out the steps a viewer must take in order to make a drawing or play a particular instrument, and go from there.

Now It´s Your Turn!

Now that you know HOW you can get started with your artistic YouTube channel it´s time to take action.

Take that leap of faith and make it count every time you upload a new video, make it helpful, relatable, entertaining to watch.

Follow (at least) some of the tips I´ve talked to you about and you´ll be on your way to YouTube mastery!

I hope this information has helped you and feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you´ve thought about these tips, do you want to add something else?

Have a nice one!

Matt Porta.