My YouTube journey started a little over four years ago in January 2013. I was travelling around South America at the time so my upload schedule was sporadic, but even when I stopped travelling it would be another few years before I took YouTube more seriously.
Today I upload videos to two YouTube videos every week and respond to comments from viewers every single day.
Am I happy with where I currently am on YouTube?
No.
I had hoped that by this point in 2017 I would have a larger following. Along the way I have made a lot of mistakes, but I am not too disheartened by my current situation. I genuinely love uploading videos to YouTube and connecting with people and I know that over time I will become better at what I do. Plus I know that if you asked most YouTubers about the performance of their channels they will say they had hoped to be a better position by now.
It is important to recognise the milestones you hit. The other week (22 April 2017 to be exact) my main YouTube channel passed the 1,000 subscriber mark. This should, hopefully, be the catalyst for my channel to grow into what I want it to be.
A Shaky Start to YouTubing
YouTube was launched in 2005 and by the time I uploaded my first video to YouTube in 2013 (Yes, my first YouTube video was awful!), I had been an active YouTube watcher for many years. Therefore it is fair to say that I was late to the party.
In hindsight, I should have started uploading videos to YouTube many years before, but even after I started, it was years before I took YouTube seriously. In the beginning it was just another thing on the side for me.
Since I was travelling South America, my first videos mainly focused on travelling. I also published videos about WordPress and internet marketing. After uploading around 12 videos in three months, I did not upload to YouTube for a few years except from a video review of the Envira WordPress plugin.
In 2015 I started covering technology on my channel. This was something that I had thought about doing for a long time. I’ve always had an interest in technology and kept up to date with the latest products and news so it was a natural progression for me.
In 2016 I made the decision to make the main focus of my main channel technology. I still upload the odd travel video to my main channel though the majority of videos are related to techology or gaming.
Since I still wanted a platform to talk about WordPress, marketing, and other business topics, I launched the Rise Forums YouTube channel. It made sense for me to partner my business YouTube channel with my Rise Forums internet marketing community since they both cover the same topics and target the same audience.
I have not given my Rise Forums YouTube channel the same love and attention that I have to my main YouTube channel, however it is still growing steadily and currently has over 200 subscribers.
Readers of this blog will know that I incoporate videos from my Rise forums channel into this blog regularly. I use the channel to do WordPress plugin and theme reviews, product reviews, and general videos about internet marketing and making money online.
The channel has the potential to do very well as there are not a lot of good YouTube channels within this niche.
The YouTube 1,000 Subscriber Mark
1,000 subscribers is a significant milestone for YouTubers. There is a lot of evidence to show that this is the point that YouTube starts recognising your channel as being worthy. This is the point at which YouTube starts giving your videos more exposure so views and subsriber growth should increase at a faster rate.
There are many discussions about this milestone online. FullScreen Media have a good infographic about it entitled “Getting Over the 1,000 Subscriber Hurdle” and talk about the 1,000 subscriber mark as being the tipping point towards accumulating more subscribers and views.
I have only just passed the 1,000 subscriber mark so it is too early to say how important this miletone will be for me, though a quick look at my stats shows how exponential growth is on YouTube.
As you can see, my channel only started to gain traction in 2015. I reached the 1,000 daily views mark in November 2016 and doubled to around 2,000 daily views mark at the start of 2017. Just a few months later I am creeping towards an average of 3,000 daily views.
Without a doubt, the first 1,000 subscribers of a YouTube channel’s life are the hardest. I will probably grow from 1,000 subscribers to 2,000 subscribers faster than I grew from 750 subscribers to 1,000 subscribers. I may also grow from 2,000 subscribers to 5,000 subscribers faster than I did from 1,000 subscribers to 2,000.
That is the nature of exponential growth.
More people viewing means more people subscribing and more people sharing your videos; which converts into more views and more subscribers and more shares and more comments.
Onwards and Upwards
Statistics only tell part of the story. If my YouTube channels are to grow I need to ensure that the quality of my videos is high. I need to create useful videos that will grab people’s attention and offer value.
Quality is something I need to focus my attention on as my hope is that one day I can generate a good income from YouTube.
At the moment, I am not making much from my YouTube channels and YouTube ad revenue is down across the board. However, a lot of doors will open if I gain a large following.
There are a number of ways I could make money through YouTube outside of Google Adsense. I can push my own products and services and be in a better position to partner with advertisers.
I will be sure to update you all from time to time on how my YouTube channels are performing. The road ahead will be full of ups and downs, but as long as I continue to enjoy working with video, I will continue to be a YouTuber.
Thanks for reading.
Kevin