How to setup a new YouTube channel for success?

Daniel Wirtz

1 year ago •

Status
Slug
Desciption
Featured
Cover Video
Cover Image
Social Image
Publish date
Last edited time
Created time
URL
 
In preparation for launching a new – and first – YouTube channel, I’ve set out on a quest to understand what it takes to give a new channel the best possible chances. Below, you find my working hypothesis.
⚠️
We haven’t launched the channel yet, so everything is untested! Keep that in mind.
To break it down, let’s start with three important questions:
  1. What would success look like?
  1. And how can we measure it?
  1. How can we maximize it?

What would success look like?

Every minute, there are over 500 videos uploaded to YouTube. Therefore, I think simply being visible and breaking through the surface of the algorithm is paramount for a new channel.
[More context here]

How could we measure success?

And the best KPI to measure this might be total video views. This is a direct measure of your video's popularity and is easy to read from YouTube’s statistics.
In my mind, this is the big domino. If the total video views rise, this probably directly affects the subscriber count and is also a strong signal to YouTube that something is interesting in your videos. And, once videos are getting views, it might be easier to understand what works and to optimize other KPIs such as watch time and subscribers.

How can we maximize total video views?

To answer this question, let’s take a look first at the four ways our videos can be discovered:
  1. YouTube Search: This is when your video appears as a result of a user's search query. YouTube uses a complex algorithm that takes into account factors like how well the title, tags, and description match the viewer's query, as well as the video's watch time. To optimize for this, it's essential to research and use keywords effectively in your video metadata.
  1. YouTube Recommendations: YouTube's recommendation algorithm suggests videos on the home page and in the 'Up Next' sections. These recommendations are based on factors like a viewer's past viewing habits, videos that are often watched together, and how recently the viewer watched a video on a particular topic. Creating engaging, relevant, and high-quality content consistently can help get your videos recommended more.
  1. Channel Page: If a viewer visits your YouTube channel page, they'll see your video listed among your other content. Having a well-organized, attractive channel page and compelling video thumbnails can help attract viewers.
  1. External Sites and Social Media: This is when viewers find your video through links shared on websites, blogs, social media platforms, or emails. Promoting your videos on various social media platforms, collaborating with other creators, or getting your video shared on popular websites can help increase your views.
 
 

How does YouTube work? In a nutshell?

 
 
Rest
But let’s start with clearing up a question:

Is it worth starting a YouTube channel in 2024?

YouTube is now 18 years old and one could ask: Is there even space on the platform? I would say
 
YouTube currently has 2.7 billion active monthly users. Basically 1/4 of the world population
 
 
Currently, Youtube has 2.7 billion active monthly users.
 
 
 
First of all, let’s start with a key question:

Is

 
 
 
 
 

Outline

  • Over the last month, I have been preparing our launch of our Youtube channel. Therefore I have been absorbing a lot of knowledge and trying to think my way into
  • Youtube seems satured, but I don’t believe it
    • 2.7billion active monthly users for YouTube. That’s about 1/4 of the world population! If one whole person spends about an hour on YouTube per day, watching videos that average 8 minutes each, that’s 7.5 videos for every user. Multiply that by 2.7 billion, that’s a lot of views.
  • Maybe now is even better time to start, since in an age of AI, people will
  • My understanding of the algorithm
    • “On YouTube, viewers are matched to the videos they are most likely to watch and enjoy”
    • Discovery
    • Feed
    • Search
  • First step:
    • Who is your audience and what they like? A good way to start here, is to put yourself into the shoes of your audience and start searching on Google. Then you see wich videos are high up, so you get a feeling for the format and content of these videos.
    • Another approach is to take yourself as a proxy. Your combination of unique interests, exposed to the internet might fit to exactly what people are looking for.
  • Video format
    • Topic
      • The topic is what you want to talk about
    • Idea
      • The idea is with what angle you present the topic and structure the video
      • Often, the idea of the video is overlooked and that is a beginner mistake since the way the video is opened, setup and structured plays a big role in viewer retention
    • Intro
      • How to write a hook
        • Use Authority
        • Address a core desire
        • Tease
    • Title
    • Thumbnail
      • What people look at first,
  • Recording
    • Script intro and outro
    • Script the rest, or use an outline
 
How to learn: Follow some Youtube Strategist on X, watch more youtube videos, take screenshots of great titles and thumbnails

Content

 
 
 
 

Subscribe to my blog

Helpful tools, thoughtful articles and other findings from the web. From my desk to yours.