10 Things to do to Grow Your YouTube Channel Fast in 2024
If you do these 10 things every day, you’re going to get better at making videos and will be able to skyrocket the speed of growing your youtube channel. These ways are tailoured to be relevant in 2024 so, you can unhesitantly experiment with these.
My name is Shrii and I manage "The SR Zone" youtube channel, which currently has 130k+ subscribers on YouTube with good standing. The ways I am going to be share with you will completely be based on my 3 years of experience on YouTube.
Following these ways, you’re going to better understand your competition so you can compete better. You’re going to understand your audience in a whole other way.
And you’re going to turn yourself into a content-making machine even if you don’t have a lot of time to make content. And it’s not going to take long at all to start seeing improvements. So, let’s start right now !
1. Study YouTube’s Homepage and Suggested Videos
The very first thing you want to do is study the homepage of YouTube and the suggested videos for 15 minutes per day. When you’re doing this, you want to write down any titles that stand out to you or that you think are good.
You want to make sure that you are looking at the structure of the titles that stand out to you and the structure of the titles on high-performing videos. You can usually tell what those are because they have a lot of views on them.
As part of this title research, you should look at character length, the specific words being used, and the placement of the words being used so you can understand how people write effective titles.
2. Work on Better Thumbnails
You also need to make sure that you’re looking out for any thumbnails that grab your attention, any thumbnails that you can use for inspiration, any thumbnails that have really good designs, that pop out to you, or that grab your attention in some way.
When you’re doing this for the thumbnails and the titles, you want to make sure that you’re screenshotting anything that stands out and that you are filing that away somewhere.
3. Note the Findings of your Research
I recommend using free tools like Google Docs or Microsoft Word for this task, as it allows you to create a page and organize all the thumbnails and titles you like. You can even add notes if you wish.
Consistently doing this research every day will help you write better titles, create better thumbnails, and gain insights into what currently resonates with YouTube audiences. It may also spark unique video ideas that you can adapt to your niche.
4. Analyzing Competitor’s Videos
The second thing to do is go to the YouTube search bar, type in the type of content that you make, and click on one of the videos that show up in the top five spots. Or, of course, if one gets recommended to you on your homepage, you can click on that one as well. But the idea is to make sure that you are clicking on something that has to do with the type of content you make.
Once you click into the video, click on the channel name, and then look at all of the videos that have been the most popular recently. You can also use vidIQ’s or TubeBuddy’s view per hour tool to see which ones are consistently getting traffic. And then you want to watch those videos and note how they start the video, how they move through each part of the video, and how they end the video.
Next, while you’re watching one of those popular videos—or you can do this across multiple videos—look at what they’re linking to or including in their descriptions. Read some of the comments and note anything that stands out to you.
For example, if you see somebody say something in the comments like, ‘Hey, I really liked that part where you showed behind-the-scenes about that tool you were using,’ write that down. You can consider adding something similar if you make a related video.
When looking at the descriptions, pay attention to the things they’re promoting as affiliates. Observe any sponsored links or product promotions. Doing this will help you learn how other creators in your space are making money.
Additionally, search for community links. These are links to Discord or Facebook groups or any other community they have. Seeing such links can act as proof that people are joining these types of communities related to your content.
Next, go to their channel page and click on the content tabs at the top to see what else they’re doing. Are they streaming? Are they using shorts? Are they posting in the community tab? And if they are posting a bunch of different types of content, you want to make sure that you’re taking note of how they’re using that content and what type of content gets the best response.
You also want to note how often they’re publishing each type of content. Doing this is going to help you better understand the people that you’re competing against with your content. It’s going to help you get more in tune with the audience that you’re trying to reach by reading the comments. And it’s going to give you some insight on exactly what is working well in your space when you start matching this across a bunch of different channels in your space.
5. Weekly Skill Development
At the beginning of every week, you want to write down one skill that you’re trying to improve over the course of the week. Every day, as long as you have time, you want to make sure that you’re watching at least one video or reading something about the skill that you’re trying to develop.
For example, if you know that you need to get better at making thumbnails, then, you need to be watching seven videos over the next week at least in order to get a better understanding of how to actually make a better thumbnail. These could be tutorials that take you step by step through how to make a thumbnail, or these could be concept videos.
It doesn’t have to be a video specifically on how to make a YouTube thumbnail. It could be a design tutorial or a color theory tutorial. Doing this every single week is going to ensure that you’re continually working on improving your skill sets as they relate to YouTube.
And keep in mind that you don’t have to change that skill set every week. You can work on the same thing for a month if you want to, but the idea is to watch something every day that will help you level up. And of course, as part of the time that you spend doing this, you also want to make sure that you are practicing that skill as well.
6. Educate Yourself with YouTube Help Videos
Watch a YouTube help video. Listen to a YouTube podcast or read something from YouTube.com/creators or the YouTube help pages on Google. YouTube offers valuable free resources, such as the Creators section, which serves as an educational resource for creators. Additionally, explore the Google help pages for more in-depth information on YouTube and related topics.
The time spent on this can vary from five minutes to an hour, depending on the content chosen. The primary goal here is to educate yourself continuously, as YouTube is continually changing. As a content creator, staying up-to-date with current trends, strategies, and best practices is vital for long-term success.
7. Try to understand or study YouTube Analytics
You need to spend some time looking around your YouTube analytics, even if you don’t know what you’re looking at. YouTube gives us stats on every video we publish. It’s extremely helpful information, but it can be confusing.
However, if you’re looking at them every day and trying to make sense of them, you’re going to start to get a better understanding of how people are engaging with your content. So you can modify things if you need to.
Pay special attention to audience retention reports, click-through rates and their relationship to watch time, as well as comparing the performance of different videos. Additionally, when you hover over certain information in your quick view dashboard, YouTube provides additional details to help you comprehend the data, especially if you’re new to this aspect of YouTube.
Though it might seem intimidating, learning how to interpret your analytics can be a game-changer for your YouTube channel.
As a side task, take some time to explore your Creator Studio and familiarize yourself with all the available options. If you come across features or tools that you’re unsure about, use Google to find out their purpose and how to use them effectively.
8. Make habit of creating videos
Next, challenge yourself to create something every day. Remember, the content you create doesn’t have to be lengthy or published online. The main objective is to become more comfortable with the creative process and train your mind to work efficiently when producing content. This exercise doesn’t require significant time investment; it’s about building a creative muscle memory.
9. Practise is the Key
If you’re someone who appears on camera, all you need to do is grab your phone, switch to selfie mode, and start talking to the camera. Practice speaking in the same way you do when making videos. You don’t have to spend a lot of time on this.
For those with faceless channels focused on voiceovers, practice recording your voice and speaking the way you do in your videos. Afterward, review or listen to what you’ve recorded. You’ll begin to notice things like repetitive filler words or frequent use of “ums” and “uhs.” Doing this regularly will create momentum in your daily content creation and make communicating on camera or through voice more natural.
10. Execution of Learnt Lessons
With consistent practice, you’ll become more efficient, making fewer mistakes in your real content. As you progress and become more familiar with YouTube analytics and features, you might find yourself running out of content ideas in your niche. This is when it’s beneficial to study other niches, observing how they edit and optimize their videos. Use this as inspiration for your own content.
By following these steps, you’ll gain a better understanding of YouTube overall, and your content will likely improve. Additionally, be prepared for the possibility of your videos taking off. Ensure your channel is properly set up to absorb increased traffic.