Websites offer many tips about how to get more YouTube subscribers for a video channel. But only a handful of tips actually matter.
Even more so, getting subscribers doesn’t require much effort. The real effort goes into the videos that attract subscribers.
Here are 8 tactics that will steadily increase subscribers for many YouTube channels.
Narrowly targeted channels and videos attract more interest than broadly targeted ones. That simple truth works for videos as much as websites, books and articles. Otherwise, too much competition will leave the channel and its videos fighting for attention in a big noisy crowd.
First master a niche and only then consider expanding into other niches.
The right topic will draw more people to the video. The quality of the video will keep them watching it. The longer they watch, the stronger the signal it sends to YouTube that the video is good.
Watch time translates into more advertising impressions and more revenue for YouTube. It will then rank the video higher in search results and other ways, which attracts more viewers and potential subscribers.
More watch time is good, but avoid creating longer videos just to increase watch time. One related measure of watch time is retention rate, which is the average percentage of time that viewers watch the video.
A 10-minute quality video may simply not have enough information or interest to get viewers to watch all 10 minutes. If they watch only three minutes, that 30 percent retention rate becomes a negative signal. Overly long videos may discourage viewers from subscribing.
Again, YouTube will rank videos higher with strong retention rates. A good target is 50 percent or more.
In the early days of producing my small channel, I noticed some other channels would ask people to subscribe in the first paragraph of the text description. So I did the same.
Yes, it seemed to increase the subscriptions. But it also hurt the channel in search results because YouTube uses the first paragraph in search results. “Please subscribe to my channel” is not search friendly.
When I moved “please subscribe” to the second paragraph, my search results improved. So ask for the subscription in the second paragraph of the description. Ask for it again with a custom subscribe icon.
But getting views is directly related to getting subscribers. The percentage of subscribers to views is remarkably consistent.
It’s another way of saying that driving views is one of the most important ways of getting more subscribers.
No two videos will get the same number of views. But the subscriber growth rate is remarkably consistent over time with the video growth rate.
The video growth rate is a function of how often a publisher creates and uploads new videos. Quantity of videos leads to quantity of subscribers.
Patience here is an important psychological factor for a publisher seeking more subscribers.
New videos get fewer views until they prove themselves via likes, comments, watch time and retention rate. It means a new video will attract few or even no subscribers in the first few months of its existence.
A good video will have a steady increase in views and eventually start to attract subscribers. So patience is a virtue. Getting more YouTube video subscribers is a long-term investment of time and energy.
Which videos attract the most subscribers? Is it the topic, the retention rate, the number of likes, the number of comments or some other event that attracts a subscriber?
In YouTube analytics, go to Subscribers and click on “YouTube Watch Page” to find out which videos attract subscribers and which ones don’t.
Not surprisingly, the views with the most views will probably attract the most likes. But other numbers may reveal some useful insights.
A Google Ads strategy for beginners begins with defining a few simple goals. Knowing these…
A Google ad strategy is an inexpensive, efficient and highly educational way of driving targeted…
The analytics bounce rate is an excellent way to measure the quality of a website…
Keyword density is an SEO tactic that suggests how many times a particular keyword should…
Forum link building is a marketing tactic that has some moderate benefits with search engine…
Website publishers who track new versus returning visitors will find new ways to increase site…
