A YouTube Channel With Less Than 1000 Subscribers And Few Views Is NOTHING To Be Proud Of...

AGHHHH!

Why do so many speakers, authors and "experts" have under-performing YouTube Channels? OR WORSE They DO NOT have a YouTube Channel?

Last month, I sent an email to 2,314 speakers, experts & authors inside my database asking them to share their YouTube channel... and this is what happened:

-857 Ignored my email

-27 Told me to "Piss Off" (In those words or worse)

-618 Replied: They DID NOT have a YouTube channel

-114 Sent me a GREAT YouTube Channel! WOW (very impressed)

-698 Sent me PROUDLY their under-performing YouTube channel.

Here's my YouTube channel, they said...

Of course, I sent them a message thanking them for sharing their channel, yet what I really felt like telling them was: "Having a YouTube Channel with 134 subscribers and 45 videos averaging 15 views is NOTHING to feel proud of"

In 2022, YouTube will surpass Facebook as the most popular social media platform in the world. Now, here's what you need to understand: YouTube is the platform where different generations come together! YouTube is the ONLY platform where "age" is NOT an issue!

If you are a speaker, author, coach or "expert" and your YouTube channel is under-performing, you must take action NOW because right now, your channel is NOT an asset it is a liability!

Let me put it bluntly: YouTube sorts their channels in two piles: "Quality Channels" and "Crap Channels". (They will NOT use those words of course, but you get the idea...)

Your channel might have FANTASTIC content and still end up on the "Crap" pile.

Why? You may wonder...

Simple! YouTube is NOT like Twitter, Instagram. Facebook or LinkedIn. YouTube is a LIBRARY not a FEED (like the other platforms.) Your videos will "live" on YouTube for as long as YouTube exists, while on a "feed" your videos will be harder to locate after 24 to 48 hours.

For instance, if you do a "LIVE Broadcast" on YouTube as you will do on Facebook or LinkedIn, NOBODY and I mean NOBODY will watch it a month from today. If you upload your podcast to YouTube in hopes to get some views... NOBODY and again I really mean NOBODY, will ever watch it, unless you are Joe Rogan or Oprah Wimphrey.

I actually recorded a YouTube video explaining WHY Uploading a podcast on YouTube is a very bad idea and WHY You should NEVER upload your FULL podcast to YouTube. (It is only 3 minutes and it is worth watching)

Another reason WHY your channel will end up in the "crap" pile on YouTube is: You probably used idiotic titles and no thumbnails on your videos.

Let's say the title of your video is: Episode #39: My Amazing Podcast Featuring Mary from Tulsa!

REALLY? Seriously? WHO in their right mind, is EVER going to type: "Episode #39: My Amazing Podcast Featuring Mary from Tulsa!" on the YouTube Search bar? NOBODY!

Or how about: "My Promo Video" or "UNKNOWN" or "23478934.mp4"

Still wondering why your channel ends up in the "crap" pile?

Let's talk thumbnails:

Let's say you made the effort to give your video a decent title... yet your videos have no inviting thumbnails to make viewers curious about your video and invite them to click and watch the video.

No wonder your videos get no views! This a big reason WHY your channel ends up REGULARLY in the "Crap" pile on YouTube!

Let's move on to your channel art (Banner).

I saw 2 extremes on this category...

1. People that had NO channel art or a generic picture like this one:

2. those who think their YouTube channel is a shrine for personal adulation.

Let's get something straight: If it is UNCLEAR for anyone landing on your YouTube channel what kind of BENEFIT they will get by watching your videos, they will disappear as fast as a racing cheetah.

NOBODY is coming to your Channel because you are an "Amazon Best Selling Author" or because you are TEDx speaker or a Podcast host even if you say you've been featured on FOX or ABC (Nobody gives a rat's ass about that.)

The ONLY reason WHY people will watch your videos or subscribe to your channel, is because the "promise" of your content is appealing in some form or another!

YouTube is NOT Instagram

Your YouTube channel is very different than your Instagram or Facebook accounts!

On your FB or Insta, you can get away posting stuff about you and about your "amazing" life and your unique life-style!

YES these platforms can be VANITY driven!

The Me, Me, Me, attitude on those platforms is to a certain degree expected and accepted, On YouTube IT IS NOT!

YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL IS NOT ABOUT YOU!

If your channel art has a big picture of you with your name in BIG LETTERS saying how AMAZING you think you are, most likely people (specially event planners) will roll their eyes up and click away at the blink of an eye!

YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL COVER ART REQUIRES A PROMISE AND THE KIND OF CONTENT PEOPLE CAN ENJOY!

This is the Cover Art from our YouTube Channel:

Can you se how we offer a PROMISE to our viewers and we let them know what kind of content they can expect if they subscribe to our channel?

BTW Here's the link to our channel in case you want to have a look

So far, I've covered most of the "surface" mistakes I saw on most of these under-performing channels. Now it is time to "open the hood" and dig a bit deeper...

Channel Keywords

Most of these under-performing channels, use limited and generic channel keywords.

For example: Let's say you are a coach. Intuitively you will use these kind of keywords on your channel. It is inevitable! (seen it hundreds of times)

These keywords might look ok to YOU! Yet, these keywords might be either; highly competitive or too generic for YouTube to know who exactly your target audience is! That's why your channel often ends up on the "crap" pile. It is NOT nuclear science.

PLAYLISTS

Another reason WHY your channel might end up on the "crap" pile, is because you have no play lists or your play lists have useless names.

A channel without playlists looks abandoned, dilapidated and simply neglected.

Playlists are essential for people to find your content! Your content needs to be ORGANIZED in such a way so people feel compelled to binge your content!

Notice on the picture above how each playlists has a title and a description. PLUS notice how EVERY VIDEO has an inviting thumbnail as you will see movies on NETFLIX!

Another common mistake I found on these under-performing channels was that people actually used playlists to sort content for themselves not their audience. (BIG MISTAKE)

For example; they will call one playlist: PODCASTS and they will have 135 episodes of their podcast that NOBODY has ever (or will ever) watch!

If you have a podcast and you have interviewed many people, sort your videos in different categories, so they are easier for prospective viewers to find. NOBODY will search a playlist of 50 or 100 videos to see what they will find interesting!

I've seen even some people calling a playlists: "VIDEOS!"

Can you believe it?

Duh, it is YouTube , what were they thinking? Did they possibly though, you will be able to find PDF's or Word documents perhaps? Beats me!

NO WONDER Mr. Obvious ended up on the "crap" pile... AGAIN!

THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC ON YOUTUBE IS RETENTION

Here's the BIGGEST blunder of all!

If you upload a video and you "welcome" everybody to the video with a 23 second INTRO you will lose your viewers within seconds after clicking PLAY.

If your video "podcast" is 60 minutes long and people watch 6 seconds of the video and click away, your video will be doomed and put in the "crap" pile FOREVER!

If you want to get some sort of traction on your channel, you MUST avoid having long intros, or worse starting your video like this: Hello, hello, hello... Welcome to another video with ME and my "amazing show" today is TUESDAY it is raining outside and we will wait until more people join us on our LIVE video!

At the beginning of your video tell me what the video is about and get straight to the point! Any pleasantries or nonsense at the start of your videos will kill your retention!

I hope my "rant" has not been too harsh, specially if you identify one or more of the mistakes I mentioned above. This is honestly, the "tip of the iceberg" of what I've discovered inside the 698 speaker and expert channels I reviewed!

IF YOUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL IS UNDER-PERFORMING... BEWARE!

This common mistake can cost you a lot of possible gigs:

When speakers or experts PROUDLY share their speaker website with event organizers and they add a link to their YouTube channel on their Website, they unknowingly are giving a way for event planners NOT to hire them! Ever seen these logos on a Speaker website?

Perhaps at the bottom of the website or at the right top corner, thinking that's "right" thing to do...

That YouTube RED BUTTON will be one of the most common spots an event planner or potential client will click on a Branding Website. They will have a look at your channel, will see you have only 119 subscribers and your 45 videos have no thumbnails and hardly any views and they WILL judge you on your YouTube channel alone (guaranteed).

Think about it: What do you think ANYONE looking at your under-performing YouTube channel will think when your channel has only 123 subscribers and hardly any views?

Perhaps you added a YouTube video to your Speaker's page from your last talk... and this video is hosted on your YouTube channel...

GUESS WHAT?

YES, event planners and prospective clients will NOT watch your video as you intended! They will click on the video and go check your channel. When they see your channel has 123 subscribers and 45 videos with 5 views each, you will face the silent "kiss of death."

STOP IGNORING YOUTUBE, IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP!

I will be happy to provide you with a FREE 15 minute consultation to give you some pointers on how to improve your YouTube channel. NOTHING FOR SALE. A simple and amicable chat where I will take a look at your channel to help you get it moved from the "crap" pile to the "quality" pile.

Simply schedule a call with me here www.bettercallernie.com

Please have a look at this 3 minute video, and find out how I can help you in the exact same way I have helped over 50 people go from absolute obscurity on YouTube having 23 subscribers and 9 hours of watch time to FULL monetization in less than 30 days!

Thanks for reading this VITAL information!

Ernesto Verdugo