Starting a YouTube channel can open up a free advertising angle for existing businesses and offer a way to get started on a new small side hustle. Still, there’s a ton of competition out there — it isn’t easy to get noticed and build an audience.
However, you can succeed in your endeavor if you follow successful influencers’ examples and persist despite hardship. Whether you want to promote yourself organically, or use the help of promotion services to increase subscribers on YouTube, it is important to learn about up-to-date marketing advice on boosting your channel. Here are five tips for starting a YouTube channel at home.
1. Focus on Quality
The number one piece of advice any influencer will tell you is that quality rules supreme in terms of content. You need to produce material that people want to watch and answer a need they have. While it doesn’t have to be professional studio quality, your video shouldn’t bounce around like something from “The Blair Witch Project.”
Start by investing in a quality vlogging camera. You can find good ones for under $500, although you have to ensure they have the features you need. For example, an external microphone jack is vital if you plan on shooting outdoors. Otherwise, the wind can make it impossible for your viewers to hear you.
Channels that focus on spoken content, such as life coaching brands, should go a step further in enhancing sound quality. You can set up a home recording studio with the right computer, microphone equipment and soundproofing. Doing so eliminates your baby’s cries from another room or your roommate’s movie blaring in the background.
2. Find Your Differentiator
Gaining YouTube recognition means facing some stiff competition. At last count, there were over 37 million channels out there in the vlogosphere. You’re not just up against Joe and his microbrew recipes from down the street but major corporate brands with the money and materials to produce movie-quality entertainment.
How can you succeed in such a landscape? Find your differentiator. What is it that people can get from your channel that they won’t find anywhere else? For example, maybe your cooking channel features rare and unusual ingredients like charcoal or spirulina. Perhaps you can take advantage of a unique natural setting or add an innovative twist to an existing oil painting technique.
3. Interact With Your Audience
YouTube is unusual in that it combines elements of broadcast television with social media. What makes the latter so addicting? It’s how you get to know others on the platform.
Therefore, invite your audience members to interact with you. Ask them directly to like your videos and subscribe to your channel — doing so boosts your YouTube algorithms and gets your material in front of more viewers. Offer them an incentive for doing so, such as notifications of new content or special live events when you reach milestones.
Invite your audience members to leave comments. Often, viewers enjoy the discussion as much as they do the videos you produce. Try to build an interactive community that people want to visit again and again.
4. Consider Paid Promotions
You don’t have to wait for ad revenue to begin making money with your YouTube channel. You can also offer paid promotions.
Basically, you approach another individual or business and offer to endorse their products on your show for a small fee. YouTube requires you to disclose when you do so — please ensure you tick the box indicating this when you publish your video.
5. Link Your Channel to Your Other Endeavors
YouTube is, ultimately, a marketing tool. Use it to showcase your other products and endeavors.
For example, if you have an Etsy business where you sell homemade crafts, your YouTube channel may provide how-to videos for creating similar designs. Include a link to your site as an overlay in your videos so that viewers can quickly navigate there if they see a product they adore. If you wrote a book, you can use your channel to market it and drive sales.
Start a Successful YouTube Channel at Home
A YouTube channel can complement an existing business — or become a new one. Learn how to start a successful one at home with these tips.
