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A Dozen Mistakes New YouTubers Make & How to Avoid Them
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Jun 8, 2024
In the video "A Dozen Mistakes New YouTubers Make & How to Avoid Them," the creator delves into common pitfalls that beginners face when starting their YouTube journey. Covering everything from poor content planning and inconsistent posting schedules to neglecting audience engagement and ignoring SEO best practices, the video offers practical tips and strategies to help new YouTubers build a successful channel. By addressing these mistakes and providing actionable advice, the video aims to empower aspiring creators to grow their audience, improve their content, and navigate the YouTube platform more effectively.
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12 huge mistakes new YouTubers make
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So for those of you don't know, we have two channels that have silver play buttons
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Hopefully in 2021, this channel will reach that milestone as well. And we've coached dozens of people on how to grow their YouTube channels
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And time and time again, we see people committing the same mistakes that are holding them back from growing their channel
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So today I want to run you through 12 common mistakes new YouTubers make and how to correct them so you can grow your channel in 2021
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Mistake one, trying to cheat the system. So don't leave spam comments on other people's video saying sub for sub or anything like that
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Or do the same on message boards or trying to buy likes, views, or subscribers
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The thing is, those are not the subscribers you want for your channel. That's not going to help you grow
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Because what happens is you want someone who watches a couple videos, subscribes
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and then every other video you put out, they click on and watch. A sub for sub subscriber, for example, is not going to do that
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They only subscribe to your channel because you subscribe to theirs. What's going to happen is you put out new content
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they're going to be notified, and they're not going to watch your video. So if your own subscribers don't like your content
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why should YouTube promote your content to others on the platform? So if your own subscribers aren't watching your content
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like if you have a bunch of sub for subsubscribers, your video is basically dead in the water
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So you want to get the right subscribers that watch all of your videos. If they watch your videos, YouTube is going to find other people
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to show your videos too. Mistake number two, having a complete lack of patience
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Someone who's like, I put up five videos, where are my thousands of subscribers
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I want to be famous. The thing is, YouTube doesn't work that way. It works at its own pace
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And so it could be your first video is a complete hit and takes off and has a million views
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Or you might put up 100 videos and it takes a couple years before you have a thousand subscribers
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It took Mr. Beast years to get his first thousand subscribers. And now he's one of the most popular people on YouTube
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So I really liked this video by Roberto Blake who says, make 100 crappy videos
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If you have that attitude of I'm going to make 100 videos, and I don't really care if people watch them
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I don't really care what happens. I'm just going to create content. If you make that commitment of creating that many videos
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I don't know if just ignore how many views or subscribers you get, but just have that commitment
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and not really have too many expectations of just putting the work, you're going to be successful on the platform
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That moves me on to mistake number three, which is inconsistent content. This can be inconsistent in a couple of different ways
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So it could mean that your content is all over the place about different topics. But I think more importantly is, hey, I put out three videos, I'm not famous yet, and then I don't upload again for another three months
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And then, yeah, I'll put out another three or four videos over a couple weeks. Then I'm not going to publish for a while
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And so the thing is, what happens is I've taken a couple of breaks from uploading videos
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And it's like starting over again. I forget how to talk to a camera. The videos don't turn out that well
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If you find a way to fit in creating YouTube content into your life and you can upload with some consistency
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I'm not saying at noon on Wednesday every single week. But if you can upload semi-regularly, what's going to happen is you'll get more comfortable speaking on camera
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You're going to get better at editing your videos. And as you start to get subscribers, you're feeding them a bunch of new content that they're going to be watching
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And so your channel is going to grow. But if you put out a few videos here, take six months off, a few videos there, you're not going to get better at each of those things
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And you're not going to grow as quickly. So definitely try to stick with some type of consistency
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if it's weekly, a couple of week, every other week, but commit to something and just find a way to fit that into your life
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and you'll be surprised how quick your channel can grow. Mistake number four, perfectionism
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This can hurt your YouTube channel in a couple of different ways. One, it can keep you from creating content
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So what happens if you're like, hey, if I have the perfect microphone or the perfect camera or the perfect backdrop
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my videos are going to be awesome, but I'm going to wait until I have that, and then I'll start creating content again
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But the thing is you're not going to be practicing, uploading, getting better if you keep having
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excuses to wait for that perfect tsunami of things to come together for you to create YouTube content
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One of the top videos on this channel, I recorded with my iPhone success and it has over 300,000 views
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This background was yellow. I have a couple of videos with that until I was able to actually paint it and create this gray background
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You know, the thing is, you just need to keep uploading content. You're not going to have everything come together and be perfect for everything
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every one of your videos. And so if you just take that out as an excuse of
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I'm gonna upload content regularly with what I have to record, you're gonna grow your channel
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Also, you may record a video and then at the last minute, decide not to publish it
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That almost happened with Daniel Schiffer. Check out what he had to say. So I actually when I filmed that video it took about four hours to five hours something like that I finished it I edited it I sent it to a few friends showed my parents And everyone reaction was kind of the same including my own which was kind of like
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yeah, like it's a video. I thought it was just okay. I uploaded it to my channel
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I scheduled it for the publish, and I deleted it. And ultimately that evening, after a lot of doubt entered my mind, a lot of second guessing
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I said, you know what? Like, I got to just stop paralyzing myself with uploads and just put it out there
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So you can see he uploaded a video, scheduled it, deleted it, and that the last minute decided to publish it
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And that was his second most popular video on his channel. So what would have happened if he didn't publish that
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How many less subscribers would he have had? And what information did he gain from publishing that video where he figured that's something my audience actually likes
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How could I create more content like that video that I almost didn't publish
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He would not have had that learning if he didn't hit publish for that video, and I encourage
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you to do the same thing. Don't worry about it. What is the worst that can happen if you hit upload
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And what is the best thing that could happen? In most cases, it's better to have published the video than not and have consistently created
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content even if it wasn't perfect. Stick number five, not having a focus or a niche
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So what is your channel about? And if you create content that's all over the place, why would someone subscribe to your
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channel. So we were talking about with sub for sub if someone subscribes your channel and they
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don't like your future content, your video is dead in the water. And if you're creating content
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just all over the place about different topics, it's kind of the same thing. Maybe you got someone to subscribe and then like what are they creating now? But if you were to pick a topic
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so keto diet, let's say, so how to cook for keto, keto breakfast, um, I don't know
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pick a dozen video topics related to the keto diet. Or I like to go run. And so if I
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could be training for a marathon, shoes for running in winter, why you should run sprints
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So you should think of a dozen kind of subtopics related to whatever the content is you're
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creating and not try to be all over the place, especially initially
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You haven't built that relationship with the audience where you can just create whatever
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you want and your audience loves you and they'll click on your videos. When you're getting started, you want to focus on a small area, create a dozen videos or more
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in one area, build an audience that loves that and little by little
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branch out into other things. So definitely pick an area, create a ton of content in that
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and what will happen is people will find one of your videos, and you have a bunch of related
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videos, so those are going to show up as suggested videos, which means someone watches several
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of your videos, and there's a good chance that they'll subscribe to your channel and watch
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future videos about a similar topic. Mistake number six, not creating content for YouTube search
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So YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, and your YouTube videos can show
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up in Google search results. So if you create videos like vlog number four and no one has any
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idea what it's about, how is YouTube going to know where to put that video to show to anybody
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But if you were to create how to train for a marathon, there are people that are searching for
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that. Also, there are videos on YouTube that talk about that. Well, maybe your video shows up as a
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suggested video. But if you're thinking of those topics that are searchable and people are looking
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for day in and day out and create content about it, then there's somewhere
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that YouTube can show your videos to someone that didn't know you yesterday. And so we definitely recommend for new YouTubers focus on creating content that people search for
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Someone like Peter McKinnon that has over 5 million subscribers, go see which are his most popular videos
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There are tutorials, there are topics that people are searching for day in and day out
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And a lot of YouTubers started creating that type of content. So if you figure out content that people are looking for every single day related to what your channel's about
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you will have people finding your channel, watching some of your videos, and your channel will grow
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We have a whole tutorial on how to create videos for YouTube search. I'll link to that up above right here
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But basically you want to do your keyword research, decide what your videos about
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use those keywords in the video, in the title, in the description, and in the tags
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and that will help YouTube know what your videos about and place that video in search results
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and also place it in suggested videos that are related to that topic
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So for example, we have a video on how to create your YouTube banner. So clearly a lot of people search for that topic
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for that topic so we have most of our views coming from search, but also 20% come from suggested
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videos, which are other related videos if someone tries to learn how to create a YouTube banner
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they don't like the tutorial that they watch, or they want to watch another one, and they show our video. So if you create searchable content, it'll show up in search results, and it's also
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going to show up in suggested videos that are about the same topic. Mistake number seven, not creating
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clickable content So what do I mean by that You need to get people to click on your video to actually get views and watch time How do you do that So the click rate is one of the most important metrics in all of YouTube which is the percent of time that YouTube puts your video on someone screen
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and that they click on it. And so people are making that decision based on the thumbnail and the title
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So let's talk about how you can improve both. The first thing with a thumbnail, you need to create custom thumbnails
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To do that, you need to verify your channel if you haven't done that. You know, the next thing is you need to succinctly represent what the content is
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what the content of your video is with as few words of possible and as expressively as possible
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I guess would be the way. But so, you know, you with some expression on your face, is it fear, excitement, whatever it is
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and then what's going to happen in your video. So this thumbnail from Mr. Beast, for example, you can see him very clearly, a house and a Lamborghini
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He's basically letting people choose between the house or the Lamborghini. This video from us, nowhere near as fun about creating a YouTube banner, but within the
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thumbnail in a split second, you have an idea what the video is about. Also, don't forget that most
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people are watching YouTube from their phone. You might create your banner on this huge monitor
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but people are watching it and it's this big. So check out your thumbnail on your phone before
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you publish your videos. So someone is scrolling through YouTube, sees the thumbnail, and then they're
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going to read the title if the thumbnail caught their attention. So what's important here? The first thing is
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your title should be less than 50 characters so that it's not cut off on certain screens
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The next thing is include the keyword in your title. So whatever you want people to see your video for in search results or suggested videos
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include that word or phrase in your title, and ideally as early as possible
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So you definitely don't want to cut off in the title, and people aren't going to necessarily read the entire title
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And so if you put the keyword as early as possible, you have a better chance of someone seeing that keyword and clicking on your video
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Also using expressive words helps. So something like the best, the worst
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This is awful. I hate this. This is amazing. Something like that that catches someone's attention. It says
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this sounds like fun or this sounds interesting. I'm going to click on this and watch this video
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So mistake number eight is having bad audio or bad lighting. So notice I didn't say have pro level
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gear, the perfect camera, the best microphone, amazing lights, whatever it is. The thing is you just
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need to be okay and people will watch if your content is good. Having bad audio is one of the worst things
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If your audio sounds like this, people will quickly leave and not watch your videos
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Some important things that keep in mind here is you want your microphone to be at minimum with an arms distance
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So if I had a mic on top of my camera right now, it's too far away
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And no matter how nice the microphone is, it's not going to sound very good. The microphone I'm using is right here, boomed right above me
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But you can buy a lab mic on Amazon for $20 that has a long cord that hooks you here
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and then we'll reach wherever your phone or camera is, and you should have pretty good audio
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The other thing is if you're recording indoors, is you don't want to be recording a place
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that has just flat walls, floor, ceiling, and nothing else in the room
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So carpet, a couch, a bed, blankets on the floor, whatever it is will help absorb the sound
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And so if you have the mic close to you, you have stuff that's cutting down on the echo
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you should have good enough quality for your videos. The next thing is the lighting
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So you don't need to have an amazing light or anything like that. You can record a sunlight, but obviously you need to record during the day
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if you're using sunlight. But the important thing is that the light is in front of you
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So you definitely don't want a really bright light behind you and not a lot of light in front of you
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because you're not going to be able to see your face very well and it's not going to look that good
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Generally, if you want to learn more about lighting, you can check out this video up above. But right now I'm just using this one light here
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that's about arms length away that's pretty large. And then there's one light behind me that's lighting up the wall
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But you know, you can get started with what you have. Use sunlight, use the phone that you have for audio
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or buy a lab mic for 20 bucks, and you're good to go for having good audio
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and lighting to create videos for YouTube. Mistake number nine, having poorly structured content
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So what we talked about earlier is getting someone to click on your video. Now the next important thing
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is getting people to watch the entire video ideally, or as much as possible
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So the worst thing that could happen is people leave at the beginning of your video. That's why you need to include a hook
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which is basically just repeating the title back to them. So say, hey, we're going to talk about mistakes
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new YouTubers make. And so you know you made the decision on clicking on this video
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and the very first couple seconds, you knew what the video is going to be about. There was no doubt
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And if that's what you're looking for, you're going to stick around and hear about the mistakes. If you had this long intro, you ramble for a while
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and you don't ever get into the main content until a minute or two in, everyone's going to leave at the beginning of your video
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and it's not going to do well on YouTube. But if you have a hook and then you get right into the main content
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you're going to be able to maintain that audience for a lot of the video. The important thing for your main content is if you have anything really interesting include that some of it at the very beginning so they got the hook something really good and they going to decide to stay for a lot of the rest of the video
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The other thing is if there's anything boring, ideally just cut it out of the video. If it doesn't need to be there, don't include it
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Also remember to stay on track. This video is about this topic and don't include a bunch of other stuff
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So I'm not going to show you me making coffee, me going to play with the dog, me doing something
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else when this video is about YouTube mistakes, and that's the only thing we're going to talk about today
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One other thing that you can include in your videos is a bonus that you're gonna talk about or show at the end of your video
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So sometimes we'll have a bonus tip or we talk about mistakes in the video and say
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hey, we have a pro level tip that you'll see at the end. And that just gives someone one more reason
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to not leave the video and watch the entire thing. Also, you don't wanna be distracting people too early
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with all these different call to actions of like the video, subscribe to my channel
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Go check out this website. You want people to, watch your content as long as possible. And if you're going to be asking them to go to a
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different website, to do something else, it's better to do that at the end of the video after they've
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consumed the majority of it. Before I forget, we have a free one-hour YouTube masterclass that has
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a whole wealth of information to help you grow on YouTube in 2021. If you're interested in signing
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up, I'll put a link down below in the description. Mistake number 10, not being yourself on YouTube
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So we don't recommend trying to imitate other YouTubers. Sure, you can learn from other YouTubers
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What are they doing? What types of content they created? But it's important for you to be you
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So let your personality shine through. There's billions of people watching content on YouTube
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And there's plenty of room for everybody. And so if you're funny, be funny
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If you're not funny, you don't have to try to be funny. If you have your own quirky way of explaining things, talking about stuff, that's cool too
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But the important thing is to let your... your personality shine through. And yeah, find ways to improve your content and get better talking
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to a camera. But trying to be someone who you're not isn't the way to succeed on the platform
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Mistake number 11, forgetting who your videos are for on YouTube. So these videos aren't for you
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Don't just publish whatever you want about any topic and forget about your audience. That's
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what YouTube is for, is to build an audience, build a relationship with your audience
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build content that they love, that entertains them, that educates them, whatever it is that you're
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trying to provide. But you want to create content that they're going to like. If your subscribers
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like your content, then YouTube will find other people like your subscribers to show your videos
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to, and you'll grow. So what we always recommend doing it, especially with smaller channels
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is respond to all of your comments. And so it's a great way to get to know your audience
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figure out what they like, what they don't like, ask for suggestions for future content
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ask them to leave comments down below when you're creating your video
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and over time build a relationship with them and figure out what they like, what they don't like
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what videos do well, and if you keep your audience in mind for your videos
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you'll continue to grow on YouTube. If you do things just for you
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you're probably not going to have the same love of success. Mistake number 12, just being stuck in the same place
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never changing, never adapting, never improving. And so, yeah, I said at the beginning
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create 100 crappy videos, but ideally video five is better than video
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video four, video four is better than video three. And so by the time you get to video 100
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your content is amazing. And so what you wanna do is obviously listen to your audience
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Another thing that's important is to review your channel ytics. So there's a wealth of information there
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We have a video on how to understand your YouTube ytics. I'll link that video up above right here
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And so some of the things you wanna take a look at is the click-through rate that we talked about
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So are people clicking on your video. The next thing is are people, how much of the video are they watching
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So you have the average view duration and the percent of the video that was watched. And so you can review these audience metrics or the audience
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retention metrics and understand where people are dropping off, where do people get bored
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maybe the intro to the video wasn't very good and people all left at the beginning of that one
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And so you can see with each of those what things can I change and do differently in different
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videos so that the next one I retain the audience more. Also, you can have an idea where your
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traffic comes from. And so you can see what topics you covered that show up in search results
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what videos are suggesting your content. As you, you know, figure out how to make better videos
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you figure out how to create videos that show up in YouTube search results, you listen to your audience
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Over time, you continually improve and you're going to grow on the platform
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If you want additional help on How to Grow on YouTube, check out our playlist on how to grow on YouTube
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That'll link to along the side right here. There's a wealth of information on all the different topics
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that you need to know to succeed on YouTube in 2021. Hope to see you in those and future videos
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Bye, bye