The most popular YouTube channels gain millions of views and dollars per year. Case in point, Ryan ToysReview had a reported income of $26 million alone. As an advertiser even though we may not be making as much as 26 million, it’s extremely important to know are YouTube CPM average rates!
It’s the top-earning channel on the platform, but others are not too far behind. YouTubers with moderate popularity can still earn hundreds of thousands per month.
This is what’s pushing other people to become content creators. However, what many may not be ready for is the actual process of gaining even a thousand views. Growing your channel and increasing your YouTube CPM is a never-ending process.
If you’re ready to brave the world of YouTubers, read below to learn how to get subscribers and boost your channel.
1. Use YouTube SEO
Because YouTube has a search engine of its own, you also have to do some SEO magic to climb up the ranks. Research keywords in your niche and then do a video around it. Then, sprinkle the keyword in your title, description, tags, the file name, and the video itself.
Link building is a thing on YouTube, too. Put internal and external links on the description.
As for the title, keep it under 50 characters. You can do longer titles, but users will only see the first 50 characters in the search results.
This is only one thing to keep in mind about YouTube marketing, but you’ll learn the rest later.
2. Target the Less Popular Keywords
Whether you’re a small channel or not, you’ll be competing with thousands of other channels for keywords. Bigger channels and popular videos will get the most visibility for such keywords. New ones get little to none at all.
Use specific and long-tail keywords instead — the less popular ones. This way, you get less competition. You have a higher chance of appearing in the top search results.
3. Find Your Niche and Select to a Theme
Before you create a channel, decide on a theme. This will not only dictate the type of content you’ll make and the subjects of your videos but the look and feel of your channel, as well.
For instance, your niche is gaming, but it’s such a broad subject. You should have a theme to focus on. It can be recreating video game scenes in real life in a comedic fashion, for example, or publishing walkthroughs and tutorials for the latest games.
Do you like making people laugh? Then add funny commentaries on your videos, and make it your whole theme. Such commentaries should be present in all your videos if you use that as your theme.
Many channels also like sticking to a certain scheme for their videos. One might film all their videos in front of a white wall, and some might use the same font and colors in their thumbnails.
This creates consistency; remember that people like stability. Doing these will help increase your followers.
4. Create Appealing Thumbnails
Aside from the title, people look at the thumbnails to determine whether they want to watch the video or not. Hence, thumbnails play a massive role in racking in YouTube views.
The thumbnail should be interesting. It should also provide a preview of the content viewers can expect. You can use large texts, unexpected images, arrows, and such to create intrigue.
Because humans are visual creatures, they’re drawn to the image first before the title. You can use thumbnails to catch their attention, and then let the title tell them what the video is about.
Videos with appealing thumbnails also tend to rank higher, even if the content isn’t as great. That’s because the click-through rate is a big factor in determining ranks.
5. Hook the Audience in the First 15 Seconds
According to YouTube, the first 15 seconds of your video is important. Your viewer isn’t yet fully committed to your video even if they clicked it, and they’ll use the first 15 seconds to decide whether to stick to it or find another video.
You only have that much time to convince them to watch through the end of the video.
Remove fluff, background info, and such. Grab their attention using visuals or by saying something interesting.
Do something like a preview, which will show the viewers what’s ahead of them. This will create intrigue, as viewers will be curious about where you’ll take them.
6. Use Call-to-Actions (CTAs) at the End
In the same way that you should encourage engagement in your comment section, you should also take the time to push viewers to subscribe. At the end of each video, tell them to subscribe to get the latest updates about your new videos.
You can also tease them about new content coming their way. Talk about what’s coming next on your channel to get them to subscribe.
People won’t always subscribe after you ask them to, but asking will increase your chances. Viewers might forget to do it or sometimes, or it doesn’t even cross their minds. Asking them to subscribe is a nice reminder and it will get them to consider following you.
7. Engage with Your Audience
People tend to overlook the fact that YouTube is a social media channel. It’s not TV, wherein users aren’t expecting any kind of social interaction at all.
The comment section is there to encourage interaction, but you’ll have to do more than to rely on it.
Encourage discussion using audio or visual prompts in the video. If they have something to say, they’ll comment on the video and discuss it with one another.
As for you, you should also participate in the discussions. If you’re a smaller channel, respond to every comment as much as possible.
8. Comment on Other YouTube Videos
Want more visibility? You can make your presence known by commenting on other YouTube videos. They should be relevant to your niche so that you can target the same audience as the video.
First of all, commenting isn’t the same as spamming videos. Avoid commenting “visit my channel” or “watch my latest video” and similar ones on every video. Even if you do have interesting content, people will react negatively to the spam.
Instead, write a meaningful comment about the video. Yes, this means you have to watch and understand the video, too.
This will give you a chance to engage others in a discussion. This can be enough to prompt them into visiting your channel.
Writing funny comments is also a good way to gain attention and likes. This will keep your comment above the others, providing you with more visibility.
9. Use Other Social Media Channels
You shouldn’t confine yourself to YouTube. You’ll get viewers and subscribers from other social media platforms, too.
Share the video on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or other platforms you’re on. You can also post a teaser video on these platforms and then lead them to the actual video on YouTube.
A simple post alerting your followers that a new video is up will work. Don’t forget to include a link so it’s easy to find your video.
Forums are also a good place to promote your video. You can participate in related discussions and then link to your video where they can learn more.
If you have a website, you can post your videos there, too. You can even provide a transcript or expand the video to maximize engagement and increase website traffic.
10. Publish on a Consistent Schedule
If you’re starting, the lack of views might get you discouraged about continuing. However, it’s pretty much what you should expect when you’re still learning the tricks of YouTube and struggling to gain followers.
The best thing to do at this point is to keep doing it. Create a content schedule for posting and stick to it.
This incentivizes viewers for following you because they can expect more content. If they like the video they watched, they’ll go to your channel and find more videos. They’ll then hit that follow button to keep updated of your future posts.
You can lose followers if you have a “dry spell” or any period that you’re not uploading videos. They may think you’re not worth subscribing to anymore since you’re not publishing more content.
11. Keep Your Eye on the Trends
Even if you have a content schedule, you must be flexible. Growing your audience means you have to create videos that are of interest to your viewers, and sometimes such videos you have to base on trending content.
Keep yourself updated with the trends so you can ride on it. This gives you a higher chance of reaching a wider audience who are all about the trend.
Of course, it must align with your niche so you’re reaching the right audience.
You don’t have to follow every trend, though. Balance trending videos with content you’d want to see on the channel. This will bring in both short- and long-term viewers.
12. Produce Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is a type of content that will stay relevant years from now. These videos will get you views for a long time.
Examples of evergreen content are “how-to” videos, like “how to change a car tire” or “how to draw with a pencil.” Such types of videos have a high value that will stay for a long time. Even game walkthroughs can be evergreen as people tend to play old games along with the new releases.
On the other hand, non-evergreen videos are about topics that will lose value over time. SEO tips, for example, may become irrelevant over time as trends change frequently. Google publishes regular updates that change the whole landscape now and then.
Topics like the “best camera to buy” will lose value. There are a whole bunch of new cameras released every year, so what’s the best today may not be the best tomorrow.
13. Host Some Giveaways
People love free things; if there’s a chance to get something for free, they’ll grab it. That’s why giveaways are a popular way to grow your channel and increase YouTube CPM.
To maximize your reach, you have to lay down some mechanics. For instance, viewers must share the video, use a certain hashtag, tag their friends, comment on the video, and so on to qualify with an entry. It’s up to you whether you want to accept several entries from one user.
The item for the giveaway must be in line with your niche. If you’re a gaming channel, for instance, give a gaming mouse for free. For a marketing channel, you can host a giveaway for a free marketing eBook.
This way, the people who’ll participate will also have an interest on your channel, not only on the giveaway.
14. Collaborate With Other YouTubers
When you collab with another user, you get to extend your reach to their audience and vice versa this will help drop your YouTube CPM rates drastically. This benefits both of you, so you’ll likely find a channel willing to collaborate.
It’s preferable if the other user has a bigger channel to boost yours. However, many won’t agree to do a collab with a much smaller channel. Ideally, you’ll have the same audience size to get equal benefits.
The channel must also fit your niche. That way, their audience is your target audience and vice versa. You’re much more likely to gain new followers from their audience if your niche matches the other channels.
15. Publish Good and Relevant Content
Everything all boils down to your content, however. Even if you do everything right, bad content won’t get you any new followers nor increase your view count.
Find interesting topics to talk about and improve your editing skills. Use some video effects to break the monotony.
Pay attention to the technical aspects of your videos, too. Use a high-quality camera, a good mic, and other equipment. Use adequate lighting to highlight the subject.
The video should be easy on the eyes, as well. You don’t need a studio; a clean background will do.
Increase Your YouTube CPM With These Tips
Our last tip: be patient. People tend to lose patience when they’re not seeing immediate results. However, growing a channel, increasing YouTube CPM, and gaining followers need a lot of effort, time, and patience.
You won’t be seeing results if give up halfway through. Trust in the process, give it time, and you’ll see the fruits of your efforts soon. If you need more help, though, contact us today.
