Why Is My YouTube Channel Not Growing?
In today’s digitally dominated world, being an excelling creator on a broad platform like YouTube is not that simple, majorly because there are too many players in the game, making the competition more challenging than ever. To grow your channel on YouTube, you need to stand out among the crowd. Even if your content is awe-inspiring, there are high chances that you may not get the deserving likes, views, and subscribers. Unknowingly or knowingly, you are making some mistakes in delivering your content.
If you think your channel is not growing even after putting forth high-quality content, you are in luck because, in this write-up, we will discuss the most common mistakes that creators make that restrict their channel from growing. Let’s have a look.
- Your thumbnails are unappealing
Undoubtedly; your thumbnail is the key factor that attracts viewers to click on your video. And increasing your click-rate is what gets your videos in the suggested list. If your thumbnails are not visually appealing and smartly designed, your audience will not be willing to click on it, and automatically, your video will not getting views. To analyze your click-through rate, you can use YouTube analytics to access precise data regarding how well your video is doing and how much your thumbnail is getting clicked. By considering this data, you can enhance your thumbnails if the click rate is low, or you can exceptionally promote the videos that have a higher click rate.
- You are not living up to the audience’s expectations.
An integral part of creating any content is conducting full-fledged research about what your audience wants to watch. You may be creating top-notch content, but your channel will not grow if it is not relatable to your audience. To understand what your views want to watch, use the analytics tool. By doing so, you will find out the average age, gender, and location of your viewers. This will allow you to define your target audience and alter your content as per your majority of viewers’ interests and preferences. Not considering your audience’s expectations will hamper your relationship with the viewers and ultimately keep you from growing your channel.
- You are not consistent in uploading content.
One of the most critical factors that YouTube’s algorithm considers is your content’s overall watch time. And an effective way to increase it is by being consistent in publishing videos. It would be best if you showed a sense of commitment to your channel by maintaining a schedule of uploading videos. At least one video should be posted on your channel in a week so that your viewers won’t forget about your channel’s existence and develop a habit of watching your content. You can post more than one video as well, but ensure that the quality is not compromised in any way. Keep your channel updated at all times so that your watch-time increases and YouTube’s algorithm starts supporting your content by squeezing your videos in the suggestion lists.
- Your channel is restricted for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Before starting your YouTube channel, you should learn about search engine optimization, as it will prove to be a game-changing element to your content strategy. However, most creators neglect this factor and hence, struggle with growing their channel. It may seem a little too advanced, but the results are incredible. All you need to do is research the most trending and searched keywords among the current audience. After figuring out these words, incorporate them within the title of your video, tags, hashtags, description, and even the thumbnails. Doing this will automatically boost your ranking as and when YouTube viewers search the relevant words. This is a great way to stand out amongst the countless videos flooded on YouTube every day.
- You are not considering your audience’s attention span.
The attention span and leisure time differ among various age groups, and considering these factors as per your target audience is of great importance. As mentioned previously, the YouTube algorithm supports your channel when it has a higher watch-time. To achieve this, many creators extend their videos’ duration thinking that it will increase their overall watch-time. They fail to realize that the average attention span of people is lowering and that their leisure time is also decreasing due to a busy lifestyle. Therefore, if your video is unnecessarily stretched for 20 minutes, your viewers will not watch it. They may also sense that their time is not respected, and ultimately, you will lose out on your watch-time. Instead, make relatively short but highly engaging content such that every single viewer goes ahead and watches your other videos as well.
- You are not using the right hashtags.
According to the updated features delivered by YouTube, viewers can search for relevant hang tags are obtain a decent amount of content related to that. This means that your videos can easily appear only by using the appropriate hashtags for them. For this, you can study some videos with many views and learn about how you can use this strategy to top the search list. Various applications help you find the perfect set of hashtags for your videos. This is an excellent way to get traffic to your channel. Many creators tend to forget about this feature and, therefore, struggle to grow their audience. Even after making top-quality content, they fail to use the right words, and thus, their channel goes unnoticed.
- You are not promoting your channel on other social media platforms.
Let’s be honest; it is challenging to get noticed in the sea of content available on YouTube. Therefore, pushing your content just on YouTube is not enough. You need to develop a better promotional strategy such that your content is advertised on all the platforms. For this, you can upload a teaser to your video on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. However, make sure that these promotional posts are highly engaging and compelling so that people end up on your YouTube channel. This will allow a greater audience to know your content and ultimately increase traffic on your videos. Make full use of several platforms to announce your content before uploading to know that your audience is not just limited to the ones using YouTube.
Well, these were some of the most common mistakes that creators make on YouTube, disabling them from growing their channel. In addition to that, here are some useful tips that will allow you to up your game in the content universe:
- Make engaging content
- Develop a series of videos
- Collaborate with other creators
- Go live occasionally
- Give a detailed description
- Aim at getting noticed by brands
- Stay committed to your niche
- Give values (entertainment, education, problem-solving)
- Improve your production quality
In a nutshell, YouTube is a plethora of content, and unfortunately, there is no secret to overnight success. But with time and experience, you will undoubtedly get the hang of it. All you need to do it, create consistent and high-quality content that is both- engaging and value-adding for the audience. Working hard is what we are always told, but working smart is demanded by the current scenario. Work smart by learning about how SEO works and how you can get the YouTube algorithm to support you and your channel. With that all being understood, go ahead, get your equipment, and start creating the desired content in the best way possible.