Secret Ingredients to Grow a YouTube Channel

Still on a discovery to find the secret ingredients to grow a YouTube Channel, namely mine, YouTube.com/@Sue-Ann, and to test the waters for new possible income streams, as Ileane Smith explained recently, I continue to research. 

And boy am I on an overwhelming feast of information, ideas, and data recently collected to gain any new insights. Talk about information overload. But, I think the real answers will shine from my next actions. I think it’s in the “doing” that things start to happen. And, the biggest takeaway from everything I’m learning is that growth and consistency come from having solid systems in place to allow you extra room to grow. 

It’s in this extra room that you can think, work, and find creativity.  

However, it’s taking the time to think strategically that’s likely to move your channel more than anything. I checked out more than a few YouTube strategies from creators and channel pros, searching high and low for the bottom line. The secret key. 

How do I unlock the doors to earning as Ileane talked about? 

Get Your Channel Right

Roberto Blake shares these five things on his channel to grow your channel.

1- Study CTR (click-thru rates) on titles/thumbnails: Make better thumbnails (if you don’t get the click, you don’t get the views, and more clicks and views = more serving by YT of your videos!!) 

2- QUANTITY over Quality (opposite of usual advice but more video content gets more views/notice/strength to your shows.) Keep making videos to improve as you go… practice and audience commitment are the keys, and consistency gets you there… MORE opportunities to get discovered/chances to get feedback to help you improve! 

3- BE RUTHLESS with your TIME and CONTENT (make and stick to deadlines to get things done,  dump instead of STAYing in forever mode per project! Kill ANY CONTENT that’s not growing you… dump some experimental stuff, off-topic, or outdated) Focus on the CONTENT, ruthless to grow!!!

4- Content Strategy (what videos to make by what performs til you hit your stride) Yes, YOU!

5- Engage more in the “Community” not only in your niche but all over. (Think cross-over content, shoutouts to other creators, etc. to help you build your community as a result.)

It’s important to have a plan so you can take a strategic view of how to grow your channel to grow your business. On Roberto’s channel and during his LIVES, he can’t stress enough how viewing your YouTube Channel Strategy as a Business is essential to finding success. He also talks about having a business model for how you will earn from your video work.

Taking consistent action and practicing your video-making skills and abilities are part of the process, but posting completely haphazardly can hurt what you’re trying to accomplish with the videos you create for your channel. 

Streams of Income via Your YouTube Channel

Even small creators can find affiliates to suggest tools, software, apps, and other products or services to viewers for commission. This takes time to build, especially for a small channel or creator just building a community. And the more content you create around your affiliate products, the better chance you have of people trying it out through your link.

Tubebuddy gives you this Beginners’ Guide to YouTube Affiliate Marketing to help you get going.  

Working with favorite tools you use and love, like my newest affiliate relationship with Castmagic, is a good way to begin your affiliate marketing journey. It also helps if you’re like me, and excited to talk about how useful the Castmagic software is for repurposing my video (and audio) content.

But, it’s equally important to find the tools you are most comfortable working with and best fit your needs. Also, ease-of-use is one of the things all of the speakers (I’m one) agreed on in a recent Audio Spaces Event on Twitter (X) talking about AI tools for repurposing content. 

Brand Partnerships and Sponsorships are another model to gain revenue from your channel and video production. I suggest you take a closer look at Justin Moore and the Sponsorship Wheel he created, and I kind of love it! This wheel gives you the blueprint you absolutely MUST HAVE to offer lucrative deals benefitting you and any partnerships equally. Work with this plan from the start of your show or podcast. 

Keep in mind that there are a lot of possibilities for you regardless of subscriber size!

Two Things First for YouTube Channel Strategy

Think Media reminds you that two things always come first for your YouTube Channel strategy:

1. Audience Research
2. Keyword Research

This is doubly true if you are aligning audiences with partners and affiliate markets in the videos you produce. Getting found, seen, and searchable matters more than ever on YouTube, and can impact your sales as well as total views. 

The Process/The Workflow

Again, Think Media stresses how much the well-oiled machine you create by having an easy-to-follow workflow and clear process to systemize your production and distribution matters. 

Streamlining your workflow and initiating systems from the start pays off in unlimited ways, especially over time. These systems may evolve and that’s expected. Still, get systems in place right away, knowing you can hone them as changes make better sense. 

Creating evergreen content allows you to get residual views on video content that remains on your channel’s (essentially a) library, sometimes gaining more popularity over time. If you are a YouTube Partner, you can also continue to earn revenue on that video, no matter how old. 

Creating Playlists for videos with related topics helps increase the chances of a viewer watching more than one of your videos. Of course, content topics depend on the bigger content marketing strategies you put in place to align with your key business goals. 

Your content strategy in turn drives the content style, type, format, and tone of your videos. Not all use cases will call for the same level of production value, extras, video aesthetics, and such. At the same time, keep in mind the value of long and short-form content, not allowing yourself to get boxed into a single type of possible content choices. 

Here’s the Think Media outline to get you started with the steps to set up your workflow and systems. Break down your video processes into these pillar areas:

• Pre-Production
• Production
• Post-Production
• Distribution

Implementing Systems for a Winning YouTube Channel

This idea of emphasizing systems and processes and implementing them is a sudden slap-in-the-face wakeup for me, but it shouldn’t be so surprising. 

The thing is, I create detailed marketing and content strategies for clients all the time in all kinds of industries. But, I’m not keeping myself on track, organized, filed, scheduled, and together for my video content or YouTube Channel whatsoever. Just not.  

Adhering to systems and processes is the answer. Streamlining things by examining all the moving parts independently, and against each other, is eye-opening and also freeing! 

Systems are foundational for business and also for segments of business and marketing, but integrating things, even simplifying, makes perfect sense right now. Changing focus to video content, the most in-demand format these days, is a new focus for Write Mix for Business so buckling down on the process is now essential. 

But also essential is sharing the journey with you! I’d love to invite you to join me for a deeper dive into learning about the changes, the ideas, and the geeking out on marketing in the dizzying digital age for exclusive content, learnings, TechTalks, and discussion together. Come on in…