[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?
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Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?
Hello HN, Would love to hear from devs who started their YouTube
channel and what was the journey like
Author : mr_o47
Score : 56 points
Date : 2023-06-09 05:19 UTC (1 days ago)
| shrimp_emoji wrote:
| Grift as shamelessly as possible, and you'll have millions and a
| studio in 5 years.
| TheAceOfHearts wrote:
| I don't have a YouTube channel, but if I were to create one I'd
| probably listen to every single podcast appearance from MrBeast
| since he's basically become the King of YouTube, and he regularly
| gives very actionable and clear advice.
| lolinder wrote:
| I haven't specifically looked at these podcasts, but getting
| advice from superstars is very rarely the right move in any
| domain, _especially_ in something as arbitrary as media. It 's
| hard for a superstar to tell in retrospect what they did that
| contributed to their success and what was just dumb luck and
| coincidence.
| mattboardman wrote:
| I would agree with you, but Mr. Beast is very methodical and
| has the algorithm beat at this point.
| hackermailman wrote:
| I've watched those, the recommender algo he claims is
| simple. Whoever achieves the longest continuous views wins
| so you introduce every video with very brief 'here is what
| you are watching' then do that video you just described.
| What you don't do is long intros, music intros or not tell
| people what's going on. The thumbnail helps but not as much
| in the past, it should just be something interesting and
| unique to the video encouraging viewers to click.
|
| Like everything you should make it a story. Here is the
| build up and hook, here is the wow moment or climax. A
| basic programming video can be this.
|
| That's all you have to do assuming it is well edited/audio.
| Edit: once he started having success he paid for
| translations because French/Spanish is also a huge YouTube
| userbase
| carom wrote:
| Find a niche. People love free content. It wasn't that hard.
|
| I was making computer security videos for people, real basics for
| programming, networking, web interactions, number bases, bit math
| - stuff that you need to learn as a base to get into hacking.
| Grew my channel pretty quickly to 1k subscribers just by sharing
| them to reddit. I deleted it because I got annoyed that I was
| making content for YT for free (the videos are still archived on
| Odysee). It really didn't seem that difficult to grow though when
| you're giving it away.
|
| For pure dev things, cover different algorithms or data
| structures. Mobile, gaming, and web will have large audiences but
| already some established channels.
|
| Other tips -
|
| - Get a good mic, mic stand, shock mount.
|
| - Downsize your screen to 720p when you record so it is large
| enough for the average laptop screen to read. It is absolutely
| ridiculous when someone is recording a tutorial on a 4k monitor
| and the text is microscopic.
|
| - I was less concerned about video but repurposing a DSLR as a
| webcam is a good move. Pay attention to lighting and your
| background. Some people like full bright lights, color LEDs are a
| good vibe too.
|
| - Practice speaking. Slow down.
|
| - Learn to edit so you don't worry about redoing your whole video
| in a single take. I didn't like editing so I would redo 20 minute
| videos a few times until I got it right.
| [deleted]
| codetrotter wrote:
| > I got annoyed that I was making content for YT for free
|
| If anyone is interested, I run a PeerTube instance and am
| looking to add more people aside from just myself creating
| content on it.
|
| Obviously the reach is not good currently because there is only
| myself on my instance but imagine what we could do together if
| a handful or a dozen or so people regularly crate content about
| tech, programming and/or music on this PeerTube instance. We
| could grow a nice community together I think.
| throw0101b wrote:
| > _- Get a good mic, mic stand, shock mount._
|
| Audio is 80% of video.
|
| People will watch potato-quality video; no one will listen to
| garbage audio.
| rg111 wrote:
| I second this as a consumer of a lot of MOOCs.
|
| Bad video as long as you can read everything on the screen is
| okay.
|
| But poor audio is an absolute bummer. Cannot tolerate this at
| all.
|
| This doesn't make rational sense to me. I think it is
| probably because people have access to decent audio for much
| longer time than they have had good video.
| klondike_klive wrote:
| You can close your eyes but not your ears, is how I've
| always heard it explained.
| zikduruqe wrote:
| > Audio is 80% of video.
|
| It's 100%. Even god himself needs thunder during a storm that
| has lightning.
|
| (Or that's what I was told when I did some TV shows and how
| important the audio engineer on set was.)
| marginalia_nu wrote:
| I can never tell the difference between supposedly good audio
| and the equivalent of two cans connected with a string.
| Dunno, maybe I'm lacking the audiophile chromosome or
| something.
| jamilton wrote:
| This video has pretty good environmental examples:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUb9kIwHfoE
|
| This one has a good example of bad vocal audio (at 1:00):
| https://youtu.be/-PLMiA18tBc?t=60
| geerlingguy wrote:
| A lot of it is just "is the can the string is attached to
| 3" from the speaker or 3'?"
|
| A mediocre mic placed 3-6" from the mouth is going to
| almost always sound better than any price of mic placed 5'
| away, except in sound treated studios with excellent
| technique and strong post-processing.
| circuit10 wrote:
| " means inches and ' means feet in case anyone else needs
| to know because I had to look this up
| faangsticle wrote:
| Thanks, I thought it was an odd quote.
| znpy wrote:
| eh, it depends.
|
| i'm not an audiophile either, but some videos really had
| audio that was terrible enough to make me quit that.
|
| examples: some buzzing in the background, high-pitched
| noise in one of the channels, or audio in mono (you only
| hear the person talking from the right ear, for example).
| mr_o47 wrote:
| I literally went through the same making my first video.
|
| Had to do a lot of retakes but thanks for the tips. I won't be
| able to invest in a mic yet but I'm okay using my apple
| headphones once I gain some traction I'll be buying a new mic
| mentos wrote:
| buy a new mic to gain traction?
| mr_o47 wrote:
| Sorry what I mean by this is that once I see it's gaining
| popularity I'll invest in a mic
| mentos wrote:
| Ha sorry I was suggesting you should first buy a good mic
| so that you can gain traction. From other comments here
| audio quality seems to be critical
| DANmode wrote:
| Subconscious, but true: it will impact the feeling your
| viewers get when spending time with you.
| mr_o47 wrote:
| Agreed,
|
| I just posted my first video
|
| Let me know how you guys feel about it
| https://youtu.be/PU75M0QkwTQ
| cornstalks wrote:
| I only watched a minute, but the audio volume is too
| quiet. You could boost the gain but there's static that
| detracts from the voice. A good mic will help with that,
| but you'll also need to adjust the sound levels before
| uploading the video. Also, do I hear a very slight bit of
| music in the background? Either embrace the background
| music or remove it. Right now it's just barely audible
| which is a little distracting.
|
| You don't have to spend hundreds on a mic. Even a $50 mic
| with a pop screen will help a lot (I got a $70 one with a
| boom arm from Amazon and it sounds amazing compared to
| standard headphone/laptop mics).
| mr_o47 wrote:
| Any mic recommendations and can I also use a headset
| mr_o47 wrote:
| Thanks for the feedback and I thinks really good
| feedback.
|
| I'll definitely invest in mic and make the sound quality
| much better
| marginalia_nu wrote:
| > - Practice speaking. Slow down.
|
| This is good advice for most people in general. Speaking slower
| gives more time to think about what you're going to say, which
| means you say better things. It's shocking how slowly you can
| get away with speaking.
|
| Incidentally, slowing down is also good advice for improving
| your handwriting.
| gms7777 wrote:
| And with YouTube, anyone that wants to hear it faster can
| just speed up the video anyway.
| wooque wrote:
| God no, I'm tired of having to set videos to 1.5x
| jonsen wrote:
| Also speaking slower gives the listener time to think about
| what you say.
| marginalia_nu wrote:
| You can also add a second or two of pause between sentences
| to the same effect.
| znpy wrote:
| and people can watch you at 1.5x or 2x anyway
| warning26 wrote:
| Make sure every one of your videos starts with "What's up
| YouTube" and also includes such phrases as "don't forget to like
| and subscribe" and "check out my Patreon".
|
| (/s)
|
| On a more serious note, my feeling is that cutting out "fluff"
| content like that is something I'd really appreciate.
| Ekaros wrote:
| I think people in general have found out that those reminders
| really do help, but they are really annoying as well...
|
| I would just say skip any video etc. intros.
| superkuh wrote:
| I created a youtube account in 2006. Sometimes I take or edit
| videos and re-host/syndicate them on youtube. The end.
| simple10 wrote:
| It's worth playing around with ChatGPT for YouTube video ideas.
| You can give ChatGPT titles of popular video in your niche and
| then ask it to output similar title ideas that are likely to do
| well on your channel. Then ask it to generate script outlines for
| those videos.
|
| Here's a useful video from Matt Wolfe:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka1Pqk2o3tM&t=612s
| andsoitis wrote:
| What is the goal you're trying to accomplish? Is a YouTube
| channel the best way?
| aardvark179 wrote:
| Are you doing this for money or exposure? Patreon or super chat
| things on YouTube dwarf the revenue you can get from a video, so
| if you can find a niche that really interests a particular group
| of people that may be a better option than trying to cast a wide
| net.
|
| I know a couple of people outside the tech field who operate
| their patreon almost like a consultancy. If you pay the PS150 you
| get a couple of hours of one on one discussion and coaching per
| month. They could only build this on a reputation that they had
| built up over many years.
| mr_o47 wrote:
| I recently posted my first programming video after getting
| inspired by other fellow programmer youtubers
|
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PU75M0QkwTQ
| locustous wrote:
| Have a purpose. Have an intended audience to fulfill that
| purpose. Cater to your audience.
|
| If you wander about aimlessly, well, you will be aimless.
| michaelteter wrote:
| I haven't built a channel with the goals most people have, but I
| have viewed a ton of YT content.
|
| As others have said, spoken audio is a big deal. Or more
| accurately, giving viewers the abilty to hear spoken audio well
| is a big deal. That can mean not having constant background noise
| or music, but it can also mean intentionally speaking more slowly
| and articulately (as one does when practicing for stage theater).
| The way you speak really matters. Oddly, I have observed that
| some of the most prolific and informative presenters are also
| people with some particularly weak articulation skills... one
| might think they were slightly inebriated, but it's just the way
| they talk. You'll hear words like "butns", instead of "buttons",
| for example.
|
| There is no user-end fix for the above. If the audio isn't clear
| and understandable, and the speech is important, then the rest of
| the content is irrelevant.
|
| The content in general should be enough but no more than
| necessary. So many videos have a title that suggest they will
| tell you X, but the video spends 80% of the time talking about
| why you might be wanting to know X before _maybe_ telling you X.
| Don't f with people's time. If you have a solid point to make,
| make it early and then indicate that you will expand on the idea
| or reasoning after. Of course, the monetization scheme of YT
| encourages viewer time, so one might be inclined to draw out a
| video length. But be assured, after one or two time waster
| videos, viewers will never return.
|
| If showing code, use LIGHT MODE, not dark mode. Dark mode
| text/code is practically invisible to people in a bright
| environment, which includes some rooms and certainly outdoors.
| Many people, myself included, will watch informative YT content
| while eating outside as a break from work. If the content is
| invisible due to the high ambient light, then obviously we will
| move on. And for the cave dwellers (which I am also at times),
| they can turn their screen brightness down. The non-vampires have
| a maximum brightness limit which cannot compete with the sun.
|
| Lastly, don't fuss too much about the rest. Just do what you
| like, and do it occasionally or regularly for a long time. It
| seems to take weeks to years to "suddenly" become popular. Most
| overnight sensations were working for years before their
| subscriber curve went hockey-stick.
| grecy wrote:
| I've been at it for many years now, my channel @TheRoadChoseMe
| now has 60k subscribers, and gets pretty solid views.
|
| I think the most important thing I've learned is to make videos
| that people want to watch. (I know that sounds basic, but I think
| it's the at the core) The more people watch it, the more YouTube
| promotes it, and the more people watch it. When that happens,
| YouTube will even give you a little notice that says they're
| showing it to more people because more people are watching it.
| When that happens I pickup tons of subscribers and tons more
| views than normal (and therefore more money)
|
| Even when I have a post about my video hit the front page of
| reddit, the number of "external views" pales in comparison to
| YouTube recommended... so it doesn't matter how hard you promote
| it, the best thing you can do is make videos that people want to
| watch, and keep watching. YouTube will promote those videos for
| you. (See @StuffMadeHere for what happens and how quickly it
| happens when you make great videos - his channel got where it is
| now very, very quickly)
|
| How do you do that? I think the best way is trial and error. Make
| many different types of video with different styles and
| approaches, and see what works. See what you enjoy, see what you
| are good at, and learn from that.
|
| Also remember that YouTube is the "more content game". Sooner or
| later (I bet sooner) you'll run out of ideas and things to film.
| So start thinking about it now, you need to get in the "always
| create content" mindset.
| endisneigh wrote:
| Why?
|
| Entertainment? Trying to make money? Hobby?
| mr_o47 wrote:
| Mostly hobby,
|
| More like an impact teaching a new skill or just showing
| something cool related to tech
| graiz wrote:
| - Good audio is more important than good video. People can listen
| to good audio and forgive bad video, but bad audio and people
| will stop watching.
|
| - It takes time/audience to get traction. I started with a bunch
| of different topics and this was a waste of time. Having a focus
| for the channel helps.
|
| - It takes a ton of time. I enjoy the process but don't
| underestimate the time commitment.
|
| - Don't do it for subs or money, do it if you genuinely enjoy it.
|
| (startups and AI topics https://www.youtube.com/HalfIdeas )
| tomxor wrote:
| This, this, this, audio matters!
|
| It doesn't matter how good your presenting voice is or your
| video editing skills are, if it sounds like you are in a tin
| can it's just unbearable to listen to and no amount of post
| production can ever fix it.
|
| The solution doesn't have to be crazy expensive, the difference
| between simply having people individually miced up and not is
| _huuuge_ , that's ~PS20 or less for a decent wired lavalier.
| Don't fall down the rabbit hole of mic quality, the difference
| between using a personal mic and not is the largest voice audio
| quality jump you will ever achieve, just buy _something_ that
| you can pin to yourself, make sure it works consistently,
| preferably that you can tell it 's working when you are using
| it - and that's super good enough.
| mr_o47 wrote:
| Great Advice,
|
| I recently began mine and posted first video on it
|
| If you want to check it out https://youtu.be/PU75M0QkwTQ
| echelon wrote:
| This is the secret to filmmaking too.
|
| Your cinematics can look amazing, but if your sound is amateur,
| the entire finished product is too.
|
| Bad sound kills.
| ROTMetro wrote:
| I just bought a 75 inch TV and strangely HATED watching
| anything on it. Hooked up a soundbar (something I said I
| would never waste money on) and I can't stop binge watching.
| CM30 wrote:
| Try to stick to a schedule. That's something I've personally
| struggled with a lot, and it's something that the more successful
| channels I follow have usually done better with. People like to
| know when new uploads will be posted, and YouTube likes to push
| videos that people check out quickly after their initial airing.
|
| Because of that, it's probably best not to try and post daily (or
| multiple times a day) unless you can truly handle it. There's
| definitely a path to quicker growth if you have a new video going
| up day in and day out, but that's also often a recipe for burnout
| in the long run, and the breaks you take to avoid/fix said
| burnout will be far more damaging than posting once or twice a
| week would.
|
| Think carefully about the niche you choose to focus on. It should
| ideally be both something you can get a decent amount of regular
| content posted about, and something you won't get bored of/burnt
| out on too quickly. Nothing on YouTube is more difficult than
| changing your audience when your channel is already established,
| and I've seen a lot of people's channels crash and burn because
| of it.
|
| Don't go overboard on shorts unless you want to become a short
| focused channel. The people who watch those often don't have much
| patience for longer videos, and probably won't watch your normal
| content as a result. Focusing too much on these is a good way to
| get a ton of subs that don't actually care about your work, and
| to make YouTube think your audience isn't interested in what
| you're posting.
|
| That's my advice anywhere. As for what my own journey was like?
|
| Honestly, a bit of a mess. On the one hand, my channel has about
| 33K subscribers right now, and I've had a fair few videos hit the
| 100K or even 1 million views mark.
|
| On the other hand, I feel I killed a lot of my momentum at
| various points by not being able to stick to a regular schedule
| (due to burnout, job and real life needs, etc), and my attempts
| to try and diversify my content generally haven't done all that
| well, likely in large part due to focusing too much on a topic
| where my long term interest was limited.
| Gunnerhead wrote:
| Do you mind me asking: Have you made money? Is the money
| lucrative?
| mr_o47 wrote:
| That's pretty nice,
|
| Have you ever thought about going full time on YouTube
| HellsMaddy wrote:
| I'm not a YouTuber, but I found Theo Browne's "How The YouTube
| Algorithm ACTUALLY Works"[0] to be pretty intriguing.
|
| I watched it a few months ago and just re-skimmed the transript,
| so I'm not sure if I'm remembering it perfectly, but here's what
| I took away from it:
|
| - YouTube's algorithm recommends videos based on audience viewing
| patterns.
|
| - The algorithm doesn't care what the video is about, it only
| cares about who is clicking on it and watching it.
|
| - Click-through rate and watch time are the most important
| metrics, they're how the algorithm determines who to recommend
| your video to, and whether to recommend your video to a wider
| audience.
|
| - It first shows your video to a small group and if it's well-
| received, expands to a wider audience with similar viewing
| habits.
|
| - It repeats this process until it finds the falling-off point,
| where the click-through rate and watch time drop off.
|
| - Figure out who your niche audience is and make videos that
| they're likely to click on and watch.
|
| - You're going to need to create enough videos in order for the
| algorithm to figure out where your audience is, and then you're
| going to want to make more videos for that audience.
|
| - The average clickthrough rate you see in your analytics is not
| the whole story. You might have a 20% clickthrough in your target
| niche, but if the algorithm starts recommending your videos to a
| wider audience, your click-through rate is going to start to
| drop. That doesn't mean your video is not doing well, it could
| actually be doing so well that the algorithm is trying to show it
| to more people outside of your niche.
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58jv8WL6H9I
| 317070 wrote:
| Understand how recommender engines work.
|
| Make life easy on the recommender engine. Pick one topic and
| stick to it (that way the recommender engine is more confident
| about what is in the video and who to pitch it to). Use all
| fields available to explain the recommender engine the niche you
| want to carve out.
|
| The recommender engine will pitch your video when it is in its
| best interest to do so. So you have to work with it to get it
| what it wants.
| ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
| Say something original and different.
|
| I will put down some YouTube channels I like. See how different
| they are:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/@BlowFan
| https://www.youtube.com/@CBaggers
| https://www.youtube.com/@Frankslaboratory
| https://www.youtube.com/@QuantPy
| https://www.youtube.com/@SuperDeclarative
| https://www.youtube.com/@MollyRocket
| https://www.youtube.com/@Hyperplexed
|
| What you want to avoid at all costs is a channel which does
| everything (unless you are a news channel and want to put your
| own spin on that).
| huseyinkeles wrote:
| If we take subscriber count as success criteria, most of the
| channels you recommend do not look very successful.
|
| So maybe being original and different is not really paying off
| sometimes?
| ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
| Ya maybe you are right. I don't know what's the best way to
| optimize for that. I'm not a YouTuber. I guess beginner
| friendly channels have a higher subscriber count?
| acegopher wrote:
| I think you pasted @MollyRocket in the middle of
| @SuperDeclarative to accidentally make @MollyRocketative and
| @SuperDeclar
| ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
| Aah thank you. Fixed.
| geerlingguy wrote:
| Decide if you want to try to generate revenue at some point, or
| if you are just doing it for the fun or passion of it.
|
| If the former, you'll need to play the YouTube games, invest time
| in editing, improving technique, studying analytics, sticking to
| a schedule.
|
| If the latter, post videos, have fun, hack at it... but don't
| expect more than 100 views on a video.
|
| It can be fun either way, it really depends on your outlook.
| Cracking into a YouTube career is difficult, and soaks up so much
| time you'll find yourself wondering what happened to all the
| actual dev work you wanted to highlight in your content! Most of
| us who have had success learned a lot of tricks, but also have
| had a TON of luck.
|
| Besides already being very wealthy, there's no guarantee you can
| get views or turn things into a full time gig. I spent two years
| saving up as much as I could consulting before I went into
| content creation full-time.
| mr_o47 wrote:
| Goal is to build online presence and create impact.
| nubinetwork wrote:
| I upload things occasionally to my personal YT channel... if
| there's one thing I could pass on, is to stay the hell away from
| copyrighted stuff. (Music, visuals, etc)
|
| I don't care if you paid someone for a license (and neither do
| the YouTube robots), 10 years down the line it could turn out
| they weren't actually the license holders, or they sold the
| rights to someone else who didn't know about your earlier
| agreements... when it comes to YouTube, they shoot first and ask
| questions "maybe" (assuming you get big and can "harass" them on
| twitter).
| w10-1 wrote:
| disclaimer: no channel, just an observer
|
| Is YouTube the only medium you're considering?
|
| For business, my understanding is that people now find success
| mainly though multi-channel and upgrade channels, so you would
| have some shorts/tic-toks, substack, instagram, twitter, ...
| (Which suggests some IDE support for the various artifacts being
| repurposed...) The goal seems to be to convert ~0.5% of the free
| folks to the $200 upsell: the batch of books, the online course
| (esp. if constantly updated). See e.g., Kat Norton,
| https://www.hackingwithswift.com, ...
|
| While my personal preference runs to no-fluff-just-stuff, success
| seems to lie in motivating people with each step, with curiosity
| and enthusiasm, in part because that targets people who want to
| do X, but find themselves blocked (in part from frustration,
| loneliness, ...). It's probably a lot easier to unblock people
| who are just confused and frustrated, than to give focused people
| real insight. It may be more valuable as well, to lift all boats.
| nmaleki wrote:
| If you want a successful channel within the next few years, you
| need to upload frequently. At least once or twice a month. You
| will be rewarded greatly for uploading faster sooner.
| devoutsalsa wrote:
| Make a bunch of shitty videos. Learn to get feedback. Look for
| truth in any criticism. Don't take harsh feedback too personally.
| Learn what you can from people who have done it. For example:
|
| https://youtu.be/3A8kawxMOcQ
| bsnnkv wrote:
| I started mine[1] in earnest in the last few months; it's a
| mixture of programming and let's plays. I'd say don't overthink
| it; just start recording and uploading. You'll always find things
| to improve in subsequent videos and it's a really important part
| of finding your own voice on video platforms.
|
| Try to make a recording and uploading schedule, don't make too
| many videos public at once and use the schedule function to
| spread out when your new videos appear in subscribers' feeds,
| because people are quick to unsubscribe if they think they see
| "too much of you" in their subscriptions feed.
|
| [1]: https://youtube.com/@LGUG2Z
| mayaakim wrote:
| Relatable "story" that matters. I believe that most people watch
| youtube because they want a perfect mix of entertainment and
| education. The audience wants to feel like their life will be
| transformed and improved (even tiny bit) if they watch your
| video. And they need to feel like they can relate to you somehow,
| like you're showing them the "right" way.
|
| I try to follow this pattern in order to make the viewer relate
| to my videos (and sometimes I fail miserable because it's not
| easy):
|
| 1. I have "X" problem
|
| 2. I have this desire to become/learn/do "Y"
|
| 3. But I have an obstacle "Z"
|
| 4. If I don't overcome the obstacle, it's going to be really bad
| (stakes are high)
|
| Anyways, here's a video where you see how I tried to implement
| this pattern:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIFxhd-mQFo&t=86s
|
| (also, I didn't invent this pattern, instead I was lucky enough
| to run into one of Leon Hendrix's videos where he talks about it)
| mongol wrote:
| So many videos seem mostly to be about to showcase the
| presenter's keyboard shortcut skills. It is annoying to see them
| type away in an improvised fashion. I prefer more structure and a
| coherent story being told.
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