WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHANNEL JUST. ISN’T. GROWING.
Howdy, howdy everyone. Nate here. This is going to be a fire hose of feedback or a channel roast if you will. You see, there’s three levels of direction I’m going to be giving during this video, and I want you to compare it with your own channel. Based on recent feedback I’ve been getting, a lot of you are feeling like your channel is just not growing the way that you want it to. So I decided to get down and look at a real channel. The channel we’re going to be looking at today is called improve with jewels and give my best actionable feedback, especially if you’re in a similar situation.
Obviously, not all of the advice I give during this video is going to be directly applicable to you watching this, but more of it will be applicable than you might think. All right, so here is the channel. This is improve with Jules now. Jules first started publishing on this channel about a year ago, and the topics were generally around Community College testing out of things, CLEP exams, and it’s evolved to more of the recent topics being more productivity, how to get over your task list, what to do when you’re feeling burnt out and testing some morning routines and other solutions provided by other productivity experts now.
As of recording, if I look at the most popular video on the channel, it’s gotten just over 3000 views, 227 subscribers and the average or the baseline of views on more recent videos is about 25 views. Now when I reached out to Jules to see if I could review her channel, she was very open to this. So this is all done with permission. I am going to be roasting and being very direct with my feedback, but I wanted you to see something when I look at this channel, when I say this channel is just not growing, it is literally in terms of views, it is just.
Not growing. I’m going to go back six months ago, 30 views, six months ago, 22 views. The views have been pretty much flatlined for months. Ok, so the first level, this is the high level, the entry level pointers I’m going to give to this channel for the thumbnails. The first thing that stands out to me is there is an odd mixture of kind of graphics that don’t quite make sense in the case of this one. Stop falling off. Ok, there’s a ladder on a wagon. I’m not really sure what that means.
The other thing that stands out to me about these thumbnails is the lighting on jules’s face. Appears a bit random, maybe just whatever was in the video. And because the lighting is inconsistent, it comes across as amateur or unprofessional. So we need some sort of standardized filter applied to each thumbnail image. Next thing I’m going to suggest is that we get some sort of banner image. It could just be jewels studying something at the top. The main reason for that is it’s kind of the baseline expectation in not every channel. It’s none of these things I’ve mentioned thus far will make or break a channel, but it’s just something that’s nice to have because it.
Makes it feel like yeah, this person, this creator cares about the channel and the other high level or entry level thing I’m gonna say is I looked at the several of these more recent videos and for some reason, let’s see if you can spot what I’m seeing. The image quality. If I go down here, even the settings quality, it’s auto three eighty p it’s three sixty p it’s because. This video is literally only three sixty P for some reason, the quality on the most recent videos has been way down, and it definitely shows. Again, not a total make or break, but it will be something that factors into people’s perception of your professionalism.
And if you’re doing a channel that’s about productivity and, you know, getting better at your life, it’s the small details that matter. Now, I do need to note here that not all of the videos are like that. In fact, some of the older ones are just fine at ten eighty p if your videos are ten eighty p, that is just fine. For most of YouTube, it’s just. Some of these more recent ones, for some reason the quality has been way off.
All right, that’s first level. Let’s go next level. What I’m looking at here is on the thumbnails. I want to see ways for you to demonstrate what you are showing in your video, what you’re talking about visually. Now this is perhaps one of the biggest challenges that I see skills based channels having, especially if you’re not doing gaming or some sort of outdoors or crafts or something where your thumbnail is an image of what you’re doing, right.
In many cases, skills based channels have. The biggest struggle with this and I want to see Jules doing this. Ask yourself this question, how can I show this visually? That should be your answer all, and this happens when you’re ideating your video. Before you even record the video, what am I going to put in the thumbnail and how can I show what I’m doing visually to create intrigue? Next thing I’m going to suggest is I’m going to look at the most popular videos on this channel and we have a variety of more recent and some older ones.
And I know Jules has said that she’s kind of evolved the channel into more of general productivity and testing out. Teens and that kind of thing more recently. So what we’re going to look at is the more recent videos that have more views than normal and look into pursuing those threads further because what that tells me is an audience. The algorithm somehow was able to associate the audience with the content on my channel.
And so if I’m pursuing the videos that did get a bit more views, I have an advantage in those videos, future videos on a similar theme, doing better in terms of views. And also Jules is part of my program project 24 and she let me know before recording this. That she has not yet even started the new Youtube system. And so I’m gonna suggest that do the new Youtube system, especially phase one because it’s gonna make so much of the rest of this processes make more sense.
Next pointer I’m going to give here is let me see if you can spot it while watching a few seconds of this video, a holiday known as Quitters Day because it’s the most likely day of the year for people to give up on their near resolutions. So happy not quitter’s day looking at the lens now. This comes from watching several of the older videos on Jules’s channel improve with Jules Channel. Often I would see her looking like this. Now, a slight looking back at you and then looking at here to the side. This will often be because we’re recording on a phone or something and we see ourselves a reflection or a mirrored image of ourselves while we’re recording, and we’re looking at that to see how we look while we’re recording.
But as you can tell, and in fact it feels so weird to me right now, I am not looking directly at you, I’m looking. To the side and it just feels so bizarre. It feels weird to you who are watching this because You Tube is about eye contact, it’s about connection. And so Jules is has been getting better at this, so I’m super happy about that, to see that in this video. But in the case that you find yourself doing that in your own videos, it’s a small thing, but it makes a big difference. I’m gonna play a few more seconds of this clip and see if you can pick up on this next thing.
Not in like an encouraging way. It’s just actually a week later, the audio quality could be improved a bit. Now I see we’ve got a curtain behind us here. This is good. I’ve done a significant amount of work. Here in this recording space, if I could show you I have I have sound dampening panels. These images all behind me have phone behind them, I have curtains. There’s a whole bunch of things I’ve done, but the number one thing that I recommend for everybody I’m going to show you is you get one of these. If you don’t yet have one of these, it’s a little bit of an investment, but this is at the task Cam dr ten l.
If you go to channel makers dot com forward slash tools, I think I have all my recommendations there, but this one device I could you not has solved 80 or more % of all the audio issues that I’ve ever had. All right. Next point I’m going to give is on the, again on the thumbnails, actually. And this is if I look at similar channels. Now, Jules let me know that there were other channels she was trying to model her channel after, so channels like Thomas Frank and Ali Abdal.
So what I would do if I were in jules’s position as I would go, OK, here’s Thomas Frank’s thumbnails, here’s my thumbnails, here’s Ali abdal’s thumbnails. Here’s my thumbnails. What am I going to tweak based on what I am seeing next? Pointer I’m going to give to this channel and potentially to your channel. This is not going to apply to everybody. It’s consider publishing fewer videos, more quality. Now hold on. I get that most of the time. I’d say, look, we got to get as many videos out as possible, but this comes because of feedback that I got from Jules. I asked her what was their least favorite part about producing your channel and she said my least favorite part is feeling rushed.
I often want to be a Guinea pig for weird ideas or challenges. Film or B roll or learn more about. But I feel so rushed to get my 2 videos out a week that those more indepth videos never happen. So in this case I’m going to give the advice of fewer videos, more quality, because I think that this channel will benefit from it. And if you are more excited about a certain type of video, that is maybe going to take a bit more time, especially at the beginning. It’d be great if you could automate it and get it in less time in the future. But at the beginning, if it’s going to take a bit more time, I’m going to say yes, go for it again, that’s not advice I would give everyone, but based on what I’m seeing and jules’s feedback, that’s what I’m going to.
Saying, OK, we’ve made it thus far. We’ve got our first level, now we’ve got our next level. Now it’s time for next level. But before I do that, I’d love if you would boop the like button if this video is being helpful to you. Thank you. That’s awesome. It’s time for next level here is what I genuinely think is going on. I think that this channel is not growing primarily because one.
Jules isn’t sure what the channel should be, and two, the algorithm is reflecting that. So the big question on my mind right now is what is Jules going to be known for first? In fact, I did a recent Youtube podcast episode all about Building topic authority and how it’s actually more vitally important than most channel makers realize. And so, building on the advice I gave in the previous next level, I’m going to look at the videos that got a bit more exposure, even just slightly more exposure. I’m going to look at that, plus the types of videos that Jules wants to do more of or wants to be known at those two.
I’m going to combine and say we need more videos on fewer topics. Because what I’m seeing when I look at this channel is it’s testing things, it’s testing productivity, it’s doing morning routine of a monk, it’s doing a lot of different things. But I think it’s so all over the place that it’s literally, the algorithm isn’t quite sure how to classify this channel. So we need more videos about fewer topics and more recurring themes and.
That is going to help in a huge measure with this next pointer. I’m going to play you a few seconds of this video. South You can kind of see what it starts out like. Sup, I’m Jules and I unfortunately procrastinate a lot if you do too. Let’s try to improve that. So first I want you to think of a task that you have been putting off for a while or maybe once. Ok, I’m going to stop there. We’ve got the casual introduction. This is great. Trying to, you know, relate with the audience, but what’s the topic of this video? The cure for procrastination.
My main issue with that intro was there was number real reason. I should listen to jewels. There are a lot of experts in this space, and many of them have written books, have been featured on TV shows, or interviewed all the time. Why should I listen to jewels over everyone else? If you’re in a position where your channel relies on a certain amount of expertise for people to trust you as an expert, they’re they’re looking to you for some forms of advice. Often you need a little bit of reasons why they should listen to you, and you need that in almost every video until your channel starts to gain a bit more momentum and that starts to speak for itself.
So I happen to know based on past interactions with Jules, she’s done some awesome things like testing out of College in a quarter of the time and saved a ton of money on college and aced all sorts of productivity things. And yet I didn’t get any of this. If this was the first video that I watched of jewels, I didn’t get any of that. So what’s the solution here? You need some sort of reason to listen to you and your advice. Price over everyone else’s advice. It could be as simple as look, I’m not a total professional at this. I don’t do this full time. But what I have done is this and this.
And my goal is to help you do this and this. So here’s the best that I found. You see, the point here is not that you have to be an expert with 20 years of experience to be listened to on Youtube It’s you need to be transparent with what you have done and put in more work than other people, or just be slightly ahead of where your audience is. Because here’s the next thing. What’s going to happen is the algorithm will classify your channel. With the right audience, then as the channel grows, we’ll be able to broaden the niche a bit. And in fact, I’m obviously biased on this, but I know of no better way to do that quickly and efficiently than what is in phase one of my YouTube system.
Because what you’re doing during this process is you’re picking an audience, you’re picking an associated audience, and then you are forcing the YouTube algorithm to associate the two audiences as one, so that this audience is also the same audience that you are attracting, and you’re doing that quickly. Also, there’s one other. That I’m going to say for this channel that is very applicable to your own audience and that is people often want more of you. So I’m going to play a few seconds of another video so you can see what I’m talking about. As you can see, I’m looking a bit rough this evening because I went to the beach with some friends this morning.
I had to leave pretty early, but before I left I did a simple routine by Arlen Moore. So I like the direction that Jules is going with this. Like, hey, I was just at the beach this morning, I was with some friends. I think this channel needs more of that. I think it needs some. More real person behind all of the tests and all of the productivity tips it needs, the real jewels. And I know many times we have fears of being our real self on Youtube but The thing is, Youtube is about authenticity. I was talking about that. That’s why we talk directly into the lens, all of those things.
It’s about authenticity. And I can think of very few channels that wouldn’t be benefited greatly from feeling that greater connection with the audience between the channel maker, you and your audience. And of course I’m going to say it if you’re having trouble because the algorithm doesn’t know who you’re. Audience is then you can check out Project 24 I have a whole process step by step for how to do that, the links in the description.
And the other thing is if you are unsure about the topic of your channel, I created an entire video about my best picks for your channel topic this year. It’s based off of everything that I have been seeing and I go through and explain why each of them might be a good pick for your channel. It’s a pretty darn good video, so I’m going to put that here for you to watch next and we’ll see you there. Ok. And actually one more thing. If you’re still watching the video at this point, congratulations. This is the feedback ask time. I would love if you’d put in the comments, what are your questions about your channel? What are the things that you wish you knew about Youtube Because I’m going to do my best to read through those comments and create future videos based on what I’m seeing from you guys.
So thank you for doing that and we’ll see in the comments.
