Starting a Youtube Channel and gaining my first 1000 Subscribers

Adrian Twarog - Mar 5 '20 - - Dev Community

My 2020 Goal this year was YouTube. Moreso, I wanted to attempt to create 365 videos this year (ideally one every single day).

Adrian Twarog Youtube

Youtube: Adrian Twarog

After beginning, I realised this is no small task.

Starting: My first month on Youtube

I started by making very safe easy videos that were only a few minutes long. I wanted to ideally make content around development and design, however, I felt very nervous. It took me a few hours just to produce those few minutes of videos, however, the experience helped me learn heaps of things:

  • OBS (for recording)
  • Adobe Premiere (for video formatting)
  • Adobe Photoshop (for thumbnails)
  • Equipment: Camera, Microphone, Greenscreen!
  • Youtube Studio: Releasing videos, etc

I kept going producing one video every day, below are my statistics. As I worked harder at it, it became more enjoyable and easier to do. For me, I didn't worry too much about subscribers, or views. I knew what kind of content I always looked for, and one of my inspirations was https://egghead.io which was an awesome place to learn about programming.

Adrian Twarog Youtube Statisics

What I found was that if you produce good quality content that is of value, people will want to view and watch it. This is my best recommendation above all others if you want to start your own channel.

Goals: Figuring out what I wanted to do

At the start, my goals were very simple, I just wanted to do simple videos and see how they go. I wasn't sure yet how things would go, but I wanted to do my best. However, as time went by, I tested lots of different types of videos, from library reviews to drama and design as well.

What I figured out was that I most enjoyed doing videos on design and development, so I decided to focus on just those two items.

However, the statistics of what YouTube found was most popular did not exactly align with what I enjoyed doing. I found non-educational videos such as the drama, motivational content did far better.

Adrian Twarog Youtube Top Videos

I figured out more of my goals as I continued making videos:

  • Create high-quality videos
  • On topics that weren't well covered
  • There were educational in nature
  • But took an interesting spin on things

In this light, I enjoyed making things like a mobile application (not on making a To-Do list) but on Bushfire Information for Australia. Or learning how to perform CSS positioning by creating an airplane.

1000 Subscribers: How I got there

I don't think I did anything special to get there. Like all things, I think its just hard work, consistency and value. I was able to get my first 1k milestone within the first month of doing YouTube. I did start putting my work into each video I did, as well as making them longer and better. Some things I improved on included:

  • Better introductions about what the video was about
  • Pre-planning each video and its content before making it
  • Comparing other videos on the same topic, to ensure the ones I made were of equal or higher quality and value
  • Reviewing each video, and not publishing something I didn't think was worthwhile
  • Talking to the community and trying to provide content on what they are looking for

2020: And the Future

I plan to try and keep my goal of doing 365 videos this year. While work and other responsibilities have stopped me from making one every single day, it won't stop me from doing more than one video on days I can. I don't really worry about subscriber counts or views, but more on the content & value. I think that's the most important thing.

Of course, if you want to support me, give feedback, or know more about me, I would be very happy if you followed me on twitter, subscribed to the channel, etc :)

Thanks
Adrian Twarog

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