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10 min
Want to know how to get your first 1,000 views on YouTube?
We’re here to tell you that with a little bit of hard work and some clever optimization techniques, it’s definitely doable.
In this guide, we cover everything from setting up your channel for success to creating high-quality content that will keep people coming back for more.
Once you hit that 1,000-view milestone, the sky’s the limit. Keep following our tips, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a full-fledged content creator in no time.
The best part is you can do it by following the 5 simple steps below.
When you’re starting out on YouTube, it can feel like you’re shouting into the void. You pour your heart and soul into your videos, but it seems like no one is watching.
“Why bother?” you might wonder. But those first 1000 views are important for a number of reasons.
First, they help to build momentum. Getting your first 1000 views is a challenge, but once you hit that milestone, it becomes easier to attract new viewers.
Each view also helps to improve your ranking on YouTube’s algorithm, making it more likely that your videos will be seen by people who are interested in your content.
Finally, those first 1000 views are a valuable source of feedback. You can use the comments and likes to gauge which topics are resonating with your audience and what kinds of videos they would like to see more of in the future.
While YouTube has been around for some time now, it’s difficult to learn how it exactly works. It’s not like you have expert lecturers teaching it in university, so most people look at growing a following as somewhat of a mystery.
Most people tend to follow the same process.
It’s unfortunate that most people have this experience as it doesn’t need to be this way. By following a certain logical process, I can guarantee you see much better results.
This process is simple, but each step takes a degree of practice to get the whole thing running smoothly.
The 5 steps are as follows.
Step 1: Establish your niche
Step 2: Build your setup
Step 3: Create useful content
Step 4: Edit for retention
Step 5: Publish for views
Let’s break down each step, and go into what is involved and why each step is important.
Niche selection is important as your audience is only going to watch your content if they are getting something from it. You also want to treat your content as a means to get business. This means your audience also needs to be thought of as your market.
A niche market can be anything, from outdoors, gaming, dating, veganism, model toys, fashion design, or anything you can think of, which has an audience of people who are interested in it.
Thinking of how you can provide value in a niche can be difficult, but don’t fret.
Sometimes a unique opinion on a subject while only being 1-2 steps ahead of the average person can be enough to make you a watchable authority in any given space and garner organic traffic.
Here are some questions to help you figure out a niche you can participate in.
By answering all of these questions and connecting the dots, you’ll find that certain topics stick out. This is your niche.
The next thing you need to do is think about your setup; how are you going to create your videos?
These days you don’t need expensive equipment to create watchable content, and in most cases, a modern cellphone will suffice.
Other things to think about.
Creating useful content is the area most people fail at, and it’s because they follow their own brains instead of following the market.
Like with anything, always listen before you talk.
In the context of content creation, this means instead of just thinking of content ideas and talking about them, you should listen to what the market actually wants, and give it to them.
As a content creator, your goal is simply to provide value, and if possible, become the cure to the pain points of an audience.
To find content ideas, you must first find your audience. To find any kind of audience, simply head to question/answer sites, such as Quora or Facebook Groups.
On these types of sites, people are seeking help and asking questions on a huge range of topics.
The good thing is, you can search out these groups and find out exactly what questions are being asked in your niche, and quickly put together tonnes of content ideas.
The questions people are asking basically serve as the titles for your videos.
Editing is time-consuming, but a skill that can be mastered in weeks. There are a few things that make a good value-giving video.
As far as editing skills go, you can create some amazing value-giving content by understanding two basic concepts.
There is somewhat of a psychological element to using these two techniques and they both serve the same purpose.
By adding jump cuts, as well as jumps to B-roll, you keep your viewer interested and engaged. The subtle changes in what a viewer sees, happening at sudden moments, aid in retention.
On YouTube, retention is everything.
A good example of someone who uses jump cuts well is Colleen Ballinger. To see the effective use of Intermittent B-Roll (images and pictures), check The Why Files.
If you find you have trouble talking on camera, know that this gets easier over time. In the beginner, you may want to script an outline of what you want to cover or even use teleprompter software if you think it’ll help.
What goes into publishing a video is arguably more important than the content itself, in the sense that, if nobody is going to click on your video in the first place, then the content doesn’t serve a purpose.
This means your title and thumbnail need to be eye-catching and make people want to click.
For your title, you’ve already got a basis for it from the problem you are attempting to solve by looking up Q&A sites and groups.
For your thumbnail, I’d recommend getting familiar with Canva and looking for inspiration from popular YouTube channels.
Most big influencers are masters of clickbait and pulling people in with their titles and thumbnails.
This is a skill you need to practice and learn over time. I suggest, choosing someone’s template that you like and trying to recreate it in Canva with your own twist.
A few elements every thumbnail needs
Common examples I’ve seen:
You see the objective. Don’t be afraid to clickbait, a little.
Anyone who has ever tried their hand at vlogging or content creation will know that it requires great effort to produce even a single high-quality video.
For those who are serious about making a career out of YouTube, it is important to remember that success seldom comes overnight.
While there are certainly some rare cases of YouTubers becoming overnight sensations, the vast majority of successful channels have grown steadily over time, slowly building up a dedicated fan base.
As such, it is important to think of YouTube as a marathon rather than a sprint.
Consistent effort and dedication are key to sustaining a successful channel in the long term. There will be ups and downs along the way, but as long as you stick with it, you stand a good chance of achieving your goals. Whether that’s building a loyal following or just wanting to make extra money each month.
Also, note that you need to forgive yourself for your videos not looking great straight away. The more you do, the better you will get.
A fun exercise is to go and find the first video ever created by your favorite YouTube and look at how bad it was. You’ll soon learn that everyone has to start somewhere, and nobody is perfect at the beginning.
As you can see, if you want to hit that 1000 views mark on YouTube, start by creating valuable and interesting content following a logical process.
Once you have a library of great content, and you are providing value to people who are already looking for it, you’ll see things start to happen.
Also, realize that it’s important to keep practicing and learning from other successful YouTubers and focus on getting better at each step.
The guarantee is that by following this strategy you guarantee you’re at least helping once a person with your video, so don’t forget to send it to those people you set out to help.
This is a surefire way to gain authority in your target market and amass a larger audience.
