How to Grow Your YouTube Channel (Practical Tips)

You can grow your YouTube channel by creating videos that make viewers happy, leaving them craving more, and uploading when viewers are free to watch to maximize your watch hours. Also, publish consistently to keep viewers hooked to your channel. 

YouTube viewers want to watch something interesting regardless of the search intent. Whether your video is meant to entertain or inform, it should captivate viewers so they keep watching. 

If you continuously captivate your viewers’ attention, they’ll spend more time on your channel, share your content, and engage, leading to growth. 

This guide covers practical tips on how to grow your YouTube channel. Read on to learn every detail.

1. Create videos that make viewers happy

Understand your viewers’ watching habits to create videos they enjoy watching and interacting with. Your engagement rate will show how viewers interact with your videos. Additionally, offer helpful information with great video and audio quality. Finally, use captivating thumbnails to sell your videos. 

Know viewers’ watching habits

To know your viewers’ watching habits, find out how much time they spend on each video and your most popular videos. Your YouTube channel analytics will show the average view duration of each video and the total views. On YouTube Studio, search for the specific video on the search bar. Select Analytics and scroll down to Audience Retention.

In the Audience Retention section, you’ll see the Average View Duration, which shows how far an average viewer watches the video. 

The average viewer gets through 69.4% of the video in the above image before bailing out. So, if it’s a 30-minute video, most viewers watch about 20 minutes. 

You can learn more about audience retention on: How to check average view duration on YouTube 

In your Audience Retention section, you may find that a 5-minute-long video gets a high Average View Duration, while a 15-minute plus video gets a lower percentage. 

Experiment with both video lengths and find the best performing. So, record short and long videos, give them a month or more to attract views, and analyze their performance. 

Know who your viewers are to understand how much time they spend on your videos. Your Audience section shows your viewers’ gender, age, location, and other channels they watch to help you create videos they resonate with.

You may also know your viewers by checking their comments.

Understand the content your viewers interact with best

Your likes, dislikes, shares, and comments will show viewer interaction. Comments are particularly powerful as viewers may suggest what they want to watch.

For example, one viewer requested head scarf tutorials in the above image. And you can see seven people liked the comment, meaning seven more people would love the tutorial. 

Besides, new viewers may scroll to the comments to see other viewers’ reactions. I do this sometimes; if comments are positive, I watch but scroll if most are negative.

You can also ask your viewers to comment on content they would love to watch. Even in one niche, there are different types of content. For example, a motherhood vlog can have a morning or evening routine, cleaning, and cooking videos.

Create great thumbnails

Assume your viewer is a 3-year-old who can’t read. The visual details in your thumbnail should tell them what to expect in your video. Thumbnails sell your video to new viewers and if you do it right, you attract a new audience. 

Your thumbnail should be simple and in context. So if you’re unboxing a phone, show the phone being taken out of the box. 

It’s also wise to show your face on your thumbnails. In a user study to grow his YouTube channel, Satish Raju discovered people prefer thumbnails with face reveal. And when he applied this, among other discoveries, he gained 16,000+ subscribers in 6 months.

In addition, your thumbnail should not be misleading (clickbait) and should follow YouTube policies.

                                                                                          Exaggerated thumbnail

                                                             Examples of great thumbnails: They are straightforward with face reveal.

YouTube auto-generates thumbnails based on your content, but you can upload custom ones. However, you can only upload if your account is verified. 

To verify your account, search YouTube.com/verify on Google and fill in the details.

• Once verified, go to YouTube Studio and select content.

• Click the video you wish to edit. Under thumbnail, you’ll have several options. The autogenerated options and an option to upload your custom thumbnail.

• Click upload thumbnail, select a custom image you made on your device and click save. 

Your custom thumbnail should be less than 2MB in file size. You can use tools like Canva to customize your thumbnail. 

Learn more on how to add custom thumbnails to your YouTube videos. 

Learn tips to create a great thumbnail.

Invest in the audio and video quality

Record with a decent camera, organize your content flow, and use a microphone to improve audio quality. 

A simple headset mic will improve your audio quality. Besides, you don’t need the most expensive camera to record videos. A phone with a decent camera can do. 

Learn more about video and audio format specifications. 

Also, your video should be organized with a short introduction, body, and conclusion. Your intro should tell viewers what the video is about, while the conclusion should thank them for watching or mention when to expect your next video.

Offer insightful information

Offer information that would benefit your viewers, e.g., a simple hack or where you got something. For example, if you’re giving a cloth haul or showing your outfit of the day, link to the Instagram Pages you got the outfits from or show the contacts on the screen. You can even mention prices.

This way, viewers who like the clothes can easily access them and feel nice dressing like you. Besides, if viewers feel your content is helpful, they may like or share.

You don’t have to be partnering with the shops to mention them. 

Actually, I’ve seen several of my favorite YouTubers attract partnerships by mentioning the shops, and when viewers buy from these shops, the brand rewards them. 

Besides, by providing such information, you answer viewers’ questions before they ask. This saves the time you’d have spent engaging viewers by answering their questions in the comments.

People are more likely to subscribe if your videos make them happy and not because you keep telling them to subscribe, like, and comment. Actually, some people find that annoying.

How to check if your videos make viewers happy

Once you continuously implement the above tips, check your audience Engagement to know if viewers are happy with your videos. 

Engagement shows what your viewers are watching and how they interact with the content. 

To check Engagement reports using a computer;

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio

   2. In the left menu, choose Analytics

3. From the top menu, choose Engagement

If you’re viewing your report on an Android, select;

On iPhone & iPad, select;

Learn more here: Understand audience engagement 

You can also use free YouTube engagement calculators like HypeAuditor to estimate your engagement. 

Your engagement; likes, shares, comments, and subscriptions tell the algorithm how people interact with your videos. So if you have a high engagement, people are happy with your content. The algorithm will notice and reward your content with more visibility. 

The YouTube algorithm doesn’t pay attention to videos. It pays attention to viewers. So instead of trying to please the algorithm, aim to please your viewers. 

YouTube engagement is expressed as a percentage. It is calculated by adding all your likes, comments, subscriptions and dividing the result by the total number of views. 

Likes + Shares + Comments + Subscriptions   X 100

                  Total Number of Views

Note: Likes, shares, comments, and subscriptions are just examples of engagement metrics. There are several others.

2. Upload videos when people are free to watch

Most people are free on weekends, particularly afternoons. Upload during these hours to maximize the time spent on your videos. Those with notification bells on will instantly check while new viewers are likely to come across your content while scrolling on the YouTube app. 

Go to your channel’s Analytics section, then scroll down to see when your viewers are on YouTube. With that information, publish your videos when most are likely to watch the entire video.

The best upload schedule depends on your target audience’s lifestyle habits. For example, if your target audience is working moms, uploading on weekend afternoons is wise. They are likelier to watch throughout the video and comment while relaxing at home. But if you publish on a weekday, they’ll be too busy balancing work and mom life and may not have time to spare.  

But how do you know your target audience?

Check the Audience section to know your target audience’s gender and age.

You may also know your viewers by checking their comments, as some reveal this information, as in the example below.

Also, try publishing when your competitors are not publishing or nothing major is happening, e.g., news showing on TV. Familiarize yourself with your competitors’ channels and social media pages to know their upload schedules. You can even subscribe to their channels to stay updated.

3. Publish videos consistently

Stick to the day and time you publish your videos. If you publish on Sunday at 11 a.m., stick to this schedule. To avoid missing your upload time, consider every aspect of your life, then develop a practical upload schedule. 

Here are some tips to help you remain consistent:

• Plan your content so you have a video to publish per your schedule: Start by creating a list of topic ideas you want to create as videos. Then start with the most exciting or easiest topics to remain motivated. 
• Set achievable milestones and celebrate when you achieve them: For example, you can decide to publish one video a week, and if you have four videos by the end of the month, you go for a lunch date.
• Create a routine that fits your life, then focus on completing a small daily task: For example, making a weekly video is practical if you are balancing work and YouTube. You can choose a topic on Sunday, record and shoot anything you need for your video on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after work, then create a rough edit on Thursday. Finalize your edits on Friday, then publish on Saturday or Sunday. 
• Batch film when you can so you don’t run out of content: For example, if you are a lifestyle vlogger planning a trip, you can make videos of the entire journey. Planning the trip, packing, the actual trip, and returning plus unpacking.
• Learn more about your niche: Watch your competitors’ videos and research so you have more topic ideas to cover.

Why consistency matters

Consistency makes it easier for viewers to find your content because they know when you publish, which grows your viewership. Therefore, tell viewers your upload schedule in your videos and social media pages.

What if I can’t be consistent?

If you won’t upload per your schedule due to unavoidable circumstances, let your viewers know beforehand. It can be through your social media pages like Instagram, but I recommend communicating via the YouTube platform, that is, making a community post. 

A community post may show on the home page or subscription feed, maximizing your audience reach. But only your followers will see if you choose to communicate on your social media pages. And not every viewer follows their YouTuber on all social media pages. To be safe, communicate on your community tab and social media pages. 

To create a community post,

• Sign in to YouTube
• At the top, choose Create

• On the prompt, choose Create post

• Type your message in the box

• Hit post

Final thoughts: Practical tips to grow your YouTube channel

The trick to growing a YouTube channel is getting more people to watch your videos and keeping them glued to your channel.

But for them to stick around, your videos should be worth their time regarding content and quality. 

Make videos viewers enjoy watching and remain consistent. Also, study when they watch your videos and upload when most will likely watch throughout the video. 

Implement these tips consistently and watch your channel grow. It won’t happen overnight, so make continuous adjustments and be patient. 

Good luck!