The biggest lies YouTubers tell may keep you from growing your channel
I’m scripting a video about passive income and revealing all the lies told by ‘making money’ gurus and I start thinking…”What are the lies YouTubers tell about growing a channel?”
I’ve been building the Let’s Talk Money channel for almost three years now and it’s been a wild ride to 272,000 subscribers and over $155,000 in ad revenue alone. Needless to say, I’ve watched a lot of those how-to YouTube videos.
And I’ve seen more than a few of those videos building up fake promises and hype of the YouTuber lifestyle.
So as my own twisted form of a PSA, I want to expose those lies and help you grow your channel legitimately! I’ll highlight four of the biggest YouTuber lies about being successful and the truth behind growing on the platform.
YouTube Lie #1: Focus on Making ‘Quality’ Videos
This is the first thing you hear from any YouTube ‘expert’. Make quality videos and the growth will come.
First of all, what is that even mean…make quality videos? It’s an easy out because there’s no definition or delineation between a ‘quality’ video and the alternative.
Now I agree, you should constantly be working to improve the production quality of your videos. This means good video, clear sound and production value with graphics and a story.
BUT its not the most important thing, especially when you’re starting out!
I’ve seen too many would-be YouTube stars get paralysis with that first video, trying to make it perfect. Good enough is your best friend whether it’s starting or growing a new channel. You need to get videos made and get them published.
Why is Quantity more Important than Quality for YouTube Videos?
- There’s no better route to perfection than through practice. Do two or three videos a week and I guarantee you will reach that fabled level of ‘quality’
- More videos means more show up in suggested and search
- More videos reach more people and allow you to build that audience faster
DO NOT get bogged down trying to make perfect videos, especially when you’re starting out. Get them done and get them published!
Click to reserve your spot at the FREE YouTube Quick-start Webinar! I’m sharing three strategies that helped me grow my YouTube channel and double my business income. I guarantee they WILL work for you. Seats are limited for the webinar, so make sure you reserve yours.
YouTube Lie #2: I Read Every Single Comment
Yeah, I’ve said this in the past as well. And maybe it was true at first, checking in multiple times a day when a new video is published to watch that view count tick up and read the comments…
But for professional YouTubers with larger channels, it just doesn’t happen…and you shouldn’t feel like you have to do it for your channel.
First of all, comments can be toxic and sometimes you just need a break. Even when you have time to read and respond to comments, which might not be often if you’re really working on growing your online business, sometimes reading those troll comments is low priority work.
Yes, responding to comments on your videos will help to build a loyal following and grow your channel, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of other work you need to get done. My recommendation, schedule 10 minutes a day for comments. Set up your YouTube channel to block comments containing words normally found in spam and just ignore the trolls.
YouTube Lie #3: How Much I Made on a Million View Video!
We’ve all got a little voyeur in us and these, How Much I Make, videos check a lot of boxes. They motivate us to reach for that money and show you it can be done.
But they also build up an overinflated sense of how much you make on each video.
Highlighting their best videos, YouTubers give an impression that they’re making thousands on each and that the ad revenue just rolls in. For anyone with a monetized channel, that’s definitely not the case.
In fact, I researched 24 channels to find the average ad rate per view they were making on ALL their videos and it wasn’t pretty. The average across all channels is just $0.004 per view…which means even a solid video with 100,000 views would only net you $400 for your effort.
That’s not bad but it’s not going to make you rich, especially considering those 100K videos might be few and far between.
Instead, you need to be learning ALL the income sources that make YouTubers successful. Treat it like a business and don’t rely only on YouTube ads to pay the bills.
Click to reserve your spot at the FREE YouTube Quick-start Webinar! I’m sharing three strategies that helped me grow my YouTube channel and double my business income. I guarantee they WILL work for you. Seats are limited for the webinar, so make sure you reserve yours.
Create your account on TubeBuddy for free to see the features that will help grow your channel!
YouTube Lie #4: Learn the Algorithm
YouTubers spend hours…days every week worrying about the algorithm, trying to create videos that hit some kind of algo checklist to go viral.
It’s wasted time and more than a little frustrating!
Honestly, after more than 500 videos and three years of learning everything I could about the YouTube algorithm, the one thing I’ve learned is…there is very little you can do that’s going to trigger some magical spell to go viral.
Think about it. If it was as simple as following a list of YouTube best practices to go viral, then all the YouTube ‘experts’ would hit that list with every video and every video would get millions of hits.
But it just doesn’t work that way.
The YouTube algorithm is truly that mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. It’s a black box that nobody will ever crack. It’s a waste of your time to study it and worry about it when making your videos.
Instead, just follow what your audience likes. Watch for video topics and themes that do well…and do more of those. Watch your audience retention graphs to see when people refocus on the video and when they check out. Follow the customer and the algorithm will follow you.
There are other YouTuber lies but these are the first that come to mind immediately. I’m not saying to now watch the ‘how-to’ videos and learn some of those best practices or to not get excited when you see a YouTuber make tens of thousands on a big video. What is important though is to be able to see through the false hype, spend less time following gurus and more time making videos!