Stolen tips from top you tubers

Howdy,
Growing a YouTube channel is HARD.
These tips I learned from others have been super helpful.
To make sure you do these things EVERY time you publish a video…
I made this checklist to mark off as you create.
Be epic,
Noah
Get your (free) YouTube
GROWTH CHECKLIST here
Quick Intro
From Noah:
P.S. Shoutout to Mitchell and Aswin for helping me put these tips together.

I’ve been posting on
YouTube for years
At first, I had NO CLUE
what I was doing
I’ve started to grow my channel by stealing their tips and
copying everything they said.
So I found some friends who are legit
YouTube EXPERTS

Contents
Make Your Videos Discoverable 5
Promote Engagement From Viewers 6
Suggest More Videos from Your Channel Using End Cards 9
Use Playlists to Keep People Watching 11
Find Keywords for Your Channel 13
Address Specific Keywords in Your Title 14
Make Your Video Descriptions Helpful 16
Make Your Thumbnails Clicky 21
Get More Views on Your Content 23
Collaborate With Other YouTubers 24
Turn Videos Into More Pieces of Content 27
Embed Your Videos on Your Website 30
Have People Share Your Video on Their Pages 32
Make Your Channel Page Ready to Convert 34
Make a Good First Impression 36
Update Your “About” Section 40
Add a Subscription Link to Your Quick Links 42
Use Your Channel Art to Provide Information at a Glance 43
Change your channel icon 44
Closing Words 45

Here are the key factors to help
your videos rank and get shared
with more viewers
Make Your
Videos
Discoverable
How do you get YouTube to show
your video to more people?

Promote Engagement From Viewers
Comments
There is a significant correlation between ranking in YouTube and user engagement
(comments, likes, and subscribes).
Comments especially seem to improve a video’s ranking on YouTube.
How do you encourage people to comment on your video? Ask questions.
At the end of each of their videos, the New Rockstars team poses a question to their
audience based on the topic they just covered.
They then reply and engage with those comments.
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Similarly, Yuri and Jakub from TheStraightPipes pin a question in their comments
section related to the car they just reviewed.
They reply to comments and keep the conversation going (note the 158 replies on one
comment).
You can also pin a related video that you’ve made in the past.
Michael Fisher from MrMobile pinned the link to a review he made for a wireless
charger that was in the background of this video.
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Likes
Graham Stephan
consistently gets nearly 1
out of every 10 people to
“smash” the like button
on his videos. He reminds
the viewer to hit the like
button at least twice in
every video.
In fact, he does it so often that it’s
now a meme in his community:
Subscribes
The majority of people
subscribe to pages
from watch pages, not
the channel page.
As people watch your
video and see the value
you provide, remind
them to Subscribe to
your channel to see
more.
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NOAH KAGAN
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Suggest More Videos from Your
Channel Using End Cards
YouTube loves session time. Session time refers to how long someone stays on
YouTube after watching your video.
Showing related videos when your video is wrapping up is a good way to keep
viewers on your YouTube channel and engaging with your content.
In a video about his earnings, Ali Abdaal uses the End Screen to display videos that he
recommends the viewer should move onto next, such as:
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) A video on how he built his YouTube business
) A video covering the three books that encouraged him to start making
money online
) A video on how to make money online
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To add an End Card, go to
your video and hit “Edit Video”
underneath the Share button.
Next, go to the
Editor panel.
Press the “+” button
next to the End
screen icon and select
Apply template.
Select a template from the screen that pops up.
Your video will auto-populate with your channel icon and videos, but you can use
the “+ Element” button at the top to add a specific video, playlist, or channel.
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Use Playlists to Keep People Watching
You can also increase session time by creating playlists.
Playlists let you organize your videos in a way that allows the viewer and YouTube to
understand what to play next.
You can make playlists to organize all videos around a specific topic or keyword.
But you can also focus a playlist around a particular solution or course of action.
Sunny Lenarduzzi created THE ULTIMATE WORK FROM HOME GUIDE playlist
to house videos related to passive income.
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Brian Dean also organizes his playlists around outcomes and benefits (he calls these
“Power Playlists”).
For example, his “How to Get Higher Google Rankings” playlist includes all his videos
about SEO.
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Find Keywords for Your Channel4
For example, let’s
say you wanted
to make videos
about social media
detoxing.
You could use vidIQ
on this video Matt
D’Avella made to
see the tags he
used.
Input your topic in KeywordTool.io
to identify YouTube and Google
keywords you can target.
You can also steal keywords from popular channels in your niche.
Use the vidIQ browser extension to see all the tags that someone is using on their
video and channel.
These tags and
keywords can be
inserted into your title
and description.
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YouTube’s internal data has confirmed that your title can make or break your entire
video.
You want to include your keyword in your title.
Now that you know which keywords you want to rank for, you can use YouTube
Autocomplete to see phrases that people are searching for.
Use those phrases to inspire your title.
Think Media uses this strategy when coming up with their titles.
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...is inspired by the first and third
result that comes up when you
search “how to get first...”
For example, the title for this video...
This strategy was also used for this video on Mirrorless vs. DSLR cameras.
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You can enter your keywords into AnswerThePublic to get hundreds of autofill
suggestions.
You also want to entice the viewer to click on your video. Make your titles more
appealing and improve Click Through Rate (CTR) by doing the following:
) Use a number in your title (# of tips/steps/strategies, current year, or result)
) Use parentheses, colons, or dividers to make it readable
) Make the title between 30-45 characters
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Make Your Video Descriptions Helpful
The description lets you define what your video is about for both users and the
YouTube algorithm.
YouTube has stated that video descriptions inform YouTube’s algorithms what videos
are about for search results and suggested videos.
It’s essentially a space to provide value to the viewer and drop calls to action.
The first 2 to 3 lines of your description will appear under your video. You can use this
section as a subheadline, a quick summary of your video, or a space for sponsorships
and other links.
My friend Patrick from TechLead uses the first few lines of his description to give a
one-sentence overview of the topic of the video and promote the link for his sponsor.
If you click “Show More,” YouTube displays the rest of the description. Patrick breaks
out more CTA’s using emojis.
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You can also use your description to explain the video in its entirety.
In his descriptions, Graham Stephan posts in-depth breakdowns of the topics
covered in the video.
These YouTube descriptions basically serve as supplemental blog posts.
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Here’s a template you can use:
) Strong intro (2 to 3 sentences)
] Summarize the video
] Include the target keyword in the first 1 to 2 sentences
] Entice people to click your video on the search results page
] Include a call to action (subscribe, affiliate link, etc.)
) Links to blogs or videos related to the video
) Timestamps of subtopics (or in-depth breakdown)
) Promotional links
] YouTube Channel Subscribe link
] Subscribe link for your newsletter
] Social media group/links
] Courses/affiliate links
] Ways to contact you
) Affiliate or sponsorship disclaimer
Ali Abdaal structures his descriptions using this template. That way, he can pack his
descriptions with information while keeping them easy to read.
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Reminders when
crafting your
description:
Your first three lines
show up right under
the title
This area should briefly
describe the video and lead
to a call to action (subscribe
to your channel, click on the
sponsored link, visit your
website, etc). Unlike the rest
of the description, which
the viewer needs to click to
expand, this section doesn’t
require extra action to read.
Give more useful
resources related to
the topic
This could be relevant videos,
additional resources, or CTA’s
like a course or email list you
would like viewers to join.
Insert keywords
) Include your target keyword in the first 25 words
) The description should be at least 250 words
) Include your keyword 2-4 times
Make it readable
Use emojis and white space to make the content easy to read.
Pro tip: Use the emoji keyboard
(CMD + CTRL + Spacebar on Mac or Windows Key + “.” on PC).
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Another huge aspect of improving the CTR to your video is having great thumbnails.
Your thumbnails should be eye-catching and preview what the video is going to be
about.
Shelby Church uses thumbnails to supplement her titles.
Each thumbnail includes a picture of her with a few large words that are readable even
when the thumbnail is in its 200x100 format.
Notice how the text in the thumbnail and the title play off each other.
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This style can capture attention when people are browsing through recommended
videos.
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Brian Dean from Backlinko summarizes his titles into 5 to 6 words that can fit in his
thumbnails. The bold color in the background with the contrasting text background
makes the thumbnails eye-catching, while also easy to read.
) Use a consistent color palette and font
) Use repeating imagery: Do you appear in every thumbnail? Does the
thumbnail include the product you’re talking about?
) Include part of the video title in all your thumbnails
You can make YouTube thumbnails using Canva or its alternatives.
Note how Brian uses numbers in each of his thumbnails, as suggested above.
Make your thumbnails look consistent, so people start to recognize your brand:
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Here are some strategies for promoting
your channel and content:
Get More
Views on
Your Content
You’ve created the perfect video
and optimized it. Now you need to
get more people watching it.

Collaborations are KEY.
First, you get to create dope
content with another creator.
Second, you get introduced to
a new audience that might not
already follow you.
TheStraightPipes and Engineering
Explained did a two-part
collaboration that generated
around 2 million combined views.
The first video was published to
TheStraightPipes…
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And the next day a video was published to Engineering Explained.
These channels are not directly related.
They found a way to use each other to make a video that was relevant to their respective
audiences (and hopefully reached an audience that was interested in both topics).
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Here’s how to find creators to collaborate with:
Then, go to their “About” page and click “View Email Address” to get their contact
information.
Find people that subscribe to
your channel
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In the Creator Studio, under
“Dashboard,” click “SEE ALL” in the
Recent Subscriber box. It’ll show you all
your subscribers, along with how many
subscribers they have.
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Find channels from Suggested Video sources
In YouTube Analytics, you can see which videos are recommending yours,
along with the specific people clicking through to your video.
Go to the “Traffic Source” tab and click on “Suggested Videos.”
You’ll see the videos across YouTube that are suggesting your video. Reach out
to the people who run those pages and ask to do a collaboration.
Reach out for a collaboration
Email them or send them a DM on Instagram or Twitter. Your message can look
something like this:
“Hey Amigo,
Saw that we [subscribe to each other]/[make videos on similar topics]. Thought
we could collaborate to introduce our audiences to each other. Win-win!
Based on your top videos, I thought we could make a video about [this super
awesome thing]. What do you think? :)”
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You put all that effort into making your video. Why not convert that into more pieces
of content?
Anthony Pompliano takes the full-length video versions of Pomp Podcast episodes
and clips out 2-5 highlights from each video.
Now, his 40 to 60 minute video podcast episodes have become multiple YouTube videos.
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You can also take your video and use websites like Headliner.app to create 1 to 10
minute clips that you can share on social media.
For example, I took this video…
And shared it on LinkedIn... Twitter...
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Instagram...
...and Facebook.
Notice how I’m posting short tidbits natively on each platform, but drawing people
back to YouTube to watch the full video.
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Putting videos on your website has two advantages.
1. You get more views on your YouTube video.
2. People spend more time on your website page, increasing Average Time On
Page (an important ranking factor for Google search).
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I actually used this tip on one of my most popular articles:
Why I Walked Out on Tony Robbins.
I made a 17-minute video and embedded it under the article intro.
OkDork
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You can make YouTube videos about popular articles and topics on your website.
Find your most popular articles in Google Analytics.
Go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages to see ‘Pageviews’ and ‘Avg. Time on Page’
for video ideas.
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Have People Share Your Video
Why limit extra views to pages YOU own?
After you publish a video, do a Google search to find articles ranking for your target
keywords. Contact the authors to see if they’re willing to embed your video into their
article.
Let’s say you just published a video on how to make dalgona tea.
A quick Google search reveals the following sites:
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Reach out to the owners of each site and pitch your video as a benefit to their
audience (and a way to get readers to stay on their site longer).
Here’s a template you can use:
Hi [Name],
I came across your excellent post: [Post Title] while searching for some
content to read about [Topic].
Anyway, I couldn’t help but notice you didn’t have any videos
on your page.
I’ve seen videos help boost average time on page on my site, which has
really helped with Google rankings!
I recently published a video about [Topic] that I thought would be helpful
for your audience. It would be perfect for [Section of their article].
Either way, thanks for writing this awesome post and have a great day!
Thanks,
[Your Name]
OkDork
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Make Your
Channel
Page Ready
to Convert
Your Channel Page is the homepage
for your YouTube Channel. You want
what you do and what you cover to
be clear to visitors.

Show off your best stuff and let them know what action you want them to take.
For example, when you land on Nick Nimmin’s Channel Page, you immediately know
his channel is about YouTube and video tips.
He also makes it clear what call-to-action (CTA) he wants the visitor to take by
including the word “Subscribe” in his channel art and the quick links section.
Here’s how to improve your Channel page
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When people land on your homepage, give them an appetizer of the content they’re
going to find on your site.
New viewers on your Channel Page will be shown one featured video.
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To start, you can make this your most popular video.
You can also rotate this regularly to give a video an extra boost in views from
people who visit your channel.
From there, show off some playlists.
Marques Brownlee from MKBHD chooses to showcase his most recent uploads.
Then he displays different playlists like “Reviews!”, “Dope Tech!”, “First
Impressions”, and more.
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You can start by featuring your “Popular Uploads” and then displaying your newest
videos with an “Uploads” section.
That’s how Neville Medhora from Kopywriting Kourse has his Channel Page set up.
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Here’s how to customize your homepage.
Set Your Featured Video
You can edit your page by clicking your profile in the top right and clicking “Your
channel.” Then press the “Customize Channel” button.
From there, you can choose which content to feature by clicking the
“Feature content” button.
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Note that you can customize how your page appears for returning subscribers
vs. new visitors.
Then select the video you want to feature at the top of your page.
Next, add more sections by clicking the “Add a section” button.
And select the playlists and layout for the content:
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If someone is seeing your channel for the first time, they’ll likely head straight to your
“About” page for some context.
The information on the “About” page is also what appears in the meta description in
Google Search results.
For example, the first few sentences of Matt D’Avella’s “About” section...
...show up under his channel name in the search results.
Try to address:
) Who your channel is for
) The types of videos you put out
) When you upload new videos
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Nick Nimmon’s “About” section is a perfect example.
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People on YouTube want to stay on YouTube. Here’s how to add a subscription link to
your quick links:
Click the Customize Channel button and go to the “About” section.
Click the Links area to add a custom link.
Create a call to action like “Click Here to Subscribe!”.
Make the link your channel link with “?sub_confirmation=1” added to the end.
This will make it so a pop-up to subscribe appears when people land on your
Channel Page.
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Use Your Channel Art to Provide
As we saw with Nick Nimmon’s channel art above, you can use this image to highlight
the topics you will cover and encourage action (like subscribing).
You can also let people know when you post, as Shelby Church does on her Channel
Page.
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For example, Sunny Lenarduzzi uses her Cover Art to:
) Explain what she does (e.g. help you be your own boss)
) Let people know when she posts (Tuesday and Friday)
) Provide social proof (featured in Forbes, Fast Company, etc.)
) Call the user to action (Subscribe!)
Think about how you can convey the same information from your “About” section
at a glance.
OkDork
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Change your channel icon
Your channel icon is probably the first thing people will notice about you.
It will appear under every video you make, in your comments, and in searches across
YouTube.
Make it a picture of your face, your logo, or something else that represents your brand
in a few pixels.
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Closing Words
These are some of the best tips and tricks I’ve found to be most effective for my
channel.
Use this YouTube GROWTH CHECKLIST as part of your content process.
But the most important thing to keep in mind is to HAVE FUN.
If you’re not enjoying the process, people notice. Plus, you’ll burn yourself out.
Experiment with these tips, make it fun, and be proud of what you put out in the
world.
I’m rooting for you.
Be Epic,
Noah Kagan
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