If you want to drastically reduce the learning curve to be successful on YouTube, you got to stop making these big mistakes that new YouTubers make.
In the video below, you’ll discover the top YouTube mistakes that you’ve probably never even heard of. I’m going to share the most common mindset mistakes, the most common content mistakes, the most common channel mistakes, the most common filming mistakes, the most common editing mistakes, the most common optimization mistakes, the most common video promotion mistakes, and the most common monetization mistakes.
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Here are the most common mindset mistakes.
Unclear purpose.
If you’re not clear about what your channel should be about, you’ll have a hard time keeping going when the going gets tough.
Not narrowing your niche.
If you try to be all things to all people, you’re probably not going to reach many people. For example, if your niche was dog training, it’s best to niche it down to a specific breed of dog. No clear goals. You got to have specific goals each month to make progress on your channel. This could be monetary goals, subscriber goals, or generating leads.
Don’t compare your channel with other channels that are doing better.
It’s easy to get caught up in the comparison game when you’re just starting off, but you don’t want to compare the beginning of your channel with a channel that’s been going on for a number of years. It takes a lot of practice and improvement to get really good at YouTube.
Lack of consistency.
You’ve got to at least upload once a week to be consistent. If you don’t upload on a regular basis, your viewers think you’re not serious and won’t keep on coming back for more content.
Not being authentic.
If you try to copy somebody else, you’ll soon lose interest because you’re not being yourself. Instead, try to be the best version of yourself and keep on improving as you go forward. Theodore Roosevelt said, “No one cares about how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Impatience.
YouTube is a long game, so don’t expect your first few videos to go viral. Instead of focusing on how many views and subscribers you’re getting, focus on improving each video you upload. The views and the subscribers will later.
Here are the most Common Content mistakes.
Not creating a content calendar.
If you don’t plan out your content ahead of time, you’ll be stuck looking at a blank computer screen. Research a list of 10 to 20 topics you can create videos about so you won’t get stuck going forward.
Not creating a video series.
Instead of just thinking about one video, think about a video series because people want to binge-watch your videos if they think the topics really great to watch.
Not creating content your audience wants to watch.
One of the big ranking factors of YouTube is watch time. If you can keep people engaged throughout your video, and watching successive videos, you’ll do well on YouTube. In fact, YouTube will freely promote you in suggested videos, which are the ones that appear on the right side of the watch page and appear under the videos on the YouTube app.
Targeting the wrong keywords.
YouTube is a search engine. You want your videos to be found weeks, months, or even years later in the search engines. If you target the right keywords, your videos we found in the search engines and it would generate traffic leads in sales on autopilot over and over.
Not writing a script.
I found that if I don’t write a script, it’s easy to ramble on your videos and lose touch with the subject. Try to at least write down a few bullet points so you can stay on track.
Here are the most Common Channel mistakes.
No clear channel branding.
If you want to make your channel stand out from your competitors, you got to have your own unique channel branding.
For example, you’ve got to have a channel banner that uniquely states what your channel is all about.
You got to have a channel trailer that clearly explains why people should subscribe to your channel.
You’ve got to create an optimized description on your about page that outlines all the benefits of subscribing to your channel.
Add sections to your channel homepage containing playlists, so when people first visit your homepage, they can take a deeper dive into your content. There’s also a higher probability that they’ll subscribe to your channel.
No subscribe watermark.
Did you know you can add a subscribe watermark across all the videos on your channel and the bottom right-hand corner of the video? If you do that, there’s more chances that your viewers will subscribe or watching your video.
No channel keywords.
If you want your channel to be found in the search engines, then you’ve got to optimize your channel description with the right keywords.
Not claiming a custom URL for your channel.
If you claim a custom URL for your channel that is easy to remember, you can share it on social media sites on your website, and with your friends and family.
Wrong channel name.
You want to have a channel name that encapsulates the content that you’re producing in your videos. You want to make it easy to spell and easy to remember.
Here are the most Common Filming mistakes.
You don’t need the latest gear to get started.
Just use what you got and do the best you can. For example, in the first few years of growing my channel, I just used my iPhone. If you monetize your channel, which we’ll talk about later, then you can buy more expensive gear.
Inadequate sound.
It’s best to use an external mic than the mic that’s built into the camera. I used a very cheap mic for a few years and thought the sound was good until I upgraded and then realized that the sound was much better.
When you’re filming outside, make sure there’s no planes flying overhead because the noise will be in the video.
Inadequate lighting.
If you don’t have adequate light in your video, it’ll be very hard for people to see you. Right now, I’m just using natural daylight from outside, but if you want to control the lighting, you can just get some cheap softboxes and set it up inside your house.
Cluttered or tacky backdrop.
Make sure when you’re filming your video clean up the mess behind you. Otherwise, it’ll appear in the video. Instead of using a blank wall, you can paint the wall or use a dedicated wall hanging as the backdrop. The more interesting it is, the better.
Too much space above your head.
For example, if I shrink down like this, you can see there’s too much space above my head. It’s better to have a little bit of space just above your head instead of a lot of space. You can also use the rule of thirds, a little bit to the left a little bit to the right of the camera. If you do this, you can add text or graphics to the video screen and not block your face.
Not looking at the camera lens.
If you look off to the side like on the flip-out screen, then it’ll appear like I’m not addressing you. Make sure you look directly into the camera lens so you can connect with your audience on the other side of the lens.
Lack of confidence on camera.
Especially when you’re just starting out, you might say a lot of uhms and uhs and keep repeating yourself or rambling. The beauty of the editing process is that you can edit out all these mistakes as we’ll talk about later. The best idea is to project confidence even though you may not be confident, but you’ll get more confident with practice.
I just mentioned rambling. Remember how I told you to write a video script so you stay on track throughout your video. Remember to cut out the bits where you’re rambling in the editing process.
By the way, make sure the camera is turned on. There’s been many times I have been filming for an hour, but I forgot to turn the camera on or plug the mic in. Especially if you’re filming outside, make sure you have a battery backup and an extra card.
Here are the most Common Editing mistakes.
The biggest editing mistake is having a long intro.
Viewers are very impatient these days, so try to keep the intro short and get straight into the meat of the content. Another mistake is not resetting the attention of the viewers as they watch the video. You can reset the attention by zooming and panning, adding jump cuts, graphics, transitions, et cetera. This will help keep the viewer engaged throughout your video.
Another editing mistake is using the wrong music or too much music.
Even though music can help viewers consume your content, make sure the music fits with the content.
Another big mistake is not removing dead space.
Dead space may be where you’re rambling on a video or going off-topic. If you want to keep viewers engaged throughout your video, you’ve got to keep your editing tight. This means keeping your viewer quickly moving throughout your videos so you don’t lose them.
Another mistake is using repetitive content.
If you keep repeating the same points throughout the video, you’ll lose your viewers.
Another big mistake is not adding a call-to-action.
This can be watching the next video, getting a free download, or subscribing to your channel. Typically, I try to get viewers to watch the next video so they can binge-watch more videos from my channel.
Another thing you want to avoid is trying to make the video too long.
Some people say, make your videos 10 minutes long. If it’s too long for your viewer and you’ll lose their patience, they’ll never come back to watch more of the content. Make your videos as long as they need to be to cover your content.
Not reverse editing
This is a big mistake that I made for a long time where I waste a lot of time editing my videos. . This means I started editing the video from the beginning instead of starting from the end and working backwards. When you reverse edit, you’ll know where your last take was. This will save you a ton of time during the editing process.
Here are the most Common Optimization mistakes.
One of the biggest optimization mistakes new YouTubers make is not optimizing the title, description, tags, and thumbnail of the video.
The title, description, and thumbnail are the three most important factors for people discovering your video.
Place your most important keyword at the beginning of your title, then have a compelling phrase for your viewers at the end of the title. You want to satisfy the search engines and your viewers.
Make sure the first three lines of your description encapsulates the content of your video and also includes the keywords that you’re trying to optimize for. The rest of your description should include related videos or playlists, as well as your social media sites.
When you add tags to a video, make sure they’re relevant to the content of your video. Try to add all the relevant keyword phrases that people would search for to find your video.
Another thing I see a lot of people not doing is pinning a comment to the top of the comments.
You can add a video, playlist, or even ask a question.
Another mistake is not creating an eye-catching thumbnail.
Your thumbnail is the first thing that people see in the search engines. If people don’t click on the thumbnail, they’re not gonna watch your video and you’ve wasted all that time creating a video. Avoid repeating the title of the thumbnail, but you can use two or three words that make it curious for people to click on the thumbnail.
Another mistake is relying on search.
Most YouTube traffic comes from suggested. These are the videos that appear on the right side of the watch page and under the video on the YouTube app. If you want to get suggested traffic, which is a free promotion by YouTube, you want to make sure that your videos are engaging so people stay all the way through to watch it, and also get them to watch more videos. If you are really focusing on your target audience, they’ll keep coming back to watch more of your videos.
Another mistake is not adding cards and end screens where you’re suggesting more videos for your audience to watch.
When it comes to the end screen, link to a video or playlist that’s relevant to the video that they’ve just watched. This will increase your watch time which means more of your videos will appear in suggested videos.
Another big mistake new YouTubers make is not tracking the performance of their videos in YouTube Analytics.
Tracking click-through-rate determines how many people are clicking on your thumbnail to watch your video. Audience retention refers to how many people are actually watching your video all the way through. If you get 50% or more people watching your video all the way through, then YouTube will promote your video in the search engines.
Here are the most Common Video Promotion Mistakes.
The biggest video promotion mistakes new YouTubers make is asking sub for sub.
This is where they subscribe to your channel expecting a subscribe back to their channel. Obviously, they’re not really interested in your content and it’s against YouTube’s policies.
Similar to this is spamming groups and forums. If you join a group or forum, make sure you participate in the group and those people that are interested in your content will subscribe to your channel.
Post a link on Facebook.
If you post a YouTube link on Facebook, it’s not going to get you any traffic to YouTube. Instead, you want to post a 30-second clip of your video on Facebook and then put your link in the comments.
Not replying to comments.
YouTube is a social media platform so you want to engage with your audience in the comments. Getting likes and comments for your videos shows YouTube that there’s a lot of activity taking place on your channel.
Not repurposing your content.
Once you publish a video, your work has just begun. You want to submit your video to social media sites, embed it on your blog or website.
Not doubling down on high-performing videos.
If you find a video is getting lots of views and subscribers, you want to create more of those types of videos but approaching it from a different angle. If you do this, you can capitalize on the traffic that you initially got from that video.
Not transcribing your videos.
If you want to get more views and subscribers, you want to appeal to the hard of hearing and the people that have their sound turned off. When you transcribe your videos, captions will appear under the video. This helps people that can’t understand your accent or what you’re trying to say be able to read the captions under the video. This will help them to consume your content.
Not collaborating with like-minded creators.
If you want to expose your content to different audiences, I recommend collaborating with like-minded creators. Instead of just asking for a collaboration, make sure you offer a ton of value to that particular collaborator.
Not going live on your channel.
Going live helps you to connect with your audience, increases watch time, views, and subscribers. If you want to quickly get 4,000 watch hours, I recommend going live.
Not adding your video to a playlist.
A playlist can also rank in the search engines and they appear on your channel homepage. Add 5 or 6 videos to your playlist so people can binge-watch your videos. It’ll help them to stay longer on the YouTube platform and therefore YouTube will promote your videos. When first-time visitors see your channel homepage that contains playlists, they can take a deeper dive into your content and then they’ll be more likely to subscribe to your channel.
Here are the most Common Monetization Mistakes.
Many new YouTubers make the mistake of not generating revenue from their channel.
Maybe you want to upgrade your audio or your camera or your backdrop. That takes a bit of money. Therefore, don’t make the mistake of not monetizing your channel from the beginning. You may not be able to join the YouTube Partner Program which requires 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers, but you can definitely start promoting affiliate programs. If you have some expertise, then you can even sell your own product.
Another big mistake is reviewing products that your audience doesn’t want.
It may be great to have a new camera or a new mic, but what if your audience doesn’t like it? You don’t want to turn off your audience.
Not building an email list.
You don’t own the YouTube platform, so if something happens to your YouTube channel, you could lose all your subscribers. Therefore, it makes sense to build an email list just in case your channel gets terminated or you get three strikes and your channel’s finished. If you build an email list, then you own the email list and you can recommend your products and services plus alert your subscribers to new videos you put out.
Another big monetization mistake is trying to make money from reused content.
Some people try to bundle Creative Commons videos and try to make money from it, but YouTube usually flags reused content. If you’re going to use Creative Commons videos, try to make it unique by adding some commentary or some unique angle of your own.
Do you want your videos to be discovered so you can grow your channel fast and get more views and subscribers?
If that’s a yes, click here to watch the next video so you can learn how to get your videos discovered in YouTube search, YouTube suggested, and Google search.
Get The One Blueprint That Gives You Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Grow A Profitable YouTube Channel. Click here for more info
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