A Downward Spiral

[PlatinumHeart]

I've been doing YouTube for a while now, and I've noticed that my channel has been actively dead for a while now. I've been in a slump for a much longer time, where my videos just wouldn't get views, and they still aren't, even though I have a fair amount of subscribers.

I've gotten plenty of "tips" and "tricks" on how to grow my channel, but they don't seem to work.

• "Use social media to promote your content!" I find it to be difficult to advertise content on social media when I don't have a premade fan-base of sorts on social media. Even so, I've been featured on the Freedom! Spotlight, and lemme tell you, the only additional subscribers I got were the hosts themselves.
• "Use proper thumbnails and tags!" I try to, but it doesn't really seem to help that much.
• "Make your content about something fresh and original!" The games I tend to play aren't very common, or at least not compared to other games. Clearly there's some sort of sweet spot I'm missing.
• "Stay consistent and be active with your subscribers!" The more I tried to implement order onto my channel, the lower my view counts got. And I tried to make a series that involved my subscribers, but it literally plummeted by the 2nd episode because no one retained interest.
• And of course, the classic "Keep working, you'll get noticed eventually!" I find this to be the most cringe-inducing of all of them. Keep working? What if I'm doing something wrong? When will I get noticed? A year from now? Two? Three? Fifty? It's full of false-hope, and it gives absolutely no cohesive advice.

I'm at a loss for what to do. I'm stuck in a dead end and I can't seem to find a way out.

Now, I know being on hiatus isn't going to help at all, but even before that I was in a slump. I just want to be able to take time off and think about where I want to go with my channel, or perhaps just abandon it and go for something new, something totally different.

What do you guys think?

 

[Nuke]

I've been doing YouTube for a while now, and I've noticed that my channel has been actively dead for a while now. I've been in a slump for a much longer time, where my videos just wouldn't get views, and they still aren't, even though I have a fair amount of subscribers.

I've gotten plenty of "tips" and "tricks" on how to grow my channel, but they don't seem to work.

• "Use social media to promote your content!" I find it to be difficult to advertise content on social media when I don't have a premade fan-base of sorts on social media. Even so, I've been featured on the Freedom! Spotlight, and lemme tell you, the only additional subscribers I got were the hosts themselves.
• "Use proper thumbnails and tags!" I try to, but it doesn't really seem to help that much.
• "Make your content about something fresh and original!" The games I tend to play aren't very common, or at least not compared to other games. Clearly there's some sort of sweet spot I'm missing.
• "Stay consistent and be active with your subscribers!" The more I tried to implement order onto my channel, the lower my view counts got. And I tried to make a series that involved my subscribers, but it literally plummeted by the 2nd episode because no one retained interest.
• And of course, the classic "Keep working, you'll get noticed eventually!" I find this to be the most cringe-inducing of all of them. Keep working? What if I'm doing something wrong? When will I get noticed? A year from now? Two? Three? Fifty? It's full of false-hope, and it gives absolutely no cohesive advice.

I'm at a loss for what to do. I'm stuck in a dead end and I can't seem to find a way out.

Now, I know being on hiatus isn't going to help at all, but even before that I was in a slump. I just want to be able to take time off and think about where I want to go with my channel, or perhaps just abandon it and go for something new, something totally different.

What do you guys think?

YouTube takes a LOT of time to grow and the reality is you will probably fail or be in a slump at least 5-6 times in a year. It's up to you to get through it and people will notice that. Thumbnails aren't really a big deal, they help but they don't help you that much. I hope you get through this slump, good luck!

 

[Robin “Williams” Muscato]

i agree with Nuke. i been on youtube for 8yr. i am not that big. lot of sub but it turn out only 1% of my views is from my sub. my biggest tip i can give you. keep making video. 1 video is nothing on internet. 50 video is good but your still not going make money off. 500 video is a big deal you be making money. ect!

 

[Nerd]

Gaming is a tricky thing to do. If people dont know the game then they have no ways to find you and if they do know the game you're covering, it means 1000's of others have videos about it too. So getting into that sweet spot is hard.

As for freedom spotlight, I wont lie... that is probably the most useless spotlight you could get featured in. I've been feature on freedom channel myself, though that was before the whole boldy brothers nonsence, so it kinda worked, but now that thoes guys are doing it... well its hopeless.

I guess what I have to say goes along with everyone else, just keep working. If you enjoy it then who cares if you get 10 views or 10000 views and if you dont enjoy doing youtube then you're allready in a wrong business.

 

[Hail Kira]

Alot of people are feeling the hit since September...

Thing is people get busy this time of year, and when they're busy, they arnt searching out new content... theyre really just watching they're old standbys with what little time they have..

I'd say just sit back, and enjoy yourself and put out videos you wanna put out... for you... and focus on creating a Christmas strategy.

Make a few Christmas videos so you can be extra active during the holidays...

 

[Tom Klin]

have you tried collaborating with other youtubers?

 

[killakestrelGaming]

hay guys interesting thread. im a new youtuber and i wouldn't mind help in any way i can get it be that colabs or being featured in a spotlight but i do understand that as a gaming channel it is hard to get noticed but i love creating videos for people to watch and enjoy and even if i don't get noticed right away or don't get any offers of colabs or any responses from people i have asked to colab with me then i say hay its just life why stop doing what you love just cause you don't get the instant result you want just keep doing it cause it makes you happy and eventually someone has to notice right?

 

[THENigeliam]

Well, I know how this feels (kinda). Been stuck with 88-90 subs for a while now (about a month now, or 3 weeks), and it's probably because I haven't done anything new. A gaming channel is so common, that I think it is already over-saturating YouTube. I see a lot of gaming channels, and to be honest, we are just getting buried by those who stands out in the first page of the Search Results or those that are too famous to not get noticed. I did the things that you mentioned above, like use Social Media networks, thumbnails, tags, "never give up", "original content", etc. It's just too hard to get noticed. In my opinion, originality in YouTube is too hard to find. Originality in a way that you've been doing this thing for a while, and not just a one time thing. Probably I don't think there is something "original" in YouTube anymore, as someone does something new, someone will probably do the same thing, or someone thought of it as well without knowing another person did it. Something like that. I've been doing other things in my channel recently, as I have thought to not just stay as a pure gaming channel, but as a channel about me. Not a vlog channel though, but what I like, what are the things that I enjoy, etc. I also planned to reach out to other audiences as well, since not all who are interested in gaming, are also interested in movie reviews, vlogs, music, etc. Reaching out to different audiences will hopefully grow your channel.

But with all of these said, I think the best way to not feel bad in the momentary decline of your channel is to look back. Why did you start your channel? Frankly, I started mine for extra money. But as I have progressed, I am much more concerned about the positive and negative things people say about my videos in order to get better. Whenever someone says that my video is awesome and they have liked it (not just on YT, but in real life), it helps me sleep better at night. It puts a smile on my face whenever people actually liked my videos, which drives me to do more. So I think you just need to find that drive in order to keep on going. If you think nothing can stop you from becoming a successful channel, then nothing can stop you from becoming one.

Hopefully I've made a point here, 'cause frankly, I'm just like loose cannon firing rapidly hoping to hit something. And I didn't really thought well about this post, since I just said what I want to say, so yeah I hope my point got across.

I'm just a small channel, and kind of a new one too, and I should not speak such big words or tips to others, but I think it can help. It drives me, and hopefully it can drive others as well.

 

[Riddikore]

To go with the tips listed above, I'd say that you could have the best looking channel and content but people have to know about it. And without spamming, your other option means meeting lots of people on forums and other social media and just having everyday conversations so people care about YOU, then they'll look forward to seeing your content. Then they'll share it if they like it

 

[killakestrelGaming]

I have to agree with Riddikore at the end of the day its more about the people you know than the people who randomly come across your channel as he said you can have the best channel ever but if people don't connect with you or you don't even get involved on forums ect then how can you expect them to notice you?

but i still believe that as long as you have passion about what your doing it will make all the difference not to anyone else per say but most importantly to you and aint that all that matters i mean face it the channel your channel deep down its for you noone else and if they sub to you its cause they like you and what you produce not about who its for or any other reason don't you agree?

 

[1SB2Gamer]

I find that the best way to get views and subscribers is to share your content around the internet. A good example of this is, I share all my Skyrim videos on Nexusmods. Minecraft videos on Minecraft forums and planetminecraft.

The idea is you just have to get yourself out there, outside of your own circle. The more places people can find you, the better chance you have of them actually doing so.

Another good tip would be to make videos you absolutely know will get views. These videos would be meant to attract viewers who may then check out other videos. The way I do this is by making mod spot light videos. Not only does it help the mod developers but it also helps your channel, especially if the mod dev decides to put up your video. This is especially useful if you start making mod videos fora new game when the search volume is massive and competition is low.

As for sharing on social media, it works, it's just hard. You need to make sure you use hashtags. Try to use tags that are searched frequently.

Last but not least, when you combine everything ... things begin to add up. The more time you spend doing this, the more places people can find you. It's not like your previous attempts disappear. They are still there still attracting attention. So having 1 video that attracts only 10 viewers per day .. may not seem like much. But eventually that 1 video will turn into 5, and then into 20, and then into 100.

100 videos all attracting new people. Those attracted people may then view your other videos. Thus each video adds onto the other. eventually those videos that only had 10 views may now have over 100. Which increases your rank in search results. The more the video is around the better your rank. Which in turn earns you even more views.

Really, it's just a matter of getting to that point, and it can take a lot of time and work. At some point you will continue to grow simply because you exist. The content is there, ready to be watched. :3

Now all the above, will not work unless you get yourself out there. You can release 100 videos, but if no one can find you, no one will.