There’s a reason you started your YouTube channel. Maybe you wanted to inspire people to travel more. Perhaps you tried to help your viewers learn a new skill. Or maybe you just wanted to make them laugh! Either way, achieving your goal depends on one key factor: growing your audience.

Without a large, engaged audience, it’s nearly impossible to get your message out there and achieve your ultimate goal. 

Want to know the biggest challenge? On average, it takes a YouTube channel 22 months to reach 1,000 subscribers— which seems like an eternity if you’re seeking rapid growth.

You’ll need to do a lot of studying and learning to speed up the process. Gaining insight into how to grow YouTube channels will allow you to optimize your videos to maximize organic exposure. Plus, you can use plenty of marketing techniques and content strategies to attract more viewers.

Are you ready to learn the methods the world’s most successful YouTubers use to reach a wider audience? Keep scrolling!

How to Make a Good YouTube Video

The quality of your video content is a significant consideration if you want to grow a YouTube channel. And when we say “quality,” we mean it figuratively and literally.

In a literal sense, your video should be filmed in 4K resolution if possible. That will give the best result regarding clarity and a realistic, immersive viewing experience. If you do not have a camera capable of filming in 4K, the next best option is 1080 (also known as Full HD). 

But more figuratively speaking, you want your content to be valuable to your viewers. That is what will keep them returning to watch your videos. 

Typically, there are four categories of valuable YouTube content:

Functional 

Functional videos help viewers better navigate everyday challenges or complete specific tasks. They relay information in a way that’s easy to follow and comprehend. 

Examples of videos that would be considered functional content include:

The primary purpose of these videos is to share valuable instructions that are immediately beneficial to the person watching.

Emotional

Emotional videos are meant to evoke a specific feeling — frustration, satisfaction, amazement, or trust. These videos are valuable to viewers because they appeal to the natural human need to connect with others.

Examples of videos that fall under the emotional category include:

Educational

At first glance, educational videos may seem similar to functional videos, but one distinct difference is how quickly the information is meant to be used. While functional videos address viewers seeking an answer to an immediate question, educational videos are directed toward people interested in learning about something (but don’t plan to immediately use the information in a practical, hands-on sense).  

These videos are valuable because they deepen the viewer’s understanding of a particular topic.

Examples of educational videos include:

Entertaining

Entertaining content is meant to be amusing and to distract viewers from the stress or obligations that come with everyday life. It shouldn’t elicit strong emotional responses from your audience, such as sadness or anger. Instead, it should be easily digestible and pleasing to watch.

Examples of entertaining videos include:

Before launching a YouTube channel, deciding what type of valuable content you want to offer your audience is always a good idea. 

How to Grow Your YouTube Channel

After determining the type of content you want to produce and share, it’s time to start researching how to grow on YouTube. You can try various strategies; experimenting with different approaches is always a good idea. There are also fundamental best practices that should be applied across the board.

Here are the six core strategies we recommend trying when figuring out how to grow a YouTube channel:

Pick a Niche

Those wondering how to be a successful YouTuber should remember that trying to appeal to everyone doesn’t work. It’s always wise to choose a specific area of specialization when creating YouTube content. It allows you to cater to a more defined audience with common interests. Plus, niche content tends to be more shareable and searchable, increasing your visibility and discoverability.

Remember, there’s an audience for just about any niche you can imagine. The key is figuring out your skills, talent, or expertise and incorporating them into your content plan.

Post Often

Of all the tips and tricks on how to make a successful YouTube channel, maintaining a frequent posting schedule is easily one of the most important. Most industry experts agree that posting a video at least once per week is ideal for channel growth. It’s worth noting, however, that many of the top-performing channels on YouTube post videos three times per week or more.

Ultimately, you want to find the best posting schedule for your intended audience. But don’t forget that you can also repurpose video content you’ve shared on YouTube for social media and other platforms, extending your videos’ visibility. That way, even if your audience misses a post, they can receive updates about it while using other apps.

Use Eye-Catching Thumbnails

Some YouTube tips are simple yet highly effective, and this is one of them! Your thumbnail image (the still photo that serves as the preview of your video) plays a significant role in convincing your audience to watch your video. In fact, 90 percent of the best-performing YouTube videos have custom thumbnails, so knowing how to add images to videos is essential.

Ideally, you want to include text on your thumbnail image and use contrasting colors to make it stand out in the feed. Remember, users scroll quickly, and you only have a second or two to convince them to click your video.

Another great idea is to keep your thumbnail designs consistent so your subscribers can become familiar with your branding and quickly spot a video that’s yours without even reading the text.

Add Subtitles and Captions To Your Videos

Accessibility is of the utmost importance when creating videos for YouTube. Part of knowing how to grow a YouTube channel fast is making sure your videos can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of where they are or what kind of functional limitations they may be experiencing.

Individuals with hearing impairments, for example, benefit greatly from being able to read subtitles as they watch video content.

Additionally, people in public may prefer to turn off their volume and simply read the subtitles to avoid being disruptive to others.

So, if you’ve wondered, “What’s the best way to grow a YT channel?” keep this one tip in mind. You never want to alienate potential viewers by forgetting to add captions and subtitles to your videos. Plus, AI-generated subtitles make it super easy to include them!

Use YouTube Shorts

Did you know that YouTube Shorts are viewed approximately 50 billion times per day? That’s a massive opportunity to expand your reach and attract subscribers! 

The key to success with these short and snappy videos is to immediately capture your audience’s attention. Remember, the ideal video length for YouTube Shorts is just 50-60 seconds. 

That doesn’t leave you a lot of time to make an impact. For this reason, you should always include a compelling hook at the beginning of your video. It also helps to edit your videos effectively, keeping transitions quick to appeal to the fast-paced viewing style of your audience.

Engage with Your Audience

It’s not uncommon for content creators to overlook this strategy when learning how to be successful on YouTube — and that’s a big problem. No matter how high quality your content is or how frequently you post, attracting and maintaining subscribers will be more challenging if your audience doesn’t feel like you prioritize engaging with them.

A great rule of thumb is to respond to comments within an hour of receiving them — whenever possible. If you have a large audience and receive thousands of comments per post, it can be helpful to dedicate one hour after uploading your video to engaging in the comments.

Vizard: An All-In-One Solution for YouTube Creators

Are you ready to grow your YouTube channel while saving time and money? With our groundbreaking video editing tool, creating content your viewers will love takes seconds — not hours! We offer many enhancements, like subtitle generators and video splitters, to take your content to the next level.

There’s no video editing experience required. Simply upload your video, choose the tool you want to use, and let AI take care of the rest.

With Vizard, we make it easy for anyone to create professional videos to attract viewers and grow your audience. Get started today!