BECOME A SUCCESSFUL YOUTUBER – TOP 5 TIPS FROM THE PROS + INSTRUCTIONS

Hard to believe, but YouTuber is now a respected profession and more and more young people want to become YouTubers. Shooting videos about topics that you choose yourself and earning a lot of money with it sounds admittedly tempting. But how do you become a YouTuber and what do you have to do to succeed on the platform?

We took a closer look at the question, analyzed YouTubers and also asked them about their secrets to success. Here is the ultimate guide including tips to become a successful YouTuber. First, however, we clarify the following question:

Can everyone become a YouTuber?

YouTube is ingenious in that it is suitable for almost everyone. There are no financial or academic barriers. In addition, there are also no access restrictions in terms of age or gender. Theoretically, anyone can become a YouTuber. In practice, however, it usually looks different. Because many have unrealistic expectations, ideas or simply do not have the necessary motivation to become YouTube successful.

The following points and tips should be considered if you want to become successful with the video platform and also live from it full-time or earn money.

Become a YouTuber – tutorial

Here are the most important steps to follow when building your YouTube channel. These are not set in stone, nor are they an exact blueprint for becoming a star. However, you should follow them in chronological order. This increases the chances of success and prevents some beginner’s mistakes.

Find target group & define positioning

The first and one of the most important points is to find and define the target group. As soon as you know this, you can position yourself as a YouTuber or personal brand in the market accordingly. This is essential for real brands and for personal brands as well. After all, you are product, brand and service in one.

You should proceed very precisely and specifically. Many make the mistake of positioning themselves too broadly and treating a wide variety of topics under the category of lifestyle. Many great YouTubers do this only because they have previously become known for a certain thing or for a certain topic. After that, as the reach and the number of followers increased, they became more diverse with the topics.

Therefore, especially in the beginning, you should know exactly whose target group you are addressing and how you can best position yourself to be successful. The following questions can be very helpful:

• What topics interest me?
• What topics are users interested in?
• What added value can I offer?
• What problems do I solve?
• What makes me different from others? (USP / unique selling proposition)
• Which YouTuber can I use as a role model?

Through these questions, you begin to better define yourself as a brand and approach a more concrete positioning. Here is an example for the purpose of approximation from practice:

Computer Games > Ego Shooter > Call of Duty

Sports > Weight training > Bodybuilding > Natural Bodybuilding > Vegan Natural Bodybuilding

Even if you are interested in sports this is not a very well defined positioning. However, by becoming more and more specific you narrow down the potential target group on the one hand, but you also get a clearer positioning. This is important because the smaller and better you define and limit the target group, the better you understand them and can produce the desired content. In addition, the umbrella topics such as sports, health, beauty, fashion, etc. are already very saturated and the competition is great.

Procure equipment

After you have determined which videos you want to make, you should get the right equipment. Meanwhile, the demands on the quality are so high that sometimes entire television teams build YouTube channels. As a result, you should pay attention to the quality from the beginning and get the appropriate equipment. Of course, this depends on the intended use and must be weighed individually for each. Because vloggers, live streamers and beauty YouTubers all have their own and different equipment.

It is usually helpful to look at the video description of successful YouTubers in the same scene, because their equipment is usually linked there. Almost all professional YouTubers link the cameras, mics and lighting systems they use as well as other equipment in the description. In addition, there are also videos on YouTube about cameras and purchase recommendations for the respective purposes. YouTube is therefore a good source of information for YouTube equipment.

You should be aware at the beginning that buying equipment is an investment in the channel and the videos and will pay off in the long run. Therefore, you should not save at the wrong end.

Learn Film & Editing

The next thing is to get to grips with film and editing and learn both. Fortunately, there are already some tutorials and videos in this area on YouTube. However, you should also invest time in this area, even if it seems difficult at first. Some basic knowledge facilitates the ongoing creation of high-quality videos enormously. In addition, you save time in the long run if you deal with film and post-processing in the beginning.

You should also be aware that you should continuously educate and develop yourself in this area in order to become big on YouTube. It is not for nothing that the videos of the big YouTube partly already resemble small film productions. It is also the opportunity to stand out from the crowd by keeping the quality very high, regardless of the content.

Optimize channel

When creating the channel, you should score with a good appearance right from the start. Because as soon as new users become aware of the channel, the main page of the channel is the first impression you get. Specifically, you should pay attention to the choice of the right profile picture, banner and channel description. In addition, you can already create playlist which categorize the videos in the future to facilitate the overview.

Of course, you should also include further profiles (Instagram, Twitter, Twitch etc…) as well as a possible website and contact details.

YouTube SEO

Before you start creating and uploading videos, you should also learn about YouTube SEO in order to be able to apply it afterwards. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and means the optimization for search engines. This is the preparation of content under certain criteria so that they are better found in the search engines. After all, most videos are found and clicked on via the search function. The goal of YouTube SEO is to rank among the top results for certain keywords.

There are some points that must be considered. Here are the most important at a glance which have the greatest impact:

Titel

The first thing to optimize is the title of the video. Here you should choose a title that contains the most important keywords (search terms) and at the same time is stimulating. It should motivate to click through and at the same time describe the video as well as possible. However, you should not overdo it because clickbait is not welcome on YouTube.

Thumbnail

The next point concerns the thumbnail. The still image that is displayed in front of the video before you click on it is enormously important. Like the title, it reveals something about the content and can clearly set the video apart from other videos in the search results. This should also be designed accordingly stimulating so that you arouse the interest of the user.

Description

The description is another important point that YouTube evaluates when it comes to the rankings of videos. You should explain in a few sentences what the videos are about and also contain the most important keywords. At the same time, you should not list too many advertising links or other supposedly spam-like content. This can harm the rankings again.

Tags

In the video editor, where you define the title, thumbnail and description, you can also define the corresponding tags for the video. These are nothing else than keywords which hit the video. Mostly they are the same as in the title and description. Here you should enter the most important ones and no more. Unnecessary spamming and entering all possible keywords gives no advantage and can even have a negative effect.

Subtitle

If you still have the resources, you can also translate the video and add subtitles in multiple languages. However, this is a lot of effort optional. However, those who have the necessary budget can turn to certain services or platforms like Fiverr and outsource the work. Doing it yourself is usually not worth the time and money.

User Metrics

One of the most important points that you can only indirectly control are user metrics. These include engagement such as likes, comments, shares and watch time. If the video is bad and many users bounce and do not watch the video at all, YouTube rates it badly. If the watch time and the interaction rates are strong, YouTube signals high relevance. Therefore, you should always make sure that the content is interesting for the users and that the interaction and the watch time are high.

Most of the points are very similar to Google SEO.

Videos film & upload regularly

The next thing is to make a regular schedule when you upload videos. It’s better for you and your subscribers to have a fixed schedule. So you can better manage your time and the subscribers know in advance when a video. In the beginning you can start with one video / week. However, if you have already mastered the process, you should upload several videos per week.

The YouTube algorithm currently responds very well to active YouTubers. As long as the quality remains high, you should increase the frequency. This is also the reason why many professional YouTubers talk about a full-time job. The more active you are, the better for the algorithm and the corresponding reach of the entire channel.

Depending on the niche, however, the schedule in which you upload varies. For vlogs, it is worth uploading every day. For more elaborate videos with more content, it can be only 11-3 / week. Ultimately, you have to test for yourself what works best for you or how much time you can spend.

Collaborate

After you have produced and uploaded some content to YouTube and gained your first subscribers, you should start collaborating with others. Many YouTube have been doing this for years and it is still an effective way to grow faster. By collaborating with other YouTubers, ideally from the same subject area, and making videos together, you can easily attract new users. Especially if the other YouTuber already has a large reach.

The bigger you are, the better this works, because only a few want to work with an account that has less than 100 followers. However, if you already have a relevant fanbase and good content, many are open to collaboration.

Trend Hopping

Another growth hack is trend hopping. Through targeted tracking and implementation of trends, it is very easy to quickly get into the TOP charts. But you have to react quickly and keep an eye out for trends. Current events in the world are always very good material for potential viral videos. Especially if you implement and upload them in a timely manner. Examples include commentary on sporting events (World Cup / Champions League finals), political decisions, and new product launches (iPhones, etc..).

The YouTube algorithm is very good at recognizing trends and pushed such videos very strongly if they are uploaded at the right time.

Expand platform (Twitch, Instagram & Co.)

If you are already active on YouTube and have built up a certain fan base, you should also become active on other platforms. The most popular is currently Instagram and Twitch as well as Twitter. You should use these insofar as you can stay in contact with your followers around the clock. In addition, these platforms allow you to share short videos and photos. If you have built up a follower base on these platforms, you can use them to promote new videos. You can also get faster feedback on videos or ask for new ideas for videos.

Tips from successful YouTuber

Here are a few tips from already successful YouTubers who have built up channels with millions of reach in recent years. It is always worthwhile, no matter in which area, to learn from the best and implement their tips.

Casey Neistat

NEVER STOP UPLOADING – With this guiding principle Casey Neistat has built one of the biggest YouTube channels in the field of daily vlogging ever. Without any basic requirements or qualifications, Casey simply started uploading daily videos of himself to YouTube. Currently, there are over 1000 videos on his channel and he now has over 11. million subscribers. His strategy was to force himself to succeed. As he started uploading daily, the videos got better and better and he had to deal with the platform on a daily basis.

It is also subject to one of the most important principles of YouTube – consistency. You have to upload a lot of YouTube videos on a regular basis to become successful. Just as with written blogging, it is necessary to publish content regularly over a period of time. Thus, you increase your chances of success immensely.

Stephan Graham

Content is King – Stephan Graham is a fast-growing investment, finance and real estate channel with nearly 1 million subscribers in the US. His secret to success is high quality content. His videos all provide a lot of value and are also entertaining when you watch them. Moreover, the content should not only add value but also encourage people to interact, because YouTube loves engagement.

Karl Ess

Trends & Polarize – The biggest German fitness YouTuber has built up his capital on the one hand with good content but also with regular trend videos. As soon as something happened in the fitness scene, Karl immediately made a video about it. Partly he has also set certain trends himself and challenged others to challenges. He also copied or adopted a lot from the US and brought it to Germany. This is an old secret trick of online marketers because the U.S. are in many areas a few months and years ahead. Karl also relies heavily on polarization. Better too much negative attention than none at all is his motto.

Summary

YouTube is a huge platform with unimaginable possibilities. In the meantime, it’s no longer just about cat videos, it’s television 2.0. The new generation no longer knows TV stars, but rather YouTubers. The interest and demand for these people is correspondingly high. At the same time, the opportunities to earn money with YouTube are also increasing.

If you know how to use the platform properly and observe some basic things, it is also possible to build up a large channel yourself. It is important to take the whole thing seriously and to deal intensively with the topic of YouTube. Meanwhile, it is a professional profession that can develop from it.