Youtube Channel Growth Rate Case Study – 7 Lessons Learned

When first starting out on YouTube your channel growth rate may be very slow. It’s easy to become discouraged when your videos receive little or no views. In the video below I share how my channel growth rate increased in recent years, the 7 lessons I learned and how you can apply it to the growth of your OWN channel.

Watch the video below

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When I first started my channel in 2006 I was using a non-hd video camera. I had just started a marketing tips newsletter for my web design business. As you can see from the first video that I uploaded to YouTube in 2006 using a non-hd camera the presentation was little wobbly, the quality was poor, but hey I wasn’t aiming for perfection.

Here’s a quick look from my YouTube Channel Growth Statistics from 2007 to 2017 from the time of shooting this video. Unfortunately YouTube analytics would only show the statistics from 2007 until 2017.

4/11/07 – 4/1/08 0 subscribers
4/11/08 – 4/1/09 9 subscribers
4/11/09 – 4/1/10 10 subscribers
4/11/10 – 4/1/11 6 subscribers
4/11/11 – 4/1/12 68 subscribers
4/11/12 – 4/1/13 95 subscribers
4/11/13 – 4/1/14 357 subscribers
4/11/14 – 4/1/15 2620 subscribers
4/11/15 – 4/1/16 5591 subscribers
4/11/16 – 2/28/17 7241 subscribers

As you can see from 2007 to 2013 I hardly got any subscribers because I wasn’t focused video marketing and I wasn’t uploading many videos. In January 2013 I purchased a video traffic course called Video Traffic Academy which is currently unavailable.

After studying the course I started uploading videos every now and then. So I only got 357 subscribers from April 2013 to April 2014. Video marketing was still not much of my focus.

It was only after April 2014 that I began uploading videos twice a week. As a result I received 2620 subscribers in one year. This could be viewed as a very slow YouTube channel growth rate compared to other channels which are receiving 1000s of subscribers every month.

The following year I doubled my subscriber rate and got 5591 subscribers. From April 2016 to Feb 28 2017 I received over 7200 subscribers. Currently I’m on track to double my subscriber rate from last year.

Here are the 7 lessons I learned about the growth rate of my YouTube channel and how you can apply them to the growth of your own channel:

1. Channel growth rate is very slow at the beginning
Channel growth is like a seed. You won’t see it’s full potential until its reached maturity. If you nourish it with the right elements it will blossom into something beautiful channel that you will be proud of.

Therefore don’t get discouraged by the lack of views to your videos or the number of subscribers to your channel. Instead focus on uploading new videos every week even if you don’t feel like it and believe that your channel will be a success. Keep in mind that what you do every week matters more than what you do every once in a while.

2. Channel growth rate increases with upload frequency
The more videos you upload, the more traffic you will receive. As your channel grows more videos will appear in the suggested, recommended and related video sections.

3. Channel growth rate increases as video quality improves
Continually look for ways to improve the quality of your videos.

Here are some suggestions…

  • Grab the attention of your viewers at the beginning of your video
  • Make use of cards, end screens and annotations to encourage interactivity
  • Ask people to subscribe in the video
  • Improve the quality of your thumbnails so they are easy to view on mobile devices and in the search engine listings
  • Create video content that your target audience wants to watch
  • Experiment with creating different types of videos such as how-to, storyline, case studies
  • Compare making short videos with longer videos to see which one gains the most traction.

4. Promote your video within the first 48 hours
If your video gains a ton of traffic within the first 48 hours of you uploading it, it will often appear on the first page of Google or YouTube. After that your video rankings will dance around a bit before Google decides on a more stable position. This often called the Google dance.

5. Improve view duration
One of the main ranking factors of YouTube is watch time. For example if the average view duration is 60% then this video will rank higher than a similar video which has a view duration of only 20%…even if it gets more views. Therefore look for different ways to improve the retention rate of your videos.

6. Don’t compare your growth with the growth of other channels
Comparing your success with other’s success will only kill your inspiration and motivation. Every channel is completely different. No one has exactly the same content. We all have different personalities, equipment, and editing styles. Most importantly we all have different target audiences.
Trying to be like someone else is a waste of the person you are. Just give your best and forget the rest because there’s always someone else who is doing better than you.

7. Know your target audience
If you can tap into what your target audience wants, you’ll attract the right traffic. One way to do this is to type your seed keyword into Google or YouTube and look at the keywords and keyword phrases that are being suggested. Create video content based around these suggestions. Another method is to ask subscribers what kind of content they would like to see you cover.

Bonus Tip
Don’t get affected by negative comments

“You can’t change the forces of the wind but you can change the setting of your own sail.” This means if somebody doesn’t like your message, just let them be. Life isn’t about pleasing everybody. So just be yourself and enjoy your own journey.

Let me ask you an important question..
What lesson have you learned that has contributed to the growth of your YouTube channel? Post your answer in the comments below. I’d love to read them.

If you want to learn how generate traffic, leads and sales on autopilot become a member of my YouTube Marketing Course at TubeVideoBootCamp.com

Comments

  1. I want to add a featured video content on my channel home page for returning subscribers

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