Barely Sociable YouTube Discussion.

Hey there, I wanted to make this paste bin as a sort of way of saying thanks for the support and rapid growth of my channel. I know it’s getting harder and harder to grow on YouTube in certain niches so I wanted to give back in sort of a way that might hopefully help some of you that are on the fence about making content.

Basically, I just want to give you my thoughts and somewhat of a guide to starting a new channel in 2020 and what I would do if I had to start over.

Once again I’m not trying to sell anything or anything like that I’m simply just trying to say thank you.


A lot of people when it comes to YouTube don’t know where to start so I think I can give you a rough outline of what I believe most people should do to get started.


Before you even start making videos I want you to understand one thing about YouTube and the algorithm works. It’s a value based system, and despite how much people tell you smash the like button and all that crap I personally believe it’s more about providing something worth people’s time more than anything.

I highly recommend this video for understanding what “value” is in the grand scheme of things.

https://youtu.be/l5VtPY7FBw4

That being said this is crucial concept but isn’t some of the first steps I would take in starting a new channel, keep this in your mind as we go forward though.

When you start a new channel, fundamentally until your channel gets monetized It’s difficult to get any traction so here’s what I did to get around that. The rules for YouTube change once you start to have 1k subscribers and can get monetized as you can get videos pushed out into recommended.

First off if you’re making content on YouTube figure out what you’re accurately capable of doing and what you actually enjoy watching yourself. You’ll be able to better understand what type of content that niche would like to see.

Once you have a niche or some general idea of whether you want to make infotainment, comedy, etc. You should identify some valid subreddits to post to. Make a list of a few that would enjoy your content and wouldn’t feel like your blatantly trying to “gain subs”, the goal here is to add “value” to people’s lives with your videos not prop yourself up. The reason amazon is so successful is because they focus on making the customer happy at all costs. If your consumer (in this case your viewer) isn’t happy your content won’t do well.

Once you have your list of subreddits or Facebook groups or other communities that would like your content it’s time to move on to keyword ranking.

A lot of people don’t know how to get search traffic on YouTube, and much of it is based on what keywords have low competition and high search traffic.

Vid IQ is a software that allows you to check competition for keyword competition. (There should be a free version)

Do some searches for general topics and look for things that have around 10-30~ competition score and around 30+ search traffic. At the time I made my lake city quiet pills video, this was a 15 competition 40 search traffic score.

Once you’ve found a keyword and topic you’d like to do a video on, find out what others have said in previous videos and try to bring something new to the table. Try to come up with a new angle, an improvement, whether it be presentation, editing, thumbnail, overall once again try to make the video valuable and worth their time for whatever they are clicking for.

When you start making the video, try to visualize what you want to do, then look up tutorials on editing, there are tons on YouTube and a lot of them are really good a teaching how to get you going with visuals, animations and so on.

Create a video you would like to watch and once you post it make sure to do something called “Tag”, “Title”, “Description”.

Basically the title of the video should be weighted on that keyword.

For my lake city quiet pills video, I wanted to rank for that keyword

Title: (Make sure your keyword appears first)
Lake City Quiet Pills - Explained

*note, don’t add too much to the title to get more keywords* keep it simple for the keyword you want to rank for adding too many extra words diluted your ranking authority on the title.

Description. (Make sure your keyword appears first)(Do a short write-up / summary, think of it as the back of a book cover)
Lake city quiet pills is an internet matter that has puzzled individuals since 2009 since its initial debut on reddit. Today we seek to dive into this dark mystery to unravel what actually is going on.

First Tag (Very Important)
Your first video tag should be the keyword you’re trying to rank for.

Tag: Lake City Quiet Pills

Add a few other relevant tags but don’t stress too much on adding as many relevant ones as possible your won’t rank for any others with your current channel size.

Once your video is done and you think it’s good, and you’ve brought something new to the table with the topic, upload it and share it with the relevant subreddits and groups that you feel would actually enjoy the content.

Accept criticism, when it’s not hateful and repeat this process until 1k subs and all the watch hours required for monetization on YouTube.

Get your channel partnered and get Adsense set up.

Once you’re at 1k subs you’ll have the ability to rank for more competitive keywords. Repeat the process and don’t make a video on topics unless they genuinely interest you. As your channel grows the more you can leverage search traffic until you eventually can get a video pushed out into recommended.

In my opinion, it’s unlikely you’ll see any video go viral organically on YouTube unless your channel is monetized. (YouTube denies this, but it seems to be the case.)

When you start to gain some traction from recommended on a video or two try to create a longer form video with as much “value” as you possibly can. Ignore keyword research, do something unique and creative and seek to entertain your audience with something new or above and beyond. Keep in mind people go to channels for certain things many people upload random things from all over the place. Stick to one type of content. (Horror, Comedy, Etc)

If you’re a drama channel in this case, dig up something new that hasn’t been discussed yet.

If you’re a channel that makes videos about history, try to tell a side of the story people haven’t heard yet.

Once you get to a certain threshold and have monetization and some pickup from the algorithm you don’t need to post to reddit or other avenues anymore. Be creative, this might sound cliché but it’s what works. So many people on YouTube want to do the bare minimum, content creation should be something you enjoy. And when you get to a somewhat established audience your goal is to entertain the end consumer. If you apply that “value principle” watch time, likes, and retention will all come naturally. If anything most people on YouTube are sick of people whoring themselves for attention, be humble and seek to entertain or whatever people come to your channel for.


To summarize I know this isn’t the most detailed write-up But a lot of this stuff is what I planned out when I got serious with my channel back around September.

I really hope this helps some of you.

<3 Barely Sociable