Growing your channel to 1, 000 subscribers can seem like an impossible task, especially when you're just getting started on YouTube and have no audience yet. But the good news is you don't need luck, the YouTube algorithm on your side, or videos going viral to reach that first milestone of 1, 000 subscribers.
There's a clear step by step strategy that anyone can follow to get there. So in this episode of full time YouTuber, I'm going to share that exact strategy for growing your channel from zero to a thousand subscribers in a fraction of the time that it takes most other channels. Hey, I'm Ben and I help video creators who are entrepreneurs at heart.
Grow their YouTube channels into profitable businesses. This podcast is for creators who want to help an audience through information based content, not to chase fame or subscribers, even though that may come, but rather to build a business that generates revenue while you sleep so you can live your dream life.
And I want to start this episode talking about why the first 1, 000 subscribers matters. This isn't just a vanity metric, and that is simply not the point of starting a YouTube channel and scaling it. It's not about getting the big numbers and calling yourself a YouTuber to your friends and family, but it's really about so much more than that in the grand scheme of things, since unfortunately, likes, views, and subscribers don't pay the bills.
So, why does getting to 1, 000 subscribers matter? Well, firstly, it's a great proof of concept that your channel and the themes of your channel are resonating with your target audience. Every YouTube channel started as a crazy idea that someone had that they hadn't yet tested until one day they decided to start it and see if the idea resonated or not.
So really a thousand subscribers is the first milestone you need to reach. On the journey to 10, 000, 100, 000 and beyond. And it serves as proof that there is an audience there that want to hear your message. And we'll come back from video to video. A thousand subscribers also is your first milestone when it comes to credibility.
Now, while having lots of subscribers isn't about becoming quote unquote famous, even though that may happen eventually. The more powerful factor behind that is credibility. When channels have a following that is substantial, and yes, 1, 000 subscribers is substantial, viewers are going to listen that extra bit more when you have something to say.
The main reason, however, that most people aspire to get to 1, 000 subscribers is that is when YouTube channels can officially get monetized. So once you hit that 1, 000 subscriber mark, and you have a total of 4, 000 hours watch time over the past 12 months, which is way easier to get than it sounds by the way, that is like literally all your videos combined and all the views on those videos calculated as 4, 000 hours.
That is when YouTube will quote unquote monetize you and allow ads to play before your videos of which you get a cut of every ad view. At the thousand subscriber mark, this is not going to be a lot of money, but it's the first step towards something much bigger. So if you're aspiring to your first thousand subscribers, these are a few really good reasons why you will want to get there.
And in this podcast episode, I'm going to do my best to share all of the specific steps that I would take if I I was starting from scratch to grow a channel to a thousand subscribers. I was there a very long time ago and I did build my channel to a thousand subscribers. It's now nearly at 200, 000. So you can take it from me that I really do know what I'm talking about here.
All you need to do is follow these things and you will get to a thousand subscribers. I promise. So the first step on the journey is choosing your niche. And this is a really important thing to do from day one. You don't want to start posting videos on different topics because that's just going to make you blend into every other creator out there.
Instead, what you want to do is focus on one specific topic and that topic only, and consistently post videos from week to week about that same topic. Well, not the exact same topic, but very similarly related topics around the same niche. The goal on YouTube is to become a niche. I'm going to be talking about how to become the best content creator on a given topic.
Because when you become either the best content creator or give the most value in your videos, you will become the go to channel eventually for that topic and that's where growth becomes ridiculously easy. But the first step to getting there is sticking to that specific topic. To do this, I'd recommend doing your homework first because it's important that you find a topic that has a lot of demand.
Don't start with a really niche topic that no one's searching for. Instead, find a topic that's at least semi popular and already has channels and videos that are getting hundreds of thousands of views consistently on their top performing videos. And use that as a starting point for what you're going to be.
Okay. So the first thing you want to do is you want to make sure that you have a good base, your niche topic around. Because if you start a channel on this same topic and you do a good job at it, then it's really inevitable that you're going to get to a thousand, 10, 000 and then eventually a hundred thousand.
Now, if you do choose your initial topic and you post videos consistently, let's say 10, 000 10, 20, 30 videos over several months and your growth is still extremely slow and you're nowhere near the thousand subscriber mark, that's when it's time to take a hint. If you are growing this slowly, it's a sign that there simply isn't demand there and you need to change topics because normally growth is exponential.
If you started a channel, posted 30 videos and you're still only getting. Five views per video on all 30 videos. Then in five years time, you may only be at hundreds of views per video, and I'm guessing that's not where you want to be. So if you've posted 20 plus videos and you're still not getting any kind of response on that topic, that's when you want to go back and reevaluate your topic choice.
The next step is focusing on quality content. Over quantity of content. This means make really good videos. If you can, yes, you can do this by spending a lot of time doing a lot of research, spending a lot of time filming and editing and adding flashy graphics and so on, but this can also be done by giving really high value information on topics that people are searching for.
It's important to set a really high standard from day one. So people know they're going to get value from you. Every time your video pops up in their feed, because no one wants to follow a mediocre YouTuber. They just want to follow the best or the top handful in a given niche. They don't want to follow the average ones with average value and below average production quality.
It's not to say you should obsess too much and spend weeks and months on every single video, because take it from me, in the long term, that is really unsustainable. But again, you just want to make sure you are making good content that resonates with your audience and gives as much value as possible through either entertaining, educating, or inspiring them.
The place to get started with this is finding the most search topics and problems in the niche you are in. So just take a look on YouTube and type in the keywords around your general niche and see what pops up as the top couple of videos. Chances are those videos may hold some clues, or maybe you are already an expert in your given field and you get asked a lot of questions offline in your day-to-day job that you might have been asked at.
Thousand times over the last few years. Well, if you were to bring that expertise online into a YouTube channel, those would be the first videos you should make since it's likely that people are going onto YouTube to ask those exact same questions. And by answering them, you are making high quality content that will give value to people quickly and encourage them to subscribe to you to get more value.
The third thing you want to do on your quest for a thousand subscribers is creating attention grabbing titles and thumbnails. The title and thumbnail is your audience's very first impression of you, and you can make a great impression even with no subscribers if you get this right. So spend the time and create a few different thumbnail variations.
Brainstorm titles, write a list of 10 potential titles you like for the video. And then narrow it down to the number one. If you need help choosing or brainstorming either the title or the thumbnail, just jump onto ChatGPT and ask it for ideas. I do this often with my videos even now, and it gives me great titles and thumbnail ideas.
It's not to say it always gets it right, because sometimes it actually gets it very wrong. But if you're not familiar with making titles and thumbnails, this is a great place to start. I'd also add that you want to make your titles as easy to understand as possible. So instead of using big complicated words or niche industry terms, try and dumb it down so a child could understand because the easier your video title is to register and process in your audience's mind within two to three seconds.
The more people are going to click through as a result, and therefore the more views and subscribers you'll get as a result of that. Also bear in mind that there is a lot of people that don't speak English as their first language. Therefore, they're only going to know a fraction of the English words that native English speakers would know.
So the simpler and easier to understand, you make your video titles. The more people are going to watch for that reason. Next, you want to make sure you hook your viewers in the first 10 seconds of every video you make. If you can start your videos with a strong hook by either identifying their problem immediately or creating a strong impactful statement that entices them to want to know more.
Then the more likely they are to watch the entire video. And in general, videos with longer watch time get naturally promoted by YouTube more. Because YouTube is recognizing that people are watching these videos in full, and therefore other people outside of your audience may also want to watch it in full.
One great thing that I've learned about YouTube over the years is it's so smart in that it doesn't prioritize YouTubers that already have a lot of subscribers and views. In fact, it will prioritize great content from an unknown YouTuber over bad content from a very well known YouTuber. Based on factors like the title and thumbnail, the watch time, the click through rate.
So if a small YouTuber really knows what they're doing, they can still get more views than a big YouTuber on a given topic. YouTube really is an even playing field, which is why you need to get good at hooking viewers in the first 10 seconds, because this is going to be an essential step in keeping viewers around for the long haul.
Which is why for all of your videos, I would dedicate Extra time to the opening 30 seconds to make it as high value and engaging as possible. So your audience simply can't click the back button because the opening was so good that they just can't wait to see the rest of the video. The next step along your journey of building your YouTube channel from scratch is consistency.
This one is unavoidable, especially in the early days. You've got to be consistent and post at a regular time, a regular schedule. It doesn't literally have to be the same day and time each week, but the pattern needs to be roughly at least once a week or once a fortnight. As long as it's somewhat consistent and allows you to get your first 10 to 20 videos out there in under, let's say six months, because if your videos are quality, then all you need to do is add quantity to the equation.
And with enough quantity of great videos, your subscriber numbers will grow quickly. That is really a given, especially if you've chosen a good niche with high demand. So the faster you can get these high quality videos out there, the faster your channel will grow as a result. Of course, you don't want to be too overambitious and say, you're going to make an amazing video every single day for the next six months, because that is really unachievable percent of people.
But if you were to say to yourself, I'm going to make one great video per week. I'm going to post it every Wednesday without fail. And I'm going to do that for my first 10 to 20 videos. That is enough consistency right there to get you to a thousand subscribers. If you've done everything on the list up to this point, however, if you took, say five years to do that, well, then it would take you five years to potentially get your first thousand subscribers, but also people that do subscribe are only going to hear from you once in a blue moon.
And therefore they probably won't look forward to your videos since they're so irregular that they may even forget who you are completely. Whereas the goal is to get people addicted to you and your content and the value you bring and expect that week after week because it really is the. So if you can give it to them consistently from posting consistently, then that is a really fast way to get to your first thousand subscribers and beyond.
Now make sure along the way you engage with your audience on YouTube and build a community. So you'll want to make sure you respond to all of your comments, maybe become friendly with other people in your niche and build relationships, because then you'll be seen as a truly giving person and not just.
Just someone that's there to build a channel to get lots of subscribers for vanity metrics. But you are someone that truly cares about your audience. Now another practice that 98 percent of YouTubers use that I personally don't is literally asking people within the video to subscribe. It goes something like this.
Hey, if you liked the video, go ahead and click that subscribe button down below and hit the notification bell, because I told you to. That makes me cringe. But anyway, in the early days, look, you can do this and it might get people to subscribe, but personally. I don't know if it really makes a difference in the grand scheme of things, because people aren't dumb.
They either like your content or they don't. And if they do like it, they're going to subscribe anyway. It's not as simple as ask someone to subscribe and they will, you actually have to sell them on you being an expert and giving them value first, which is why, like, I literally haven't done this, I think since I was at like 20, 000 subscribers, which was like.
Like, seven years ago? I have not asked people to subscribe since then. Yet, I still built my channel to nearly 200, 000 subscribers. And the reason is, the content speaks for itself. If people want more, they're gonna subscribe. You literally don't need to ask them to. From a complete beginner perspective, however I'm going to say that it doesn't hurt to do this, especially if you are planning on making more great content around your niche and you're teasing that to your audience.
And you might say, Hey, if you want to see the sequel to this video that I'll be making next week, just click the subscribe button down below and it will pop up in your feed next week. Something like that. But I think the underlying element there of the way I worded that. is that they're doing it for their benefit, not for your benefit.
So make sure you're always focusing on your subscribers benefit and not asking for a pity like or subscribe because it's sad if you have to get the violins out and beg people to like you and subscribe to you and validate your very existence every single Ooh, that's icky, nah. So always frame it like your audience is getting all the value if they were to subscribe to you and you're just making your content out of the good of your heart.
Another important strategy I implemented in the early days of my channel that I'd probably recommend you try yourself is promoting your videos literally outside of YouTube. What does this mean? Sharing your videos on social media, like Instagram, if you've got an Instagram account, but more importantly, and this is the one that I found the most success with.
And that was Facebook, especially sharing within dedicated Facebook groups on the niche topics that I was covering in my channel. So I 360 cameras and how to Tiny planet photos with them. So I would often share my new YouTube video inside these 360 camera, Facebook groups. And as 360 cameras got more popular between 2016 and 2020, these groups built tens of thousands of members.
And when I posted my videos, I was getting hundreds of likes in these groups per video, and it was giving so much exposure to my YouTube channel. When I was answering the questions that people were discussing in these Facebook groups. So if you haven't tried this before, whichever niche you are in, there is very likely going to be hundreds, if not thousands of specific Facebook groups based around the key topics of the niche and industry.
So you want to search for the keywords. Maybe there's specific brands or industry terminology. Just pop that into the Facebook search bar and then filter by groups and join the top five to 10 groups in your niche and industry. Those groups will be a great place to not only do market research and get ideas for videos based on the problems people are discussing in the groups, but it's also a great place to share the solutions in the form of the video you made on YouTube.
Of course, you won't want to be too spammy and just post your link with no explanation. And begging people to subscribe. A more tactful way of doing this is adding a caption saying, Hey guys, I noticed a lot of you are discussing this problem. Well, I made a video where I share a pretty good solution where you can solve that problem and it's way easier than you probably thought.
You can find the full breakdown inside my video below. Again, the wording is so important across your journey, marketing, your content, both within your YouTube videos and the promotion of your YouTube videos elsewhere. You need to word it like you are doing other people a favor by sharing the solutions that can be found in your videos.
And this is actually true. You're not just trying to become famous on bad videos that aren't helpful. You are literally sharing videos that are helping people. So it's important to phrase it like that when you're sharing with others, because then it feels like you're a friend just looking out for another friend, versus someone who is desperately begging to get their first thousand YouTube subscribers.
Please, will you like and subscribe to my channel? I need it. So desperately. Okay. Maybe I'm having a bit too much fun here, but yeah, the Facebook group strategy is a really good one. Even if you don't share your content to them, use them as market research tools. Now on your journey to a thousand subscribers, you'll also want to pay attention to the analytics section of YouTube studio and learn what you can from it, take a look at the videos that are performing the best and understand your key metrics like watch time.
Click through rate and audience retention. Because these will normally hold clues as to what the weak points of your videos are, so you can fix them for future videos. And it will also reveal what you're doing well and what you should keep up. Under a thousand subscribers is still a bit early days to dive too deep into these analytics, but you can at least get the basics of what is and isn't working.
On the few videos you have posted another way of getting valuable information from your target audience about what they want is holding polls on your YouTube channel, which you can do in the community tab. And this is a great way to AB test a couple of different ideas that you had. For example, I've posted one before that said, which video editor are you using right now with four different options and after thousands of votes, there was a really clear breakdown of what the most popular editors were.
And which ones people could care less about. And to me as a creator looking for new ideas, this information becomes really valuable about content that would resonate well with this audience. So absolutely experiment with creating polls in the community tab of your channel to get a sense of what people really want.
And therefore what you could make videos about. So everything I've said in the podcast so far really is all you need to get to a thousand subscribers. It's important not to over complicate this process and look into thousands of metrics. Often it just comes down to a few make or break things. And in my humble opinion, after 200, 000 subscribers of my own.
Those key things are finding the right niche with high demand, creating quality content for that audience, creating attention grabbing titles and thumbnails, hooking your viewers in the first 10 seconds, being consistent with your content and uploading at least once every week or two, engaging with people in the comments.
Promoting your videos outside of YouTube, especially in Facebook groups and observing your analytics and looking for trends for the types of content people might want to see in the future. That really is it. Do all of these things and you're going to grow to a thousand subscribers so quickly. And this brings me to my last tip.
You've got to have patience and persistence. Growing a channel does take time and it's very demotivating starting anything from the start. But the key is doing the very first video. The first video is the hardest video, I promise you. It's hard. Don't want to post it. You have second thoughts, you get stuck in a perfectionism mindset and think that you could just make it a little bit better if you wait another few weeks, but do yourself a favor and do everything you can to post your first video, because it is the hardest.
The second video is going to be so much easier. And the third, even easier than that. So be persistent. And then be patient because again, if you can get to 10 to 20 great videos and you've done it on the right topic, then you will get to a thousand subscribers and get your channel monetized. Speaking of monetization, if you want to learn the top 10 ways I monetize my YouTube channel to earn multi six figures per year, I wrote a guide called my top 10 ways to make money with YouTube.
That shows 10 different ways you can make money with your channel. Even if you are still a small channel in the very early days, because like I said, YouTube ad revenue is going to be minuscule at the start of your journey, which is why you need to diversify and add multiple income sources into your overall business model.
So you can make more money and go full time with your channel so much faster than it takes everyone else. And finally quit that nine to five job that you hate. Trust me, I've done it before. Hated it, went full time with my YouTube channel, and I have never looked back since then. So if you want to download my free guide, my top 10 ways to make money on YouTube, you can do so by following the link in the show notes.
Well, that's it for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Good luck on your journey. Hang in there. I promise a thousand subscribers is just around the corner. The key is you've got to be consistent and follow the things I talked about in this episode. I wish you all the very best of luck. And don't forget, you're just one video away.
