Small Youtuber Reviews on Digital Deconstruction

It's time! Another episode of Digital Deconstruction. Today we take a look at 2 small YouTube channels and see what we can do to help them move to the next stage of their YouTube careers. Let's go! Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I am Dan from millennialmotivator.ca, helping helping you learn how to create, engage, and inspire online. If you're new to the channel, go ahead and click that subscribe button down below there and the little bell. You'll get a notification when my next video goes live. I put out videos Monday through Saturday helping people figure out how to use this internet thing to grow their business, to grow their brand, and to reach the people that they want to reach with their message, product, or service. Hopefully that's up your alley. Today we're coming back to another series of videos that I'm going to be putting out a little more frequently called Digital Deconstruction. How does that work? It's not limited to specifically YouTube channels. I'm gonna start off with that, okay guys? This is built so that I can help anybody who's got a website, YouTube channel, Facebook page, you name it. You shoot me a platform either on IG or Twitter. You guys can get links to that down in the comments below, or you leave your, your name or website or channel in the comments to these videos. I'll pick a couple from them on the video. We'll pop into the specific sites, give it a look-see, just a quick overview, nothing too long, too drowned out, just some tidbits, some, some pointers on things that you could change in order to see better success, better engagement, better growth on your platform, whether that's website, social media, you name it, we want to help. So caveat, large red Banner. I don't know if I can actually put one in there, so imagine one. But this— in no way am I sponsored to do this, okay? The companies and the channels that have done this have just simply asked. There is no payment for it. I'm doing this because the passion of this channel is to actually help people grow, okay? There is no sponsorship, no changing of money, no changing of hands. Any channel that you see is here solely because they asked, and I'm happy to do a review. Okay, so without further ado, let's get going. Okay guys, the first video we're— our first channel we're looking at today is Dottie Gaming. Uh, Dottie Gaming reached out to me on one of our past videos saying he's been creating content regularly, but he's not seeing the traction he'd like to see. He's not seeing the views, he's not seeing the subscribers. So we're gonna take a look and see what's going on with his channel. First up, we land on the page here, guys. Had to search Dottie Gaming to find you over Dottie. Dottie was just too generic. I wasn't able to see your channel pop up. Dottie Gaming, you're about 10th on the results. So not a terrible place to be, but I feel like you could easily— there wasn't a lot of competition. You should be able to get fairly high considering. So right off the bat, guys, it is a gaming network. We do know that ahead of time. I knew that. Um, you wouldn't necessarily know that though if you weren't familiar with the channel. So when you land on the channel, guys, you've got this banner that's right here. Okay? This banner provides us an opportunity to communicate with our audience right away who We are through an image. So it would be really great for you to have an image here of you smiling or, or with a game controller, something that says this is who you are. So Dottie is you. And then over here, something saying that you are a gamer. If you do PC gaming exclusively, great, have a computer here. If you do console gaming, make it consoles. If it's both, put it there. Retro gaming, new gaming, who knows? I have no idea from this banner whether or not you are a gaming channel at all. This brain in the bullseye doesn't really tell me that. Now this logo here, your logo with the brain that's got the menacing eyes, that one actually feels a little bit more gaming than this one here that's just the generic brain. But again, that's not really clearly demonstrated there. So I would recommend that you revise this banner immediately, uh, just to communicate more effectively when people land what your channel is about. Okay, the next big thing is this. This section here is your social network sharing opportunity, okay? And you're gonna need that for your community for a bunch of different reasons. So at the very least, what you want to have here is your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and in this case, you've got your subscribe button. I do feel that the subscribe button is a little bit redundant seeing as the actual subscribe button's right here, but I leave that to you. That's your decision to leave that there or not. But at the very least, have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram here, okay? Okay, and when you're looking to build a community, you have to realize the community is so much more than just YouTube. Your social networks as a whole are gonna work to help you build your brand elsewhere and bring people into views on your channel. Okay, so make sure that you're using this, link your other accounts to this. If you don't have accounts specifically for Dottie Gaming, consider creating them. Okay, but let's get into the meat and potatoes of this here. So we've got We've got this video here that's the latest game that you've played. It's a video that it's a 20-minute video of you playing games. I highly recommend, guys, that you actually have a channel trailer here, something 15 to 30 seconds long that tells people what your channel is. So when you land on my page, and I'm just going to use this as a reference because I'm big about sharing what it is that I've seen that works well for me. When you land on my page, this this automatically runs. And I've got it muted so you guys don't hear the music right now, but it runs immediately. It shows people who you are, what you're about, what you're doing. It's got a description that lets people know. So I highly recommend you shoot a 15 to 20 second or to 30 second video that showcases what your channel is about, and it autoplays so people have a feeling for who you are. Okay, that's that. Let's go into the videos themselves. So guys, one of the biggest success factors as a small channel is this: You want to have frequent videos. So let's take a look at frequency of video first. A year ago, a year ago, a year ago, a year ago. So we're going to discount those videos. It's great that those are there, but in reality they don't really matter too much. Okay, about a month ago it looks like you got back into your YouTube channel, and that's great. Um, you started with PUBG videos, you moved into Alan Wake, multiple episodes, The Dummy Experiment, some episodes, Cursed Tower. So now looking at your videos, I understand that you're going to do a variety of games from currently trending to retro to, uh, indie. You're gonna do the whole shebang. I get that. That could be communicated more effectively back in the banner, I think. But it's great that this is here. Make sure that you showcase that in your sh— in your channel trailer as well, that you play all different kinds of games across different platforms from different genres. That's important to have in your trailer. Okay, um, now looking at this, there's no massive video counts on here, and that's fine. 42, 22, 42 looks like your biggest. Well, these older ones from a year ago have about 700, 400, 200, so that's not so bad. But 42 is out of this latest run of videos is your best video. So I'm gonna say this, if we look at your thumbnails from the get-go, this is okay. There's a lot going on here. It's not super clear. I feel like it— you're drawing attention away from what it should be. I like this one. That you're willing to put your face on the thumbnails is great. Okay, these are not fantastic. These Alan Wake episodes, you would just scroll right by this if it was in the chat feed. Having your face on there with these great expressions is phenomenal. It's a great way to go. Next up though, you want to make sure that your titles are prominent. These are, these are great. I love that you're using the font from the games. Um, Cursed Tower, see, I love how the font changes. You've got the, the character. These are great. You can see your thumbnails evolving as you go. These thumbnails are by far the best so far. This is fantastic, I love this. Great layout on the thumbnail, so your thumbnail game currently is on point, and I really like what you're doing with it. The titles, what I see that grabs me right away with the titles is the parts. Forget the parts. Forget Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Drop it. Put your title in there, The Dummy Experiment Let's Play. Make sure that you've got your video title so it's relevant to the game and what you're doing with the game that day. So, The Cursed Tower Ultimate Power, great title, leave it at that. Get rid of the part 4, get rid of the pipes, okay? Don't need them. It's not gonna help you with your search results. Leave it at that. Now, we go into this and what you wanna do is make sure— I'm not gonna— That you've got a clear description that showcases what it is. So, let's play the game of The Cursed Tower. You wanna be more clear about what you're gonna see in this episode. What makes this episode different than the last couple parts, okay? Explain what happens in it. Use this to your advantage. You get 5,000 characters in your description and you've used like maybe 200 here. Maybe use this to your advantage. Have a breakdown of what's going on. Um, again, just for comparison's sake, I'll go in here, go to the videos, and you're gonna see I can go to show more here. And there's a breakdown of what's going on. There's a longer listing. You can see where to go and reach out with people. There's a bit of a longer description. At the very least, you want to get to the see more or show more. Make this bigger, okay? Having an additional subscribe call, clearly that's not needed with the subscribe button right there. But ultimately, guys, this is great uploading new videos. This is good to see. Make sure that you are very clear as to why this episode is what it is inside this chat. Use it to your advantage. You don't have PC here. I don't know if this is PC or console in here. Try to use relevant keywords as much as possible in your description that you think people are going to search for to find this game. Steam, Valve, uh, wherever you're getting the game, wherever you're playing the game, make sure that you've got those keywords in your description. Okay, um, now I, I had mentioned to forget the parts— part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4. Let's check your playlist game because that's where that comes to play. So this is great. This is great that you've got this lined up. What I would recommend instead of part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 is create a playlist and inside the playlist organize the videos from start to finish so people can go in and watch the autoplay. You don't need to have part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4 in here because you'll know just by letting it auto run and how you've got it organized which part goes in which sequence. Okay. Drop the parts, drop the finale, just make it about the title of the game, what you're doing with it. I think that's a lot better way to go. You're gonna see a lot more success. The last thing that I want to touch on with this one in particular is if I go to your main page, okay, everybody knows that social media is a larger network. So you've got Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, all of these different avenues. The reason why I don't only advocate that you've got an account for your channel specifically on all those networks isn't just for you to showcase and have people come follow you there. It's also so that you can share this content out to those platforms using your personal channel, right? Instead of just building your brand here on YouTube, you want to build your brand as a whole across as many networks as you possibly can. So how many networks is that exactly? Go into your video and Click this share, you'll see all of these opportunities right here. At the very least, guys, I, I spend about an hour and a half shooting, editing, and uploading my video, and then 45 minutes to an hour sharing out that video to as many forums and social networks as I'm involved in. Okay, so at the very least, I recommend that you have the Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. That's something that you're using regularly. Blogger, if you've got a blog, great, go ahead and do that. This is a Russian network. Maybe if you're from a Slavic country, that's of interest to you. I, again, a Russian network. I recommend that if you're in North America, those probably won't be relevant to you. So at least from Twitter over, you're using that. Instagram, you've got your stuff up there on Instagram as well. But make sure you're sharing out this content regularly, okay? Every video, share it out. You'll see immediately more views coming from off of YouTube into your YouTube, which is just a great way to boost your video. Okay, um, on top of that, as you're sharing content more frequently out into your social networks, what you're going to see is those networks will grow and that will steamroll into getting you more views overall. Okay, so be diligent, make sure that you take the time to share this content out, and make sure that the networks that you're having the most success with, those are on your main page, those are in this area here. I gotta tell you though, for the most part, it's not— you're not off to a bad start. I think you've got some great opportunities here. Your thumbnail game is on point. I think you've got a clear vision for where you want to go. The big things that I would change are social networks, change the banner, make sure your titles drop the parts, be active in your playlist creation, and you're off and running. Stick at this for 90 days and let me know where you're at. I'd love to get an update. Thank you so much for offering your channel for me to It takes some guts. I hope I wasn't too hard on it. I really just want to see you succeed. I think you've got potential. You've got great character. It shows through. Your video length is good. Your frequency of posting is good. Stick at it for the next 90 days and let's see what's going on. But for now, let's get over to the next channel. All right guys, we're back with the second channel. Second channel is MC Squared. Now, same process guys, MC Squared. I'm gonna take a look at, give it a breakdown, do the best that I can. I'm not trying to beat up these channels, okay guys? What I'm trying to do is just notice some very small key things that could help you grow, help you build your channel. So right off the landing, again, this is big, right? This is a huge thing. When you land on a page, you should be able to understand from the banner what the channel is about. I look at this and I'm not sure what the channel is about. I see MC Squared, I see new videos every week, which is great. I like the font, I like the logo. But give me a better understanding of who you are, what your channel is about. Give me a face or faces if this is a family or if it's a couple, if it's a person, let me know. And then give me some indication as to what the channel is about. Okay, um, the other thing, guys, if you're looking to get success on YouTube, 3 to 5 videos a week is what is recommended. Okay, 3 to 5 videos a week, not a new video every week. You're gonna see much slower growth At 1 video a week over 3 to 5 videos a week. That's just a reality, but if the decision is that you can only put out 1 video a week, I understand and I appreciate that. I should still— I just feel compelled to tell you 3 videos a week is going to go a lot further for helping you grow your channel over 1 video a week, okay? So let's go down here. I like the logo. You've got your social networks plugged in here, so that's great. This is one of the key ones that we touched on on the last channel. So this is fantastic to see that you've got this hooked up. As I said, the big 3 that I like to see are your Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, and you have those there, so that's fantastic. You do have an intro video, so that's great that that's there. Perfect, this is wonderfully set up. I really appreciate how much you've got this set up, so that's great. Go ahead and click that subscribe button there. I want to make sure that I do that for all of the channels that I— all of the channels that I review. Go ahead and make sure that I am subscribing to you guys. So there we go, as a thank you for letting me take a look at what you guys are up to. So what we've got here is we've got popular uploads, and this one is going to stand out almost right away. So one of the big differences that we had between Dottie Gaming and this one is Playlists. There are clear playlists listed on Dottie Gaming, and that's a, that's a key thing to do. Here you've just got your popular uploads and you haven't built out playlists showcasing what's going on. So I highly recommend that you build some playlists out regarding your channel, regarding what you're up to. Okay, now videos. 6 months ago, 6 months ago, 6 months ago, 6 months ago, 5 months ago, and now you're back at it. So it looks like you took a bit of a break, a bit of a hiatus. You weren't sure what was going on, and now you're back at it. So diligence and consistency is going to be key to growing your channel, okay? Making sure that if you stick to a schedule of one a week, if that's really what you're committed to, that that follows through. If you don't, if you don't commit to that and you're not making those videos actually consistently show up, it's hard to create a community around that. It really is. You've got decent views on these. Uh, the thumbnails are interesting, they're eye-catching, they, they draw attention a little bit. I do always put a warning with prankers, guys. Prank videos are falling into one of two categories lately on YouTube. One is disingenuous, so they seem fake and staged, and the other is that they're real but they're possibly dangerous. So be very cautious if you're creating prank channels or prank videos that there is a legitimacy to them and a safety to them. Nobody likes the spam, scam kind of stuff. There have been YouTube channels shut down lately because of certain people doing certain pranks. So just be careful with your channels. Make sure that your content is respectful and safe to the community that is watching it and the community that is a part of it, okay? But playlists is a big one. You're missing that. I definitely encourage playlists. I like to show my channel as well to give you guys an understanding of what I mean by that. So with Dottie Gaming, his were exclusively his own content. That's fine to have playlists like that. If you go down to my playlist section, you'll see that there are playlists where it is entirely my content. So this one is entirely my content. This one is entirely my content. However, the playlists that I predominantly show off are ones that have other notable people from YouTube. So here's one on how to get your first 100 YouTube subscribers. You've got myself, Tim Schmoyer, Sarah Dietschy, Roberto Blake. These are all big names. Most people that see this playlist will recognize it. It's a great way to put your brand alongside other brands that are already seeing success. Keep moving down. Legacy for Entrepreneurs. Of course you've got to have Gary Vee next to me. It's a great way to go. Oprah Winfrey, it's another big name. Keep moving down. You've got— it just goes on and on and on, right? You've got the guys from Think Media, the Video Influencers, Nick Nimmin. Roberto Blake again, great way to associate your channel with people that are relevant to your video content. It's also another way to create a URL on YouTube, so it creates another searchable term for your video. It'll help you grow, okay? So I highly recommend you get your playlist under control. The length of your videos have improved. The 1-minute, 7-minute, 3-minute, 5-minute, 3-minute, those are all under that 10-minute threshold. You really wanna be aiming to hit that 10-minute threshold. So 9 minutes 30 seconds, that's pretty darn close. 11 minutes 23 seconds, that's pretty darn close. Anything over 10 minutes is fantastic actually. So 11 minutes 23 seconds, that's great. Let's open up Lost My Ring Prank. Good morning guys, welcome back to our channel. So today's pretty exciting. Okay, so I'm gonna mute it right there. So welcome guys, welcome back to the channel. What? You're talking now about what you're gonna do today. On the show, that's great, but before you get in here, same thing as Dottie Gaming, I recommend that you have a call to action. Hey guys, welcome back. Today we're talking about this. If you're new to the channel, go ahead and hit that subscribe button, or do it in your own way, do it in your own tone, but give that call to action at the start of the video, okay? Most of your viewers aren't gonna make it to the end of your video, and if that's where you've got your call to action, that's gonna be a bit of a problem. you're not going to get that call to action in. So let's keep going here. Okay, so this says new videos every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So this is great. If this is true and this is your new, uh, broadcast outline, that's what you're hoping to do is a video every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, make sure that you update your banner to indicate that. Um, and definitely get some photos of the family. It looks like it's you and your husband and a baby. Have all 3 of you guys involved on that banner. Um, yeah, that would be a big one. The other thing, guys, is when you are going into your video, make sure— if you like your video, go ahead and like it, but make sure you start the engagement down here. Every single one of my videos, it doesn't matter which one I go— you go into, you're going to come in and guaranteed what you are going to see— How do you get 100 real subs when you're just starting? What you're going to see is a question of the day. I put something in there that's an immediate question to engage people. On mobile, that shows up even better. When they land on the video, the comments are there, and it's something that's there asking for the community to engage. And since I've started doing that, you'll notice that there's lots of comments and conversation happening on the videos. It's a huge part of growing presence on YouTube. So make sure that you're doing that. Make sure that you've got at least your comment on every single one of these, okay? Search terms and descriptions. It's all right, you're redirecting people here and there. Check out our website. I mean, this is okay. I would make sure that you've got a little bit more in here. I would get rid of 18+ due to foul language, just scrap that. You've got that in your thumbnail for this, so if people have clicked through to it, they saw the 18+, they know what it's about, okay? Ultimately though, you're in a decent place. Make sure you're consistent with your broadcasting, your thumbnails are all right, your titles are all right. You need a better call to action at the start of your videos. Excuse me. But ultimately, I think your growth is gonna come out of engaging your community more with questions and being consistent in your video output. Again, thank you so much for checking out my videos, asking me, you know, maybe take a look at what you're doing. I appreciate that. Happy to throw a subscribe your way. Thank you. Just as a thank you for letting me review your channel on my channel. Alright guys, that is it for today. Thank you again to Dotty Gaming and MC Squared. Links to their channels down in the comments below. Feel free to check them out if you're interested. If you guys have a channel that you would like me to do this with, again, it doesn't have to be a YouTube channel. It could be your social media. It could be, uh, so a Facebook or an Instagram account. If you have a website you want me to take a look at, I'm happy to do that. That's what these episodes are about. Probably try to do one of these a week now, but I am happy to help small YouTubers. Just give my feedback, give my opinion. I'm not trying to completely change your channels. I love how unique you guys are. I want to help equip you. I want to help get you to where you want to go, okay? So thanks again to everybody that participated. Let me know down in the comments below what you guys think of the channels that we looked at. If you think I'm completely off base, tell me down there. Otherwise, share this out. Let people know that are trying to build a presence on YouTube. I'm happy to help them out. Let's do this together. Let's go. Catch you tomorrow with another great video. Take it easy.