Mary Schiller breaks down why YouTubers beg for likes and subscriptions: these metrics drive views and ad revenue. Her channel grew 119% in a month with 1,000 new views and 35 subscribers. A single 2016 video still pulls 19,000 views and brings her coaching clients eight years later.
Do you know why people on YouTube videos like this one are always asking you to like, subscribe, and watch all the way through to the end? It's because those 3 metrics are super important to how your videos get found on YouTube. And if your channel is monetized, how much money you can make Or if you're like me and you're a small channel still and you're not monetized, those 3 things, particularly watching all the way to the end and subscribers, are really crucial to getting to that point of being monetized, meaning that you get paid for the ads that appear on your videos. Now, before I take you behind the scenes to look at some really interesting stats, I want to say one thing, which is I love YouTube because even though my small channel isn't monetized yet, I have been able to earn a lot of money from this channel over the years because this is how so many of my coaching clients have found me. In fact, just today as I'm recording this, someone I'm working with as a private client said they thought this was how they found me through my YouTube channel. So just goes to show you that it doesn't take a lot for YouTube to start working on your behalf. So let's go behind the scenes and I'm going to show you something really interesting that may encourage you to start your own YouTube channel as you watch me try to monetize this one. I am now in the YouTube Studio behind the scenes here, and I want to show you some stats that will really open your eyes, I think, to why things like watch hours are important, but also how much you can do with your channel, even if it's not monetized. So just from posting some videos regularly just over the past couple of weeks, I have 1,000 more views than normal. Not bad for a month. I have 70 more watch hours than normal. Now I'm at almost 130. And this is really cool. I've gained 35 subscribers in the last month, which is 119% more than the previous month. I am blown away by this. This is literally just from posting some things regularly on my channel. But that's not even the coolest part. Here's what I want to show you. It says your top content this period. That means the last 28 days. So let's take a look. I have some videos that I published fairly recently. These top 4 were published in May. As I am talking to you, it is still May of 2024. But check this out. The 5th most popular video was published in 2017. 2016. As I am talking to you, that is 8 years ago. 8 years ago. Tell me what other platform other than Amazon, which I also love— people found me through my books too— but tell me another platform where you can have content on there for 8 years that is still working for you. That is what I love about YouTube. I still get comments on that video. I still get emails from people who find me through that video. And if I were looking for life coaching clients, I know I could get them because of that video. It's my most popular video by far, and I want to show you what it looks like. I'm going to open it up on my screen, so hang on. All right, I am now on this video from 8 years ago, 2016. You can see that it's had 19,000 views. It's by far my most popular one. And what's so fascinating to me is how I look, not my face. Yes, I was younger then, but just the quality of it. It's almost an hour long. I'm kind of fuzzy in it. The picture never gets any clearer than this. As I am talking, I'm interacting with people who are in a chat. So I don't know what platform I was using, but it was something like Zoom. I'm just literally in what was my bedroom at the time in our apartment in New York, in the Bronx. I love the Bronx. But it's fascinating to me to realize that this video with this level of quote unquote production has been my most popular. It tells me that, you know, all of this fancy schmancy editing and stuff that you see, that is not what people are interested in. People are interested in you. They're interested in what you can express to them that can support them and help them. That is what people are interested in. They're not interested in whether you know how to be the best video cinematic editor in the world. That's not what it's about. One of the main reasons that I want to monetize my channel is not just because I would appreciate the passive income, because that's a huge part of my goals going forward with my business, but also because I want to reach more people with my messages of hope and inspiration. And the only way that I can really do that is if my channel gets monetized and I can be compensated for taking the time to make these videos. But even without that, even without that, I know that YouTube is an incredible platform because I've seen it with my own eyes. I've seen it with not just that video, but others that I have put up over the years that people continue to watch. It's not like social media where people just scroll past you. It's not what YouTube is about. So I'm hoping that this very brief behind-the-scenes video will encourage you to start your own channel. And again, I encourage you to watch me as I go through this process of monetizing my channel so you can see everything that I am learning, and I will certainly share everything with you. Thanks for watching. Talk to you soon.
