Master YouTube Growth in 2025: Expert Tips from Aprilynne Alter

So you want to grow your YouTube channel in 2025? Today I'm talking with YouTube strategist April Lynn Alter about the exact strategies you need to make that happen. Here's the problem most creators face: churning out content without understanding the underlying elements of what makes a video effective and how to help it grow. You're working really hard, but not as smart as you could be. And I think I'm like the poster child for this because I've always been like, publish, publish, publish, publish. And there is something to be said for that., but I also need to make sure, and April Lynn helped me with this, see what the best application of my hard work is. April Lynn is one of the most sought-after YouTube strategists on the platform right now. She's grown her own channel to over 70,000 subscribers and counting, and she has some of the most viral editing videos that I have seen over the past year, including one on how to edit a killer YouTube video, how to create a great YouTube thumbnail, and how to write great intros so that your YouTube video has the most retention. In this conversation with April Lynn, we talk about how the first 5 seconds of the video can make or break your retention, how to structure content that keeps viewers watching, and other simple tweaks that can dramatically boost your retention and engagement. We're breaking down everything from titles and thumbnails to storytelling frameworks. By the end of this video, you'll have a clear roadmap about how to level up your YouTube channel. Let's dive in with one of YouTube's top strategists and learn how to grow your channel consistently in 2025. And beyond.

Here we go. Hey, Brolin, I'm stoked to have you on the show. Tell me, what do you see people messing up with their YouTube channel most consistently?

With their YouTube channels in general, I would say probably packaging. And when I say packaging, I mean title, thumbnail, Some could argue idea is within packaging. I think a lot of people will have issues with their ideas, but primarily the main challenges I see are within their title and thumbnail.

Yeah. And that's, that's something I know for me that we were talking about this before the show that I've struggled with a lot in the past. It's kind of been like the second, third, or fourth thing that I think about. Like, ideas are not a problem for me. And we'll talk about like intro and like hooking and re-hooking, but it's that title thumbnail and something that I'm really leaning into into the next year is like get that right first. But I kind of like maybe you can help me with this. I kind of like I'm an idea first person and then I script and like the title thumbnail, I just, I have trouble thinking title thumbnail first. How would you help me, or how do you help people like think in titles and thumbnails first and have that inform the rest of the video?

Yeah, so usually I would say idea, like the, the, the optimal quote-unquote order would be idea, then title and thumbnail concepts in general. Try to have those as concrete as you can before going into the video itself. Now I will say that there is a little bit of a difference between like what theoretically and ideologically is the proper flow versus practically what is the proper flow. Because for one, if there is any hesitation and even like getting videos out in the first place, having title and thumbnail first, just another point of friction to get the videos out. And so it's like if, if, if, you know, someone's at a point where they're just like, man, even just making a video is hard. I would say prioritize getting to the point where making a video is something that you can do with some regular consistency and you feel relatively good about that. Once you're at that point, then I would put more focus within titles and thumbnails.

I'm glad, I'm glad you made that distinction because that's something that I didn't really like set you up for very well. So good, good point on that is that, and I, cause I don't want people to miss it. Like if you're gonna new to new or like getting restarted with YouTube, the most important thing that you can do consistently early on is to publish those videos, like to get them out there, especially if they're like, well, Matt mentioned that I should really be thinking about title and thumbnail first. That's what Matt's doing. I'm trying to go, and we, we were talking about this. I'm trying to go from 100 to 200,000 in a year. And so like that's something that will, that packaging will really matter versus like if when I first started doing this, I was just like, I'm gonna publish a video every week and I don't re, I don't really care. You know, title, thumbnail, packaging, the consistent, the, the most important thing was publishing.

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. But if you're at a point when, okay, you are publishing with relative consistency or at least publishing to the point where it's no longer like a question of will you, won't you make a video again, it's like, yes, I know I'm going to make a video again, right? And I want to keep making more videos and make better videos. Then I would say start to focus on improvement. And while there are lots of ways to improve a video in general, again, most of the times I can see big room for improvement with a title and thumbnail. And in terms of how that relates to the rest of your video, The main thing I want you to focus on is your title and thumbnail set up a promise for the video, right? If someone doesn't click on a video, it doesn't matter how good your video is, they're not going to watch it because they don't click on it in the first place. So the question is, what curiosity gap— when I say curiosity gap, it's the gap between what we currently know and what we want to know— what curiosity gap can you create within your viewers that makes them want to click? What is the main promise of your video and why would they want to click. Now, the reason why someone want to click can be different for different types of videos. For an educational video, it could be they want to learn something. They want a specific result of learning that thing. For an entertainment video, they might want to experience novelty or a spectacle or something they think is funny. Or, you know, they might watch an interview because they're interested in specific insights that a guest might have, or, you know, what, you know, unique things that guests can have to say. And really think about why the person would click on the video in the first place. And then from that, move backward into, okay, based off of that, what does the title need to be? And what should the thumbnail show? The title will kind of tell, but your thumbnail needs to show what they're going to see. For a lot of times even, people will browse through thumbnails and kind of, they see thumbnail first and title second. So if your thumbnail is unclear or doesn't grab attention or just isn't very curiosity-inducing, it's just like, oh, okay. Then they're not even gonna bother skimming your title 'cause they're like, not interested. So it would lead with that. And then how that would inform the rest of your video is within your intro, you want to immediately deliver on the expectations set by your title and thumbnail. So you, if you hook them properly with, with your title thumbnail, they click, then they immediately within your intro get, yes, this is not clickbait. You have validated that this click is what I'm going to get. And then they keep watching through the rest of your video.

How quickly do you think that promise or just that expectation needs to be met when you're doing your intro?

First 5 seconds.

Okay. First First 5 seconds. Is there something that I know, I know people are different, but, uh, like shifting into that intro a little bit. And I just want to say like April Lynn has an amazing video breaking down the, the intro and how to make a great intro. So I'm going to link to that in the description and in the show notes for this, because it's like, it's one of the best videos about YouTube that I've seen this year, really seen in a while. And it's been super helpful for me thinking, thinking about this. So make sure that you subscribe to her channel and go check this out. The So within those first 5 seconds, is there like something that you've noticed people say consistently, like a way of phrasing or framing that like met expectation early on? Because 5 seconds isn't a lot of time. What are, what are people normally saying or what do you normally say in those first 5 seconds that, that help deliver on that?

The— so there are different ways to deliver on the expectations set by the title and thumbnail. One of the easiest ways to do that is by rephrasing your title. So for instance, if I say, do I have to sneeze? Do I have to sneeze? I'm okay.

Take your time.

I might sneeze later. Okay. So for instance, let's say, let's see if I can take like a real example from you. Yeah. Let's say you have a video, achieve your goals before 2025, parentheses, bullet journal planning, right? If your first sentence is something other than something about achieving your goals or bullet journaling, I'm clicking away, right? Because that's the expectation that's set. So if you talk about something along the lines of, All right, so I want to achieve my goals by 2025, or so you want to achieve your goal by 2025, or so you just got this bullet journal, right? Like having something there to establish, yes, this is what we're going to talk about today. I think I saw a quote from Patty, like a clip from Patty Galloway, who's like another brilliant strategist in space, who says that he likes to experiment with starting his videos by the word so or the word this. And of course this is very niche. You don't have to do this by any way, but if you're stuck, these are things that get you unstuck. Think about, okay, if I started the word, if I started the sentence with the word so or the word this and I had to incorporate some element of my title in some way, what would that first sentence be? And that can help again, immediately establish, validate that click, establish yes, you are getting what you came for.

Yeah. So I'm thinking about the example that you shared, which is from, from my channel. So I would say, so you want to achieve your 2025 goals early. So you're ready to get started on your 2025 goals. Yeah. So you just got a bullet journal in the mail. Yes. I'm even thinking about it. Okay. I'm even thinking about it because my top performing video on like my main channel every year is like set up a new bullet journal to start the new year. This is the one I told you about pre-show that was like my first hit video. And so like, I published like 4 videos on my channel last year, one of them in 2023, and one of them was the bullet journal setup, and it still did 180,000 views. It's just like free, free views for your boy. And so now I'm thinking it's like, like hold it up and say, so you just got a new bullet journal for Christmas. Let's plan the new year.

Yeah, exactly. Or this is a brand new bullet journal, let's, let's fill it, you know, or something like that. Right. It's like, so, or this showing the thing is also very important when I think about hooks as well, both in terms of what you say, how can that relate to your title, but also what you show in that first frame, in the first frames of the first 5 seconds, how does that relate to what you've shown in the video itself? So I look at, again, the, uh, I think the, the example that you had, I think it was like I clicked on it at some point and you're beginning, I think it's like a dark room and you open the door and you kind of like walk to your setup and it's like, I don't, you're not talking about 2025 or goals or bullet journaling and I'm not seeing a bullet journal. I see that now. I'm like, for all I know, this could be like a horror simulation game when someone is like walking in, right? It's just completely different from what I was promised in the title and thumbnail.

Yeah, I see that. Definitely see that miss now. Well, I learned quickly, so that won't happen again. But yeah, that's a bad setup for sure.

And again, it's not like the more cinematic shots in the opening don't work. They can work well. But in that case, again, you have to think about what are other ways to properly set that expectation. So if you're going to have a more cinematic video, how can your thumbnail be very cinematic as well? And how can you like set the tone with music so people know that, oh, this is not like the whole video, but like that kind of like beginning music that comes on when you're like starting a new scene in a movie, that kind of like uplifting, like, oh, like we're getting into something. So they know that more things are coming. Your intro, when you like open that door and it's black, right? And it's like, well, this does not relate to the thumbnail or title whatsoever. There's one thing, very small change that you could have done to fix that intro, which is just in the very beginning, zoom in on a bullet journal and it has something like step 1, set up office, step 2, make YouTube videos. And you zoom in and you look and point at step 1.

So good.

Set up office and then you start, right? Because then it still delivers. But then you can also have that artistry that you wanted to do.

And that's so helpful. And thank you for calling. Thank you for pointing that out. 'Cause yeah, then I, then I get to do, then I get to do both.

Exactly. There are ways to do both.

Yeah.

Excellent. All of these cues can kind of come in to let them know, like, this is, we're getting into something and this is what we're coming for. But in general, again, like that's kind of gets a little bit more advanced for 99% of people. First 5 seconds, try to say something similar in your title and try to show something similar that's in your thumbnail.

Okay. Yeah. And those are two, like, those are super practical, like relatively, like pretty easy to implement as well. And like I said, it's not when you do this, you probably are already going to be ahead of most people when it comes to YouTube videos. Like April just showed you or told you, you can go watch the video. I'll Well, I can't really change it, but you can go watch the video and be like, this is Matt, 100,000 subscribers, and like making this like fixable mistake within the first 5 seconds, within the first like 30 seconds of, of the video. So just doing that, like people are gonna be, people are gonna be ahead of the game.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely. What are some other things like we talked about, like just channel in general with packaging, title, thumbnail. Ideas not always necessarily being the, like, the limiting factor, but the, like, what, what kind of problems besides, like, the first 5 seconds of the intro that we've talked about, what are some other, like, issues that people regularly face with their videos and kind of more of those practical, like, hey, if you just not necessarily doing anything new or but just doing something a little different that can either increase retention or, like, help the video be, like, more more engaging?

For sure. One, shorten your intros. And this can be difficult. I also struggle with this now because I think I want to provide all this context. I want to establish the stakes. I want to open more curiosity and those require words and time. But in general, you should try to aim for an intro that's less than 25 seconds, even less than 20 seconds is something that you should shoot for. Versus most people you'd see intros more on like 45 seconds long. And at that point you have the people there and it's like, just get into it already. Get into it already.

Yeah. It's like the comments that you see, like video starts at, and they drop the timestamp into the first comment. Exactly. We want to keep those people away.

Yeah. So just, yeah, keep your intro shorter. And in the last sentence of your intro as well, Try to like really stop. So what do you think about overall storytelling within a video? Ultimately, a story can be broken into 3 main concepts, which is promise, progress, and payoff. And this is both for like the entirety of a video, the promise of the video, the progress that you're making, like from point A to point B through the video, and the final payoff. When I say payoff, this is like the main meat or value that a viewer's a viewer is coming for. Again, whether it be something entertainment or educational, or maybe you're doing a vlog, what they're coming for is like increased connection with you as a creator. All of those things are reasons why people can click. And so you think about like, what is the overall payoff of the entire video? But also what are the like mini payoffs that they're going to get throughout the video? What are like these little, I call them storylines or story cycles, like the inner promise, progress, and payoff of each small section within your video. So within the last line of your intro, you want to establish the main promise very tangibly of the entire video as a whole. And then you're going to get into the setup of the first inner story cycle or inner storyline for the first mini payoff. And then set Set that up, you go through it, mini payoff, then set up the next one, go through it, mini payoff. You keep doing that throughout the rest of the video.

I love, I love that. And something that like, is this something that you work on in your scripting or when you're just like fleshing out the initial idea?

It can come with the script. It can also come afterwards if you are an unscripted creator. So I am a scripted creator. I like to script all of my content. I like to do so word for word. And so when I'm thinking about it, I will go through my own scripts in multiple versions. I'll have my research phase or prep phase. I'll have an outlining phase, and then I'll have a V0 script, V1 script, V2 script, and V3 script. V0 script is just me word vomiting out because just sometimes moving from outline to script is just like you're just so in your head about every word. It's like, no, I just like, okay, This is just going to be word vomiting. Like, this is going to be bad, but that's why it's a V0. And then I go into the V1 where I start to like actually get into what is the structure of this video. In that, that's what I'll start to think about. Okay, this is what the video looks like as a whole. These are the main points within my video. And for each one, this is like the main payoff of that. So then this is the setup and the progress you have to be less intentional about, because it's like the main meat of your video. That's the thing that you're going to talk about. But at the very least, having that, this is the setup, This is the payoff for this section. Next section, this is a setup. This is a payoff. Okay. Next section, setup, payoff. For unscripted content, it's a lot about after you have already filmed and you have all of your footage going through that and then thinking about that overall story structure in terms of, okay, these are the main interesting things that happened to this video. The main like point of emotions. Do those fit within a setup, within a payoff, or within a progress? And then kind of place those along and figure out, oh, what are the gaps that you need to fill in with like voiceover or something else like that. So it kind of depends on the type of video that you're making.

Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Do you have an example you could share even just so for like one little like cycle from one of your videos, like how you kind of set that up and think through it?

Yeah, of course. So let's take, I'm working on a video now about let's say, How to Edit a Killer Video to Blow Up Your Channel. So in the beginning, it's a big video. There's so much I could talk about when it comes to editing. So in the intro, I start again with the very first line. This is how to edit a killer video to blow up your channel. Very similar to my title. At the end of my intro, I say, I introduce the concept of there's going to be a 5-step framework. All in all starts with step 1, blah. I think step 1 is something I, I think— oh, it's like, yeah, no, yeah. So I say, uh, I established there's going to be a 5-step framework and this video will cover them all. So it's like, okay, that's the last sentence of the intro and establishes— it's the setup. What's going to be the promise, like, for the entire video as a whole? You're going to get a 5-step framework. You know what to to expect, right? After that, and then that—

okay, goes right into step 1.

Exactly. So then, then I, I set up step 1, um, and for some videos I can just say step 1 is blank. Uh, in this one I say the first step is the most important but also the most overlooked. So setting up, okay, we're talking about a first step, we know that the first step is going to be important, we also know that the first step is something that most people overlook. Now I have a reason to care. I mentioned like promise, progress, payoff. For educational videos, I have an additional 2 Ps, which is purpose and no problem and proof. So I'm like, okay, this is what the problem is. This is the proof of that problem. And then going into the promise of this is how we're going to solve the problem. So I say the first step is the most common but also the most overlooked. And then I get into, which is kind of setting up this main thing. And then I get into the problem, which is that people think that good editing means fast editing. And then I have proof by showing that a lot of us look at like the most popular YouTubers on the platform. It's no secret that they make fast cuts. So we think that we need to do the same. And then we get into like kind of the going into more of the solution aspect of like why that's not the case. And the payoff of here's what you should do instead. So that's one cycle. After I have that, I've established, you know, after you have, you know, a solid understanding of who you're editing for, you can move into step 2, which is this. And that's like setting up the next section. Okay. So that's kind of how I would go through step by step.

Yeah. So it's through like each cycle you're closing the loop on step 1 and then going directly into like setting up step 2. And, and so on and so forth. And, you know, steps, steps are very clear and straightforward, but you do the same thing even if it's like just another, like, especially for maybe like an unscripted video. Maybe this is a, if I'm hearing you correctly, this could be a spot where like maybe you include some voiceover or like, yeah, I, that vlogger that I grew up with was Casey Neistat. And so it's like, that's Casey where like he's been going on the Boosted Board and he's like going for a run or whatever. And then all of a sudden he's at his office and he's speaking. Spending like 1 minute like talking about like either closing the loop and then opening up something else that he is gonna show.

Right, exactly. Like the, the, when I say like each, each payoff, right? Like, okay, if, if, if you have like an educational step-by-step video, each payoff is like, okay, the takeaway of each step. But again, you have to think about what is the purpose of the video. So if the purpose of the video is for, you know, let's say like entertainment purposes, okay. What are the main payoffs in which people will get that dopamine hit or the entertainment that they came for? And then in order for them to understand this, what needs to be set up? What sort of context or stakes need to be set up in order to get to this point? And then kind of just keep doing that throughout every mini payoff of your video.

How do you feel, or how do you think about like closing the video? 'Cause I've seen a bunch of different things, but like does the outro need to be as brief as the intro? Because I know there's a lot of like, well, once you kind of tip people off that they're, that the video is over, then like to them it's a signal to just go ahead and click away and not, not watch the final whatever. How do you, how do you think about closing a video?

So there are kind of two schools of thoughts here. One school of thought is exactly what you said, which is, oh, like if you start to signal to people at the that the video is over, they're going to click away. So the first school of thought is you should end the video before the viewer knows that the video is being ended. Because then you have like peak retention all the way to the very end. The second school of thought, which is the one that I personally subscribe to, is if I, if the extra, let's say 30 seconds that I have at the end there, is something where I might lose 5%, like it might go from the very end, let's say like 25% to 20% of people at the very end, or even 13 to 8%, right? I lose, I lose that, that huge chunk, but the remaining people have some increased value or increased connection with me because of it. I'm— I care much more about that, right? I care much more about the 8 to 10 to 15% who now have hopefully benefited more or have a deeper connection with me versus the 5% that peaced out at that point. And that's the school of thought that I subscribe to.

Yeah, I think I agree with that as well. I know, uh, during, I think, uh, the like end immediately, the end abruptly, uh, crowd I think began or was like most, most driven by MrBeast videos, especially like that's something in that leaked document from a couple of months ago that they're very emphatic about, like the video just needs to be over for peak retention. But I think especially like in the people who are watching this, and I appreciate that you've brought up a few times, like, hey, if you're doing like an educational or a teaching-oriented video, I know the majority of people listening to this are doing more education-style videos, teaching videos. And so that I was glad or like interested you made a distinction about is like, still shooting to close in about 30 seconds. So I'm thinking about like 20 to 30 seconds in, 20 to 30 seconds out. Like keep that, keep those bumpers pretty consistent. Because sometimes like my outro can be too long, but keeping it, keeping it crisp and having a bit of a kind of a script within a script was like, hey, this is, this is what I say at the end of videos and this is how I'm going to build a little bit more connection. Ask people to subscribe to my newsletter, like maybe share particular comment or shout out. Those are things that I've liked doing, but I get like a general point of feedback that I always have for myself is be more concise. And yeah, intros and outros, that'll be like particularly important.

My own are probably somewhere around like sub 1 minute. So it's like 30 seconds to 1 minute-ish towards the very end. You have to have a purpose for having it be longer. You can't just be like, oh, April said it can be long, so I'm just gonna like chit-chat at the end. Like, no, like there has to be a reason why, right? Like, are you— what, what are you doing to like merit that extra time? Are you leaving your viewers on a high note and trying to like hype them up and motivate them in some way? Are you like highlighting something from your community to get them really excited about something? Are you like sharing something that's more personal, like why are you doing this? Like everything has to be motivated.

Okay. Yeah, that's a really good point. Making it, making it specific and having it be very purpose, purpose-oriented, which you've, you've highlighted throughout this conversation is like really being intentional. And I think that is something that like, I feel like I have a very like strong purpose in my videos, but that's not always as communicate, as clearly communicated or like presented. As it should be. Like you had the example, it's very, very clear now, somewhat embarrassing one of like, hey, here's how you set up your Bullet Journal. Now I'm going to spend like 30 seconds setting up my office, but like making sure that throughout the video I'm like, hey, the purpose of the video is this. And so how do I stay on topic? And one thing that I was thinking about with this, Tim, Tim Forkin, who's also a big fan, he's like my co-host and producer of the show. He wasn't able to be here today. But one of the things that he's talked to me the most about, and I'm curious to get your take on it, is like, how— and this kind of goes back to the packaging— how like focused does a channel need to be, not just on topic, but even on format? So like, for example, we've been talking about for the Hey Creator channel that like there's a main channel that has like very tight teaching content that are like 10 to 15 minutes, like specific teaching videos or like day in the life updates of how, like how Hey Creator is going and community highlights. And then like the podcast itself should be on a separate channel. And then if we have like tutorials, that, that should be on a separate channel. How do you feel? Or what do you think about like how, how tight does the packaging have to get even on the channel to where you're like, not only is it this type of video, but it's like this type of format?

I would say format is really important to keep relatively consistently. It's not like you have to have the exact same every single time, but the— like, in general, most channels will stick to one main format of video. Like, and when I say format, I mean things like Is this a tutorial? Is this a vlog? Is this an interview? Like those is what I mean by format. There are some small exceptions. Like I know Colin and Samir typically have interviews and sometimes they'll have like solo episodes where they talk about something, but Colin and Samir also have a much more, like much more of a personal brand. And so they're able to do that more. I think when I look at the Hey Creator. Channel. What I would do if I were you is, you know, I think I, I would— to back it up, the main thing is that the viewer experience and value needs to be consistent. And so you think about like, why would someone come on to the Hey Creator channel? What are they looking for? What sort of experience they're trying to get? If you want to like blend all of these other things. Let's say you have tutorials, you make short video essays, you have all these other things. That's sort of something where like they come in, they sit down for a little bit, and they come away and they've learned something. For something like a podcast, it's typically a lot longer. So what I would do is have like a separate podcast channel, but then think about, okay, like, and that's where the main podcast is, and then say, okay, what sort of like clips? Like, within all of this, is there like a 5 or 10 minute section that I could like upscale into its own like separate video? And then that video will go on to the other channel that has all of like the tutorials and like other things that go with that, because that viewer experience is the same.

Yeah. Uh, okay, that's what I would do if you wanted to mix formats.

But in general, try to stick to like similar formats that provide similar experiences.

Yeah. So what I'm hearing you say, and that's, yeah, uh, Tim, Tim gave me a lot of, a lot of the same advice on it. And that is a, is a direction we're going with the channel in the new year because yeah, there was like this, people didn't quite know what to expect coming on to the channel. It was like, am I going to watch a 10 to 15 minute like teaching video or am I going to watch a 45 minute, an hour long, uh, interview? And so we are in the process of moving the interviews to their own channel. And then like for this, for this video in particular, like taking that where you were talking about the 3 to 5 Ps, the proof, the promise, the plan, the progress, all the, all those Ps, and that would become a single video that also goes onto the main channel as well. Is that so? Even though it's still like an interview format, there's still an expectation of learning, like learning something. In 10 to 15 minutes.

Yes. And I would even, if you could go a step further where you have the clips from me in this, but then this is still like, if you're still like the face of the channel, you have your own intro where we're going to be talking about these things. You supplement clips of me and then you also saying something, talking head that comes after. Right. And then back to this and then back to the back. And so you kind of have that structure throughout. You make it almost as if it is like with the intro and outro, as if it is your own standalone video. But then that like progress piece, you know, you, you do all your own setup, you do all of your own payoff, but that progress piece are the interview clips.

That's such a good tip. And I hadn't, I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes so much sense. I know our mutual friend Jay Klaus does a really good job with this also because I'm, yeah, I'm thinking about instead of just dropping people in, be like the beginning of our conversation, making it more cohesive around like my, my channel brand, the Hey Creator brand, instead of just like, here's, here's a, here's a clip that we started, you know, beginning and exactly. Yeah.

If they, if they click into a Hey Creator main channel video, their experience when they click in should be similar. Regardless if it's a tutorial where it's just you or if it's going to be more interview clips and things interspersed in.

Yeah. And the thing that, like, to tie some of this together to what we were talking about initially, like going from a little bit more beginner to intermediate to advanced strategies and, uh, like the in talking about the initial intro of like having this start with, so start with this, like a couple of things that you can do that really don't take that much additional time because there are a lot of things you can do in YouTube with editing. There's so many things you can do that will take a lot, that could take a lot more time. You can go down a rabbit hole, but I love what you said between like the intro earlier and then this piece of advice right here, making the video a little bit more my own, even though like you're like the star, the star of it, the co-star of it, that would take me maybe an extra hour. And doing that will make the video feel more cohesive, feel more like at home on the channel, and also just make it probably improve the retention and watchability of it just by doing this. I mean, honestly, relatively speaking, a little, a little bit extra work. So I'm glad you like, thanks for making that distinction.

Yeah. A channel that I think does this pretty well with their own interviews is The vidIQ channel actually does this decent amount where they will, like, they'll, they'll have their own, like, videos that they'll make themselves and they'll still do interviews with other creators. But even those interviews with other creators, when you like enter, click into the video, there's still the main guy and he's still there and he introduces it, right? Like all of that stuff happens.

That's awesome. Super helpful. One of the other things that I wanted to ask you about is just like big picture YouTube going into to, like this is gonna come out early 2025. What do you see as some of the trends or things that you think are going to be important going into YouTube next year?

I mean, I think that the word of the year last year, I think two words of the year last year moving into this year are like storytelling and authenticity. Especially with rise of AI content and all of that other stuff, people are really craving having real people that they're learning from. So let's say you are a business owner. Instead of having a brand from the business, have a brand that's your own name because people would rather like a channel with your own name and that you're there for. People would rather connect to a person versus learned from insert company name here. I think that's like a trend that's moving into the new year. Storytelling is going to be big. People are more tired in general of the really big, super jerking around spectacle, very fast cuts in general. People still do watch fast cuts, but it's a little bit less fast than they used to. I mean, you still will see the The biggest creators getting away with faster cuts, but again, it really depends on who the audience is. And there's an overall like bigger shift towards more cinematography on YouTube and more like a greater appreciation of like having like more B-roll of your own within a video as well.

Yeah. Yeah. That's something that I've been working on, like just being more focused and intentional about myself over the past few months, just like. How much B-roll can I get, even if I don't have a— because I used to basically only film if I knew that a particular shot was going in the next 1 or 2 videos. And now, and it's kind of helped me get back into the groove with YouTube as well as be like, hey, I'm just gonna set up the camera, and I'm gonna shoot some B-roll of just like stuff, stuff that's happening, things that are going on. And now I have this like growing bank of B-roll that especially if I've titled it properly, then like anytime now I'm recording like just a regular, you know, kind of talking head teaching video, now I have a bunch of B-roll that I can go grab from that, or Tim can go grab from to make, to make the video pop and make it more personable.

Yeah, a fun, fun hack. I pretty much wear the same shirt every single time I film. Um, and, uh, as a girl, I have the exact I wear the same nails every time that I film. So if I have to like reuse B-roll of anything that I've ever filmed ever, I can still put that in and it just seems like I filmed it that, that same day.

Yeah, that's a good, that is a good hack. I like it. Um, the, the, uh, yeah, I guess I could, my equivalent is I could, I could wear the same hat. I'm just gonna wear this hat for the next year.

Exactly.

Exactly. I'm glad you brought up like the authenticity and the AI piece because like I've been thinking about this a lot and I've been using AI AI a lot more for written. I know, um, just I think yesterday Google announced their new video engine and Sora from, uh, OpenAI came out. That's not what I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to like say it for people, like, yes, this is happening. But I think what's interesting is, and I've been thinking about this and writing about this some of my newsletter, is, uh, it's kind of odd to think about since like in a YouTube and video up to this point, kind of online content in general has been more like, this looks awesome all the time, is now like, people will want to see more, not just more of the mistakes, but more of the like, random stuff that just happens like day to day or in the business. Like I put a bit of B-roll into one of my videos where I was trying to set up the camera in my car and I started to drive and the camera fell, something that like happens all the time to anybody who's ever like tried to record a YouTube video, like really whatever, the camera falls over. And I put that into the video. And I got a lot of comments about just that moment. Because that's not something that I like, that the way that those like little mistakes happen lend a lot of authenticity and is not something that I think either AI will do very well at the beginning or for a while, but also aren't, isn't something that you would prompt AI to do. Like, record a video of me in the car and the camera falls over and I like curse at myself. That's not probably a part of a prompt that's going to happen.

Yeah, my own version of that is I like to add bloopers to the end of my videos sometimes. And it's just like, it's just like a fun, neat way to like, just like humanize yourself. And then also to just like, I guess, reward the viewers who stay a little bit extra longer with some like fun like Easter egg bloopers that are at the end of the video. You know, I think a lot of us should start doing that again. It's, it's cute. I love it. And like, I, I love watching, uh, creators who have bloopers at the end too. They're just fun to watch and be like, yeah, like, wait, that happens to me all the time too. Like, that's right. There's also like another way to do this. And like, I just like another avenue to add more like humanity and authenticity into a video is in YouTube, there is a very clear concept of an editor. That's like a big difference between traditional film and YouTube. And in traditional film, you want the editing to feel invisible. You don't want to feel like, you know, that someone's edited this video. In YouTube, Everyone knows that each video is edited. And so implementing some even jokes at yourself, like post-production you poking jokes at filming you in the edit, just adds that little bit of humanity in there that makes it feel fun to watch.

So you do that in your video or that's something that you want to start doing more of?

So there are different ways.

Because I think it's a great idea. I'm thinking about how, because I talk to myself in videos and I've never published that. Yeah.

Oh, that's, that's, that's fun. So there are different ways you could do that. So for one, um, there are some creators who have like a peop— a different person who edits their, their videos. So sometimes the editors will just like poke fun at other creators by like, if, if the creator is doing something weird, like, or, or, or you can do something if you notice like you're doing something like, I don't know, weird, like fidgeting or something, just like zoom in on, on that thing, right? Because it's like you're calling attention to something that kind of like kind of weird that you're doing, but that's like post-production you or editor you notices that instead of like, oh, let's wipe it all away because we don't want anyone to know. It's like, no, that's— or if my hair is all crazy in a shot, I could add some text right here and be like, no one look at this. And it's like, obviously by having text right next to this calling attention to it. But those are the types of things that just like you can poke fun at yourself.

Yeah, I like that. I'm definitely going to do that in a couple of videos coming up. That sounds fun. What are you most excited about for your own channel in 2025? What are you looking forward to?

Yeah, I very excitingly made my first full-time hire for my channel.

So congrats.

Super. Thank you so much. Yeah, he's on a one-month trial right now and he's been absolutely crushing it. So, uh, really excited to just keep that up going into the next year and figuring out the best, like, systems and processes and efficiencies to really just, like, increase my quantity of uploads. Because I got to the point where I have been just so focused on quality that it would just take me far too long to make a video. And I kind of caught to that point of, like, man, if I try to make more videos, I'm gonna really be stretching myself. So how can I make this process sustainable? And my solution was hiring someone. So I have someone on now and just been, it's been so fun. I also, I realized that I, I enjoy working in small teams. So it's like, it's just so fun to be doing YouTube with somebody else as opposed to like all by myself as I, as I have been doing for the last couple years.

That makes a lot of sense. Um, congrats on the first, on the first, uh, big hire. That's amazing. And so what's your— tell me if you, if you don't mind, tell me, I'm just curious about like, how's your business set up? What are you, what are you working on? Kind of how does— I mean, obviously YouTube is the main driver, but what is that? What does that look like for you as, as a business owner?

Yeah.

Okay.

It's, and I will say this is, this is changing a lot. So I feel like, you know, I like to associate a word with every year to kind of like guide the year. And the word next year, like in 2025, is going to be scale. So things are going to be scaling up a lot next year. This year it's been a combination of primarily AdSense. I do have a course. I don't talk about my course ever, but sometimes I'll get some hits on that. Um, affiliates, some consulting, but I kind of scaled down that consulting. Um, but consulting was a large driver of revenue and sponsorships. Brand deals, especially in Q4 this year, have like completely taken off and will continue to probably do so going into next year.

With the consulting, was that a— that was a what? So people would watch your videos and then would they book a call with you before? And then like they just— would you work on like certain— would you work on like specific projects or as, as like a retainer for a certain number of months?

Yeah, so it was all completely inbound. I never advertised that I did this. It was just people watching my videos and then DMing me or emailing me and being like, can I, can I pay you to— right. Um, and at first I did. So I, I tried consulting in a few different ways. One, I tried the concept of like mini channel reviews where someone could purchase a channel review. They'd fill out a form and I would just like record a 10 to 15 minute long Loom video of myself just kind of like going through and saying things.

Um, yeah, so that was kind of like a productized service.

Yes, exactly. Okay, so that was one thing that I did. Um, I just— I then I shut that down because I realized that I was just spending far too long on those and trying to make those as valuable as possible. And just like at the price point that I was having it at, like, it just wasn't worth it for me. Um, and so then I also did one-off consulting where someone could purchase an hour of my time and did that. It was okay. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't love it. I don't love the concept of like, I guess, one-off conversations with people. I prefer to have something longer term. Um, but like, that made solid money. And then I did try with like one client a longer 6-week sprint. Um, and that was like great for her. She got awesome results. But it was just like, I just realized like, man, would I rather spend my evenings stressing about making title thumbnail mockups for someone else or working on my own channel. And for most cases, it's my own channel. So yeah, that's kind of how I tried consulting in a few different ways. I don't think I'm going to do it again. There's one person in this whole world I would consider consulting for, and we're in talks to maybe do something in January, which would be super cool.

How exciting.

Thank you. But yeah, going into 2025, I'm looking more towards the idea of like high ticket communities. And I think that like there's just so much more personalization and humanity that can come from a community. And I'm in like masterminds of my own and there's just so much value that comes from talking with other people and having other perspectives and opinions. I think that that's something I'm going to be having my eye on for the next year.

Okay. I'm glad you brought that up. That was one of the things that popped to mind for me, especially when you mentioned, like you said consulting and then you said you had in particular like the 6-week sprint with someone, cuz I was thinking on your behalf, I was like, what would it look like to have, and the way that I would think about this, um, unsolicited advice is to, start with, say, what if you redid the 4 to 6 week sprint, but with more like structure and intention, um, more like, hey, this is the way that I'm going to teach it and not as like maybe reactive as the way that we tend to get with just one-on-one personally. Like, well, this is the only person that I have to worry about. What if you did like a 4 to 6 week group sprint and that was the initial high ticket offer? And then after that, then it goes into the like high ticket community as well. But the only way that you get into the community aspect is to go through like the bootcamp first. You can charge more for that. And that way everyone comes in with like the same set of like values and understanding of like, this is what matters. This is how April Lynn does things. And these are the things that we're gonna talk about. I would think about like structuring it that way so that like every time you open a new cohort, um, every whatever, 3 months, 2 months, whatever it might be. Then like that group goes through the initial high ticket bootcamp and then they join the alumni community of people after that.

Like the, I guess there are upsides and downsides. Upsides, everyone will come in with the same sort of, you know, like, 'cause like that's, that's the model that Ali Abdaal's PTYA was, right? So it's like they had like the 6, 6 week long program. His, uh, you, you, you'd come in, it was called Part-Time YouTube Academy. YouTube Academy.

I took that.

Yeah, it was great.

I love it. Yeah, so did I. Yeah, I think I was in like the second cohort.

Oh, cool. I think I was in cohort, I wanna say 4, but then I came back as a student supporter for them. And then I also, in their new version, like ran a couple of like masterminds for them as well. So I was like, I think that they're doing great things over there.

Yeah, for sure.

I just, man, just the thought of like having to run a structured sprint. Like, something that I'm very aware of is protection of energy, because I tend to get like so overzealous and then commit to something and then later be like, what did I just commit to? I committed for how long to do this thing? Which is one of the reasons why I was so like averse to starting a community for so long. So I thought of like all of this effort that goes into having to keep a community alive And I'm like, I don't have time for that. Like, how does this happen? But then I realized, like, I love having my, like, weekly masterminds with, like, my small group of people. Like, that's, that's, that's, that's energy giving. Like, I, I love being in that. And so, okay, how can I— maybe, like, running, like, structured sessions is energy draining. I don't like to do, but more different types of things can be energy giving. And, like, how can I focus it more on that. Like, for instance, a community where, like, maybe we have, like, Q&As, but also, like, some more structured things. An idea I had was, like, movie nights where we take a traditional film and then just, like, dissect it based off of, like, storytelling structures and, like, framing and composition that we could think, how can we apply that to YouTube? You know, just, like, things like that, which is more— to me, just feels fun. But also hopefully useful to people as well. And that's kind of how I'm thinking about it.

I'm so glad you— well, one, obviously you've given that a lot of thought and just like you felt— I mean, we haven't talked before this, so I'm glad that you felt good enough to push back and be like, well, actually, and just that your understanding of your own energy levels around that. Let me say I protect my energy. I think like that is something that we could all do a lot better with and understand like, and the way that you kind of described how you thought through a change in your mindset that you have is like, well, I thought communities would be really draining because of XYZ, but then I realized that ABC is also true. And if I can focus things more on that style of community, then it would be something really exciting and hopefully really profitable for me as well.

Yeah, thank you. I mean, I'm still 100% just trying to figure things out. So I mean, yeah, I'm definitely very open to ideas, but I mean, I don't know if you've gone through this. I think you have when we were chatting about this before, but this is my second channel and my first channel I shut down because I went through the worst period of burnout I've ever had in my entire life. And just anyone who has gone through that, like, physical, terrible burnout in their lives knows how important it is to do things that you feel in alignment with. And I'm like, I'm never going back. That's never happening again, right?

Yeah. Yeah. No, we, we did talk about that and it's, it's true. And this, the Hey Creator channel is my second channel. The Matt Ragland channel that we talked about with some of the goal setting and bullet journal pieces, that's my, my first channel, the one— I mean, I'm recommitting to YouTube in general in a big way in 2025. But that period of like burnout happened for me in 2022 because in 2021, that was my first full year as a YouTuber slash creator coach, like all in on my content full time. And that was the year that I made the most content. I made the most videos and I fell so, so well short of my revenue projections. And I was so like frustrated, like I was burnt out partially because of that, but also I was just like, oh no, I thought I could do the thing and maybe I can't do the thing. And I was like, so, um, like bummed out by it, but The like good thing that came out of it was like now that I'm going back into YouTube and in a bigger way in 2025, now I can look at it and say like, okay, I didn't, I didn't protect my energy very well here. I didn't like spend, I was so focused on just like turn out video, turn out video, turn out video that I wasn't as focused on things like making a great intro, like making sure that my title and packaging, like we talked about this some earlier, but it's something that I'm taking in a big way into next year is like. The thing, kind of the classic, what got you here won't get you there kind of advice. It's like, yes, you need to publish every week, maybe twice a week. You also need to do like the things that matter for a channel to get really, if you want a big channel, you gotta do these things. And so yeah, and being able to like push away some of the other like temptations or shiny objects that are available is something that like oddly can get a lot more challenging the more successful a channel or a business gets.

Yeah, they're just, they're so like, I feel like YouTube is just one big choose your own adventure game. And the blessing and curse of that is that there are a lot of adventures you can choose. There are a lot of side quests that you can add. And I think one of the biggest challenges, and I've talked with my creator friends about this as well, especially ones who like have like, you know, more business-minded is, man, we see all of these models that are available and all of these different types of offers that different people have, and it's like, man, how do we figure out which one or two or three are the right fit for us and in what order and all of this other stuff. And like, that's the fun part and the hard part.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, April Lynn, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you for coming and sharing all of your knowledge and expertise with us. I can't wait for people to watch cuz I know I got a lot out of it and I know others will too, but. Let us know where we can find you and follow you and learn more about what you're doing.

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, main place is YouTube, of course, uh, youtube.com/@aprilinalter. Um, Twitter @aprilinalter. Uh, if you are interested in learning how to like start a brand new YouTube channel, I have a course, aprilinalter.com. You can find that there. And I have a newsletter Which is— let's go— kind of hard to find now that I think about it. But if you get any of the free infographics from any of my videos, you'll be on the list. And the newsletter ones are the homies, so you can go and—

okay, I love it, I love it. Well, thanks so much, everybody. Go subscribe to the YouTube channel, sign up to the newsletter. We'll make sure that a link, a very clear link, is in the description and show notes for this episode. But April Lynn, this was awesome. Thanks for being on Hey Creator and love everything that you do. Thanks for, thanks for being here.

Thank you so much for having me.