A 2019 YouTube tutorial by Trena Little listing common YouTube mistakes that hinder channel growth and actionable fixes. Key mistakes: unclear niche/audience, inconsistency (she recommends at least one video/week and a set day/time), prioritizing quantity over quality, weak thumbnails and titles (plan before shooting), copying popular creators rather than serving your niche, low on-camera energy, lack of content strategy or bingeable playlists, not speaking directly to a single viewer, and perfectionism. Tactics include scripting, batching (she films ~10 videos in one session for a month of content), using analytics (she references a separate video on five analytics), creating playlists, and clear CTAs; she notes she posts every Monday and Wednesday.
Please, please don't be making any of these YouTube mistakes if you want to actually see your channel grow in 2019. Welcome back and hi, if you are new here, my name is Trena and on this channel I'm committed to helping you do YouTube better. I have a feeling this topic about mistakes you might be making could be a tough one. So I've got my cup of coffee. Pour up a strong drink because we are going to see if you're making any of these mistakes. And if you are, stop. Alright? That first mistake I see so many people do on YouTube is not clearly understanding who they're speaking to or having a niche. Who you talking to. I know you're multi passionate and I know you love all these different things, but to get started on YouTube, to get the ball rolling on YouTube, to get more views and subscribers, to hit that 1000 subscriber mark and more, you've got to have a clear niche and know exactly who you're talking to. That's because that's going to help you create content to get in front of those people. If you're not creating the right content, you're never going to get in front of the right people. People want to subscribe to a YouTube for a certain reason. Then once as you start growing your channel and you have those first couple thousands of subscribers, you can start broadening your niche. But when you first get started, you've got to have that clear niche if you want to see traction. If you're posting videos about lifestyle and beauty and diet and business tips, pick one. I'm not telling you, go create all new YouTube channels for those other videos. Just pick one for right now and drive that traffic to that channel and build your audience. Then as it gets bigger, you can start creating these other videos. But please, to get started on YouTube, you have to have a clear focus. The next mistake is consistency. Look, I get we're all short on time. I run a business, I have clients, I have students, I have two kids, I have a husband. I get the time crunch. But if you want to see actual results here on YouTube, you need to be consistent. And I'm not asking you to post daily. Heck no. If I had to do that, I would not be on YouTube. All I'm asking you to commit to as at least one video a week. This means posting the same day at the same time. So people get used to when you're going to post and they get excited for your new video. That's also why I batch a lot of content, so I can Stay consistent on my channel. For example, I'm filming today. Right now I'm going to shoot probably about 10 videos. And that gets me a month's worth of content done because I have life and other things going on that I may not get. 10, have a quiet house to film. So if you want to see growth on your channel, you need to be consistent and figure out how to fit that into your schedule. So with this idea of consistency, this leads into my next mistake that I see people do. And it's quality over quantity. I don't want you just pumping out videos to pump out videos. Like I said, if you can really commit to one video a week, put in some good editing pro, prep that video, script that video, create a good thumbnail and a title. The quality of one video is worth way more than, say, five videos every single day. One video from Monday through Friday. I want you to focus on the quality of your video and not the quantity. I preach this one and I preach this one. And it's. You need to focus on thumbnails. If you are just throwing some image up there and not spending much time on it, this is the biggest mistake I see. You've got to put some kind of effort into that thumbnail. You need to remember your thumbnail and your title is the first thing people are going to see. It's what's going to make people decide if they're going to click on your video or pass it by. So spend some time on that thumbnail. Look at other people's thumbnails in your niche. Look, get some ideas from popular YouTube channels that have a couple million of subscribers. Just start brainstorming and thinking, how can you make your YouTube thumbnails better? Along with those thumbnails is your titles. And I actually suggest coming up with your video title before you even shoot your video. So for me, since I'm shooting multiple videos here today, I already have the list of videos that I'm shooting over here on my computer based on title. Then I scripted that content out and now I'm shooting it. I already knew today's video was these YouTube mistakes are causing you subscribers. I already knew that going into this. So think about what your title and your thumbnail is going to be before you shoot your content. Here's another mistake I see people do, and it's just posting videos they think that are going to be popular. So tag videos. Or you see somebody that does a popular YouTuber that does a video and you're hoping you show up in their suggested videos. That's not going to help you grow your channel. You want to focus on the popular videos that your audience is looking for. Back at that first mistake. Knowing your niche. If you know other people in your niche creating YouTube videos, go to their channel, see what videos they're creating, which one of their videos are most popular, and then create videos similar to that. Don't just pick a video because Some big popular YouTuber did this video. Pick strategic videos that you know your audience is searching for. The next mistake that's really causing you subscribers is not having energy in your videos. And look, I know we all don't have a bubbly personality or we talk loud or talk with our hands, but you have to have some kind of energy in your video if you want people to watch. If I were talking on my video like this, most of you would probably tone out because you can't hear me and you're probably pretty bored. So to combat that, I want you to talk about topics that you're really passionate about that will help you pick your niche from mistake number one. Pick that niche that you're most passionate about because people are going to see it. Even if you don't talk loud or you move a lot like me. If you're passionate about a topic, people are going to see it. People are going to hear it through the tone of your voice. So don't just post videos to post videos because that's really going to hinder your energy level in your videos. So pick the videos you are excited about. Another mistake I see is having no strategy. Basically, you're throwing videos like you throw spaghetti at a wall. One or two might stick, but the majority of those videos or that spaghetti is not going to stick. You want to think through your content. Think about that next video that follows up your video and then the next one again. You want to think about bingeable content that you can create into a playlist to increase views that could increase subscribers. You also want to have a strategy by researching the right videos. What do people want to see from you? What do people want to see in your niche? So really have a clear strategy. And don't just turn your camera on one day and decide to shoot a video because you think you had a good idea. Validate that idea before you shoot it. This is a big mistake. So much so that I just did a video on it and it's looking at your analytics. Look, I know you don't have a lot of time. I don't either. So in that video I posted last week, I'll Link it down below as well. I talk about the five analytics that you really need to look at. I broke it down to just five so that you can continue to grow your channel and create the content that's going to get you more subscribers. Don't just ignore these analytics. They're very, very important. If you want to grow your YouTube channel, you also. This is a big mistake. I see. We don't think about the person that's on the other end of the camera. Like I've said a couple times, I know who you are sitting over there. I know you are busy. I know you want to grow your YouTube channel. And so I'm creating videos and I'm talking to you. You can see I'm using the word you a lot. I'm not saying, hey, guys, I'm speaking to you specifically so you feel like I'm speaking to you. So in your videos, I want you to speak the same way. I don't want you to just speak to the general masses. I want it to feel like you're speaking one on one with somebody that's definitely going to connect with the person on the other end of the camera and help you get those subscribers. This is the biggest mistake a lot of people get hung up on. And it is perfection. Look, nothing is ever going to be perfect. I don't have the perfect setup right now. I don't have the perfect camera. In fact, I didn't do my hair the way I wanted to do it. But you know what? I need to create content because I want to help you do YouTube better. It's not perfect. Don't wait till you have everything perfect. People are going to connect with you in the authentic you. If you're so worried about doing everything perfect, it's really going to stress you out and we are going to see it in your videos. So just be you and don't worry about everything needing to be perfect. Now, if you want to continue to learn how to do YouTube better, make sure you click that video that's on your screen right now. And don't forget to subscribe to this channel because every Monday and Wednesdays I. I'm posting new videos to help you do YouTube better. See you in the next video. Bye.
