Are you putting so much work into your YouTube channel and you’re still struggling to get your first 1000 subscribers? Well, never fear, because today, I’ll share with you 15 tips that you can implement right now to help you get 1000 subscribers on YouTube, just a little bit faster.
So, whether you are a new YouTuber who just started out or you have been on the YouTube train for a long time, I know that these tips are going to help you get your first 1000 subscribers and rank your YouTube videos fast.
According to statistics, as a 1,000-subscriber channel you could bring in between $10 and $300 a month.
But if you haven’t reached 1000 subscribers yet but want to monetize your channel, make sure to check this guide to make money on YouTube without monetization.
So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
1. Improve YouTube Click-Through Rate
The click-through rate is a method that measures the numbers your videos are getting and represents the percentage of people that decided to click on your video after seeing it on YouTube.
So if your video shows up on someone’s recommended page, along with other similar videos from other channels, and the person decides to click on your video instead of the, instead of someone else’s, they will instantly boost your click-through rate and it will send a signal to the algorithm that people would rather watch your videos.
You can check your CTR inside of the YouTube studio and the average CTR for a good performing video is around 6 to 10%.
Everything above that will probably make a video go viral.
And the best way to increase YouTube CTR is to create engaging video thumbnails and write compelling video titles and more about it later.
Remember, it doesn’t matter how great your video is, if nobody clicks on it, nobody is going to watch it. So the first metric that you should be watching and tracking and continuing to figure out how to make better is your clickthrough rate. And you can find that in your analytics for every single video.
2. Optimize Audience Retention
The next piece in the YouTube Trifecta is your Audience Retention. Now, YouTube is going to put your video out to people and your first step is to get them to click on it. But that second step is to prove to YouTube you have good content by getting people to watch as much as possible of that video.
So, let’s say somebody clicks on your video and they only watch 10 seconds of your video because you didn’t excite them or give them a reason to keep watching, YouTube is not going to keep pushing that content and putting your video invaluable real estate of their platform because even though people are clicking on it, they’re only watching 10 seconds.
if you look at the analytics of each one of your videos you can see the audience retention graph of where people are watching your video and where they are dropping off.
So if you see on your graph That let’s say at 1:54 of your video 70% of people are clicking off of the video that tells you something at that point is turning them away from your video so watch your video at that point figure out what is happening at that exact second to make 70% of people click off of your video
So, you need to be studying your audience retention graphs of every single video to figure out what kind of hook worked best, what kind of style or video worked best, which videos are keeping people watching longer and double down on those videos.
3. Take Advantage of End Screens
End Screen Click Through rate is something that so many people I see miss out on. So, in the last 20 seconds, you can actually have a clickable video on the end screen and get people to watch another video of yours.
YouTube loves this because you are creating a binge session. If you can get people to click on your video, get them to watch to the end and watch another video.
This way your video and your channel become much more valuable to YouTube so they’re going to start putting your video on the homepage on the suggested because you got people to click, you got them to watch to the end and you got them to watch another video.
So, what you should think about when you are filming your videos is how can I send somebody to that next video? If you are watching a particular video, what’s going to make sense for you to watch next.
And then tell them in your video to click the video that’s on their screen next to watching a video about a similar topic.
You can also leave links in your YouTube description.
Once you continue to improve these three metrics, you’re going to see that growth, and this is when you’re going to be easily able to hit that first 1000 subscribers on your channel.
4. Optimize Your Homepage
Having a nice YouTube channel homepage helps you get people to subscribe and binge-watch content on your channel.
One of the first things that you need to have on your channel homepage to really help drive subscribers is your channel banner.
And what I suggest having in your channel banner is give them your value proposition. What is your channel going to do for them? What value are you going to provide for them?
If you can become that go-to spot for your audience and publish it on your channel banner, that’s the best way to start getting subscribers.
You can also let them know that you’re publishing new videos every single week as you can see in this example.
That’s going to give them more incentive to subscribe as well, because if they enjoy your value proposition, then they’re going to want to subscribe to know what you’re publishing every single week.
The next thing that you can do to really give people an idea of what your channel is about to get them to subscribe is to create customized sections which could be playlists that you can create.
And as they scroll through your page, they’re able to see exactly what they’re going to get in further detail to give them a reason to subscribe.
So, the way that you can just do this is you want to come up to this blue button, hit the “customize channel”, and you can start to add your featured sections.
As far as a channel trailer, there are two different things that you could do. You could create a specific channel trailer to feature there, depending on what your YouTube goals are.
If your goal is to get a certain amount of subscribers or a certain amount of views, or watch time, you would want to put the video here that meets your most goals.
So, if my goal was to drive subscribers, I would pick a video that does the best at converting new viewers into subscribers. So, I’d go into my analytics and find the video that got me the most subscribers and feature it right on the homepage.
So that’s how you’re really going to start customizing your homepage to get that first 1000 subscribers.
5. Create Compelling Titles
The next tip is a special combination that will help you create compelling titles. The best way to grow a channel on YouTube is to turn views into subscribers. But of course, to get views, you need to get clicks on your videos.
That is, you need to find a way for your videos to be shown on different pages in recommendations or in search, and make sure that viewers want to click on your videos.
And here is what this combination looks like.
Add a keyword to the title to get clicks, plus a keyword to get views from the search.
Many people may call the keyword for clicks, a clickbait, but I don’t consider it a clickbait if you give the information that you stated in the title.
That is, I can call the video “How to lose weight, my guide”.
Or I can change it and call it “How I lost 20 pounds in a month”
So, the idea is that you come up with a title and creatively modify it. Create several variations of this title and choose the best one.
And the second keyword in the title is less for clicks, but more for ranking in search. Thus, half of your title gets views from the main page and from recommendations in general, and the other half pins the video in the search and gets views from there.
6. Tell Your Subscribers What Your Channel is About
The next tip that can really help your channel is telling the viewers what they subscribe to, and what your channel is about.
In almost every video now, YouTubers say something like “subscribe to my channel, make the red button gray”, but very few people say exactly what viewers should subscribe to.
At the stage of channel development, it is really important to say this because it will help you to attract exactly the target audience.
Say something like:
“Hi, my name is John, and you are on the channel about cool gadgets. Subscribe to the channel so you won’t miss all the reviews and unboxing videos.”
That is, you not only ask them to subscribe, but also explain to them what they will get in return.
And this is very important in attracting the target audience. If you get views from people who are not interested in your other videos, your channel will die quite quickly. Creating channels about everything at the same time is very bad.
And when you say what your channel is about at the beginning of your video, you’re more likely to get a viewer who will watch your other videos as well.
7. Respond To Comments
One thing I often notice is comments that are left without a like, without a heart, without an answer, and sometimes they’re not noticed at all.
If you have a small channel and some person decides to take the time and write a detailed comment under your video and nothing happens in response, he will just feel superfluous and he will probably lose a desire to interact with your other videos.
At the start, pay attention to each person who decides to take the time and write a comment under your video.
Like these comments, respond, communicate, you are building your community. When you like their comments, they will get a notification that they were liked. They will go back and start interacting with your other videos.
And do not respond to every comment: thank you or something general like that.
Give a detailed answer, start communicating. It will also help you better understand real people, rather than just seeing a number on the screen.
And one more tip for comments, leave comments under the videos of popular YouTubers from your niche.
And it is very important to note, do not write comments like, I am a new YouTuber, check out my channel and subscribe.
This does not only annoy many people and does not bring any benefit to the creator, but also if someone goes to your channel and subscribes to it, they will not watch your other videos because they subscribe for the wrong reason.
Leave valuable comments to the video that constructively criticize and benefit the creator and others, and then you will collect more likes and your comment will rise to the top.
8. Share Your Subscribe Link
The next tip that I have is to start sharing the link to your channel but use a customized subscribe link.
It’s a formula that you are going to share on your Instagram, on your Facebook, even on your email signature, that when they click on that to go to your YouTube channel, they’re going to be asked if they want to subscribe to your channel.
So, whenever you’re speaking, maybe on a podcast you can have that specific subscribe link shared so that when people go check out your channel, they’re also instantly asked if they want to subscribe.
9. Promote Your Channel
The next way to grow your subscribers is along the same lines, but you’ve got to talk about your channel. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be, if you build it, they will come. When you put up a YouTube video, it’s not like you’re going to instantly get subscribers, so use your current base that you have.
So, if you have an email list, if you have an Instagram, if you have a Facebook or a Snapchat or a TikTok, talk about it.
And don’t just talk about your YouTube channel once. Continue to talk about it, share behind the scenes of filming your video, share when you’ll post a new video, and share comments on one of your videos.
I like to send my email list an email every single week. And in that email, I give them a brief synopsis of what my brand-new video is about and link to that video that’s constantly reminding them that I have this YouTube channel and I remind them to subscribe in the email newsletter as well.
A pro tip here is if you’re planning out your content for Instagram or on Facebook, always remember to plan some promo for your YouTube channel. Let your people know and remind them that they need to go subscribe, and why subscribing is really going to benefit them.
10. Have a Content Library
A content library gives your channel momentum because you’ll not struggle with YouTube video ideas and continually have more and more videos that people have an opportunity to watch.
I know for my channel, this was really key because the more videos that I kept putting out there, it was just more opportunities for my views to go up and my subscribers to go up.
So instead of having just a handful of videos, I had a library of videos of 10 or 15 videos that people, when they came on to my channel, they could find, and then they could start binge-watching.
This not only will increase the number of views on my channel, but also increase the likelihood that someone is going to subscribe to my channel because if someone watches one video and then they watch another video and another video, it’s most likely that they’re interested in my content and they like it.
When you are first starting out, it’s really important to have a library of videos that people can choose from.
Not only they can see that you’re not just a brand-new YouTuber who doesn’t have a lot to offer, but you actually do have a lot to offer.
So again, having a consistent upload schedule with a number of videos per week will help you get there.
But if you first launch your channel, you could just launch with 4 videos within the first few days, so that way you have a handful of videos that people can start out watching, and then you can start gaining more momentum.
11. Double Down on Videos That Are Working
Once you have a few videos out there, you are going to start to find that some videos are performing way better than other videos.
So, if you have 10 videos on your channel and the majority of them have a hundred or less views, but one of your videos has 1000 views or 5,000 views, that is an indicator that, that video is something that people are interested in.
So, you should then make more videos related to that topic. Since people are already finding and watching that video, that has a lot of views, this gives people something to watch next that is in that same category.
So again, it’s going to increase watch time on your channel, but then people will see, oh, this person has a lot of content on this topic, I’m going to subscribe.
12. Stay Consistent
Sometimes you are not going to want to film YouTube videos, but you just have to do it. If you want to stick to your consistent upload schedule and start getting content out there, you have to do it even when you don’t want to.
So going back to having that schedule is really key because it’s going to force you to get your act together and film and edit and upload videos, because you have to.
You have already established and communicated to your audience that you’re going to do one video a week so you need to follow through with that and do one video per week, whether you want to or not.
Just getting in this mindset of, yes, I do videos every week, I’m going to record videos, which viewers are going to appreciate and potential subscribers will see, and they will notice and they will want to subscribe.
13. Understand Your Target Audience
This tip is all about knowing who you’re talking to, and what are they struggling with. And it comes down to choosing the right YouTube niche.
So specifically, for me, a lot of my audience is business owners and digital marketers, and they’re probably on Facebook or on Instagram, and they’re not worried about growing a YouTube channel.
So, for me, it’s going to be more important to talk about how to tie in their content to YouTube to make their process simpler.
So, on my channel, I talk about business software because I understand that my audience has very limited time on their hands to research different options for their businesses.
So if I can show them how YouTube is really going to save them time, that’s how I can drive more subscribers to my channel.
And remember, we don’t need to talk to everybody. Just know if you stay very specific to who you’re talking to and build content around them, that’s how you’re going to make that connection, and that’s how you’re going to gain subscribers.
14. Collaborate With Other YouTubers
When you have less than 1000 subscribers, most likely your content and your personality are not reaching that many people.
When you collaborate with someone who has a similar audience or is in a similar industry as you, it opens up a brand-new opportunity for people who are potentially interested in your content to see you, like you, and subscribe to your channel.
These people may be really devoted to the YouTuber that they’re subscribing to, but because they were essentially endorsed by this YouTuber and you were featured in their video or vice versa, it allows them to see and be exposed to your content and realize, “Hey, I actually really like this person too, I’m going to subscribe”
So, if there is another person in your industry or in your niche that you know would be a great fit for your audience or vice versa, definitely reach out to that other YouTuber and propose a collaboration, because it’s not only going to benefit you, but it’s going to benefit them as well.
15. Record YouTube Live Streams
Quite individual advice, but I think it can help many channels at the start. I will say this, making live streams does not have a direct impact on the algorithm if your main content is not live streams.
But live streams help to build a real relationship with your audience. People begin to really feel like they’re a part of the community.
And also, do not forget that live streams also get recommended by YouTube and new people might come to you while you are streaming. Some channels even manage to get more subscribers from live streams than from the main videos.
It is a good idea not to title these live streams like coffee with me. It is better to call them as usual videos like tips on diet and training.
By making streams, you can quickly establish a connection with new viewers and turn them into subscribers.
If the content allows you, you can make streams like music for relaxation 24/7, or for example, someone made streams with coronavirus statistics in real-time.
These streams constantly bring new viewers and subscribers.
But remember that this is not a key solution for growth. It is a tool that works in one case, in others, it does not make much sense. Therefore, if you think that this will be appropriate on your channel, definitely try it out.
How hard is it to get 1000 subscribers on YouTube?
Much to what you may think is true on YouTube, getting your first 1000 YouTube subscribers is not going to happen in a day, but usually, it takes a few months to reach 1000 subscribers for a new channel.
Generally, when you tend to see channels really blow up with subscribers right after they first got started, it’s either because one, they already have a strong platform somewhere else. They’ve their email list, Instagram, or Facebook. Or two, they may have bought subscribers and that’s actually a thing.
You can buy subscribers but this isn’t going to help you in the long run.
Getting Subscribers on YouTube Wrapping Up
So, these are the best tips on how to get YouTube subscribers.
And I know once you do all of these, you’ll be set on your way and you will start growing subscribers like crazy to get your first 1000 subscribers on YouTube.
