Ok y'all I got you vidIQ for $1: vidiq.com/nateblack (the NEW AI research dashboard is crazy useful!) What questions do you need answered to be clear on your UA-cam direction?
Hey Nate. Question. I have been working on my channel for 6 months and over 52 videos. I am doing everything you talk about but UA-cam still not giving many impressions. Some great videos only get 500 impressions. Should I continue to focus on this channel or start a new one with a smaller focused niche: topics and videos. The ones i have now are a little wider ranging. I dont think UA-cam has still found my core audience. Rework existing channel with more focus or start new? Thanks for the great video.
Question. FOr referance, I've been on youtube nearly 4 years and about 600 videos but only 500 subs. 435 of my subs came from long form content or livestreams, have not posted shorts in a year, and i've got stuck on what to do. I don't want to only do gaming videos, but I feel uncapable of making other videos because I just dont have resources and other people to film with. I'm always by myself and nobody likes hanging out with me IRL. How can I grow my channel when the only thing I'm good at is failure? Do I start documenting those failures?
Hey Nate, I'd love to hear more from you about how a new creator can increase his chances of getting views, cuz initially, due to a lack of an established audience, no one's gonna be waiting to see my videos and then subsequently, due to a lack of views on my videos, audiences may choose to ignore my video even if the title and thumbnail are interesting.
I started a Lego channel 3 years ago, I class it as a failure, I did as much right as possible, good thumbnails, good information, HD 4k video but still flopped.
As one of those LEGO channels, this hit the nail on the head haha. A bunch of us talk over Discord all the time, giving each other advice on titles/thumbnails, video ideas, and ways we can all grow together rather than viewing each other as direct “competitors”. I would echo the recommendation for anyone and everyone to build (pun not intended) those connections in your own niches if possible! Been following you Nate since I was at 4k subs actually, keep up the amazing work!
I love this!! I’ve tried to connect with other channels in my niche and they don’t seem that interested 😢. Sometimes I honestly wonder if it’s because I’m Aussie and most of them are US? Or it’s becuase I’m too small of a channel for them to be interested in connecting? Wish I could work it out. I’m growing so slow!
it's painfully criminal, and a blight upon the universe that your channel is on MASSIVE. You are the only "grow your channel" channel that I'm willing to watch at this point. such good content.
For personal growth, my favorite is Steve Pavlina. I actually don’t watch his youtube videos, but his blog is wonderful. He’s quite original in the way he looks at the world. I’ve been a fan for years 🙂 I don’t watch his videos because his speaking style is awkward. Geek Chic maybe?
Competition on UA-cam is up, I completely agree with you. Social proof on UA-cam exists too, unfortunately. It’s harder for smaller channels to grow, but not impossible. I absolutely love your advice (and your personality). Thank you for always giving amazing advice. ❤️
Nate, I would love to get personal advice for my channel from you. I have been on your mailing list for a few months. Waiting and waiting. 😍 I have a lot of UA-cam knowledge, but it seems like I can’t give myself good advice. My son has a channel that is doing well and I help him with advice quite a bit. But why can’t I be objective and give myself good advice? (I know, it’s a rhetorical question 😊) Alina
I just love the way I can watch the same video of yours multiple times and take something different and helpful away each time. Thank you for all you do. I'm riding the absolute struggle bus and hope I can get myself out of youtube jail soon bc it really sucks
Love this, Nate! And I love how you brought up making connections just for the sake of talking and meeting people. It's really nice to have low pressure friendships with other creators who understand the pressures of UA-cam and the friendship doesn't add to that pressure-like you don't have to worry about collaborating or feel weird about asking them for something- just enjoy the connection with another human that you can relate to. 😂
I get intimidated by the content of my competitors. If I look at their content too much I can't produce videos. If I stop that habit. And I start writing the ideas come and I press record.
This was my approach from the very beginning of my YT/Weight Loss Journey. I actually got this from way back in your Channel Makers Algorithm vids when you were talking about how YT pulls vids to viewers ect. I made myself the niche which also encouraged me to loosen up and be my self way more quickly. This in turn led to me having my first mini viral video last month which propelled me to 4.5k subs and 1-3k+ views a vid since w/ 10+% likes to views and hella comments each video 4-5x week. It's been a wild ride and it's really starting to hit me how much of a positive impact I can have on peoples lives while I just film myself doing what ive wanted to do 20 years. UA-cam saved my life and I would have quit my working out/weight loss journey most likely had it not been for youtube those first couple months. SOOO In a sense Nate, you helped in that regard because I learned 95% all my UA-cam info from you and vidIQ. Thank you bro.
That jumped off the screen at me!! What do you think the odds are that it was intentional? I think people who notice spelling errors kind of feel compelled to comment.
UA-cam definitely makes it easier on channels that have gained some size and momentum. I noticed my video processing time go from hours to minutes but just thought youtube got better, I didn't realize I had crossed a threshold and was getting more priority with platform resources.
VidIQ is great. I agree there is a ton of content creators on UA-cam and the competition is tough. The real problem is UA-cam does a terrible job of managing content once you upload it. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do. They are very difficult to work with when you run into problems. They treat creators like crap. TikTok does a much better job of getting eyes on content once it’s uploaded.
I think the hardest thing, is I probably have like ten ideas ready to go, but finding the fastest executable ones that will still have a good production value is super tricky
Talking to others in the same niche is definitely helpful. I'm only tiny and the people I am talking to are also tiny, but we not only talk about what each of us are doing, but also our reactions to the bigger channels and what they are doing. It's a start, and helpful, and helps us build confidence.
been watching you since you had 2k on channel makers back in the day. I love how you always keep it interesting with the topics you discuss instead of the same boring repetitive content similar competing channels have. I love how your humorous personality comes out in the content! Keep up the awesome videos! Also always love the drawing you do! yes I did boop the like button!
Totally ... FOR ME, I've decided to commit until the end of the year. It's VERY discouraging to see/hear people out there claiming so many hundreds of views and subscribers super fast and not seeing that reality from your own work. I think it's also impractical / unreal. I figure I'll just persevere, give it my all and see where I land then decide what's next because this is the most comfortable way for me to put out content marketing.
I recently met someone who didn't have a UA-cam Channel 😆competition is often good as I have seen my videos get more views because larger channels posted a video with similar titles to mine . With that said the UA-cam space seems super saturated. Thank for the advice!
Ahaha I feel like that first line could be an ongoing joke in my house: “hey hon guess what? I just made a new friend, and they DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A CHANNEL. whaaat?!” 😂
Nate, my husband doesn’t have a channel. Yet. 🙃 I think he needs one. He is the smartest (and funniest) person I know who has a lot to say in his field.
So true! Good advice @AlterRizz. He might not like the image as he doesn’t have good lighting right now. He is okay with his voice as he gives lots of interviews and he knows how he sounds. 😅
I hate how optimised this process is. I'm a storyteller, a gamer, an artist, a creative, I just wanna make what I love and not worry about competition :/.
The thing is you CAN do that. But as an artist myself I have to always decide if I’m creating for others to see and gravitate to or if I’m creating for myself. That way my expectations are realistic. I don’t expect anything I make for myself to resonate to others since I never intended to market it that way. So if it gets attention it’s more so a gift. If you plan on sharing your art, even if it’s for yourself at the very least try to make it accessible for others to see or participate/ create dialogue around. So you don’t have the pressure to make things for optimization but others can tune in and see the journey at certain points.
Do both! I think what I’m looking to do in the near future is keep my “personal” channel (what I’m commenting from) as a Freeform posting my music and occasional memes sorta thing, but create a ‘primary’ channel to play the algorithm game more so in
@@jackieAZ Yeah I'm using my personal channel (this one) as a viewer of videos unlinked to my proper channel in the hopes that I can be a bit more casual with my comments and such on here so not planning to post anything. But even on my proper account I have multiple channels for different things, I just don't fully know how to balance optimisation with what I love yet. I just find the focus on optimisation sanitises and corporatises the experience which is hard to swallow if you're not that kind of person ya know? But I'll learn the balance eventually.
Your previous video on collabs got me really thinking about reaching out and scouting other creators in my area or niche. This one definitely helped push me further into what I'm actually gonna say to them.
I started reaching out to others in my space and I was surprised that most of them knew who I was and were happy to chat. I did't want anything more than to talk youtube and strategy. Don't be afraid to reach out to others.
I’m trying to help people to connect with each other, like making introductions in the old fashioned way. It keeps my channel small and I’m fine with that. I understand that many people need the money from a big channel. But I’m more interested in the social aspect.
I hang out in a lot of blogging groups and so many of the bloggers have been hit really hard by the latest Google algorithm updates. Many of them are turning to UA-cam to try to grow their blogs, so I think that is another big reason for the competition going up
One thing that some need to remember is some people (like myself) subscribed to channels about things that we're really interested in. For me it's video games, game dev and Drum Corps. I subscribe and watch all of the video game, game dev and Drum Corps channels that I could possibly find. Whether it's a large channel or small channel. And I usually stay subscribed to such channels as they gives me something to do as I develop my own games and I get things that I could synthesize for my own channel which posts similar content. The reason that I'm saying this is: Post your interests because there would be people looking for those kinds of channels and as long as UA-cam's algorithm cooperates, those whom are looking for the type of content that you posted, will be able to SEE what your videos, etc. In this, sometimes I think UA-cam's algorithm could be one's biggest enemy when it comes to growing a channel, because when some people post videos, we don't get to see them. UA-cam's algorithm seems to holds back certain videos so that even subscribers don't see them. I know, because they do this with videos on my channel.
Competition is both good and bad. One on hand it helps you up your game, on the other it is extremely difficult to match the production value of a channel that has an entire team working on it. Some of them have teams that rival TV production crews. It would be nice if UA-cam could somehow separate those spectrums into a more even playing field. I don't know maybe it my frustration talking! I just get down sometimes when people ask me why my channel isn't bigger and I don't know the answer. Rubric Question: Is personality as important as content topic?
Thank you Nate, it worked! This is my second time watching and I’m going to go for a third so your brilliant advice permeates my actions. Thanks so much once again! Russ
Ive actually felt this shift recently. I cover weapon guides for a video game called Destiny 2 and the newest weapons that I did videos for got way lower views than they typically do. Yet a stretch of 5 videos covering less popular or more off meta weapons, builds, and perks within the same game completely popped off back to back. Goes to show covering what is hot or popular currently in your niche isn't always the play, especially if bigger creators than you are already covering it. It's sometimes better to cover things that are a few degrees off from what's popular.
As someone who started back almost 15 years ago, and revisited over the last year or so over a couple different channels, this hits home so hard. It's a wildly different space today compared to what it was even a few years ago, let alone a decade+. Quality and a solid niche is simply not enough any more.
I've definitely noticed more and more competition and sometimes it feels a little sad seeing my channel not moving with the 'crowd'. I'll come back to this video probably many times to see how I can differentiate my channel and really have it stand out
Thanks for reminding us that self-awareness hasn't gone out of style! A) YES! B) How many Shorts do you recommend small creators put out each week? So much effort goes into my once weekly vlog, but the vast majority of my subs come from my daily Shorts!
@@ThatNateBlack I agree with the first commentor...no need for fancy editing. I'm not suggesting that you do, your current format is straightforward and easy to follow 😊
I think whats really important on UA-cam is really understanding your "unfair advantage" and leveraging tf out of it and essentially doubling down on ideas thats not necessarily "new or never done before" but taking an idea and putting a very unique spin on it. because it'll result in a large audience whose already familiar with it but innovated enough to be enamored by it. ive seen a lot of success doing this but the one thing id find challenging is believing in that idea yourself!
You are so very right. I somehow stumbled onto this idea because of having owned my own business in a different creative field (event planning, face painting) for 20+ years. Knowing others in your niche is SO helpful. From the time I started on UA-cam, 2 years ago, I've been learning my lil niche of the gaming world, who the players are, who the big channels are, studying them, doing my best to figure out why they are big, and also studying others who have been doing this the same amount of time but aren't big. What's the difference? And yeah. I somehow knew that I had to start with building bridges. Just making them aware of me. So that if someone else mentioned me, they'd be like "oh Songbird? Yeah I've heard of her, she seems cool". Mostly this was because I wanted to learn from them. I wanted to be able to maybe occasionally ask them a business-related question, and have them answer. Not to be lost in the flood of DM's they must get daily from fans. And indeed that has happened. Ive gotten some extremely helpful advice and input, and learned even more just from getting a peek behind the curtain at what content creation is like at such a high level. I've also had some amazing collabs come from this. Not so much official structured "collabs" like negotiated "I'll be in one of your videos if you'll be in one of mine" or whatever... and more like, I have industry friends now. And we've worked on projects together. I've helped them solve problems. And I help them out, without strings attached. I don't insist they shout me out. I don't set up a tit for tat before helping them out. But, they often do shout me out. And just being mentioned on their channel, having my work showcased, has helped my channel grow! I'm not blowing up overnight, but I feel like I'm building a solid community as a foundation.
I love to think about this concept you called iteration, but realistically, I just let my projects take me where they go. I dont think I am really in control of that sometimes. or maybe i am steering that more than I think? IDK but the vid iq thing is cool, great tip!
The more I see your channel, the more I like you as a person. I don't trust people much, but I trust you. I finally subbed and I think more and more people will do that as well.
@@WayneTheBoatGuy yes.. when people are searching for content, many contents from other creators will show and the viewer has to select one of them.. That is one of the competition. Now, your thumbnail or title should be attractive enough to attract someone. If UA-cam were not a competition, all this won't have been necessary. So that is how other creators like yourself become your competitors. You always have to try and be ahead of them (other creators in your niche) I don't know if you get it now
If putting in enormous effort would translate to good results then most of us would probably find UA-cam easy. The complexities and moving parts are quite the challenge when starting out on this journey.
You know seeing how the competition is getting more and more difficult now more than ever (especially with the more automated stuff now). It’s really feels scary in someway shape or form. Probably the point where it becomes overwhelming. But I try to remember to remember who I am and don’t give up on to making content for entertaining myself and others who find my stuff interesting. 👍 I’m grateful for how long I’ve come so far. Even if the subscriber count of mine doesn’t look like so, I do like to believe in myself when the motivation is there.
Saw your pic, and was curious to check out your UA-cam channel. ❤ it! I’m a tech person at my “real” job. Been in IT many years. My channel has nothing to do with tech. 😂 Love the concept of your channel.
I feel that urgency every day! There’s a large learning curve for me when it comes to posting and editing more frequently! Learning to record multiple videos ahead of time. That way I always have one in my back pocket for when I need it
First, thank you for breaking down making connections. This is something that I am always struggling with because I thought it needed to be more than just an "I exist" message and I would like to chat with you. Second, I would love a rubric and think it would be incredibly helpful! Thanks!
It so cool when something you've already been doing (in my case the connection outreach) makes it into one of Nates videos. Thank you for un intentionally validating me Nate!
Nate’s videos are so good! I watch them a few times throughout the day when he uploads them, then I rewatch old videos throughout the week. It feels like there is always something new I hear, which I haven’t really heard the first time.
Hey Nate! First off, you rock. I've been watching your videos for a couple years, and really enjoy them. I don't work very hard on my channel (because I have so many other time sucks, like my paid job) but spending some time continuing to learn so I can some day make my channel grow is awesome, and having someone with an engaging personality helps Second: I have some questions. You mention making connections. HOW do you reach out to these people? Leaving comments like this seems like the easiest thing, but is that really making connections? Are there better ways to make connections? In your comments, @TheB3 mentions a Discord for Lego creators. This sounds like an awesome way to make connections, but first I'd have to make connections with other queer creators in order to get such a Discord going.... Maybe it is just because I've not spent enough time building my brand and therefor don't have the clout to make the connections, but at the same time having people around to bounce ideas off of, connect with, and help with their projects will give me more drive to get things done and build that brand up so I can make those connections with the people who will....
I make LEGO videos too and there are so many amazing creators on your list, I’m probably on the bottom lol 😀 This is great advice and I’m glad your niche is taking about the LEGO UA-cam community 😀
Ahh I see others have spotted the BIG 50 strategically positioned👌. Congrats again Nate man. As for the vid, really practical advice as always man. My biggest take away was the need to not only pay attention to what is working in my niche, but also what is working in other niches as well. So much of the info, strategies and content ideas are very transferable from niche to niche. Cheers Nate!
Great stuff Nate! Was cool to see you talk about the LEGO niche as a channel trying to be a big player there one day! For me it's been really cool to get some comments from a few of the massive channels in my niche, really makes it feel like I'm heading in the right direction. Do you think that as a small-mid sized creator it makes sense to be reaching out to channels that are bigger than mine or just focus on building those bridges with similarly sized channels for the time being? Might be answering my own question but I suspect both might be the right call. In that case, do you think that the best approach for reaching out changes with the relative size of channels? Always appreciate your vids!
Really enjoy your perspectives Nate. Bummed the event with Switch It Up didn't pan out last year - hope to connect in person sometime! Here's a shortcut for the connection piece - find a group or discord that is FOR content creators in your space. If there isn't one - create it. RV'ers didn't have one - so I made one - now has over 1500 RV Content Creators and we're holding in-person meetups annually added onto one of the biggest trade events in our industry - but its a concentrated place to make those connections and a fantastic place to start!
Great video Nate. You have a really good way to breaking down the steps in an understandable and doable way. I'd be interested in the yes/no video as well!
Something I'm always searching for when watching these sorts of videos is tips for UA-camr's who make less common styles of videos. For example I've never been somneone who enjoys to do the "talking head explaining a topic" style of video. Instead I like to film/edit skits, stories and more visual style content. Our channel started out a bit more vanilla in the "lofi analog recording" niche, until we packed up and moved to Skyrim and things got really absurdist lol 😄 We come at UA-cam from more of an artistic expression point of view, and I find it hard sometimes to get information that's specific to what we do. Been watching your videos for a long time, always great stuff :)
I have been working through these points, some with awareness and some just part of how we have been trying out new ways to grow. This was a great video and truly a relief knowing some of our approach is spot on. I would love to chat more with channels in and out of our niche. Nate?
I have a gaming channel, my niche is not being great at games but always having fun 😂 it's a very slowly growing channel and I always watch your videos to get advice on growing, thank you Nate!! We all appreciate your hard work and helpful information 🙂
I actually want to niche OUT. I currently crochet scrunchies to sell, and want to expand to include handmade bath and body products such as bath bombs and cold pressed soap. I want to create hygge style gift boxes for busy moms to feel good about buying for themselves - and also for other busy moms in their lives. I’m super new with 50ish subscribers. Learning as I go, any and all advice is welcome! Thank you everyone!
Love the idea of the hygge style gift boxes for busy moms to help them relax & take care of themselves. Sounds like you’re narrowing in on your niche audience / customer vs you niche product!
Thank you for making this video. Rubric Question: How to balance making videos on topics I enjoy talking about vs. making videos on topics that perform do well for the channel?
I would love to see that rubric/quiz! And making connections is my big goal this quarter! I never thought of making awareness connections. That makes it feel a lot less scary to reach out to the channels I look up to!
Thanks for the video! We are a Halloween props company and use our UA-cam story to share what we do. Loved the last part of your video on connections! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Nate. I try so hard to make all those tips you give work for my channel. Not (yet) super successful. But I stick with trying because while there are tons of people giving you opinions how to be successful and most of them have opposite opinions of all the others yours make most sense, are understandable and seem more reliable. I hope one day I can make it work. Its also a little harder to reach out to creators since the email in the about section is gone. Some of my videos give over 500 views, the next (similar topic) 2. I still don't know what I did wrong but I keep trying with your videos. Thanks for helping us
As a LEGO animator, it's really hard to speed up the process of making projects without sacrificing their quality. I have very little time as it is with family, friends, college, and work. I'm just hoping that when I do projects and I improve the quality as I go, I can gain more of a following that way.
Hi Nate ❤ hi from Australia. Almost 3am here. Still trying to grow my UA-cam channel and it starting to stress me out, so sometimes I wake up in odd hours of the day such as this one. 🙃 i just want to say that your video helps calm me down. I've watched this one twice but I'll watch it again later when my brain is awake. Maybe when my heart is strong enough, I'll be brave to reach out to people and say hi and make more connections. You are right that this road is a lonely one..
Off the topic but, it’s been really hard for me to find new creators in my niche to watch. I’m looking for the beginner small channels but UA-cam rarely brings them up on my feed. That’s upsetting because I truly am interested in watching and supporting them to give them a leg up. Hope that will change someday. I enjoy watching your very informative videos. Keep up the amazing work you’re doing!
I'm in LEGO niche, but it's hard to connect with other creators. As big/established one already busy, I find no reasons nor values I can provide so they actually reach out.
Honestly it's a very interesting experience taking this journey from an editor standpoint of view instead of the Creator itself. Be able to be behind the scenes across multiple niches and communities but more importantly understanding each niche and what is expected. There's just Soo many connections being made and most people won't even know we exist 😂
@ThatNateBIack1 your channel is very helpful and we always sharing videos with clients to help them make better recording choices. Doodle's often also in charge of titles and thumbnails so we always watching your content for our own growth too.
Ok y'all I got you vidIQ for $1: vidiq.com/nateblack (the NEW AI research dashboard is crazy useful!)
What questions do you need answered to be clear on your UA-cam direction?
Hey Nate. Question. I have been working on my channel for 6 months and over 52 videos. I am doing everything you talk about but UA-cam still not giving many impressions. Some great videos only get 500 impressions. Should I continue to focus on this channel or start a new one with a smaller focused niche: topics and videos. The ones i have now are a little wider ranging. I dont think UA-cam has still found my core audience. Rework existing channel with more focus or start new? Thanks for the great video.
Question. FOr referance, I've been on youtube nearly 4 years and about 600 videos but only 500 subs. 435 of my subs came from long form content or livestreams, have not posted shorts in a year, and i've got stuck on what to do. I don't want to only do gaming videos, but I feel uncapable of making other videos because I just dont have resources and other people to film with. I'm always by myself and nobody likes hanging out with me IRL. How can I grow my channel when the only thing I'm good at is failure? Do I start documenting those failures?
Hey Nate, I'd love to hear more from you about how a new creator can increase his chances of getting views, cuz initially, due to a lack of an established audience, no one's gonna be waiting to see my videos and then subsequently, due to a lack of views on my videos, audiences may choose to ignore my video even if the title and thumbnail are interesting.
I started a Lego channel 3 years ago, I class it as a failure, I did as much right as possible, good thumbnails, good information, HD 4k video but still flopped.
@@TheAdultingAcademy Target content bassed on pop media, that works more for search, Im trying it now but it might flop but hey.
As one of those LEGO channels, this hit the nail on the head haha. A bunch of us talk over Discord all the time, giving each other advice on titles/thumbnails, video ideas, and ways we can all grow together rather than viewing each other as direct “competitors”. I would echo the recommendation for anyone and everyone to build (pun not intended) those connections in your own niches if possible!
Been following you Nate since I was at 4k subs actually, keep up the amazing work!
If it isn’t @TheB3! Glad to see you here! I’ll join your ranks someday 🫡
☝️
I love this!! I’ve tried to connect with other channels in my niche and they don’t seem that interested 😢. Sometimes I honestly wonder if it’s because I’m Aussie and most of them are US? Or it’s becuase I’m too small of a channel for them to be interested in connecting? Wish I could work it out. I’m growing so slow!
I need this for fitness 😅
Love that! I feel the same way.I try to help other channel's do good, and I appreciate it when others help me.
it's painfully criminal, and a blight upon the universe that your channel is on MASSIVE. You are the only "grow your channel" channel that I'm willing to watch at this point. such good content.
Nate is good. :)
Well hey, thank you 🎉
Very true!
Shows that something is wrong with the very YT algorithm that you’re trying to help us with.
Couldn't agree more! Nate didn't compete with other channels. He simply made content so good that the others wouldn't even be considered.
This is me being aware of you. The number one reason UA-cam is worth it to me is my personal growth.
I like that! Personal growth!
For personal growth, my favorite is Steve Pavlina. I actually don’t watch his youtube videos, but his blog is wonderful. He’s quite original in the way he looks at the world. I’ve been a fan for years 🙂 I don’t watch his videos because his speaking style is awkward. Geek Chic maybe?
Thank you very much for mentioning our tool 🤗
Competition on UA-cam is up, I completely agree with you.
Social proof on UA-cam exists too, unfortunately. It’s harder for smaller channels to grow, but not impossible.
I absolutely love your advice (and your personality).
Thank you for always giving amazing advice. ❤️
Thank YOU for sharing your thoughts in the comments! Means a lot to me @healthandyum
Nate, I would love to get personal advice for my channel from you. I have been on your mailing list for a few months. Waiting and waiting. 😍
I have a lot of UA-cam knowledge, but it seems like I can’t give myself good advice.
My son has a channel that is doing well and I help him with advice quite a bit. But why can’t I be objective and give myself good advice? (I know, it’s a rhetorical question 😊)
Alina
Happy 50K Subscribers! 🎈
Oh that's what the 50 was! hahaha - thanks, I didn't spot that.
I just love the way I can watch the same video of yours multiple times and take something different and helpful away each time. Thank you for all you do. I'm riding the absolute struggle bus and hope I can get myself out of youtube jail soon bc it really sucks
Love this, Nate! And I love how you brought up making connections just for the sake of talking and meeting people. It's really nice to have low pressure friendships with other creators who understand the pressures of UA-cam and the friendship doesn't add to that pressure-like you don't have to worry about collaborating or feel weird about asking them for something- just enjoy the connection with another human that you can relate to. 😂
Love your way of thinking. I'm heading to your channel.
I get intimidated by the content of my competitors. If I look at their content too much I can't produce videos. If I stop that habit. And I start writing the ideas come and I press record.
I agree. We often get stuck in comparison which as a creative individual is a trap.
Ahh yes I do get that feeling myself a lot too.
@@creativesouljourneys strange fenomenon
@@AloneRacecar you can do watch the content of competitors. Then stop and wait a few days. Then create yourself
@@SimracingArnout Not bad. 👍 Who knows maybe it could inspire some sort of idea in some way shape or form?
This was my approach from the very beginning of my YT/Weight Loss Journey. I actually got this from way back in your Channel Makers Algorithm vids when you were talking about how YT pulls vids to viewers ect. I made myself the niche which also encouraged me to loosen up and be my self way more quickly. This in turn led to me having my first mini viral video last month which propelled me to 4.5k subs and 1-3k+ views a vid since w/ 10+% likes to views and hella comments each video 4-5x week. It's been a wild ride and it's really starting to hit me how much of a positive impact I can have on peoples lives while I just film myself doing what ive wanted to do 20 years. UA-cam saved my life and I would have quit my working out/weight loss journey most likely had it not been for youtube those first couple months. SOOO In a sense Nate, you helped in that regard because I learned 95% all my UA-cam info from you and vidIQ. Thank you bro.
My niche "metal detecting" has exploded. When I started there were very few channels, but today .. A TON !!!
Same thing is being seen in the precious metal collecting and stacking community as well as in the emergency preparedness (prepping) niche
Hi canuck
Yep there's even videos of it in my language now(Estonian)
I've seen a few of those videos and they are fake, all staged. I hate them. If your videos are entertaining and real, keep at it.
adding a comment because your channel is absolutely amazing. dont stop making videos!!!!
the yes/no question-quiz thing sounds usefull!
Noted, thanks!
3:09 Nate doesn't do L's in Specialties cause he always takes home W's, great vid!
That jumped off the screen at me!! What do you think the odds are that it was intentional? I think people who notice spelling errors kind of feel compelled to comment.
love that you take such a specific niche for videos and make the advice available for everyone
As a small channel who is slowly growing, it can be frustrating to put so much into the channel for minimal results.
Looks like you do some of the things we do ❤
I hear you!
@@worldschooltravel I just checked your channel and you are so right. We really enjoy the same things so I hit that button. 😊
@TripNWithRed hey that's great, thank you! Same :)
@@worldschooltravel 😁
UA-cam definitely makes it easier on channels that have gained some size and momentum. I noticed my video processing time go from hours to minutes but just thought youtube got better, I didn't realize I had crossed a threshold and was getting more priority with platform resources.
Hi Nate, I reached 1000 subscribers this week. I regularly watch your videos and find them challenging and insightful. Thank you!
VidIQ is great. I agree there is a ton of content creators on UA-cam and the competition is tough. The real problem is UA-cam does a terrible job of managing content once you upload it. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do. They are very difficult to work with when you run into problems. They treat creators like crap. TikTok does a much better job of getting eyes on content once it’s uploaded.
I think the hardest thing, is I probably have like ten ideas ready to go, but finding the fastest executable ones that will still have a good production value is super tricky
I struggle with that too. I have tons of ideas. The tricky part is to choose the ones that are easy-ish to execute and give good ROI.
Talking to others in the same niche is definitely helpful. I'm only tiny and the people I am talking to are also tiny, but we not only talk about what each of us are doing, but also our reactions to the bigger channels and what they are doing. It's a start, and helpful, and helps us build confidence.
been watching you since you had 2k on channel makers back in the day. I love how you always keep it interesting with the topics you discuss instead of the same boring repetitive content similar competing channels have. I love how your humorous personality comes out in the content! Keep up the awesome videos! Also always love the drawing you do!
yes I did boop the like button!
I sincerely hope that if you are reading this, your channel becomes very popular. Let’s continue to work hard.
I wish the same for you
I’m grinding hard every day to reach my goals. It will be long and probably painful, but my channel makes me happy. I’ll get there one day😊😊
👏🏾
Totally ... FOR ME, I've decided to commit until the end of the year. It's VERY discouraging to see/hear people out there claiming so many hundreds of views and subscribers super fast and not seeing that reality from your own work. I think it's also impractical / unreal. I figure I'll just persevere, give it my all and see where I land then decide what's next because this is the most comfortable way for me to put out content marketing.
@@labineverylesson Exactly. Do it for the love before anything else😊
@@labineverylesson Likewise. Your channel looks great, by the way! 😄
I recently met someone who didn't have a UA-cam Channel 😆competition is often good as I have seen my videos get more views because larger channels posted a video with similar titles to mine . With that said the UA-cam space seems super saturated. Thank for the advice!
Ahaha I feel like that first line could be an ongoing joke in my house: “hey hon guess what? I just made a new friend, and they DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A CHANNEL. whaaat?!” 😂
Nate, my husband doesn’t have a channel. Yet. 🙃
I think he needs one. He is the smartest (and funniest) person I know who has a lot to say in his field.
@@healthandyumIf he starts one tell him he won't like his voice and image on camera, but that's just a brains trick cause getting a new perspective
So true! Good advice @AlterRizz.
He might not like the image as he doesn’t have good lighting right now.
He is okay with his voice as he gives lots of interviews and he knows how he sounds. 😅
Have loved your videos for a long time. Keep up the great work! No, I don't have a channel.😢
Definitely going to work on my "speciaties". Thanks for another vid Nate!
I’ve been analyzing distinction for this very reason! Perfect timing, very helpful
Howdy @NathanFostr! Glad to hear that, and great name btw :)
I hate how optimised this process is. I'm a storyteller, a gamer, an artist, a creative, I just wanna make what I love and not worry about competition :/.
Same boat we’re on
The thing is you CAN do that. But as an artist myself I have to always decide if I’m creating for others to see and gravitate to or if I’m creating for myself. That way my expectations are realistic.
I don’t expect anything I make for myself to resonate to others since I never intended to market it that way. So if it gets attention it’s more so a gift.
If you plan on sharing your art, even if it’s for yourself at the very least try to make it accessible for others to see or participate/ create dialogue around. So you don’t have the pressure to make things for optimization but others can tune in and see the journey at certain points.
Do both! I think what I’m looking to do in the near future is keep my “personal” channel (what I’m commenting from) as a Freeform posting my music and occasional memes sorta thing, but create a ‘primary’ channel to play the algorithm game more so in
@@jackieAZ Yeah I'm using my personal channel (this one) as a viewer of videos unlinked to my proper channel in the hopes that I can be a bit more casual with my comments and such on here so not planning to post anything. But even on my proper account I have multiple channels for different things, I just don't fully know how to balance optimisation with what I love yet. I just find the focus on optimisation sanitises and corporatises the experience which is hard to swallow if you're not that kind of person ya know? But I'll learn the balance eventually.
Your previous video on collabs got me really thinking about reaching out and scouting other creators in my area or niche. This one definitely helped push me further into what I'm actually gonna say to them.
I started reaching out to others in my space and I was surprised that most of them knew who I was and were happy to chat. I did't want anything more than to talk youtube and strategy. Don't be afraid to reach out to others.
I’m trying to help people to connect with each other, like making introductions in the old fashioned way. It keeps my channel small and I’m fine with that.
I understand that many people need the money from a big channel. But I’m more interested in the social aspect.
I hang out in a lot of blogging groups and so many of the bloggers have been hit really hard by the latest Google algorithm updates. Many of them are turning to UA-cam to try to grow their blogs, so I think that is another big reason for the competition going up
One thing that some need to remember is some people (like myself) subscribed to channels about things that we're really interested in. For me it's video games, game dev and Drum Corps. I subscribe and watch all of the video game, game dev and Drum Corps channels that I could possibly find. Whether it's a large channel or small channel. And I usually stay subscribed to such channels as they gives me something to do as I develop my own games and I get things that I could synthesize for my own channel which posts similar content. The reason that I'm saying this is: Post your interests because there would be people looking for those kinds of channels and as long as UA-cam's algorithm cooperates, those whom are looking for the type of content that you posted, will be able to SEE what your videos, etc. In this, sometimes I think UA-cam's algorithm could be one's biggest enemy when it comes to growing a channel, because when some people post videos, we don't get to see them. UA-cam's algorithm seems to holds back certain videos so that even subscribers don't see them. I know, because they do this with videos on my channel.
Competition is both good and bad. One on hand it helps you up your game, on the other it is extremely difficult to match the production value of a channel that has an entire team working on it. Some of them have teams that rival TV production crews.
It would be nice if UA-cam could somehow separate those spectrums into a more even playing field. I don't know maybe it my frustration talking! I just get down sometimes when people ask me why my channel isn't bigger and I don't know the answer.
Rubric Question: Is personality as important as content topic?
Heard. 👍
The only advice channel I watch , so authentic ❤
Thank you Nate, it worked! This is my second time watching and I’m going to go for a third so your brilliant advice permeates my actions. Thanks so much once again! Russ
Ayyyy LEGO niche love! My channel wouldn’t be where it’s at with out your wisdom! Keep delivering the knowledge!!!!
Ive actually felt this shift recently. I cover weapon guides for a video game called Destiny 2 and the newest weapons that I did videos for got way lower views than they typically do. Yet a stretch of 5 videos covering less popular or more off meta weapons, builds, and perks within the same game completely popped off back to back.
Goes to show covering what is hot or popular currently in your niche isn't always the play, especially if bigger creators than you are already covering it.
It's sometimes better to cover things that are a few degrees off from what's popular.
As someone who started back almost 15 years ago, and revisited over the last year or so over a couple different channels, this hits home so hard. It's a wildly different space today compared to what it was even a few years ago, let alone a decade+. Quality and a solid niche is simply not enough any more.
I've definitely noticed more and more competition and sometimes it feels a little sad seeing my channel not moving with the 'crowd'.
I'll come back to this video probably many times to see how I can differentiate my channel and really have it stand out
Thanks for reminding us that self-awareness hasn't gone out of style! A) YES! B) How many Shorts do you recommend small creators put out each week? So much effort goes into my once weekly vlog, but the vast majority of my subs come from my daily Shorts!
Thank you so much for this position to take my UA-cam channel to the next leave as a fitness UA-cam ❤
Drawings like Ali Abdaal. Btw, it is much better to understand this way than any fancy editing some people have
Noted! Glad you find them good 👍
@@ThatNateBlack I agree with the first commentor...no need for fancy editing. I'm not suggesting that you do, your current format is straightforward and easy to follow 😊
I think whats really important on UA-cam is really understanding your "unfair advantage" and leveraging tf out of it and essentially doubling down on ideas thats not necessarily "new or never done before" but taking an idea and putting a very unique spin on it. because it'll result in a large audience whose already familiar with it but innovated enough to be enamored by it. ive seen a lot of success doing this but the one thing id find challenging is believing in that idea yourself!
You are so very right. I somehow stumbled onto this idea because of having owned my own business in a different creative field (event planning, face painting) for 20+ years. Knowing others in your niche is SO helpful.
From the time I started on UA-cam, 2 years ago, I've been learning my lil niche of the gaming world, who the players are, who the big channels are, studying them, doing my best to figure out why they are big, and also studying others who have been doing this the same amount of time but aren't big. What's the difference?
And yeah. I somehow knew that I had to start with building bridges. Just making them aware of me. So that if someone else mentioned me, they'd be like "oh Songbird? Yeah I've heard of her, she seems cool".
Mostly this was because I wanted to learn from them. I wanted to be able to maybe occasionally ask them a business-related question, and have them answer. Not to be lost in the flood of DM's they must get daily from fans.
And indeed that has happened. Ive gotten some extremely helpful advice and input, and learned even more just from getting a peek behind the curtain at what content creation is like at such a high level.
I've also had some amazing collabs come from this. Not so much official structured "collabs" like negotiated "I'll be in one of your videos if you'll be in one of mine" or whatever... and more like, I have industry friends now. And we've worked on projects together. I've helped them solve problems. And I help them out, without strings attached. I don't insist they shout me out. I don't set up a tit for tat before helping them out. But, they often do shout me out. And just being mentioned on their channel, having my work showcased, has helped my channel grow! I'm not blowing up overnight, but I feel like I'm building a solid community as a foundation.
I love to think about this concept you called iteration, but realistically, I just let my projects take me where they go. I dont think I am really in control of that sometimes. or maybe i am steering that more than I think? IDK but the vid iq thing is cool, great tip!
The more I see your channel, the more I like you as a person. I don't trust people much, but I trust you. I finally subbed and I think more and more people will do that as well.
Other people in our niche are not our competition, they are our co-workers, partners, friends!
It seems you don't really understand how UA-cam works
@@frenatfarms really? I have a lot of friends in my niche.
@@WayneTheBoatGuy yes.. when people are searching for content, many contents from other creators will show and the viewer has to select one of them.. That is one of the competition. Now, your thumbnail or title should be attractive enough to attract someone. If UA-cam were not a competition, all this won't have been necessary. So that is how other creators like yourself become your competitors. You always have to try and be ahead of them (other creators in your niche) I don't know if you get it now
If putting in enormous effort would translate to good results then most of us would probably find UA-cam easy. The complexities and moving parts are quite the challenge when starting out on this journey.
I love the Jedi mind trick to make connections and research your niche 🤩
You know seeing how the competition is getting more and more difficult now more than ever (especially with the more automated stuff now). It’s really feels scary in someway shape or form. Probably the point where it becomes overwhelming.
But I try to remember to remember who I am and don’t give up on to making content for entertaining myself and others who find my stuff interesting. 👍 I’m grateful for how long I’ve come so far. Even if the subscriber count of mine doesn’t look like so, I do like to believe in myself when the motivation is there.
I just recently started UA-cam and im not giving up!, i just wanna say to all small UA-camrs like me, we can do this Guys! Keep Grinding!
Saw your pic, and was curious to check out your UA-cam channel. ❤ it! I’m a tech person at my “real” job. Been in IT many years. My channel has nothing to do with tech. 😂 Love the concept of your channel.
Great stuff Nate! You're right, I need to reach out more to fellow creatives. Thanks for the reminder!
great video. that second half is gold.
Nice video Nate. And congrats on 50k subs
Just found your channel and I have been stuck on watching your videos all day. Gave me a fresh look on creating videos, thank you!!
I would think an essential question would be "are you finding joy?"
Happy 50th birthday!!! 🎂✨
Ahaha 🤣 you caught the background. really that was a celebration of 50k subs my wife surprised me with. Thanks either way :)
I was wondering same thing - 50th🎉 birthday but looked to young then thought 50k subs 😉
- And confirmed…
Nate is definitely not 50. Maybe 60 (joking!)
@@ThatNateBlackYep, you look too young to be 50. 😂 And congratulations!! 🎉
I feel that urgency every day! There’s a large learning curve for me when it comes to posting and editing more frequently! Learning to record multiple videos ahead of time. That way I always have one in my back pocket for when I need it
First, thank you for breaking down making connections. This is something that I am always struggling with because I thought it needed to be more than just an "I exist" message and I would like to chat with you. Second, I would love a rubric and think it would be incredibly helpful! Thanks!
It so cool when something you've already been doing (in my case the connection outreach) makes it into one of Nates videos. Thank you for un intentionally validating me Nate!
You wrote a Christmas message on your notepad in this video. You wrote Speciaties with... wait for it... Noel.
Always find it interesting listening to your uploads while pondering future moves 👍
Nate’s videos are so good!
I watch them a few times throughout the day when he uploads them, then I rewatch old videos throughout the week.
It feels like there is always something new I hear, which I haven’t really heard the first time.
Hey Nate!
First off, you rock. I've been watching your videos for a couple years, and really enjoy them. I don't work very hard on my channel (because I have so many other time sucks, like my paid job) but spending some time continuing to learn so I can some day make my channel grow is awesome, and having someone with an engaging personality helps
Second: I have some questions. You mention making connections. HOW do you reach out to these people? Leaving comments like this seems like the easiest thing, but is that really making connections? Are there better ways to make connections? In your comments, @TheB3 mentions a Discord for Lego creators. This sounds like an awesome way to make connections, but first I'd have to make connections with other queer creators in order to get such a Discord going.... Maybe it is just because I've not spent enough time building my brand and therefor don't have the clout to make the connections, but at the same time having people around to bounce ideas off of, connect with, and help with their projects will give me more drive to get things done and build that brand up so I can make those connections with the people who will....
I make LEGO videos too and there are so many amazing creators on your list, I’m probably on the bottom lol 😀 This is great advice and I’m glad your niche is taking about the LEGO UA-cam community 😀
UA-cam won't tell you that this is another great video, but I will!
I love your channel! Thanks for sharing this I'm always surfing for tips from you and I'm here to STAY man
I feel I need to put more of an effort into my channel, thanks for this advice 👏
Ahh I see others have spotted the BIG 50 strategically positioned👌. Congrats again Nate man.
As for the vid, really practical advice as always man. My biggest take away was the need to not only pay attention to what is working in my niche, but also what is working in other niches as well. So much of the info, strategies and content ideas are very transferable from niche to niche. Cheers Nate!
Great stuff Nate! Was cool to see you talk about the LEGO niche as a channel trying to be a big player there one day!
For me it's been really cool to get some comments from a few of the massive channels in my niche, really makes it feel like I'm heading in the right direction. Do you think that as a small-mid sized creator it makes sense to be reaching out to channels that are bigger than mine or just focus on building those bridges with similarly sized channels for the time being? Might be answering my own question but I suspect both might be the right call. In that case, do you think that the best approach for reaching out changes with the relative size of channels?
Always appreciate your vids!
Really enjoy your perspectives Nate. Bummed the event with Switch It Up didn't pan out last year - hope to connect in person sometime! Here's a shortcut for the connection piece - find a group or discord that is FOR content creators in your space. If there isn't one - create it. RV'ers didn't have one - so I made one - now has over 1500 RV Content Creators and we're holding in-person meetups annually added onto one of the biggest trade events in our industry - but its a concentrated place to make those connections and a fantastic place to start!
Great video Nate. You have a really good way to breaking down the steps in an understandable and doable way. I'd be interested in the yes/no video as well!
The "I GUEARANTEE" with the notebook smacking really got me
Hey Nate, you’re awesome man I listen to you while driving you help me out a lot!
Something I'm always searching for when watching these sorts of videos is tips for UA-camr's who make less common styles of videos. For example I've never been somneone who enjoys to do the "talking head explaining a topic" style of video. Instead I like to film/edit skits, stories and more visual style content. Our channel started out a bit more vanilla in the "lofi analog recording" niche, until we packed up and moved to Skyrim and things got really absurdist lol 😄 We come at UA-cam from more of an artistic expression point of view, and I find it hard sometimes to get information that's specific to what we do. Been watching your videos for a long time, always great stuff :)
I have been working through these points, some with awareness and some just part of how we have been trying out new ways to grow. This was a great video and truly a relief knowing some of our approach is spot on. I would love to chat more with channels in and out of our niche. Nate?
I have a gaming channel, my niche is not being great at games but always having fun 😂 it's a very slowly growing channel and I always watch your videos to get advice on growing, thank you Nate!! We all appreciate your hard work and helpful information 🙂
As a small Lego UA-camr, this felt particularly relevant to me lol, thank you helping to make my list of things to work on!
Lego UA-camr! Nice!
As a growing creator. I can assure you to enjoy your journey. ✨
I actually want to niche OUT. I currently crochet scrunchies to sell, and want to expand to include handmade bath and body products such as bath bombs and cold pressed soap. I want to create hygge style gift boxes for busy moms to feel good about buying for themselves - and also for other busy moms in their lives. I’m super new with 50ish subscribers. Learning as I go, any and all advice is welcome! Thank you everyone!
Love the idea of the hygge style gift boxes for busy moms to help them
relax & take care of themselves. Sounds like you’re narrowing in on your niche audience / customer vs you niche product!
Thank you for making this video. Rubric Question: How to balance making videos on topics I enjoy talking about vs. making videos on topics that perform do well for the channel?
Noted!
I second this idea!
I would love to see that rubric/quiz! And making connections is my big goal this quarter! I never thought of making awareness connections. That makes it feel a lot less scary to reach out to the channels I look up to!
Ill admit competition is up and much like other niches, mine seems to also becoming saturated. Game is getting tough! Im making some changes soon
I really do appreciate your work and providing us the best value to win on UA-cam God bless you! 🙏🏾
Hello Nate, I have watched several videos on your channel. Lots of good actionable content. Thanks for putting this information out to masses!
i love the way you write on your notebook :)
I love you, Nate. You definately speak to me. - Dean Crabb - Worship Singer
Thanks for the video! We are a Halloween props company and use our UA-cam story to share what we do. Loved the last part of your video on connections! Keep up the good work.
Hi Nate! Just subscribed and currently binging your videos. Thanks for all the awesome content- I'm learning a ton. :)
Thanks Nate. I try so hard to make all those tips you give work for my channel. Not (yet) super successful. But I stick with trying because while there are tons of people giving you opinions how to be successful and most of them have opposite opinions of all the others yours make most sense, are understandable and seem more reliable. I hope one day I can make it work. Its also a little harder to reach out to creators since the email in the about section is gone. Some of my videos give over 500 views, the next (similar topic) 2. I still don't know what I did wrong but I keep trying with your videos. Thanks for helping us
I've been blessed with awesome viewers! The interaction in the comments section is priceless to me.
Thanks Nate! I logged in and weirdly I have a script that I need to film for a trend topic in my niche so I guess I better film it!
Very helpful 👍 I’m going to watch all your videos and apply your advice and hopefully this year will be better than last year 😅
As a LEGO animator, it's really hard to speed up the process of making projects without sacrificing their quality. I have very little time as it is with family, friends, college, and work. I'm just hoping that when I do projects and I improve the quality as I go, I can gain more of a following that way.
Hi Nate ❤ hi from Australia. Almost 3am here. Still trying to grow my UA-cam channel and it starting to stress me out, so sometimes I wake up in odd hours of the day such as this one. 🙃 i just want to say that your video helps calm me down. I've watched this one twice but I'll watch it again later when my brain is awake. Maybe when my heart is strong enough, I'll be brave to reach out to people and say hi and make more connections. You are right that this road is a lonely one..
Off the topic but, it’s been really hard for me to find new creators in my niche to watch. I’m looking for the beginner small channels but UA-cam rarely brings them up on my feed. That’s upsetting because I truly am interested in watching and supporting them to give them a leg up. Hope that will change someday. I enjoy watching your very informative videos. Keep up the amazing work you’re doing!
I'm in LEGO niche, but it's hard to connect with other creators. As big/established one already busy, I find no reasons nor values I can provide so they actually reach out.
I am doing UA-cam to share knowledge with others. If it helps even ONE person that's an impact for me right there
Honestly it's a very interesting experience taking this journey from an editor standpoint of view instead of the Creator itself. Be able to be behind the scenes across multiple niches and communities but more importantly understanding each niche and what is expected. There's just Soo many connections being made and most people won't even know we exist 😂
@ThatNateBIack1 your channel is very helpful and we always sharing videos with clients to help them make better recording choices. Doodle's often also in charge of titles and thumbnails so we always watching your content for our own growth too.