On August 4th, 2020, I uploaded my very first Youtube video. It was recorded on an Iphone, edited on Imovie, and was not, by any means, a cinematic masterpiece. But I kept with it, and continued to upload video after video. One year later, my channel has over 14,000 subscribers and has amassed nearly 2 million views! As a bonus, it has earned me a few Thousand dollars in the process! If you have ever watched one of my videos on the Andrew Thron Improvements Youtube Channel, I am very grateful and I appreciate your support. Seriously, thank you!
During my first year on Youtube, I was able to succeed in taking my channel from zero to 10,000 subscribers – which is something I think a lot of people aim to do when they start their Youtube journey. To try and show others how to get subscribers on Youtube, I wrote this article to share my thoughts, tips, and suggestions.
In order to quickly scale your Youtube channel to 10,000 subscribers, you must (in my opinion) do the following:
- Step 1: Establish your “WHY” and select your niche. This step is further broken down into:
- What problem does your channel solve?
- What value does your channel bring?
- What is your channel’s Mission Statement?
- Step 2: Get Started – You don’t need to be great to start, but you need to start!
- Step 3: Consistently release content that is continually getting better. Be 1% better on every upload.
- Step 4: Market and Promote your videos to get those early views. The first 100 subscribers are the toughest.
- Step 5: Understand that growth is exponential. It is the only way to stay motivated.
- Step 6: Get “lucky” – but make your own luck.
By following the above steps, you are giving yourself a fighting chance to achieve your goal of hitting 10k subscribers in one year. However, it is important to remember that Youtube is a marathon, not a sprint.
And just because the steps above worked for me, there could very well be a different strategy that works better for you.
Now, let’s break down each of these six steps so that you can (hopefully) hit your goal of reaching 10,000 subscribers (or more) during your first year on Youtube. If I can do it, so can you!
Step 1: Establish your “WHY” and select your niche.
Youtube is NOT for everybody. I’m serious…
If you are not passionate or interested in what you plan to make videos about, I can almost guarantee that you will fail. Why? Because spending hours filming, editing, and uploading videos on topics that you don’t give a crap about gets old VERY quickly. Especially when your first 12 videos get 17 views and even your grandma hits you with a “dislike”.
Am I being dramatic? Yes.
Am I speaking the truth? 1000%
Although me saying “make sure you start a channel on something your passionate about” is a bit cliché, it is really important.
Let’s take my channel for instance. When I was 25 years old, I bought my first fixer-upper property. Because my renovation budget was tight, I started doing renovation projects on my own. I didn’t have any DIY home renovation experience, but I learned how to do everything by watching Youtube tutorial videos.
One day while I was working on a project, I thought:
“Maybe I should start documenting my DIY projects on Youtube to help others (and maybe even make some $$$). I am going to be doing all these projects anyways, so I might as well set up a tripod and start recording. What’s the worst that could happen?!”
Little did I know that the internal dialog I had that day would turn into “Andrew Thron Improvements” – a 10,000+ subscriber Youtube channel bringing in $100’s of dollars every month. The next day, I bought my first tripod from amazon (my girlfriend affectionately named the tripod, Tina) and Andrew Thron Improvements was born.
I tell you this story as an example of why choosing the right niche is so critical to the success of your channel. For me, I was going to be doing all of these DIY projects anyway as part of my home renovation. Additionally, I am passionate about building/construction and enjoy doing DIY home renovation projects. So DIY/Home Renovation was a perfect niche (FOR ME) to start a channel about.
Now, YOU probably have different interests than me and your niche will probably end up being something different. And that’s the beauty of it!
Do you have a dog walking business and love animals? Start a Youtube channel about why dog walking is the best/worst job ever. Tell people which breed is the most frustrating to walk. Maybe explain the business side of dog walking. How do you get client’s? How many dogs can you walk at once? The list goes on and on. But the important thing is that you are already DOING IT (and presumably, you like it).
If you are a computer programmer and love coding, show others how to code. Are you super funny? Make a channel that makes people laugh. Hopefully, you get the point!
Earlier, I noted that you should be able to answer the following questions about your channel as part of Step 1:
- What problem does your channel solve?
- What value does your channel bring
- What is your channel’s Mission Statement
Let’s break each of these questions down for MY CHANNEL:
- What problem does your channel solve?
For my channel, Andrew Thron Improvements, I show people how to complete DIY Home Renovation Projects on their own. People have a project the want to accomplish and they go on Youtube to learn how to do it. My videos show them how to do it, effectively solving their problem.
If you are a funny/entertaining person, your channel could solve the problem of boredom.
You get the point – but having a problem that your channel clearly solves is important.
- What value does your channel bring?
Andrew Thron Improvements shows ordinary people how to complete DIY home renovation projects, step-by-step.
- What is your channel’s Mission Statement:
My channel, Andrew Thron Improvements, is dedicated to helping as many people as possible gain the necessary skills to successfully complete their own DIY home renovation projects.
Having a clear answer to each of the questions above is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary for a successful Youtube channel. If you can’t answer the questions above, you may need to revisit your niche selection.
Once you have found a niche that checks all of the boxes above, you can move on to Step 2 and start creating content!
Step 2: Get Started!
As the great Zig Ziglar once said:
“You don’t need to be great to start, but you need to start to be great”.
I know, I know – enough with the cliches! But this is SO true with Youtube.
Once you have decided on your niche, you need to start before you’re ready. Seriously, you need to just hit ‘record’.
Your first video is not going to be good, and that’s ok! I shot my first video on an Iphone using a tripod (Tina, remember?). I edited the video using free Imovie software and made my thumbnails for free on powerpoint. You don’t need to go out and buy a bunch of equipment and gear to start on Youtube. Start with what you have and slowly upgrade as you go.
I still record my videos on an Iphone. I still edit with Imovie. I did, however, purchase a CANVA subscription which allows me to make way better thumbnails than I could on Powerpoint.
I hope to be able to upgrade some of my equipment in the near future, but I was able to get my first 10,000 subscribers using only an Iphone.
As the saying goes, “a poor craftsman blames his tools”. Cameras and software are simply tools. If you shoot crappy content in 4k, nobody is going to watch it even if the picture quality is crystal clear. Conversely, content that has good audio, clearly solves a problem, and provides value to the viewer will do well even if it is shot on a cell phone.
Moral of the story is this – JUST GET STARTED. Upload your first video and don’t blame your equipment. Does better equipment help? Sure. But don’t let your equipment delay you from starting.
Step 3: Consistently release content that is continually getting better. Be 1% better on every upload.
The quality of your first video is probably not going to blow anyone’s mind. My first video sure didn’t…But you will learn from each video that you publish and you’ll find that the quality of your uploads with improve week after week.
If each successive video you create is 1% better than the one you published previously, you will soon be uploading pretty high quality content before you know it! The point I am trying to get across is that it’s OK to be bad at first. If you commit to improving your content week after week, you won’t be bad for long!
Working to publish high quality content and striving to improve your content with each upload is one of the most important parts of becoming successful on Youtube. The second most important part (at least in my opinion), is consistency of uploads.
If you listen to any successful Youtuber, they will likely stress the importance of consistently uploading content. However, “consistency” will look different for each person. Some people will find success from uploading 3 times per week and others will succeed by uploading once per month.
You will need to determine what consistency looks like for your niche, and then STICK TO IT. Although nobody truly understands everything about the Youtube Algorithm, it is generally agreed that Youtube recognizes creators that are producing content consistently.
For me personally, I didn’t have a set time and day for uploading – but I tried my best to upload a minimum of twice per month. Since my videos revolve around DIY projects, it sometimes took a while for me to finish a project and then create a video.
I understand that everyone is different. You will need to decide how consistently you will upload videos and then hold yourself accountable to sticking with your upload schedule.
To summarize, quality (in my opinion) is the most important metric for Youtube success BUT quantity is also very important. It is generally agreed that uploading once per week should be your goal 👌.
Step 4: Market and Promote your videos to get those early views. The first 100 subscribers are the toughest.
Getting people to watch you first few videos is going to be, shall we say, a challenge. My first few videos only received a handful of views. And that’s ok!
It is definitely a little discouraging when you spend 3 hours shooting a video and then 10 hours editing it just to get 18 views – but this is the reality when you are starting out.
In order to start amassing more views on your early videos, I recommend that you do some promotion. BUT it is very important that this is quality promotion. Let me explain..
I was initially a little embarrassed by my Youtube Channel and I didn’t want anyone that I knew personally to watch my stuff. So I would simply upload a video into the “Youtube Abyss” and that was that – 18 views 😆.
As my content started to improve and the quality of my uploads increased considerably, I became more confident in my content. Eventually, I told my family and a few close friends about what I was up to. This helped with views a little bit, but certainly didn’t solve my low viewership problem. Once I was happy with the content that I was producing and felt that my videos were providing significant value, I began to explore different ways to promote my channel.
I started out by following various Facebook Groups that were related to my niche. For me, it was groups like “DIY projects”, “Tile Geeks”, “Woodworking for Beginners”, “Bathroom Renovation”, etc. I would join these groups and become active in the community, answering other people’s questions and commenting on the posts of others.
When I released a video that I thought could benefit a particular group, I would post something in the Facebook Group that would ADD VALUE, and then link my Youtube video. Although this didn’t always work to bring in a ton of views, I found that it usually brought in at least a 100 views or so.
Some groups frown upon “self-promotion”, so be aware of the group rules and make sure that your posts provide value and are not spammy. You know the difference. In addition to Facebook Groups, I would also post in Reddit Forums following a similar strategy.
In addition to posting in FB Groups, I reached out to a few large Facebook Pages (e.g. pages with millions of followers) that were in my niche and said something along the lines of:
“Hi! My name is Andrew and I have the Youtube Channel ‘Andrew Thron Improvements’. I recently posted a video that is similar to a lot of the other content on this page and wanted to give you permission to share it on your page as long as you credit my YT in the post and provide a link that your viewers can use to check out my channel. I have linked the video below in case you might be interested and I look forward to hearing back from you! Thanks!”
Obviously, this is just an example – but it worked! A few pages featured my videos which brought in a good chunk of views as well as a couple subscribers.
Once I had published around 20 videos and I was finally pretty confident with the content I was making, I promoted one of my videos on my personal Facebook Page.
Now, I don’t think you should do this until you are proud of your content and confident in what you are doing. If you promote your content too soon (i.e. low quality, minimal value add, etc.) you may do more harm than good. However, since the video I shared was (in my opinion) pretty good, I was able to get hundreds of views and finally get past the 100 subscriber mark. FINALLY!
In addition to promoting my Youtube Videos on Social Media, I also worked to optimize my videos for “Youtube Search”. Youtube Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a skill and there is plenty of free information on how to pick your keywords, title your videos, write your description, and pick your tags so that your video will show up when people search on Youtube.
This article is not going to get into Youtube SEO. BUT I did buy “TubeBuddy” ($9.99 per month), which is an great SEO tool for optimizing your Youtube Videos so that they appear in “search”.
Gaining your first 100 subscribers is absolutely brutal. To give a timeline for how brutal getting your first 100 subscribers is, listen to this!
I uploaded my first video on August 4th, 2020. I hit 100 subscribers on January 16, 2021! It took me over 5 months to get my first 100 subscribers!
Fortunately for us, Youtube growth is not linear. See what I mean in Step 5!
Step 5: Understand that growth is exponential. It is the only way to stay motivated.
I could spend a bunch of time telling you about how the Youtube Journey starts very slow, but I think the best way to illustrate this is to dive into my analytics. Shall we?
Here is a graph of my Youtube Subscribers (Y-axis) over time (X-axis):
Now I don’t know about you, but that graph does not look linear to me!
As stated previously, my first video was uploaded on August 4th 2020. It took me over 150 days and over 11 video uploads to get my first 100 subscribers.
To get my next 100 subscribers, it only took me 14 days.
And to go from 100 subscribers to 1,000 subscribers, it took me just over 45 days!
1,000 subscribers is a huge milestone for most people since 1k subscribers are required in order to monetize your Youtube channel. Although this article is not going to go into the “nitty-gritty” of Youtube monetization, I will give you a quick summary:
- In order to “monetize” your Youtube Channel through Google Adsense, Youtube requires that you have, at a minimum, 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time on your videos.
- Once you meet the subscriber and watch time threshold above, you can apply to the Youtube Partner Program. If accepted, Youtube will begin displaying ads on your videos.
- The more people that watch the ads on your videos, the more money you will make.
- Subscribers do not equal dollars, you get paid based on the views your video receives
This concludes our monetization side-bar.
Most people really want to hit 1,000 subscribers and reach 4,000 hours of watch time so that they can get monetized. Trust me, I was the same way.
Based on my experience with my channel, you can expect it to take 225 days and 20 uploads to reach that milestone. However, based on the research I have done, It seems that I was able to reach the 1k subscriber and 10,000 hours of watch time threshold more quickly than most.
I tell you all this to demonstrate that Youtube growth is not linear. Your content growth tends to snowball, meaning as you publish more content that brings in a new audience, your old content is still bringing in viewers. This “snowball” effects means that your channel can grow very quickly after you put in the initial work.
Step 6: Get “lucky” – but make your own luck.
I am a big believer in the “you make your own luck” philosophy. However, many people believe that there is a luck component to “making it” on Youtube. And to some extent, I agree.
Having one of your videos recommended by the Youtube Algorithm is by far the fastest way to grow your channel quickly. However, that is easier said than done. The Youtube Algorithm is a very complex, and there a many different factors that determine what videos get “picked up” and recommend by Youtube. Based on my experiences, the Youtube Algorithm favors the following:
- Videos with a high click-through-rate (CTR). The click-though-rate is the number of people who click on your video after being “served” your video title and thumbnail. For example, if your video has 100 impressions (seen by 100 people), and 5 people click on your video, you would have a 5% CTR. Hopefully that makes sense.
- Videos with a high rate of retention. If people who click on your video watch more than 50% of it, that’s great. However, if people click on your video and immediately click away, that hurts your chances of being recommended by the Youtube Algorithm.
- Longer videos (more than 8 minutes long) tend to perform better based on my experience.
- Videos with high engagement. If your video gets a ton of comments and “likes”, Youtube is more likely to recommend your content to more people.
The Youtube Algorithm is obviously very complex and there are many more factors than those listed above that dictate which videos are recommend, but those are a few of the big things that the Youtube Algorithm looks for (based on my experience).
So far, I have really only had one video get picked up by the Youtube Algorithm. AND IT WAS AWESOME. If you want to watch that video, I will link it below:
Now let’s take a look at the magic behind a viral video.
On March 25th, 2021, I finally hit my first 1,000 subscribers – and I was thrilled. But almost immediately after I hit that milestone, this DIY Small Bathroom Transformation Video exploded. Let’s take a look:
By having my video recommend to others and “pushed” by Youtube, I was able to go from 1,000 subscribers to 10,000 subscribers in roughly 4 months – hitting 10k subscribers on July 1, 2021! Remember when it took me 150 days to go from 0-100 subscribers… Yea, that’s wild. At the peak of this video being recommended by the Algorithm, it amassed 44,000 views and brought in over 500 subscribers IN ONE DAY. Honestly, it was wild.
So although I was able to grow my channel from 0 – 1,000 subscribers within 8 months without much help from the algorithm at all, I was able to go from 1,000 to 10,000k subscribers in 2 months by riding the algorithm wave.
Now some may say I got lucky – and that’s fine. But I spent my last 20 video uploads learning how to edit and promote videos to “set myself up” for a video to go viral.
Ever since my viral video took off, my Youtube journey has been easier. Because I have so many new subscribers, many of my videos get 100’s of views in the first few hours after posting and almost all of them reach 1,000 views within a few weeks. Although this is a far cry from the 1 Million views that I got on my viral video, I understand that it is all part of the process.
Wrapping it all up
Hopefully, my experiences and tips on how I personally grew Andrew Thron Improvements from 0 subscribers to more than 10,000 subscribers (14,000 at the time of this posting) have provided you with some value. To summarize my steps, I recommend that you take the following actions to gain your first 10K subscribers:
- Establish your “why” and select your niche. Find a way to provide value to your audience
- Get Started immediately! Start uploading videos ASAP and if the first couple videos suck, that’s OK. You will get better at recording and editing with each video.
- Strive to make every video better than the one before and consistently release content. Quality is the most important factor to Youtube success and quantity of content is the second most important. Post GOOD videos as FREQUENTLY as you can.
- Market and Promote your videos on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, etc. to help boost your views early on. Make sure that you are promoting quality content that is packed with value.
- Embrace the fact that growth is exponential. By understanding that your progress will be slow at first, you will be more motivated to keep grinding.
- Hard work pays off and you make your own luck. Get “lucky” by studying the Youtube Algorithm, seeing what other creators in you niche are doing that WORKS, and by continually making content. One of these days, your video will (probably) get picked up – But not if you quit!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this article! I hope that you can use some of these tips to grow you channel from 1,000 to 10,000 subscribers in no time at all! Although success is never guaranteed, there is usually no substitute for hard work! Good luck!
If you want to see how my Youtube Channel is doing now, click here!
You can follow me on Instagram at ATImprovements!
Learn to Build you own DIY projects on my website! Check it out, Here!
If you liked this article, you may also like these:
How to Build a DIY Fire Pit: How to Build a DIY Fire Pit Table (And save hundreds of dollars in the process!) – (atimprovements.com)
How to Build a DIY Sectional: DIY Sectional Sofa Plans – (atimprovements.com)