YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts

Chapter 7. Building Your Audience

Alan Lastufka

Priming Your Channel

I am routinely asked about how to gain more subscribers. First, you can't fake it. Well, okay, you can fake it, and I'll even tell you how later in this book, but any cheat you attempt will be transparent and won't really do you much good in the long run. Second, while having thousands of subscribers is good, it's not necessary to enjoy your time on the site or even to "go viral." All it takes to go viral is for one viewer to share your video with another, who shares it with two or three others, who each pass it on, and so on. But obviously, the more subscribers you have, the greater the chance that one of them will pass your video on to be the seed that quickly becomes a forest.

Before you set out to earn more subscribers, remember that your content has to be good. I can show you how to get a lot of traffic to your profile, but if your channel description, your profile icon, or, most important, your videos don't entertain or pique visitors' interests, they won't subscribe! This is why we covered how to write, light, and frame your videos before we mentioned anything about getting your name out there.

Review some of the channel design tips from Chapter 4's "Pimping Your Profile" section. Take some time to write a compelling channel description. Make it personal, make it funny. Insert a favorite quote of yours. And make sure the featured video on your channel is one of your best.

Now you're ready to set out to actually ...