How To Grow On YouTube When You Feel Nothing’s Working

Still struggling to figure out how to grow on YouTube? I’ll show you how I hit 200K subscribers. Spoiler alert – it was toxic, mentally draining and at times, hurtful.

On June 2 at 1:59am, I officially hit 200,000 subscribers. Grateful doesn’t begin to explain how I feel. But, I also have to be honest about what it took to get here.

Any YouTube content creator will tell you that growing on the platform is a serious mental game. Especially if you want to make money.

There’s a lot the audience doesn’t see. We’re constantly churning out content, constantly chasing views and staying up to date with algorithm changes.

Then, there are the 2am YouTube Studio checks to read comments or to see if the video is growing. In my early days on YouTube, I constantly hit the refresh button to see if my video views had increased. It was an obsession.

Growing from 0 to 200,000 subscribers was no smooth ride. It was full of bumps, flops and frustration, and many times, I wanted to just stop.

Let’s get real about how to grow on YouTube – I’m talking about what it really takes.

Prepare For Real Head Trips On The Platform

When I first started on YouTube, I had no idea how much of a mental game the content creation business would be.

I would plan months’ worth of content that I just knew would go viral. They had to. I had a killer hook, eye-catching B-roll footage, excellent interviews and I was funny. My visuals were great and my thumbnails were thumbing (if you know what I mean). Everything was perfect.

Do you know how many views I got – 14. Six were probably from me.

My growth was painfully slow. In addition to that, my family got tired of me harassing them to watch my videos. Some friends promised to watch, but never did.

You start to think, maybe this isn’t worth it.

But, that still small voice tells you to keep going because it’s not for other people to understand your dreams or your vision. Your dreams and vision were entrusted to you. They won’t get it.

Creator Burnout Is Real: What To Do When Views Are Down

There’s no sense in talking about the YouTube journey without talking about one of the main reasons content creators quit YouTube: burnout.

When you constantly create art – and that’s what your YouTube videos are – art; when you pour your heart and soul into every video and then you post it and get crappy results, it takes a serious mental toll. It also plays with your self-esteem.

You start to question if you’re wasting your time or if you’re even good enough for the platform. One thing’s for sure – I asked myself those questions many times.

However, there was something deep inside me telling me to keep going, keep pushing, don’t stop. I told myself, “Keep going, even if no one’s watching.” You need to tell yourself this, too.

For example, one thing I always say is, ‘I’m one video away from changing my life.’ And I was. In fact, one video – this video right here – changed my channel’s trajectory and officially put it on the map.

If Nothing’s Working, How To Grow On YouTube?

There are a lot of things you can do to grow on YouTube when nothing seems to be working.

Here’s what I did to grow to 200,000 subscribers and counting.

1. Stop and reevaluate what you’re doing. Look at it this way. If you owned a hamburger restaurant and you kept offering fish burgers, but no one bought them, would you keep selling them? You might love fish burgers. A customer or two may think you have the best fish burgers in town. But, what do the majority of your customers think? You would be wise to put extra focus on what people show or tell you they want. That’s what’s going to sell.

Sitting back thinking about how to grow on YouTube is pointless if you’re not willing to listen to the audience that is explicitly telling you how to grow on YouTube.

Study Your Analytics

Go through your backend in YouTube Studio. Look at your most popular videos and recreate them. Update them.

In addition to that, go directly to your audience. Ask them what they want to see from you. This is something I do constantly.

Take A Good Look At Your Channel; You’ll Discover How To Grow On YouTube

1. Look at your channel. All of it. Is it visually appealing? Is the banner eye-catching? Are your thumbnails attractive? Step outside of yourself for a second. If you had just logged on to YouTube and seen hundreds of thumbnails before your eyes, would you click on your video? If the answer is no, then that may explain why no one is clicking on your video. There’s a lot of competition. You must stand out.
2. Does the topic interest the masses or just you? There are some videos that I do for my audience and there are some that I do for me. The ones I do just for me sometimes surprise me and go viral. Others sit with fewer than 10,000 views. And that’s ok, because I have to balance what the audience wants with what I want. But, if you’re looking to get more eyeballs on your channel, you’ve got to give the people want they want and what they’re searching for.
3. Focus on community. I genuinely love engaging with my audience. It interests me to know what they think, what they want, what makes them smile, tick, get angry. But, how would I know any of this if I didn’t talk to them? I’m only one person, so I can’t respond to all of my comments. But, I try my hardest to engage with as many people as possible. You can’t expect to build a community by not talking to your people. If I need to take a break due to trolls, I’ll do that. Then, it’s right back on the saddle.

200,000 Subscribers Later . . .

My YouTube growth was not an accident. It was strategy. It was intentional.

To say I’m grateful is an understatement. I am blessed – fortunate to have found the tribe that I did. Long celebrations aren’t my thing. I mostly blog about my milestones for posterity’s sake.

Some Caribbean blogger or YouTuber will come along one day questioning if they, too, can make it to 200,000 subscribers. They will come across this blog and know that they can.

A Final Note To My Fellow Content Creators On How To Grow On YouTube

In conclusion, here’s how to grow on YouTube:

• Stay focused – don’t let anyone or anything throw you off your game.
• Look at what your competitors are doing and do it better. Go into their comments section and see the questions their audience is asking. Then, answer those questions in your own video.
• Know when to log off. You will drive yourself crazy looking at the analytics. You just released a video? Let it cook. I released a video on nasty eyelashes a few days ago. When I published it, it took six hours to get to 800 views. Not even 1,000. And at the time, I had over 190K subscribers. 24 hours later, it was at 20,000 views. At the time of writing this post, it’s at 118,000 views. LET. IT. COOK.
• Do NOT underestimate the power of one video. Put your best effort into every video. Look great. Speak great. Be engaging. Be informative. Connect with your audience. This might be the viral hit you’re hoping for.

A huge thank you to everyone who made this milestone possible. I appreciate you more than you will ever know.

Next goal – 400K subs. I’d love to hear from you. What are you struggling with? Leave comments down below. Let’s chat.

Posted By: Rogan · In: Social Media