How to ignore the numbers of views and subs?

[Connie]

Sorry, I completely disagree.
Would you ask a pilot to not look at his instruments?
Would you ask a doctor not to look at his numbers, how many he's helped? How many he's lost? To learn from mistakes.
Would Matt Damon not look at his numbers to see how well Jason Bourne is doing? I'm pretty confident the studio execs would.
Would a top channel like DCTC or RTR not look at their numbers?
Would the best of the best in the pools at the Olympics not obsess with their numbers and do all they can to shave 0.01 seconds off their time?
Not looking at your numbers is being haphazard about your enterprise or how you are growing, and most importantly how you can improve. That is not how successful *anything* is made in this world.
I've got our live views streaming continuously in browser windows. I want to know the exact state of my business at all times.

did focusing on the numbers ever have a negative impact on your content/mental well-being? I find that it is just really toxic for me. I do have a lot of fun filming and editing, so sometimes I'll create videos I am extremely proud of and then not share them anywhere I'll just watch them myself and know that I had a lot of fun. Then again I am just on Youtube in my spare time, as a hobby, and not trying to get a job out of it, so maybe that is where we differ.

 

[Connie]

don't watch your own videos and don't go on your own channel. look at analytics for retention rather than views.

tru u right, I always forget about that[DOUBLEPOST=1471137025,1471136983][/DOUBLEPOST]

What helps me is taking a second to appreciate that at least I'm not getting 2000 views from someone saying that I was a crappy human being and people commenting telling me really mean things!! I'd rather have 5 genuine interest views than a million troll views.

SO TRUE wow I didn't even think about that!! Thank you!![DOUBLEPOST=1471139687][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hey Connie! Thanks for sharing, I believe we've all been there in terms of starting off without a clear idea of what we wanted to do and therefore just going in with 'this could be a good idea for some attention' and therefore the quality of our content suffers. For me I have to admit, I do get sucked in to 'How many views did my video make today,' but I've learnt to appreciate the time, effort and strength gone into making/editing my videos and get excited for creating more cool content. I would advise you to focus on why you starting your channel in the first place. You joined YouTube with the idea in mind that success is not always guaranteed but when you love what you do, you change your mindset and you understand regardless of success, I'm still going upload my content because it's what I love to do.

Hope this helped!

yes very true and very helpful! Thank you for your input

 

[Connie]

Your channel link doesn't work, but yes it's pretty annoying to see those low view counts. Not much to do about it other than giving it your best. If you gave it your best, what else can you do right?

ugh that's so weird, it was working a few days ago?? Anyways, yes your advice is simple and sweet and it might be one of the most helpful responses I have gotten. Thank you!!

 

[KatyAdelson]

ugh that's so weird, it was working a few days ago?? Anyways, yes your advice is simple and sweet and it might be one of the most helpful responses I have gotten. Thank you!!

This thread explains how to fix your signature's channel link:
http://yttalk.com/threads/how-to-add-your-youtube-channel-to-every-message-post.32/

 

[KiddieToysReview]

did focusing on the numbers ever have a negative impact on your content/mental well-being? I find that it is just really toxic for me. I do have a lot of fun filming and editing, so sometimes I'll create videos I am extremely proud of and then not share them anywhere I'll just watch them myself and know that I had a lot of fun. Then again I am just on Youtube in my spare time, as a hobby, and not trying to get a job out of it, so maybe that is where we differ.

When the numbers very very low for our first 4 months, it was a way to keep motivated. I had confidence that if we persevered we would overcome the low numbers. Right at that 3 1/2 month point when we made like 50 videos, spend over $4,000 on toys and supplies and were out of savings, that was the moment of truth - quit and try to get a job again, or work harder and push through the barrier.

I worked around the clock on the channel, and we pushed through. Right after the darkest point, we got into suggested, traffic picked up, subs picked up, and now we're pushing at 200k views per day. I'm working now even harder than before, I am committed to making the channel succeed. Any setbacks is motivation to learn more, understand what's going wrong, and work through it. As NASA says, failure is not an option. I'm responsible for 2 kids and 1 on the way, failing really is not an option.

 

[KidsCorner]

ugh that's so weird, it was working a few days ago?? Anyways, yes your advice is simple and sweet and it might be one of the most helpful responses I have gotten. Thank you!!

Glad I could be of help, if you really push for the best and you have researched if there is enough audience for your videos, you just have to accept battling through the ranks.[DOUBLEPOST=1471157628,1471156735][/DOUBLEPOST]

When the numbers very very low for our first 4 months, it was a way to keep motivated. I had confidence that if we persevered we would overcome the low numbers. Right at that 3 1/2 month point when we made like 50 videos, spend over $4,000 on toys and supplies and were out of savings, that was the moment of truth - quit and try to get a job again, or work harder and push through the barrier.

I worked around the clock on the channel, and we pushed through. Right after the darkest point, we got into suggested, traffic picked up, subs picked up, and now we're pushing at 200k views per day. I'm working now even harder than before, I am committed to making the channel succeed. Any setbacks is motivation to learn more, understand what's going wrong, and work through it. As NASA says, failure is not an option. I'm responsible for 2 kids and 1 on the way, failing really is not an option.

Yeah when I started I first did a ton of analyses on other similar channels and noticed channels pick up after around 100 days (if the channel is done right). Trust is good in your plan but it is still hard to trust and keep going while you're not remotely close to breaking even and every minute spend on work/channel. But persevering is probably the key that seperates success from failure

 

[KiddieToysReview]

Glad I could be of help, if you really push for the best and you have researched if there is enough audience for your videos, you just have to accept battling through the ranks.[DOUBLEPOST=1471157628,1471156735][/DOUBLEPOST]
Yeah when I started I first did a ton of analyses on other similar channels and noticed channels pick up after around 100 days (if the channel is done right). Trust is good in your plan but it is still hard to trust and keep going while you're not remotely close to breaking even and every minute spend on work/channel. But persevering is probably the key that seperates success from failure

My experience & belief is that the algorithm is set up in tiered system. The first 3-4 months is like an unpaid internship, where YT carefully evaluates if the channel has potential. If it does, you get a paid internship, and for the next 1-2 months they send some traffic and subs your way and see how you handle it. Is your quality there? Upload schedule? etc... If you pass, you get a full-time position at minimum pay. That's where I think we are now, just got offered a minimum wage gig.

If you show up on time and do your job well, at about 20k subs you'll get a small promotion. More views will be sent your way, and once again the algorithm will carefully evaluate you. This continues at every milestone.

Look at Ryan TR. Took about 9-10 months to get to 1 million. That's like being promoted to VP level. a month and a bit later at 2 million. That's Senior VP. Another 2-3 months, and they will hit 4 mill. That's President . PewDiePie of course maintains the Executive Chairman of the Board position.

This tiered growth is happening with many channels in the 20-100k sub range that I am closely tracking. It's also happening to ToysAndMe, ToysToSee, ToyFreaks, but at the 1M+ sub level.

The secret to YT growth is giving the algorithm what it wants at each stage of the tier, then waiting for it to send you traffic and subs, handling that traffic well, then waiting for the next promotion.

 

[Johnny Dee]

What helps me is taking a second to appreciate that at least I'm not getting 2000 views from someone saying that I was a crappy human being and people commenting telling me really mean things!! I'd rather have 5 genuine interest views than a million troll views.

I will take take the million that hate the video then the handful offreinds that like it.

 

[The Cold Abyss]

I would just think of views and subs as people that are ur friends and they are coming over to visit u. (=

 

[Ghostnova]

did focusing on the numbers ever have a negative impact on your content/mental well-being?

THIS. For me 100%. It's disheartening to say the least when you put a lot of effort into making a youtube video and it receives less than 100 views or even worse, each video is getting less and less attention each time you post. I've been trying this youtube thing for over 10 years! (Originally start date was 8/11/06) I've let the numbers game get to me each time. This is where it's gotten me, if you look at my posting history I post frequently, then stop for a year get that itch again and post frequently again, then stop again. It's a vicious cycle. Reality is, if we want this thing to work out for us, I think we're going to have to dive into the numbers and actually figure out what we're doing wrong.

 

[KiddieToysReview]

THIS. For me 100%. It's disheartening to say the least when you put a lot of effort into making a youtube video and it receives less than 100 views or even worse, each video is getting less and less attention each time you post. I've been trying this youtube thing for over 10 years! (Originally start date was 8/11/06) I've let the numbers game get to me each time. This is where it's gotten me, if you look at my posting history I post frequently, then stop for a year get that itch again and post frequently again, then stop again. It's a vicious cycle. Reality is, if we want this thing to work out for us, I think we're going to have to dive into the numbers and actually figure out what we're doing wrong.

I just had a look at your last video, the lip reading. It's hilarious! Why are there not more views? Seriously? I looked at your tags, what's all that last line with names? Why don't you have long tails, such as 'poop challenge' 'there's poop in my' 'lip reading challenge' (which is #4 in the search bar) ? The description is tiny as well, with no long tailed keywords. That's why the algorithm can't place your videos, it has very little info to understand what it's about. I would go for a solid 3 paragraph description full of all sort of long tails, get rid of those 1 word tags and target long tail search terms, there are plenty in the search bar.