How I Got 1000 YouTube Subscribers

It's funny to think that several months ago I remember being at 276 Subscribers and seeing other YouTube Ukulele Channels, like The Ukulele Teacher, and wondering how the heck did he get to over 900,000 subscribers?

Well, I should have guessed what the formula was, I mean people have told me but I guess I didn't want to believe it.

Somehow I expected my channel to go from 276 subscribers to 1,000,000 overnight, but it doesn't happen that way.

Here is what I have done to help the success of my YouTube Channel.

1. Post Great Content - posting videos that provide value to people's lives.
   
   
2. Post Regularly - posting at least 3-5 videos a week, especially early on really helps build your audience and I think YouTube likes when channels post great content regularly.
   
   
3. Titles - How you name your titles really affects how your video shows up on searches. Remember people like you and me are searching YouTube, so when we want to learn how to play "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty we search: "free fallin tom petty ukulele" or "free fallin ukulele tutorial." Make sure you create a title that will help the user find exactly what they are looking for.
   
   
4. Descriptive Descriptions - I use to not pay much attention to the descriptions and would either leave them blank or just write a quick sentence. Guess what? My videos not go views. Now, I try to write good descriptions about what the video is about and what things discuss or teach. Plus, I always link back to the ukelikethepros.com website, facebook, instagram and twitter pages for people that are interested in learning more.
   
   
5. Tags - Tagging the proper keywords or keyword phrases also help people find your videos. I use to just write short one work tags like; "ukulele", "cover" or "free fallin." Now I have learned that YouTube and Google (who owns YouTube) like tags to be short phrases so something like "free fallin ukulele cover" works better than individual words.
   
   
6. Adding End Screen & Annotations - This is a cool feature YouTube added earlier this year that shows up in the last 20 seconds of your video and shows user how they can continue to connect with you by either watching your next 'recommended video or playlist', link to your website, subscribe, or see another YouTube Channel you are promoting.
   
   
7. Cards - You probably have seen these as you watch videos, it is a little "i" that shows up in the upper right hand corner of the screen and then some text pops up and says something like "Learn Ukulele The Easy Way." If you click on these cards they will take you to a website, another video, playlist, channel, donation, or poll. You can add up to 5 cards during a video. I usually add 1-3 per video depending how long your video is, but adding at least 1 will help customers learn more about something you are promoting.
   
   
8. Home Page - Getting your homepage looking good is important on YouTube. What is it you want new or returning customers to see when they first land on your page. Remember 1st impressions are important. Do you have a great video that shows up to all new users? I have one of my most popular videos there, "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" this helps not only give people a good idea about what you are about but, it also helps gets views and subscribers.
   
   
9. Playlists - Playlists are great to help organize videos into categories. For example I have playlists such as "Popular Uploads", "Ukulele Cover Songs", and "Recent Posts." Plus, a cool feature is that you can have these playlists show up on your homepage to help users find your videos and content.
   
   
10. About - Making sure you fill out all the information on the About page helps you rank, get traffic, and teach people what you are all about. So, take a few moments and make sure that you fill out the "Description", "Details" and "Links" section in the About page. 
    
    
11. Channel Art - Do you have a cool picture in your channel art? This is again important because of 1st impressions and helps give your channel a cool vibe. For example on my page I have great distorted picture of a ukulele neck and I have my title, Uke Like The Pros, with a cool font embedded in the photo.
    
    
12. Channel Icon - This is the icon that people see when you show up in users channel feed. This will help other identify and remember you. I use to have a drawing of a ukulele as my channel icon but, I changed it out several months ago to a picture of me holding a ukulele. I think the photo has helped people connect with me, a real person, rather than a random photo of a ukulele.
    Alright, I'm sure there is more but this is all I got for now.

I just wanted to say thank you for all your help in getting to 1000 YouTube Subscribers on my Uke Like The Pros page.

Without your help in subscribing and spreading the word the growth of Uke Like The Pros wouldn't be possible.

Thank you again,

Terry