Title: More than a Creator: Breaking Boundaries on YouTube

In the world of YouTube, the term ‘creator’ carries a significant weight. It’s a label filled with expectations, stereotypes, and preconceived notions, tightly packed into categories and niches. However, today we want to delve deeper and explore an idea that challenges this norm: the importance of not restricting oneself to only identifying as a YouTube creator.

Understanding the Traditional YouTube Creator Stereotype

The stereotypical ‘YouTuber’ is often pigeonholed into specific categories. Be it beauty gurus, tech enthusiasts, travel vloggers, or gamers; there is an expectation for creators to fit into defined niches. The result? A certain pressure to maintain a consistent image or brand that conforms to these labels.

While having a recognizable brand for audience retention and engagement is crucial, these labels can create a tunnel vision, limiting creators to a single persona or niche.

The Downside of Confining Labels

The problem with restricting oneself to the label of a ‘YouTube creator’ is multifaceted. For one, it can lead to creative stagnation. When creators confine themselves to a single identity, they often find it hard to experiment with different content types, fearing that it might not resonate with their audience.

Burnout is another potential downside. A study by the University of Amsterdam found that YouTubers often feel compelled to maintain their online personas consistently, leading to increased stress levels and, in some cases, a decline in mental health.

Breaking Free from the Mold

The good news is that numerous YouTubers are challenging this status quo, refusing to be confined to one identity. They are embracing diverse identities on and off the platform, proving that being a YouTube creator doesn’t necessitate forfeiting your multifaceted personality.

Take YouTuber and filmmaker Casey Neistat, for example. While initially known for his vlogs, he has continually reinvented his content and personal brand, moving beyond vlogging to documentaries, tech reviews, and even creating his social media platform.

The Power of Fluid Identity

The benefits of not restricting oneself to a single identity are vast. From stimulating creativity to promoting personal growth and mental well-being, having a fluid identity provides room for evolution.

Such creators are likely to connect with their audience on a deeper level. When creators present themselves as multi-dimensional individuals, they become more relatable and authentic, leading to meaningful audience relationships.

Balancing Personal Identity and YouTube Persona

That being said, it’s essential to strike a balance. While it’s important not to lose oneself in the YouTube persona, setting boundaries between personal life and content creation is equally crucial. The key lies in authenticity – being true to oneself and mindful of personal privacy.

A Note for Aspiring Creators

For emerging creators, the path ahead may seem daunting. The pressure to fit into a pre-existing mold might be intense. However, remember this: YouTube is a platform for expression and creation, not a factory production line. Having interests, pursuits, and a life outside of YouTube is essential. Only then can you create content that truly resonates with your audience while nurturing your personal growth.

In Conclusion

In the ever-evolving landscape of YouTube, we must rethink the traditional definitions and expectations of being a ‘creator.’ We must remind ourselves and others that creators are not just their content. They are individuals with complex identities, dreams, and aspirations. So, let’s step beyond the boundaries, challenge the stereotypes, and embrace the liberating world of YouTube creation, undefined.

Remember to tune in to our latest podcast episode, “More than a Creator: Breaking Boundaries on YouTube,” where we

delve into this topic in more detail. Let’s continue to support and celebrate the diverse, multifaceted creators who bring YouTube to life.

If you’re a budding YouTube content creator, you may wonder how to make your channel stand out among the billions of videos on the platform. The answer lies in a concept called ‘niche.’

What is a Niche?

In the context of YouTube, a niche is a specialized segment of content that you focus on. This could be anything from travel vlogs to tech reviews, cooking tutorials, and educational videos on quantum physics. The key is to find a category that interests you and aligns with the interests and needs of a specific audience.

Why is Identifying a Niche Important?

Identifying your niche is critical for several reasons. Firstly, it helps you create focused and consistent content, building your credibility and authority in that area. In addition, people will know what to expect from your channel and are more likely to subscribe if they’re interested in that topic.

Secondly, by carving out your unique space in the vast YouTube ecosystem, you increase your chances of being discovered by the right audience. Instead of being just another vlogger or reviewer, you’re the expert in vegan dessert recipes or smartphone camera comparisons.

Many successful YouTubers owe their success to their niche. For instance, Simone Giertz built a massive following with her “Shitty Robots” channel, where she intentionally makes robots that perform tasks poorly.

How to Identify Your Niche

So, how do you go about identifying your niche? Here are a few steps:

1. First, understand Your Interests and Expertise: Your niche should ideally be something you’re passionate about and knowledgeable in. List your hobbies, skills, and areas of expertise, then think about how these could be turned into engaging video content.
2. Conduct Market Research: Look at what’s already out there. What niches are oversaturated? Where do gaps exist in the YouTube landscape? Utilize tools like Google Trends, Keyword Planner, and YouTube’s own search function to identify potential niches.
3. Consider Your Audience: Who would be interested in your content? What are their needs and interests? Understanding your potential audience will help you refine your niche and create content that resonates with them.

Creating Unique Content within Your Niche

Once you’ve identified your niche, creating unique, engaging content is challenging. Here are a few tips:

• Stay Current: Stay updated with your niche’s latest trends and developments. This shows your audience that you’re knowledgeable and relevant.
• Add a Personal Touch: Don’t just rehash what everyone else is doing. Inject your personality, experiences, and perspectives into your content. This helps you stand out and build a more personal connection with your audience.
• Experiment with Formats: Don’t limit yourself to one type of video. Try different formats – how-to’s, vlogs, interviews, reviews, and more. See what works best for your niche and your audience.

Common Pitfalls and How to Overcome Them

Even after identifying your niche, you may encounter a few challenges. One common pitfall is feeling too restricted by your niche. Remember, it’s okay to occasionally step outside your niche or explore different aspects of it. Your niche is a guideline, not a hard and fast rule.

Another challenge is balancing being unique and meeting your audience’s expectations. It’s important to stay true to your style and perspective, but you must also create content your audience finds interesting and valuable.

Wrapping Up

Identifying your niche and creating unique content is a powerful strategy for YouTube success. It allows you to carve out your own space on the

platform, build an engaged audience, and establish yourself as an authority in your field.

So, explore your interests, research potential niches, and consider your audience. You never know – you might stumble upon a unique niche that could catapult your YouTube channel to success.

How to Use YouTube Promotions to Get More Views on Your Videos

YouTube promotions are a great way to get more views on your videos. They can be used to promote your videos to a broader audience, and they can also be used to target your ads to specific demographics or interests.

There are two main types of YouTube promotions:

• Display ads: These are on the right of YouTube videos and can be clicked on to open your video.
• Video ads: These ads are displayed before, during, or after other YouTube videos, and they can be skipped after five seconds.

To create a YouTube promotion, you must create a Google Ads account. Once you have created an account, you can follow these steps to create a new promotion:

1. Go to the Google Ads home page and click on the Campaigns tab.
2. Click on the New Campaign button and select Video.
3. Choose the type of promotion you want to create.
4. Set your budget and bidding strategy.
5. Target your ads to the right audience.
6. Review your ad and make a final version.

Once you have created your promotion, it will start running immediately. You can track the results of your advertisement in the Google Ads dashboard.

Here are some tips for creating effective YouTube promotions:

• Use high-quality video content: Your videos should be high-quality and engaging.
• Create a solid call to action: Tell viewers what you want them to do after watching your video.
• Target your ads to the right audience: Make sure your ads are targeted to people interested in your video’s content.
• Track your results: Monitor the results of your promotion and make adjustments as needed.

By following these tips, you can create effective YouTube promotions that will help you get more views on your videos.

Benefits of Using YouTube Promotions

There are many benefits to using YouTube promotions, including:

• Increased exposure: YouTube promotions can help you get your videos seen by a wider audience.
• Improved reach: YouTube promotions can help you reach people not already subscribed to your channel.
• Increased engagement: YouTube promotions can help you increase engagement with your videos, such as by getting people to like, comment, and subscribe.
• Increased sales: YouTube promotions can help you increase sales by driving traffic to your website or landing page.

If you want to grow your YouTube channel and reach a wider audience, you should consider using YouTube promotions. They are a cost-effective way to get your videos seen by more people and to improve your chances of success on YouTube.

Conclusion

YouTube promotions are a great way to get more views on your videos. They can be used to promote your videos to a broader audience, and they can also be used to target your ads to specific demographics or interests.

By following the tips in this blog post, you can create effective YouTube promotions that will help you get more views on your videos.

For many YouTube creators, building a community around their content is often confined to the platform itself. They rely on likes, comments, and subscriptions as the primary indicators of their channel’s growth and success. However, it’s becoming evident that creators need to look beyond these metrics and the platform to solidify and grow their brand. A newsletter is a tool that can help creators do just this.

What is a Newsletter?

In essence, a newsletter is a digest of content that you send out to an email list of subscribers. It can contain updates, news, exclusive content, promotional offers, and more. Today, newsletters have become a powerful tool for building an engaged community, reinforcing brand identity, and generating income. As a result, they’re used by businesses, influencers, and, increasingly, YouTube creators.

The Benefits of a Newsletter

A newsletter allows creators to connect with their audience more intimately, directly, and regularly. While a YouTube comment can often be lost in a sea of responses, a newsletter directly reaches your subscribers’ inboxes, creating a one-on-one connection. This personal touch can foster a more loyal community of followers who feel closely connected to your brand.

Newsletters are also a great way to provide additional value to your audience. They can offer exclusive content, behind-the-scenes looks, or early access to new videos. Doing so can enhance your relationship with your followers, providing an additional layer of connection beyond your YouTube content.

Moreover, newsletters can open up new avenues for monetization. Whether it’s through promoting merchandise, offering exclusive paid content, or working with sponsors, newsletters can provide a substantial income stream.

Finally, one key advantage of newsletters is that they provide a certain level of independence from the whims of YouTube’s ever-changing algorithm. You have direct access to your audience without the mediation of the platform’s algorithmic decisions.

Starting Your Newsletter: Steps and Considerations

If the benefits above resonate with you, starting a newsletter might be the next step in your content creation journey. Here are some steps and considerations:

Choosing a platform: Numerous newsletter platforms are available, each with unique features. Some popular ones include Mailchimp, Substack, ConvertKit, and Sendinblue.

Content: Think about what you’ll include in your newsletter. It should provide value and align with your brand identity on YouTube.

Building your email list: Start by promoting your newsletter on your YouTube channel and other social media platforms. Consider providing an incentive for signing up, like exclusive content or early video access.

Consistency: Like with your YouTube channel, the character is critical. Regular updates (whether weekly, biweekly, or monthly) can keep your audience engaged.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Starting a newsletter isn’t without its challenges. Here are a few pitfalls to avoid:

Overloading content: While providing value is essential, sending too many newsletters or stuffing them with content can overwhelm your subscribers.

Being overly promotional: Although newsletters can be monetized, they should primarily provide value to your audience. A newsletter that feels like one big sales pitch can lead to unsubscribes.

In Conclusion

Starting a newsletter as a YouTube creator can help you deepen your relationship with your audience, diversify your content offering, and even create an additional revenue stream. It’s a powerful tool that can complement your YouTube channel and provide resilience against platform changes. As a creator, considering whether this could be the next step in your growth journey is worth considering.

In the ever-evolving world of YouTube, where trends come and go, creating content that stands the test of time has become a coveted strategy for content creators. This approach, known as evergreen content, refers to videos that retain their relevance and value long after their initial release. In this blog post, we explore the concept of evergreen content on YouTube and shed light on the immense power of creating videos that can provide lasting value for years.

What is Evergreen Content?

Evergreen content is like a fine wine—it gets better with age. Unlike trending content that may capture attention briefly, evergreen content maintains its relevance and attracts viewers long after its initial publication. It addresses timeless topics, educates, entertains, and solves problems pertinent to audiences regardless of fads or current events.

The Value of Evergreen Content:

1. Sustainable Traffic and Engagement: Creating evergreen content means investing time and effort in videos that can generate consistent traffic over an extended period. By catering to ongoing viewer demand, your videos become a valuable resource that organically attracts new viewers, boosting your channel’s visibility and growth.
2. Long-Term Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Evergreen content aligns with search engine optimization (SEO) strategies by targeting keywords and addressing topics with enduring search relevance. This approach ensures that your videos rank well in search results and continue to attract viewers, even months or years after their initial release.
3. Establishing Authority and Expertise: By consistently producing high-quality evergreen content, you position yourself as an authority in your niche. Viewers trust channels consistently delivering valuable, reliable information and are likelier to subscribe, engage, and return for more content. This can lead to partnerships, collaborations, and monetization opportunities.

Creating Evergreen Content:

1. Identifying Timeless Topics: Focus on topics that have lasting appeal to your target audience. Consider common pain points, frequently asked questions, and subjects that are not time-bound or dependent on specific trends. Conduct keyword research and explore popular search queries to uncover evergreen topics with high search volume.
2. Crafting Quality and Valuable Content: Ensure your evergreen content is informative, engaging, and visually appealing. Invest in high-quality production, interesting storytelling techniques, and effectively deliver valuable information. Aim to solve problems, provide actionable insights, and offer tangible benefits to your viewers.
3. Optimizing for Discoverability: Pay attention to the critical elements of optimization, such as video titles, descriptions, tags, and thumbnails. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally and strategically within these elements to enhance your video’s visibility in search results and related content recommendations.
4. Encouraging Interaction and Sharing: Engage with your audience through comments, encourage discussions, and respond to queries. Prompt viewers to share your evergreen content with others, allowing it to reach a wider audience. Foster a sense of community, as engaged viewers are more likely to return for future content and recommend your channel to others.

Conclusion:

In the fast-paced world of YouTube, creating evergreen content provides an invaluable advantage. Investing in videos with lasting value sets you apart from the transient trends and fosters long-term growth for your channel. Embrace the power of evergreen content to build a loyal audience, establish authority, and enjoy sustained success on YouTube. Remember, while trends may come and go, evergreen content remains timeless and continues to provide value to viewers for years to come.

• The vast majority of people never start. It’s easy to find excuses not to start something, whether creating a YouTube channel, writing a book, or starting a business. But the truth is, most people never take the first step. So if you’re willing to start, you’re already ahead of the game.
• It’s all about momentum. Once you start, it’s much easier to keep going. The more you create, the better you’ll get at it, and the more momentum you’ll build. So don’t be afraid to start small. Just start making something, and the rest will follow.
• It’s a numbers game. The more content you create, the more likely you will find an audience. It’s a numbers game. The more people you reach, the more likely you will find people interested in what you say. So don’t give up. Keep creating, and eventually, you’ll find your audience.
• Don’t compare yourself to others. It’s easy to get discouraged when you see other creators doing better than you. But don’t compare yourself to others. Just focus on creating the best content you can. If you do that, you’ll eventually find success.

Here are some additional tips for starting and sticking with a YouTube channel:

• Find a niche. What are you passionate about? What do you know a lot about? Find a place you can focus on, and you’ll be more likely to create content people are interested in.
• Set realistic goals. Don’t expect to become an overnight success. It takes time and effort to build an audience. Set realistic goals for yourself, and don’t get discouraged if you don’t see results immediately.
• Be consistent. The key to success is consistency. Upload new videos regularly, and you’ll eventually build a following.
• Promote your channel. Don’t just sit back and wait for people to find your channel. Promote it on social media, and reach out to other creators in your niche.

If you liked this, please consider listening to our TubeBuddy Express podcast here.

This is an example of a YouTube End Card

Benefits: How to Use Custom End Cards for YouTube

Typically the way you want to use outro slates is to annotate to previous videos we’ve done. (Link to videos) The subscribe button will generally be there and people can listen to the end of what you are saying in your outro while the end card is displayed. This is important because YouTube is paying more and more attention to watch  time.  If your video can do more to send more views and more traffic to your other videos, your videos will rank better in search.

As you can see, it has many different elements. The first think is the opportunity for the viewer to subscribe to your channel. That is front and center, and you want it to be clear that if they click HERE, they will be prompted to subscribe to your channel. The next think you will notice, is the “More Videos” section. Here, you will add thumbnails, OR you could even place actual videos that would be playing in the background and place a YouTube annotation on top of them, so they are clickable. The last thing you are going to notice is the “Social Media” links. When you are trying to build a community, a great way of doing that is allowing your audience to connect with you on your social platforms.

Tips When Creating An End Card

• The colors should be bright and associated with the branding of your channel
• The “More Videos” section should have videos that are related to the video that just ended
• All links should work and be easily clickable when the viewer is trying to click them

Download the Photoshop End Card Template Here

Here is a video tutorial showing you how to create end cards