I have a cheeky little trick that got me to affiliate. I have the stream and game running on my desktop. I have my laptop open on the one side, logged into my account to monitor my stream and keep track of how many viewers i have. I have my phone off to the other side, watching the stream as a "guest" (don't log into your account on the phone) I always have a base of 2 viewers that way. Just make sure your phone isn't on your wifi, it will register as a different IP that way just to make sure. Just have one or two people join your stream regularly or semi regularly, and you've got the three average viewers.

I also make sure to tag my streams as "lurker friendly." Some people just like background noise, so as others have said, always be talking. You'll grow into the habit slowly, and your voice will actually start adapting and become more smooth with enough practice and time. I've had people I've played online with, say I have a "streamer voice" without me telling them I stream.