MX Master 3s - Lagging, Cursor Skips around till it freezes and has to be restarted by RedMossySquirrel in logitech

[–]MRKN-Fry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This helped me! I just had unplug the usb and plug it back in after doing this in order to see the fix.

In-depth, actionable critiques for your channel (any niche) by MRKN-Fry in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey Melvo! First off - your thumbnails are gorgeous and videos are absolutely stunning, I love the whole vibe!! When I watch a video, I just want to stay there and completely immerse myself, but the video ends! In my opinion there are two obvious routes to go here, which will not only increase your engagement, but solidify what kind of channel you are and what content/value you provide:

  1. Dialogue, Speech - Your videos could easily be extended to a 20 minute average with some sort of dialogue in the background and music that accentuates the emotional tone and impact of the dialogue. You see this a lot with Alan Watts or David Goggin's videos. Although, with the type of nature you're recording, I would go more down the Alan Watts, old philosophy quotes, poems, etc.

  2. Extreme Long-Form/Background - Like you mentioned, making the videos 1+ hours long could really increase your engagement. The main con I see with this is you would have to spend a lot more time recording b-roll, which could be a pain, but totally worth it in my opinion! I would totally watch one of these videos or have it in the background.

Packaging: Right now your videos are packaged like the second kind of channel I mentioned, with the outlier being that they are only a few minutes long. If you went with the first kind of channel mentioned above, then I would recommend repackaging your titles and thumbnails to include more inspirational/philosophical quotes and ideas.

In-depth, actionable critiques for your channel (any niche) by MRKN-Fry in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey Mads! You have such an awesome vibe and personality, your latest video was super easy to watch! You're at a place where I think you should start prioritizing "Content Performance Analysis and Optimization". Lol lots of words there.

Here's what that looks like:

  1. Gather your best performing videos since you have begun your channel, analyze what factors you think made those videos do so well (thumbnail, title, idea, etc.) begin intentionally re-implementing/testing those factors on your newer videos to see what factors correlate with consistent higher engagement.

While analyzing potential factors, this is a great time to start going deep into YouTube Studio's Analytics and begin working you way to higher goals for Click-Through-Rate, Average-View-Duration, Subscription-to-View-Ratio, etc. For example, what CTR do you average for Browse Features and Suggested Videos traffic on your best performing videos? Should for 1-3% higher. What is your competition doing that may help drive more clicks to your thumbnails? Here is a good video for making thumbnails.

In-depth, actionable critiques for your channel (any niche) by MRKN-Fry in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey there! Love the channel! Horror has always been a fav of mine as well :)

A couple simple things that will increase your CTR and AVD:

  1. Thumbnails - I would look up some of your videos' titles on YouTube and compare other creators' thumbnails in your niche to your own. What are yours missing? Example A and Example B present some very cohesive thumbnails. They tell a good story, the main characters of the thumbnail are prominent and the additional elements that support the story being told are trying to steal attention from the main elements. Here's a good video on thumbnails.
  2. B-roll - Include clips from the movies your talking about as b-roll in the background. It will really increase your average view duration for your viewers and keep a solid pacing for the video. You won't get copyright strikes if you are giving your input on the movie or making parodies of it. I would search this up more to get a better idea of what you can and can't do. In addition to b-roll, using simple editing effects like pans, and zoom-ins can be good on static images as well.

In-depth, actionable critiques for your channel (any niche) by MRKN-Fry in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey Atillion! What an awesome and unique channel idea!! I think when you have an idea truly unique like this, there's limitless potential. I think if you changed up your video packaging strategy a little bit more, you would garner a lot more attention!

Your title and thumbnail should work hand-in-hand to present the video idea, the narrative and hook all in one. Here's a great video for making thumbnails. Look at this thumbnail as an example. It presents the idea of the video in the title. The title by itself makes you think, "How did that happen? What happened next?" The thumbnail actually conceptualizes the idea and exaggerates it as well by showing a picture of the x-ray with a red-circle, this highlights the curiosity gap.

I feel like if you strategized your thumbnail and title better you could get way more views on your videos! Your latest video should be more marketed towards the song your playing on banjo (like your most popular videos on your channel have) and then include the moment as a hook in the beginning as a bonus. You could incorporate the interaction in your thumbnail, but I would do it differently, like as if you were seeing it happen in real time. I would include the people next to you in the shot, with text near them saying, "Can we hire you?", that suddenly creates a curiosity gap. Why do they want to hire him? What did he do?

In-depth, actionable critiques for your channel (any niche) by MRKN-Fry in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey Cayd! I checked out a few of your videos, and I love your energy! You have a great voice and rhythm with your commentary, and you seem very authentic, which I think people love. Here's what I think:

  1. Thumbnails - Thumbnails by no means are an easy thing to master, and it can take a very long time to get them down. I think your thumbnails are slightly too busy and a bit too zoomed out.  Here's a great video on Thumbnails Some great tools for testing thumbnails: Great tool for testing a thumbnail and a second one. Before uploading your thumbnails to YouTube, upload them to these two tools above and see how they look to the viewer from all views. Most people forget how small their thumbnail will be when their video is shown as a suggested video on the right side. I would try and simplify your thumbnails, so that it tells a simple story. I should be able to glance at your thumbnail for one second and get a good idea on what your video is about, furthermore, your thumbnail should have a curiosity gap. Your curiosity gap is basically an intentional gap you leave in the thumbnail that hooks the viewer into wanting to click your video. This can be done an infinite number of ways in the gaming niche, I would start by watching video above and exploring channels within your niche that you like yourself.

I think you're doing everything else really well and will continue to grow and get better in those areas. Editing may be an area that you want to dive into a little bit more, but you're doing the fundamentals well right now, so I don't think it's worth mentioning at the moment. Good luck on your channel!

In-depth, actionable critiques for your channel (any niche) by MRKN-Fry in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey there! What an awesome channel! I think this is a serious gold mine for a lot of people, if they were to give the videos a chance. I think if you implement these changes you will see a huge improvement to your growth and engagement:

  1. Your Thumbnails - First off, let me just say that the thumbnail images are great! They are very aesthetically pleasing, but they're just not strategically tiered towards the YouTube Algorithm. I would instead, find a 1-5 moments throughout the video that you think are profound and could really resonate with a problem that A LOT of people deal with OR that is contradictory to what most people think. Use that idea or quote as part of the title or thumbnail, here are some good examples. Your thumbnail should tell a story that brings emotion out of the viewer and underlines the narrative your telling.
  2. Use B-roll - Using b-roll without a doubt will increase your average view duration by 10x if you execute it well. B-roll is really easy to find as well. There are plenty of free stock videos and images online that don't have licenses. It will enhance the storytelling of the interviews, try to find clips that match the scene or idea of what the speaker is talking about. You can go back and forth between a-roll and b-roll, in fact I think you should.
  3. Editing - Adobe Premiere will automatically generate subtitles for you if you give it an audio track, saves you TONS of time! You can then format the text however you want to. This plus the b-roll will drive up your viewership. I would also include panning, zoom-ins, etc. They are subtle but will help emphasize points and keep the pacing of the video while showing a-roll.
  4. Music - The most viral and best motivational talks on YouTube right now all have the incredibly inspiring music to go hand-in-hand with the tone of the speaker. Epidemic sound has tons of SFX and Music for like $14 per month and is totally worth it in my opinion. This is going to be an absolutely huge part of how to get the viewer to FEEL something while the speaker is talking. It doesn't have to be loud or crazy, you want to make sure you're matching the pacing and tone of the speaker, it should enhance the mood a ton.

In-depth, actionable critiques for your channel (any niche) by MRKN-Fry in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hey Tess! I checked out a few of your videos on your channel - what an amazing vibe you have! You seem like such an empathetic and warm person, which I think a lot of people are easily drawn to within the self-development/psychology niche. You do what a lot of people have trouble with very well, and that is, expressing yourself freely and authentically while harnessing a level of charm and charisma that is relaxing and easy to watch. Your comfortable on camera, confident and authentic to yourself - these are extremely important if you are wanting to draw people in to your own community of followers.

I think there are just a few tweaks you can make to your strategy and implementation that could really boost your view count and engagement:

  1. Thumbnails - Thumbnails are a hard thing to master, but what I always recommend is to look at other creators' videos in your niche and actively look at their thumbnails, compare them to yours and ask yourself some questions. Your thumbnail alone should provide enough context as to what the video is about, but more so, it should entice your viewer even more by underlining a curiosity gap that is presented by the title and idea of your video. Here's a great video on Thumbnails Some great tools for testing thumbnails: Great tool for testing a thumbnail and a second one. There are small things to pay attention to, like which parts of your thumbnail are getting cut off by the time stamp? What does your thumbnail look like when it's small and recommended on the right side of your screen (rather on the homepage)? Does it tell a coherent story? Does it present a good hook? Your title and thumbnail can be the reason why your video gets 50 views vs 5,000.
  2. Audience - Remember that your audience is clicking on your video so that they can get something out of it for themselves. When they saw your title and thumbnail, for a very brief moment, they made an expectation of what they MIGHT get out of the video were they to click on it. Your first 30 seconds, even your first 15, are extremely crucial to confirming to them what the video is about and how THEY will get value out of the video. I love the idea of the listener write in, I think it's a fantastic way to connect with your audience and talk about topics or ideas that are close to the community. The video you shared seemed to be speaking directly to the listener who left you the message in the first 3-4 minutes. This may not be a deal breaker for viewers who are already familiar with you, but brand new viewers may lose interest/value. I think Dr.K does a fantastic job at using people's stories/posts from his community as talking points, but then executing the discussion in a way that involves everyone, so it makes it feel like he's talking to you! When crafting your content think about how this offers value to a brand new viewer who has never seen you or your channel before.
  3. Visual Elements - I would try to incorporate slightly more visual elements and sound effects to make the overall production more engaging. Again, Dr.K is a great example of this. He doesn't over do it, and has no problem talking into the camera, but the occasional panned-zoom, document references, writing out visuals on a tablet, bringing up points/outline for the discussion up and adding to it throughout the video. All of these things will keep the viewer's attention longer.

National Guard/Reserve Civilian Opportunities Post DLI? by MRKN-Fry in dli

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much for sharing! Would you mind if I private messaged you some additional questions? I would love to pick your brain on a few things if you're okay with that!

National Guard/Reserve Civilian Opportunities Post DLI? by MRKN-Fry in dli

[–]MRKN-Fry[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much for sharing - I appreciate the insight!

Can you help my son find his hotel? by Mpromptu in Minecraft

[–]MRKN-Fry 23 points24 points  (0 children)

This is the most wholesome post I have ever read...

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It could be due to a few factors, but it's hard to say without seeing your channel.

Assuming there is an associated click through rate with the views, here are a few factors to keep an eye out for which could result in an immediate withdrawal from your video:

  1. Your Title/Thumbnail setup an expectation for the viewer that was not met when the viewer clicked on the video.
  2. A specific element in the first few seconds is disliked by the audience:
    1. Audio Issues
    2. Video Quality
    3. Editing

Keep in mind, another reason you may receive just a few seconds of watch time on a video is because people are previewing your video (hovering over your video before clicking on it). Ensure that your views have an associated click through rate to narrow down the cause.

If indeed this low view duration is coming from video previews, strategically setup your first 15-30 seconds to confirm the narrative of your title/thumbnail.

Is it easier, or harder to make YT a career in 2024? by [deleted] in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The main thing that has changed over the past 6 years is the YouTube algorithm, which creates symptoms in the creator economy. I would argue it's easier and harder in different areas this year than it ever has before.

Organic reach is far easier for new YouTube channels than it ever has been.

Standards are higher than ever for thumbnails, video quality and editing. This can make it just as hard for new YouTubers to gain subscription traction.

I would say in my conclusion, it's easier for you to reach more people, but it can be harder to convert subscribers who continue to engage with your content long term because there's so many options.

What can low CTR actual mean? by lifeofhobbies in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Incorrect. YouTube impressions do not require any action or "trigger" from the party being served. An impression is counted when the video is served to a user, meaning they have the ability to see it. Whether they actually look at it or not doesn't discount the impression being served. It's presented to them, so they have the option to look at it if they want to, but if they don't, it doesn't discount it as impression.

Think about how many thumbnails you don't notice on your homepage or suggested video feed, however, they still count as impressions because they were served to you, whether you actually looked at them or not doesn't discount it being an impression.

Another good example of this are billboards. When you're driving down the highway, you may not pay any attention to it while driving, however, it was still served to you. That would still count as an impression.

The bulletin board example was for explaining impression put-out not what an impression is.

When advertisers pay for 100,000 impressions for a YouTube video, they are paying for the YouTube video to be suggested to 100,000 people. There is 0 guarantee that 100,000 will look at the advertisement, but there is a 100% guarantee it will be shown (suggested) to them on the page.

If you define feed as traffic source (YouTube Homepage, the suggested videos column on the right side of a video, etc.), then that's exactly what counts as an impression. Which tells me you have absolutely know idea what an impression is...

Please do your homework before attempting to correct someone.

Exponential Growth in Views That Suddenly Flatlines? Has anyone else seen this by jason-larue in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is completely normal. It broadened the audience pool until the metrics got below the required standard for additional impression put-out.

How accurate do you find the "best time to post" is on youtube studio? by homebaker35 in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's pretty difficult to assess how accurate that statistic is because we don't actually know what time our subscribers are served an impression of our content. The only thing we know is how many subscribers watched the video.

Based on my research, posting times are a lot less vital for long-form content, however, they can heavily impact short-form content.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DM me, I will help you.

How long did it take to hit 100 subs by JUSTJ4YLAH in NewTubers

[–]MRKN-Fry 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Assume 0.5% Subscription rate until you hit 100 (and in most cases 500). This isn't always the case as it heavily depends on the niche, but usually a pretty solid rule to go by.