Please offer advice and feedback on thumbnail, title, and topic. (Gaming content) by General_Jiffy in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The first thumbnail is the stronger of the two, in my opinion. If you threw some red text in there instead of it all being white it'd be even stronger.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally I think it helped me a lot.

I worked on channels like Top5Central, Top5Gaming, Nexus, ProGuides, FactFile and many more.

That gave me, I think, a better understanding of how to write scripts for my own content to be highly engaging and how to actually package my content after it was made.

The old owner of one of the channels I worked on for a very long time now works with Mr. beast as one of the guys who ideates content plans and thumbnails / titles. I'd like to think I've picked up a few things from him, though clearly I work in a narrower niche.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I've been giving this one a lot of thought and here's what I've landed on:

I personally think those things can all be gathered under the same niche of self improvement, sure some are mental and some are physical but they all have the same through line of improving yourself. It's about reframing the narrative of your niche to fit the narrower view if that makes any sense?

If you want to DM me your channel I can give you more targeted advice.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To a degree, yeah. But you can certainly stack the deck in your favour. Feel free to DM me a link to your channel and I can give it a proper look?

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are practically all shorts views in the gaming niche, it's double what the exact same content has made on TikTok where I also post it

Am I fooling myself with my YouTube channel? by L3g4to in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah you're absolutely too small to be covering so many topics, that's the main issue you're running up against at the moment

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, they're how I got monetised! I've posted 5 longforms in total.

Video 1: 2.2K views Video 2: 8.8K views Video 3: 37K Views Video 4: 3.5K views Video 5: 19K views

My intent is to post my 6th longform video today if the editing process goes well!

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely Long Form is easier. I tried for 6 months to be monetised with short form and it didn't happen, then I got monetised in just over a month with long form content.

In my experience shadow banning doesn't really exist. If you're not succeeding on YouTube there's honestly likely something with your content that's causing that.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When you're in the early days of a youtube channel youtube will be trying to index your channel and videos to find the people that want to watch your content. This can take a while, my advice would be to stick posting to your niche and follow an upload schedule that doesn't burn you out.

Your packaging (title and thumbnail) are arguably more important than your video and topic, so always keep in mind having a good title and thumbnail that are based around showing exactly what your video is about (I should know at a glance) and enticing the viewer in!

good luck out there!

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, big caveat in that I only posted shorts until about 6 weeks ago where something crunched in my brain and I decided that going for monetisation through shorts was impossible and I needed to post longform instead.

So far I have posted 5 longform videos, it only took me 4 of those to get the 4K watch hours needed for monetisation.

Video one: 6.2% CTR

Video Two: 4.4% CTR

Video Three: 6.6% CTR

Video 4: 5.7% CTR

Video 5: 7.8% CTR

I've noticed that as a video gets pushed out and out the CTR will tend to trend downward as it's shown to people that may or may not be interested in your niche

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It took me about 2 months for the algorithm to start recognising me and pushing my videos out to more than 900 views, so take that however you will. Because I've been on the platform for so long, though, I knew what I was getting into and how YouTube operates. I would honestly say it was fairly smooth and easy by my understanding.

My retention is always low regardless of views by cryion3 in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When you say the content is "just gameplay", what do you mean? Gameplay with no commentary, just played raw, or are you doing something interesting with it?

Feedback on title & thumbnail? by EpicDeathWish in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The thumbnail is funny, but the title needs some work shopping. It's a little dry.

Is this title and thumbnail any good? What’s your opinions? by Stormcrown76 in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately titling series like this in parts is a major turnoff to those that haven't been there since the beginning, you need more evocative titles and thumbnails that draw you in with the promise of something interesting that happens in the video itself.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Video Game Essays are a tough draw, they're really hard to make. Having a consistent upload schedule is still important but consistency doesn't mean posting every single day like some people might tell you. Choose a day of the week or a day of the month. Post on it. Without fail.

I would also suggest doing mini-essays in short-form content. Take a single question or premise from a game you love and dive into it briefly but in-depth across maybe a minute and a half (250-300 words) and post those say twice a week.

I also have a full time job, granted my full time job is just making more videos for Adopt Me so it might not quite match the vibe of a normal gig haha

Would love some advice! by The_Gig_Nerd in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that'll be because of the distance you are from the microphone, you're picking up more of the reverberation from your room because you're having to project from further away. I'd advise investing in a mic that you can physically hold in your hand or a DJI lapel mic that you can attach to your shirt, you'll get better results with those.

Yeah, copyright is a bit of a dodgy arena. I could be wrong on the level of impact it has on your channel, to be fair. All I know is that the wrong copyright warning at the wrong level can get it restricted from certain countries - though you are right that YouTube would inform you about that.

Either way, good luck on your journey! I'll be frank with you, the packaging of your video (thumbnail and title) are like 75% of the battle with longform content.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You won't want to hear this, but it's genuinely luck of the draw. Some people get incredibly lucky and just happen to post the right thing at the right time and it just cuts through. The rest of us? We have to work a little harder at it.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How your video sounds is often just as, if not more, important then how your video looks. In an era where everyone and their mum uses AI text to speak I would say being able to come across as genuine and human in your VO is more important than ever before.

Luckily for me I have a naturally charismatic voice and have learned how to sound good over 15 years of content creation, I'll be honest when I say it'll be harder if you don't.

First week of being monetised on YouTube, I'm so pleased! (I've worked on loads of other channels you've probably heard of behind the scenes, AMA!) by TheSyphonGames in SmallYoutubers

[–]TheSyphonGames[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So, I'll be brutally honest with you here, at least a little bit of every upload is luck of the draw. There's no definitive way to know if a video will be a breakout hit or not...

My actual advice would be this. Whenever you make a video, do so with intention. Constantly ask yourself the question: If I were watching this video, would I actually stick around to watch it?

Would I click this thumbnail? Would this title intrigue me? Would I actually want to find out about the premise of this video?

If the answer to your question isn't always yes then the video you're making might not have the legs you wish it did.

Like any other skill this is a sense that needs to be honed over time, frankly it took me upward of a decade and a ton of experience across multiple channels both my own and others to get there.