4 Pieces of Outdated YouTube Advice Keeping You Stuck
Feeling like your YouTube channel isn’t growing? It may be because your strategy is outdated. Yes, I said it! But how do I know this for a fact?
Because assessing this kind of thing is what I do every single day for my clients! As a YouTube coach, I get a lot of good insight about what works, what doesn’t, and what’s outdated. And I’ve noticed that there are a few common pieces of outdated YouTube advice that are keeping people stuck right now.
Some of what I’ve noticed are things that have worked in the past. But the internet evolves, and with it, so does YouTube. Which means it’s time to up your game by adjusting your strategy. I’ll show you how!
Outdated YouTube Advice #1: Niche Your Topics
Here’s the deal — niching is still a thing, but it’s slightly different in 2024 than it used to be.
You may have heard before that if something “takes off” or goes viral, you should double down on that topic. But you don’t want to get too specific with WHAT you talk about. Instead, you want to niche down on an audience.
The biggest reason is that it’s going to get boring for you and your audience if you talk about the same thing over and over. There are only so many videos you can make about one singular, super-specific topic.
Instead, let your audience guide your content. Listen in and find out what they want to see. Then create topics around that.
Outdated YouTube Advice #2: The more content you create, the faster you will grow
When you create more content, you are doing two things:
Building your content library so when people find your channel, they have more to watch (it is super important to keep people watching and binging your content — the algorithm LOVES that).
Opening more opportunities to be found since this is kind of a numbers game.
BUT quantity NEVER beats quality.
You want to focus on choosing topics your audience is interested in and looking for. Don’t post just to post. It ALWAYS pays to be intentional on YouTube.
Just remember that done is better than perfect, so you don’t stay stuck in analysis paralysis either! There’s a fine line between overdoing it and not doing enough. The most important thing is that your videos are valuable for YOUR niche/audience. The rest is just icing on the cake!
Outdated YouTube Advice #3: High production value is a must
Is a poorly lit video with audio you can’t hear going to take off? Probably not. That’s not a good viewing experience for your audience. They need to be clear to see and clear to hear.
But you don’t have to overdo it either. You don’t need a fancy camera and lens, the perfect filming location, or even all the bells and whistles of video editing.
Instead, you need to focus on the value you deliver and how you connect with that viewer. Relating to your audience and teaching them in a way they understand and ENJOY will do SO MUCH MORE for you than a new camera ever will.
If you needed another reason to forgo perfection, I’ve also noticed that over-edited videos aren’t doing that well anymore. To test my theory, I posted a few videos a couple of months ago with minimal editing. They still did great with audience retention (one of YouTube's most important markers of success!).
So yeah…you don’t need to waste your time going all out. Do what you can and focus on providing value. That’s it.
Outdated YouTube Advice #4: Focus on SEO
Is SEO still a thing on YouTube? Yes, but it’s different than how it used to be.
I use SEO research to help me come up with topics that align with what my audience wants to see. It helps me search neighbor niches, find out what’s popular in that space, and gives me a peek inside my audience’s mind to see what they want to learn more about.
But you don’t need to create your entire YouTube strategy based on search traffic and SEO alone. You need balance.
If you just focus on search-based traffic, you could end up having a channel that’s a one-hit wonder (people just come for the answer and leave). It doesn’t give them a reason to stick around and connect with you.
Make your content interesting, valuable, and relatable (are you noticing a theme here??). Put in the SEO practices, but just remember that it’s there to HELP your strategy, not carry it.
Let’s talk leads
So how can you take all this information, tweak your strategy, and still create content that attracts people to your videos like flies to honey?
I’m covering that in the video below! If you want to learn more about creating that strategic content, that ultimately drives leads and turns them into paying clients and customers, give it a watch!
(P.S. You’ll also see how to turn this information into a strategic content calendar that works for YOUR channel. Heck yeah!!)
