Top 12 YouTube Mistakes Your Are Making
Let's be honest, there are a lot of mistakes you make as a YouTuber. Whether YouTube is your primary focus or you're using it to drive traffic to your business, you want to make sure that you're using the platform correctly to see the results you desire.
And luckily, those common YouTuber mistakes aren't the be all, end all. In fact, I'm going to share 12 mistakes you could be making that will hold you back so that you can check in with yourself and get back on track!
Mistake #1: Lack of Planning.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Isn't that what people say? This couldn't be closer to the truth! While it can seem like a good idea to just turn your camera on and get started, there's actually a lot that goes on behind the scenes of a video.
In order to make the most valuable content you can, it's important to do research. Research the topics you plan to film, dig into your analytics, see what you can do to create a piece of content that your viewers will love.
Beyond that, it's important to have some semblance of a script available so that you know what to say and when you're going to say it. This will save you so much time and will ensure that you're getting the message out that you need to.
Mistake #2: Lack of Consistency.
Here's the thing. You don't need to post a new video every single day. But you do need to be consistent. You can't just post a video whenever you feel like it and expect that YouTube will see that spontaneous posting as valuable to their viewers.
Instead, focus on creating one video a week. If you can/want to post more, do so! But the most important thing is to be consistent. Consistency builds trust in your audience and that trust leaders to subscribers.
Mistake #3: Putting Quantity Over Quality.
Sometimes it can feel like the more you post, the better. This simply isn't the case. In fact, the best thing you can do is focus on creating quality content consistently. Are you seeing a theme here?
When you do the legwork to create value in your videos, chances are you'll see better audience retention. And that audience retention signals to YouTube that your content should be recommended to others. And that recommendation means everything in the realm of analytics!
Mistake #4: You Focus Too Much on Tags.
I know, this one is pretty controversial. People put a lot of emphasis on tags and keywords to rank on YouTube but the truth is that YouTube doesn't work like that anymore. In fact, what your search looks like will look completely different to another persons search of the exact same keyword.
This means that you might not be getting the most accurate information when it comes to keywords and performance of videos. Instead, you can use your tags and keywords as a foundation for your topics. You can still out perform a top ranking video if your video is of a higher value. So let yourself off the hook a bit when it comes to tags.
Mistake #5: Perfectionism is Holding You Back.
If you're focused on being perfect, you'll never end up getting anything publish. Why? Because perfect isn't done. You see that sign in my videos every week for a reason.
The truth is that you just have to get started. Plan a video, film it and publish it. You'll make mistakes but that's okay. This is how you learn and grow!
Mistake #6: You're Overthinking.
If I can give you any strong advice here, it's don't end up stuck. We often can get hung up on things and it will keep up in this cycle of not growing. Instead of overthinking every topic, every video, every part of your channel, just get started and be okay making mistakes along the way!
This allows you to really narrow down your area of expertise and niche. And niching is so important!
Mistake #7: You're Playing the Comparison Game.
Oh man, is this an easy one to fall into! Comparing yourself to others is not only not helpful but it's not healthy. You may find yourself feeling discouraged and unfocused when you compare your work to someone else's. Here's the thing.
You can't compare your channel to another person's because you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Instead, worry about creating your own valuable content!
Mistake #8: You're Not Experimenting.
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it? And yet, it can be so easy to do just that. We can find ourselves getting into routines and not making any changes because that's what's comfortable.
Instead, dig into your analytics and start tweaking things. Maybe focus on your thumbnails. Or your titles. Whatever you do, though, make sure you only change one thing at a time so you can accurately reflect on the analytics.
Mistake #9: You're Not Tweaking Your Titles and Thumbnails.
Create a template and just go with it, right? Wrong. If you're not seeing your click through rates increasing, you need to be paying attention to your titles and thumbnails. These are the two key pieces that will entice a viewer to click into your video.
Take time to see what you can do to improve those rates. Try new thumbnail styles. Try new titles! Once you do, check in with the analytics to see how they perform and keep going from there!
Mistake #10: You Have No Target Audience.
This is SO common. We think we want to reach everyone so we try to appeal to everyone with multiple topics. This doesn't work out because your audience (and YouTube!) won't know what area they should really trust you in. Are you a jack of all trades and master of none? Of course not!
Focus in on YOUR audience. Get to know who they are specifically and what they're looking for on YouTube. Once you know that, you can start to create content specifically for that person.
Mistake #11: Your Intros Are Too Long.
You have about 5 seconds to convince a person that they need to be on your channel and they need to be watching your video. Don't ruin that by filling your intro with a bunch of unnecessary fluff.
Let your viewer know exactly why they should tune in and get right to the point. This is so helpful because your viewer wants to make the most of their time on YouTube and this shows them they'll be getting value.
Mistake #12: You're Skipping the Promotion.
You may have a mentality that says "if you post it, they will watch." Nope. That's not the case. There's so much content on YouTube that you HAVE to promote yours so it stands out.
Send people to your channel from your other platforms. Email a newsletter. Post on social media. Make sure you do this with every video!
