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Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

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Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#31

Post by mattboardman »

lolinder wrote: post #17
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #10

I don't have a YouTube channel, but if I were to create one I'd probably listen to every single podcast appearance from MrBeast since he's basically become the King of YouTube, and he regularly gives very actionable and clear advice.

I haven't specifically looked at these podcasts, but getting advice from superstars is very rarely the right move in any domain, especially in something as arbitrary as media. It's hard for a superstar to tell in retrospect what they did that contributed to their success and what was just dumb luck and coincidence.

I would agree with you, but Mr. Beast is very methodical and has the algorithm beat at this point.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#32

Post by marginalia_nu »

carom wrote: post #12

Find a niche. People love free content. It wasn't that hard. I was making computer security videos for people, real basics for programming, networking, web interactions, number bases, bit math - stuff that you need to learn as a base to get into hacking. Grew my channel pretty quickly to 1k subscribers just by sharing them to reddit. I deleted it because I got annoyed that I was making content for YT for free (the vi…

> - Practice speaking. Slow down.

This is good advice for most people in general. Speaking slower gives more time to think about what you're going to say, which means you say better things. It's shocking how slowly you can get away with speaking.

Incidentally, slowing down is also good advice for improving your handwriting.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#33

Post by marginalia_nu »

throw0101b wrote: post #29
carom wrote: post #12

Find a niche. People love free content. It wasn't that hard. I was making computer security videos for people, real basics for programming, networking, web interactions, number bases, bit math - stuff that you need to learn as a base to get into hacking. Grew my channel pretty quickly to 1k subscribers just by sharing them to reddit. I deleted it because I got annoyed that I was making content for YT for free (the vi…

> - Get a good mic, mic stand, shock mount. Audio is 80% of video. People will watch potato-quality video; no one will listen to garbage audio.

I can never tell the difference between supposedly good audio and the equivalent of two cans connected with a string. Dunno, maybe I'm lacking the audiophile chromosome or something.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#35

Post by geerlingguy »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #33
throw0101b wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Get a good mic, mic stand, shock mount. Audio is 80% of video. People will watch potato-quality video; no one will listen to garbage audio.

I can never tell the difference between supposedly good audio and the equivalent of two cans connected with a string. Dunno, maybe I'm lacking the audiophile chromosome or something.

A lot of it is just "is the can the string is attached to 3" from the speaker or 3'?"

A mediocre mic placed 3-6" from the mouth is going to almost always sound better than any price of mic placed 5' away, except in sound treated studios with excellent technique and strong post-processing.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#36

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

huseyinkeles wrote: post #13
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #7

Say something original and different. I will put down some YouTube channels I like. See how different they are: https://www.youtube.com/@BlowFan https://www.youtube.com/@CBaggers https://www.youtube.com/@Frankslaboratory https://www.youtube.com/@QuantPy https://www.youtube.com/@SuperDeclarative https://www.youtube.com/@MollyRocket https://www.youtube.com/@Hyperplexed What you want to avoid at all costs is a channel w…

If we take subscriber count as success criteria, most of the channels you recommend do not look very successful. So maybe being original and different is not really paying off sometimes?

Ya maybe you are right. I don't know what's the best way to optimize for that. I'm not a YouTuber. I guess beginner friendly channels have a higher subscriber count?

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#37

Post by mr_o47 »

mentos wrote: post #28
mr_o47 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I literally went through the same making my first video. Had to do a lot of retakes but thanks for the tips. I won’t be able to invest in a mic yet but I’m okay using my apple headphones once I gain some traction I’ll be buying a new mic

buy a new mic to gain traction?

Sorry what I mean by this is that once I see it’s gaining popularity I’ll invest in a mic

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#39

Post by geerlingguy »

Decide if you want to try to generate revenue at some point, or if you are just doing it for the fun or passion of it.

If the former, you'll need to play the YouTube games, invest time in editing, improving technique, studying analytics, sticking to a schedule.

If the latter, post videos, have fun, hack at it... but don't expect more than 100 views on a video.

It can be fun either way, it really depends on your outlook. Cracking into a YouTube career is difficult, and soaks up so much time you'll find yourself wondering what happened to all the actual dev work you wanted to highlight in your content! Most of us who have had success learned a lot of tricks, but also have had a TON of luck.

Besides already being very wealthy, there's no guarantee you can get views or turn things into a full time gig. I spent two years saving up as much as I could consulting before I went into content creation full-time.

Re: Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

#40

Post by mr_o47 »

geerlingguy wrote: post #39

Decide if you want to try to generate revenue at some point, or if you are just doing it for the fun or passion of it. If the former, you'll need to play the YouTube games, invest time in editing, improving technique, studying analytics, sticking to a schedule. If the latter, post videos, have fun, hack at it... but don't expect more than 100 views on a video. It can be fun either way, it really depends on your outlo…

Goal is to build online presence and create impact.
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