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Ask HN: Advice on starting a YouTube channel?

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121–130 of 141 posts

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

#121
post #20

Try to stick to a schedule. That's something I've personally struggled with a lot, and it's something that the more successful channels I follow have usually done better with. People like to know when new uploads will be posted, and YouTube likes to push videos that people check out quickly after their initial airing. Because of that, it's probably best not to try and post daily (or multiple times a day) unless you c…

Do you mind me asking: Have you made money? Is the money lucrative?

Yes I've made some money, though it's not exactly a ton (a few hundred quid every few weeks).

Unfortunately, I kinda screwed up a few times, and forgot to monetise popular videos until way later than I should have. Like that video with 6 million views or so? Wasn't monetised until it got about half of that, which was probably a very stupid mistake.

As for whether it's lucrative in general? Eh it depends on the niche, but generally not if we're talking ads. You need hundreds of thousands of views per video to really do well from those alone, and even that is heavily dependent on the subject matter in question and the audience you've drawn in (their country, demographics, etc). Most of the folks I know who do YouTube stuff full time tend to make a decent chunk of their money from Patreon and sponsorships instead, and I know at least one creator who stopped making stuff altogether due to it not covering their living costs (in a fairly cheap, rural part of China mind you).

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

#122
post #27
post #20

Try to stick to a schedule. That's something I've personally struggled with a lot, and it's something that the more successful channels I follow have usually done better with. People like to know when new uploads will be posted, and YouTube likes to push videos that people check out quickly after their initial airing. Because of that, it's probably best not to try and post daily (or multiple times a day) unless you c…

That’s pretty nice, Have you ever thought about going full time on YouTube

Considered it, but I think I'd get even more burnt out if I had to rely on YouTube to survive and making videos every day was an absolute necessity.

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

#123
post #77
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s pretty nice, Have you ever thought about going full time on YouTube

All major creators are uploading YT shorts also now. How’s the mechanics for it? Have you considered starting from there?

I do post shorts, and some of them have done pretty well. However, the number of views needed to make serious money with those is insane even compared to normal videos, and it's a completely different audience to the rest of the site. Additionally, given you can't add custom thumbnails for them and the way the algorithm works there is wildly inconsistent (seen some people get like, a hundred views from one short and a hundred thousand from the next one), it's a very risky game to put too much work into.

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

#124
post #49
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Subconscious, but true: it will impact the feeling your viewers get when spending time with you.

Agreed, I just posted my first video Let me know how you guys feel about it https://youtu.be/PU75M0QkwTQ

There’s a lot of noise in the background - strong hiss and what sounds like music playing on the radio.

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

#125
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind me asking: Have you made money? Is the money lucrative?

Yes I've made some money, though it's not exactly a ton (a few hundred quid every few weeks). Unfortunately, I kinda screwed up a few times, and forgot to monetise popular videos until way later than I should have. Like that video with 6 million views or so? Wasn't monetised until it got about half of that, which was probably a very stupid mistake. As for whether it's lucrative in general? Eh it depends on the niche,…

Thank you for the detailed response. Truly appreciate it!

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

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“ means inches and ‘ means feet in case anyone else needs to know because I had to look this up

Is this just a US thing? I thought this was common knowledge.

> Is this just a US thing? I thought this was common knowledge.

Have you seen the movie This Is Spinal Tap? Good scene on this "common knowledge":

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg5Ovdu6bOE

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

#127

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.

Audio is only as good as its weakest link. recording, compress to youtube, compress by youtube, playback. I guess it is possible to not be repulsed by audio compression artefacts and judging from the average video posted by mobile s it is shocking common.

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

#128
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…

> Grew my channel pretty quickly to 1k subscribers just by sharing them to reddit.

How do you find subreddits you can self promote on without getting a ban?

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

#130
post #78
post #18

I recently posted my first programming video after getting inspired by other fellow programmer youtubers https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PU75M0QkwTQ

Nice. I think you have potential to do great. You have a nice voice which is easy to listen to and you’re going at the right pace. Music volume is just right. Keep at it.

Thank you for the feedback,

I really appreciate it

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