02 How to Get Discovered

1.1. Make Catchy Titles

1.2. Make AWESOME Thumbnails
1.3. Find and Use Keywords
1.4. Post CONSISTENTLY
1.5. Optimize Your End Screen
1.6. Make Playlists
1.7. Increase AVD
1.8. ASK for Engagement

18 How to Get More Views

2.1. Collab With Creators

2.2. Repurpose Content on Other Platforms
2.3. Post Shorts/Clips

2.4. Get Shares From Your Network

31 How to Get More Subscribers

3.1. Double Down on What Works

3.2. Create Viewing “Loops”
3.3. Run Giveaways
3.4. Post to Your YouTube Community

39 Key Takeaways


1.1 Make Catchy Titles

video. We pitch 40+ video ideas per week, and only a select few make it
through.

What are we looking for?

If it’s not something we would click on, we don’t make a video about it.

explanation — they’ll just see the title and the thumbnail, so it needs to be
strong enough to stand on its own.
1.2 Make AWESOME Thumbnails

at success by having an epic thumbnail.

start shooting the video so we know it’s something we’re excited to do.
Sometimes we shoot 50+ images just to make sure we get the right one
for the thumbnail.

thumbnails for top YouTube channels.

But you can do it yourself.

, and mimic the thumbnails that

top YouTubers in your niche are making.

Take a look at these examples.

(Yes Theory )

(Airrack )
 (Ryan Trahan )

( )

As you can see, you want your thumbnails to be consistent so people

You also want to use a consistent color palette and font, include a
picture of you and/or the subject of the video, and add part of the title.
1.3 Find and Use Keywords
Keywords are popular words or phrases that people search for on YouTube.

Things like:

Best Side Hustles

Passive Income Ideas

And they help new people discover your videos.

[Link]
AnswerThePublic
search YouTube directly and see what topics are popular.

places you can plant these keywords to get the best results.

Important note:
Not necessarily to try to “rank” for keywords. More so to come up with
awesome video ideas.
1.3.1 Add to Your Title

over having a keyword-friendly title, but it’s good practice to include

keywords in your title.

We often do two things…

First, we’ll post our video with a catchy title.

Then once the video takes off with our subscribers, we’ll switch the title

title will get new people to click on the video.

So catchy title > keyword title.

But test out adding keywords in later to see if it boosts your reach.

Put a number in your title

Make the title between 30-45 characters

Adding numbers really works on my channel.

1.3.2 Add to Your Description Box

The description box should mostly be for your audience so they can

But it doesn’t hurt to add a few keywords in there too to help the
algorithm know what your video’s all about.

Make sure the description is at least 300 words

Here’s a template you can use:

Timestamps for subtopics (optional)

Promotional links

Subscribe link for your newsletter

Social media links

Ways to contact you

Here’s an example from my buddy Ali Abdaal . (Yours doesn’t have to be

as long, this guy’s just super thorough.)
1.3.3 Add Video Tags

You can add tags when you’re uploading your video to YouTube, and it’s
the best place to add your keywords because no one but the YouTube
algorithm is going to see it.

vidIQ browser extension to see the tags that other YouTubers

use on their videos to get inspo for your own.

1.3.4 Say Keywords in your Video

speak.

But keep it natural. You don’t want to sound like a robot.

This is super helpful because your videos get automatically transcribed

by YouTube, and if you make any subtitles or closed captions, your
keywords will show up there, too.
1.3.5 Add Keywords to Chapters/Timestamps

video they want to watch. But the chapter title is another place to slip your
keywords in so the algorithm knows exactly what your video is about.

And it helps YouTube suggest a snippet of your video in Google search

results.

Google sometimes likes to suggest YouTube videos to searchers, but they

often suggest the most relevant section rather than the whole video.

By breaking up your video into chapters and naming those chapters with

which can make them more likely to suggest your video over another one.
1.4 Post Consistently

videos before you think about whether or not to quit.

Don’t think about how many views you’re getting or how many subs — not yet

with it.
1.5 Optimize your End Screen
YouTube loves it when people stay on their platform.

Think about it: the longer people stay on YouTube clicking from video to video,

So YouTube likes to reward creators that keep people on the platform longer.

If someone watches one of your videos and then clicks on another one of your
videos, YouTube will reward you by showing your video to more people. Plus,
you’ll get more eyeballs on your content which is a win for you too!

So keep people watching your content by adding an end screen to every video.

It’s super easy to do. Get the step-by-step instructions here.

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1.6 Make Playlist

Playlists aren’t going to make or break your channel.

But they do make your videos more discoverable.

videos to watch.

, does this really well.

It keeps viewers happy and watching your content, plus it keeps people on
the YouTube platform, which rewards your channel in the end. Win-win!
1.7 Increase AVD
Average View Duration (AVD) is one of the most important metrics to pay
attention to.

It tells you how long viewers are watching your content, and that tells YouTube
how good your content is. So the better your AVD is = the more YouTube will
promote your content organically.

So my team and I focus a lot on increasing our AVD and we do it 3 ways:

Have a hook: This is something we say at the beginning of the video to

instantly get people interested.
Tease upcoming content: Throughout the video, we tease what’s coming up
to keep people watching.
Show don’t tell: We show screenshots or B-roll footage whenever possible.

Think about how you can increase AVD and keep viewers engaged for as
long as possible.
1.8 Ask for Engagement
I’ll be honest.

I hate asking people to like and subscribe.

It just always feels awkward.

More people subscribe when they’re watching your video rather than from your
main channel page because they’re seeing the value that you provide. So I
always include a quick mention in the middle of the video (or a couple of times
if it’s a long one) to remind people to like and subscribe.


The million-dollar question every new YouTuber wants to know?

How to get more views.

more people watching it.

Here are some ways I’ve found to really increase our views.

2.1 Collab with Creators

It’s a super cliche saying, but it’s true:

Your network is your net worth.

And it applies to YouTube too.

They don’t cost anything

You get to make cool connections
You get insights into how other YouTubers make videos
2.1.1 Find People that Subscribe to Your Channel

Subscriber box. It’ll show you all your subscribers, along with how many
subscribers they have.

They don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers to be worth

collaborating with — even a small audience will help you out if you’re starting
from scratch.

contact information and reach out!

The worst thing that’ll happen is they’ll say no or ignore you.

Just make sure when you reach out that you make it clear that there’s value
2.1.2 Find Channels from Suggested Video Sources

YouTube Analytics shows you which videos are recommending yours, so

reach out to those channels and ask to do a collaboration.

You already share something in common if YouTube’s recommending your

videos to their audience, so there’s a crossover worth taking advantage of.