10 YouTube strategies I wish I knew when I started

0:00If I would have known these 10 specific things 15 years ago when I started my YouTube channel, I would have grown faster, made more money, and felt less frustrated by the algorithm. So, I'm going to share them all with you to make your content creation journey easier. Starting with lesson number one, you can make people care about you, but it takes time. I feel like the number one YouTube advice that people love to give now is no one cares, which is definitely a good like wake-up call and true to some extent. Like strangers on the internet are not going to immediately care about your morning routine or what you eat in

0:30a day because they don't know who the heck you are. But, I think what's often left out of this conversation is that it is in fact possible to make people care. I like to use the metaphor of like meeting somebody new at a party for generating your audience on YouTube cuz it is really just building a relationship. If you met someone for the first time, you wouldn't just immediately start monologuing about your day-to-day life, right? I feel like we've all met those people at a party that like they only talk about themselves and never ask you a single question and that is pretty insufferable. So, you don't want to be

1:00that person on YouTube, right? You don't want to enter into this new relationship with your audience only ever talking about yourself, only ever caring about what you want to say. In any good relationship, there's give and take, so you want to be thinking about what does that other person need or want? Obviously, in the case of making YouTube videos, it is sort of one-way communication. You can't just make a

1:20video being like, "Hey, how are you? What's your name? What do you do for a living?" Like obviously, you would do at a party. So, instead, the online equivalent of that is considering what value you can provide and what the viewers of your videos get out of it. Rather than just considering what kind of video do I want to make and then creating that, think about what would the hypothetical person who's watching this gain from taking the, you know, 15 minutes out of their day to watch my video. It doesn't have to be education, okay? I feel like all of the tips videos on YouTube are geared towards growing an

1:51education channel and that makes sense because people making this kind of content like myself tend to have education channels. So, that's what we know, right? But, it doesn't have to be that. There's so much other value that your videos can provide, entertainment, companionship, inspiration, motivation. Honestly, just being a comfort creator. Those are all things that your viewers can get out of watching you. And you just really want to consider that before you start creating. By starting from that point of view, you can provide value. I know that's such a cliché thing

2:22to say, but in whatever form it takes. And that's how you actually trust and connection with your viewers because you're thinking about what they want or need or what they get out of it. And as you do that over time, you will eventually grow an audience that has more interest in you as a person. Just like when you meet someone new and you start up the conversation by asking them about themselves and taking a genuine interest in their lives, that person is then more likely to in exchange want to know more about you. Whereas when you meet someone who just starts like popping off about their own life and

2:55opinions, it honestly makes the recipient want to know less. And so, over time when you provide value, when you show up again and again with consistent content, that audience will become more connected to you, more loyal, and more interested in watching your what I eat in a day or your morning routine. Start from a place of getting to know your audience and thinking about what they get out of your content and eventually they will begin to just

3:19genuinely care about you as a person. Lesson number two, title your videos for people, not the search engine. Okay, so the traditional advice for titling videos for YouTube over the years has always been to shove as many keywords in there and try to estimate what people might be searching for related to your video. Make that the title to ideally have it show up in search. And while I definitely did that at the beginning of my YouTube journey and I think that it was kind of more helpful back in like 2018-2019 era, it is now 2026 and I feel like that advice is quite outdated. Most people

3:53are now coming across YouTube content on their homepage or in recommended videos. They aren't necessarily searching for stuff. Unless your goal is specifically to be a tutorial creator, maybe someone who does like reviews on really niche products, then maybe your goal is to optimize for search, in which case you can keep titling your videos like that. But I just know that the majority of people who watch my videos are interested in becoming lifestyle creators or vloggers, and that is not a

4:20good strategy for lifestyle creators. You need to title your videos for the people who are going to watch them, not for the search engine that's going to rank them. Okay, I have a couple examples here to illustrate what I mean. I could have titled this video, "How to vlog even if your life feels boring for new creators on YouTube in 2026." That would have been keyword optimized, but it's not very interesting. So, instead I made the title, "Your life is boring, but your [clears throat] vlogs don't have to be." Okay, I could have called this video, "How to become a full-time content creator in 2026 for beginners on

4:49YouTube." Instead, I titled it, "You're going to be a full-time creator [music] in 2026, here's how." And lastly, I could have titled this video, "DJI Osmo Pocket 3 versus Extra Muse, are these cameras really that different?" Instead, I called it, "Exposing DJI's secret camera copy." Hopefully, you can see how all of those titles are a lot more like conversational and human-focused. And bonus tip for you, I find that in general, titles that are written in the

5:14second person are especially effective. So, stuff like "You're going to be a full-time content creator." "Your life is boring, but your vlogs don't have to be." "You need to do this." Whatever. That really grabs people because it feels like it's speaking directly [music] to them. So, that's a good hack if you can include you in your titles, I think that's especially hooky. [music] But in general, don't stuff them with keywords. Write it like it's a conversation with a person. Lesson number three, optimize your videos for autoplay. This is actually a really easy lesson that you can start applying to your channel today. Okay, so have you

5:49ever noticed that when you're scrolling on YouTube on your phone, the videos on your home page will automatically start playing on mute? This also happens on the desktop version of YouTube if you mouse over a thumbnail, a preview of the video will play. This auto play feature can be a huge advantage to you as a creator if you edit your videos correctly. The biggest thing you can do in addition to making the intro of your video as interesting as possible is to add captions on the screen. If you're new to editing, Descript is a great app to do this because they've got great caption templates that are easy to use

6:18and customize. I can change the animation style, the color, the font. All of this is important because it becomes a recognizable part of your brand, but also because when your video starts auto playing, the viewer will actually know what's happening in the intro because they can read the captions and they'll be more likely to be drawn in to click and watch the rest. If you leave this out, you're basically leaving out an entire strategy for attracting new viewers. But there's more Descript can do than just add captions. You can actually edit your entire video in this like editing a Word document. This is really great for video podcast

6:48especially, but you can see how it's transcribed my entire video, and if I select part of the text here, it will automatically select that section of the timeline down here. And if I hit delete, it will delete that section of the video. This is a really great tool if you find timeline editing a bit intimidating or unintuitive. You can also automatically detect and delete filler words or have it take out your retakes. So if you try saying a line several times, it'll choose the best version and delete the rest. Oh, and I love this feature especially. You can detect word gaps and shorten them. So I

7:20like my videos to be pretty tight and fast-paced. So I'm going to set it to 0.5 seconds. So any pause that's longer than that, it'll shorten it. And just like that, your rough aerial is now a clean cut with no filler words, retakes, or awkward pauses. Descript is a great tool for beginner editors. If you want to try it out for yourself, you can click the link in the description. And thanks so much to Descript for sponsoring today's video. Number four, make your content bingeable. While each video is treated separately by the YouTube algorithm, it is really helpful to have a solid and cohesive back catalog of content for your new viewers

7:54to binge. Basically, the strategy is you create a bunch of videos that all have a similar format, they're all targeted towards the same audience, and they have a similar vibe. They don't all have to be about the exact same topic, but you want them to feel connected because then when one of your videos finally pops off and the algorithm is recommending it to a bunch of people, after they watch that video, they're going to be more likely to binge the rest of your channel because it feels familiar and cohesive and delivers the same value that they got from that first video. Even if you slightly switch up the subject matter,

8:29like what you're actually talking about in the video, that doesn't matter as much as long as you have format consistency. So, you're always delivering the information in the same way, whether that's a vlog, sit-down video, video essay, podcast. You want to make sure that the style of your video isn't jarringly different to those new viewers after they discover you from that viral video and they start watching the rest of your stuff. Format consistency is the key to making your channel bingeable. I actually think a really great case study of this is my

8:58vlog channel, Katie and Daniel and Evan. I've been creating videos over there since 2020, honestly just for fun. It's my hobby YouTube channel because, yes, I'm that much of a dork that I do this in my spare time for fun as well. Over the years, we've posted admittedly pretty inconsistently, but our format has always been the same. It's always just a chill, authentic vlog, usually pretty chronological. We talk a lot about like history and other like nerdy stuff while we're traveling. So, the format's very consistent, but the thing that changes up all the time is where we're traveling to in our van. Anyway, recently one of our videos about taking

9:32our van across the Channel Tunnel just happened to to really get picked up by the algorithm and so a lot of people started watching the rest of our videos too because it feels the same. It feels just like another episode in the same TV show, which is why format consistency is the key to making your content bingeable. Lesson number five, you can't be afraid to promote your own stuff. For many creators I find there's this ironic tension where we have no trouble at all promoting the brands that we work with or even products that we have affiliate links for, but when it comes to our own

10:07templates, courses, merch even, we find it a little bit more awkward to promote it. The truth is though if you want to have a sustainable income as a content creator, you really need multiple income streams and so it's actually important for a lot of us to have more than just brand deals, AdSense, affiliate links. Like you really should be offering some of your own stuff and that can take many different forms. Like I have like a digital product that is a set of

10:32templates and resources for creators. It's called the Content Creator Starter Kit, but you could also offer services or other digital downloads or maybe even a physical product. It doesn't really matter, but having something of your own where you get like a lot more of the profit share than what you would get out of an affiliate commission for example is really going to make your income more robust and more consistent. But in order for that to happen, you can't be shy about promoting it and I feel like I'm telling this to myself as much as I am to anybody else because still to this day I'm like really bad at reminding

11:05people that I have a digital product, that I have a video editing agency. Like I have to tell myself to talk about it more. I think a great framework that you can take on that I'm going to try for myself and I've done this a little bit in the past is think about promoting

11:18your own stuff like it's a brand deal. So when it comes to short form content, maybe that's assigning yourself a sponsored reel once or twice a month that's specifically to promote your stuff. If YouTube's your primary platform, then maybe you make one of your videos a month have like a brand deal for your own thing. You could totally do it more or less frequently than that. It's really up to you. But, I think that can be a helpful way to like get it in your content calendar more often and more consistently promote the stuff that you actually make the most money on. And also just remember, like

11:50if you went out of your way to create something valuable specifically for your target audience, it's not going to be annoying for you to talk about that to them. You're actually kind of doing them a disservice if you don't bring it up because it's something that you took the time and intentionally made for them. So, they're going to want to know about it. Lesson number six, start with a title and thumbnail, not a video idea. I wish I knew this so much earlier because I spent years trying to come up with some kind of title or thumbnail that would possibly be interesting to fit into a pre-existing video idea that I'd

12:24probably already scripted, filmed, and edited. And then you just end up stuck with like a great video but no packaging, and that is terrible. Because unfortunately, your video can be amazing, but if you don't have a really great title and thumbnail, nobody's ever going to see it. I've talked about this in a video before and I'll link it above so you can see the full explanation, but I like to use what I call the Frankenstein method for YouTube video brainstorming, and that's where I come up with separate lists of title ideas, thumbnail tagline text, and video concepts. So, these are all completely separate things, and I will

12:59basically mix and match them. So, I'm always coming up with the best idea possible in all three of these categories rather than getting really committed to say a video idea but not having a great way to package it. It's also important that you don't have a great title but like nothing actually of substance to pair with it. I think especially with the style of titles and thumbnails that are popular now, there's actually a lot of ability to pair them with like various different ideas, which is why I think the Frankenstein method is so effective. But, whatever approach you like to use, just make sure that you

13:28are prioritizing your title and thumbnail from the very beginning of your ideation process. Cuz there's nothing worse than the sunk cost fallacy of a YouTube video you've already made, but you have no good title for. Lesson number seven, how you edit matters more than how you film. A lot of new creators get really caught up in thinking that they need to buy a new camera or start shooting in 4K or improve their lighting techniques in order to make really great videos. But the truth is your editing is

13:54so much more important than that. Viewers really will tolerate slightly grainy footage or video that's not the best quality if it's edited into a fast-paced and engaging story. And actually, I think a slightly more low-fi look is kind of trendy right now. We see huge creators like Ryan Trahan using like Microsoft Paint style graphics or massive shows like Jetlag being filmed exclusively on iPhones. But obviously, the editing on both of those channels is immaculate. It keeps you engaged. It's interesting. The one caveat I will say to this is audio is really important. I feel like people will not tolerate poor quality audio. But if you're using kind

14:35of grainy iPhone footage, it really doesn't matter as long as it's edited down into a tight and interesting video. So before you invest in a new camera, I would recommend investing in learning some editing skills. You don't actually need really fancy software. I would recommend starting with DaVinci Resolve. It has a really great free version. Or if all of this feels really overwhelming to you, instead of investing in a new camera, maybe you would invest in outsourcing your editing. And uh my team over at Creatorly Media does that. I have a small YouTube editing agency and we work with creators. So if that sounds interesting to you, you can go to

15:05creatorlymedia.com. But overall, don't get so caught up in how you're filming, focus on how you're editing. Number eight, you don't need a manager to get brand deals. Contrary to popular belief, you don't in fact need to be signed with an agency or have a manager in order to get good brand deals. My primary income as a content creator is brand deals. I do over six figures a year in brand deal revenue, and I have never had an agent or a manager. Now, I'll say, depending on the stage of your career, a manager could be helpful. Like if your inbox is just so overwhelmed with inbound brand

15:39deal requests that you can't keep up with them, and you know that you're leaving money on the table because you just simply can't respond to them all, then hey, having a manager could be good. I also know many people benefit from managers because they just really don't have a sense of what their rates should be, and oftentimes managers can help calibrate that because they have

15:56experience working with other creators. But, I think that if you're ambitious and enterprising as a creator and you don't want to let go of control of your own business and like probably the primary revenue source of your own business, then you can take it upon yourself to not only pitch, but also respond and negotiate to any inbound brand deal requests you get. And you don't have to give anybody 20% of the rate. Because that's the thing, the industry standard is anywhere from like 15 to 20% of whatever the brand is giving you, you pay to the manager who negotiated the deal. And so, I've just personally always found it more fruitful

16:35to do the negotiation myself and keep all of that money. Because honestly, at the end of the day, like a lot of people think I'll get more brand deals if I have a manager. I'll just be honest with you, these agencies, these managers, like they are not pitching for you. They're just responding to emails that are already coming to your inbox. So, if you go into that knowing that that's the case and you still think that's a benefit, go for it. But also, maybe you can just learn to negotiate yourself, which I just think is a good business skill to have in general. Okay, no one's

17:02going to want to hear this one, but lesson number nine is sometimes you do have to work for free. Look, I know we're all about creatives like ourselves getting paid what we're worth for our work, and I really do believe in that. But if I'm totally honest with you, if I was completely unwilling to work in exchange for exposure or experience at the very, very beginning, I don't think I would have gotten to where I am now. I do not at all want to like devalue the time or effort that even like beginners in this kind of career are putting in cuz it is very important, but I think

17:37the fact that I was willing to be a little bit gritty and a little bit like, well, I'm just going to do this so that I can get the experience under my belt or get this piece of content my portfolio. I do think I do think that helped and I unfortunately think that in this unfair world that we live in, it's maybe a little bit idealistic to expect that you're going to be getting like paid top dollar for your work from the very beginning. But I do think it's important to be intentional and selective about the free work that you do. So for example, I was a freelance

18:06videographer before I became a full-time YouTuber and when I was first getting started in that and trying to find clients, I needed some portfolio work that wasn't just my own YouTube videos that I'd been making for years. So I actually volunteered with a local charity that I, you know, support [music] to make content for their social media pages. So I was making a lot of stuff for their Facebook page and that was a great way to build up my portfolio of my like social media video work and also contribute to a charity that I supported. [music] So I think that's a really great example where working for

18:39free had this like joint benefit of, you know, this charitable cause getting some support and me having some work examples that I could use when I was pitching myself to paying clients. As for the content creator side of things, I really don't want to encourage you to like on mass do content for product trades like a lot, but I do think that it can be a stepping stone, again at the very, very beginning, to get some portfolio work to be able to demonstrate what you do for brands. And I think that you always like, you know, make the best of it like especially if you can get the product

19:12for free, and then you can like use an affiliate link to, you know, get a little bit of income out of it, then you can start to build up a portfolio and some data on your conversion rates and how well, you know, your brand work performs. Of course, all of this is in service of the larger goal of you

19:26eventually getting paid for what you do. I don't want you to get stuck in a cycle of only ever working in exchange for product. At the end of the day, the value that creators offer to brands is the loyalty of your audience, the strength of your recommendation, your credibility in your specific niche, and I think that that is something that you need to build up over time. It's not something that you have from the day you post your first video. If I would have learned this final lesson 15 years ago, I could have spent so much less time feeling insecure and waiting around for validation. Lesson number 10 is more

19:59subscribers won't make you more confident. Whenever I was feeling insecure filming myself, especially if I was out vlogging in public, I would always think, "Ah, I just wish that I had more subscribers because then I would feel less weird about filming myself, almost like it would be more justified. Like if some random stranger would be like, "Why are you filming this video?" I could be like, "Well, I've got 100,000 subscribers that are excited to watch it." Uh, but then one day I hit 100,000 subscribers, which was obviously really exciting, but then when I stepped outside to keep vlogging, I realized I still felt insecure as ever. The honest

20:31and kind of ugly truth is that for many of us creators, we love to seek validation through the admiration of our audiences and through the approval of YouTube Studio. Like, I'm not going to lie, nothing hits quite like a one out of 10 and that little confetti GIF, okay? That is like [music] crack. But, it's a very quick hit, and at the end of the day, it doesn't actually make you feel more confident. I know this might sound like a discouraging message, but I actually want it to be really encouraging for you because it means you don't have to wait around to have more subscribers until

21:07you allow yourself to feel confident in being a creator. You have access to that level of confidence right now, even if you have one subscriber, as much as I do, right? Like we all can just choose to be confident in what we create and find that validation within ourselves. I know it's difficult. I'm definitely still on a journey of figuring that out, but as someone who's on the other side of it, as someone who waited around for years to have that subscriber count make me feel like I was a real creator, I want to send this message to you. That's never going to happen. Don't keep

21:38waiting for it. Just choose to find that confidence in yourself and like start on that journey of internal validation as soon as you can because um I wish I would have known that earlier. You don't need to wait for YouTube to send you a play button. You can and should be confident [music] as a creator right now because what you're making is beautiful and valuable, not necessarily because of how many people watch it, but just because you made it. And I think especially in our era of like increased automation and like AI slop content,

22:12there is so much beauty in human art. So, just the fact that like you took the time to make a video about something that you cared about and you did it intentionally [music] and thoughtfully, that's so valuable. And so, you should feel validated as a creator because of that, regardless of how many views or subscribers you have. After 15 years of being on YouTube, I still feel like I'm learning more every single day, but I hope these 10 lessons can be helpful to you and make your journey as a content

22:42creator just a little bit easier. Remember, if you want to try a beginner-friendly and intuitive editing app, you should check out Descript. It's linked in the description. And on one quick final personal note, this is the last YouTube video that I'm going to be filming in my condo, which is crazy. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I'm moving to a new space. I haven't talked about it as much on YouTube because it's just been so busy with like other video ideas that I've had here. I know if you've watched this point in the video, you're a real one, okay? You're like one of my besties. So,

23:12let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more about the moving process. I think I want to document setting up my new studio. But yeah, just thought I'd give you a heads-up because you're not going to be seeing this space as often. I'm still going to be using all the B-roll that I've shot here because I've put way too much work into that to stop now. But yeah, it's going to be a big transition and hopefully I can put together a decent-looking filming space until the studio is ready. As always, thank you so much for watching. I hope you're having adventures and following your dreams,

23:41and I'll catch you in the next video. Bye.