Hey everyone, just wanted to say I know I haven’t been very present in the community this last week. I’m helping my mom navigate a recent health situation, and that has been taking up much of my attention. The good thing is, I’m not the only one here in the community! You are all encouraged to post questions and comments, share ideas and ask for feedback. Have a question about something that’s in the classroom (or maybe something that ISN’T in the classroom)? Ask and see who helps you out! Or share insights of what has been working for you—it might motivate someone else to try something new 🙂 I hope to return to my regularly scheduled participation level soon. In the meantime, NewTubers is what YOU make of it 😎 Happy Holidays 🎅 -Woody

I want to do research on interview-style channels where it’s two people who are NOT in the same room. Does anyone have ones they really like or think are well-done?

If you have questions about what happens after you publish your video, you might find this helpful. I’m warning you now, this is a long post, but I promise if you are new to YouTube, it’s worth the read! And FYI I used AI to break it into cohesive sections, but it’s still 100% my own words. First, let’s go back to the uploading portion. As tempting as it might be to set your video to public right off the bat, this is not what I recommend. The reason for this is that it takes time for YouTube to process your video in standard definition, high definition, and 4K, as well as run their copyright checks. Standard definition usually processes first, and then some viewers might watch your video before the high definition or 4K processing is completed, meaning that they’ll think your video quality is not so great. This period of time where your video is private is also when YouTube looks at all the components of your video—including the title, thumbnail, tags, description, and transcript—to see what the content in the video actually is. And I’m sure there are a host of other things they look at that we don’t even know about. But you want YouTube to be able to gather all of this data before the video actually goes live. Everyone has different feelings on this and it’s certainly not an exact science because we’re not really sure what YouTube is doing behind the scenes, but I typically like to leave my video private for at least 15 or 20 minutes, if not a few hours. Some people even like to schedule it to go live the next day. Once Your Video is Live… Nothing Happens At least that’s what it might seem like at first! If you uploaded a long-form video, it might be a couple hours or even longer before you start to see any impressions for this video. If it’s a YouTube short, this waiting period might not be as long, but I have seen it take as long as six hours. So what is an impression? Well, an impression is every time that YouTube puts your video in front of the eyes of a potential viewer. Anytime they see your thumbnail—whether that be on the browse page, in search, in a list of recommended videos, or anywhere else—as soon as your thumbnail comes on the screen, YouTube counts that as an impression. You’ll start to see a few impressions trickle in at first, and you might think “what the heck is going on,” and then out of nowhere you might see a large surge in impressions relative to what came before it. This is YouTube testing your video with an initial audience. If you’re a small channel, then this first surge of impressions might only be between 100 and 500. But as you post more videos and gain some subscribers and viewers who have seen your videos before, then YouTube knows who to put your video in front of the next time, and so this initial surge might go into the thousands, tens of thousands, or even higher as you become a more established channel.

Who out there still needs to post their very first video? If you’re comfortable saying so here, drop a comment. If not, no worries! Fee free to DM me if you like. The whole point of this is to provide support, not shine an unwanted spotlight. Either way, I have a challenge for you! Watch this video to learn about the challenge: https://youtu.be/IvEuU6ckLkg

Hey NewTubers community! I wanted to share some key insights that could transform your channel’s growth trajectory. THE CORE PROBLEM: LACK OF STRATEGY The number one reason small channels don’t grow? Strategy - or rather, the lack of it. Too many creators “post and pray,” taking massive action without a clear plan. While getting started is an accomplishment, missing the strategic piece is what’s holding most channels back. Specifically, here are the big culprits: No clear focus or niche - Who’s your channel for? What problem does it solve? Poor packaging - Your thumbnails and titles aren’t compelling enough Inconsistent value - Does your video clearly solve a problem, entertain, or educate? Wrong format - Talking head vs. video essay vs. vertical content - format matters THE OPPORTUNITY RIGHT NOW Despite increased competition and views being down globally, there’s massive opportunity for small channels. Here’s why: YouTube has a dedicated team helping small channels get discovered. The algorithm is actually rigged in your favor, not against you - you just need to know the rules. We’ve moved from “social media” to “interest media” - subscribers don’t matter as much anymore. New channels can have breakout videos on their third upload while established channels struggle. Why? Because the YouTube algorithm serves content based on interest, not just followers. The algorithm looks at viewers’ watch history to determine what videos they’re served next. This means you can jump into conversations as a new creator and get views by tapping into validated topics and clear keywords. THE PERFECT VIDEO RECIPE: 4 INGREDIENTS 1. The Big Idea Brainstorm 10-20 ideas for your next video. Why so many? Because most of your ideas probably aren’t great (neither are mine!). Top YouTube strategists spend 10-100 times more time on the idea than most creators think is necessary. Train yourself to be an “idea machine” - the quality of your idea determines everything that follows.