Before you actually start writing a script or shooting your first video for your channel, take some time to think about the content you want to produce. This will make it easier when it comes time to come up with video ideas. Plus, having a theme tells viewers what to expect from you.

For example, I subscribe to Yoga With Adriene, a YouTube channel that offers guided yoga videos. I subscribe to do the daily yoga video, but if Adrienne suddenly started producing videos about how the stock market works, I’d probably unsubscribe.

Producing videos that are on-brand and on-theme helps to build an audience for your videos and drives subscribers to your channel.

We all want to produce great YouTube videos. We want them to look good and sound good; we want them to be as professional as possible. But, it’s all too easy to go overboard with video editing.

Cutting out the “ums” and “likes” can help to make your video smoother and cut down your video to a better length. However, it’s all too easy to go overboard with editing and end up with a choppy video that has clear cuts.

When in doubt, don’t edit your videos at all. It’s better to write out a script and practice it ahead of time than it is to go back and edit things out after the fact.

Contrary to popular belief, YouTube doesn’t rank videos based on video content. In fact, YouTube’s bots can’t understand video content at all. Instead, YouTube understands video content by the title, description, tags, etc.

If you want your YouTube video to rank in relevant searches, get found and be seen, don’t skip YouTube SEO. Optimizing your videos is an essential part of getting views.

You can search for YouTube keywords for your videos right on YouTube, using the search bar. Use popular search terms in your description, tags, caption and hashtags. For best results, use the exact match phrase as your video title.

Building a strong YouTube channel won’t happen overnight. You can’t just publish one video and expect subscribers to flock to your channel. It takes time to grow a successful YouTube channel, and a consistent posting schedule.

Plus, the more videos you publish on your channel, the better YouTube will understand what your channel is all about. This will help them learn which search terms and phrases to rank your videos for, and which viewers to show your videos to.

Make producing YouTube videos a regular part of your schedule, and aim to add a new video to your channel every couple of weeks. But, remember quality is more important than quantity, so pick a video publishing cadence that allows you to produce consistent, high-quality video content.

Like I said, YouTube is the second most popular search engine, but not a lot of people think of it as a search engine at all. That might be because, in some ways, YouTube feels more like a social media platform than a search engine.

YouTube is kind of a hybrid between a search engine and a social media platform. Your channel needs to be optimized for search, just like your website, but you shouldn’t ignore the social aspects of YouTube.

In fact, engaging with your subscribers and viewers is an important part of building a strong YouTube channel for your business. This doesn’t have to be complicated. When someone comments on a video, respond!

Engaging with your audience is critical for growing your YouTube channel, but in order to do that, you need to have something to engage with — comments to respond to.

Ultimately, it’s up to your viewers and subscribers to decide whether or not they comment on your videos. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t nudge them in the right direction.

Encourage your viewers to engage with your video content by using cards and end screens in your videos. You can also hold a contest, run a poll or ask a question to encourage viewers to comment on your videos.