3 Reasons Your YouTube Channel is NOT Growing!

Are you stumped with how to grow your YouTube channel? Wondering how to grow your YouTube channel fast? We know just how frustrating it can be to create great content and have low views.

In the early days here at Primal Video, we created a TON of content that completely failed to get any traction, and it generally came down to three key mistakes. Keep reading to find out what they are.

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These three mistakes could be hindering your YouTube growth. But don’t worry – there are easy fixes for each of the mistakes. So let’s dive right in!

1. Creating the Wrong Content

It’s super important to understand that when people use YouTube or Google search, even though they’re looking for a SOLUTION, they use language describing their PROBLEM to find it. Why? Because they don’t know what the solution is yet (if they did, they wouldn’t be looking!).

Although it’s only a subtle difference, failing to understand this critical distinction often leads to optimizing a video for completely the wrong search terms, and in many cases – including the wrong content in your videos.

Tips, hints and hacks are great but always remember – this is rarely what people are typing into the search bar. Instead, people are searching for a problem or a question that they have, so you need to ensure that your videos are optimized for a problem first and then deliver a solution to them within the content of the video.

Before you get your camera out, do some research into the exact problem that you can solve for people. Ask yourself, what is the question people have on this topic? What is their pain point? Then go one step further and analyze the exact language people are using in their search. Use the findings of your research to create content that is optimized for search and in turn, this will help your videos get found by more people and grow your YouTube channel.

2. Bad Thumbnails

If your video has no thumbnail or a poor-quality thumbnail, then you’re missing a key opportunity to engage and entice that all-important click. A video’s thumbnail is a key factor people use when deciding whether to click on a video.

If your video gets low clicks or no clicks, YouTube will think that your video is not relevant to the specific search term and push it down the rankings. This means that your video will also get less views too, so you need to have a quality thumbnail to help drive the clicks.

One way to ensure that you can create a great thumbnail is to be intentional with your image. At the end of filming we recommend taking a series of photos for your thumbnail. This way, you have plenty of options without resorting to awkward video screenshots. Strike some poses like Justin Brown does after his videos – it takes less than a minute to take a few snaps and is well worth it.

When it comes to including text in your thumbnail, be smart with your wording. Don’t overload your thumbnail with text. Tell us exactly what problem you are solving in just a few snappy words.

3. Content That Isn’t Engaging

Is your content engaging for your viewers? You can tell this through low views and low watch time on your video.

If people are clicking on your video and abandoning it in the first 15 seconds, you might need to fine-tune your presentation technique or tighten up your editing skills. The YouTube algorithm factors in watch-time when deciding if your video is engaging for viewers and where to feature your video in the rankings.

We get asked all the time: How long should a video be in order to get maximum views? Well the truth is, it should be as long as it needs to be and no longer. Once you’ve explained your point, it’s time to wrap it up. Don’t waffle on – short, sharp and succinct. Quality over quantity.

The structure of your video is also important because it helps people to follow along and understand your content. If they can understand your content, this will increase the watch time of your video which will help you grow your YouTube channel.

There you have it, three easy mistakes to avoid when trying to get YouTube subscribers and grow on YouTube.  

If you’re looking for some more tips and tricks for YouTube algorithm hacks you can learn about the 3 most powerful tools & ranking strategies with our FREE YouTube Ranking Guide.


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When available, we use affiliate links and may earn a commission!

Recommended Gear & Resources

Check out an up-to-date list of all the gear, software & tools we use and recommend right now at Primal Video on our resources page here!

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