Transcription
Good evening. My name is Bog. I have a YouTube channel that's currently at 581,000 subscribers. And in this video, I'm going to give you some tactical advice that if you implement at least one of these things I say, more people will want to watch your videos.
Why listen to me? Because my channel currently gets 3.6 million long-form views every single month. And in its lifetime, it's gotten 86.4 million long-form views. You can see it's like 100,000 views a day.
First, don't drag out a 5-minute video to 8 minutes just because you want midroll ads. Make your videos as long as they need to be because a shorter, better video can get 10 times more views than a longer, dragged-out video.
In the beginning, when you have less than 50 videos posted, 50 is not that much. Most people give up way sooner than that. And that's a big mistake because you haven't actually tried. You haven't given YouTube enough effort to see if it actually works. That's not a fair attempt.
If you just posted three videos and gave up, to make this process of learning and making your first 50 videos faster, reduce the scope of your videos. A lot of people that come to my YouTube community try to do these two-month-long projects where they will record something for 2 months, then the editing will take another month, and they end up posting one video every 3 months. That's so slow, and it will kill your motivation whenever that video flops. So try to reduce the scope in order to fail faster.
When you're under 10,000 subscribers, iteration speed, how fast you learn and implement what you learn, is what matters. And if you post one video every 3 months, then that iteration loop is so slow. A person that makes a terrible video every week will beat a person that makes a decent video every 3 months because they'll just learn so much faster.
Also, make three thumbnails for every single video that you make, no matter how many views it gets. Make three. This will make you learn how to package your videos at three times the rate. So, if you post 10 videos, you'll have made 30 thumbnails. That's a lot of practice. And that's what you want in the beginning. You want to practice.
The reason to reduce the scope of your videos and make them faster in the beginning is because you are terrible at judging what video is good and what video is bad. I'm still terrible at that, too. And I have more than half a million subscribers. So, if you don't know what is going to do well, then does it make sense to spend 3 months on a massive video where you're putting all of your chips into that one video expecting it to go viral? No, it doesn't. It makes sense to test out a bunch of different things and then go in the direction that works. And you do that faster by making a lot of videos.
Okay, next thing. If you're seeing spiky views on your channel, one video gets 40, the other 370, and the other one 1,000 views, that's actually good. Most people think it's terrible. But you don't yet have a dedicated audience that comes back video after video to watch your stuff because they're interested in you. When you're getting these spiky views, it means your channel is very healthy. As long as you're not getting 20 views for every single video, and they're all declining, so 20 views, then 16 views, then 10 views, then three views, then you're in a good spot. It means you're starting to learn and figure this out. The fluctuation between these views is most likely due to the idea of your video. So, keep making them.
A lot of people inside of my YouTube community get spiky views like this and they think it's over. It's terrible. But no, this is good. It's proof that you're doing something right. Some videos are getting more views than others, which means you need to look at those top 20% of videos and do that again what you did inside of them. Maybe put a twist on the same idea. Maybe use the same words that you used in your intro for another video. Maybe try the same thumbnail style for another video.
So, don't think that spiky views are bad in the beginning because there are only two options. Either for you to get no views, like 20 views for every single video, or for you to get spiky views because you don't have an audience that would make your views very consistent across every video. So, which one out of the two would you rather have? No views or spiky views? Of course, spiky views. Unless you're a maniac.
Okay, here's a quick one. Sometimes you just can't get away with a short title. By the way, make your titles as short as possible. But when you can't get away with that, you can move part of your title text to the thumbnail so that it doesn't get cut off. For example, if your title is "I try to drive across the entire US in under two days," and let's say that "in under two days" doesn't fit in the title, it makes it too long. Then you can just put "in under two days" inside of your thumbnail.
Okay. Next thing, stakes are so important. And stakes are what's on the line. For example, if I make a video of me trying to build a couch, the stakes could be: Will it turn out comfortable? Will I fit under the budget of $100? Will I be able to cut wood because I've never done that before? Will I be able to make it look nice? And adding stakes, as well as spelling them out to the viewer in the intro, will make more people want to watch your videos. The more stakes you add, the better.
Mr. Beast actually does this. He adds stakes in the intro. Then like 30 or 40 seconds later, he adds more stakes on top of that. Then 40 or 50 seconds later, he adds even more stakes to the video. And he keeps on introducing stakes across like the first 3 minutes of his video. Why? Well, because that works. So do that for your video as well.
Actually, I analyzed a Mr. Beast video. It was this video. It currently has 61 million views. Released 1 month ago, and it's "I survived 100 days in Sky Block." It's a Minecraft video. So, here's what he does. In the first 10 seconds, he introduces the video concept, stakes, and says how the video will end. This is the same intro formula that I try to use for every single one of my own videos.
So, you introduce the video concept. What are we doing here? Like, what's going on? For example, in this video, I'm going to try to install Linux. Boom. That's the video concept. Then he introduces stakes, which is what's on the line. So, for the Linux video, for example: I've never installed another operating system on my computer, and I'm not a programmer, so I have no clue what I'm doing. Also, I've heard that other people have deleted their entire hard drives when they try to install Linux. So, I'm very much afraid of that because I don't have a hard drive to make a backup. So, all of my files are right here on my Windows PC. If I accidentally erase everything, I will be in massive trouble. This is just an example.
And say how this video will end. This can be implied. So, the Linux one will end once I install it. Or I could say something like this: If I manage to install it, I will try to actually use the operating system and see if it's better than Windows and maybe potentially make it my main desktop operating system. Something like that. So now the viewer knows the concept, the stakes, and how the video will end.
The next thing that Mr. Beast does is he starts telling the story. This word "storytelling" scares a lot of beginners. So, a story is just an intention and an obstacle, and you telling what happened when those two things came together. For example, Mr. Beast's intention is: We need to make more blocks. And his obstacle is: All we have is a lava bucket and ice. So, you can see this is the goal, what they're trying to achieve. They need more blocks. And the obstacle is what's in their way. All they have is a lava bucket and ice. And then Mr. Beast shows what happens when both of these come together. That's it. That's telling a story. You say your goal. You say what's in the way. And then you show or say what happened when those two came together. Boom. It's that simple. Don't overthink it.
And then Mr. Beast shows how the story plays out with cool visuals and really fast progression.
The next thing he does is he repeats the video concept and adds extra stakes. This is something that I don't do yet for my own videos. So this was completely new to me when I looked at that Mr. Beast video. So essentially, he just introduces the video concept in different words again and adds different stakes. Think of it as like another intro.
So he repeats the concept of his video again in different words. So for the next 100 Minecraft days, we'll be eating, sleeping, and living in this room. Then repeats the previous stakes so that we have everything we need to fight the dragon. The stakes are: Can he beat the dragon? And then at this point, he adds more new stakes because once we enter the end, we'll be in hardcore mode. Boom. He didn't mention this before in the intro that they'll be in hardcore mode once they enter the end. And he literally spells out the stakes like: What does this mean? If we die, we're dead forever. That's what you want to do in your videos. You want to add as many stakes as you can and spell them out to the viewer. Think of how you could do this for your own video.
Also, use this formula for your intro. I use it all the time and it works. And I want to give you some tips on how to come up with stakes for your video. You want to always have stakes. It gives the viewer reason to stay and to care. So, never make a video without stakes. Well, if it's a tutorial, then yes, you can omit stakes, but for most other storytelling or entertainment videos, make sure it has stakes.
Some stakes can be very obvious, and that's amazing if you come up with an idea like that. For example, "I climbed a big skyscraper without using a rope." You don't need to tell what the stakes are for the viewer. It's immediately obvious that you can fall down and die. But a lot of videos don't have built-in stakes, so you can just manufacture them to make the video less boring.
So, one type of stakes that you can add is time limit stakes. You just add a clock to anything. For example, "I'll only have 5 hours to do this because I forgot my laptop charger and that's how much battery I have." Boom. You just add a timer. Always say why if there is a reason why. So, you notice I said "because I forgot my charger." When you add in a reason to your stakes, it makes it a lot more believable. And also, don't lie. If you're adding a clock and you actually forgot the charger, then absolutely say that. But if you said something like, "I have to do this in 2 hours because my roof is about to fall on my head," then like, it doesn't become believable. Everybody is going to smell that this is not real. So if there is an actual time limit that you can add with a legitimate reason, then do that. But don't like lie about this.
Next type of stakes are revenge stakes. This is very useful for gaming videos. It's when you say, "My friend beat me at this last week, so now I have to prove him that I'm better than him." Those are revenge stakes. It makes the viewer root against the villain, which in this case is your friend. It creates a clear opponent in the viewer's head. So the story structure becomes automatic: Can you beat that person or not? And also, when there's revenge involved, there's like an emotional component to it, which always makes stories better.
Okay. Next stakes are incompetent stakes. This is what I use all the time, which is when you say, "I have no idea what I'm doing." Watching someone experiment with something live or learn something where they have never done that thing is entertaining to watch, especially if your viewers already have some knowledge in that field. And in this case, the stakes become: Can he do it or not? Can he figure it out or not? So those are the incompetent stakes.
Then there are versus stakes, where you explore multiple options to see which one will end up on top. This makes the viewer wait for the verdict and it's very useful for tier list videos. By the way, no matter what format you pick, whether it's a tier list, whether it's a news video, whether it's a let's play, always try to tell a story in those videos. So, always have an intention and an obstacle in every single video, as well as stakes.
Okay. Next stakes that you can have is racing stakes, like competition stakes, when you compete against someone to try to see who's better at something. It's kind of similar to revenge stakes, but in this case, two people are competing at the same time. Whereas revenge stakes, somebody else has already said something or done something, and you're trying to beat their previous best. Well, competition stakes are very self-explanatory. It's very entertaining to watch two people at a similar skill level try to compete. Think like competitive gaming, two teams going against each other in a Counter-Strike tournament, or MMA, two fighters fighting each other. It's just entertaining, especially if you can make a viewer pick a side. That makes it extremely more interesting, and this creates a binary outcome where one person or one team will lose. And it makes you want to watch because you want to see who ends up losing and who ends up winning.
So these are some of the stakes that you can add to your videos: adding a time limit, revenge stakes, incompetent stakes, versus stakes, and competition stakes. So before making your video, just stop, pause, and think of how in the world could you possibly add at least one of these into your video. For example, if you're going to play a horror game that you've never played before, you can add incompetence stakes. You say, "I have never played this game before. I have no idea what I'm doing." You can add revenge stakes, like go on Reddit and see how fast other people have beat that game. And inside of your video, you say, "I want to do it faster than this guy." It's such a simple, like, tiny detail that makes your videos much more interesting. So tell stories and add stakes. I guess that's like the main point of this entire video.
Also, if you're making a video where you know how to do something, you can still add stakes to that. This doesn't make the video any less interesting. Then the stakes become not "Can he do it?" but "How will he do it?" right? If you're a professional woodworker and you've already built a bunch of chairs, the stakes become not "Can he build a chair?" because obviously he can, but "How will he build a chair?" Can he do it under this budget? Can he do it under this time limit? Can he make this particular chair look nice? So be very creative with your stakes. I just gave a few examples.
Okay. And if you want more tactical tips like this of how to make more people interested in watching your videos, I made a free email course where I share a bunch of stuff that I've learned while growing my YouTube channel. And I'll leave a link to it in the description. Okay, bye.