Insider Video

We Went From 0-100K Subscribers on YouTube in Less Than a Year. Here's What You're Doing Wrong.

As a creator of CarExpert, These are the common themes I notice when mentoring new creators and see a trend in things they do wrong.

Paul Maric

Entrepreneur Leadership Network Writer

Co-founder of CarExpert.com.au

May 4, 2021 8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Watching that live subscriber count tick over to 100,000 subscribers had us fist-pumping. We did it. And it all happened in less than a year. It wasn’t easy, but there’s a surefire way to do this yourself. I’ll give you my tips to make this happen for your channel and the pitfalls to avoid. You could be on your way to earning $10,000 per month with relative ease.

My five tips to success on YouTube are pretty simple. I’ll elaborate further on them below.

Five tips to success on YouTube

1. Start over. If your channel has stalled and you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere you need to stop. Stop immediately and reset. Constantly trying new things confuses your audience and gives your audience even more reasons to unsubscribe.

2. The only way you will succeed on YouTube is with consistency. It sounds silly, but not reinventing the wheel with every new video will solidify your style and content with subscribers. They will keep coming back for more and new subscribers will know what to expect with each new video.

3. Make a concise, brief and fast-paced introduction video. This video lives on your channel landing page and effectively introduces you to your new subscribers. Making this brief, but concise will ensure you have a greater chance of nabbing a new subscriber. It also sets the tone for the type of content the viewer can expect to see in the future.

4. Live within the Analytics tab. This section of the YouTube Creator Studio is absolute gold. It’s basically a free troubleshooter for your content. Did a particular video tank? If so, when did the viewer switch off, what did they do next...all of this is available in there. Best of all with any content that did perform well, you can dissect the reasons it performed well and aim to replicate those for future content.

5. Nurture your audience. Your audience is your community and they are your biggest fans. Treat them with the absolute respect they deserve. Try and respond to every single comment and most importantly take all of their feedback on board. If you consistently see feedback about things people don’t like, or would like to see changed, fix the problem and make your community feel valued. I can’t stress this point enough.

Why consistency is key

Planning on having multiple presenters on your channel? Can you imagine if your favorite morning news show had different anchors each morning? If one of them irritated you or was bland on camera, you’d likely watch another channel.

So why is your YouTube channel any different? If it’s you that the audience has subscribed to, stop showing them new people, stick to the host they want to see.

It’s the same story with content. If your favorite morning news show had the weather each morning and then suddenly decided to stop doing the weather, or perhaps did the weather for a new location in another country, why would you continue watching?

Your channel is the same - if you review cars, stick to reviewing cars. If you shoot cooking explainer videos, don’t start filming cats, stick to cooking explainer videos.

Every single time I am contacted by a creator that wants mentorship because they feel like their channel has stalled, I look through their channel history and there’s often no consistency. Why would you keep watching a creator if their content was never consistent?

New types of content that have nothing to do with the content your original audience signed up for puts off existing subscribers. This leads to a multiplier effect where your loyal subscribers stop watching and your new audience never watches again. It then leads to the YouTube algorithm burying your channel because it assumes nobody is interested any longer.

Don’t forget to follow the consistent messaging theme with things like video thumbnails. Make sure they are all in the same format and same style. By making your thumbnail style familiar, your viewers are more likely to click through when they see one of your videos recommended to them.

Stick to the basics, don’t try and game the algorithm

Even if you cracked the YouTube algorithm and knew exactly how to game it, it wouldn’t make a difference if your content wasn’t good. The YouTube algorithm respects good content and if viewers like your content, they will share it, recommend it and rewatch it. These are signs that the algorithm will pick up on.

No matter how much you spend on video equipment, shooting locations, lighting and production, you need to have the basics right. The basics are good video quality (don’t get that confused with high-quality expensive equipment — what I mean here is clear video that’s in focus and legible), a coherent storyline that’s easy to follow and most importantly good audio.

You’re probably like me — the second you land on a video with inconsistent audio, wind noise or lack of clarity, you switch off immediately. Get these things absolutely right before you lock in your format and shooting style.

How much can I earn on YouTube?

Our particular format is basic. It’s me presenting and Igor, our lead producer, working the video camera and editing. The rule of thumb for YouTube used to be revenue of around $1,000 per million views.

That has changed massively over the last 5 years. Quality content with high viewer retention can now net around $5000 - $10,000 per million views.

The variability comes down to CPM (cost per mille), which is the metric used to determine how much an advertiser will pay for a slot in your video. The more competition for those keywords, the more they will pay.

This means that a channel that nets around 2 million views per month could achieve $20,000 per month in revenue. You can connect the dots to see how this growth is exponential with the more viewers you get.

And that revenue figure is exclusive of any sponsorships or endorsements that occur outside of YouTube.

Be genuine, open yourself up to your audience

My final advice is to be genuine and be yourself. This is something else I see when I’m mentoring creators - they try to be something they’re not. Your followers connect with you when they see you vulnerable and when you are your true self.

Being fake about who you are and what you do doesn't work in the long run. Let your community know who you are and what you’re really about. And if you make a mistake along the way, own up to it. Embrace failure and learn from the feedback your audience gives you.

Your community is your biggest fan, so communicate with them and make them feel like they’re at home.

A little about me

My family fled a war zone in Yugoslavia when I was young and immigrated to Australia with virtually nothing. I learned from my parents that you need to work hard to achieve your goals and that absolutely nothing comes free in life.

I’ve always been obsessed with cars and following high school I started a car news and reviews website called TheGarage. I ran this while studying mechanical engineering at university and eventually sold this site to another startup publication called CarAdvice in return for equity.

We eventually sold CarAdvice to the Nine Network in Australia for a final valuation of around $60 million. I then left CarAdvice, along with CarAdvice founder Alborz Fallah and Anthony Crawford and started a new publisher called CarExpert.

Since then we’ve launched what we believe is a world-first brand-agnostic car showroom called the CarExpert Experience Centre in Sydney, Australia. We plan to roll more of these out across the country to revolutionize the way people research a new car purchase.

Simultaneously we launched the CarExpert YouTube channel - a channel dedicated to reviewing new cars, car technology and supplying car news. Today, just under a year after we started the channel from scratch we have over 100,000 subscribers and just under 2 million views per month. The channel now also generates enough money to cover the salary of our video team, plus resources.

If you’re into cars, check out the CarExpert YouTube channel.