Week 5 My YouTube Growth Journey
Week 5 of my goal getting small YouTube Channel monetized as an over 40 year old Mom (14th October - 20th October 2024) - My YouTube Channel Growth Review Video's and Account Stats. It's been another week of growth, utilising Chat GPT prompts for help with SEO optimisation creating YouTube Titles and Descriptions for free, using the free app Canva for creating my engaging thumbnails and sticking to my target of 2 vids, a growth vid plus 7 daily shorts. Continuing with ongoing daily learning from the free VidIQ plug in. Last week I learned about when to craft the Title and Thumbnail for a video, Writing Descriptions and the 3 most important things for the first 15 seconds of my videos. Let's dig in for more of week 5 YouTube Stats and growth and what I learned to improve my videos and help grow my channel in week 5... Remember I have my eye on the prize to get monetized and start earning ££$$ from YouTube.
It's been a week since my last growth review Week 4 (7th October - 13th October) where I ended the week with 222 Subs and 437 WTHours. Let's see how the channel grew in week 5 and the things that I implemented to ensure this growth.
Also See
Week 1 My Week 1 First growth review (14th September - 21st September 2024) Ended week 1 with 66 Subs + 35 WTHours
Week 2 My Week 2 growth review (23rd September - 30th September 2024) Ended week 2 with 99 Subs + 114.8 WTHours
Week 3 My Week 3 growth review (1st October - 6th October 2024) Ended week 3 with 173 Subs + 329 WTHours
Week 4 My Week 4 growth review (7th October - 13th October 2024) Ended week 4 with 222 Subs + 437 WTHours
Week 5 My Week 5 growth review (14th October - 20th October 2024) Ended week 5 with 271 Subs + 531 WTHours (see my phone screenshot below)
Welcome to my Week 5 growth review on growing a brand new small YouTube channel from ZERO to MONETIZED Status. I earn all of our family income online, in various ways. Which allows us to be free and travel the world with our kids. The next form of income that I am aiming to start earning from is YouTube. Starting a YouTube channel is one of the many ways to make money online (and serious amounts of money too!).
How to become Monetized for a Small New YouTuber?
To become monetized, means joining the YouTube Partner Program, which requires my channel to have 1000 subscribers and 4000 Watch Time Hours before becoming eligible to apply. I'm on that journey now of starting + growing my new YouTube channel to get that monetized to show others whats working for me & what's not. Just 5 weeks in - And I document that whole YouTube channel growth here on the Blog and over on YouTube see the full growth playlist here from Week 1 to Goal Monetized! So that other Mum's, Dad's, Families can do exactly the same, no matter how shy you may feel! For extra money, luxury pocket money for nice things / holidays etc, or to take over your 9-5 income (freeing you up to live the life that you dream - our dream is in Bali, free to travel and worldschool our kids). You're dream may look very different. But it's the importance of having a dream that makes life interesting!
This journey for me, is all about personal development + personal growth as well as channel growth... and finally income growth. I'm an introvert. I'm shy. And for many years I felt like I was not good enough. Doing a YouTube channel is way out of my comfort zone. I'm naturally NOT showy, flashy or fancy. But I do know things that I think can help people and that's my goal with the channel to SHARE knowledge + inspire. If I can do this YOU can do this.
Check out my week five growth review video below:
- Week 5 of Growing My YouTube Channel + Hitting an Important Milestone on my Journey. 250 Subscribers or one quarter way to my Monetization Goal.
Analytics and Growth in Week 5:
14th October - 20th October 2024
During this week:
I posted 8 shorts (hit my target 7 daily)
I posted my 1 weekly YouTube growth review video - this was week 4's video go see it here and like it if you haven't already.
I share everything I learn on the YouTube section of my blog here so you never miss a thing
A note from Fletch: So you can see the channel is growing. I hit a big milestone this week of reaching 250 subs which is 25% towards the goal of being monetized in 5 weeks. Which I'd been stuck at passing in the days running up to it. It seemed YT just didn't want me to hit target. I want this to inspire you to START your journey today. And let me know in the comments, because I want to see change in the world from these videos. I want peoples lives to be better. And I know from my earlier videos that people have been inspired to start their own journey and this makes my heart sing, BUT they too are now in their 1%, 5%, 25% growth stages. Let's do it together. If you have a hobby that you're interested in - start a channel. If you know things - us over 40's know stuff - we've been around the block and overcome so much 0 what would you tell your younger you if you could go back? Start a channel. If you are an expert green fingered gardener enthusiast - start a channel - show me how to get better at gardening. You have so much to offer the world. And I think the world is missing out on what you have to offer. Or if you have a dream. My Subscribers @WeAreItalyBound (a couple from Texas) have a dream of retiring in Italy (but they're not there yet) it's a dream. And their passion on getting to that dream just leaps off the screen when you watch them. I know they'll get there. But in the meantime, they're sharing everything they are learning along their own journey on reaching their dream to keep themselves accountable but also to teach others WHAT THEY KNOW / WHAT THEY ARE LEARNING. This inspires.
So whilst I'm still early on my journey - you can see that I'm here. I'm on my way. Just through starting.
Overall on the week I had 5.2k views | 121.6 watch time hours | + 48 new subscribers
I end week 5 on a total of 271 subscribers | total 531 watch time hours
I continued with my VidIQ learning in week 5 because it focuses me in baby steps. Bitesize manageable info that I can apply and share here. Easy 5 minute daily lessons.
This week I've covered these Main Things:
Finding my Niche. Getting clear on my niche.
Creating a Strategy or plan is crucial for getting your audience to love your channel.
The Growth Strategy
The different types of content: Discoverable and Community building
And applied these things to this growth video.
Things I applied from last week: planning the title, hook, description, thumbnail before shooting video content. Focusing on the first 15 seconds being snappy and enticing. Keeping those video descriptions friendly and not keyword stuffy. These helped me focus more on the video content and what I was ptting infront of my viewers.
Finding My Niche. Or Drilling Down + Getting Clear on that Niche
I had a wobble in week 3 with my mental health and feeling quite drained with what I was doing and what content I was uploading. So niching down for the channel and getting really clear on what my niche is - was important this week. I want to focus more on the niches that are dear to me such as helping others to grow their channel, wellness, and manifestation. As well as Bali life. Bali life is a part of my life, but I'm not Mrs Bali and so want to come at Bali life from a family perspective of the things we're doing there as a family and how we're doing them. To help others thinking of making the move. Topics such as visa's, health insurance, all the practical side to educate. I used this Niching down workbook to drill down on the topics.
Create a Strategy or a Plan - A Growth Strategy
Just because 1 video does it all - doesn't mean all videos can do it all / nor should do it all. As an example see my first ever video (this is responsible for 50% off my current subscribers and watch time hours) just this one video - so my thought process was that if that one video can do it all, then surely my next videos should do it all / have it all - because they are better in so many ways. Or at least should be because I m learning and applying everything that I'm learning as the weeks go on and so naturally each video I create - should be better - and thus have even better results. I practically knew nothing in week 1 and in this first video. In fact I cried the night before, so my face was all swollen, I hoped nobody would really see it, but it turns out so far this is how I'm seen. But this is the mistake that a lot of creators make - myself included. They want every video they make to have it all - and get lots of:
views
subs
comments
likes
bring in traffic to their website
AND
bring in sales (not relevant for me, but many on the platform are selling stuff)
So instead of trying to create videos that do everything it's time to create a plan. Because in trying to do everything, we actually end up covering nothing well. And I feel as though this was me in week 4. I needed a plan. Week 5 has been all about getting a plan, because week 4 made me start doubting why people are even subscribing. My Bali life, although interesting wasn't really a fulfilling topic that was all encompassing for me to talk about non-stop. I mean, sure, it's a big part of my life, but it's not my all and everything. This got me doubting my niche, my whole point for being on YouTube and in the end stopped me from posting content. Week 4 was the only week where I didn't meet my target and this isn't an option going forward to grow a channel to monetization. Remember that key all important thing from week 1: CONSISTENCY.
The Growth Strategy
There a 3 types of videos in your growth strategy for your channel. 3 purposes if you like, for each video. Which can be put into 3 buckets: Discoverable | Community | Sales
I learned that Discoverable Content main goal is to get new people / new audience to watch more of your stuff by offering a call to action to watch more related content.
So going into week 6 I'm looking to creating a content strategy. I've got a weekly content calendar and monthly content calendar that I'll be sharing for you guys for free to download in week 6 so stick around for that. I'll share my weekly / monthly content plan. You'll get to see how to plan for the week and month ahead with a mx of different types of content that's specifically geared for growth. Week 6 is the time to get serious about growth. So you can plan your week of content and month of content rather than going blind (which may be your week 1-5) if you were like me! Having a plan in place will ensure the growth you are seeing continues / increases so that you reach your monetization goals.
In week 5 I was getting too caught up in over analysing stuff. Some videos just don't do that well and some do. But if we apply everything that we've learned in weeks 1 -5 then we give all videos the chance to get picked up and perform well over time. Having a plan ensures content is good for a growth strategy and I'm sharing mine next week. Expect to see some big growth in this channel after this strategy has been applied. (weeks 7-10 is where we'll see the benefits of applying such a growth strategy during week 6). Stick around for that!
I'm only in week 5 of my journey and I'm growing as a person in so many ways. I'm overthinking 'less' - I'd love to say I've totally stopped over thinking, but this would be untrue! I'm becoming less critical of myself. And so many other things that I want for others. 94% of YouTube channels never get to their monetisation goal. Only 6% do - and I'm sticking to my commitment of uploading my goals. I want to be in that 6% and I want you to be in that 6% too! Because I know we can!! Also i'm starting to get a lot of sugfestions my way from the YouTube Algo on growing the channel and how somebody got monetized in 10 weeks, someone got monetized in 9 days, someone got monetized in 3 seconds, someone was monetized at birth.... you get my point. Chances are you found me from the Algo doing it's job and putting the right videos in front of the right people. BUT it's important to stop comparing. It's nice to be inspired.... but the feelings of feeling like your not doing as well as others can really knock us off our track. And what's important to remember here is we're all on our own journey. But it is that OUR OWN journey. If we're applying all the learnings and skills to make each video that one bit better, then I promise you we will get to our GOAL! It's written. Give up because you feel rubbish about not blowing up in 3 seconds like that kid who became a millionaire selling a water gun he imported from China, that he promised free ones to people that subscribed. Other people successes should inspire us that it's possible, not leave us wondering whats the point. And how we feel on seeing these videos is on ourselves - we have a choice to feel utterly insured and take power from the fact that our future self WILL be monetized at some point in the future. And how good is that!
And so that's week 5 in my over 40 YouTube channel.
I'll be making sure every video in week 6 continues to have all the things learnt in weeks 1 - 5 to continue growing my channel because all of this is working:
A pre-designed Thumbnail (designed in Canva) that is straight to the point, designed for mobile and creates curiosity.
A well planned out Title (using Chat GPT and tweaking to my style) that does not repeat what the thumbnail says but adds more content to the thumbnail.
A well written description with at least 3 priority hashtags but 15 can be used.
I will Add the video to a playlist where possible to increase view time for relevant content.
I will add subtitles to every video as this helps accessibility and people who like to watch silently.
Plus add things I learnt this week
If you have been inspired to start your own YouTube channel as an over 40 mum or dad, do let me know in the comments. I love to hear it. Or maybe you've had your channel for a while and are starting it back up armed with the new knowledge to do it. Again drop me a comment. I am on your team! (especially on the videos ha ha as the YouTube Algo LOVES that!)
More of the same commitment and focus from me next week, then in the blink of an eye it will be time for the weekly Growth Review for Week 6.
The Reason I'm starting a YouTube Channel over 40
Full blog post here - grab a coffee!
Equipment I'm using to Start my New Small Channel - I'm not very techy but this stuff does me perfectly:
I don't have the latest video equipment to start this journey. These are affiliate links btw, so if you click them I get a small commission. I am using:
A paid for CapCut Pro editing software (the free version is enough, but I wanted to unlock some things to try out)
iPhone 13 to film on : https://amzn.to/4f4kGRk (I use to film everything on. Just what I had, I didn't go out and buy new)
DJI Om 5 Smartphone Gimbal : https://amzn.to/3YDgFhD (again an old one that I had. A mid priced Gimble that gives me smooth recordings, I can use as a tripod and whilst out and about walking)
MacBook Air to edit on and upload : https://amzn.to/4dSvwsT (newly bought, but I use it for work)
So you can see, this is all fairly basic tech that most people will have access to. I have a big list of things that I would LOVE to buy but the goal is to show that most people can start and grow the channel to monetization stage without investing huge amounts of money and really just using what they've got. My classic phrase: 'Start where you are, Use what you've got, until the thing is done!' if you don't you'll never be ready (my experience)
Links to the things that Helped Me Grow My Channel in Week 5:
Canva - Free or paid subscription to create thumbnails for the YouTube Vids
My Canva Crash Course for Beginners EBook - A detailed guide with video tutorials to get you started with Canva
CapCut - to edit my vids
VidIQ - to learn from, do their daily learning tasks and get video titles / hooks + very good YouTube Videos to grow your account. I like these videos because they're super easy and concise. Plus the guy that does them is a Northern chap and I miss home.
Chat GPT - AI to help with coming up with Titles, Descriptions and Thumbnail ideas with hook. Unsure of ChatGPT download my 50 Ways to Use ChatGPT in Business FREE EBook to get you Started + The Beginners Guide to Using ChatGPT FREE EBook
I hope you find this post about my experience on growing my YouTube channel in week 5 informative. If it helped you in any way , please let me know in the comments. Mostly I hope it inspired you to start / grow your own YouTube channel to monetization. If it did please subscribe to the channel for more tips and knowledge on growing a YouTube channel.
I hope you follow along with me to see what week 6 brings. Where in Week 6 I'm focusing on Affiliate programmes, Pinterest marketing for videos, a cute growth chart download and much more....
In the meantime keep up with our daily Bali life updates on social media below.
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And always leave a comment below if this page has helped you. I only write and share stuff on the blog to help you. So let me know. Does it help? Did you get something from it? And what do you want to know going forward? I am at your service, Fletchy McFletchface xx
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