Every year, it becomes more expensive to attract subscribers to the YouTube channel. But a successful result justifies all efforts.

The main paid methods are still the same: collaboration with bloggers, buying views, direct advertising from them and through Google AdWords. But it is necessary to consider the economic feasibility of advertising — how justified is paid promotion?

Choosing a Theme

To do this, you need to find a suitable keyword – a search phrase that people are looking for information on. You can use the services such as vidIQ and TubeBuddy, You can also work with KeywordTool.io or Keyword Planner from Google.

See the query frequency, which shows how often users enter these keys. If the frequency is too low, the video will not find viewers. If it is too high – it will be difficult to use this key in the YouTube search.

According to the TubeBuddy service, the key query “USA” is used by 480 million videos. This is a high-frequency request, and it will be difficult for a young channel to compete with promoted YouTube blogs.

Therefore, take a medium-frequency or low-frequency key, for example, “how to move from Germany to the United States in 2020” and make the video for it.

Planning a Scenario

All videos have the same structure-the beginning, main part, and ending. The beginning should hold the audience, the middle should respond to their request, and the end should convert them into subscribers. In order not to confuse the tasks of each part and not get lost, it is better to prepare a video script in advance. To do this, think about what you need to say, write it down and rehearse it, especially if you don’t have any experience.

Pay special attention to the beginning of the video. Do not make it long, so as not to lose users. Most often, people have already watched a couple of commercials before the video and do not want to watch a long ad saver again, this time from a blogger. It is better to show the logo and name of the channel for just 3-5 seconds and immediately greet the audience.

Be sure to say the key queries that the video was shot for in the first 20 seconds. YouTube recognizes speech, and this will help organic promotion. If the video is called “Luxury cosmetics 2020”, then we must say: “Hello everyone! Today we will talk about luxury cosmetics in 2020.”

Shoot short videos-10-15 minutes, because they are easier to watch until the end. YouTube ranks videos that are not only included, but also viewed better.

Now the average time to watch the video is 4 minutes, so the length can be 7-8 minutes. However, you should not make the videos shorter, because the total viewing time will be low. And this is another indicator that takes into account the ranking algorithm.

Short videos are suitable for any topic. If the topic is too broad, then make a series of videos for each narrow query and announce them in other videos. Even traditionally long training webinars are better divided into several separate videos for each question.

Engaging the Audience

Learn how to hold your audience. To do this, at the very beginning, briefly tell what the video will be about. You can promise a cool thing at the end: life hack, utility, promo code. Then users are more likely to watch the video to the end. Lists, step-by-step plans, and instructions – “how to prepare for the US University exam in seven steps” – also work well.

Encourage viewers to be active – ask them to subscribe, like, and comment. People like to be helpful and show expertise, so give them a chance to talk about themselves. Ask questions, ask for advice – the audience will be happy to answer under the video. Announce the following videos and tell what else on the current topic is on the channel. All this will lead to additional activity.

Use tooltips-messages that are displayed on top of the video. There may be five of them in total. Add ads for other videos to them and lead viewers to the site. To see all the clues you need to click on the teaser at the top right. Analyze their performance using YouTube Analytics: impressions, clicks, and conversions.

Mounting the Video

For editing, use the paid Adobe Premiere program, but it also has a free trial version. This is not the only program, you can also work with other video editing software such as iMovie, Shortcut, Videopad, HitFilm Express. The most popular paid ones are Sony Vegas Pro, Movavi Video Editor, Edius and Final Cut Pro.

If the video was shot according to the script on good equipment and with sufficient lighting, you will only need to crop the initial and final frames. If not, you will have to do professional editing. As a result, you should get a video with an aspect ratio of 16:9.

1. Trim the extra frames, add graphic elements and hints.
2. Mount the start and end saver.
3. Write the title and select a thumbnail.
4. Select the music.
5. Adjust the colors.

Preparing a budget

The first videos I shot on my phone, so they cost me free. Now I have in my team: editor, editor and designer, sometimes I also attract a screenwriter, so the minimum cost of a simple video is $100-150, the average is $200-300. If I shoot a video with a complex scenario and a change of location, the cost can reach up to $1000 per video.

The price of a video is influenced by four factors: the amount of payment to the team, the complexity of the installation, the complexity of the script, and the location. To save money at first, do everything yourself. Then the price of the video will be equal to the cost of your man-hours. As you grow, hire specialists to increase the quantity and quality of your content.