BEST Advice For GROWING Your Channel From 15 Top YouTubers! Compilation of Top YouTube Growth Tips

After three and a half months of taking YouTube seriously, I had taken a crash course from other YouTubers on how to be successful. In the video above, I shared clips from their videos that resonated with me and offered valuable insights.

Modern Millie: Value Pillars

This first clip comes from Modern Millie. She discusses "value pillars," a term often heard in educational videos about growing on platforms like Instagram. Educators frequently say, "Provide value; teach value; give value to your audience." While I say it too, value is subjective to the viewer.

However, there are four main value pillars, or ways to provide value online:

• Educational
• Entertaining
• Relatable
• Inspirational

Some viewers find educational videos valuable, while others prefer entertaining content that makes them laugh or keeps them engaged. Still others appreciate relatability or find inspiration valuable. These four pillars have been incredibly helpful as a general framework for planning content.

The Unretirees: Ambitious Goals & Research

This next video is from a channel called The Unretirees, a couple who share about their retired life abroad. They have videos on how they monetized their YouTube channel and became successful. Here's a clip from their video:

"We monetized our YouTube channel in 78 days. For us, we wanted each video to hit 1,000 views, ideally within seven days of publication. But if it hit 1,000 views within 90 days, we'd count it as a win."

This was an ambitious goal for first-time YouTubers, but it forced them to ask critical questions. Every week they asked, "What do we need to do to get 1,000 views on this video? What's the right topic, thumbnail, or title? What about the description?" They continually asked themselves what it would take to hit 1,000 views, even when they were new and unknown. They relied heavily on TubeBuddy and competitive research, but also used their intuition and experience to generate topic ideas.

They had recently moved from the United States to Portugal and had researched the move for years. Despite watching many videos, they still struggled to find answers to certain questions.

One key lesson I've learned from various YouTubers, including them, is that YouTube success comes down to two things:

1. The idea of the video: What is the actual value?
2. The packaging of that idea: How do you present that value to connect with the audience so they'll watch?

This packaging includes the title, thumbnail, and the first 20-30 seconds of the video, which serves as the hook.

What was striking about this clip was the depth of research they put into developing and packaging their ideas for maximum success. They also adopted a powerful mindset: "How do we get this video to a certain level of success? How do we get 1,000 views?" This kind of thinking prompts you to explore ways to increase your views.

For example, I recently applied this thinking to my own channel. After YouTube's initial push, my videos sometimes flatline. How can I get more views? While external promotion is an option, what YouTube tools can I leverage? I found a clever way to use YouTube's features to promote my videos. I published a simple short video with end cards. Since end cards can only be placed in the last 20 seconds of a video, I created a short video specifically designed to promote four of my other videos using end cards. I don't know if it will work, but this is the kind of creative thinking The Unretirees encourage.

Think Media: Reviving Old Videos

This next video is from Think Media, titled "How to Revive a Dead YouTube Video and Trigger Massive Views." My key takeaway from this video is that you can use a new video to send traffic to an old one. You can do this with end cards, normal cards throughout the video, by simply talking about the old video, or by including its link in the description. A new video can effectively generate interest and drive traffic to older content.

I found this to be an interesting takeaway. If you've been YouTubing for a while, you might discover some of these ideas on your own or by watching enough YouTubers, but this was something I hadn't considered until I saw this video several months ago.

Gabrielle Nunes: Keyword Placement in Titles

This next video comes from Gabrielle Nunes, titled "This Got Me Monetized on YouTube with Two Videos: YouTube Growth." She watched a YouTuber explain how he ranked on YouTube's homepage by using a highly searched keyword, even with high competition, at the beginning of his title. She applied this by placing "Amazon KDP," her highly searched keyword, at the beginning of her video title, followed by secondary keywords.

She discovered the proper way to place keywords in titles: the most searched keyword goes at the beginning, and the rest are secondary or used to spark curiosity and create an emotional connection. My background is in blogging, podcasting, and SEO, where updating a webpage's title tag with keywords, especially important ones at the beginning, is crucial. It's great to see this applies to YouTube too.

YouTube gives significant weight to the title when indexing and promoting a video, so including those key phrases at the beginning remains a solid strategy for getting more views, even though the algorithm and Browse features have evolved. Thank you, Gabrielle Nunes, for sharing that tidbit.

Katherine Manning: Capitalization for Attention

This next video is from Katherine Manning, "0 to 1,000 Subscribers on YouTube: YouTube Tips That Helped Grow My Beginner YouTube Channel." Her advice concerns capitalization in titles. Here's what she says:

"You have 100 characters for your title. I picked this up from Sarah's Day; she includes so many keywords in her titles, and it works—she's a successful YouTuber. So, I started including more keywords, and more than that, I also started using more caps lock. When I first started on YouTube, I thought, 'I'm not going to be one of those YouTubers who capitalizes every video title.' But I realized, based on my analytics and normal searches, that capitalizing words tends to grab your audience's attention and makes them more likely to click. Now, most of my YouTube videos start with something in all caps, usually the main topic, hoping it's something people will want to click on. For a recent video on how I grew my blog, I started the title with 'GROW YOUR FOLLOWING ONLINE' in all caps. That's the main hook. If someone wants to grow their online following, they'll likely click on that, whereas 'What I Did Differently to Grow My Blog' might not be as interesting. So, yes, I start with that clickworthy, all-caps introduction to the title, then include more keywords and go into detail about the video's content."

I hadn't considered using capital letters in titles before. Now, I think about how I can strategically use them to make certain words stand out as another tool in my titling toolkit. I don't always use capitals, but I often use them strategically. In a recent comedy video, "Why You Should NOT Start a YouTube Even if EVERYONE Watches," I capitalized "NOT" and "EVERYONE" to make them stand out. Capitalizing words or phrases is a great way to make them pop since we don't have other formatting options.

Aaron Lodge: Conversational Titles

Speaking of titles, I want to share another video that discusses using conversational phrasing for your title, which is a different approach. Sometimes one approach might be better, or a conversational approach, or a hybrid of the two. This tip comes from Aaron Lodge, and her video is "Zero to 1,000 Subscribers in Eight Days: YouTube Tips That Helped Grow My Beginner YouTube Channel." Here's what she says:

"The title is what influences the algorithm, which brings us to step number five: create conversational titles. You want your title to look and sound like something you would say in conversation to someone—something relatable, not like Amazon or Etsy listings. I've seen several videos blowing up lately whose titles don't look optimized for search; they just look like a piece of a conversation. The viewer will look and immediately feel like they relate to the content before they even click. If you've ever seen a video where the title and thumbnail felt like they were speaking directly to you or calling you out, that's exactly what I mean. It has to look like an invite for the viewer to join the conversation. Search is still a great way to get views, but it's looking like Browse on the homepage is how people are going viral nowadays."

She had to learn this quickly. For example, a viral video of hers initially had a different title and only got a couple hundred views and a few subscribers in the first few days. But when she changed the title and thumbnail, the video took off on the third day. As she said, using conversational titles can gain traction through the algorithm and homepage recommendations.

It's about finding a balance of when to use each approach, depending on your video's goal, the idea, and the best way to package it. Experiment, and like her, you can always change your approach if it's not working.

Frankie with Two Eyes: Curiosity Gap in Titles & Thumbnails

In this next video, Frankie with Two Eyes shares tips on evoking curiosity in the title and making the thumbnail stand out.

"The viewer decides they are going to give you their time; that translates into watch time. What does watch time do? It tells YouTube that your video is valuable, and it's going to push it out because YouTube wants to keep people on their platform watching things. Another thing that is as important as the thumbnail is the title. In my opinion, what works these days is a title with a curiosity gap and a value proposition. Is there something that will pique the viewer's interest in the title? Is there a result that the viewer might want to achieve in your title? You clicked on this video because you want to get your YouTube video seen—that is the result you are seeking, just like 'How to Have Unshakable Confidence,' a title with a result in it. But also, a title with a curiosity gap works so well these days. For example, if you're making a vlog and you're a nursing student, don't put 'Day in My Life as a Nursing Student.' Reframe it to something like, 'This is what happened, I can't believe this happened today at nursing school!' Something like that creates a curiosity gap in the viewer's mind, and they want to click it because they're like, 'What happened?'"

That was her insight on titles. Now, for thumbnails:

"What I like to personally do, because a lot of the time thumbnails are going to be very small, is, will they still stand out when they're really tiny? A thumbnail doesn't have to be aesthetic; it just has to stick out and get clicked on. If you are going to use text, make sure it's legible on a very small scale. Make sure it doesn't blend in with the background too much, and make sure your font isn't too thin and tiny. It doesn't really need to be overthought. Just ask yourself, 'Would you click on that video?' That's the best question to ask yourself when you're making a thumbnail."

When you get to the end of a video and see all the suggested thumbnails, take a moment to look at them. Which ones stand out? Sometimes you want a thumbnail that looks different just to get noticed. On the homepage, they won't be as close together, but still, which ones draw your eyes? Start thinking about that and create thumbnails that stand out.

Live Video School: Including Your Niche in the Title

This next tip, again about titles, comes from Live Video School. Their video is titled "The One YouTube Strategy I Wish I Knew Earlier." The key takeaway is: if we don't put our niche in the title, the algorithm doesn't know who to show it to. This was a helpful reminder to include your niche in the title, perhaps the thumbnail, and the description—as many places as possible to reach your audience. Give the algorithm clear signals and also talk about your niche organically and relevantly within the video itself.

Virginia Kerr: Evoking Emotion with Thumbnails

This next video comes from Virginia Kerr, titled "How to Make Thumbnails to Get Even More Views." She offers insights on creating effective thumbnails.

"With a thumbnail, I want to evoke some kind of emotion, and I'm not going to use the exact same words that I use in the title in my thumbnail. You can look at some of these examples, and you'll see exactly what I mean. I want people to know that they're going to get something they really want out of that thumbnail or they're going to avoid something they really don't want when they see that thumbnail. So, I'm very intentional with the words I put on my thumbnail. In fact, I know what my thumbnail is going to say before I ever hit record on any video."

The goal is for the thumbnail to complement the title in a way that sets an expectation of what the viewer will get in the video. Then, the beginning of the video should connect the dots, hook them in, and keep them watching.

Creator Insight: Viewer-Centric Algorithm

This next video comes from Creator Insight, a YouTube channel for creators. This particular clip offers incredibly helpful insight for anyone creating for YouTube.

"How does discovery, how does the recommendation system actually work? The first thing that creators should understand is that the recommendation systems are really centered around each individual viewer. So, oftentimes creators will say, 'Hey, the recommendation system is pushing out my video to people,' or 'Why isn't it pushing out my video?' Yes, they may ask that, but the way it works is it isn't so much about pushing it out as much as it's pulling for each viewer. So, when you open the homepage, YouTube is going to say, 'Hey, Renee's here, we need to give Renee the best content that is going to make Renee happy today.' It's very much centered around each individual person and ranking the videos for them, as opposed to looking at each individual video and trying to figure out who might like it."

That's a great insight: the YouTube algorithm is viewer-centric. When a viewer wants to watch something, YouTube wants to find the best next video for that person. It maintains an archive of content for each person based on various factors so that when they're ready to watch, they have a variety of the most likely or satisfying videos to choose from. This was a powerful insight because as creators, we often think the system revolves around us when it's actually revolving around the viewer, and we're just helping to show up when the viewer wants to see what we create.

Sharpreneur: Engaging Short-Form Content

This next YouTube video comes from Sharpreneur, titled "How I Gained 2 Million Followers in 304 Days: Seven Lessons." He shared an interesting insight about short-form content that's worth remembering.

"Value in short-form content is dead, and you have to incorporate entertaining aspects into your video. I'm not saying to do dances or skits or funny content; I'm saying it needs to be more entertaining in nature because that's why people come on social media. Whether that is people getting a dopamine kick from seeing your lifestyle, from seeing a much more engaging, visually impressive video, or whether that be you are much more active in the video, moving around, and being creative with your shots, this is the content that performs so much better. We noticed that when we were posting content for this client to get up to 2 million followers, when we were posting our strict value content, our reach was essentially limited. Once we started implementing more dynamic elements inside the content, much more visually appealing, that's when we started to go crazy viral and grow much more quickly."

So, when creating Reels or short-form content, make it engaging, exciting, and visually appealing. That might get you a lot more traction. I've been experimenting with Shorts, and since I have a lot of educational content, I need to figure out how to bridge that into the "Reel space" to get more views and, hopefully, translate that into long-form video views.

Vid IQ: The Power of Specificity

This next video comes from Vid IQ. What stood out to me was the idea of being very specific. The more specific you can get, the more you can grasp or catch someone's attention. If you talk about something generically, people might not be interested. But if you get really specific and talk directly to them, they stop in their tracks and engage.

Let's look at what Vid IQ has to say in their video titled "I Never Seen a Faster Way to Get Monetized."

"The first technique I found is specificity. It's really just when you get super specific in your titles. So instead of just saying, 'Here's the fastest way to make 10 grand per month,' he used specifics like '$3,000 to $5,000' and 'into your bank account.' The second reason this title is so powerful is because he promises something that his audience desperately wants in a short period of time. This is a powerful way to make your titles more clickable because it adds a sense of urgency. Just imagine if his title said, 'How to Make $3,000 to $5,000 Online.' Pretty boring, right? But by adding 'fastest' and 'into your bank account ASAP,' it adds a whole new level of curiosity that makes you want to click. So if you want to get more views on your videos, I challenge you to test both these strategies on your title: getting specific. You can even get more specific, like, 'You need $3,000 today,' or 'in the next five days.' I saw one YouTube video that said, 'I needed to get monetized in 30 days, and here's what I did.' If you're in that same situation and that's speaking to you, then you're going to watch that video because that's what you need right now."

Annie Empty Studio: Topic Selection

This next video comes from Annie Empty Studio, titled "How Small Channels Are Actually Blowing Up in 2025." She discusses the importance of the idea itself in your YouTube video.

"Now, let's dive into the mystery of why some videos blow up while others don't. Number one is topic selection. That is literally 80% of the game. Your video can have the best editing, but if no one cares about the topic, they won't be curious enough to actually click into it, and they're not going to watch it, and it won't perform. So what is the secret? I have figured out, after posting 20, 30 videos now, you got to tap into trending topics. MrBeast's 'Squid Game' video got over 450 million views, I think by tapping into the virality of the show at the time. And you probably know MKBHD; all of his tech review videos do so well because they feature the latest gadgets, such as all the new Apple releases. If you go to my channel and you go to 'Most Popular,' all the top performers are actually Mac unboxings and tech reviews. Now, in hindsight, I can see that it was not a coincidence."

Topic selection is huge. If you have a great idea but nobody wants to see it, you won't get much traction. So, if you like making videos that don't get as much traction, mix them in with trending topics to gain momentum towards monetization and success.

Trina Little YouTube Coach & Nate Black: Effective Video Endings

The next two videos I want to share are about ending your videos. The first comes from Trina Little YouTube Coach, "What You Should Say in Your First YouTube Video."

"After delivering all your amazing content and you're ready to finish your video, you really want to avoid telling people your video is over. I'm going to tell you why here in just a second, but you want to avoid things like 'in summary' or 'in conclusion' or 'that's it.' Because what you want to do then is transition them to watch another video of yours. Now, you might be thinking, 'Hold up, Trina, I don't even have another video.' I got a game plan for you. The reason you want to do this is because YouTube is going to promote videos that get people to watch more content, right? More watch time is valuable to YouTube. So if your video then gets people to watch another video, that's valuable to YouTube. So don't just try to end the session time; tell them exactly what video you want to watch next. Now, think about it: if you're going to publish your first video, you're probably going to publish new videos weekly. So, in your very first video, you could tell people to watch what video is coming next. But here's a little secret: just deliver your lines like that video is already live. So, let's say next week I'm going to release a video on how to create a channel banner. It's not live yet, but I know it will be next week. So I can actually add that video next week, and it's not really going to hinder your channel, especially if you're just getting started. So I could end this video saying, 'Now, watch how to create your own channel banner to make sure people are wanting to subscribe to your channel. It's on your screen right now. Click it, and I'll show you exactly how to do that.' You don't have that video yet? You could have a placeholder that says 'coming next week.' Then, when you release that video, you can just go back to that first video and add that clickable end screen over that text, and nobody will know after that first week. This allows you to set up that first video for success—to get people to watch another video and another video from you."

That was the first tip. Now, I'll jump into the next one, from Nate Black:

"The mistakes I see a lot of people making with their video endings and end screens in general: one, giving people too much forewarning that the end of the video is arriving. If you do this, I will hunt you down, reach through the screen, and smack you upside the face. I have mentioned this before, but I need to say it again: don't make people be polite at the end of your video. How often have you been on the phone with someone, and it comes to the part of the conversation where you know you've got to end that conversation, and it turns into a, 'Hey, thanks so much for chatting. Yeah, yeah, it's so great catching up. Oh, yeah, you're awesome. See you later. Talk to you next time. Goodbye. All right, thank you so much.' Just don't make people have to do that with your videos, because the reality is most people are just not going to, and your retention will go down. The dedicated core audience on your channel are going to stick around, but for most people, don't make them have to be polite. The rule of thumb I have seen is 10 seconds or less. If you can go from full-fledged content of the video to ending of the video, and then the video actually cuts off and ends—if you can end that video in 10 seconds or less, you should be in a good space when it comes to your video. Make sure you're providing value all the way to the end."

If you found value in these insights, I've included links to every single video in the description so you can check out the full versions. If you're interested in hearing the insights and tidbits I've discovered as a YouTuber, I've made a series of YouTube videos on how to succeed as a YouTuber and what's helped me grow my channel. I had 68 YouTube subscribers in December and now, in April, I'm at 235. I'm making progress towards my watch hours and monetization, and I've learned some things along the way. If you'd like to hear those, I've got a playlist for you right here. Check it out to see the various videos I've put together on how to succeed as a YouTuber.

I'm Jason Scott Montoya, and thank you for watching.