If you’re looking for the secrets to growing on YouTube in 2021, this is the place for you. And I really mean secrets – I don’t want to regurgitate what you’ve already heard. So, I really dug in and thought about some secrets to growing on YouTube that we HAVEN’T talked about before. 

The SECRETS to growing on YouTube in 2021 + some stuff you DO NOT need to be doing

Want to watch the video version of this post? I’ve got you covered!

If you have already started a YouTube channel and you’re watching videos about how to grow on the platform, the biggest mistake you can make is assuming there’s some sort of magic formula to make it work. There’s no magic pill, and it might not happen super quickly. But you can still do it!

I’ve been on YouTube since 2016, and I started taking it seriously about a year late. And I JUST hit 100,000 subscribers in 2020. This is coming from someone who has trudged every step of the way to grow my channel.

Before we start with the things you SHOULD be doing, I want to tell you some things you shouldn’t be doing.

Things you DO NOT need to do to grow your YouTube channel

DO NOT assume there is a magic pill for growth

I started with this one since I just mentioned it. If you assume there’s one magic pill for growth, then you will always be disappointed. There’s no magical way to grow that no one’s telling you about.

I see a lot of comments asking for YouTube creators to “tell viewers their secret” because it feels like the creators are growing much faster than their audience. But I can GUARANTEE that I have literally told you every single piece of strategy about growth that I could possibly tell you.

You have to put in the work to grow. You can do everything right for months and months or even years, and you’ll eventually see the payoff. Sure, some creators go viral and have massive success really quickly. And I’m jealous of those people – but that is not the norm!

DO NOT worry about having perfect equipment

I can sit here and tell you all day that you don’t need expensive equipment to grow on YouTube. But I’m sitting here filming on a very expensive camera. (And stay tuned – on Friday, I’m doing a video just about whether or not this camera was worth it.) I’m using a new, pretty expensive light, and I’m sitting in my brand new studio space. So… you see where I’m going with this.

But HONESTLY, you really don’t need perfect equipment to grow on YouTube in 2021. I just hit 100,000 subscribers, and I have never made the majority of my money just from YouTube. The majority of my money comes in from courses, affiliate marketing, and other ad spots. And it still took me until this point to uplevel all of my equipment.

I started on my phone using 0 artificial light. I was in the echoey sunroom of a 1970s farmhouse that we were literally remodeling as I started the channel.

You just need your phone, a window, and to make sure you don’t sound like garbage.

Onto the secrets to growing on YouTube in 2021! Here’s what you SHOULD be doing!

I have mentioned that I’ve been participating in and hosting Clubhouse rooms. If you don’t know what Clubhouse is, it’s the new fancy guy in the social media space. It’s basically a live audio platform that tends to turn into live Q&A. If you want to learn more about what Clubhouse is, you can read an article or watch a video on it here.

I’ve been hosting several rooms on Clubhouse. We’ve been talking a lot about YouTube. Our most commonly asked question is how to grow on the platform when their channel is about A, B, C, D, E, and F. And every YouTube expert tells then that they need to pick ONE thing to focus on.

Niche down to grow on YouTube!

If you want to grow on YouTube in the coming year, pick a niche and focus on it. If you aren’t niched down, people don’t know how to find you and YouTube doesn’t know how to promote you. And those two things are the KEY to growing on YouTube.

Make your content both algorithm and people friendly!

Consistency!

We’re back to the Clubhouse chats. I was on one a few days ago and someone asked the best schedule for posting on YouTube. And someone in the chat responded and said “it doesn’t matter, just post whenever you can post good quality content.”

And I HIGHLY disagree with that.

That method would be fine and dandy if we weren’t humans who sit here and critique ourselves and our content. If you live by the “post when you think something is perfect” mentality, there’s a good possibility that we’d all never post anything.

That method would also be good if YOUTUBE didn’t want you to be highly consistent. Because the truth is, the platform favors consistency more than most things.

The more you post, the quicker you’re going to grow as a general rule. That’s not always the case. If the options are posting three times a week, getting burnt out in two weeks and then not post for a few months OR posting once a week but more consistently, I’ll always choose the latter.

Being consistent is a key factor in how YouTube serves up your content to your ideal viewer.

I interrupt this blog post to let you know that I get it – being consistent and posting all the time feels DAUNTING.

Trying to grow on Youtube can feel like the biggest challenge ever – especially when it comes to editing. That’s the thing people tend to get tripped up on. All of the editing softwares out there feel like they’re too advanced for beginners. And I found a tool that I NEED to tell y’all about.

That tool is called InVideo.

I’ve tried out a lot of internet-based video editors in my day, and I’ll be honest – they usually fall short. But this one is pretty incredible! You can create an entire YouTube video on their platform. They have stock footage, cropping, trimming, adding voiceover, literally ANYTHING you want to do.

If editing feels really daunting to you, then InVideo is like an answered prayer.

One of my favorite features of InVideo is the ability to add presets to your account! You can decide you want these colors, fonts, logos, and even automatically add a branded outro at the end of each video.

You can start editing videos from scratch, use a pre-built template, or get some help from their “intellectual virtual assistant” technology. They offer 24/7 support, and even have a Facebook group of more than 20,000 members where you can ask questions, get ideas, and interact with other creators!

If you want to try out InVideo, click right here and use my code HEYJESSICA for 50% off!

Back to your regularly scheduled secrets to growing on YouTube in 2021…

Infuse your personality into your content!

I don’t care whether you have a talking head channel, vlogging, or sharing the most boring information. Put your personality in there!

You can be found via search all day long – and that’s amazing, and you should be. But if there’s nothing memorable about you that makes people want to watch more of your videos… they won’t.

Even before I started actively infusing my personality into my content, people noticed that I was being authentic in my videos. Now that I’m even more intentional about being real, people notice!

Master your analytics

I am personally a nerd with analytics. I love graphs and stats! But, even the most basic form of knowledge about analytics is SO key if you want to grow.

I’ve done a video all about what I pay attention to with analytics that you can watch right here. Learn what your analytics are and how you can improve them.

If most of your viewers are watching one particular video, how can you make sure they watch more? Maybe your traffic is coming from one particular source – how can you make sure that it comes from others? If people drop off in the middle of your videos, how can you extend that watch time?

Analytics are a starting point to tell you what’s happening now and setting goals for where you want to be. As you improve some of your analytics, you’re going to get more traction on the platform.

Now go out and use these secrets to growing on YouTube in 2021 to do the dang thing! The platform isn't oversaturated and people are giving you tips every step of the way. It's a great time to get started.