Getting your first 1000 subscribers and logging 4000 hours of watch time are the two requirements for joining the YouTube Partner Program.
This article shares the best tips on how to gain subscribers fast.
Best YouTube subscriber hacks
There are so many strategies and tactics for how you can get your first thousand YouTube subscribers that are super effective.
And not only that, but they also work for your first 10,000 and 100,000 subscribers.
Once you understand them, you have all the tools you'll need to grow your YouTube channel to the sky and beyond!
This requires hard work and a good work ethic and won't happen overnight!
Pick a niche for your YouTube channel
The first thing you want to do is make a strategic decision about the positioning of your YouTube channel.
You might not realize this, but advertising on YouTube is a very complex machine.
Advertisers on YouTube have obvious ideas about who they want to target with their ads. If you're going to sell baby products via video ads, you want to show these to parents and soon-to-be parents.
How would YouTube know this? Because of the 100 baby videos, they watched last month!
That's one of the reasons why it's so essential to pick a niche for your channel. YouTube has to understand what your videos are all about.
Ideally, there should be a pattern. And they have to understand your viewers. If your channel's theme matches one of your viewers' favorite themes, YouTube will start recommending your channel to others.
This way, YouTube can then sell more targeted video ads!
Optimize your videos for YouTube SEO
So what's the solution?
The only reliable way for anyone to grow a small YouTube channel organically from 0 to 1000 subscribers is by optimizing your YouTube videos for YouTube search.
Let's have a look at how the YouTube search function works.
There are ten main components that YouTube uses to determine which videos are displayed on the search results page.
- Title
- Description
- Tags
- Subtitles
- Keyword cluster match
- Channel relevancy match
- Channel authority
- Video authority
- Exclusivity
- Recency
Optimize your video titles, description, and tags
Let's say you search for how to make money on YouTube.
YouTube will take your search phrase and crunch it with their AI system to understand what the user is looking for.
Next, YouTube will look through its vast database of millions of videos to find relevant videos for this particular search.
At this stage, YouTube's number one goal is to make sure that each video that says it's a good match is actually a good match.
Why wouldn't it, you might ask? And the answer, most of the time, is because of spammers who are trying to game the system.
In the early days of YouTube, some clever people figured out they could use extremely clickbaity titles, which had nothing to do with the video.
This allowed them to trick people into clicking on their videos. And boom, they received thousands of views.
Imagine clicking on a video titled "How to make anyone fall in love with you in three seconds or less" and then finding something else entirely. Go on, click the link, and see what happens! I'll wait... 😉
That's kind of how it worked.
To prevent this, YouTube developed several algorithms to avoid this naughty behavior.
How does this work?
YouTube takes your search term and then compares it with various attributes of your video, such as your video title, description, tags, and subtitles.
YouTube will not perform an exact match. It will use its AI to understand its meaning.
The following four search phrases might have identical search intent.
- Making money on YouTube
- Earning money on YouTube
- How to make money on YouTube
- How to make a living on YouTube
Similarly, if someone searched for phrase 1, a video with phrase four might be a perfect match.
I use TubeBuddy to find YouTube video titles, ideas, descriptions, and tags. You can also check out my YouTube title optimization article for more details.
Optimize your video subtitles
Next, YouTube will compare your video titles, description, and tags with your video subtitles, to see if there is a match.
For this to work, you have to mention your intended keyword phrases throughout your video.
I recommend writing a cheat sheet for your next video and reading it before you start filming. This way, you'll remember to mention important keywords for your YouTube SEO efforts later.
YouTube automatically transcribes all of your videos with speech recognition software. This allows YouTube to identify if your title, description, tags, and spoken words are in alignment.
The problem is that this doesn't work all the time. Especially when your audio quality isn't excellent, YouTube will make transcription mistakes.
In the Best case, you're missing out on potential keyword matches and getting less exposure in YouTube searches.
In the worst case, YouTube accidentally believes that you're using unwanted phrases that might impact your ability to monetize your video, such as curse words.
Because of that, I always create my video transcriptions and upload them to YouTube.
My weapon of choice? Otter! It has an even better voice recognition algorithm and is great at detecting sentences and punctuations.
I can upload the audio track of my video or add the entire video. Within minutes Descript will create an almost perfect transcript if the audio quality is good. All I have to do is to read it and correct the occasional word here and there.
Once I'm done, I copy the entire text and visit the subtitle section of my newly uploaded video. I select "Transcribe and auto-sync" and paste my transcript into the text field.
YouTube will now take each sentence and compare it with my audio file and align and match each of my sentences. I can't tell you how many hours this workflow has saved me over the years!
Optimize for keyword cluster match
YouTube will also take keyword proximity and cluster matches into consideration.
Huh? Cluster what?
Think of it this way. When you talk about "how to make pizzas", you'll typically mention the words "dough", "sauce" and "cheese".
That's a keyword cluster. When talking about "how to make pizzas", these are expected keywords. If they're missing, chances are high that your video won't meet a viewer's expectations.
How does YouTube know which keywords form a keyword cluster? By comparing thousands of their videos for a particular topic and searching for similarities.
How can you make sure that you pass the keyword cluster test? By watching some of the best-ranking videos on the topic of your video.
Write down notes and identify important keywords you might have missed in your video script. And then mention them in your video.
Still not sure how keyword clusters work?
Learn more in my article: The YouTube Content Cluster Strategy: Cracking the YouTube Algorithm.
Pass the YouTube channel relevancy pass
Besides the video itself, YouTube will also consider the theme of your YouTube channel.
Do you regularly create videos about a specific topic or theme?
Do your channel description and tags contain the exact keywords as your videos?
The more videos you make about a specific topic, the higher your topic authority. The lower the risk for YouTube to recommend videos of someone who doesn't know what they're talking about.
Build your YouTube channel authority
Besides channel relevancy, you also have channel authority. That's your overall social proof on YouTube.
If your video has a good track record in terms of engagement, YouTube is more likely to recommend your videos to new viewers because they know it's a low risk.
How do you get there? By consistently creating videos with a high-authority score.
Maximize your video authority score
When you're just starting, your videos have no authority. In other words, YouTube doesn't know if your new video is good or if people will like it.
The more time users spend watching your videos, the higher your video score.
A video with a proven track record in terms of watch time for a specific search phrase will rank higher in future searches.
The key is to be the first.
Share exclusive content on YouTube that people can't get anywhere else
If your channel has no authority, you'll have a tough time. YouTube will be reluctant to suggest your videos to new users because it doesn't know if it can trust you yet.
You have to earn this right first!
The best way to accomplish this is by having no competition in video searches. If your video is so unique, that nobody else has made a video about your topic in the past, YouTube might just as well recommend your video to a user. What do they have to lose?
That's why I am using TubeBuddy for all of my videos. It allows me to identify those keywords that users are actively searching for, but there is little to no competition regarding matching videos.
As more people watch your videos, YouTube will get more and more data points and learn who the people who enjoy watching your videos are.
This allows them to recommend future videos to similar people.
Be the first to make a video about something
Besides exclusivity, it's also important to take advantage of recency whenever possible.
In other words, be the first to make a video about something. If you're the only one talking about X, and thousands of people are interested in X, you'll get a ton of free and relevant views and boost your YouTube watch time.
And what does this do?
It creates video authority! The next time someone searches for X, your video will appear at the top. Other creators have to work twice as hard to beat you.
I call this an unfair advantage! 🙂
Optimize your video call to action
To get to your first 1000 subscribers fast, you can't just sit there and hope for the best.
Some people will subscribe to your channel just because they enjoyed your videos.
But if you want to get more consistent results faster, you have to remind them to subscribe to your channel!
I recommend picking either of these strategies (or both if you want to be sure).
- Promote your channel at the beginning of your videos.
- Promote your video at the end of your videos.
How to promote your channel at the start of your videos
The logic is simple. Most videos lose the majority of viewers within the first minute.
That's just how it is.
People are often looking for something particular, and if you don't give them the confidence within the first few seconds that your video will be able to deliver, they'll click away.
How can you capture some of these people that will be gone at the beginning?
By giving them your 10-second elevator pitch right at the start!
Here is how you can do it.
- Option 1: Skip on the intro music for your YouTube video. Most people don't care about it. For the first 10-15 seconds, tell them what your video is all about and what tangible benefits they'll gain if they stick till the end. Then give them your 10-15 seconds channel pitch. You might start with, "If you're new to this channel, I make videos about ... If you want to learn how to ... make sure that you hit the subscribe button, so you don't miss my next video, where I talk about ...
- Option 2: Give your 10-15 second video pitch about why they should stay around and what they'll learn. Then deliver your first of several value bombs to prove to your viewer that you mean business. Then, remind them to subscribe to your channel. Ideally, mention a content upgrade you'll cover in a future video related to value bomb number 1.
How to promote your channel at the end of your videos
Always keep your best-kept secret till last. This will increase the overall watch time percentage of your video and ensure that your videos will receive an extended organic reach on YouTube.
It also allows viewers to get to know you. If they only watch 60 seconds of you speaking, they might judge you too quickly. But if you get them to listen to your charming voice for 5 to 10 minutes, they get a much better idea of who you are.
Start your video with a big promise of why it's worth watching your video till the end. Then deliver on your promise and share massive value bombs.
In your viewers' minds, you made a promise, and you delivered on it. This allows them to trust you more.
Then, when you ask them to subscribe, they're much more likely to listen to your recommendation.
I recommend two approaches on how to remind viewers to subscribe:
- Option 1: Summarize what they learned. Then give them your 10-15 seconds channel pitch in the form of an IF question. Example: "If you want to learn more about X, Y, and Z (focus on attractive goals and tangible benefits) make sure that you hit the subscribe button and turn the notification bell on.
- Option 2: Pre-plan your future videos. Then create a value bridge between your current video and a future video. Example: "If you enjoyed this video about X1, you'd love my next video about X2, where I share how to A, B, and C. If you want to get an email notification, once X2 is up, make sure that you hit the subscribe button and turn on the notification bell!"
This option is the most powerful way of asking viewers to subscribe to your channel. It uses your knowledge about your viewer against them and creates a very attractive value proposition! Now, how would you know what your viewers want?
Because they just watched your video till the end! So they are very interested in your topic.
Just ask yourself.
If someone is interested in this topic, what else would they be interested in? Or what would be the logical next step?
And boom! There is a great video idea! And a powerful call to action to get viewers to subscribe to your YouTube channel.
Share your videos far and wide
Very early on in your YouTube career, YouTube doesn't have any data about you, your channel, and your video.
In other words, they don't know who would enjoy watching your video.
Now here is where sharing your videos comes in.
You can kick start YouTube's algorithm and give YouTube all the data points they need to understand who would love your videos by sharing them far and wide with your ideal audience.
So, what would that look like in practice?
There are two ways, depending on whether you already have an audience or not.
What to do if you already have an audience.
In this case, you have an unfair advantage in building your YouTube channel. Good on you! 🙂
The way to share your videos is by using exclusivity.
One of the biggest mistakes many content creators who already have audiences have, make is to share their content everywhere.
If you share your video on both Facebook and YouTube, why would any Facebook user watch your video again on YouTube? It's extra work, and most people prefer to stay on their favorite social media network.
The trick is only to share your video on YouTube and then "force" your Facebook fans to watch your video on YouTube because that's the only way to get your videos. If they want to see it, they have to click.
The second thing that you want to keep in mind when it comes to sharing is content types.
Most social media networks punish the sharing of external links with diminished organic reach.
Explore how you can use native content types to promote your videos, and then share the video link in your post's description or pinned comment.
What to do if you don't have an audience yet
Set ambitious goals to grow yourself an audience across all social media. It will become an invaluable asset in the future.
Let's see what you can do without a fan base. There are two main strategies to follow. Utilizing other people's audiences and using video ads.
- Borrow someone else's community. For the first approach, you have to find online communities that already have an audience of your ideal audience. This could be a Facebook group, a Reddit Subreddit, or someone else's YouTube channel. Once you have compiled a list of suitable audiences, it's time to start engaging with your top community. I have created several videos about how to promote your YouTube videos on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
But here is the short form. Focus on building trust first! You can't just post your videos unless you want to immediately get blocked and banished from the community. That means engaging with other people for an extensive period.
Sharing exclusive, native content within the community that is not your own! Self-promotion will always get you into trouble. As you build a good reputation in the community, your trust increases, and moderators are more agreeable to sharing some of your content. - Pay for video ads. This approach is not for everyone, but it can effectively get your first 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of video watch time. I recommend using a good tool that allows you to quickly compile a list of similar YouTube videos already watched by people from your ideal audience. You would then film a short 10-60 seconds channel trailer, upload this to your YouTube channel as an unlisted video and then create a video ad campaign in Google Ads.
For placement, you upload the list of videos that you generated in Viralstat. This way, you have laser-focused targeting, and the probability that someone who is watching one of your competitors' videos will react to your ad and subscribe to your channel is very high.
The key is to give YouTube enough data points to learn that viewers of your ideal audience are interested in your channel. Once that happens, your organic reach will grow massively.
Build an email list
What else can you do to get more subscribers faster? Make sure that your subscribers watch all of your future videos!
Now, here is the thing. Subscribing to your channel doesn't mean much when it comes to video notification.
Unless someone activates the notification bell, YouTube will take the "subscription status" as an indicator of interest.
Imagine you subscribed to 1000 channels. Which new videos would YouTube display at the top of the front page?
YouTube will try to figure out what kind of content someone has recently been watching, and if your video category doesn't match, you won't show up.
The first way is to get people to activate the notification bell. The best way to do this is to remind your viewers to do so when you ask them to subscribe.
Getting people on your email list is a much better and more reliable way.
This way, you can send an email whenever you upload a new video and don't have to rely on YouTube's notification bell. (Which has been known to fail sometimes)
I recommend signing up for a Moosend account to build your email list. It's a very lightweight yet powerful email marketing software with a ton of features aimed at YouTube and other content creators.
If you cover more than one topic in your channel, try to set up a different sign-up form so that you can assign tags based on interest.
The best way to incentivize people to join your email list is by creating a lead magnet that's very valuable and highly related to the theme of your videos.
You won't get subscribers if you do these things
If you google how to get YouTube subscribers, you'll see a lot of rubbish recommendations.
- Buy subscribers.
- Join sub4sub groups.
- Spam random Facebook groups with your videos.
- Ask your mum to subscribe to your channel.
Most ideas are entirely useless. Let's talk about why:
Never buy YouTube subscribers
Some people have no patience. They want to have their cake and eat it, and they want it now!
These people always look for shortcuts to how they can *trick* the system.
And there are plenty of dubious websites that offer online services to buy YouTube subscribers.
But is this a smart idea? 🤔
Hell no! Here are some things that might happen and that will happen!
YouTube might permanently ban you.
YouTube doesn't allow anything that artificially increases the number of views, likes, comments, or subscribers.
YouTube's Terms of Service state that "You are not allowed to cause or encourage any inaccurate measurements of genuine user engagement with the Service, including by paying people or providing them with incentives to increase a video's views, likes, or dislikes, or to increase a channel's subscribers, or otherwise manipulate metrics in any manner".
Channels that don't follow this policy may be terminated and removed from YouTube. That's bye-bye monetization forever!
YouTube might deny your YouTube Partner Program application.
Arguably not as bad as losing your YouTube account. But if your goal is to create a profitable YouTube business, you might just as well delete your channel yourself.
YouTube will not recommend your content to new viewers.
Since your subscribers are not real, they're not watching any videos. If they do, they probably do so because someone bought views for their videos.
Because there are no views or completely random, fake views, there are no patterns that would allow YouTube to recommend your content to similar subscribers.
You will not make any money on YouTube for the foreseeable future.
Even if you got accepted into the YouTube Partner Program, you will not make any money. Why? Because you don't have any real subscribers who would watch your videos.
Let's say you have 1,001 subscribers, and 1000 of them are fake. That means you only have 1 real subscriber.
And how many hours of your content would they realistically watch for you to earn money from your ads? Not many.
You actually have to grow to at least 2,000 subscribers (1000 fake + 1000 real) to start earning money.
Never join YouTube sub-for-sub groups
One of the worst pieces of advice you could ever follow is to join "Sub For Sub" groups, sometimes also written as Sub4Sub.
The idea of these groups is simple. You get 1000 YouTubers in one room. Each person will subscribe to every other channel. And as a result, 1000 channels have 1000 subscribers each. That's the theory!
In reality, it works like this. Of the 1000 YouTube channels, 999 or more are awful and create horrible content. That's why they don't get any subscribers.
If you followed all 1000 channels, you wouldn't be able to enjoy YouTube anymore because your entire video feed would be cluttered with crappy videos.
For the same reason, you wouldn't get 1000 subscribers back. Most of these channels will temporarily subscribe to another channel and then unsubscribe an hour or a day later.
But the most important reason of all, YouTube will not give you any organic reach! Why? In YouTube's eyes, you would have 1000 random strangers with no recognizable watch pattern.
Think of it like this... If you like to watch cooking videos. What do you do? You probably subscribe to a bunch of other cooking shows.
If you enjoyed 15 cooking shows, chances are you might also be interested in watching cooking show number 16. Because of that, YouTube will occasionally recommend similar channels that might interest you.
With 1000 random strangers who are interested in everything and nothing, there is no pattern. YouTube doesn't understand the common denominator, why all of them subscribed to you, so it wouldn't be able to recommend your channel and YouTube videos to people with similar tastes.
Building a solid foundation with like-minded subscribers for long-term growth is a million times more important.
Conclusion
In summary, pick a narrow niche for your YouTube channel and stick with it until you have your first 1000 subscribers.
Optimize your videos for YouTube SEO with TubeBuddy.
Focus on title, description, and tags. (To learn more about TubeBuddy, read my in-depth TubeBuddy Review, where I reveal how I used the tool to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 3000 subscribers.)
Use Otter to create subtitles for each of your videos so YouTube can turn each of your videos into a full-text search engine.
To increase your overall YouTube channel authority score, think about niche-specific keywords as keyword clusters that span every aspect of your video, from title, description, tags, and subtitles, to spoken words, all the way to the keyword density of related keywords across all the videos in your channel and your YouTube channel description.
Take advantage of the first-mover advantage and prioritize recency over quality if your channel focuses on time-sensitive and news content.
Always remember that people don't want to change.
Anything that's extra work will be avoided at all costs. If you want to move people from one platform to another, you have to give them an incentive.
For YouTube, exclusivity is the most powerful strategy to achieve this.
To get people to subscribe to your channel, you have to ask them to subscribe to your channel and turn the notification bell on.
I recommend either doing this at the end or twice at the beginning and end of your videos.
Don't rely on YouTube to notify your subscribers via email whenever a new video is out.
They might change that in the future. Instead, start your email newsletter with Moosend and promote it with a very attractive lead magnet related to the niche of your YouTube channel.
And last but not least, share your videos in as many relevant places as possible. Share it on your social media and email list if you have a relevant audience.
If you are starting from scratch, borrow other people's audiences without being spammy or promotional. Just pay for a video ad campaign to promote your channel when in doubt.
Once you fulfill this YouTube monetization requirement of 1000 subscribers, the next step is to clock up 4000 watch hours to be fully eligible for the YouTube Partner Program.
If you want to learn more about YouTube, look at these articles: How to get more views for your YouTube videos, design click-worthy video thumbnails, and increase your video click-through rate.
