- So how did you blow up your youtube channel? - No like genuinely how, I need to know. - 196k subscribers, from 8 videos?
- I studied his videos for 3 hours. Still confused. - Bro, tell the truth.
It’s the beard, isn’t it? - Seriously, what’s your secret, dude? What’s my secret?
Well, I wish I could say it’s all about the fancy beard, but it’s not. I spent the last 2 years trying to answer this question. I’ve shown you my editing process, how I write my scripts, how I design thumbnails, but apparently… that’s not all.
There are so many tiny details that even I didn’t realize I was doing in my own videos. The things that make you watch till the very end almost subconsciously. But I finally put it all together.
I think… Every rule, every decision, every secret… and combined them into the video you’re watching right now… Pick a niche! They say. And start making videos about the topics inside that niche.
Fitness. Cooking. Movies.
Science. Youtube growth? Just choose it right, and everything else follows, right?
Well… kind of. Okay that’s actually a terrible advice. I mean a niche is just a topic.
And topics alone don’t actually make people subscribe to your channel. When I started this channel, I didn’t say “okay, I’m gonna make videos about youtube growth”. There are 3258 channels out there already doing that… Hey everyone!
So I’d be the new guy in the same room, making the same videos, just… worse! How would you even stand out here? You don’t.
You’re done. Finito! Instead, I told myself, “I’m gonna take people who make robotic, soulless videos… and teach them how to make videos like an actual human”.
And I mean, I think it’s going pretty well for now. So the difference isn’t the topic. It’s the transformation.
What does an ideal viewer walk away knowing, or feeling after watching your video? Not “youtube advice channel”. But “I finally understand why my videos suck, and this guy explains it without making me feel stupid… most of the time…” channel.
See the difference? But it doesn’t really matter if your video idea sucks. Now, the best way to find solid video ideas, is using your brain… But I don’t like doing that.
So let me show you the second best way. Finding outlier videos. Ideally, in a completely different topic.
It’s a video that performs 10, or even 100 times better than a regular video on that channel. If a dude usually gets a thousand views, and suddenly drops a banger with a hundred thousand? That’s an outlier.
It doesn’t happen on accident. Something about it worked. And your job, is to figure out what.
There are many tools out there to find outlier videos. But honestly? Just open youtube and start scrolling.
Trust me. If a video is an outlier, you don’t need to find it. It will find you.
And once you find one, watch it till the end. Analyze it. Why it worked so well?
Is it the thumbnail? Is it the intro? The story?
The fact that a guy went from pre-diabetes to running an iron-man in 100 days while managing to connect the whole thing to a philosophical self-reflection that makes everybody relate to it in their own lives? Write that down, and use it in your next video. Dude, couldn’t you knock?
I’m in the middle of a video here. That’s how you meet your best friend after a month? Yeah, where have you been, man?
Working on something. What kind of something? I launched my own store.
A store? Cool, right? Look at that subtle off-white coloring.
The tasteful thickness of it… Oh my god. It even has a . store domain.
Somethin’ wrong? . store?
Not . com? Oh, my store’s domain name?
Yeah. It’s way more memorable, and cleaner than whatever those platforms give you by default. You didn’t watch the last video, did you?
Uhh, I read the AI summary of it? Oh… A . store domain is built for creators who sell stuff online.
Instead of those ugly default links, it’s just yourname. store. It’s easy to share, easy to remember, and easy to put in your fancy business card.
And you get way more clicks as well, because people know it’s a store straight away. Isaac: And more clicks means more sales. You probably saw this before.
Mreast, Ishowspeed, Press Publish, Dude Perfect, Zach King! Yeah, basically any creator who takes their brand seriously already has one. Size doesn’t matter.
Dude, wait. What? So, we both have a .
store domain. Yeah? Then who are we telling all that for?
For him… Isaac: So if you’re a creator selling anything online, or just thinking of starting, grab your . store domain at the link in description. And use the code ISAACVERSE at checkout for a nice discount.
Huge thanks to my friends at . store domains for sponsoring the channel. So.
You know the story. Greeks couldn’t get into Troy for 10 years. So they built a giant wooden horse, hid soldiers inside, and left it as a gift.
Trojans took the horse, greeks jumped out, destroyed everything. What the hell does this have to do with youtube? Well, if you think about it, we’re doing the same thing.
Look, it’s unfortunate, but nobody wants pure knowledge. So you have to put it inside a trojan horse. I’m not just talking about a fancy title and thumbnail.
You know that already. It’s about every single layer. Editing, animations, script, they’re all parts of the horse.
The information inside is identical. But how you present it, makes all the difference. I’ve already made separate videos about these, so I’m not gonna get into details here.
You can check them out after this one if you want. In youtube studio, click “advanced mode”. “metrics”, and “average views per viewer”.
This number tells you how many videos the average person watched on your channel. 1. 7 is good for posting once every 6 months, I guess.
Basically, if it’s higher than 1, that means people watched more than 1 video in the last 90 days. And there’s one thing that improves this number than anything else. Look at these videos.
What do you see? They explain different topics (video editing, shorts, thumbnails, scripts), but they follow a single format. How I actually edit viral videos, how I actually write viral scripts, make viral shorts, thumbnails, voiceovers.
If someone clicks on the editing tutorial and likes it, what does he do next? He watches the thumbnail tutorial as well. And then scripting.
And then shorts. And then voiceover. Because it feels like a show with new episodes.
It makes the algorithm push the channel’s videos to a bigger audience. Each time you post a new video in that format, all the old ones grow with it. New viewers find the latest video, then binge the whole back catalog.
Average views per viewer increase. And that cycle makes your channel grow exponentially. So if you want to grow your channel, having a back catalog of videos with a similar format, is much more valuable than having one viral video.
And I didn’t invent this concept, by the way. All the big youtubers have their own formats. Mreast has “$1 vs $1m something”, Finzar, Enrico, Daredevil, Bog, you get the point.
So don’t focus on coming up with a viral idea for each video. Try to find with a viral format your audience likes, and you got yourself a loyal audience. Let me tell you something no one tells you before you start.
Nobody is going to come up to you one day and say “okay, you’re officially an expert now. you may begin”. So if you’re waiting for that moment before starting to share anything, you’re missing the point of the internet, dude… But the good news is, you don’t need it anyways.
Because youtube is full of experts. What’s actually missing, is more honest guides. I mean, see yourself as just a random guy who’s learning out loud, and documenting his findings.
I don’t make these videos as some flawless guru sitting on the, I don’t know, 58th step of the journey. I’m probably just a few steps ahead, sharing what I learned with people who are a few steps behind. That’s it.
And to be honest, every time I post, I also think “oh, this is too basic, everyone already knows this”. But when I share the video, there are hundreds of people saying it’s their first time hearing this. I hope you guys don’t say it just to make me feel better… So what feels obvious to you, can be the missing piece for someone else.
People don’t want a guru’s advice who probably already forgot what being a beginner felt like 10 years ago. Half the time, the methods those guys used to get there are completely irrelevant today anyways. Think about it this way.
When your professor explains a new concept, you don’t get it. But when your friend explains the exact same thing, suddenly everything makes sense. Because your friend still remembers what knowing it felt like.
Same logic. That’s why a simple video like “I tried youtube shorts for 365 days” always beats “How to make $100k per day with youtube automation”. When you’re analyzing all these massive channels and comparing your videos with theirs, at some point, you probably felt like you’re just too behind.
But here’s what you’re forgetting. They’ve been doing this for 8 years! You’re comparing your 3rd video to their 300th.
And look, even my channel. I see so many people just look at it and say “wow, he blew up with just 8 videos”. Yeah… no.
Sure, my first video was terrible compared to my last one. But here’s the thing. This isn’t my first video!
I made over 100 videos in my previous movie channel just to learn editing, storytelling, and failing. Nobody watched them, but that was the point. So when you see a channel ahead of you, try to look at the big picture.
Don’t compare your chapter 1 with someone’s chapter 100. So what do you do? I mean, you can try to fix the thumbnail, the hook, pacing, music, color grade, structure, storytelling, script, and voiceover, all at once.
Or, just pick one thing that felt the weakest last time, and ignore everything else until you make it good. Because if you try to fix everything at once, you just get overwhelmed by how many things you should fix, and you stop enjoying making videos. Just give yourself permission to suck for the first 10, even 100 videos.
Okay, this may sound wrong, but if you’ve never made a video before, you can straight up copy someone else’s video. Not steal, just recreate for educational purposes. Take a video you liked, and try to remake it yourself.
It will teach you what it takes to make a video like this. So. You’ve got the knowledge, the format, the mindset, everything we talked about.
You know more about growing a youtube channel than 90% of people who want to. And… you’re still not gonna do it, are you. Who’s this guy?
This dude blew up in 6 months. I’m trying to figure out how. What happened to the last one?
It was a different approach. More storytelling. But used less editing than this guy.
How long have you been doing this? A few hours? Today?
You look happy. I mean… yeah, learning this stuff is fascinating. I get so much knowledge to use in my own channel.
What? ! Dude, what the hell are you doing- That’s your problem!
You feel like you’re working. But you’re not. I’m learning from others!
You’re living in everyone else’s channel. When are you gonna start yours? What’s that?
Your launch date. But I can’t- You better have a video until then.
