I know I’m not the only person on tman with a YouTube and many others want to start one so if you have any advice for someone with a small YouTube channel wanting to grow let’s help eachother.

Don't spend 10 minutes talking about what you are going to do 5 on like and subscribe and 3 on what your video is on. Have good light and sound along with solid content.

Love it PF. lol

1st do what you enjoy. People really enjoy watching folks genuinely do what they love and enjoy. Most of my channel is me catching possums and drinking abound with guns or going over trail cam footage but I'm constantly told how much people like it because I'm doing what I enjoy.

2nd be honest, if you don't know just say you don't . Don't act like you and expert if your not because there's always someone out there with nothing better to do then to try and a call you out . If you don't know but wanna make a video just say say hay look I'm not an expert but I've seen really exped guys do XYZ and I wanna show you and talk about what I think about it. You'll still get people up your butt but your being honest and honestly I'm finding their alot of people who actually like those type of video. It's much more comfortable trying to learn from someone who my be closer to your level then an absolute expert.

3. If your filming from a phone turn it length wise. Hold it straight up and down will give you a full screen. For other mobile users but eveyone else gets this


4. Don't try and please everyone. Seriously it's good to take constructive criticism but remember who your filming for . If you have an expert trapper telling you you could have made a video in 5min you gotta look at how much he already knew. If that video was meant for beginners maybe a bare bone 5min video that would have been perfect for that expert wouldn't be for that beginner. Mabye the extra 15min of little tips and explains would have been something that really helped them.

5 . Context. Always try and explain a little what's going on in your videos, try to keep it under 30sec though.

6. Time. Most people point blank have a super short attention span. And anything over 10-20 mi. Is just too much and ty won't even click on it. So practice making your videos shortish but sull full of info.

7. Equipment. At the very least investment in a tripod with a phone holder. Makes a world of difference. I got a pretty nice deal from Walmart for $30. O and get an extra. Also do go out spending $400 on a digital camera if you have a modern cellphone. Honestly most iphones and similar shoot AMAZING video. Heck I have probably$800 worth of other camera and I use my Samsung galaxy everyday phone and a lil $40 Walmart android burner phone 90% of the time for all my filming.

8. Don be afraid to take retakes. Trust me I know it's a little embarrassing but somethings it's takes a few takes to really get a video the way it needs. Not uncommon for me to do 4-10 retakes a shoot just to make sure I'm getting everything the camera my lighting is good ect.

9. Tags. Be sure to add plenty of tags to your video in this little section

Basically it helps your videos get found by more people. Just think of anything someone could be looking up that your video has to do with and make it a tag.

10. Understand your audience and work that I to your filming style. Different audiences require different things. Look at some gaming channels that are successful then some fishing channels then gardening chences ect. They all kinda have their own deal and dfeel for that audience.

11. Don't post something just because you shot it. If the lighting and everything is crap you can hear the audio then just don't . Save it for later possiblity but if at all possible just don't. Their are exceptions though.

12. Understand what your good at and do videos on it. Like me. I don't really catch a ton so there no reason I need to go out and try and show people how to make perfect dirthold or catch's coon and stuff. I specialize in tapshed fabrication and I'm good at it so that main what I do. Also I ask about of questions and do ALOT of experiments with different traps trail cams ECT. So my channel is more of a fun "hay guys check this out let's see if it works !" .
Or see what you do different then most people and show that. Not to many people have to trap coon in the way I do so when I am trapping thats what I talk about.

13. Now this is SUPER important for outdoor channels! Under stand NOT EVEYONE WATCHING YOU IS LIKE YOU. It's very important you present what your do in a light where someone who might not trap or hunt or fish could come away from it thinking...well hay that was actually pretty interesting. Explain what your doing and why . Don't be one of these yahoos who shoots a coyote and point blank range and starting going " o yeah boy I Looooove Killin coyotes !!!" Great way to end up ...in a not good situation, seen it many times just don't. Actually did a video on a gator skinning demo , great demo and footage but not posting it bec well.. gators still move hours after being dead so yeah I think you can see a possible problem there. Basically you want everything you post to be as of little use to anyone against what you do as possible. Because their whole groups and websites full of people that do nothing but browse around the web and look for "Material" ( ask me how I know) and their good at what they do.

14. Definitely try and link up with some larger channels . Don't be begging especially if you don't have much but get you some good content and see if you can chat with some other creators and possibly get a shout out. Don't beg but you know.

15. Don't be afraid to diversify. If you do alot of stuff hunting trapping fishing dogs ECT. Show it. I have subscribers who are only mu channel only for my firearms content originally but now why watch alot of stuff.

I have some more but that's a start so far

Get sone subscriber's and move to rumble if you want to monotize. Dont overproduce the videos. You can do all the spamming in the description

Most of wolfdogs advice is very good but forget about the tags. A couple years ago, Youtube made it clear they are going to basically ignore tags and they recommend your videos based on the title and the first 20 words of the description.

Youtube is owned by google and google hates trapping and hunting, so be aware, your chances of ever getting monetized are one in a million. If you want to start a channel to show gay guys how to put on makeup, now that will be an overnight success. Not kidding.

Good luck. Be yourself and just produce what you like. Watch your analytics and see what gets the views and the audience retention, and do more of that.

Look into doing shorts (Which are an exception to the good advice given on using a landscape format) You might have one go viral. You just never know. I have 30,000 subscribers and 14 Million views and frankly it has been an excercise in frustration to do a channel on bowhunting with a little trapping and fishing mixed in. If it wasn't for sponsors that pay me I would not still be doing it.

https://www.youtube.com/user/BowhuntingRoad/about

Scantily clad, buxom young lady on your thumbnail.
Guaranteed views.

Then how do you get sponsors?

Unfortunately there's a lot of truth to that. Start a "Trapping in a Bikini" channel you might have a chance.

You never will with a trapping channel. Get to 20,000 subs or so and then ask that question.

Yep , gotta put in that work first, how old are you if you don't mind me asking ?

I’m 19 almost 20

Yep. Scantily clad hot girl. Give her a name like country queen or something. Let her talk about making fur bikinis or mountain man hats, possum recipes and beaver stew. How to skin a deer with out getting hair all over it or whatever else you dream up. If she is showing the goods you will probably make money

I'd say give people something to watch that is actually entertaining. If it is trapping related no one really wants to watch a day of trapping where you catch 2 possums and a coon. If I were your age and thinking about starting youtube I would concentrate my efforts on becoming a much better trapper for several years so that my skills were able to produce the kind of content that will actually get views. Like catching a thousand coon in a season or putting a hurting on the coyotes. You asked how to get sponsors. It is just like bass fishing; catch them everywhere you go better than anyone else and the sponsors come to you

I might start a gay, makeup wearing trapping and hunting channel just to watch everyones heads explode.

This is how the "cabin in the middle of nowhere in winter" types do it lol. Nevermind that they drove to it

Big Booty Box Trapping. That'll get clicks.

Don’t tempt me I may buy a bikini I’m in Walmart lol

Whats the deal with shorts? I know they get you more clicks, but do they actually get more people checking out your channel?
I put on a short: " Bobcat in a coon set" and got 14K views in a day! I asked my computer whiz daughter what on earth happened and she said the algorithm picked it up.
None of my other stuff gets anywhere near that, more like a few hundred in a year if I'm lucky.

Exactly what I am talking about. It hit the algorithm. YouTube is really promoting shorts right now to compete with Facebook Reels.

The question is how did that 14,000 views affect your subscribers?