Tips & Tricks Get Helpful Tips From a YouTuber!

Sykes

Active Member
Aug 31, 2015
93
30
26
Eastwood City, Philippines
YouTube
Hi #FreedomFamily! For those who don't know me, my name is Zakk Sykes. Or RealSykes. I've been an on-going YouTube Content Creator for a little over two years. I've had my fair share of ups & downs on YouTube.

I've gathered over 11,000 Subscribers, 1,000,000 Views alone on my personal channel. Not including the various hubs or projects I've worked on.

Now that's nothing to brag about. But I feel that I've learnt quite a lot in my time on YouTube and as an experiment I want to give everyone a review.. those interested of course!

If successful could lead to some cool things in the future. So below, place a link to your channel and I'll quote your response with a helpful review about your channel. Informative Tips on how to improve, and even what you may be doing wrong.

I've been interested in helping others grow for a long time. And I've helped many in doing so. Now anything I respond with is purely from opinion and personal experiences. I look forward to seeing how many people will enter this! :)

Thanks,
Zakk Sykes
 
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THENigeliam

Well-Known User
Freedom! Member
Aug 17, 2015
431
175
28
Philippines
YouTube
Can you check out mine? I still have a few on the way, and what is keeping me from uploading consistently is school. It's hard to keep making vids for my friends (I calk my viewers friends) and to actually get good grades in school. But I am doing my very best in this! Thank you very much! I love getting feedback whether positive or negative. It helps me grow and post better content. https://t.co/AKnF5AEfYs
 

Sykes

Active Member
Aug 31, 2015
93
30
26
Eastwood City, Philippines
YouTube
Hi THENigeliam,

Firstly it's nice to meet ya! And you live in the Philippines? If so, that's great! We're here in Quezon, City.
So let's get down to business :)

Starting out I'd suggest making a channel trailer. This can be done by editing the channel navigation settings, it should look something like this (Image Below)
647ffcda71ce755ef2248480956533af.png

That said, you don't need to make a video explaining who you are, what you do etc etc. I've made them in the past, and to be honest they don't help me. Either create, or use one of your best videos and place it there. To hook any new visitors to your content. And if interested cycle out the videos as it'll increase the amount of views each video receives. This can effect retention rates. But starting out it's a great method to get views.

I've noticed in your thumbnails you tend to place a lot of text. And don't let that worry you, I did the same thing in the past. Normally a mass amount of text isn't needed. When users are searching through the YouTube Search List they want something to catch their eyes. Rather then using an entire "NBA" character perhaps just use the torso and up. With a White, or other various vibrant color strokes. "Line around the edges of the character" As for text I'd aim for cutting that down to a bare minimum. As with decreasing the amount of text, I'd suggest enlarging the text to make it viewable. I made this mistake SO many times in the past. When I'd create thumbnails, the thumbnail would fit my entire screen. Now at the time, I wasn't thinking that nobody will see it at that size. Rather it'll be much smaller. So when you create thumbnails always zoom out and see if it's readable before using it.
As with text comes color, as with color comes matching.

Try to make the text stand out in a way that's easily readable and doesn't ruin the thumbnail. Here's an example of a thumbnail. Was going to add others but sadly they're too large to be uploaded. Here is one I've done in the past. "NOTE I'm not claiming you should copy these, or that these are good. But in my opinion they're catchy and relevant"

RankingInformation.png


As you can see, the text is vibrant and it's not being mixed with the background. The text is also large enough to be viewable on most mobile, or desktop versions of YouTube.

I'd suggest removing the Nigel Plays from the title. And place that in the tags along with in the descriptions. Take in mind that not only does a title act as a search filter but the description and tags also play a huge role.

Tags could be upload defaulted as "Nigel,NigelPlays,Let's Play,Play," something along the lines of that should be fine for a set of default tags. Then you'd obviously add more depending on what it is you are playing.

Timing - Below is an attached image of what it is that I'm talking about. My video is shorter then others, yet doesn't have the most views. But due to having a higher retention my video ranked first on the search list. This is due to people watching my content longer then the others. Although views are a big asset to getting ranked, so is having a high retention rate.

8743f5202594d0826443daa0a81ee4af.png

When doing let's plays try to be cautious on the timing. If I may suggest, try to to 10 Minute Episodes and if you get the support you want then over the weekends produce longer videos as a special way of saying thanks.

Last bit of advice I'd like to shoot your way is focus on YouTube Playlists. You may not know it now, but in the long run they'll pay off. Place each genera of content you do in a specified playlist.

NBA 2K Playlist, GTA V Playlist etc.

I'd like to give you more, but let's work with what I said above and if you think it'll work I'll shoot you another few pages of text.

Thanks for taking interest in this. Have a good day mate! :)
 
Last edited:
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THENigeliam

Well-Known User
Freedom! Member
Aug 17, 2015
431
175
28
Philippines
YouTube
Hi THENigeliam,

Firstly it's nice to meet ya! And you live in the Philippines? If so, that's great! We're here in Quezon, City.
So let's get down to business :)

Starting out I'd suggest making a channel trailer. This can be done by editing the channel navigation settings, it should look something like this (Image Below)
View attachment 11238

That said, you don't need to make a video explaining who you are, what you do etc etc. I've made them in the past, and to be honest they don't help me. Either create, or use one of your best videos and place it there. To hook any new visitors to your content. And if interested cycle out the videos as it'll increase the amount of views each video receives. This can effect retention rates. But starting out it's a great method to get views.

I've noticed in your thumbnails you tend to place a lot of text. And don't let that worry you, I did the same thing in the past. Normally a mass amount of text isn't needed. When users are searching through the YouTube Search List they want something to catch their eyes. Rather then using an entire "NBA" character perhaps just use the torso and up. With a White, or other various vibrant color strokes. "Line around the edges of the character" As for text I'd aim for cutting that down to a bare minimum. As with decreasing the amount of text, I'd suggest enlarging the text to make it viewable. I made this mistake SO many times in the past. When I'd create thumbnails, the thumbnail would fit my entire screen. Now at the time, I wasn't thinking that nobody will see it at that size. Rather it'll be much smaller. So when you create thumbnails always zoom out and see if it's readable before using it.
As with text comes color, as with color comes matching.

Try to make the text stand out in a way that's easily readable and doesn't ruin the thumbnail. Here's an example of a thumbnail. Was going to add others but sadly they're too large to be uploaded. Here is one I've done in the past. "NOTE I'm not claiming you should copy these, or that these are good. But in my opinion they're catchy and relevant"

View attachment 11239


As you can see, the text is vibrant and it's not being mixed with the background. The text is also large enough to be viewable on most mobile, or desktop versions of YouTube.

I'd suggest removing the Nigel Plays from the title. And place that in the tags along with in the descriptions. Take in mind that not only does a title act as a search filter but the description and tags also play a huge role.

Tags could be upload defaulted as "Nigel,NigelPlays,Let's Play,Play," something along the lines of that should be fine for a set of default tags. Then you'd obviously add more depending on what it is you are playing.

Timing - Below is an attached image of what it is that I'm talking about. My video is shorter then others, yet doesn't have the most views. But due to having a higher retention my video ranked first on the search list. This is due to people watching my content longer then the others. Although views are a big asset to getting ranked, so is having a high retention rate.

View attachment 11240

When doing let's plays try to be cautious on the timing. If I may suggest, try to to 10 Minute Episodes and if you get the support you want then over the weekends produce longer videos as a special way of saying thanks.

Last bit of advice I'd like to shoot your way is focus on YouTube Playlists. You may not know it now, but in the long run they'll pay off. Place each genera of content you do in a specified playlist.

NBA 2K Playlist, GTA V Playlist etc.

I'd like to give you more, but let's work with what I said above and if you think it'll work I'll shoot you another few pages of text.

Thanks for taking interest in this. Have a good day mate! :)

Thanks for this man! I will do the suggestions you have told me in order to be more eye catching and have my audience watch my videos longer. And by the way, yes I live in the Philippines! I saw the video in thr Freedom! channel that you guys have an office somewhere is Eastwood? I haven't been to Eastwood, but I would be honored to be there! Thanks again! Your review means a lot to me.
 

_wheN

Transcendent
Freedom! Member
Jul 18, 2015
216
61
YouTube
MrRedstone9000
Hi! I'm MrRedstone9000, I would love to get some constructive criticism/feedback on my channel. My channel isn't the best however I do need to improve it!
 

Casno

Active Member
Freedom! Member
Feb 19, 2015
63
12
YouTube
I create mostly daily gaming related content on my channel for your pleasure. I enjoy doing all types of video formats, whether it be let’s playing, gaming product reviews, tips on how to make your gaming experience better, and some other different things here and there. I do all of this for your enjoyment. Along the way I love meeting and talking with my audience. I want to be there for them like that friend that doesn’t judge you no matter what crazy things go on in your life. I want to be there.

I am open to trying new things so anyone could recommend anything and I will try my best to give it a shot.

I can't even stress enough the part about communicating with you guys. If anyone has any problems or just need someone to talk to, I will try my best to be there. I want to have a connection with people like no other :)

But I guess no matter how much I grumble about my channel, it won't change your judgement about what you can see for yourself. So if you wouldn't mind, I would like your criticism about my channel.

Thank you,
-Casno

Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClFa4vfGxX4UI1qhfwBUSqw
 

Sykes

Active Member
Aug 31, 2015
93
30
26
Eastwood City, Philippines
YouTube
I guess i want in this too, can you check out and check what's wrong beside the design of the channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzRYh-0mXK3lw31UJrb3gw

I'd love to give you some advice! Firstly before we dive into the advice, I'd like to ask about the thumbnails? Although they're Anime characters some of it is questionable.

As mentioned to @THENigeliam thumbnails are an important aspect to a YouTube Channel. I've noticed in some of your videos that you use them and others you either didn't create them or couldn't be bothered.
Also as a side note I've reviewed your tags and on one of your most recent videos the tags goes as follows " lewd, lewd lp, lewd let's play, lewd lets play, Demon Master Chris, Visual Novel, RPG, Vusual Novel & RPG, se!#, hot, pu#@#, boobs, normal mode, big boobs, demon cat, naked chris, naked, chris, mindough, starlust, stargeko, visual novel lp, visual novel let's play, visual novel lets play, demon master chris lp, demon master chris lets play, sexyiest characters, commentary, sexual lesbian, funny reaction, fan service, nyan chris, kitty chris, cat chris, breasts "

I've censored some words due to it being the forums.

I'd highly suggest going back and resetting the tags. Although this hasn't effected you now in the long run it will catch up with you. I can link YouTube Content Creators whom have grown channels to over 100,000+ Subscribers and the content they've created years ago caught up with them in either channel strikes or channel suspensions.

I do however like your personality. It's unique and you seem to put in a lot of editing when needed. When you tell a joke you increase the camera size. Little things like that will pay off in the long run.

Being a Let's Play Channel is one of the most difficult things to pull off. The key for growth as a Let's Play Channel is personality. Take in mind most of, if not all games you plan on playing have already been done before you.

I'd suggest switching up the titles as you upload. Rather then uploading the same game daily, try to upload another title (game) so that you are giving your Subscriber Base a taste of other titles. Rather then over saturating your channel with one title, then giving it a whole new fresh start with another title. I feel that uploading two or at most three titles at once in a variety or set schedule would be perfect. You'd normally not finish them all at once, so as you finish one title you can focus on finding another whilst playing the other two that you have.

My next bit of advice would be to improve upon the Thumbnails, titles & playlists.

  • 1.Thumbnails
As a let's play channel it's ever so important that you catch a users eyes. The thumbnails in it's current state in-fact aren't bad. But they could use more variety. Switching the background each Let's Play Episode.

  • 2.Titles
This is in my opinion the most important factor. TITLES! Let's try this - say you are on YouTube and you want to find a gaming video. The odds of you typing; "Let's Play & Read: Princess Evangile [2]"
is actually quite slim.

I'd add more words that people are currently searching regarding that title. SO LONG as it's not misleading.
For example this title; "Princess Evangile Routes : Part 1 "Let's Play" " I'd suggest using this website YouTube Keyword Tool for Princess Evangile

Create titles based on how people search them. Again so long as it's not misleading or violates the YouTubes Terms of Service.

  • 3. Playlists
Although this took me sometime to get the hang of, and until this day I still have this issue. PLAYLISTS!
They're a great foundation for a YouTube Channel. Especially a Let's Play Channel. Rather then making your viewers scroll through ALL of your videos to find the next episode in your let's play make it easy for them by placing each episode in it's own dedicated Playlist.

As for the last piece of advice I'd suggest creating a channel trailer which can be done through Browse View. Place some of your most entertaining videos in the channel trailer and cycle the content out. Doing this will not only increase the amount of views you'll receive but it'll also give new-comers a brief look about you. Whilst making your channel look clean, professional and overall just a fun place to sit and watch videos.

That said don't get discouraged by what I said. You honestly do show potential, you have this fun outgoing quirky personality and with the title you play you seem to jive well with it.

Let me know if you like the feedback or you'd even like more. Thanks for taking interest mate! :)
 

THENigeliam

Well-Known User
Freedom! Member
Aug 17, 2015
431
175
28
Philippines
YouTube
I'd love to give you some advice! Firstly before we dive into the advice, I'd like to ask about the thumbnails? Although they're Anime characters some of it is questionable.

As mentioned to @THENigeliam thumbnails are an important aspect to a YouTube Channel. I've noticed in some of your videos that you use them and other you either didn't create them or couldn't be bothered.
Also as a side note I've reviewed your tags and on one of your most recent videos the tags goes as follows " lewd, lewd lp, lewd let's play, lewd lets play, Demon Master Chris, Visual Novel, RPG, Vusual Novel & RPG, se!#, hot, pu#@#, boobs, normal mode, big boobs, demon cat, naked chris, naked, chris, mindough, starlust, stargeko, visual novel lp, visual novel let's play, visual novel lets play, demon master chris lp, demon master chris lets play, sexyiest characters, commentary, sexual lesbian, funny reaction, fan service, nyan chris, kitty chris, cat chris, breasts "

I've censored some words due to it being the forums.

I'd highly suggest going back and resetting the tags. Although this hasn't effected you now in the long run it will catch up with you. I can link YouTube Content Creators whom have grown channels to over 100,000+ Subscribers and the content they've created years ago caught up with them in either channel strikes or channel suspensions.

I do however like your personality. It's unique and you seem to put in a lot of editing when needed. When you tell a joke you increase the camera size. Little things like that will pay off in the long run.

Being a Let's Play Channel is one of the most difficult things to pull off. The key for growth as a Let's Play Channel is personality. Take in mind most of, if not all games you plan on playing have already been done before you.

I'd suggest switching up the titles as you upload. Rather then uploading the same game daily, try to upload another title (game) so that you are giving your Subscriber Base a taste of other titles. Rather then over saturating your channel with one title, then giving it a whole new fresh start with another title. I feel that uploading two or at most three titles at once in a variety or set schedule would be perfect. You'd normally not finish them all at once, so as you finish one title you can focus on finding another whilst playing the other two that you have.

My next bit of advice would be to improve upon the Thumbnails, titles & playlists.

  • 1.Thumbnails
As a let's play channel it's ever so important that you catch a users eyes. The thumbnails in it's current state in-fact aren't bad. But they could use more variety. Switching the background each Let's Play Episode.

  • 2.Titles
This is in my opinion the most important factor. TITLES! Let's try this - say you are on YouTube and you want to find a gaming video. The odds of you typing; "Let's Play & Read: Princess Evangile [2]"
is actually quite slim.

I'd add more words that people are currently searching regarding that title. SO LONG as it's not misleading.
For example this title; "Princess Evangile Routes : Part 1 "Let's Play" " I'd suggest using this website YouTube Keyword Tool for Princess Evangile

Create titles based on how people search them. A

  • 3. Playlists
Although this took me sometime to get the hang of, and until this day I still have this issue. PLAYLISTS!
They're a great foundation for a YouTube Channel. Especially a Let's Play Channel. Rather then making your viewers scroll through ALL of your videos to find the next episode in your let's play make it easy for them by placing each episode in it's own dedicated Playlist.

As for the last piece of advice I'd suggest creating a channel trailer which can be done through Browse View. Place some of your most entertaining videos in the channel trailer and cycle the content out. Doing this will not only increase the amount of views you'll receive but it'll also give new-comers a brief look about you. Whilst making your channel look clean, professional and overall just a fun place to sit and watch videos.

That said don't get discouraged by what I said. You honestly do show potential, you have this fun outgoing quirky personality and with the title you play you seem to jive well with it.

Let me know if you like the feedback or you'd even like more. Thanks for taking interest mate! :)

Hey man! I followed your tips and hopefully I did a better job on my recent vids starting from the first Until Dawn video I have. Could you check it out again and tell me if I improved or something? Feedback is very important to me, and your tips were awesome that it changed my view on how I should make my thumbnails, playlists, etc. Stay awesome man! I hope I can meet you someday. I just need to know how to go to Eastwood :))
 

Sykes

Active Member
Aug 31, 2015
93
30
26
Eastwood City, Philippines
YouTube
Hey man! I followed your tips and hopefully I did a better job on my recent vids starting from the first Until Dawn video I have. Could you check it out again and tell me if I improved or something? Feedback is very important to me, and your tips were awesome that it changed my view on how I should make my thumbnails, playlists, etc. Stay awesome man! I hope I can meet you someday. I just need to know how to go to Eastwood :))


Likewise, for starters I see that you've changed everything up a bit and I'm digging it! :)

The next piece of advice I'd give you is to focus on the audio. I know investing in equipment can be costly, but you can edit the audio in it's current form. I'd suggest using Audaicty. It's an open source FREE program for anyone to use. It's simple for editing audio. Look into Noise Removal, adding Bass, & perhaps equalization for the audio.

Aside from that keep up the work and let me know if you have any improved results. If not let's look into other alternatives. You have a lot of potential, keep it up mate! :)
 

THENigeliam

Well-Known User
Freedom! Member
Aug 17, 2015
431
175
28
Philippines
YouTube
Likewise, for starters I see that you've changed everything up a bit and I'm digging it! :)

The next piece of advice I'd give you is to focus on the audio. I know investing in equipment can be costly, but you can edit the audio in it's current form. I'd suggest using Audaicty. It's an open source FREE program for anyone to use. It's simple for editing audio. Look into Noise Removal, adding Bass, & perhaps equalization for the audio.

Aside from that keep up the work and let me know if you have any improved results. If not let's look into other alternatives. You have a lot of potential, keep it up mate! :)

Thank you so much! The thing is, I am recording my commentary through the PS4, and I have read stuff about Noise Removal using Audacity, I don't think I can do anything about it when the audio is like embedded on the video itself. :(( I don't have any recording material for my commentary except the PS4 itself. I just try to find the most quiet time to record videos, like 12 AM.

Thanks again for the feedback! And I'll do my best to entertain everyone who is watching my videos! Stay awesome!
 

Sykes

Active Member
Aug 31, 2015
93
30
26
Eastwood City, Philippines
YouTube
Thank you so much! The thing is, I am recording my commentary through the PS4, and I have read stuff about Noise Removal using Audacity, I don't think I can do anything about it when the audio is like embedded on the video itself. :(( I don't have any recording material for my commentary except the PS4 itself. I just try to find the most quiet time to record videos, like 12 AM.

Thanks again for the feedback! And I'll do my best to entertain everyone who is watching my videos! Stay awesome!


I also did this when I began creating content. What I'd suggest is opening Audacity to record your voice over and when you are about to record through your PS4 simply clap two or three times to sync the Audio to the Gameplay Audio.

All the best :)[DOUBLEPOST=1441646521,1441644897][/DOUBLEPOST]
Hi! I'm MrRedstone9000, I would love to get some constructive criticism/feedback on my channel. My channel isn't the best however I do need to improve it!

Hi MrRedstone9000, the name rings a bell. I take it you are quite active through the forums and YouTube Videos on Freedom! Central. Almost 200 Subscribers, which is fantastic!

So let's dive into the channel review! :)

For starters you upload a variety of content. And although that may be good for some most of the time it's quite difficult to grow a channel this way in an organic manner. Something I'd suggest working on is finding two or three titles that you really enjoy playing that share certain similarities.

Uploading CS: GO, then Minecraft it's such a drastic difference. I'd focus less on the variety of content and try to focus on certain titles. It's quite difficult to make out what it is that you do. Are you a Let's Play Channel, Live Commentator. Although the content you upload isn't bad, uploading such a variety is.

Next is the Thumbnails. You has a logo or branding overlay in your thumbnails that said "Red Plays" I'd suggest bringing that back. That alone made the thumbnails unique and pop out. The vibrant white text, with a rad backdrop is great.

I see that in some of the content you do, you tend to place the number right in the middle of the thumbnail. And although that has a unique characteristic I'd aim for placing it elsewhere. Perhaps on the Bottom Left. And increase the font size along with adding colors or gradients to the text.

I've also looked into your videos tags for your most recent video
TEAM FORTRESS 2 | Demolitions man!

And I've noticed a lack of tags surrounding tf2. I did some simple research for the most searched terms around Team Fortress 2 using this tool.

Before I write another page of text, the best piece of advice I could offer you is to focus on uploading less variety and focus on two or three titles. If you want to be a Let's Play Channel I'd focus on doing let's plays. Or if you want to do live commentaries I'd focus on doing Live Commentaries.

Hope I've helped! :)



[DOUBLEPOST=1441648305][/DOUBLEPOST]
Well, it doesn't hurt to know what more I can do to improve my channel or find any errors with it! Give it all you got, Zakk!

Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheAimGames

Hi TheAimGames! :)

There isn't much advice I can offer, apart from the variety of content you upload. I've always advised against uploading such a variety of content. I see you've uploaded GTA V Races and if the views are all legitimate I'd suggest doing more of those. It's apparent that the Titles & Tags are both relevant the thumbnails are fantastic.

Your Playlists are perfect and updated as they should be.

If I could suggest something you could upload, it'd be GTA V Mod Showcases. They're VERY relevant in searches right now and it'd be a great source to grow a YouTube Channel.
 
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Dodacar

Rising User
Freedom! Member
Feb 11, 2014
45
16
www.favcoop.de
YouTube
Hi Sykes,

I'm not sure, if you can check my channels, because I have everything in German, but I will give it a try. :D
I doing Let's Play Videos of many games. On my Channel "MittelerdeOnline" (Eng: Middle-EarthOnline), there are just Let's Plays from Games in Middle-Earth.

So here are my Channels:
http://youtube.com/DodacarLP
https://youtube.com/c/MittelerdeonlineDeLP

Hope for your Feedback and if you have questions, just tell me and I do my best to answer them. :)
 

TheGaminCentral

Distinguished User
Freedom! Member
May 8, 2014
1,376
321
31
YouTube
Hey there I know u might be like really busy and it might be a little bit irritating to check out channels but it would really be awesome if u could say what's wrong with my channel...as u were telling that u would check channels and tell what is wrong and what someone can improve and I really need to know what is wrong because its just that I don't get views or support so I always think that my videos are boring and I try to be good and funny but I guess it never works....So I hope u can help me
https://www.youtube.com/user/RatedRCenation97
 

Shadowxx25

Rising User
Freedom! Member
Oct 20, 2014
28
2
26
Iowa
YouTube
Hey, I'd really like some advice on how I could possibly make my channel better, I haven't been getting too many subscribers recently and it's bumming me out a bit (despite me being quite aware that I shouldn't be getting bummed out about it) Just a warning, I haven't uploaded in about a week because I've been super busy with college stuff, I'm gonna try and get back into it tomorrow.
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNintendoviewr