My YouTube Channel Sucks! Here's what I'm doing about it.
It's gonna happen.
It's gonna happen within this month.
At the current pace I'm on, I'll surpass 1,000 subscribers within the next 28 days.
But something doesn't feel right. I feel very disappointed in myself.
And I only have myself to blame.
I've been far too slow to upload new videos.
I've been terrible at editing any of them.
I can't seem to be bothered to write better descriptions, work on thumbnails more than for 3 minutes nor do anything with tags.
I thought TubeBuddy would be a great way to help with those but just can't seem to really grok it.
It just feels so slow!
Advice To Myself
If I were someone else, looking at this channel I'd ask what the goals are.
The goals for this channel
- A way to get discovered by users inputting google sheet keywords
- Provide free lessons on getting better at google sheets.
I don't need to make any revenue. I don't need to amass 1 million views or reach any subscriber milestone.
I would hope that this YT channel takes the place of a free tier for Better Sheets, so that I can focus on making a great product for paying users.
And then the advice I'd give myself is "Don't sweat it, enjoy it"
So then why do I feel so bad?
Maybe because it doesn't seem enjoyable, for viewers. I should be doing something that looks, feels, smells, walks differently than any other google sheet youtube channel.
It's a subset of the greater number of videos in Better sheets. It pales in comparison. 68 videos on Youtube. Over 160 available to Better Sheets members. And I've made over 300 total videos for members to date. But I shouldn't be focused on making the youtube channel a mini-better sheets. Ultimately then the slowness would be due to me not producing more better sheets videos. I don't want those two things to be intertwined.
I should do more funky videos that probably nobody else would make.
It seems for my own sanity I want to create youtube exclusive videos that don't even appear as lessons, don't appear in better sheets.
Better Sheets YouTube: Making Google Sheets Fun
I'd love to make videos on the level of "City Planner Plays Sim City" or "Johnny Sins Reviews Indian Food"
A few ideas
- Roasting Google Sheets
- 10 Google Sheets I Wish Someone Would Make
- 20 Google Sheet Add-ons in 20 Minutes
- Reacting to Google Sheet Memes
- $100 vs $500 Google Sheet Script Developer on Upwork
- I paid 10 strangers to fix my Google Sheets problem on Fiverr
And maybe one day I'll make a Matt Stone collab where he eats Sheet Cake while I keep track in a google sheet. "How to Track Eating Sheet Cake In a Google Sheet"
Just writing those ideas got me SUPER EXCITED to make videos!
You’re well ahead of pace compared to most of us, me at the top of that list. But one thought I do have:
I imagine some % of Better Sheets viewers are diehard Google Sheets people who want to squeeze every last drop from it, and they come to you for that.
But what about content for those don’t “live” in Google Sheets enough to want to become diehards, but would love simple hacks — maybe with a little personality thrown in — that they can digest quickly? You have 4 videos in The Basics. Is that another area to target to get to the next level?
regarding Basics: I think those who are basic users wouldn't even know what to ask. I have pretty much focused on intermediate users who want to get better. Because it honestly is less time consuming to convince someone who uses Google Sheets all the time. If I were to target people who don't use Google Sheets I have to go through the education process of here's why you should switch from excel to google sheets, or here's what you can do in google sheets. That's, to be frank, what other channels do and I just don't want to wade in those waters. I also don't think absolute beginners are typing in google sheet related keywords. Which is why I made those basics and stopped making them.
Here's where I think you're on the right track about people who don't "live" in google sheets. I make products in google sheets that you don't need to actually know anything about Google Sheets to use. Sometimes it's data. sometimes it's one click. You don't need to know how to make google sheets better but you do need to have a business problem to solve and that solution happens to be in this template, or sheet of data.
I need to lean into that more, I think, and test out going from YouTube to Gumroad. I noticed a few months ago looking at referral traffic from YouTube to Gumroad that it amounted to $0. zip zilch nada. Looking back, I probably just didn't make any videos that directly sold or helped sell gumroad products. 100% of the effort was to sell better sheets memberships. So I applied no effort to sell product, and go no sales. I'll look back at that.
Looking ahead that might be fun and exciting to have direct sales from YouTube to Gumroad.
So while you didn't suggest it you did bring up the point of those who don't live in google sheets, and that's where my mind ended up.