Posts by Michael

On my new channel I started it off with this strategy: Post 14 videos over 2 weeks to feed the algorithm so it knows what kind of channel it is and then slow down to 2 per week. Recently I have been able to record a lot more so I have been posting more, 3 or 4 videos per weeks but I get the feeling that they dont get pushed anywhere near as much, less people see them maybe as theres too many and I feel the comments lack enthusiasm. Is it too much? What do you think about posting too many vids?

Quote from ScrapBlox

Streamlabs OBS and OBS basically functions the same just an app you run on your PC, but OBS is less bloated in system resources.

I dont think I have ever tried OBS on its own, I will install them and see what will work best. I do want to have the whole subscriber ticker thing. Not sure what else is new since I last used it. It has been around 7 years now.

Quote from ScrapBlox

I much rather plane OBS and as for streaming alerts/overlays I used Streamelements (I assume their still relevant haven't used them in awhile, Ik since they have almost shutdown then getting acquired by Razer)

Are you able to stream to YouTube from them? I want to create a 24/7 livestream with several videos on rotation/looping for as long as I have the PC on.

I havent used any streaming software in years, is Streamlabs any good still?

Thats excellent congrats! I feel that way with my socials a LOT. I have so many projects on the go and family etc so it can build up and burn me out at times and that is when I need a break. You could maybe take a break from your social media while transitioning and come back with more ideas and a solid plan for growth.

What are your thoughts on this? I always aim to get monetised so I can turn them off. It is so frustrating as a viewer to have mid rolls on obviously depending on content type. A vlog with 30 mins would be perfect for mid rolls but music, relaxation, studying content and anything where you dont expect or want to be interrupted is a pain. I really dont like when I have music on like a long song and it gets cut on when I have it on blasting loud. Maybe I should be paying to have ads off though.

My new project channel is doing so well, I think its been about 3 weeks now or maybe 4:

Cannot wait to get it monetised and turn off midrolls.

Definitely recommend watching this if youre growing your YouTube channel in 2026:

Derral Eves talks about the recent and upcoming changes and what we are facing as creators in 2026 into 2027.

I am curious what time everyone here releases their videos on YouTube and why you choose the time? For me I choose 8pm GMT as most people are done working and with school and winding down relaxing. In my experience releasing them during the UK daytime is a massive no go. Every video I release in the UK daytime has always had poor performance.

We are trying to grow WeMakeVids into a community of creators who love supporting fellow creators. WeMakeVids is a place where content creators can ask questions about all aspects of creating and growing a channel, share what they have learned and help each other improve along the way.

We cover all video platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and Twitch. Whether you are interested in filmmaking, making Shorts on YT, editing, cameras, audio, streaming or anything else related to video creation, you are welcome here.

If you have a friend, family member, colleague or online friend who is interested in creating content, invite them to join us so we can all learn, share, create and grow together.

The more creators we have here the better the community becomes.

If you need help with anything be sure to ask a question on the forums. We will always do our best to help.

A Little About Me

I have been creating content for 15+ years and have learned a LOT along the way. I grew one of my YouTube channels to 365,000 subscribers in 3 years, another to 64,000 subscribers and grew a TikTok account to 185k followers. Ive made a lot of mistakes and from those mistakes learned what works and what doesnt and picked up a lot of knowledge that I am here to share. I want you to be able to create these things in your life too!

I also ran the largest YouTube forum from 2011 to 2015 which is still online today under new ownership but sadly is pretty much an abandoned ghost town (I dont want to see another useful community slowly die off and being overrun by spam).

I want to share my experience with the community and hopefully help other creators avoid some of the mistakes I made.

We would love for you to invite your creator friends, ask questions, share your knowledge and build something great together here 🫶

Its very difficult keeping things fully separate. I try to keep things separated but in my experience people from your work and personal life have a chance of finding your content. I have been recognised in the shop before but never approached, just had people saying they saw me out doing my shopping. I have past clients from where I used to work say their kids found my content and showed their parent and I have also had people I know IRL share my content in not so friendly ways sharing it out to people who arent my intended audience for the purposes of gossip really.

The best thing you can do is go into this knowing that can happen and probably will happen at some point. At the end of the day if it isnt against your employment rules etc you have every right to enjoy your personal time creating for your audience. Its best to just not give a crap about what others think and go have fun and enjoy your life.

I do completely understand the fear of it, to many vlogging can be "weird" same as making content in general. I hope it doesnt stop you from creating what you want.

Not sure if this would be useful or what you are looking for but this is something I would choose if I were to do vlogs handheld. It wont be perfect for shakiness, a gimbal would be best but this kind of style reduces shakiness and is easy to keep hold of -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Ergonomic-Anti-falling-Smartphone-Stabilizer/dp/B01M3VRD5Y/

Have you ever made something happen in your life that felt good and others found valuable? You made that happen, you did what you did to make the thing happen and it become part of your reality and others liked it. I believe applying this to your channel and mindset can really help. You are capable of creating things, you are capable of creating money from social media (YouTube, TikTok etc) and often times the only thing holding ourselves back is negative talk around our goals and doubting it can happen - it happens to everyone else but surely not us, we are not special, we dont know how to do xyz, we arent a professional etc.

We can sit and wonder about the possibilities for ourselves for years and not make anything happen or we can take action, very bold action and head into things without knowledge or experience and build something real that can propel us in ways we did not expect. Sure it may not be perfect instantly but learning as you grow is a real thing. With time and repetitions youre building skills and experience. They dont fall into our laps.

I built my old communities (YouTube channels, TikToks, websites) without ANY proper knowledge of the subject, I have done that 6 times now and succeeded in varying ways. The chances seemed low due to inexperience, not knowing the subject matter well at all but taking the chance and going for it is what changed that every time. I learned and taught myself along the way and I was never perfect or knew everything and I still dont but I still choose to create.

I want to build channels that others love, I want people to enjoy my videos and I want to enjoy being able to improve my own life as well. Creating videos can enrich our lives in so many ways whether thats improving our own mental health being a very needed creative outlet or helping us provide for our families through monetisation or just enjoying the processes and learning.

I am human and its natural to sometimes feel like I am not capable even though logically I am more than capable, sometimes I feel like the things I create arent worth it or that what I have created before WILL NEVER happen again but when I think about it, if I felt similarly back then I would have never created a single thing and assumed that it just wouldnt happen for me.

My experiences have made me realise that you dont need to be "special", you dont need to have money to start, you dont need to have a big circle in your niche, you dont need to be a professional, you dont need to know everything before starting, you dont need certainty. Knowledge, experience and confidence comes from taking action and creating. All we need to do is create and in doing so we are not only showing up for others, we are showing up for ourselves.

Quote from Ashley Writes

I can see how having a familiar opening could become part of your channels identity.

100%, I can hear two peoples intros in my head and I dont even watch their channels, Markipliers and JackSepticEyes intros:

Anyone know a fast way for me to add echo to the audio in premiere pro and how do I preview it as it seems when I add effects to the audio track at all it doesnt seem to preview when played back thank you

So for some coaching I have been doing lately this is what I have been doing with my client.

Our first coaching session was working out who they want watching their videos and who is their ideal viewer. We discussed this in detail and worked out exactly who theyre making videos for. We then went a little deeper into the why. Why would this person watch their videos, what do they want to solve, is it entertainment? Is it an issue theyre having? etc

In our second coaching session we have discussed the pain points of the person viewing and how we can turn all of the viewers common problems into videos that help to solve them. We have come up with 5 content pillars which are basically categories for which most of their videos will fit into and our next coaching session will be us coming up with videos to fit into each category and then formulating video plans for each.

This may seem a little in depth but I believe this is the best way I can help the client focus on their audience and ideal viewer and help the people watching and in turn help grow their audience and business.

So overall this is my process (it isnt perfect):

Ideal viewer

Working out who this person is

Why they watch

Entertainment, to fix a problem, to relax, to feel understood

Their problems and needs

Pain points, solving an issue, answering a question, find a solution, relieve boredom, satisfy curiosity etc

Research

Research what the target audience is searching for, watching, talking about and asking questions about. Looking at competitors on YouTube and TikTok etc and at existing demand for different topics.

Content pillars

Work out the best categories for us to create content for the viewer which gives us a lot of focus

Video ideas

Brainstorming for each content pillar the best videos to serve this person or people

Video plans

From the ideas come up with best format, visual hook for each video if on short form platforms, title, desc and tags for the video, overall feel etc

Prioritisation

From our video plans we prioritise the strongest topics based on how well they address the viewers needs, how interesting they are likely to be and whether there is existing demand.

It could be really good if you havent already to sit down and have a think about these things with your own channel. I do this with my own and it does work very well and helps keep me focused. Sometimes I am tempted to do video requests or do that random video which is often fine but can take me off the track I am creating.

How do you usually decide what videos to make for your channel? Do you use content pillars or is that something youve never really considered? I know for years I never used to think about this even with my old 365k sub channel 😅 Kind of wish I had this strategy back then.

Things are going really well, 678 watch hours is insane for a channel just over 2 weeks old! If I can do stuff like this you can too!

Quote from ScrapBlox

Haven't thought about it much, haven't uploaded or went live in over a year.

I've also been getting a bit of a distaste for the platform as a company, but that's a completely separate can of worms to get into lmao. Started out when things like this was announced:

Fast forward to today, YouTube doesn't listen to it's creators, their creators are getting slapped mainly because of the flawed copyright system they have. Animation channels have gotten hit the hardest by far. (I also want to mention I have nothing against AI and actively use it mainly in programming like environments but phrasing it like that is kind of eh imo and all the AI slop)

I can see why you may not want to with reading that. Things went downhill a lot since Susan Wojcicki become CEO. A lot did have to change but I think ever since that point its been fairly downhill with unfair demonetisations and really crappy unfair practices.

Im all for AI where its useful but yeah full AI content isnt something I would watch and enjoy. Are they giving employees a chance to leave if unhappy with their goals or something? It does sound like it.

Got this in an email this morning, I hadnt even heard of BrandConnect until now:

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Finding the right brand deals should be much simpler. That's why we're making it easier for creators to get in front of brands and agencies with YouTube Creator Partnerships (formerly BrandConnect). It's a unified product built to help partners connect with you directly. Plus, we're expanding access to new countries, so more creators can turn their passion into a sustainable business.

I wonder how useful this is, I know years ago there were like brand matching websites I have forgotten their names now.

Would you use YCP?

Thats excellent, would you come back to making YouTube videos? I dont think I can not have a channel now after all these years of creating them. I know that if what I do now was to end I would be likely to jump into something else. I have saw creators go from niche to niche on YT over the years from kids and toys to education to entertainment and gaming