Wednesday 24 January 2018

Thinking about Youtube and the blog.

Like many on Youtube I received the Youtube partner program Email.
My channel is no longer able to monetized as of February. I lack the 1000 subscribers. Which means of course I haven't had the 4000 (I think it is) of viewed content.

This got me thinking about Youtube. And I think I have been doing it wrong.
I never set out with any goals or a plan.  In a lot of ways I have missed the boat.

I'm in the process of forming a plan of action and looking for a sustainable means of channel growth as well as questioning what content I could make that I would be willing to post on a very regular schedule.

Over the years I have noticed that I will start a thread on a forum and it will easily blow up in views, posts and interaction. This has mostly been my work in progress threads, which I enjoy and other people seem to like. So, I'm thinking that will be my largest area of growth for gaining any audience to my channel.

Attention span. How long are eyeballs actually on my videos and how can I maximize their limited viewing time, attention or interest.
This has been the larger question I have been thinking about.
What I have come up with is I need to keep the videos short. I need to limit the video to three minuets or less. I need to post at least every other day. I am able to post pictures at about that speed and some times I post pictures more than two or three times in a day, though not often.
To me this seems reasonable. I ma looking for an easy format that needs the least amount of editing.

The first goal is simply to gain a larger number of subscribers and keep their attention.
How do I do that?
I know I need to be on several platforms and posting/updating about my activity.
I need all of my content to be related and in the same direction, hobby related, miniature related.

After I have gained the audience I can then deviate from my established format. By which I think that could be slightly longer more involved videos.

Monetizing. Is there any reason not too. I don't know. The important thing I think is not to have any adds get in the way of the content and not bother the audience. Which is stupid, adds are suppose to be where the money comes from but I don't even watch adds so why would my viewers.
Which leads me to funding from the viewers. So, we're right back to growing the audience.

More information coming in and slightly unconfirmed. Seems Youtube wants each video to get 1000
clicks before they allow it to be monetized. I've heard conflicting reports.

Last year my channel had a little over 16 hours of watch time. But I put no effort into videos last year.  I uploaded all of 3 videos last year. (2017) 30 hours in 2016. 33 hours for 2015.

Not to sound down on myself but what I haven't done is.
I haven't plugged my channel. I haven't asked very much for likes, shares and subscribes.
I haven't uploaded on a schedule or very frequently.  (frequently enough)

Wow that turned into a long one...
And it's not over yet. 

That's a lot of youtube stuff but what about the blog?
Well, I plan to continue posting work in progress pictures and flood pages in pictures like I have in the past. I do think things will get a little more regular as both the blog and the channel will become more closely related in content and updated at roughly the same time. 
I actually expect the blog to be a little more in depth than the videos. The videos will be intentionally short.
Which leads me to ask. What kinds of articles would you, my dear readers/viewers, like to see here on this blog?

And that wraps up this rant.
Please comment.
Thank you for reading this wall of gibberish.