What it takes to get on YouTube Seriously!

So I got a question from one of my subscriber asking what it takes to get on Youtube. Well, my answer is it depends. Youtubers are mostly like one man army they are the actor, editor, recorder, colorist, artist everything.

You may be making videos on a niche which absolutely needs nothing but just a smartphone camera and you are done and at the same time, you may be someone who is just way too serious about thew quality of his content which comes for a price as professional equipment doesnt come cheap.
Im the later one of that herd unfortunately. My friends family and social contacts who have been following me for years now, know me as a perfectionist who would not keep any stones unturned to do the thing right. I remember of situations where I have deleted whole day of work, just because my voice was not clear or I was out of focus.
Its just I cannot afford having something online on my name which looks bad or sounds bad or just doesnt appeal to the viewers eyes.
And of course, it takes a lot of money, time and sweat to create good content online.

Youtube is just like a side hustle for me and not something I make money with or trying to. Its something which its like my playground you can say, where I want to show people what I do, what I use, and teach things.

So yeah, coming back to the question of “what it takes to get on Youtube seriously”.

I would say, 10 things are absolutely necessary :

Consistency :

Consistency is absolutely the most key factor in being a YouTuber. If you’re inconsistent with your YouTube videos, people that don’t subscribe won’t know when to check in for new content. If you don’t consistently post to social media, promote your YouTube channel, and engage with your audience, they won’t remember to keep coming back for more great content from you. As you become a YouTuber, it’s important to remember that consistency is one of the best ways to grow your channel’s viewership. Show up everyday if you can.

Hard Work :

Nothing comes easy. It all takes a lot of hard work and when I tell hard work, it really is. You need to plan, execute, record, edit, promote for even one single video. It all just involves a lot of work.

Readiness to create good content :

Youtube is all about viewers. If you dont have videos or content which are targeted to your viewers, you are not going to get subscribers or visitors to your content. You absolutely need to concentrate on how to get the best possible end result and you will have users automatically subscribing. I cannot stress this more, content is king. You absolutely need to have quality content to drive traffic.

Good knowledge of video editing :

So, its not just about recording and recording with multiple cameras and then just stack them and render. Its not easy how it looks overall. You have to master your video editing skills or just hire someone who can do it for you. Dont just shoot and put it online. You will literally stab your viewers on their eyes straight.

The right equipments & software :

Creating quality content involves good equipments, like cameras, audio gear, lighting gear, good editors, plugins, software, etc. If I start calculating about my gear, it might be more than 50,000 USD or so, but that will be al together a separate video about my equipments for YouTube. You dont want to have comments saying you have a poor video or audio, thats the worst thing to hear from a viewer, because youtube is all about audio and video. If you are not doing it right, then you are lacking somewhere really bad and you know about it now.

Your time :

You need to devote good time. I personally spend 5 hours approx for one video to record and then 4 hours to edit approximately. So, close to 10 hours I spend to make a video. Had I spent that time on my other ventures, I would have easily made 500$ against my 10 hours, but I dont care. I love creating content for my channel.

Good knowledge of video-SEO :

You now have good equipments and good skills to record, edit, render, but everything goes in vain, if you are 0 at video-SEO. Video-SEO is a huge term, and not just two words. It starts from keyword research till the setting of cards in your videos. You need to understand how youtube really works. You create content, you need to have proper titles, keywords, tags everything set correctly. But dont stuff it with every keyword and end up with a un-natural video. You need to know how to promote your videos, to get the first lift up for the views and always monitor the stats in your youtube analytics menu to know in depth reports about your channel.

Extremely active on Social Media :

You have to be extremely active on social media. When I say social media, I consider Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Youtube, Reddit, etc. If you know how to use them to get traffic, you have to be really active. 90% of traffic always comes from social media, all the time.

Not losing the motivation :

YouTube is a long term game, you dont get viewers or subscribers overnight. In addition to consistency, if you want to be successful on YouTube, you also have to be patient. When you become a YouTuber, it takes time to build your audience and grow your brand.
Stay relaxed and refreshed. Dont rush things. Take it easy, no one is going to punish you for not having a video in a day. Chill.

Passion :

If you are not passionate about what you do and trying to get on youtube to earn some quick bucks, then let me tell you, you are in wrong track already. Its all about passion. I like creating videos and thats my passion, I want people to see my videos, my skills, and I love teaching people. So, thats my passion. You need to do things what you like, not what you see others doing.

So, those are the 10 things, which you absolutely need if you are really planning to get on Youtube seriously. Watching a video is easy, but you would never know how much hard work a creator puts in to get it live. I have seen millions of Youtube channels who earn tons of money and have tons of subscribers, but the quality of the content is just so poor, which makes me rethink the credibility. But thats not the discussion today. You dont want me to be called among those bad content creators of course, so just go ahead and create something good, which people really want to watch.

If you have any questions, let me know.