How to Get More YouTube Subscribers

Wondering how to get more subscribers on YouTube? 

There’s no silver bullet for growing your subscriber count, but there are tried-and-tested methods that don’t require spending money on ads. 

I’ve used these strategies to grow my YouTube channel to more than 1 million subscribers. I’ve also used them to grow channels for dozens of clients using my agency’s services.

Now, I’m going to share these proven strategies with you. 

Key Takeaways

• Focus relentlessly on your audience to grow subscriber numbers. Create high-quality, useful videos that revolve around a clear channel concept. 
• Like SEO, focusing on the right keywords is important. Build a strategy that targets relevant keywords through a consistent publication schedule. 
• Make your videos as enticing as possible. Optimize headlines, create eye-catching thumbnails, and add tags that make your videos easy to find. 
• Build and engage with your community. Respond to as many comments as possible, consider hosting Q&As, and collaborate with other content creators to expand your reach.
• Promote your videos at the top of relevant YouTube search results using YouTube Ads.
• Use all the platform’s features and functionalities to boost subscriber numbers. For example, you might add YouTube Cards, create subscription watermarks, or add end cards to your videos. 
• Promote your channel across your other marketing channels and embed videos on your website. 

Table of Contents

• Key Takeaways
• Ways to Increase Subscribers On YouTube
• Create High-Quality, Useful Content
• Improve The Production Quality of Your YouTube Videos
• Have a Clear Channel Concept
• Build a YouTube Keyword Strategy
• Build a Consistent YouTube Production Cadence
• Consider Turning Long Videos Into Multiple Shorts
• Optimize Your Headlines
• Use Engaging Thumbnails
• Create Better YouTube Descriptions
• Add Tags To Your Videos
• Use YouTube Cards
• Engage with YouTube Viewer Comments
• Host a Q&A Session/Webinar
• Consider Collaborating With Other YouTube Creators
• Consider YouTube Ads
• Embed Your YouTube Content on Relevant Pages
• Build Playlists Around Topics and User Needs
• Identify Your Subscriber Magnets and Funnel Users to Them
• Optimize the Ends of Your Videos With End Cards and CTAs
• Build Branded Elements for Your Channel
• Have a Promotion Plan for Your YouTube Channel Across Other Marketing Channels
• FAQs
• Conclusion

Ways to Increase Subscribers On YouTube

Wondering how to grow your subscriber count on YouTube? There’s a simple formula I use to get tons of free YouTube subscribers. We’ll cover each step in detail in the following sections. 

Don’t have time to read the post in full? Then watch the video below to learn how I got over 100,000 YouTube subscribers in less than a year:

Create High-Quality, Useful Content

Creating average content won’t cut it if you want to grow your subscriber count quickly. 

YouTube is chock full of run-of-the-mill videos. You won’t stand out by adding to the pile. Instead, create high-quality content your audience wants to watch as soon as it’s released.

That’s what a subscriber is doing, after all. They’re signing up to get updates whenever you post new content.

Here’s how to make your videos worth your audience’s time:

• Create relevant content: Only create content that resonates with your target audience. If they don’t care about a topic, you shouldn’t create a video on it. 
• Go deep: If you’re using video to educate or inform your audience, don’t just cover surface-level information. Provide unique insights and actionable takeaways that help your audience solve their problem. They shouldn’t need to click on another video after watching you.
• Write a script: It will keep you on message and help you structure your video better. 
• Be authentic: People subscribe to creators they connect with. They want to hear from real people, so be yourself. 

Here’s a recent video of mine that ticks all those boxes:

Why does it work? 

• I’m talking about a topic I know my audience cares about (marketing).
• I provide actionable advice on how to spend your marketing budget correctly.
• I’m myself throughout the whole thing — to the point where I’m speaking from my home rather than a production studio. I’m not even using a green screen. 

The video may only be three minutes long, but I like to think my audience got a ton of knowledge and value from it. 

Improve The Production Quality of Your YouTube Videos

Feel like you’re doing everything right but still can’t get subscribers? Production quality could be the issue.

Make your videos easier and more enjoyable to watch using the following tips: 

• Buy a high-quality camera. If you can’t afford one just yet, use your smartphone rather than your laptop’s webcam. 
• Buy a high-quality microphone and speak clearly. 
• Use three-point lighting to ensure viewers can see you. 
• Make sure your face can be seen clearly if you’re recording a talking-head-style video.

You’ll want to spend a bit of time editing your videos to polish them. This might include adding a title screen, music, and motion graphics. You can also edit out minor mistakes, but I wouldn’t worry too much about the odd slip-up. 

Here’s a recent video of mine where you can see the impact great lighting, cameras, and editing can make:

If you’re not an accomplished video editor, you could find someone to help with your project on Upwork or Fiverr. 

Alternatively, you could use AI-powered editing software like invideo to automate the process. Another option is to purchase a video editing suite and learn to do everything yourself.

Have a Clear Channel Concept

If you look at the top YouTube channels, you’ll notice most of them stick to a theme. 

Just look at my channel:

One glance and you can see it’s all about marketing. This is the case for a couple of reasons.

First, and perhaps most importantly for anyone looking to grow their subscriber count with YouTube marketing, it helps me align with search intent on the platform. 

YouTube, like Google, wants to serve the best video recommendations for every search. So, if I only create content about marketing, it’s a lot easier for the algorithm to understand who’s interested in my channel and what sort of searches should feature my content. 

A strong theme also keeps the focus on my target audience. That way, they know what to expect from my channel—that it’s the go-to place for marketing advice. So, subscribing is a no-brainer for staying on top of trends and ahead of the curve.

Build a YouTube Keyword Strategy

When most people start their YouTube keyword research, they focus on the most popular, high-volume keywords first. 

I suggest you do things a little differently, especially if your channel is new. Instead of finding popular keywords, find keywords that are both relevant and attainable. 

Let’s say you want to create a channel that covers the topic of “pencil drawing.”

One way to develop content ideas is by simply entering a broad keyword like “pencil drawing” into the YouTube search engine.

YouTube is the second-largest search engine globally, so we know there’s some relevant data here.

If you type in your main keyword, you’ll see suggested topics. 

Those topics are a little broad, so you may want to add to your keyword phrase to generate something more concise.

Let’s add the word “tutorial,” for instance.

Now, we’re seeing more concise keywords.

The fact that these keywords appear in the suggestions lets us know people are searching for these videos.

You might argue there is a lot of competition for such keywords.

While that may be true, later in the post, we’ll figure out how to get people to view our videos, even when there is a lot of competition—so don’t worry about that part just yet. 

The great thing about this approach is it gives you a starting point. 

If we want to produce content for a certain niche, this technique tells us what kinds of content people already have an interest in viewing.

Ubersuggest is another great YouTube keyword research tool. Simply type in your main phrase and click Keyword Ideas in the sidebar, and it will deliver more than 400 keywords for you to consider.

You can also use the Google Keyword Planner tool to develop content ideas. That’s because there will be some coherence between Google and YouTube search results.

Let’s stick with the topic of “pencil drawing.”

While you might not think 100 searches is a lot, it’s important to realize that we don’t necessarily want to rank for the most popular terms in our niche—at least not right away. 

One hundred searches is more than enough for us at the start of a YouTube SEO campaign since it increases the likelihood of our content appearing. 

Just look at what happens when I type in the “white charcoal pencil” keyword.

There aren’t any fully optimized titles or even videos based solely on “white charcoal pencil.” That represents an opportunity to build momentum in a YouTube niche.

Build a Consistent YouTube Production Cadence

If you want to build a channel and grow a subscriber base, you need to post videos consistently. 

It helps you compete (and quickly surpass) channels that post intermittently, and it gives people a reason to subscribe.

If you want to keep things simple, choose a production cadence by looking at what your competition is doing and then one-upping them. 

If they post once per month, for example, then post twice per month. Sometimes, however, the best plan is the one you can stick to. Consistency is important, as it’ll keep existing subscribers coming back for more. This will result in more YouTube views and improve engagement.

In my case, I like to post videos twice per week, or around eight to 10 times per month:

You don’t have to be at a computer to post content consistently—you can use the scheduling feature provided by Google.

If you want to schedule a video, upload one as normal and then click Schedule in the Visibility section. 

Now, enter the date and time you want the video to go live.

If people subscribe to your channel, they’ll get a message when your video goes live.

Make sure to schedule that date into your social media management platform if you have one. This will ensure tweets, Meta updates, and LinkedIn posts are sent out simultaneously.

You might even want to send a message out to any relevant email lists.

Consider staggering the messages so you’re not bombarding people on multiple platforms all at once.

Consider Turning Long Videos Into Multiple Shorts

If you’re struggling to develop content ideas daily, consider splitting up longer videos into several shorter ones and posting them as YouTube Shorts. 

YouTube Shorts is the platform’s short-form video feature that competes with TikTok. Shorts gets more than 70 million daily views and has over 2 billion monthly active users. 

In short (get it?), the feature is a great way to reach a new audience. 

I regularly create Shorts by editing down parts of my longer-form videos. Here’s an example of me explaining clickbait:

Shorts allows me to create dozens of additional videos without much extra work. That means more opportunities to capture and engage subscribers. Shorts are also perfect for sharing across social media—something I do regularly on X. 

Optimize Your Headlines

Optimizing your headlines can drive more clicks, views, and subscribers. 

I recommend incorporating the following three elements in all your headlines:

• A keyword. This increases the chance that YouTube will include your video in search results. It also highlights to users your video aligns with their intent.
• Emotive language. Headlines should be as enticing as possible to encourage users to click.
• Value to the user.  What’s the user going to get from watching your video? Try to share what they’ll learn or see. 

Here’s a great example from my own channel. 

I’ve got the keyword “in-person podcasts” at the very start of the title. But I also use emotive language (crush) and demonstrate what users will learn (why in-person podcasts are better than online podcasts). 

If you want to learn about the benefits of in-person podcasts, you’re going to click, right? 

Use Engaging Thumbnails

Thumbnails are the small images users see in search results or the sidebar—and they can have a huge impact on view rates. 

Make the most of this space by creating an enticing image that encourages users to click. You don’t need to tell the user what the video is exactly about. That’s the job of your title and description, but you do need to support them by ensuring your thumbnail is at least somewhat related to your topic. 

Here’s a great thumbnail from Just Josh and his review of the IdeaPad Pro 5:

He doesn’t use Lenovo’s branding in the image or even have a clear image of the laptop. Instead, he supports his topic and branding with an image of himself, a subheading calling the laptop “the king of value,” and a cartoon crown. 

Including an image of yourself in your thumbnail is virtually mandatory if you want to build a personal brand. It’s what the biggest content creators in the world (people like MrBeast) do:

It’s what I do, too:

You can create a thumbnail using Canva. It has dozens of awesome templates you can customize for free, with even more available to Canva Pro members.  

Use Canva’s intuitive image editor to tailor a template to your brand and make it your own by uploading images to the platform. If you don’t have your own images to use, you can choose from Canva’s library of stock and custom images. 

Create Better YouTube Descriptions

A YouTube description is the text box shown to the side of thumbnails on YouTube’s search results page and below the video when you click through. 

YouTube uses them to rank your video. So, the more information you can provide the platform, the better. It’s especially important to include your keywords at the start of the description, just as I do for this video targeting “how to write a blog post”:

Descriptions are also a chance to give viewers more information about your topic, your channel, and your overarching brand. So make the most of them.

There are plenty of things you can add to your descriptions to make them as informative as possible. These include:

• A detailed description of the video (some people like to include a full transcript)
• Timestamps to key parts of the video
• Links to related videos
• Links to additional resources or brands mentioned in the video

Whatever you write in your video description, make sure you add a subscribe link to the end. This is easy to do by adding “?sub_confirmation=1” to the end of your channel URL or by creating a shortcode as I do below:

Notice that I also include links to my other social media profiles and my agency. While we’re growing our YouTube subscriber count, we may as well grow the following on our other profiles, right?

Add Tags To Your Videos

A YouTube tag is a word or phrase you can use to help the algorithm and viewers understand what your video is about. Adding them can improve your chances of ranking for relevant terms, so spend some time choosing the most relevant ones. 

While you’ll want to include popular tags, don’t be misleading. Instead, include a few really specific tags that describe your video, and then add a few broad tags related to the genre.

Use YouTube Cards

YouTube Annotations used to be the best way to engage users by directly adding links and other content to your video.

However, annotations were disruptive and thus discontinued in 2019.

Today, you have the option of using YouTube cards. You can add up to five cards to your video with a customized image, text, and call to action.

Create your own card by heading to YouTube Studio.

Source: SproutSocial

• Click on Content, select the video you want to create a card for, and click the pencil icon. 
• Click Cards on the following page.
• Click the Add card dropdown and choose one of the cards you wish to add. These are Channel Cards (which can promote a second channel), Link Cards (which let you link to other websites), Video Cards (which let you promote other videos), and Playlist Cards (which let you link to video playlists).

You can use up to five cards per video. Close the window once you’re finished. Your video will update automatically.  

Source: Biteable

Engage with YouTube Viewer Comments

Responding to comments is a simple but effective way to engage users. This shows viewers you value their opinions. Plus, the fact that you’re making an effort might encourage them to subscribe.

If a comment is positive, respond quickly and thank users for their feedback or comments. You don’t have to write a lot, but be as genuine as possible and personalize your response where possible.  

If you get negative comments on your YouTube videos, address this feedback promptly. This can increase your YouTube subscriber count because people see this interaction and appreciate that you engage.

You can offer thanks for constructive criticism and let them know you’ll try to address their concern in future videos. But don’t get into a mudslinging contest with trolls. It’s best to ignore vile or unconstructive comments. 

Host a Q&A Session/Webinar

If you really want to get to know your subscribers and encourage more people to hit that follow button, consider hosting a Q&A session or webinar using YouTube Live.

YouTube Live is the platform’s live streaming function, which lets you broadcast live to subscribers from anywhere in the world. There’s also a live chat to let your subscribers speak to you in real time. 

There are hundreds of people live on YouTube at any one time.

You can join them by live streaming from your phone, a webcam, or a decoder (which lets you stream games). 

Going live is easy. All you need is a verified channel to get started. Then, head to YouTube and click Go live under the Create button.

You’ll want to test this well in advance of your first scheduled live stream, as it can take 24 hours for your first stream to go live. But from then on, you can start a live stream instantly. 

Consider Collaborating With Other YouTube Creators

Collaborations can massively boost your video marketing efforts. Just look at my success in collaborating with Viewership.com on our Q&A Thursday feature: 

Each of these videos has tens of thousands of views. 

There’s nothing stopping you from creating your own collaboration, whether that’s a one-off cameo on someone else’s channel or an ongoing feature with one or more creators. 

Brainstorm a couple of feature ideas and then reach out to YouTubers in your own or similar niches. It’s probably best to target YouTubers with similar follower sizes at first. Once you’ve got one or two collaborations under your belt, don’t be afraid to reach out to more prominent YouTube stars.

Consider YouTube Ads

I know I said you can increase free YouTube subscribers without paid ads—and you definitely can use the strategies above. However, it might be worth investing in YouTube Ads once you’ve grown a bit.

There are five types of YouTube ads, but discovery ads will probably be your best bet. These ads are visible on the YouTube homepage, in search results, and in a user’s suggested videos list.

Here’s an example. Notice the small, barely noticeable Sponsored mark next to Matt Diggity’s name?

These ads are discreet. Best of all, you only pay when a user clicks on your ad. 

Creating a YouTube Ad campaign is easy. Start by heading to Google Ads and clicking New Campaign. 

Click Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance and then select Video as the campaign type. 

Next, select the most appropriate campaign subtype. Video views is a good choice. 

Now, you can configure your campaign. Give it a name, enter a budget and dates, untick Video partners on the Google Display Network to ensure your ad only shows on YouTube, and choose your location. 

At the bottom of the page, start creating your ad by adding the URL of the video you wish to promote. Choose In-feed video ads to make sure your ad shows up in search results. 

You can then choose a thumbnail, give your ad a headline and a description, and give it a name. Set a maximum cost per view (CPV) and then click Create campaign. 

Embed Your YouTube Content on Relevant Pages

Don’t leave your videos sitting on YouTube. Integrate them into the rest of your digital presence—particularly your website. 

Your blog is arguably the best place to embed YouTube videos. 

Videos can explain complex topics—and convert your blog readership into YouTube subscribers. After all, if someone is reading your blog, they clearly like your content and may be willing to subscribe to hear more from you. 

As you can see from the image above, I regularly add videos to my blog posts. And because I use YouTube cards and ask viewers to subscribe, I get a lot of subscribers. 

Your blog isn’t the only place to embed YouTube videos, though. Your website’s homepage could be a great choice, particularly if you have a video that explains your product or service. 

Product pages are another great choice. Just look at how Ooni integrates video here:

Build Playlists Around Topics and User Needs

A YouTube playlist is a collection of videos on a specific topic or theme.

Users love them because they make your videos easy to binge. One relevant video plays after another without them having to search or hit next. That means your watch time goes through the roof. Users are more likely to subscribe when they know you have dozens of great videos, too. 

The easiest way to create your playlists is to organize your videos into different topic buckets. 

On my channel, for example, I have playlists for:

• Email marketing
• Digital marketing
• SEO
• Social media marketing
• Small business marketing

But you could use them to serialize a set of videos or create a rabbit hole that lures users further and further into your content. 

Identify Your Subscriber Magnets and Funnel Users to Them

A subscriber magnet is any video that does a great job of turning viewers into subscribers.   

You can find your own by using YouTube Analytics to find the videos that brought in the most subscribers over the past couple of months. 

These videos are your subscriber magnets. By driving users to them, you should increase the number of subscribers you get each month. 

There are plenty of ways to do so, including several methods I’ve described above. One example is to add them as an end card or promote them as a featured video on your channel homepage. 

I use my “Learn digital marketing in 5 minutes” video as a subscriber magnet, for example. 

Optimize the Ends of Your Videos With End Cards and CTAs

You wouldn’t end a blog post without a call to action (CTA), so why should your YouTube videos be any different?

End cards are YouTube’s end-of-video call-to-action function that lets you promote another video, promote another channel, link to your website or, most importantly in our case, encourage viewers to subscribe. 

Your chosen end card can appear in the last five to 20 seconds of your video, but the video has to be at least 25 seconds long. 

Here’s an example of an end card on one of my recent videos that sends people to my site to learn about increasing their traffic. 

Build Branded Elements for Your Channel

A branded watermark lets viewers subscribe to your channel within your video. You can use your brand logo as your watermark, but you don’t have to. Some YouTubers mimic the YouTube subscribe button to encourage people to click. 

Here’s mine:

I recommend including other branded elements where possible. You’ll notice most of my videos have a similar thumbnail style in terms of the colors (like orange) and layout.

Make sure your profile picture and banner image are on brand, too. 

Have a Promotion Plan for Your YouTube Channel Across Other Marketing Channels

Try to promote your YouTube channel consistently at every opportunity across your other marketing channels.

For example, I promote my YouTube videos on my X profile and other social channels as soon as I post them. I also send out emails to my subscribers. 

I also look for opportunities to incorporate relevant YouTube videos into my blog posts. And if I know a tweet I’m thinking about would be better with one of my videos included, you can bet I’ll add it. 

Above is an example from my agency’s X account. This post explains technical SEO best practices to our audience and includes one of our shorts to expand on the post’s points. It makes the tweet more powerful and encourages our Twitter subscribers to subscribe to our YouTube channel. 

FAQs

How many followers do you need to monetize your YouTube videos?

You need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid watch hours in a year to make money off YouTube videos.

How do I become a successful YouTuber?

You can become successful as a YouTuber by employing strategies such as producing great content, optimizing your YouTube videos for the algorithm, and sharing your videos across multiple social channels.

What are some ways to make money as a YouTuber?

You can make money from YouTube by publishing popular videos that run ads, becoming an affiliate, or offering paid memberships. It can also be used to build trust in your offerings.

How do I increase subscribers on YouTube?

You can increase YouTube subscribers by optimizing your videos for the YouTube search algorithm, posting and promoting your videos across multiple channels, posting consistently, and simply asking viewers to subscribe.

How can I run ads on YouTube?

You can run ads on YouTube through your Google Ads account. There isn’t a video-specific campaign objective, so choose Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance and then select Video as the campaign type.

Conclusion

You don’t need to buy fake subscribers to grow your following on YouTube. Instead, work to create exceptional YouTube content that keeps your audience coming back for more.

Once you’ve got the fundamentals down, experiment with things like collaborations and YouTube Ads. 

If you put enough effort in, you’ll see those subscriber numbers start climbing.

All you need to do is get started.