how to build a youtube channel that makes you millions:
3 of our clients got 100k subscriber plaques this month. none of them started from zero. every one had the same shape before us: 1 to 2 years of grinding to get to a decent subscriber count, then doubled in under 3 months once we stopped treating videos as one-offs.
one of them added about 100k subs in 28 days.
the change is a few sentences:
every channel gets a mission statement.
if a video idea doesn't fit the sentence, it doesn't get made. even when it would get views...especially when it would get views.
what that produces is a channel where someone lands on one video and every other video is obviously for them too. so they don't watch one and leave. they watch 8.
treat the channel like a series, not a folder of unrelated uploads. sequence them, reference the earlier ones, make the next click obvious.
and the business result matters more than the sub count. a person who watched 8 of your videos in 28 days is the warmest lead you will ever get. they've had 6 hours of you. they get on a call already sold and you spend the call on logistics.
that's how a youtube channel actually grows your business.
a teacher laughed in my face when i told her what i wanted to do with my life.
we were working on a final project in high school and i wanted to make mine about "the viability of monetizing with social media". basically, can social media make you money.
she laughed at me in front of the entire class and told me it was unrealistic.
btw, post all your youtube videos on X or you're wasting your time.
it's free views with no extra work. i've gotten hundreds of thousands of views on X from my youtube videos and closed clients from it too.
the most optimal way to do it is: - make the first frame your thumbnail, so it previews with a thumbnail - post the entire full length video - 2 lines of text describing your video/title - optionally, add chapters (they work on X)
youtube is doubling down on removing slop from their platform.
they just doubled the requirements for channels to get monetized. this is in an effort to raise the bar, and ensure channels are motivated to really go the extra mile to grow an audience.
they've been mass-terminating channels all year in an effort to remove slop as well.
this means the bar has never been lower to compete. if you're a founder, this is the time to start youtube and be authentic.
don't fall for the propaganda. chatgpt scripts aren't going to blow you up. you don't need to pick a profitable niche to go viral.
make viral content within your ICP. brand yourself heavily. make human content, don't make slop.
youtube will literally punish you for making slop.
i've tested all of them; 99% of people think they're true.
1. posting time matters
it doesn't. i've posted videos at 9am, 2pm, and 2am. there is no impact on long term performance.
2. your titles should be short and simple.
for our clients with a 55+ year old audience, longer titles (over 65 chars) actually perform better.
3. high CTR = clickable video
CTR falls as your video goes more viral. it gets recommended to a broader audience, and CTR will naturally go down as a result.
CTR is a %, not a score. look at your views and impressions as an indicator, not CTR.
4. a profitable niche is key to success
you are the niche. talk about things you are passionate + are an expert in. this will get you 1000x further than trying to find a niche with a high RPM. you can't fake it.
this way you also won't quit.
5. editing doesn't matter
editing matters less than it did a couple of years ago with audience preferences leaning more towards longer, more authentic content, but well-produced, structured content will generally outperform raw content and have better retetnion.
Remove elements aggressively until you only have a few HUGE elements.
Simplify/change these elements so it's painfully obvious what they are/represent.
Keep your thumbnail text under 4-5 words if possible.
Make sure your thumbnail text doesn't repeat your title, or you're wasting real-estate.
Use simple language in your thumbnail text. Avoid jargon.
Use extremities in your thumbnail text. ALWAYS, NEVER, etc. Make it so painfully obvious what you're communicating.
Use contrasting colors. Red, Green, Yellow, Black, White, should be most of your palette.
Don't sacrifice realism for contrast, though. Make people, things, logos, etc their actual colors.
Increase brightness, slight contrast, and vibrance/saturation as much as you can (without washing out your thumbnail or losing realism) to make it pop on YouTube homepages.
Optimize your thumbnail for YouTube dark mode. 80%+ of YouTube users are on dark mode.
Make multiple thumbnails to test or swap later. Make them all different concepts to give yourself more testing ground.
Don't do the "MrBeast" face in your thumbnails. Keep it natural, but use your expressions to add emotion/context.
Shorts will not kill your YouTube channel. Everyone should post Shorts.
Shorts are one of the best ways to grow your channel beyond your current long form audience.
There's a huge myth out there that viewers who watch Shorts don't also watch long form videos, and this is totally wrong.
Just because Shorts viewers watch Shorts and watch them for 30 seconds at a time doesn't mean they're going to watch a long form video for 30 seconds. People watch everything on YouTube.
And if you a viewer will only watch Shorts and won't watch a long form video, YouTube is smart enough not to just recommend your videos to them for no reason.
All the top educational channels on YouTube post both Shorts and long form videos. All of our most successful clients also do both.
We give them a killer long form strategy that gets them tons of views with their target audience, and the Shorts just amplify that even more and funnel some viewers down to the long form videos.
It makes them some extra money, as well as creating more touch points with their target avatar.
Even better if you take your long forms and just clip them up. You can use an auto clipper. Plenty of options out there, or just ask Claude how to do it, and you'll have free content that you can also post on other platforms like Instagram Reels, Facebook, TikTok, X, and so on.
Nate Curtiss
how to build a youtube channel that makes you millions:
3 of our clients got 100k subscriber plaques this month. none of them started from zero. every one had the same shape before us: 1 to 2 years of grinding to get to a decent subscriber count, then doubled in under 3 months once we stopped treating videos as one-offs.
one of them added about 100k subs in 28 days.
the change is a few sentences:
every channel gets a mission statement.
if a video idea doesn't fit the sentence, it doesn't get made. even when it would get views...especially when it would get views.
what that produces is a channel where someone lands on one video and every other video is obviously for them too. so they don't watch one and leave. they watch 8.
treat the channel like a series, not a folder of unrelated uploads. sequence them, reference the earlier ones, make the next click obvious.
and the business result matters more than the sub count. a person who watched 8 of your videos in 28 days is the warmest lead you will ever get. they've had 6 hours of you. they get on a call already sold and you spend the call on logistics.
that's how a youtube channel actually grows your business.
19 hours ago | [YT] | 31
View 2 replies
Nate Curtiss
btw the most secret youtube strategies are here.
2 days ago | [YT] | 34
View 0 replies
Nate Curtiss
a teacher laughed in my face when i told her what i wanted to do with my life.
we were working on a final project in high school and i wanted to make mine about "the viability of monetizing with social media". basically, can social media make you money.
she laughed at me in front of the entire class and told me it was unrealistic.
here's every year since then:
3 days ago | [YT] | 63
View 4 replies
Nate Curtiss
this is the most valuable hour of youtube advice you'll watch this year
4 days ago | [YT] | 11
View 0 replies
Nate Curtiss
btw, post all your youtube videos on X or you're wasting your time.
it's free views with no extra work. i've gotten hundreds of thousands of views on X from my youtube videos and closed clients from it too.
the most optimal way to do it is:
- make the first frame your thumbnail, so it previews with a thumbnail
- post the entire full length video
- 2 lines of text describing your video/title
- optionally, add chapters (they work on X)
1 week ago | [YT] | 57
View 5 replies
Nate Curtiss
youtube is doubling down on removing slop from their platform.
they just doubled the requirements for channels to get monetized. this is in an effort to raise the bar, and ensure channels are motivated to really go the extra mile to grow an audience.
they've been mass-terminating channels all year in an effort to remove slop as well.
this means the bar has never been lower to compete. if you're a founder, this is the time to start youtube and be authentic.
don't fall for the propaganda. chatgpt scripts aren't going to blow you up. you don't need to pick a profitable niche to go viral.
make viral content within your ICP. brand yourself heavily. make human content, don't make slop.
youtube will literally punish you for making slop.
1 week ago | [YT] | 86
View 7 replies
Nate Curtiss
the biggest youtube myths, debunked.
i've tested all of them; 99% of people think they're true.
1. posting time matters
it doesn't. i've posted videos at 9am, 2pm, and 2am. there is no impact on long term performance.
2. your titles should be short and simple.
for our clients with a 55+ year old audience, longer titles (over 65 chars) actually perform better.
3. high CTR = clickable video
CTR falls as your video goes more viral. it gets recommended to a broader audience, and CTR will naturally go down as a result.
CTR is a %, not a score. look at your views and impressions as an indicator, not CTR.
4. a profitable niche is key to success
you are the niche. talk about things you are passionate + are an expert in. this will get you 1000x further than trying to find a niche with a high RPM. you can't fake it.
this way you also won't quit.
5. editing doesn't matter
editing matters less than it did a couple of years ago with audience preferences leaning more towards longer, more authentic content, but well-produced, structured content will generally outperform raw content and have better retetnion.
let me know which ones i missed
1 week ago | [YT] | 69
View 8 replies
Nate Curtiss
How to instantly make better YouTube thumbnails.
Remove elements aggressively until you only have a few HUGE elements.
Simplify/change these elements so it's painfully obvious what they are/represent.
Keep your thumbnail text under 4-5 words if possible.
Make sure your thumbnail text doesn't repeat your title, or you're wasting real-estate.
Use simple language in your thumbnail text. Avoid jargon.
Use extremities in your thumbnail text. ALWAYS, NEVER, etc. Make it so painfully obvious what you're communicating.
Use contrasting colors. Red, Green, Yellow, Black, White, should be most of your palette.
Don't sacrifice realism for contrast, though. Make people, things, logos, etc their actual colors.
Increase brightness, slight contrast, and vibrance/saturation as much as you can (without washing out your thumbnail or losing realism) to make it pop on YouTube homepages.
Optimize your thumbnail for YouTube dark mode. 80%+ of YouTube users are on dark mode.
Make multiple thumbnails to test or swap later. Make them all different concepts to give yourself more testing ground.
Don't do the "MrBeast" face in your thumbnails. Keep it natural, but use your expressions to add emotion/context.
1 week ago | [YT] | 114
View 4 replies
Nate Curtiss
Shorts will not kill your YouTube channel. Everyone should post Shorts.
Shorts are one of the best ways to grow your channel beyond your current long form audience.
There's a huge myth out there that viewers who watch Shorts don't also watch long form videos, and this is totally wrong.
Just because Shorts viewers watch Shorts and watch them for 30 seconds at a time doesn't mean they're going to watch a long form video for 30 seconds. People watch everything on YouTube.
And if you a viewer will only watch Shorts and won't watch a long form video, YouTube is smart enough not to just recommend your videos to them for no reason.
All the top educational channels on YouTube post both Shorts and long form videos. All of our most successful clients also do both.
We give them a killer long form strategy that gets them tons of views with their target audience, and the Shorts just amplify that even more and funnel some viewers down to the long form videos.
It makes them some extra money, as well as creating more touch points with their target avatar.
Even better if you take your long forms and just clip them up. You can use an auto clipper. Plenty of options out there, or just ask Claude how to do it, and you'll have free content that you can also post on other platforms like Instagram Reels, Facebook, TikTok, X, and so on.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 38
View 1 reply
Nate Curtiss
Untapped method to get viral video ideas.
This works great if you're a personal brand making educational content on YouTube.
Use faceless channels. It sounds contrary to what you'd think, because a lot of faceless channels are AI slop.
But oftentimes, faceless operators are making hundreds of videos per day, and always jumping on the most untapped niches before anyone else.
You can use them to find what's going to blow up in your niche before anyone else does.
My team and I keep tabs on faceless channels that blow up, and will twist their topics to fit our clients.
E.g. "detachment" is blowing up on faceless channels, I jump on it for a business client and it goes viral.
or, Schopenhauer goes viral for a faceless channel, so I bring psychology over to my dating coach client.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 54
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