Hi all, new to the forum

[Baldbiker]

Just wanted to introduce myself to the motovlogging community. I've been doing motovlogs as a hobby for almost five years now. I certainly haven't figured out the "trick" to it as after five years I have barely reached 200 subs and my average views rarely break 100. I'm hoping I can pick up a few tips here other than "just enjoy what you do" because that hasn't worked for me. Motovlogging certainly is not my "day" job so Im not pouring thousands of hours into it and there have been some long dry spells without posting content along the way, and my editing and content creating skills are certainly not the best, but better than many I've seen. I will never figure out how one person can put out their first video with nothing but riding around and talking showing nothing but "look at the view" and get thousands of subs within a few months. The internet market is hard to figure out thats for sure, but maybe I can get some insight here as I want to increase my efforts this year!

 

[Theodor]

Hello and welcome!
That must be the cleanest adventure bike I have ever seen!
Have fun going through the material this forum has gathered, over the years. Lots of little tips everywhere.

 

[Drakhen99]

Welcome! We're all trying to find our niche and get more views... the #1 thing I can tell you is to promote your content! Instagram, Facebook, etc.

If you're a woman, it's far easier to get thousands of views and subs, but amp up your own energy and promote your vids and the views will come. I've only been at it for 6 or 7 months now, and am closing in on 300 subs... after about 70 videos LOL.

-John

 

[Baldbiker]

Welcome! We're all trying to find our niche and get more views... the #1 thing I can tell you is to promote your content! Instagram, Facebook, etc.

If you're a woman, it's far easier to get thousands of views and subs, but amp up your own energy and promote your vids and the views will come. I've only been at it for 6 or 7 months now, and am closing in on 300 subs... after about 70 videos LOL.

-John

Hey Drak, I know what you mean. Not trying to sound sexist, or "jealous of women" in any sort of way, but I just watched a motovlog of a woman who posted her very first video only 2 months ago. All she did was ride around in the country and talk about how she is starting a motovlog. She already has over 4k subs and 50,000 views on that video. Is it because she is a woman? Oh well, us guys have to find another way I guess.

I also think I have a disadvantage because I don't do a lot of other social media platforms. I have facebook which I've been doing for years, but don't have a lot of friends on it and those that I do never respond, like, share anything... ever. So that's not helping there. I don't do Twitter, or Instagram. I tried them but not only does it just not feel like it's my thing, but I just can't keep up to so many platforms. Im just not that much of a social media guru.

Just my Youtube account is all I've got going for motovlogging, but the algorithm hates me. It seems to avoid me like the plague. I need to learn how to spike it. I have been putting "generically positive" comments on other popular vloggers comment sections. I think it helps a bit, but it's like 1 sub a week. Right now I just need to focus on creating more content once the good weather comes, and try again!

 

[Baldbiker]

Hello and welcome!
That must be the cleanest adventure bike I have ever seen!
Have fun going through the material this forum has gathered, over the years. Lots of little tips everywhere.

Hey Theodor! Pic was taken when I just got home from the dealer the day I bought it lol. But I'll let you know I keep it like that all the time regardless. I own and run a professional detailing shop and often detail motorcycles for a living!

 

[Dewey316]

I think a lot of us are trying to figure it out. My guess is those people who go from zero to thousands of subs over night, either already have another youtube channel to push people to their vlog, or a large following on something like instagram to push traffic to their channel.

The thing a out YT, is it takes success to get success. The more popular you are, the more YT pushes your content.

Drak and I have been talking almost daily and both looking deep into our stats and helping each other look at our stats. We are trying to find the things working for each of, so we can make videos that have more of what works and what doesn't. It is very interesting, as we have found the things that give my videos boosts are the complete opposite of what works in his video. That is good, it means there is no one formula. It is figuring out what people like about your videos. Ex: Drak found that when he stops talking and does music, his retention drops. I'm the opposite, when I talk my retention drops, when I go music and scenic riding, my retention goes up.

I bet looking at your stats, you might find some interesting things about what your audiance likes about your videos.

 

[Baldbiker]

Yeah I was watching a video about how to view and analyze your analytics. I should look because some viewers comment that they like the music and scenery while others say it's the one thing they didn't like. Music can be very subjective since it's art, there is no gendre of music you can put up that everyone wil like. But I've noticed and will admit in many of my videos when I go back and watch them myself (purely because of lockdown pandemic boredom) I found that my segments of just riding and music are far too long, and that I don't stop enough and give people something to see. Like you said we could start a whole thread just talking about stuff like that, but since I have one more day off before going back to work I think I'll see if I can get any info from my analytics. However, it's only going to report the few people's reactions that have seen the video and may not necessarily reflect the reaction of a wider base.

 

[Drakhen99]

I think a lot of us are trying to figure it out. My guess is those people who go from zero to thousands of subs over night, either already have another youtube channel to push people to their vlog, or a large following on something like instagram to push traffic to their channel.

The thing a out YT, is it takes success to get success. The more popular you are, the more YT pushes your content.

Drak and I have been talking almost daily and both looking deep into our stats and helping each other look at our stats. We are trying to find the things working for each of, so we can make videos that have more of what works and what doesn't. It is very interesting, as we have found the things that give my videos boosts are the complete opposite of what works in his video. That is good, it means there is no one formula. It is figuring out what people like about your videos. Ex: Drak found that when he stops talking and does music, his retention drops. I'm the opposite, when I talk my retention drops, when I go music and scenic riding, my retention goes up.

I bet looking at your stats, you might find some interesting things about what your audiance likes about your videos.

Dewey's right ... my retention when I try to do a "music section"

 

[Dewey316]

Yeah I was watching a video about how to view and analyze your analytics. I should look because some viewers comment that they like the music and scenery while others say it's the one thing they didn't like. Music can be very subjective since it's art, there is no gendre of music you can put up that everyone wil like. But I've noticed and will admit in many of my videos when I go back and watch them myself (purely because of lockdown pandemic boredom) I found that my segments of just riding and music are far too long, and that I don't stop enough and give people something to see. Like you said we could start a whole thread just talking about stuff like that, but since I have one more day off before going back to work I think I'll see if I can get any info from my analytics. However, it's only going to report the few people's reactions that have seen the video and may not necessarily reflect the reaction of a wider base.

Very true. You can look at discovery numbers and click-through rates to figure out what thumbnails and tags are working to get people to watch your videos. I have noticed that I changes some of the tags I am using, and changed a couple things about my titles and my discovery numbers are way up. Now my click- through rate has dropped a bit, so i need to look at it more and figure out of my thumbails are bad, or if the tags I am using are not a good match. There is no right answer, you look at the data, try things, and see if it works or not. And try again.

 

[Drakhen99]

I am changing thumbnails, titles, and tags almost weekly on some of my videos in order to find out what works. TubeBuddy [even the free version] is a great tool for helping in that regard... lots of insight there.

Trial & Error is important as a small YT creator. It's a constant evolution.

-John

 

[Baldbiker]

I've been pretty lazy on thumbnails, and need to develop skills to make good ones. Usually when I upload a video I just go with the default, but I know it would be better to extract a screenshot and put some super bold title text overlay on it. Need to work on these skills!

 

[Baldbiker]

Another thing is making up a good intro clip. Some of the intros guys use are incredibly amazing, and must be done by a professional somewhere, but I haven't been able to see any companies that advertise "we make professional intro vids for your youtube videos". I have worked on making my own, and the latest one is better than what I had before, but far from being pro.

 

[Dewey316]

Another thing is making up a good intro clip. Some of the intros guys use are incredibly amazing, and must be done by a professional somewhere, but I haven't been able to see any companies that advertise "we make professional intro vids for your youtube videos". I have worked on making my own, and the latest one is better than what I had before, but far from being pro.

What editing software are you using? There are a lot of templates you can start with for many of them. I get a lot of compliments on my intro, I used my friends AfterEffects copy to make it. I used a free template I found, then mess with colors and speed and music, etc. But it takes work, I probably put a good 12 hours of work for a 15 second intro. Most of the work was trying different things with the same template until I found what I wanted for it.

 

[Drakhen99]

Like Dewey said... it takes time - I think I spent a good 4 hours on my current intro, which was around 10s long, but lately I've chopped it to 6s and then fade the music into the next part of my video so it's more integrated.

I had a friend of mine who is in marketing comment that my 6s intro was right out of the marketing handbook - says what the channel is about, shows me gearing up so you know I'm a real biker [for what that's worth], and then boom - getting on with the video!

-John

 

[Baldbiker]

Ive been watching my analytics. Two definite parts drop lots of viewers. I lose, on almost every video, almost 40% of my viewers before the intro even finishes, and it's only about 10 seconds long. The other big view killer in almost every video is as soon as the music starts and I just show riding. Kills the views. Even with better music. That was a real eye opener. Now Im contemplating if an intro video is even worth it.

 

[Baldbiker]

Talk and interact with people or destinations more, ride with music playing less. It's what the analytics are telling me.

 

[Drakhen99]

Yep. Dewey and I had this conversation literally last night... and yet I already have a few videos queued up on YT that have it - and I'm not going to redo them. I stand by my "short films"

Never would I have guessed a day would come where people would rather watch and listen to me talk & ride versus music.

-John

 

[HippoDrone]

Awesome first post bud, and it looks like you have made a few friends!
I love motovlogging, the numbers gradually come, but it is the meeting new people that I love the most.

 

[Moto Mengy]

Very nice Africa Twin, welcome!