**Consistency is Key: A Guide to Growing Your YouTube Channel**

In this article, we'll explore some valuable tips and experiences from one YouTuber's first year on the platform, growing their channel "The Tech Chap". By following these guidelines, you can improve your own YouTube growth and increase engagement with your audience.

**Engage with Other Creators**

Really like your work don't ask for sub for sub stuff don't s of ask them to go and check out your stuff just go around related related channels you know leave nice messages you know put constructive comments and often you know the creatives will reply maybe other viewers will reply and it will really help uh raise your brand awareness. Another big one is social media I'm actually kind of rubbish at it I never used Twitter uh before I started youtubing cuz frankly I just found it a bit annoying but I would recommend setting up at least a Facebook page and a Twitter account for your YouTube channel uh then you can post uh social media links in your video descriptions uh and ask viewers to follow you actually in the videos themselves which is pretty useful. It's a great way of sharing your new videos if you've got new content as well as engaging with the viewers uh and getting involved in sort of conversations about the stuff you're interested in.

**Branding: Be Consistent**

It's something I've personally really struggled with when I came up with the tech chap logo the color scheme and stuff uh to begin with it was pretty straightforward I just spent a few hours in Photoshop messing around with things first of all my my tip is simple is best but then I wanted one of those sort of fancy after effect intros uh and I went on to video Hive and spent a few quid getting some uh sort of template intros cuz I don't know how to use After Effects very well and I sort of changed them to suit my you know add my logo in but then I saw how awesome loads of different ones were and I couldn't settle on one I liked so every few weeks I change it I have a new intro maybe even a new logo new color scheme uh there's just no consistency and while I was obviously just trying to make it better uh make my channel more creative looking uh I think my viewers would get confused and ultimately probably slowed my growth down as there was no consistency between one video and another. So in my case I settled on a short intro it's about 3 seconds long which I used at the beginning of this one and pretty much my original logo and you know it may not be perfect may not be the best logo or theme in the world but it's mine it's Unique and it is simple.

**Product Reviews: Think Outside the Box**

If your channel is about reviewing products like mine it can be difficult to get some of the latest and greatest stuff when you're starting out for example I need things like smartphones tablets uh and computers and obviously I can't afford just go out and buy all of them myself unfortunately. So make use of what you already have so let's say you already have a Galaxy S6 it's your phone or an iPhone 6 and you've had it for a while do a long-term review of IT they're pretty cool videos to do and of course you can get multiple videos out of one product break it down maybe you could do a camera review uh a battery review look at the speed test see how good the fingerprint reader is. You know if just looking around you can probably think of half a dozen things you can make a video about but obviously then the key is to make it interesting uh and useful.

**Be Kind and Useful**

Finally I think there's two simple things that everyone should aim for when they're being a YouTuber that is to be kind and to be useful. May get trolled you may get people posting horrible comments on your channel but don't let it bother you just be friendly uh be polite and Report comments when necessary I had a few comments like everyone has over the months saying you know oh your videos are or something uh the usual stuff but I just usually reply in an overly friendly way saying okay you know cool I'll take that on board that's good feedback. Or I just sort of mess around with them a little bit saying you know maybe you're right but generally I found if you're nice to people they'll be nice back to you. The other thing is to be useful you know serve a purpose whether you've got a tech Channel comedy pranks fashion science whatever it may be you know even if you're just trying to make the viewer laugh or you're going to teach them something or give them advice based on your experiences just do something that will leave them better off at the end. So these have just been a few tips and experiences I've had throughout my first year on YouTube growing the tech chap and it's with your support you know your subscriptions and your comments that's made that happen so I hope you stick with me uh as we continue to grow the tech chap into 2016 thank you very much for watching guys please do like and subscribe.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engood news everyone the tech chap is one year-old today on the 29th of January 2015 I posted my first video uh review of the LG G3 smartphone and my first video on YouTube has been amazing it's been so much fun and I've loved every single minute of it but while I'm still not the biggest check channel in the check Channel Tech channel in the world yet um I want to give you a few lessons a few tips a few tricks that I've experienced over the past 12 months uh to show you guys my progress as well as uh give you some tips and tricks if you're just starting out first of all you will feel embarrassed watching yourself back you will cringe looking at the earlier videos and you will make mistakes the first video I ever published which was actually weirdly uh quite successful on the G3 uh I can't even watch it back cuz even if it is quite popular I just find it too embarrassing but from a video production standpoint there were quite a number of things in it that I've learned and I've improved upon since then uh pretty simple things really that have made all the difference firstly the lighting the video is too dark uh and this was the case for quite a few of my early uploads investing in a light softbox made all the difference uh and you can find on Amazon or Ebay as cheap as £15 or $20 if you've got a shoe mount on your video camera a hot shoe Mount uh you can get yourself a cheap LED panel such as from newer uh that you can attach to the top of it and that way you have another adjustable light source lighting is absolutely key use natural light where possible and a combination perhaps of a softbox or two and maybe an LED panel on your camera for better looking videos the next thing I learned was the importance of being energetic and enthusiastic uh when talking to the camera in my earlier videos if you've ever seen them my voice is really monotone I rarely smile and generally I look a little bit bored being there I wasn't bored though I think it was just a shinness but as you make more videos you get better you do overcome it and you do become more confident of course everyone has their own style and their own voice but I do recommend getting tips and maybe taking inspiration from how other YouTubers or even TV presenters do it one thing I experimented using early on in my YouTube career was using a green screen uh I don't have a particularly big or fancy house with loads of space and endless privacy unfortunately for filming so I decided to setup shop in my garage but as you might expect breeze blocks aren't really the best background so I figured I'd get something a bit more interesting I'd invest in a green screen and actually surprisingly easy to do so I bought a green uh muslin cotton sheet and a stand from eBay set it up against the wall uh and my first attempts were kind of bad actually I didn't have the right lighting I could never get a convincing background but it is pretty fun to mess around with and it doesn't really cost all that much uh to do it I use Premier Pro for my editing and it is as simple as dragging the ultra key effect over the video clip and then clicking on the green color keying it out and making a few adjustments in the settings I find it's best not to try mimic a view or like of an office background or something cuz it's just too hard to get the right perspective it just looks weird uh just use a flat background maybe change the color to white to black or use a simple texture I still have it art but I found filming at my desk while I work uh easier to do and also it's just a bit more interesting to look at I think but of course it's not all about video production you can have the best 4k camera the perfect lighting and amazing background but the biggest challenge to starting out on YouTuber is of course getting views getting subscribers and getting traction to really start growing your channel there are loads of ways to do this but one of the best ones I found is to sort of find other videos similar channels uh comment on them sort of compliment the uh you know if they're good of course compliment the Creator say you know I really like your work don't ask for sub for sub stuff don't s of ask them to go and check out your stuff just go around related related channels you know leave nice messages you know put constructive comments and often you know the creatives will reply maybe other viewers will reply and it will really help uh raise your brand awareness another big one is is social media I'm actually kind of rubbish at it I never used Twitter uh before I started youtubing cuz frankly I just found it a bit annoying but I would recommend setting up at least a Facebook page and a Twitter account for your YouTube channel uh then you can post uh social media links in your video descriptions uh and ask viewers to follow you actually in the videos themselves which is pretty useful uh it's a great way of sharing your new videos if you've got new content as well as engaging with the viewers uh and getting involved in sort of conversations about the stuff you're interested in the next thing was about branding and most importantly actually being consistent with The Branding it's something I've personally really struggled with when I came up with the tech chap logo the color scheme and stuff uh to begin with it was pretty straightforward I just spent a few hours in Photoshop messing around with things first of all my my tip is simple is best but then I wanted one of those sort of fancy after effect intros uh and I went on to video Hive and spent a few quid getting some uh sort of template intros cuz I don't know how to use After Effects very well and I sort of changed them to suit my you know add my logo in but then I saw how awesome loads of different ones were and I couldn't settle on one I liked so every few weeks I change it I have a new intro maybe even a new logo new color scheme uh there's just no consistency and while I was obviously just trying to make it better uh make my channel more creative looking uh I think my viewers would get confused and ultimately probably slowed my growth down as there was no consistency between one video and another so in my case I settled on a short intro it's about 3 seconds long which I used at the beginning of this one and pretty much my original logo and you know it may not be perfect may not be the best logo or theme in the world but it's mine it's Unique and it is simple now if your channel is about reviewing products like mine it can be difficult to get some of the latest and greatest stuff when you're starting out for example I need things like smartphones tablets uh and computers and obviously I can't afford just go out and buy all of them myself unfortunately uh so make use of what you already have so let's say you already have a Galaxy S6 it's your phone or an iPhone 6 uh and you've had it for a while do a long-term review of IT they're pretty cool videos to do and of course you can get multiple videos out of one product break it down maybe you could do a camera review uh a battery review look at the speed test see how good the fingerprint reader is you can get loads of content if you think creatively and outside of the box you know if just looking around you can probably think of half a dozen things you can make a video about but obviously then the key is to make it interesting uh and useful finally I think there's two simple things that everyone should aim for when they're being a YouTuber that is to be kind and to be useful you may get trolled you may get people posting horrible comments on your channel but don't let it bother you just be friendly uh be polite and Report comments when necessary I had a few comments like everyone has over the months saying you know oh your videos are or something uh the usual stuff but I just usually reply in an overly friendly way saying okay you know cool I'll take that on board that's good feedback or I just sort of mess around with them a little bit saying you know maybe you're right but generally I found if you're nice to people they'll be nice back to you the other thing is to be useful you know serve a purpose whether you've got a tech Channel comedy pranks fashion science whatever it may be you know even if you're just trying to make the viewer laugh or you're going to teach them something or give them advice based on your experiences just do something that will leave them better off at the end so these have just been a few tips and experiences I've had throughout my first year on YouTube growing the tech Chap and it's with your support you know your subscriptions and your comments that's made that happen so I hope you stick with me uh as we continue to grow the tech chap into 2016 thank you very much for watching guys please do like and subscribe and I'll catch you again right here on the tech chapgood news everyone the tech chap is one year-old today on the 29th of January 2015 I posted my first video uh review of the LG G3 smartphone and my first video on YouTube has been amazing it's been so much fun and I've loved every single minute of it but while I'm still not the biggest check channel in the check Channel Tech channel in the world yet um I want to give you a few lessons a few tips a few tricks that I've experienced over the past 12 months uh to show you guys my progress as well as uh give you some tips and tricks if you're just starting out first of all you will feel embarrassed watching yourself back you will cringe looking at the earlier videos and you will make mistakes the first video I ever published which was actually weirdly uh quite successful on the G3 uh I can't even watch it back cuz even if it is quite popular I just find it too embarrassing but from a video production standpoint there were quite a number of things in it that I've learned and I've improved upon since then uh pretty simple things really that have made all the difference firstly the lighting the video is too dark uh and this was the case for quite a few of my early uploads investing in a light softbox made all the difference uh and you can find on Amazon or Ebay as cheap as £15 or $20 if you've got a shoe mount on your video camera a hot shoe Mount uh you can get yourself a cheap LED panel such as from newer uh that you can attach to the top of it and that way you have another adjustable light source lighting is absolutely key use natural light where possible and a combination perhaps of a softbox or two and maybe an LED panel on your camera for better looking videos the next thing I learned was the importance of being energetic and enthusiastic uh when talking to the camera in my earlier videos if you've ever seen them my voice is really monotone I rarely smile and generally I look a little bit bored being there I wasn't bored though I think it was just a shinness but as you make more videos you get better you do overcome it and you do become more confident of course everyone has their own style and their own voice but I do recommend getting tips and maybe taking inspiration from how other YouTubers or even TV presenters do it one thing I experimented using early on in my YouTube career was using a green screen uh I don't have a particularly big or fancy house with loads of space and endless privacy unfortunately for filming so I decided to setup shop in my garage but as you might expect breeze blocks aren't really the best background so I figured I'd get something a bit more interesting I'd invest in a green screen and actually surprisingly easy to do so I bought a green uh muslin cotton sheet and a stand from eBay set it up against the wall uh and my first attempts were kind of bad actually I didn't have the right lighting I could never get a convincing background but it is pretty fun to mess around with and it doesn't really cost all that much uh to do it I use Premier Pro for my editing and it is as simple as dragging the ultra key effect over the video clip and then clicking on the green color keying it out and making a few adjustments in the settings I find it's best not to try mimic a view or like of an office background or something cuz it's just too hard to get the right perspective it just looks weird uh just use a flat background maybe change the color to white to black or use a simple texture I still have it art but I found filming at my desk while I work uh easier to do and also it's just a bit more interesting to look at I think but of course it's not all about video production you can have the best 4k camera the perfect lighting and amazing background but the biggest challenge to starting out on YouTuber is of course getting views getting subscribers and getting traction to really start growing your channel there are loads of ways to do this but one of the best ones I found is to sort of find other videos similar channels uh comment on them sort of compliment the uh you know if they're good of course compliment the Creator say you know I really like your work don't ask for sub for sub stuff don't s of ask them to go and check out your stuff just go around related related channels you know leave nice messages you know put constructive comments and often you know the creatives will reply maybe other viewers will reply and it will really help uh raise your brand awareness another big one is is social media I'm actually kind of rubbish at it I never used Twitter uh before I started youtubing cuz frankly I just found it a bit annoying but I would recommend setting up at least a Facebook page and a Twitter account for your YouTube channel uh then you can post uh social media links in your video descriptions uh and ask viewers to follow you actually in the videos themselves which is pretty useful uh it's a great way of sharing your new videos if you've got new content as well as engaging with the viewers uh and getting involved in sort of conversations about the stuff you're interested in the next thing was about branding and most importantly actually being consistent with The Branding it's something I've personally really struggled with when I came up with the tech chap logo the color scheme and stuff uh to begin with it was pretty straightforward I just spent a few hours in Photoshop messing around with things first of all my my tip is simple is best but then I wanted one of those sort of fancy after effect intros uh and I went on to video Hive and spent a few quid getting some uh sort of template intros cuz I don't know how to use After Effects very well and I sort of changed them to suit my you know add my logo in but then I saw how awesome loads of different ones were and I couldn't settle on one I liked so every few weeks I change it I have a new intro maybe even a new logo new color scheme uh there's just no consistency and while I was obviously just trying to make it better uh make my channel more creative looking uh I think my viewers would get confused and ultimately probably slowed my growth down as there was no consistency between one video and another so in my case I settled on a short intro it's about 3 seconds long which I used at the beginning of this one and pretty much my original logo and you know it may not be perfect may not be the best logo or theme in the world but it's mine it's Unique and it is simple now if your channel is about reviewing products like mine it can be difficult to get some of the latest and greatest stuff when you're starting out for example I need things like smartphones tablets uh and computers and obviously I can't afford just go out and buy all of them myself unfortunately uh so make use of what you already have so let's say you already have a Galaxy S6 it's your phone or an iPhone 6 uh and you've had it for a while do a long-term review of IT they're pretty cool videos to do and of course you can get multiple videos out of one product break it down maybe you could do a camera review uh a battery review look at the speed test see how good the fingerprint reader is you can get loads of content if you think creatively and outside of the box you know if just looking around you can probably think of half a dozen things you can make a video about but obviously then the key is to make it interesting uh and useful finally I think there's two simple things that everyone should aim for when they're being a YouTuber that is to be kind and to be useful you may get trolled you may get people posting horrible comments on your channel but don't let it bother you just be friendly uh be polite and Report comments when necessary I had a few comments like everyone has over the months saying you know oh your videos are or something uh the usual stuff but I just usually reply in an overly friendly way saying okay you know cool I'll take that on board that's good feedback or I just sort of mess around with them a little bit saying you know maybe you're right but generally I found if you're nice to people they'll be nice back to you the other thing is to be useful you know serve a purpose whether you've got a tech Channel comedy pranks fashion science whatever it may be you know even if you're just trying to make the viewer laugh or you're going to teach them something or give them advice based on your experiences just do something that will leave them better off at the end so these have just been a few tips and experiences I've had throughout my first year on YouTube growing the tech Chap and it's with your support you know your subscriptions and your comments that's made that happen so I hope you stick with me uh as we continue to grow the tech chap into 2016 thank you very much for watching guys please do like and subscribe and I'll catch you again right here on the tech chap\n"