How to get free YouTube subscribers

1. Offer consistent content

People want to watch videos that are easy to watch. Your videos don’t need to be perfect, but making a legitimate effort to create quality content will help create a following that rewards you with their loyalty.

However, to build a loyal YouTube following, it is essential to create a consistent brand for your YouTube channel and release content regularly. To gain a steady following on your YouTube channel, you must build a community, and the first step to creating that is consistency. Here are some tips for delivering consistent content:

• Upload videos on a consistent schedule. Scheduling tools are a must — consider using a content scheduler to keep yourself on track when posting videos. Being consistent with video publication and letting people know what to expect gives your followers clarity and something to look forward to. Remember that staying organized makes it possible to speed up video creation without sacrificing quality.
• Be true to your brand. If you’re all about hand-making fly fishing hooks, don’t suddenly throw in a video about stocks and bonds. You can lose viewer trust and interest. Post content that aligns with your channel.
• Create a mix of evergreen content and of-the-moment content. A widely accepted ratio is 80% evergreen to 20% current content. That said, topical content can boost your numbers.

2. Optimize your video titles

Creating engaging YouTube video titles is crucial for improving discoverability on the platform and attracting new viewers. When you are creating a new video title, use these tips to make sure your titles are optimized:

• Use relevant keywords. Identify relevant keywords to your video content and include the most important ones in your title. Engage in keyword research to find popular or trending keywords to include.
• Keep it concise. Try to keep your title short and to the point. Avoid any unnecessary words or phrases.
• Create a hook. Include something that sparks curiosity and makes people want to click on your video to learn more. Prioritize front-loading this at the beginning of your title to capture viewers’ attention.
• Include numbers and symbols. If applicable, use numbers or symbols in your title to make it stand out. For example, “Top 5 Tips...”
• Avoid clickbait. While it is important to craft an enticing title, avoid misleading viewers. Ensure you can deliver on the promises made in your title during the video.

Custom channel icon:

Create a channel icon that resonates with your brand. A channel icon is like a logo — a visual representation of your brand that appears on your channel and wherever you comment. The more professional your icon, the more legitimate you seem. Make sure your logo is recognizable, especially in small sizes.

5. Write engaging descriptions

When done effectively, YouTube video descriptions can contribute to the growth of your YouTube subscriber base by attracting and encouraging viewers to subscribe to more of your content. A well-written description gives viewers an understanding of your video content, letting them know what to expect. Additionally, video descriptions are an essential part of SEO optimization (more on this later). Follow these tips for writing engaging descriptions of your own:

• Summarize the video. Provide a concise summary of the video while ensuring you do not give too much away. Get viewers interested, but encourage them to watch the video to learn more.
• Use relevant keywords. As a part of your YouTube SEO strategy, make sure to organically include relevant keywords throughout your description. This improves the chances that your video will appear for those keywords through search.
• Add timestamps. If there are vital points or specific parts of your video you would like to highlight, use timestamps to help viewers navigate to the parts of the video they are interested in.
• Include a call to action (CTA). Explicitly encourage viewers to subscribe. Make sure to be clear and friendly.
• Engage with viewers. Encourage viewers to leave comments. In turn, respond to these comments to build a sense of community.
• Promote other videos and playlists. If your channel has related videos or playlists, include a link to help guide viewers to more of your content.
• Include relevant external links. Include a link in the description if you are active on social media or any other social platforms. Also, if you have a website or are promoting products to monetize your video, include them here.
• Highlight upcoming content. Tease upcoming projects to create anticipation and keep your viewers interested in what is coming next.
• End with a thank you. Make sure to express gratitude for your viewers’ time and support. Thank them for watching and subscribing to your channel.

6. Use relevant tags

Tags are descriptive keywords or phrases that you can add to your videos to help the YouTube algorithm categorize and identify the content of your videos. Using tags in your videos is crucial to optimizing your videos for search. Here are some tips for tagging effectively on YouTube:

• Identify target keywords. Identify which keywords are relevant to your video. Think about your target audience and which types of terms they might use when searching for videos like yours.
• Use a mixture of specific and generic tags. Use specific tags to describe the content and generic tags to broaden your reach.
• Use synonyms and variations. Include synonyms and variations of your main keywords. This increases the chances that your video will appear in a broader range of searches.
• Include long-tail keywords. “Long-tail keywords” is a fancy way to say phrases. Include specific phrases to capture a more niche audience searching for detailed content.
• Limit the number of tags. Try to focus on 5-10 highly relevant tags – quality is more important than quantity.
• Prioritize the order of your tags. Place the most important tags at the beginning – YouTube places more weight on the first few tags.
• Include your channel name. Include your channel name if you are trying to build your brand on YouTube – this helps associate your videos with your channel.
• Update tags over time. Make sure to update your tags based on changes in your content or audience preferences. Keep refining your tags to improve visibility.

When you are getting started with tagging, check out your competitor’s tags to see the type of tagging that successful videos engage in. Over time, experiment with various kinds of tags and use YouTube Analytics to analyze which ones seem to positively impact your videos’ performance.

8. Ask viewers to subscribe

You must market your channel to get more YouTube subscribers. YouTube is not the place to be shy, so include a call to action in your content and invite your viewers to subscribe. People love an invite! They want a reason to connect. Your viewers are busy, so they might not even think to click subscribe unless you prompt them.

Directly ask for subscriptions in your video intros and outros. That ask can be as simple as: “If you like my content, please subscribe to my channel!” or “If you’re new here, hit the subscribe button so you make sure to never miss my weekly videos.” If you want to be more natural about it, consider teasing your next video during the outro to promote subscriptions: “Thanks for watching — be sure to subscribe so you get first access to my new video coming out next week about….”

10. Promote your channel across social media

Asking viewers to subscribe is a significant first step, but that only encourages subscriptions from people who have already seen your videos. If people don’t know you’re there, then people won’t ever subscribe. Build on your existing marketing efforts to help your channel grow. To reach a wider audience and get your channel noticed, you must branch off from YouTube and promote your videos and channel on other online platforms.

Other social media platforms:

Bring over your audience from other social media channels by using all your platforms as a funnel to your YouTube channel. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn — wherever you have followers, let them know about the amazing videos you create on YouTube. Ask your followers on your other social channels to subscribe to your YouTube channel. People want to love you, so help them do so!

Web:

Use your business website or blog to showcase your YouTube videos. Let your audience know just what they’re missing out on. Embed your entire video — or just a teaser clip — on your blog or website, along with a link to your channel and an invitation to subscribe. Posting these backlinks will boost your video SEO. Additionally, consider promoting your content to other relevant communities; post a link to your channel on related forums or in the comments sections to get your name out there.

11. Interact directly with your audience

Building an engaged following is the key to building a community on YouTube. People want to feel appreciated and a part of something. To create an engaged following, you must build community — and to do that, you must make your followers feel valued and understood.

The first step to building a YouTube community is interacting with your audience and making friends. For example, meaningful engagement with commenters validates the original commenter and demonstrates to new visitors that there's a human behind the brand. Here are a few ways to get this going:

• Respond to comments with thoughtful replies.
• Acknowledge to viewers in your videos that you are reading their comments.
• Ask viewers what kind of content they most want to see.
• Celebrate subscription milestones with a video thanking subscribers.
• Do a live stream.

12. Leave your viewers wanting more

End your videos by teasing your next project; you don’t want to just post one-off videos and hope they randomly go viral. The goal is to build an engaged following that wants to keep watching every video you post.

To bring people in and gain new subscribers:

• End each video by briefly describing what’s next for your channel.
• Consider ending your video by saying something like “Be sure to subscribe so you get first access to my exciting new video next week about...”
• Clue your audience in on any new or significant developments. Don’t spoil the surprise — keep your audience on their toes and curious about what is coming next.

All this ties back to tip #1: offer consistent content. This step will become much easier once you have a consistent posting schedule.

15. Take advantage of YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts is one of the newest additions to YouTube. These videos are vertical short videos (like TikToks and Instagram Reels) created using your smartphone and uploaded directly to YouTube.

YouTube Shorts are 15-to 60-second-long videos that help creators drive engagement and convert viewers into subscribers. They are a place to express yourself and let your brand’s personality shine.

To make YouTube Shorts, you need to download the YouTube app. Click the (+) icon from the homepage and then click “Create a Short.” To record, hold down the red record button and get started! From that point on, you can do many things to customize your YouTube Shorts (think special effects, speeding up or slowing down, light filters, etc.).

For more help on how to customize your YouTube Shorts, check out this helpful article from Google’s YouTube Help Center.

17. Customize your channel URL

Your basic YouTube channel URL looks something like this: https://www.youtube.come/channel/UBIFgnw1785032WBFnwp73Ybfw.

People might not want to click on a random long-form URL. Instead, customize your URL to your channel. You need at least 100 YouTube subscribers to customize your URL, but the edit is easy after you’ve hit that point. In YouTube Studio, go to the left menu and choose “Customization.” Click “Basic Info,” then click “Channel URL.”

Change your URL to something short and recognizable like this: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdobeExpress

18. Create a channel trailer

Each YouTube channel has a space at the top of the channel page to feature a video. The best thing about this feature is that you can feature two separate videos — one for your existing YouTube subscribers and one for non-subscribers.

For non-subscribers, consider creating a channel trailer, which is a short video that lets people know what your channel is about and the types of videos you post. Channel trailers are a great and simple way to introduce yourself to potential followers. From YouTube Studio, select “Customization” and then “Layout.” Under “Video spotlight,” click “ADD” and choose your channel trailer. When you are finished, click “Publish” and voilà!

19. Optimize your channel about page

Your channel description is featured on your YouTube channel’s “About” page. You have 1,000 characters to tell people about your channel and why they should subscribe.

Be deliberate with your channel description and choose keywords that represent and categorize your content. Use the recommended tools to find highly searched keywords and ways to fold them into your description. Keywords in your description help YouTube understand your channel and display your content to relevant audiences. Doing your keyword research is a crucial part of making sure your channel is discoverable.