To start, the fact that you are going out of your way to create content is already a better start than most. The bad news is the market for content creators is extremely saturated. What does this mean for you? Well it means you’re special, and you just need to find ways to stand out. I will not be going over any stories of how to clickbait titles, or how to grow your SEO (maybe in the future). Rather, I will attempt to ease some minds over stats, and the instant “I stink, I quit” reaction numbers give people.
Numbers do not care if you’re feelings are hurt. They do not care if it destroys your motivation to continue. Most importantly, they are merely informative. Obvious, right? Wrong. Remember when YKYZ introduced viewership stats? How did you feel when you saw those numbers? I’m including the people that were ecstatic about their results as well. These numbers gave you an emotional response when they were simply just numerical digits that represented who clicked that play button.
Start there: they’re just numbers. If low, they’re used to grow and make action plays. If high, they’re used to grow and make action plans. The outcome does not and will not change. This is immensely important to receive the best results. Think of your favorite YouTuber, blogger, or podcaster. I challenge you to find the very first episode they ever made. Most likely it was terrible. I mean bad. My first video was full of so many “uhs” and “ums” I cringe just listening to it. Refuse to actually.
What made your favorite creator great? I guarantee you they had the exact same results you did. The difference was they took those same stats, and used them to build. Stats are not final results, they are place holders. A place holder to show you where you stand at any given moment. They will go down, but they CAN also go up.
Your viewership results are your child. Your baby. If you had a child, and you allowed it to do anything it wanted. Then every time it performed an unacceptable act you just did nothing and gave up, where would that child end up? How can you grow and develop something with out knowing what acts are going on?
Use these stats as something to grow. I can go on forever about different statistics, and how to use them. In order to start that journey you need to remove the emotional response. Use the numbers as a current location, not an end point. “I only got one view yesterday?” That’s one more view than most of your friends. That’s one more view than the person who gave up before they even began.
You began. You started. You already took the hardest step there is. You will see numbers and stats you don’t like. So fix them. Math is meant to have a solution at the end. Be that solution to your own problem. If you see one view, be excited to know who’s watching. You can’t fix a problem you don’t see.