First, let's define "fast". There is no "normal" on YouTube for growth, that is the first misunderstanding for new content creators. Most creators think they are doing something wrong or not growing fast enough.

For the purpose of this article, we are going to define growing fast as reaching 10,000 Subscribers within 6 months to 12 months.

While that may not seem like a lot or may not satisfy your desire to "blow up" this is a major threshold in YouTube referred to as "Bronze level".

1,000 Subscribers (Opal Level) allows you to have access to most of the features within the platform including monetization if you meet the other YouTube Partner Program Requirements (4000 Hours of Watch Time and No Copyright or Community Guidelines violations).

Ref Video: How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers on YouTube

Also, it's important to tell you that this article is Sponsored by our friends at Tubebuddy who make one of the best tools for helping creators grow on YouTube. They have offered our readers a 20% Discount using code: robertosbuddy

How to Grow a YouTube Channel Fast: 
Quantity and Frequency

If you have done any research at all about growing a YouTube channel, then you already know many of the largest and fastest growing channels produce multiple videos a week. Very few channels are able to stick to "quality over quantity" and continue growing, based on YouTube's algorithm. 

This is especially challenging for Animation and Filmmaking Channels as well as DIY Channels that make more complex videos.

There is a reason that content uploaded 3-7 times a week performs better on YouTube (if it is decent quality level), and that comes down to supply and demand.

If you can make decent videos that are emotionally satisfying for the audience and can gain Watch Time and Shares as well as engagement, then you are creating demand. If there is demand, you need to supply more of it than a "competitor" to be successful. Improving the quality doesn't mean the problem of supply, only more content can do that if you're making something people already like.

While this would seem like common sense, you see that as most creators grow they keep fighting to improve quality at the expense of quantity sometimes. There is a threshold of acceptable quality, and while it's true you should always work to improve, you can take this slowly. 

You can improve the presentation of things like your Thumbnails and Branding and get more results than if you take longer to edit and produce the same content.

YouTube favors channels that upload frequently, get in engagement, bring new traffic to YouTube from other websites, and can get high watch time and retention rates, and higher click-thru rates on thumbnails.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel Fast: 
GATEWAY CONTENT

You'll almost never hear anyone talk about this, but "Gateway Content" is the best and fastest content strategy for growing on YouTube and it's more reliable than going viral. It's also sustainable longterm and will benefit your channel almost indefinitely.

If there is a secret to how I gained 300,000 subscribers, this is the secret.

Gateway content is content that is relevant to someone whether they are familiar with you or not. For example, tutorial content like "How to Remove Backgrounds in Photoshop" is gateway content. 

Gateway content is search engine friendly, topical, usually evergreen in nature (won't be worthless in a week or irrelevant in a month).

Product reviews are another good example of Gateway content. 

Even if your plan is to do entertainment-based content, you need some type of gateway content. For entertainers, a series of videos or a theme or referencing something in pop culture is actually a really good idea. This could include parodying your favorite TV-Shows or Movies or Music since people are already fans of those things without knowing who you are.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel Fast: 
Don't Be a Personality, Have a Personality

Where most new creators fail is they immediately come to the YouTube world trying to be a personality and the reality is they haven't developed an online character or persona yet in the first place. This is something that evolves over a period of time.

In reality, it is also hard to compete with existing personalities especially in a very popular niche or genre. Most people don't want to put in the 3-5 years required to achieve this and are just hoping to go viral or get a shout out. This is not a strategy for success in 2018. Audiences are much less willing to give something a chance.

With that in mind your on-camera personality, charisma, and performance are some of the most important factors in YouTube success.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel Fast: 
RESEARCH YOUR NICHE RUTHLESSLY

You need to ruthlessly and relentlessly research your niche if you're planning to take this seriously. You need to understand the market your catering to before you hit the record button if your plan is to be more than a hobby creator.

If you don't understand what the demand is, how are you going to supply it?

Do you have the audacity to think that anyone should watch your videos because you worked really hard on it and you're passionate about it?

Nobody has that kind of time. People are very ruthless with their time, and you should respect that by giving them what they want if you what you want is their attention.

Find 10 large channels in your niche, and take notes on everything:

• Intro and Outro
• On-camera presence 
• Video production and setup
• Video editing and pacing/timing
• Thumbnails and Channel Artwork
• Frequency of Uploads
• Study first 10 Videos they uploaded
• Titles of their videos

Now think about what you would have to do, to have something that someone who enjoys this content would also enjoy and respect and also be easily able to identify as the content they want to watch.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel Fast: 
VARIETY CHANNELS GROW SLOW OR NOT AT ALL 

In 2018 I'm officially declaring the death of variety channels.

Viewers have decided to simplify their viewing behaviors. If you poll them they will tell you something different and tell you that they will support whatever content you put out because it's you... and they are absolutely lying to your face based on the data (with few exceptions).

If you want to be successful, find a niche and stick to it and a narrow lane of related topics. If you want to put out something different to satisfy your creativity rather than what the audience subscribed for, make a secondary channel or do it on another platform like Instagram.

This is going to feel disappointing, but this is if you want to grow as large and as fast as possible. If you can be satisfied with only doing content you enjoy on your own terms and won't be emotionally disappointed when you look at your views or growth, you can ignore this advice.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel Fast: 
OPTIMIZE FOR HUMANS AND ROBOTS

Exciting titles get clicked, but that doesn't mean you can't make them search engine friendly. You need to make great titles that attract attention and curiosity but you also need to support that with great thumbnails that get clicked in the first place.

Don't ignore SEO (Search Engine Optimization) just because you see "Big YouTubers" ignoring it. There are reasons that these things exist, and Big YouTubers have built-in advantages you don't have and may have started earlier than you. Descriptions and Tags and optimizing them are not irrelevant, take it seriously.

Tubebuddy may be a sponsor of this article, but I personally used them to optimize my content and even to revive old content that I felt could perform better. They are the best tool for helping your channel get discovered in search when nobody knows who you are and your videos haven't made them care just yet.

About The Author

Roberto Blake is a Creative Entrepreneur and Founder of Awesome Creator Academy. He is a YouTube Certified Expert with an education based channel with over 300,000 subscribers and is a speaker at conferences like VidCon, VidSummit, and Social Media Marketing World.