Derral Eves
If you are just getting started on YouTube, do not expect to pull any type of viewership in your first year. If this isn't something you can accept, don't start. But if you can, then you need to do this: make 100 videos. (Location 456)
“Derral, don't think of solutions, think of the problem. When you focus and obsess on the problem, the solution will present itself.” (Location 571)
“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” (Location 573)
part: Success is all about acquisition and retention of clients and having them come back wanting more. You got the acquisition down. But how is your retention? How many clients pay you monthly?” (Location 618)
friendly. So I created a plan of attack. I made a series of videos for a few select businesses and focused on generating a lead. My brother‐in‐law is an optometrist, and I asked him to let me market his practice with videos. I was able to rank for some hard key terms that would have taken a lot of effort for a website but showed up easily in the results in a matter of hours when I used videos. (Location 661)
YouTube. I needed to become the expert helping businesses by generating leads and sales with video. I kept my big clients who were paying thousands of dollars a month, but I sold everything else. It was my point of no return. (Location 666)
Video power outweighed word power by an overwhelming margin. Viewers were much more likely to do what advertisers wanted them to do—pick up the phone and call, make a purchase, or sign up for a service—after watching a video. (Location 675)
In my videos, I hyperfocused to dial in messaging with the goal of getting the phone to ring. It was so important to know everything about the person making the phone call. I would grill my brother‐in‐law and his office staff on all the things people would ask and what they needed help with. Then I would take those questions and turn them into talking points for the video with clear solutions on how we could help. I asked a ton of questions to get a good handle on the niche and what would work. Then I would make 10 solid videos that would show up in search. Once the messaging was working—the video was ranking and the phone was ringing—I would go to another city and do it all over again. (I only worked with one business per niche in each city.) (Location 679)
When ThePianoGuys’ YouTube channel exploded, I was able to be a part of the true power of YouTube for the first time. (Location 703)
Uniting people around a similar passion was exhilarating. It was an intense realization that I could help people find their own dedicated global audiences. (Location 708)
clarity. Audience development was my thing. I realized I was really good at creating a community around content, so I dedicated my career to learning what makes an audience click. (Location 715)
Know Your Goal, Know Your Why Every creator and business should be able to answer the question, “What is your finish line?” or, “What is your goal?” (Location 2397)
The YouTube AI doesn't care about your title and thumbnail, but if a person cares and clicks, then YouTube pays attention. (Location 2453)
The first time someone watches your content they are clicking because of your title and/or thumbnail, yes, but if they watch the video and start to connect with you, then that's your golden ticket. When you convert a viewer to a fan, your title and thumbnail lose a lot of importance because that fan will watch your video anyway at this point—they like you and trust you, and they want to watch based on those facts. In order to optimize for humans, I recommend that you define your video with a title that has fewer than 60 characters. (Location 2456)
Additionally, humans respond to storytelling. Your video should have a story arc. It should begin with you delivering on the promise of your title and thumbnail. After that, you need to reengage the viewer and pull them into your content. (Location 2464)
Before you worry about the audience, though, you must focus on your content. If you're not making good content in a niche you are passionate about, your channel will fail, plain and simple. Do something you care about, and make good content. (Location 2535)
Create content around your passion, but don't do it for that reason alone. Do it for the people who will actually watch your videos. Combining your passion with your ideal audience creates a crossover that works like a charm. (Location 2551)
Here is a quick example of each type of micro‐moment: (Location 2690)
Action Exercise Perform the reconnaissance steps to better find your audience and see what they're consuming on YouTube: (Location 2930)
I have worked with YouTuber MrBeast on a lot of YouTube videos and other projects, and I can tell you that his success is no accident. He is so thoughtful and methodical about every tiny detail in his content. He plans out all the elements of title, thumbnail, story arc, camera work, and every other little thing a creator could possibly think of when making a new video. MrBeast creates multiple title and thumbnail combinations, and films multiple options for different scenes in every video. His storyline is clear, his hook is bold and simple, and his reengagements are off the charts. He zooms, pans, and shoots from different perspectives. He edits with continuous reengagement in mind, doing quick cuts and fast paces because he knows that's what works with his audience. He also keeps storylines simple. (Location 3107)
If MrBeast can't explain a video concept in one sentence, he labels it as too complicated and scratches it. (Location 3114)