Your Guide To Resurrecting Your Old Youtube Channel: Part 2 – Building The New

Creating a successful YouTube channel is an uphill task and can often feel endlessly futile. Many people find themselves starting out with all the enthusiasm. But somewhere along the way, they give up and abandon ship. If you are a person looking to get back into the YouTube game, we’ve got some handy tips for you. Check out our pointers for rebranding your old YouTube channel and maximizing its potential.

Design

The first step to rebranding and retargeting your YouTube channel obviously involves research. Before you even begin creating content, take stock of your old videos and the path you want your new channel to take. Do you want to start completely from scratch and create content in an entirely different niche? Or do you want your videos to follow the same blueprint as your earlier content?

Depending on your reasons for leaving in the first place, you may want to consider finding a different niche. You will have to research competitors and changes with YouTube analytics and the YouTube algorithm in the time since you were gone. Accordingly and armed with all new data, work on revamping your channel design. Play around with the channel banner art, video intro graphics, and thumbnail design. Consider adding all important details like your upload schedule and your social media handles for easy access right on the banner. Try to couple a dramatic thumbnail with an eye-catching and arresting image and headline. Make sure your old videos on the channel follow the same theme and update video thumbnails for those too.

Titles and description

Update video titles of all old videos to achieve an overall clarity with your new design and niche. Along with video titles, update all video descriptions too. And update video tags according to popular trending tags and tags used by other influencers in your niche. You can even consider changing your channel name altogether. If you have an inconsequential fan base that is not large enough to risk alienating or confusing, changing your channel name can help you attract a brand-new audience.

Your Subscribe button may not seem like an important detail worth updating. But when you are revamping everything else on your channel, there is no harm in updating that too. Maybe try a clean, immediately visible logo with no extraneous details that will distract. This may also help with the click-through rate.

Playlists

Think about the needs of your audience when creating content, and aim for value generation. Your content needs to be easy to view, hold attention, and accessible. Playlists are a great way for you to categorize your content so that viewers don’t have to scroll through endless videos to find the one they are looking for. An eye-grabbing playlist title can also help with making sure your audience don’t leave the channel without clicking play. The longer they stay on your channel and on a particular video, the more likely they are to browse the rest of the space too.

Include your viewers

Treat your viewers as an idea-generating factory. Ask them directly what they’d like to see and what was lacking in your old content. Bring them into your YouTube marketing equation and use their suggestions to rebuild. Ask for recommendations and feedback on the community tab, comments and connected social media accounts. Answer and respond to all comments, especially in the beginning stages of rebuilding. And let your viewers know you are grateful for their attention.

Consistency is key

There may be many reasons behind why a person abandons a YouTube channel. Low views, engagement, stagnant growth, lack of ideas and time all can play a part. When you are rebranding, aim not to repeat past mistakes. A key mistake that most YouTubers cannot afford to make when starting out is inconsistency. New channels need the push to gain ranking by YouTube and work the algorithm to their advantage. Make sure you create a practical and achievable schedule and stick to it over time. Give yourself a time frame for certain view or subscriber targets you want to reach and keep pushing. Oh, and let your audience know about your schedule too.

Tracking apps and 3rd party resources

Take advantage of 3rd party apps that help with tracking and provide crucial inputs on your channel and video performance. Whether they are apps that help with keyword research or crafting thumbnails or graphics, use the external help. Tools like VidIQ are great for boosting views, channel audits, and research on competitors. For graphics, Adobe Creative Suite is a creator go-to. Storyblocks can help with editing, B roll cutaways and jump cuts. Investing in third-party apps is crucial in the early stages when you don’t have a significant or consistent fan base.

All-in-all

In conclusion, the choice between old vs. new is personal to the individual YouTuber and circumstance. Sometimes, reviving an old channel may not work at all, and you might have to start off in an entirely new direction. If your YouTube history is spotty and filled with copyright strike-related issues, rebranding may not be the course correction you are looking for. It would be better to start over with a new channel that is not on YouTube’s radar and riddled with red flags.

Your rebranding may also fail for the reason that your old audience may not connect to your new content and unsubscribe. Investing in a marketing resurrection of your old channel only works if you have a reasonably sized following that you want to carry along with you with the rebranding. It’ll also give you a clean bill of health for your channel with no existing issues. If your new channel has a drastically different focus from your old one, it might affect your discoverability on YouTube. So keep that in mind when you decide to rebrand. If YouTube can’t decide what your channel focus is, it will affect whether it will be recommended to viewers. Take your time when making a decision regarding new content and work with an organized plan so that you reach success the second time around.