I just posted my 19th YouTube video on the budgetguitarist.com YouTube channel. As I’m typing this, we’re at 169 subscribers. I’m a little behind where I hoped I’d be, but not by too much. My goal is to get to 1,000 subscribers in two years. I know I could get there far quicker if I did some paid advertising and marketing, but I’d rather put my extremely limited funds into making better videos.
20 weeks ago when I posted my first video, I wondered if I’d be able to keep up the pace of making a video every single week. I thought it’d be hard to motivate myself after a couple of weeks. That hasn’t been the case at all. Actually, I’m way more into it now than I was when I started. It’s not because of success, because I haven’t had any yet (aside from the PRS comparison video, which is sitting and two and a half thousand views right now – not a lot for some channels, but a good amount for a new small channel like mine.
I like to look at the people who are further down the road than I am and see what they’re doing. I believe that in addition to making good videos, which I’m still working on, the biggest key is consistency for a long time. Channels with 1,000+ viewers have been around. The audience will grow over time.
There’s something very motivating about a deadline. If I didn’t have a weekly deadline, it’d be harder to do this. As it is, it gives me something to put my energy into. I enjoy the process, though I’ll admit the editing is the tough part – it gets really tedious. At this point, I’m not using a script, so I record the video and there’s lots of pauses and misfires, and they all have to be removed. A script and a teleprompter would really help, but right now I’m not interested in either. I usually have a rough outline written down, so that helps.
With 19 videos done, I’m starting to look for patterns of what works and what doesn’t. My best video was comparing two PRS guitars. My worst was about using IR files with a Floor Pod Plus. One clue is that two of my top five videos involve and Epiphone Les Paul. There are a lot of Epiphone players out there. Another clue is that people like comparisons. Two of the five videos feature comparisons. The problem with that is that I don’t have a budget where I can go out and buy an expensive guitar and the cheap version of it and record that. I do think it’d be cool, but only a big music store can do something like that, and even then they run the risk of pissing off Gibson, Fender, PRS, or whomever.
I’m filming (I know it’s not literally film) an episode on how to set up your Epiphone Les Paul this weekend. I’m interested in seeing how that one does. But even if it tanks, I’m still going to do more. I think what I’m really doing is trying to make videos that I like. Every piece of advice says not to do that – they say you need to pick ONE THING and just do that. Nope. This is for fun. It isn’t my job.
Regardless, I’m building a collection of videos that pair nicely with this website. Both are really fun creative outlets for me. Providing guitarists with some mediocre free entertainment isn’t the worst thing one could do. I’m putting stuff out because I like to create. Same with my music. The simple act of creating is enough to justify itself.
I’m thinking about getting some better lights. Basically ANY lights would be better than what I’ve been using. I’ll probably order them now, and they won’t be used for this week’s video, but they will be used for the one next week. I’ve also made another upgrade – I upgraded from using an original iPhone SE (basically an iPhone 6) to a new iPhone SE (basically an iPhone 11.) My old iPhone was broken in a way where I couldn’t hear someone when they called me. It still works as a video camera, though, so I’ll now have two cameras to work with. THAT should definitely be an improvement.
As a matter of fact, I think I’ll stop blogging and start setting up for my video. Thanks for reading this – I appreciate it.
