29:06Jake Trinder · Essay
Once You Learn Psychology, YouTube Becomes Embarrassingly Simple
A YouTube growth strategist breaks every video down into four sequential viewer decisions and shows how to find which one is actually broken.
August 26thThe argument in one line.
The YouTube algorithm rewards videos that one specific viewer instantly recognizes as made for them, so content aimed broadly at everyone rarely earns the click, watch, and return signals that unlock distribution.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- You're a YouTube creator whose videos get views inconsistently and you're not sure why.
- You post regularly but struggle to decide what to make next.
- You have a lot of topics you could cover and no clear sense of who you're actually making videos for.
SKIP IF…
- You already have a clearly defined audience and just want tactical thumbnail or upload-schedule tips.
- You're making videos purely as a hobby with no growth goal.
The full version, fast.
When videos underperform, creators tend to blame the YouTube algorithm, but the more common problem is that the content is positioned too broadly for any one viewer to feel it was made for them. The algorithm only reflects how real viewers respond: whether they click, watch, and want more. A video aimed at one specific person in a specific situation produces stronger and more consistent viewer signals than a general topic aimed at anyone. The fix is to define a perfect viewer using three questions (who they are, what they're struggling with, what they want to become possible) and to test every video idea against one sentence: I'm making this video for ___, who is struggling with ___, so she or he can ___.
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00:00 – 00:58
01 · Blaming the algorithm
Diane lists the usual excuses (age, subscriber count, upload frequency) before naming the real question most creators skip: is the algorithm actually the problem?
00:58 – 02:46
02 · The video that broke the pattern
One video brought in about 1,500 new subscribers over two weeks, far outside her normal baseline, which forced her to ask what she'd actually done differently.
02:46 – 05:38
03 · What the algorithm actually measures
The algorithm has no personal opinion about a channel. It tracks clicks, watch time, and whether viewers want more, then routes future distribution off that signal.
05:38 – 08:28
04 · Case study: too broad to matter
Some underperformance is a narrow topic or a weak title, not broad positioning. Diane traces how making the pre-Christmas video specific to one life stage changed the response.
08:28 – 09:27
05 · Broad vs strong positioning
Broad positioning tells people what a video is about. Strong positioning tells the right person why it matters to them right now.
09:27 – 11:32
06 · Three signs your positioning is too broad
Videos that could be for almost anyone, subscribers who don't return, and struggling to decide what to make next are all symptoms of the same root problem.
11:32 – 14:36
07 · Defining your perfect viewer
Diane rejects detailed marketing avatars in favor of three questions: who is this person, what are they struggling with, and what do they want to become possible.
14:36 – 16:40
08 · Testing a video idea: broad vs narrow
A broad title like 'how do I start a YouTube channel' has to serve too many different viewers. Narrowing it to one life stage sharpens the whole video.
16:40 – 18:58
09 · Won't narrowing it down cost me viewers?
Speaking to one specific viewer doesn't exclude everyone else. A strong title and thumbnail help the right person click and the wrong person scroll past without harm.
18:58 – 21:29
10 · Where to find your perfect viewer
Comments, YouTube Studio analytics, and the creator's own past self are the three places Diane points to for evidence of who the real audience is.
21:29 – 27:27
11 · Niches, clarity from action, and the one sentence
A niche only matters if the goal is growth. Clarity comes from posting and watching the response, and every video idea can be tested with one fill-in-the-blank sentence.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- The YouTube algorithm has no opinion about a channel. It only reflects how real viewers respond to a video once it's shown to them.
- A video positioned for one specific viewer outperformed months of average uploads, bringing in 1,500 new subscribers in two weeks.
- Broad positioning tells people what a video is about. Strong positioning tells the right person why it matters to them.
- If viewers respond inconsistently because videos seem aimed at different kinds of people, YouTube reads that as unclear signal and shows the channel to fewer people.
- A video can be genuinely useful and still fail to grow a channel if it doesn't point at one specific viewer.
- Three warning signs your positioning is too broad: your videos could be for almost anyone, subscribers don't return for the next video, and you struggle to decide what to make next.
- Defining a perfect viewer takes three things: who they are, what they're struggling with right now, and what they want to become possible.
- 'How do I start a YouTube channel' is a broad idea. 'Starting on YouTube after 50' is specific, and it tells you exactly who needs the video and where they are in the process.
- Speaking to one specific viewer doesn't lock everyone else out. There's always a radius of other people who will still watch.
- Comments are the first evidence of who a channel's real audience is: look for the person who says 'I thought I was the only one who felt like that.'
- A perfect viewer is often close to who the creator used to be: a few steps behind them on the same path.
- A channel doesn't need a permanent niche on day one. Clarity comes from posting five or six videos on a topic and watching what happens, not from months of planning.
- Before hitting record, test the idea with one sentence: I'm making this video for ___, who is struggling with ___, so she or he can ___.
Why broad content stalls on YouTube
AUDIENCE FOCUS
The algorithm rewards videos that one specific viewer instantly recognizes as made for them, so content aimed at everyone rarely earns the click, watch, and return signals that unlock distribution.
01Blaming the algorithm
- When a video underperforms, algorithm blame feels true because you can't see why viewers didn't respond, but it skips the more useful question of who the video was actually for.
- The algorithm has no memory of past videos and no opinion about a channel. It reacts fresh to how each individual video performs once it's shown to people.
02The video that broke the pattern
- A single video pulling in far more subscribers than usual is worth investigating specifically, not just celebrating: what was different about that one?
- An outlier result is more likely to come from being more specific about the intended viewer than from a new topic, format, or algorithm trick.
03What the algorithm actually measures
- YouTube tracks whether people click, whether they stay and watch, and whether they seem to want more from a creator afterward. Those signals decide future distribution.
- Inconsistent viewer response, caused by videos that seem aimed at different kinds of people, reads to YouTube as unclear signal, not as a video worth promoting.
04Case study: too broad to matter
- Sometimes a video simply has a narrow natural audience or a weak title and thumbnail. That's a separate problem from broad positioning and isn't always the creator's fault.
- A topic that feels emotionally specific to one situation draws a stronger response than a general topic everyone could technically use.
05Broad vs strong positioning
- Broad positioning describes what a video covers. Strong positioning tells one specific person why the video matters to their exact situation right now.
- Content built to make everyone feel included often ends up making no one feel like it was made specifically for them.
06Three signs your positioning is too broad
- If a video could theoretically be for almost anyone, that breadth is usually a warning sign, not a strength.
- Viewers who subscribe after one video but skip the next are a sign the channel doesn't have a consistent, recognizable audience yet.
- Struggling to decide what to make next is often a symptom of unclear audience focus, not a lack of ideas.
07Defining your perfect viewer
- A useful audience definition doesn't need a detailed fictional persona with a name and a favorite restaurant. Three questions are enough: who they are, what they're struggling with, and what they want to become possible.
- Age or demographic alone doesn't define an audience. It's the combination of their situation, their fears, and the change they want that makes a viewer recognizable.
- Knowing the audience in this kind of detail also shapes which explanations and background information a piece of content needs to include or leave out.
08Testing a video idea: broad vs narrow
- A broad title like 'how do I start a YouTube channel' has to serve wildly different viewers with different questions, which forces vague, generic answers.
- Narrowing the same topic to a specific life stage or situation makes it possible to promise, and deliver, a clear plan by the end.
09Won't narrowing it down cost me viewers?
- Speaking to one specific viewer doesn't exclude everyone else. There's always a wider radius of people who will still watch and engage.
- A strong title and thumbnail work by helping the right viewer click and the wrong viewer scroll past, which protects watch time instead of hurting it.
10Where to find your perfect viewer
- Comments are the first evidence of who a channel's real audience is: look for the specific words people use to describe their own problems.
- In analytics, the videos that held attention past the first few seconds, generated real comments, and drove subscribes reveal which topic actually resonated, not just which got clicks.
- A perfect viewer is often a past version of the creator: someone a few steps behind them on the same path they already walked.
11Niches, clarity from action, and the one sentence
- A defined niche only matters if the goal is growth and monetization. Content made purely for enjoyment doesn't require any of this.
- Clarity about a niche comes from posting five or six videos on a topic and observing the response, not from months of planning without publishing.
- Before hitting record, completing the sentence 'I'm making this video for ___, who is struggling with ___, so she or he can ___' is a fast way to check if an idea is specific enough.
Terms worth knowing.
- Positioning
- How specifically a piece of content points at one type of viewer and their exact situation, as opposed to a general topic that could interest anyone.
- Perfect viewer
- The one specific person a creator has in mind when making a video, defined by who they are, what they're struggling with, and what they want to become possible.
- YouTube Studio analytics
- YouTube's built-in dashboard showing how a channel's videos perform, including watch time, subscriber change, and audience retention.
Things they pointed at.
02:46linkFree downloadable positioning workbook (PDF, linked in video description)
27:17linkHow I Would Start a YouTube Channel in 2026 (her earlier video)
Lines you could clip.
00:00
“There is something really easy to do when your videos aren't getting views. It's, um, oh, I'll just blame that YouTube algorithm, right?”
03:48
“The algorithm doesn't have any sort of personal opinion about your channel at all. It's looking at how actual viewers respond.”
08:46
“Broad positioning tells people what a video is about. But strong positioning tells the right person, that perfect viewer, why it matters to them.”
20:07
“People didn't just notice the topic. They recognized that they wanted to hear more about that topic from you.”
25:16
“You cannot control how many impressions YouTube gives your next video. But you can make it very much easier for the right person to recognize, hey, I think this video has something in it for me.”
Word for word.
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metaphoranalogy
There is something really easy to do when your videos aren't getting views. It's, um, oh, I'll just blame that YouTube algorithm, right? Maybe YouTube just isn't showing your video to enough people or, well, it's becoming obvious that they only want younger creators and us old people over 50, they don't want our faces on there.
Or those bigger channels, you know, you have to have like 100 ,000 subscribers to even be able to do anything or... Man, the only people that get any views are the people that upload like four times a week, and who has time for that? Or maybe, and this is the possibility that I think especially beginning creators might have a tendency to overlook, the algorithm isn't actually a problem in those circumstances.
So right before the beginning of the new year in 2026, I posted a video that brought in over about a two -week period, about 1 ,500 new subscribers. And that is not the norm for me.
And because that happened, even outside of like all the changes YouTube's making now, so who really knows what our baselines are anymore on a lot of stuff, but I had to just kind of think, what did I do differently in this video that caused that outcome? Because I clearly didn't try some big secret algorithm trick to see if it worked on that.
And I'm pretty sure that YouTube didn't just all of a sudden mysteriously decide to like me more then. I don't think they really do that with anybody. What I came to the conclusion of was the big difference was in that video, I went really hard on, I am making this for the perfect viewer who could possibly be watching this video.
Now, I do try to keep that in mind all the time, but I think I was really kind of a little bit more dialed in on that one. I wanted to make content that when my perfect viewer was watching it, that she or he would be able to immediately determine, hey, this was made for me. And that's what I try to do in a upscaled way in every video that I've made since then.
And I want to help you be able to think through how you can do that too. Because here's what the real problem really might be. Your content might be...
made or positioned or put out there so broadly for so broad of an audience that there is not really ever going to be a particular viewer that feels an immediate need to watch it because they don't feel like it's kind of geared for them. Does that make sense? So we're going to talk about that and later in this video I'm going to give you one sentence that you can complete before you get all your content together for your next video and before you hit record.
that I think will really give you a very clear idea as to whether your video is specific enough. So I found that a lot of you seem to like when I put some notes together on the videos that I do and sort of like some questions you can work through like a little bit of a workbook fashion. So it's like two pages long.
I put together a PDF that you can download for this video. It's located in my description below and of course it's free. So you pour hours into making a video.
You choose a topic. You go through how you want to handle it with what you're talking about. You create the content.
You record it. You do whatever level of editing that you're on it. You come up with your title and thumbnail, which maybe you should have done in the very beginning.
But then you go through all that and you finally publish it. And then almost nothing happens. And you check the numbers an hour later.
And then you check before you go to bed. And then you wake up in the morning and you check it again. And you can see that...
beyond the fact that your video got very few clicks, that actually, you look in YouTube Studio and it looks like YouTube hardly actually showed it to anybody to give me a chance to click. And that's the point where it really feels like the algorithm is not your friend. But in reality, the algorithm doesn't have any sort of personal opinion about your channel at all.
It's looking at how actual viewers respond. to your video when it's put in front of them. When people are offered your video, do they click on it?
And if they click on it, do they stay and watch it for any notable amount of time? Then after they click, do they appear like they want to hear more from you? YouTube is all about learning who the right audience is for a video because they want people to watch videos because they earn money from people watching videos.
Now, hear me on this. If viewers respond inconsistently because the videos that you put up seem like they're kind of aimed at different kind of people that should be watching them, that means that YouTube then receives inconsistent information. So it's not punishment that it doesn't want to show it to a whole lot of people.
It's kind of like a viewer response problem that looks like an algorithm problem. Now, that does not mean that every poorly performing video that we put up is actually our fault.
Sometimes a topic really has a pretty narrow audience of people who might be interested in it. Sometimes the title that we put on it and or the thumbnail just really isn't even close. I've had some of them.
And sometimes a really good video just simply doesn't take off. But when video after video after video that you post just kind of tanks and you're not doing anything active to kind of improve with each one that you post and you get so frustrated and you just keep asking it over and over again, why doesn't YouTube like me?
Well, that's probably not going to give you any sort of answer. Let's switch the question that you ask in that circumstance. Start asking, would the person that I want to reach immediately recognize that this video was made for her or for him?
So here's what changed in a lot of the early videos that I put on this channel, and then leading up to like that one that I told you about that I posted before Christmas this year. For me, the problem wasn't that I didn't have anything useful to say, hopefully. It was kind of almost the opposite.
I feel like I have a lot of things that I can talk about, and I bet you do too. When we're at the point in life where we have decades of life experience, of course we have a lot of things that we're able to talk about. Knowledge from your career, your family, your faith, your hobbies, difficult circumstances that you've survived, and things that you wish that you had known a long time ago before you learned them.
But having many really interesting things to talk about does not automatically give people a clear reason to watch your videos and then to follow your channel. I learned that my positioning was too broad. A viewer might enjoy one of my videos, but then if She looked at the rest of the stuff on my channel.
She couldn't necessarily feel like, okay, this isn't really all for me. Maybe I just hit the jackpot on the one. But then I thought about that video that I made right before the start of the year.
And it really was something that I very much pointed to a viewer who was in a later season of life, who was thinking about YouTube, but honestly, they're sitting there thinking, well, maybe my time to do this has actually passed. They knew they had the capacity to create something that was meaningful and helpful, but the worry was there that they waited too long.
That is a much more specific and a little bit even emotional kind of situation to orient how you're talking about this. And when I put that video up, I was a... pretty surprised to find out that over a two -week period when that video was really kind of popping off, as they say, 1 ,500 people subscribed to my channel after watching that video.
And I think it's clear that they didn't respond because the topic was so broad enough that everybody felt included and everybody felt welcome. In a lot of circumstances in life, of course, that's what we want to do. But when we're making a video that we want to actually get some traction on YouTube, we really have to think about doing the opposite of that.
I think people responded to that video because the message was specific enough that the right people that I wanted to make it for were able to recognize themselves in what I was talking about. So let me just boil that down to, I think, two pretty important phrases. Broad positioning, like making it so that everybody feels like they can see something in it.
Broad positioning tells people what a video is about. But strong positioning tells the right person, that perfect viewer, why it matters to them. I think that's a really big difference to keep in mind.
Okay, so if your positioning is too broad, if you are making it for all kinds of people to want to see a little bit of themselves in it rather than like one very specific group of people to see a lot of themselves in it and feel like it matters to them, here's three signs that I think your positioning might be too broad.
The first signs are that your videos really could be for almost anyone. You might be making videos for what kind of topics? You might be making about motivation and lifestyle stuff and just offering general encouragement or personal growth or something like that.
There is not a thing that's inherently wrong with any of those topics. But who specifically needs what you have to say about the topic and why do they need to hear that now? But if your answer is that, well, these topics are so important that everybody really kind of needs to hear this.
That sounds promising, but that usually means that nobody really has a compelling reason to click play. So the second sign is that people subscribe for one kind of video, but then they don't return for the next one. For example, maybe you have a channel that's sort of like mine, that is aimed at helping people over 50 to feel like they can have more impact online and have an opportunity to earn while they're doing it.
And you make one video about that, and it does pretty well, and then you make your next video about the redecorating project that you did in your family room. And then you make one about all the ways that you're learning to be able to save money at the grocery store, because who doesn't want to learn about that these days?
And then you make a video and you tell a really lovely story from your childhood. Each of those videos could be perfectly good on their own, but chances are the same viewer isn't going to want to watch all four of them. And then the third sign could be that you struggle a lot to decide what kind of video to make next.
And I think that's because the lack of focus of what you're talking about doesn't just cause confusion for the audience. It also causes confusion for you as the creator. When every time you sit down to think about what video you want to do, you can start with the same question.
What should I talk about? When you know exactly what the audience is that you're serving, the answer to that what should I talk about question becomes a whole lot easier. So when you're making content with your perfect viewer really firmly in mind, the question needs to shift from what do I feel like talking about to...
What does my viewer need next from me? And that really helps to give your channel actual direction for growth. All right, Diane, you keep talking about this perfect viewer.
Well, how the heck am I supposed to figure out who this perfect viewer is? Well, I am very glad that you asked that. Because it's extremely important to be able to keep that person in mind.
And when I say keep that person in mind, I am not saying that you need to sit down and write out this complete, in marketing it's called developing an avatar. It's thinking of the person and you want to get really detailed with them and you give them a name and a family situation and you think about what their favorite restaurant is and then you drill down and you think, if this person wanted to get the best laundry detergent, what would they buy?
No, you don't want to get... into any type of depth of details of that. To determine who your perfect viewer is I think you need three things.
Who is this person? What is she or he struggling with right now? And what does this viewer want to become possible at whatever stage of life they're in?
What do they think about that they would like to see become a reality in their life somehow? For my channel, that person might be, now 75 % of my viewers are women. And so for my channel, that person might be a woman who is over 50, who has valuable experience to share, but they're nervous to figure out the technology of how to make everything happen.
And they feel like maybe that online influencer, I hate that term, . Notice alone that simply being a person over the age of 50 does not define my perfect viewer. What makes my viewer into that category is the combination of those things.
Her current situation, the problem and fears that she's kind of feeling from it all, and the change that she would like to see come about in that situation. And once I keep thinking about this combination of things, I can get a whole lot more grounded in what I'm talking about.
I can hopefully make my viewer feel like she can make better decisions. I become really familiar with what fears are preventing her or him from taking action. I think through what sort of technical terms and processes need to be explained because they're kind of big sticking points.
And then I think about the information that's Pretty far down the road and at this point in time with when that person is watching it. They don't need to know that yet So being specific is actually key here It helps you to be able to think through so much and it helps you to figure out what you can kind of push To the side and take the path that's actually going to serve your perfect viewer All right.
Let's test a video idea for one that I put up a couple weeks ago on my channel So here's here's a really broad idea that you could start out with of how do I start a YouTube channel? Well, who is it that is thinking that they might want to start a YouTube channel?
Is it a teenager? Is it a business owner who wants the channel to be able to get clients? Is it a retired teacher?
Is it a professional filmmaker who wants to make something really cinematic with what they're doing? Those viewers have very different questions that they want to have answered when they click on a video that says how to start a YouTube channel. Now, compare that really broad idea to starting on YouTube after 50.
Here are the first five videos that I would make. Taking that route means that I think I know who needs to hear that kind of information. I'm pretty sure I know where they're at in the process.
And I'm hopeful that at the end of the video that my viewer will have a pretty good plan as to what they can do to... Take the weight off of how do I get started and actually like here's the first five topics that you can go through If you want to watch this video, it's linked right here for you so All of this applies to whether you're an extreme beginning stage of the process or whether you've posted 50 different videos and it doesn't matter if they're long form or shorts either one I know I have people in my audience that create both the same principle applies the more clear you are on who the perfect person is to view your video, the stronger the ideas that you can put forth to be able to serve them with your channel.
It's easy to feel like we can get caught in the trap of, I have to make something that's going to appeal to a large audience. When YouTube shows us and humbles us again and again and showing that if we go super broad, we miss opportunities that we could have had if we would have gone for that narrow audience that is actually much more likely to click.
Okay, so stay away from the broad audience and go for specific. But then, of course, we have things go through our mind. Well, Diane, if I say that I'm only making videos based on women, well, I...
You have 25 % of the people who watch your channel are men. If you're doing all that, is that going to turn them off? Well, if I start really going into like menopause related sorts of things, maybe so.
But I am keeping stuff general enough and not being super specific of it's only for women. I know what it's likely to draw, but men can certainly and do watch my videos too and comment and ask their questions and all those things too. Even if you have a very perfect viewer in mind, there's going to be a radius around them of drawing in other people.
It's not like you are so absolutely limited that you have really some super specific person that is only going to be able to watch it and no one else will have any interest. That's just not really how it is. Speaking directly to one person does not by any means lock everybody else out of the room.
Keeping your perfect viewer foremost in mind. absolutely will help you to guide your choices. But your perfect viewer doesn't need to describe every possible person who will have the appeal to want to watch it.
Indeed, there will be a whole lot of people that see your video and scroll past it because they think, that's not for me. And that is by no means failure. A strong title and a really appealing thumbnail will...
help the right people to want to click and help the wrong people to just keep on scrolling and not click on the video and watch it for two seconds and maybe hurt your chances of getting that video to take off even more. There are a whole lot of people in the world that can still share a very specific fear. What if I'm too old to start on YouTube and there's just no way for me to catch up and do it all at this point?
Have I waited too long to start? fill in the blank of what you're talking about. That's a very specific question, but it's also likely a question that millions of people can actually understand.
All right, so is finding this perfect viewer something akin to like trying to find a needle in a haystack? Like how in the heck are you supposed to define who this person is? Let's talk about it.
If you don't know who your perfect viewer is yet for what you want to talk about on your channel, don't just try to sit there and make them up. If you are making videos at this point in time, there's going to be some level of evidence that's already there for you. If you have comments on your videos, which you'll start generating some, I know it might feel like you don't have very many at the beginning, but the more you post and the more you start getting some traction with your videos at whatever level that is, you're going to start to get some comments.
They are your absolute first starting point. Look for the person who says, I wanted to do this for years, but I never really thought I was able to do it. I thought I was the only one that felt like that.
Could you make a video about what I should do first? Those comments are really strong and really important for you to keep in mind because they reveal the words that people actually use to describe their own problems. So then, sort of dig into your YouTube studio analytics a little bit.
Look at the videos that produced more than just views. And by that I mean, which videos clearly held people's attention for more than like the first five or six seconds of the video?
Which are the ones that actually got people talking and leaving some substantial comments on them? Which ones actually caused people to subscribe, saying, I want to hear more from you on this? A video that generates all three of those things tells you something that is very important.
People didn't just notice the topic they recognized that they wanted to hear more about that topic from you. And then finally, I think a lot of people's perfect viewers can tend to be really close to who they are. I am a woman who is in my 50s who has started a YouTube channel and I have some knowledge about communication stuff and about at least how to figure out some tech stuff and not be scared of it.
And I can think of who I was a year ago, two years ago, when I was starting in this process and think of who I can help from the knowledge that I've gained by going through this process. If you think about... what an earlier version of yourself wanted to understand about the topic that you want to talk about.
Think about what are they struggling to figure out? What would you have searched for when you felt really frustrated or uncertain about something? What did you need someone to explain to you without making you feel foolish or dumb because you didn't understand it?
Your perfect viewer could be someone who was a lot like you, but they are a few steps behind you. on the road to figuring out what you're talking about. And that makes your experience so very useful in all this.
All right, perfect viewer, perfect viewer, I get it. But Diane, I still don't understand what my niche is supposed to be. I hear that all the time in my comments.
I have too many interests. I don't know that I could narrow down to be able to talk about one thing on a channel. Okay, let me give the disclaimer that I feel like I give in just about every video that I make.
If you want to have a YouTube channel and enjoy it and talk about whatever is on your mind and whatever comes to play that you're thinking, yeah, I want to make a video about this, go for it. Enjoy it. Have a wonderful hobby.
Love doing it. Love the creativity of it. Just don't expect the channel to grow and make any money from it.
If you're okay with that, perfect. However, if you want a channel to grow, if you want to have the opportunity to uh sell corresponding ebooks and digital products and stuff with that channel and be able to serve people in that way if you want to eventually get your channel monetized which i'm always going to say is not a big deal financially you have to have a niche.
You have to have people that you're talking to. You have to give the people who find your channel the idea that they can get an idea what to expect from you and give that elusive YouTube algorithm that whether we blame it or not, it still needs to get an idea of who the right people are that it should share your videos to.
So if you want that narrow path of growth and that's your goal, that's kind of where you got to land. But here's another truth, now that I'll about that, is that you're not likely to discover your niche by sitting and making some notes and just thinking about it for six months and not doing anything about it.
Clarity comes from action. And in this case, clarity often comes from making videos and posting them and then seeing what happens with them. So that all means that your first description of your perfect viewer doesn't have to be permanent.
Just like in many ways, your niche doesn't have to be permanent. I know that's a bigger conversation about trying to shift a channel that's got, you know, a hundred videos on one topic and then shifting to something else. But for the circumstance when you're starting out, especially if you want to try different topics, if you want to just, you know, Not just do one, but I'm saying at least make five or six videos on a topic and see how it goes, see how you feel doing it, see what the response is.
Then try another interest and do the same thing. Then you can really make some qualified judgments and decisions about what seems to be the best ones for you to move forward with. All right, here's that magical sentence that I think can really help.
you to get things narrowed down as you're thinking about who the person is you want to serve with your next video. Before you hit record, I really encourage you to complete this sentence. I'm making this video for fill in the blank.
Who is struggling with fill in the blank so she or he can fill in the blank. For this video, my sentence might be I'm making this video for the creator who's over 50 who believes the algorithm is ignoring her so she can clarify exactly whom her videos need to serve.
If you can complete the three parts of that sentence clearly, I think you really have a strong foundation for your next focused video that serves your perfect viewer. Hey, you cannot control how many impressions YouTube gives your next video. You cannot control whether every person who actually sees it come up on their feed decides to click on it.
But you can make it very much easier for the right person to recognize, hey, I think this video has something in it for me. So the next time you find yourself just raging at the algorithm and saying, what does it want? Replace that question with this.
Who needs this video? And what does that viewer need from me? right now?
That question can actually give you something to be able to take action with. Now, I would love if you go through that three -part sentence there, and you leave it in the comments for me of how you're answering that three -part sentence for the next video that you're going to be making. And I don't always get to be able to respond to every comment, but I read every one.
And then I also know that lots of the wonderful people in my YouTube channel community also read and comment too, so that helps you get input. So, If that's something you want to do, I would love if you would do that.
Figure out that three parts of that question. I'm making this video for fill in the blank. It was struggling with fill in the blank.
So she or he can fill in the blank. It's a simple formula that really does help to give us some good direction. All right.
If you want the notes from this video, again, I've got them linked as a downloadable PDF below. If that helps you to be able to sort of work through some of these questions. I know it's tough.
I know it's discouraging, especially when you have videos that don't seem to go anywhere and you're like, what do I do? Here's a good substantial first step to think, okay, I'm going to try this. And I hope you do.
Hey, that video I referred to that got the 1 ,500 subscribers in two weeks, I know we're closing in on getting a lot closer to 2027 now, but I think it's called How I Would Start a YouTube Channel in 2026. I have it linked right here. Take a look.
Thank you so much for watching. I'm Diane Moore. I really hope that I can be of help and of encouragement to you and all these things.
And I'd love if you would like this video and subscribe just so we can keep in contact moving forward. See you in the next one.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Diane Moore opens with the excuse every stalled creator reaches for: blame the algorithm. Then she walks back through the one video that broke her own pattern and pulled in 1,500 subscribers in two weeks, and explains what she thinks actually caused it.
Named ideas worth stealing.
12:29list
The Perfect Viewer Formula
- Who is this person?
- What are they struggling with right now?
- What do they want to see become possible?
Three questions used to define the one specific viewer a video should be made for, instead of a detailed fictional persona.
Steal forany piece of content, before writing a word, to force a single reader in mind instead of a general audience
09:21list
Three Signs Your Positioning Is Too Broad
- Your videos could be for almost anyone
- People subscribe for one video but don't return for the next
- You struggle to decide what to make next
A self-check for whether content is aimed at a broad topic instead of a specific viewer.
Steal fordiagnosing a stalled content channel, newsletter, or podcast
24:19list
The One-Sentence Video Check
- I'm making this video for ___
- who is struggling with ___
- so she or he can ___
A fill-in-the-blank sentence to complete before recording, to confirm a video idea is specific enough.
Steal forany single piece of content, video or otherwise, before production starts
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
27:17next-video
“That video I referred to that got the 1,500 subscribers in two weeks, I think it's called How I Would Start a YouTube Channel in 2026. I have it linked right here.”
Soft cross-promotion to a specific prior video right at the end, tied directly back to the proof point used throughout this video, alongside the usual like/subscribe ask.
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
Visual structure at a glance.
