The Secrets to a VERY Successful Vlog Channel on YouTube with Weed ’em and Reap’s DaNelle: The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 232
“I don’t want to just produce content, I want to produce things that people love and will want to come back for.”
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It’s another YouTube Power Hour first! My first ever farming YouTuber kicks off the new season of the show. My guest this week is the wonderful DaNelle from Weed ‘em and Reap! On a mission to create a farm of her own, DaNelle persuaded her husband to purchase a home on an acre of land and transform it into their very own suburban farm. They provide eggs, milk, meat, fruit, nuts, and veggies all on their one-acre farm in Arizona. DaNelle is known as the “goat lady” and is passionate about helping people own milking goats even on the smallest lot. DaNelle and her family are known for their daily Youtube videos of life on their mini-farm and her blog at Weed ’em & Reap where she writes about the backyard farming and cooking from scratch.
DaNelle started her channel as a way to diversify her income after she started her blog. She started off vlogging, and then slowly incorporated tutorials and how-to style videos, but she wanted to build a loyal audience. She started looking at the YouTubers she really loved and truly resonated with, and started writing down why she liked them, what drew her to them, and what she loved about their personalities and their content. Her goal was to build that loyal audience she craved by emulating the characteristics of the successful YouTubers she was loyal to herself. A year and a half after starting her channel, she did a complete overhaul, and switched to a more reality/tv-show style video, and her channel totally took off.
“What I wanted to do was build a more loyal following, and the way I knew how to do that was through personality.”
The first change she made to her channel was pacing. In today’s world, it has become so much harder for creators to make things that people want to keep watching because of our collective shortened attention spans. DaNelle tries to ensure that the pacing of her videos is quick and will keep her viewers engaged. The change that totally revolutionized her channel was turning it into her own mini reality tv show, in which the members of her family and all their animals on their farm are almost like characters in a show. By anthropomorphizing her animals (giving them human characteristics and personalities), she has been able to attract so many loyal subscribers who tune in just to check in on the stories of their favorite animals. There are so many story lines running through her channel, and DaNelle tries her best to keep track of all of them, big and small. She does this by reading through her comment section, where people usually comment and ask about the outcome of even the smallest story lines. What DaNelle has been able to do with her channel is truly remarkable, and her ridiculously high view-to-subscriber ratio is a true testament to her success.
“How can I convert that subscriber to a loyal subscriber?”
3 Key Interview Takeaways
- How often should you post? It’s important to find a balance in your upload schedule, and for DaNelle, that’s twice a week. If you post too often, you saturate their newsfeed and people start having to choose what they want to watch, but if you post too little, they won’t be craving your videos.
- The difference between a subscriber and a loyal fan: We talk a lot on this podcast about the true fan, and often, it’s not just about the numbers of subscribers you have, it’s how many are loyal to you. How many people continue to show up and watch every single video? What is your views:subscriber ratio? Having a high number of subscribers means next to nothing if they aren’t watching your videos in droves.
- Do what is best for you. DaNelle and her family have received multiple offers from production companies (including Netflix!), but it’s just not the best fit for them, but for some people, that is the ultimate goal! DaNelle prefers to maintain control over what they create, and her kids shy away from the limelight. While they do sponsored videos, it’s not very often. This is what works for them, but it’s important to remember that what might work for someone else is not always the best fit for you!
Mentioned in the Episode:
Don’t Faint on me now, Mama! (miniature goat birth)
Building the Swimming Pond of our DREAMS! (revealing our pond plans)
Connect with DaNelle
Weed ’em and Reap on Instagram
Resources
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my replay of my FREE Zero to 100k Subscribers Masterclass
FREE GUIDES:
Creating Content During Crisis: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
YOUTUBE OPTIMIZATION PLUG-IN I RECOMMEND
TubeBuddy [Use the code ErikasBuddy to get 20% off]
MY FAVORITE BUSINESS TOOLS
Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
Live Calls and Interviews: I use Ecamm for my podcast interviews, both audio and for YouTube that you see here on YouTube. It makes it super easy to share my screen and create the split-screen with my guest. I’m not super techie and this software is really easy to use!
Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
THE BEST YOUTUBE/PODCASTING EQUIPMENT
After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
- Lens: This lens is recommended highly by many of my podcast guests, it gives the blurry “YouTuber” background look.
- Audio: If you want to upgrade your set-up, audio should be one of the first investments (after a good camera). This microphone is unanimously the favorite amongst my podcast guests.
- Podcast/Voiceover Microphone: If you are looking for a great microphone for a podcast or video voiceover, this is it! This is the one that you see in all of my videos and the one I’ve recorded my podcast on for years.
- Webcam: For my interviews, that you see in my videos, this is the webcam that I use. Super inexpensive and easy to set up!
- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
- Ring light: Looking for that beauty look? Invest in a ring light! This is an inexpensive light that does that trick!
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Podcast Music Credit: Boop by x50 @x50music
Music provided by Free Music for Vlogs youtu.be/o52xQkQWzyU
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**Disclaimers: all opinions are my own, sponsors are acknowledged. Links in the description are typically affiliate links that let you help support the podcast at no extra cost.SaveSave
