How to be consistent on YouTube – 10 Ways

One of the most talked-about things when it comes to being successful and growing on YouTube is consistency. You’ll find plenty of advice telling you that you need to be consistent in order to achieve your YouTube goals, but what you won’t find is a lot of people talking about what exactly you can do and how to be consistent on YouTube.

I’m going to try to get straight to the point and show you 10 ways that you can become more consistent on YouTube.

Before we get to that though, let’s look at two important questions about YouTube consistency you may be wondering about.

What does it mean to be consistent on YouTube?

You’ll often find consistency mistaken for just uploading videos regularly.

Regularity is definitely a part of being consistent, but it isn’t the entirety. You also have consistency in how your videos are made, what happens in your YouTube videos, how you present the video, branding & other aspects that tie your videos together, etc.

It’s not just about the when, it’s also the where, how, what & why.

If you upload videos every day at a specific time, your audience may know when you’ve released a new video, but they won’t know what it’s about or why they should watch it. This brings me to the second point.

Why is consistency important?

It gives your viewers, subscribers & audience a reason to be excited about your next video. If you’re consistent, your audience should know what it is they’re going to be getting.

This doesn’t mean that they’ll know exactly how your video plays out, but they’ll have expectations or a certain quality, style, humor, information, etc. that you provide with your content.

There’s also, of course, the YouTube algorithm that favors regular uploading as well. We don’t need to get too much into detail with that though. If you upload quality content regularly, YouTube will push your content to more people & you’ll increase your reach.

As mentioned though, if you don’t have any consistency in your videos, regular posting won’t have an impact. You need to build & develop consistency in your content as well.

Consistency doesn’t have to be extremely difficult to implement.

Once you’ve put some thought into your YouTube channel with these 10 ways to be more consistent, you’ll start including more aspects that will increase your consistency automatically during production.

So, let’s get straight into it with the 10 different ways to be more consistent on YouTube.

1. Be consistent on YouTube by having a video/content schedule

The key to having a video/content schedule that works is to make sure it’s a realistic one.

You’ll find no benefit in making a video schedule that includes uploading daily when it takes two days to film, record & edit your videos.

Uploading daily to YouTube is not for everyone; stick to making a content schedule that you can manage.

When you’re starting, side on the edge of caution. I don’t know about you, but it always takes longer than my initial expectations when I plan on getting something done.

2. Show your upload schedule on your YouTube Channel Banner

Now those delays could be due to procrastination, setting standards at an unnecessarily high level or just poor planning. One of the best ways to make sure you stick to your schedule & get things done faster is to have your schedule shown on your Channel banner.

This means showing what day(s) & possibly even what time you upload videos to your channel. This set of clear deadlines provides extra motivation to get your content out & ready in time. I also find it helps reduce the amount of unnecessary work and leads to you focusing on the important aspects of your videos.

Not only does it help with your own productivity, but it also lets your audience know when they can expect your next video.

Even if YouTube doesn’t push your new video to all of your subscribers, if someone really has an interest in your content, they’ll check out your channel to see if you’ve posted something new & YouTube’s algorithm will take notice.

3. Create thumbnail templates or use a specific style

Your thumbnail is often the first thing that a potential viewer will notice & can make or break their decision to watch your video.

By having a consistent thumbnail style, your audience will start to recognize your videos when they show up in their feed though.

This will increase the conversion rate of people clicking through, which also tells YouTube that this is some great stuff & it can push your videos to more people & more potential new subscribers.

4. Recognize your audience & speak to them

An aspect that is often overlooked is that of recognizing who it is that is watching your videos. Once you know who your audience is, you’ll be able to produce better content that they will enjoy.

An example would be if your audience is mainly over the age of 30, they’ll generally be more receptive to your videos if they’re produced in a more mature manner than if they were made with 13-year-olds in mind.

Another example would be that if your videos are targeted mainly towards women & your audience is mostly female, it’s okay to use terms like hey ladies & other gender-specific terms when addressing your viewers, as most will resonate with this. This isn’t something you should be doing if you have a 50-60% split though.

You see, it mainly boils down to recognizing who you’re speaking to in order to create the best content you can. Have a target viewer in mind & check out your YouTube analytics for more detailed information on location, gender, age, etc.

A great tool for finding videos that will do well and fit your audience is the free TubeBuddy extension for YouTube. The Keyword Explorer function allows you to easily look up potential keywords for a video so that you can create the most rankable content for your audience to find you.

5. Stick to a format

By format, I mean, if you’re going to do reviews, stick to reviewing in a certain way. If you’re going to do tutorials, present them in a specific way.

Your audience will appreciate the consistency & tie that style to your videos.

A great example of this is the difference you’ll find between Casey Neistat and Logan Paul’s vlogs. Both are vloggers, but you’ll notice a massive difference in the format of vlogging they use, both of which are now associated with them.

P.s. this doesn’t mean you can’t have multiple formats, I.e. Reviews, tutorials, etc. Just don’t go overboard.

6. Find consistency by establishing your niche

Another one of the things you’ll hear often is to find your niche. It’s said often because it’s that important. Your niche ties everything together and makes you a part of a community.

It also helps you decide on what to make. If you do tech reviews on Smartphones & mobile devices, a coffee machine won’t make any sense to review as you’re not in the household or coffee niche… If it’s a smartphone-operated coffee machine though, go ahead & send me a link.

Even people that are, seemingly, without a niche, use something to tie everything together.

Lifestyle YouTubers, for example, may seem like they’re all over the place with reviews, vlogs, tutorials, tips, YouTube Q&As, etc. but what ties all of their content together is them.

They’re most often using a specific format, uploading regularly & speaking to their audience (which is why a lot of the time certain YouTubers can have a real mixed reaction when they get seen by the wider community, as they’re not aimed at everyone).

I like to think of these creators as having themselves as a niche.

You can’t just go into nature and record something completely different, like a mini-documentary, if you’re in this niche though. It won’t be presenting your audience with what they actually want to see, which is your personality shining through.

7. Pre-plan or write a video script or outline

Planning & scripts can make a huge difference in consistency and productivity.

If you plan out what you want to talk about and jot down some notes or even a full script, you’ll save yourself from missing important points you may have wanted to mention or just rambling on a tangent and making your video unnecessarily long.

Whilst longer videos & watch time are something that YouTubes algorithm takes into account, making them long-winded & boring just for the sake of passing 10 minutes will only result in people leaving your video & calling you out on it. Neither of which will help you get more views or subscribers.

If you’re someone that likes to go off the cuff, I recommend at least jotting down some points you want to be covered in your video.

8. Batch production

Batching is the process of recording multiple videos in one session. You could also batch your script/outline writing, editing, etc. though.

Batching is something I still struggle with when it comes to video making. You see, once I’ve finished recording a video, I just want to send it to Premiere Pro, edit it & release it into the world.

This is a problem I & many other creators also have, but I’m working on it & it will definitely improve my efficiency once I start using it more effectively.

I still batch a lot of other things though, especially outlines & graphics.

The key to batching is to have your schedule set for when you’re going to be doing different tasks. I.e. Monday you’re going to research & write your outlines, Tuesday is recording day & Wednesday you’ll edit.

To make it less obvious that you’re batching, have a few sets of different clothing ready, use different backdrops & take a break when you’re feeling tired or just not into it.

9. Stay consistent in your youtube video editing

By pre-planning your videos or using an outline, you’re also able to improve your productivity when it comes to editing. You’ll have an order if you’re using multiple cuts & you’ll know what you’re looking to put where simply because you’ve already stitched together with your video in your head (or on paper).

It’s not just in the order of things that you can stay consistent, however. By utilizing the same or similar intros, outros, transitions & cuts, you’ll be going a long way to sticking to a format & making your videos synonymous with that style.

Protip: Give yourself an editing time limit when starting out. This way you’ll recognize when you’re overediting & you’ll speed up your editing process. There’s no rule here, but if you’re posting daily or every second day, your editing shouldn’t be longer than one or two hours… for your own sanity.

10. Make a series or split up longer videos

By starting a series of videos, you’ll be tying together a specific topic & you could gather some momentum if it’s picked up by a wider audience.

A series of videos is different from a format mainly in that a series generally has some sort of endpoint, whereas your format could go on indefinitely.

A photography example could be camera reviews out in the field. That’s a format that doesn’t have an obvious expiration as new cameras are constantly being released. Whereas, a range of videos to improve your mobile photography could be considered a series as it has an obvious end.

Splitting up longer videos is also a good way to stay consistent, especially if your longer videos have clear areas where they can be cut & don’t drag on unnecessarily. You could even turn one video idea into a series or mini-series.