YouTube subscribers are the bread and butter of any successful channel. These regular viewers can maximize your organic reach and give you a consistent base level of views every time you post new content.
If your goal is to make money on YouTube, hitting subscriber milestones is critical. For instance, you need at least 1,000 subscribers to become a YouTube Partner and start earning ad revenue. And the more subscribers you have, the higher you rise on YouTube’s “benefit level” ladder (think: awards, managers and production aid, starting when you hit 100,000 subscribers).
Table of Contents
- Why you shouldn’t buy YouTube subscribers
What if you plan to use YouTube for branding and marketing, rather than to make money directly? You still need subscribers. They bump up your play counts, watch time, and engagement—all important signals to the YouTube algorithm.
So, should you just go out and buy YouTube subscribers? Or use a service that promises a quick 1,000 youtube subscribers for free? Read on to find out (although the next section heading is probably a clue…).
Then keep going to find out how to get people to click that Subscribe button and get free real YouTube subscribers using legitimate strategies to grow your channel.
You can also watch the video below to get our top 7 tips on how to grow your YouTube following:
Bonus: Download the free 30-day plan to grow your YouTube following fast, a daily workbook of challenges that will help you kickstart your Youtube channel growth and track your success. Get real results after one month.
Why you shouldn’t buy YouTube subscribers
Look, we understand the urge to buy YouTube subscribers. We’re not going to shame you about it.
But we are going to burst your bubble: it ain’t gonna work. The truth is that creators behind the world’s best YouTube channels aren’t spending their time or money on shady growth schemes. They’re too busy making awesome videos.
First, let’s look at how “free” YouTube subscriber services work. (While keeping in mind that nothing is really free. As the saying goes, if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.)
You earn your “free” subscribers by subscribing to and liking other channels, as instructed by the service. Most ask you to subscribe to 20 channels and like a certain number of videos. In return, 10 channels will subscribe to yours.
Essentially, you’re hiring yourself out as a one-person clickfarm. It’s similar to the time we tried Instagram engagement pods.
The service hopes that you get bored of all this endless clicking after a few days and decide to pay for YouTube subscribers instead. Either way, the service wins: they either get your time or your money. Whether you get them through a free scheme or you pay for them, what do you get?
- Bot subscribers that don’t engage
- A bad look for your real audience, who are probably quite keen on authenticity
- The risk of running afoul of YouTube’s fake engagement policy (tl;dr: you could get banned)
- Potential stink-eye from any brands that might eventually want to partner with you
At the end of the day, it’s just not worth it.
There are a lot of clickbait videos out there that claim to tell you how to get 1,000 YouTube subscribers for free. Or even a million! Of course, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
For example, the fact that this video is a joke should definitely be clear by the time it gets into drawing polygons…
These videos rack up tons of views—in this case, more than 1.2 million—from people looking for some quick and easy secret to boosting their YouTube subscriber count. But they’re just clickbait. They’re not real. Don’t waste your time, unless you just want a laugh.
The fact is, there is no workaround. You’ve got to put in the work. But there are some simple, real-world tactics you can use to start growing a legitimate YouTube following right away. Let’s dive in.
How to get free YouTube subscribers: 15 tips
If you’re just starting out, take a look at our guide to creating a YouTube channel. You should have the basics of your channel in place before you dive into the tips below.
Here, in order from easiest to most complicated, are our best practices for converting viewers into subscribers. Don’t tackle them all at once. Try out one of these tips for each new video you post, or implement one or two a week.
1. Ask your viewers to subscribe
It doesn’t get much easier than this.
Sometimes your audience just needs to be reminded.
Does asking for the subscribe seem too salesy to you? It can be, if you ask too soon or too often. But a quick reminder to subscribe at the end of your video is just making it easier for fans to keep up with the work you do.
Remember to demonstrate why your channel is worth subscribing to. Make sure you ask for the subscription only after you’ve provided new and useful information, or you’ve made viewers laugh.
2. End your video by teasing what you’re working on next
Subscribing to a YouTube channel is an act of anticipation. Viewers who’ve just seen what your brand is about are primed to want more if you’ve done your job right.
Hyping your next video, and making it clear why it’s not to be missed, is the most organic way to encourage people to tap subscribe.
Of course, this requires having a good handle on your content schedule, and knowing what’s coming next. (More on that soon.)
3. Verify your Google account
By default, all YouTube users can upload videos up to 15 minutes long. If you want to create content longer than that, you’ll need to verify your account.
Since longer videos give you more options for the kinds of content you can create, this is an important step for anyone who wants to build a professional channel.
To verify your account, go to www.youtube.com/verify on your computer (not a mobile device), and follow the instructions.
Once you verify your account, you can upload videos up to 256GB or 12 hours long.
4. Interact with your audience and build community
If you form relationships with your viewers, they’re more likely to want to keep watching your work. Respond to comments. If creators subscribe to your channel, follow them back and check out their videos.
Think of your channel as a community, and make sure you’re an active member, not just someone dropping content from on high.
If you pay attention to the comments, your audience will also provide you with plenty of free content ideas.
Saying on top of comments can seem like a big task. If you manage your YouTube presence using Hootsuite, you can add comment streams to your Hootsuite dashboard. That makes it easy to review, reply to, and/or moderate comments on all your videos from one place.
5. Create effective channel branding
Channel branding is an important way to let viewers know who you are and what they can expect from your channel.
Banner art
Your YouTube banner welcomes everyone who clicks into your channel. Maybe they just watched a video and are looking for more. Maybe they’re a potential subscriber.
Make sure they know where they are and why they should stick around.
Your banner needs to be clean, on-brand, compelling, and—this is the fussy part—optimized for all devices. You don’t want important details covered up by your social media buttons, for instance.
We have a handy guide for creating your own YouTube channel art, along with free templates with the most up-to-date dimensions.
Channel icon
Your channel icon is essentially your logo on YouTube. It appears on your channel page and anywhere you comment on YouTube. Make sure it clearly represents you and your brand, and that it’s easy to recognize even at a small size.
Channel description
This text appears on the About page of your YouTube channel. You have up to 1,000 characters to describe your channel and let viewers know why they should subscribe. We’ve got a full blog post on how to write effective YouTube descriptions to get you started.
