vwbusman

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[TD="class: alt2"]Hello all, I am attempting to spread the word about my new youtube channel. It is a recent startup but very shortly will have everything from multirotor tech stuff to rc airplane challenges. Here is the link to my channel (Honest Rc Reviews)
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ibcCO005pgxxU7L9cVhhg
I would really appreciate any tips, tricks, or advice to help me to develop this channel. I am currently working with more companies to send products for review. Please like and subscribe for great upcoming content. Regards, James
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Rob2160

Hi James, congratulations on the channel and good on you for the initiative.

To use a cliche - If you build it they will come.

I watched your videos and you have a good voice and presentation style.

Perhaps use a light directed at yourself beside the camera to remove the shadows.

Advertising your channel is good but I recommend putting several reviews there first so people have something to watch right away.

My Youtube channel is "Trainboy64" I started it just to show my nephews my model trains when I was living on the other side of the country.

Later I got into RC Helicopters and a small group of new RC Heli pilots I met here on RCU shared our progress (and failures) via YT.

Occasionally I would do a video on binding, or Heli set up for a friend and later see that it was being watched by thousands of people.

I never created my channel for this purpose but when I realised it was helping people I did more setup / build videos etc. Now I have over 600 subscribers.

My most popular video is this one - Binding an MCPX Helicopter to a DX6i - over 53,000 views.

Even a simple video showing how to improve a cheap Hobbyking Gyro has over 30,000 views. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TPSZtg5ZfY

I wasn't trying to find viewers, but if you produce videos that help people your channel will spread quickly by word of mouth.

If you build it they will come!

A few things to be aware of, eventually it will be impossible to reply to all the comments. I tried in the beginning out of courtesy but it became a full time job.

Your channel may become very time consuming.

Another tip - you can't please all of the people all of the time.

My videos were always created with the best intention to help others, and to the best of my knowledge are technically accurate.

But others will disagree. For example, I am real helicopter pilot, so I know a little about Helicopter aerodynamics, but when I reviewed the MCPX as being susceptible to vortex ring state I had a lot of haters flame me for criticising their beloved little helicopter.

I love that little heli too, but for a fact it is susceptible to vortex ring, regardless, some people will get upset no matter how right you are.

Here is the vid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kz_gOWaR7Y

So my point is here, don't take it personally if you get dislikes and criticisms. If you make a mistake, own it and correct it. You will have more credibility that way.

I flew fixed wing for over 30 years before converting to Helicopters so I sometimes slip and use "elevator and aileron" when I should be saying "Fore and aft or left and right cyclic" for helicopters.

I know what I mean, but people are quick to correct you. Don't be offended by this. If they are right, acknowledge it and move on. Its a learning process for you as much as your videos are helping others.

I wish you luck in getting companies to send products for review, but this will have its own problems. People will assume your reviews are biased as you received the goods for free.

Openly admit to getting the items for free and be objective. It becomes a catch 22 because if you give bad reviews the companies won't keep sending you freebies.

I actually have experience with this. In 1999 as a hobby project I created a website reviewing PC based flight simulators. There were plenty of larger sites doing the same but my angle was different.

I reviewed them by analysing the accuracy of the aerodynamics from the perspective of a real pilot.

That site become popular very quickly and in 1999 I was getting several thousand unique hits every day. (reasonable numbers for a website in the 90's)
Companies started to approach me to review their products, later a few PC Software websites asked me to "come on board" offering all sorts of sweet deals.

One company offered me $10,000 US to buy the site. I turned them all down because I wanted to keep the reviews pure and objective.

I lost interest in the site after a year but have kept it live as a legacy. http://www.pctestpilot.com

My point with this is that keeping it totally objective will be difficult if people are giving you free products to review.

I hope that helps, good luck with your site. If you need advice on specific subject matter, don't hesitate to ask others. There are lots of experienced people in this hobby and knowledge sharing helps everyone.