From the Desk of Gigi’s Treehouse Tales
When I started creating content for YouTube, I had plenty of ideas about what I wanted my channel to be. I knew the kinds of videos I wanted to make, the stories I wanted to tell, and the audience I hoped to reach.
What I didn't know was how much my audience would ultimately help shape the direction of the channel.
Being a small creator means constantly learning. You create something, put it out into the world, study what happens, make adjustments, and try again. Some videos surprise you. Others that you were convinced would perform well barely get noticed.
And somewhere along the way, you begin to understand that growing a YouTube channel is as much about listening as it is about creating.
Here are seven of the biggest lessons I've learned so far.
1. Create What Your Audience Wants — Not Just What You Think They Want
This has probably been my biggest lesson.
I originally envisioned my children's channel primarily around bedtime stories and storytelling. I enjoy creating those videos, and I believed they were exactly the kind of content parents and young children would want.
Then the audience told me something different.
Some of the content that began getting the strongest response was educational animal content—realistic animals, animal names and sounds, interesting facts, sharks, dinosaurs, ocean animals, farm animals, and similar topics.
That was an important realization.
Your audience votes with their clicks and their watch time.
As creators, it's easy to become attached to our original vision. But YouTube gives us something incredibly valuable: real-world feedback.
If viewers consistently choose one type of content over another, pay attention.
That doesn't mean abandoning everything you enjoy creating. It means finding the intersection between what you love making and what your audience actually wants to watch.
Sometimes the audience you eventually build isn't exactly the audience you imagined when you started—and that's okay.
2. Your Title and Thumbnail Are Part of the Content
You can spend hours—or days—creating a fantastic video.
But before anyone watches it, you have to convince them to click on it.
That's where the title and thumbnail come in.
One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was treating the thumbnail as something to finish after the video was complete. I've learned that it deserves much more consideration.
Your title and thumbnail work together to make a promise:
“Here's what you're going to get if you click this video.”
They need to be clear, compelling, and easy to understand almost instantly.
That's especially important when looking at your click-through rate (CTR). If YouTube is showing your video to potential viewers but relatively few people are clicking, the problem may not be the video itself. Your packaging may simply not be compelling enough.
I've experimented with different thumbnail designs, titles, layouts, colors, images, and wording—and I've seen firsthand how much difference those changes can make.
A great video with a weak thumbnail may never get the chance it deserves.
3. Stop Guessing and Start Studying Your Analytics
YouTube gives creators an enormous amount of information.
Use it.
One of the most helpful changes I've made is spending more time understanding what the analytics are actually telling me instead of simply looking at the number of views.
Which videos get clicked?
Which ones hold viewers' attention?
Where do viewers leave?
Which subjects consistently outperform others?
What videos are bringing new viewers to the channel?
Those patterns can help determine what you create next.
I've also found creator tools such as vidIQ and TubeBuddy useful for digging deeper into performance, researching ideas, evaluating titles and thumbnails, and getting suggestions for improving future videos.
AI tools can be helpful here too—but I don't think they should make the decisions for you.
Think of them as another set of eyes.
Ultimately, the best information comes from combining those tools with what your actual viewers are telling you through their behavior.
4. “Made for Kids” Is a Very Different YouTube World
If you're creating children's content, particularly content designated Made for Kids (MFK), spend time learning the rules before developing your growth strategy.
YouTube places significant restrictions on Made for Kids content, and many of the engagement tools available to other creators work differently or may not be available at all.
That changes how you approach channel growth.
You can't simply watch a general “How to Grow on YouTube” video and assume every strategy will apply to a children's channel.
I learned that I needed to understand not only how YouTube works, but specifically how YouTube works for children's content.
If you're entering this niche, learn the policies. Understand the restrictions. Keep up with changes. And build your strategy around the tools that are actually available to you.
It's much easier than building a strategy first and discovering later that an important part of it doesn't apply to your channel.
5. Your Friends and Family Are Not Your Target Audience
This one can be surprisingly difficult for new creators.
You publish something you've spent hours creating. You send the link to friends or family. Maybe you post it on your personal social media.
And then...
Not much happens.
It's easy to feel disappointed.
But I've learned something important:
My friends and family aren't necessarily my audience.
If I'm creating educational videos for toddlers and preschoolers, the people I'm ultimately trying to reach are parents, grandparents, caregivers, and educators looking for that type of content.
Whether my friends watch every video has very little to do with whether the channel can succeed.
Of course, support from people you know is wonderful. Appreciate it when it's there.
But don't use it as your scoreboard.
The goal isn't to convince everyone you know to watch your content.
The goal is to find the people who are already looking for it.
6. Experimentation Isn't Failure — It's Research
I've created videos that I thought would perform extremely well that didn't.
I've also created videos that surprised me by getting much more attention than I expected.
Both outcomes are useful.
One of the biggest mindset changes I've made is viewing YouTube as an ongoing experiment.
Try a different thumbnail.
Test another title.
Explore a new subject.
Change the pacing.
Try a different format.
Look at the results and use what you learn on the next video.
Not every experiment will work. It isn't supposed to.
When something underperforms, the most useful question isn't:
“Why did I fail?”
It's:
“What did this teach me?”
Every upload gives you another piece of information about your audience.
For a small creator, that information is incredibly valuable.
7. You Don't Have to Have Everything Figured Out Before You Start
When I began, there were plenty of things I didn't know.
There still are.
YouTube strategy. Editing. Analytics. Thumbnails. SEO. Artificial intelligence. Children's content regulations. Audience retention. Branding. Audio. New creative tools.
The list keeps growing.
But I've realized that waiting until you understand everything is probably the best way to never publish anything.
A lot of what I've learned came from actually doing the work.
Create.
Publish.
Measure.
Learn.
Improve.
Then do it again.
When I look back at some of my earliest work, I can already see things I would do differently today. Six months from now, I'll probably say the same thing about what I'm creating now.
That's not a bad thing.
That's what progress looks like.
The Biggest Lesson of All
If I could go back and give myself one piece of advice when I uploaded my first videos, it would be this:
Listen to your audience.
Your original idea gets you started, but your audience helps show you where to go next.
Pay attention to what they click. Pay attention to what they watch. Pay attention to what keeps them coming back.
Then combine that information with your own creativity and perspective.
I'm still a small creator. I'm still experimenting, learning, and figuring things out.
But maybe that's exactly why this is the right time to share these lessons.
You don't have to reach a million subscribers before you've learned something worth passing along.
Sometimes the most useful advice comes from someone who's still climbing the same hill you are.
If you’re a small YouTube creator, making content for kids or thinking about getting started, drop an email, I’d love to connect to hear what you’re working on!
