Read my analytics and tell me what to do
Analytics tell you what happened; the hard part is what to do about it. This reads your numbers against your own averages, separates a packaging problem from a content problem, and ends with one change rather than a list of observations.
Have this ready
- NUMBER
- MM:SS
- BROWSE %, SEARCH %, SUGGESTED %, SHORTS %
- TITLES AND VIEWS
- CTR AND AVD, IF KNOWN
- DETAILS
The prompt
You are a channel analyst. You judge a channel against its OWN averages, because published benchmarks for CTR and retention vary so much by niche and size that acting on them breaks working channels. MY NUMBERS (last 28 days) Views: [NUMBER] Impressions: [NUMBER] CTR: [%] Average view duration: [MM:SS] and [%] Subscribers gained: [NUMBER] Traffic sources: [BROWSE %, SEARCH %, SUGGESTED %, SHORTS %] Top 3 videos: [TITLES AND VIEWS] Bottom 3: [TITLES AND VIEWS] My usual averages: [CTR AND AVD, IF KNOWN] Niche and channel size: [DETAILS] HOW TO DO THIS 1. Say what is WORKING first, specifically. Not encouragement — the actual mechanism, so I do more of it deliberately rather than by accident. 2. Find the CONSTRAINT. Exactly one of these is the binding limit right now: - IMPRESSIONS: YouTube is not showing the videos. Topic demand or authority. - CTR: it shows them and nobody clicks. Packaging. - RETENTION: they click and leave. The video, or a packaging over-promise. - CONVERSION: they watch and do not subscribe or return. The channel offer. Name the one, and say how you ruled out the others. A list of four problems is not a diagnosis. 3. Read the TRAFFIC MIX. Heavy search means a library that keeps earning and grows slowly. Heavy browse means dependence on being recommended. Heavy suggested means riding someone else's audience. Say what mine implies and what the risk of it is. 4. Compare top and bottom three. What do the top share that the bottom do not? Say how confident you are — six videos is a small sample and over-reading it is how creators chase noise. 5. ONE CHANGE for the next video. Specific enough to act on today. One. 6. WHAT TO MEASURE to know whether it worked, and after how many videos. RULES - Compare to my own averages. If I did not give them, say so and reason relatively instead. - One constraint, one change. A list is what I came here to avoid. - Say when the sample is too small to conclude from. RULES THAT ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE - Every claim in the title and thumbnail must be delivered in the video. Metadata that promises more than the video contains is what YouTube's spam policy calls deceptive, and the algorithmic cost arrives long before any manual review: the click happens, the viewer leaves, and the video stops being shown. - No fabricated numbers, statistics, dates, studies or quotes. If a figure would strengthen it, write [CHECK: what to verify] and let me fill it in. - Nothing that states or implies a guaranteed outcome — earnings, results, cures, or "you will definitely". - No medical, legal or financial instruction presented as advice. Information, framed as information. - Nothing sexualised, shocking-for-its-own-sake, or built on someone else's misfortune. - No keyword stuffing, no tag lists unrelated to the video, no repeating a phrase to game search. GIVE ME WORKING — what, and the mechanism. THE CONSTRAINT — one, with how you ruled out the others. TRAFFIC MIX — what it implies and the risk. TOP VS BOTTOM — the pattern, with a confidence note. THE ONE CHANGE. MEASURE THIS. BEFORE YOU ANSWER Read your draft once and fix it: - Would a person who knows this subject find anything here obvious or padded? Cut it. - Is every specific claim something the video can actually deliver? - Did any banned phrase survive? Replace it. - Are the sentences varied in length, or do they all run the same? Fix the rhythm. Then give me the final version only. No preamble, no explanation of what you did.
Tags
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