The YouTube 'Expert' Lies & How to REALLY Increase Your Channel's Views & Subscribers
You’ve been lied to about how to grow your YouTube channel.
I’ll reveal the lies you’ve been told about getting more views and subscribers on YouTube (it’s making ‘gurus’ rich and keeping your channel small).
And it’s not just costing you views and subscribers – it’s robbing you of time, money, and opportunities.
Here’s the ugly truth no one’s talking about..
Have you ever felt like you’re on a hamster wheel with your YouTube channel?
Posting video after video, hoping for that elusive breakthrough…
Only to see a trickle of views and a handful of new subscribers?
If so, you’re not alone. And it’s not your fault.
There’s a dirty secret in the world of YouTube marketing that’s costing businesses like yours time, money, and missed opportunities.
I’ve held my tongue for two years, but I can’t stay silent any longer.
Here’s why:
The ‘YouTube Traffic Machine’ Exposed: Unbelievable Truth About So-Called YouTube ‘Expert’
A well-known software company is pushing a course called the “YouTube Traffic Machine.” They claim it will help you grow your channel faster with fewer videos and less effort.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It should. It’s remarkably similar to my Slingshot Strategy, which I started developing in 2017 and teaching in the years since.
Here’s a short excerpt from their landing page
But guess what:
Their “secret weapon” instructor, hasn’t grown their own YouTube channel in years. In fact:
- Their last 5 videos averaged just 70 views.
- They haven’t had a video break 10,000 views in over 5 years.
- Gets a tiny average of 58 views per long-form video in the last 12 months.
- Their channel actually LOST subscribers and views in the last 12 months.
The premise of their course is supposed to be to grow on YouTube with less effort on making videos but they’ve posted 460 videos and still only average 1,811 views across all videos in 10 years of posting on YouTube!
Ironically they’ve even made videos on topics that would actually mean putting in a lot more effort – making more videos…
One titled ‘how to make videos every single day’ and another ‘how to make 100 videos in 2023’.
How many views do you think those videos get at the time of writing? 86 and 39 views respectively.
Here’s the channel performance of their ‘secret weapon’ and the “YouTube Traffic Machine” course leader:
[By the way, it’s the same story whether I select last month, last 3 months or last 12 months – decline, decline, decline]
Now, you might be thinking, “But Alex, maybe he’s been focusing on growing the software company’s channel instead of his own.”
Fair point. And, being honest with you, I haven’t put effort into Adzoola’s channel either. But I have been helping others. And I can show you case studies to prove it. So has he actually helped this company grow their channel based on what we can see?
Let’s look at that (and remember these people are supposedly selling the YouTube course based on how he’s helped them):
1 – The company he’s been ‘helping’ has a huge email list. They’ve been sending subscribers to their YouTube videos for the past year.
Do you think you could increase views and subscribers by sending your huge email list your YouTube videos?
Do you think this is real growth of your YouTube channel?
Or is it just moving existing audience from one platform to another?
That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not growing your audience.
Pro tip:
Check your own new vs. returning viewers in YouTube Studio under the Audience tab.
Real growth means reaching new people, not just recycling your existing audience.
2 – Their subscriber count:
July 2023: 31,300
June 2024: 34,000
That’s just an 8.6% increase in subscribers across a whole year. But worse than that…
They posted 123 videos in that time. 123!
That averages out at 1 video every 3 days.
Let me ask you: Would you be happy with 8.6% growth in subscribers after a year of posting a video every 3 days?
Although their subscriber count has grown a small amount in the last 12 months, if you look at the chart below their rate of growth has plummeted over two years.
Not only that but their views are also DOWN over the last 12 months (and last 2 years as the charts show).
Here’s a different view of the cannel over a year:
So I ask you: If this person is their “secret weapon” for YouTube growth, where exactly is that growth happening?
Where is the growth?
In my opinion, they should be growing MUCH faster based on the effort they seem to be putting in and the number of videos they’ve posted in the last year.
There’s something wrong with their strategy. In fact, I’m 70% certain I could stop the rot and get their channel growing in 90 days without even posting any more videos!
Now, here’s the twist that really puts that in perspective:
How I Grew A YouTube Channel 9.7% By Doing Absolutely Nothing
One of my own YouTube channels, which I haven’t posted to in 770 days (over 2 years!), grew by… 9.7%.
Yes, you read that right. That’s a higher percentage increase in subscribers than the people selling “YouTube Traffic Machine” achieved by posting 123 videos in a year.
Let that sink in for a moment:
Their Strategy
Doing nothing
Filming, editing and posting 123 videos
0 new videos posted
Constant effort posting a video every 3 days (their average)
Zero effort. Zilch. Nothing
Endless promotion to their audience (emails)
Nothing
Fake growth (sending their existing audience to YouTube)
Real growth from new viewing audience
8.6% increase in YouTube subscribers (likely from their existing email subscribers)
9.7% YouTube channel subscriber growth
If that doesn’t scream “ineffective strategy,” I don’t know what does!
My point is that even with a channel I haven’t posted to in 2+ years, I got the same rate of subscriber growth as their channel despite their huge email list, significant website traffic (existing audience) and of course posting 123 videos in a year. All ‘helped’ by their supposed YouTube growth expert, they call their secret weapon. I’d suggest keeping them secret!
Effort VS Results: Efficiently Increasing Your Views
I don’t know about you but I want efficient growth.
That means looking at your YouTube channel in terms of effort in (videos posted) versus results out (increase in views and subscribers).
Looking at your channel like this can help you avoid burnout, make you check in on your strategy and course-correct if necessary to hopefully stop you from giving up before you see any significant results.
As a quick and easy proxy for seeing how efficient a channel is for increasing or getting views, I look at the average number of views per video that a channel gets. Not many tools show that – Adzoola does.
So I was interested to see how efficient the people selling the “YouTube Traffic Machine” are, since they’re pushing a YouTube course pitching you YouTube channel growth ‘WITHOUT much time making each video’.
Here’s the results comparing them, their course leader’s channel, one of the channels they ‘analyze’ in the course, my ‘hobby channel’ (the one I mentioned above), and a channel I coached to do the Slingshot Strategy.
Here’s what it shows when I rank them by views per video:
The course leader comes in at the bottom – least efficient.
The people selling the course are third.
One of my own channels and the channel I advised are first and second for views per video. Most efficient and least effort for most reward (views).
Of course this is certainly not the one and only measure of success, but I think, along with everything you’ve read above, it reveals a worrying approach to ‘growing’ a YouTube channel – don’t you think?
So with that, you can see how it irks me when so-called gurus and influential companies are making money from selling you these courses when they can’t show results of their methods working on multiple channels. Especially in this case as they seemingly can’t show it on any of the channels they, or the course leader, are involved with.
The Copycat Conundrum: When ‘Gurus’ Steal Strategies
But it gets worse…
This isn’t just about one misguided course. It’s a pattern I’ve seen repeated far too often:
1 – A couple of years ago, I told a well-known influencer in our industry about my Slingshot Strategy. Suddenly, they were presenting it on conference stages and in webinars… as their own creation.
2 – Even more galling: Someone who bought my Slingshot Strategy training and paid for consulting with me is now selling their own course on the exact same method. They’ve rebranded it and claim to be the creator… despite never fully implementing it themselves!
Here’s why I’m writing this and why it’s bad for those who haven’t read this yet:
These people can’t truly teach what they don’t fully understand. They might grasp the surface-level concepts, but they haven’t been in the trenches, refining and adapting the strategy across different scenarios.
That means their advice could be incomplete at best… and potentially harmful to your channel at worst.
(By the way, if you haven’t yet shared this post with your friends or colleagues who have YouTube channels – do it now so they’re aware! I’m sure they’ll thank you for your insight.)
Real Results: What Actually Works for YouTube Growth
Now, I’m not one to throw stones. But when someone’s selling a “proven system” they haven’t proven themselves…
Well, that’s when my British reserve goes out the window.
Because you deserve better.
You deserve a strategy that actually works.
One that’s been battle-tested and refined over years, not cobbled together from AI prompts and recycled ideas.
Let me show you what I mean:
- Christian’s Outdoor Gear YouTube Channel (ecommerce)
Before: Christian was stuck at 200 subscribers. He’d had no significant viewer or subscriber growth and had around 25,000 total channel views from the videos he’d posted in the few years prior.
Within 40 days of deploying the Slingshot Strategy: 7.5x increase in subscribers, 80x increase in views
After 14 months: Over 1 million views
Important: Notice how the average view duration also increased from 1:35 to 3:54 ! So not only did Christian increase his channel’s views but those viewers stuck around a lot longer too.
You might think this could only be achieved by making a lot of videos and posting frequently. Nope. This exponential increase in views is mainly attributable to just 2 videos. So, not some exhaustive posting schedule but a carefully considered approach – The Slingshot Strategy.
These videos bring in new viewers to the channel for days, weeks, months and even years without any additional effort.
THAT is true growth on YouTube.
And, just to give you more context, he had no real audience outside of this channel to help his growth momentum.
A lot of ‘gurus’/people selling courses on YouTube growth use their existing audience to increase their views and subscribers.
Then they think they know how to do it for others – so they make a course and sell it – despite never testing it on other people’s channels.
But that’s not the case here. And, because I hope it will be an inspiration for you, here’s a graph that shows the transformational impact that those 2 videos from the Slingshot Strategy had to increase in views on his business’s YouTube channel.
2. Pedro’s SaaS Consulting YouTube Channel (B2B)
Before: 500 views/month, declining
After the Slingshot Strategy: 19x increase in views, 10x increase in monthly subscribers
All without creating a single new video for this strategy.
Here’s the long term chart showing the stark impact on the channel to increase subscribers with this strategy.
19x increase in views on his YouTube channel…
3. Helen’s channel for her handmade apparel store (ecommerce)
Before: Brand new channel, tiny existing audience
After: 150,000 views in 12 months with 1 video. Now that same video is still getting thousands of views years later (it’s hit over 1 million views now). And, importantly, it’s sent customers to their website and made thousands in sales.
These aren’t flukes. They’re the result of a proven system that focuses on:
- Finding or creating your “Slingshot” video (you might already have it!)
- Optimizing for maximum impact
- Strategic promotion to kickstart momentum
No AI-generated fluff. No endless posting schedule. Just a clear, actionable plan to grow your channel and your business.
Your Action Plan: How To Increase Your Views & Subscribers (Escaping the YouTube Hamster Wheel)
Now, I could go on about how my own video hit 1 million views and was licensed by CBS and Google/Samsung…
But this isn’t about me. It’s about you.
It’s about helping you avoid the trap of “guru” advice that sounds good but doesn’t deliver.
It’s about giving you a strategy that actually works, so you can focus on what matters: running your business and serving your customers.
If you’re tired of spinning your wheels on YouTube and ready for real growth, I invite you to check out the Slingshot Strategy training 👇
No inflated “value” claims. Just a proven system and my promise to support you every step of the way.
Because at the end of the day, that’s what matters most.
Helping you succeed.
P.S. If you’re not ready to invest in the training, that’s okay. I hope this post has at least saved you from wasting time and money on strategies that don’t work.
You might want to check out the case studies I mentioned in more detail:
How Christian increased views on YouTube to over 1 million in 14 months
How Pedro increased his views by 19x (without creating new videos)
And if you ever have questions about growing your YouTube channel, my door is always open.
Slingshot Strategy Suitability Assessment
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At this point you might just want to apply this to your YouTube channel so you can accelerate your growth ASAP.
If that’s you, I suggest you check out the Slingshot Strategy training now 👇