For those who currently run a YouTube channel, the struggle is real. We've all been in the trenches, learning how to make custom banner graphics, thinking hard about our titles and thumbnails, and responding to viewer comments (or finding reliable help to assist in these tasks).

So why would anyone in their right mind decide it's time to start a second one?

Well, the days of YouTube variety channels finding growth are over. Current YouTube stars who vlog about anything and everything under the sun have that luxury simply because they started and grew their audience at a time when this activity was totally fine.

Things have changed. YouTube's algorithm favors those who stick to a genre or category. If you're still working on growing your channel, do not post random videos about a variety of topics, it will kill your growth.

Believe me, I learned this the hard way. I used to make webseries and music videos about video games, cartoons and Sci-Fi shows. Many of them performed fantastically, garnering millions of views and funding two Kickstarter campaigns to make more content!

Life got in the way (this was back in the day when it wasn't a “thing” yet to do YouTube full-time. Busy with a tech job that required a huge amount of travel time, I let my channel fall by the wayside. A couple of years later, I decided I wanted to pick it back up, but, knowing I didn't have the bandwidth for my normal grand productions I was known for making, I decided to make very simple videos about a mobile game I really liked to play, The Sims Freeplay. I occasionally shot my fun videos and rarely kept up with my channel.

You can imagine my surprise when over the next couple of years, those videos really started to gain traction! It was cool at the time, but once I decided I was in a stage of my life where I was ready to take YouTube seriously and get back into producing music videos and webseries, I had inadvertently cursed myself with success!

It seems, YouTube had established my channel as an “authority” on this game franchise. Every time I would post a music video, the views would be abysmmal, yet my game videos would continue to grow in views. I would get excited by a comment notification, only to see it was a question about how to complete a quest I had talked about in the game. My music videos lay silent and unwatched.

Pivoting, or changing topics on your channel, even a little (like video game “Let's Play” videos instead of video game music videos) will confuse the YouTube algorithm. It won't know what to make of your channel and could take months or years for it to figure out what you are up to.

So what is the point of this cautionary tale?

If you want to make new content about a new topic, make a second channel! I advise that you ensure your first channel is running smoothly, that a procedure is in place and that you've published a Standard Operating Procedure so that you can delegate the work to someone else if you want or need to.

If you feel you are in this stage of your channel and are thinking of making new and different content, by all means do! However, make sure it's on a new channel. Otherwise, get ready to catch the tumbleweeds as your new content goes unwatched.