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Hello there, my name is Stubbs and I have seen many user’s on PlanetMinecraft ask the same question: “Why doesnt my content get any attention” or in more rough terms: “How do I become popular?”. I want to give you a helping hand in answering this question, by looking at Content Creation. I hope you enjoy this guide and find it useful.
| Step. 1 - The Basics Quality will ALWAYS outweigh Quantity in the long run, and we're going long! |
Creating content with a Quality over Quantity mindset is not going to provide any results in the short term. However, in the most overused and cliché terms: Everyone started from zero. What makes a big difference between the creators who made it, and the creators who didn't is: Quality!
How, and why, to improve your content's quality:
How, and why, to improve your content's quality:
- You need a catalogue of good content to make it. - Nobody wants to watch 26 episodes of a survival let's play made in 3 days. Your first creations will not gather much attention, but don't let that discourage you! Keep at it, and keep striving to make a catalogue of good quality content. The moment 1 of your videos/ creations blow up, people are going to be looking for more.
- Finish your projects!
- Easier said than done, but no matter the turnout of a project, it is a good idea to practice this! You can use Step. 2 and Step. 3 of this tutorial to help you brain storm and then select the perfect project to start working on. - Be active in the community around you.- This one especially applies to PlanetMinecraft. You don't need to be overactive and respond to every question, every thread, instead - opt for replying and being active in the parts of a community that you feel like you have knowledge about. If you don't have any knowledge of the community you want to be part of yet, don't be afraid to reach out to people and ask for advice.
| Step. 2 - Brain Storm Your type of content (probably) sucks. |
Creating good content ideas does not mean you have to invent a new mini-game or that you must put years of effort into a single project concept. Good content ideas is a combination of Supply, Demand, and fun.
‘Be original’
The term ‘be original’ is both misleading and can ruin the creative drive of any creator. The term is not particularly useful because it is too vague. Two terms that does a better job at describing what ‘Be original’ means would be: Supply and Demand.
Supply is referring to: How much of this type of content is there?
Demand is referring to: Is this something you would use?
The Green represents good content ideas
The Red represents bad content ideas
Good content is a combination of creating something with a low-to-none supply rate, while having a medium-to-huge demand. This more accurately showcases what people are referring to when they tell you to 'Be original' or 'Make original content'.
Edit: "Your content has to 'close a gab'."
How to make good content ideas
Brainstorm!
Open an empty document or text file and set a timer on 10 minutes. Start the timer and do a brainstorm where you write down all your ideas for content. Do not delete any ideas, no matter how bad they may seem, and do not go into details about one specific idea. Keep each idea limited to one sentence.
'Kill Your Darlings'
After creating a list of ideas, you need to question the supply and demand of each idea.
Questioning Supply (How much of this type of content is there) can help you figure out if you have a chance of standing out. If you search up content with a high supply (Medieval House), your chances of standing out are very slim. If you search up content with a small supply (PZL P.24), your chances of standing out are more likely.
Questioning Demand (Is this something you would use?) will tell you if your idea is needed. If you find forum post’s about a certain topic that was never answered, or only manage to find bad / very poor attempts at a certain type of content (Bad tutorials, poor recreations) then your chances of standing out increase if you can create a better version of that content.
Having ‘killed your darlings’ you will be left with very few ideas. These will all be good content ideas.
Open an empty document or text file and set a timer on 10 minutes. Start the timer and do a brainstorm where you write down all your ideas for content. Do not delete any ideas, no matter how bad they may seem, and do not go into details about one specific idea. Keep each idea limited to one sentence.
Example of my own brainstorm
How to create a good texture pack
What is the easiest way to create textures?
How do I get better at making skins?
A blog about PVP tactics.
How to make a beautiful blog?
How do I use blender to create renders?
A specific plane that has yet to get a 1:1 recreation.
Maybe make a spitfire to practice modelling 1:1 aircraft.
Create base parts, sort of like a Lego set.
Create a "build it yourself" put together plane set.
Guide on how to add more than 1 texture.
Guide on texture pack tricks in general.
Tutorial with pre-coded texture tricks.
A mod that allows you to make portals that connect different single player worlds.
Portals between two Realm servers?
A realm server with data packs?
Maybe a Realm-Adventure-Server?
Adventure maps seem kind of scarce...
Adventure map with a "reward" system like Undertale.
Maybe combine different mini-game puzzles to get something new?
Mine-sweeper in Minecraft.
Mine-creeper-sweeper!
Recreate that game where you sink boats.
Create pre-sets for all textures
How does the 16x16, 32x32 and 64x64 textures work?
A texture pack inspired by that Ghost of Tsunami game thing.
More bundles are needed.
There is a lot of tree bundles, but what about unusual types of tree bundle?
Rock bundles are quite scarce.
Good building bundles are kind of hard to come across.
Organics bundles?
Statue bundles?
Organic pre-sets!
Organic paint-it-yourself statues - Just like a colouring book!
How do I change the Minecraft background music?
What is the easiest way to create textures?
How do I get better at making skins?
A blog about PVP tactics.
How to make a beautiful blog?
How do I use blender to create renders?
A specific plane that has yet to get a 1:1 recreation.
Maybe make a spitfire to practice modelling 1:1 aircraft.
Create base parts, sort of like a Lego set.
Create a "build it yourself" put together plane set.
Guide on how to add more than 1 texture.
Guide on texture pack tricks in general.
Tutorial with pre-coded texture tricks.
A mod that allows you to make portals that connect different single player worlds.
Portals between two Realm servers?
A realm server with data packs?
Maybe a Realm-Adventure-Server?
Adventure maps seem kind of scarce...
Adventure map with a "reward" system like Undertale.
Maybe combine different mini-game puzzles to get something new?
Mine-sweeper in Minecraft.
Mine-creeper-sweeper!
Recreate that game where you sink boats.
Create pre-sets for all textures
How does the 16x16, 32x32 and 64x64 textures work?
A texture pack inspired by that Ghost of Tsunami game thing.
More bundles are needed.
There is a lot of tree bundles, but what about unusual types of tree bundle?
Rock bundles are quite scarce.
Good building bundles are kind of hard to come across.
Organics bundles?
Statue bundles?
Organic pre-sets!
Organic paint-it-yourself statues - Just like a colouring book!
How do I change the Minecraft background music?
'Kill Your Darlings'
After creating a list of ideas, you need to question the supply and demand of each idea.
Questioning Supply (How much of this type of content is there) can help you figure out if you have a chance of standing out. If you search up content with a high supply (Medieval House), your chances of standing out are very slim. If you search up content with a small supply (PZL P.24), your chances of standing out are more likely.
Questioning Demand (Is this something you would use?) will tell you if your idea is needed. If you find forum post’s about a certain topic that was never answered, or only manage to find bad / very poor attempts at a certain type of content (Bad tutorials, poor recreations) then your chances of standing out increase if you can create a better version of that content.
Example of my own 'Kill Your Darlings'
| How to make a beautiful blog? | Low Supply, Medium Demand |
| How do I use blender to create renders? | Low Supply, Large Demand |
| Tutorial with pre-coded texture tricks. | Almost None, Large Demand |
| A mod that allows you to make portals that connect different single player worlds. | No Supply, Large Demand |
| How do I change the Minecraft background music? | Low Supply, Large Demand |
Having ‘killed your darlings’ you will be left with very few ideas. These will all be good content ideas.
| Step. 3 - Selection You're (probably) working on the wrong idea. |
Choosing the correct content idea to work on can be a lot harder than coming up with the ideas. The idea has to be something you yourself enjoy, while still fulfilling the Supply and Demand aspects of content creation. Good content is a combination of supply, demand, and Fun.
‘Have fun’
One of the most infuriating things to tell a creator. The term is not particularly useful because it is too vague to interpret. Fun is subjective and can better be understood with terms: Enjoyment and Effort.
Enjoyment is referring to: Do you enjoy creating this type of content? / How does it make you feel?
Effort is referring to: How much time does it take you to create?
The Green represents how an idea should feel + the amount of effort to put in it.
The Yellow represents when you should put it aside.
The Red represents how an idea should not feel + when the effort required will outdo the 'having fun' aspect.
You can estimate where your ideas would be inside this graph to figure out if you should pursue your content idea, or leave it behind for other ideas. Remember that while creating content, both the effort and the enjoyment can change. Always adjust your content to be in the green-zone.
Edit: "There's a fine line between hating what you're making, and loving the Process of making it."
How to choose a good content idea
How to choose a good content idea:
Download the graph represented above this spoiler and then open it up in paint, or any sort of photo-editing software. Open your document containing the 5 good content ideas. Make estimates where on the graph each content idea will be on the graph.
Having estimated where your good content ideas would be on the graph, you'll now be able to choose any of the ideas in green and start working on them. Remember: If your estimate was wrong, and a content idea reaches the red or yellow zone. DO NOT DELETE IT! Put it aside and work on something else. Enjoyment and Effort must go together, in order for you to 'have fun' while creating content.
Download the graph represented above this spoiler and then open it up in paint, or any sort of photo-editing software. Open your document containing the 5 good content ideas. Make estimates where on the graph each content idea will be on the graph.
Example of me placing the 5 content ideas
Having estimated where your good content ideas would be on the graph, you'll now be able to choose any of the ideas in green and start working on them. Remember: If your estimate was wrong, and a content idea reaches the red or yellow zone. DO NOT DELETE IT! Put it aside and work on something else. Enjoyment and Effort must go together, in order for you to 'have fun' while creating content.
Disclaimer:
I can't grantee that following these methods will make you "famous". It is up to you yourself how far you want to take it, but now you know how to choose content ideas that a big audience will like. And hey! Once you find your niche, keep at it! It took me 8 years of content creation to find my niche, but the most important thing is to never stop, and keep trying.
You only fail, if you give up.
If you have questions, or disagree with parts of this guide, please leave it in the comments. I'm ready to answer / change just about anything!
Thank you for reading!
I can't grantee that following these methods will make you "famous". It is up to you yourself how far you want to take it, but now you know how to choose content ideas that a big audience will like. And hey! Once you find your niche, keep at it! It took me 8 years of content creation to find my niche, but the most important thing is to never stop, and keep trying.
You only fail, if you give up.
If you have questions, or disagree with parts of this guide, please leave it in the comments. I'm ready to answer / change just about anything!
Thank you for reading!
-TomConn
EXTRA! – Interviews with a few famous PMC users.
To better understand what ‘makes someone popular’ on PlanetMinecraft, I decided to make a few small interviews with different famous PMC users.
Interview with Aspirin60 (Mob skin & skin creator)
Profile: Aspirin60
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- No method. I was always interested in painting and music. With Minecraft I discovered a new way to lose my fantasy with building and my aggressive with PVP. (I am 100% a serial killer, you know?)
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- My PMC and music page are both based of content because i think what i made is more interesting for people as my person.
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- And tree: Nobody gave me help because i just forgot to ask someone...Lol. Seriously ,I found what I search in google and for other things I can learn a lot from other users...My only problem; I have a photographic memory and have to be careful if I look be someone else's work, to do it differently enough. of course?
Interview with: Awhikax (Datapack creator)
Profile: Awhikax
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- First, I learned how to make data packs. I had fun with the 1.11-1.12 commands to do different stupid things. With 1.13 and the complete redesign of the whole technical part of the game (commands, lot tables etc…) I started creating data packs for my own use, to add simple things to my worlds. For this I mainly used video tutorials, decomposed other people’s code, and had help on Discord servers dedicated to help creating data packs.
- Then, I became editor of the Maps section of a French forum. You might think it’s not related but it’s actually what made me want to start publishing my data packs.
- I decided to create a nice data pack to publish that hadn’t been done yet (as a data pack): Lucky Blocks. It was first published on my old PMC profile. For various reasons that I won’t detail here, I changed my nickname and therefor my account everywhere, that’s why I currently have another account (I don’t use the old one anymore).
- So I started to publish various data packs more or less useful and more or less well coded with my new account.
-Then I was contacted by a French YouTuber who asked me for a data pack, then another French YouTuber and that’s how it started. Now many YouTubers of many different nationalities ask me regularly for data packs, which I publish on Planet Minecraft a few days after the release of their video.
- One thing that probably helped is that I really care about the credits. All my data packs are licensed, and I make sure that at least one link to the data pack is included in the description of the videos using them. I do not do this for visibility, but it allows viewers and other YouTubers to find the data pack used, download it, play it etc… And of course, to contact me.
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- Absolutely not All I currently publish are data packs that are requested by YouTubers. Currently no idea comes from me. I have some personal projects but not enough time to develop them quickly.
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- I had help to start creating data packs, mainly via Discord. However, to make my data packs, I get little help. I prefer to work alone and do things on my own. However, I sometimes ask for help on Discord or from friends who also make data packs, if I get stuck on something or cannot find an optimized way to do it.
Interview with: Captain_JEK (Builder)
Profile: Captain_JEK
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- I just did what I liked and what I thought I'd be good at and what I thought could be useful to others. Cause, I didn't want to make something meaningless (like a ton of medieval houses nobody will care about since there already are a ton of medieval houses).
Everything I do should have a purpose and an underlying reason to why I do it. Turns out, vehicles were perfect for that, because I enjoyed making them and other people could use them in their own creations or get inspired by them.
Also, many vehicles that exist in real life (or movies or games) hadn't been made yet in Minecraft, even though the game is 10 years old, so I could always create something original that hadn't been done before. This is not only fun for me, but for my "audience", too because if you see something (like medieval houses) over and repeatedly, it gets boring. If you can always upload original content, something that has not been made before, it never gets boring. I think that is what people like about my creations, it is always something different, it never gets boring.
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- Okay, lol, it took me a while to understand this question but I think it asks about whether my activity here on pmc is based on my content or me as a person, right?
I use pmc mainly as a place to upload and showcase my creations. I don't make a lot of wall posts talking about myself since I find it kind of annoying when other people to it, so I try not to do it xD
So, I'd definitely say my activity on pmc is based on my content since my creations are paramount and I as a person am in the background. However, my creations are influenced by my personality, so even though I am in the background, my personality still shines through. It shines through in every interaction I have with people, anyways, so I as a person always am an important factor, too. But being here because of my personality is not what I aim for, I am here because of my creations.
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- In this question it depends on what you look at. If you ask if I got help with building the vehicles, it is a no, I did not get any help. Everything I know is self-taught and I honestly am proud of that. I hold independence extremely high and at the end of the day I would like to be able to look down on what I made and say, "I made that". If I got help by someone, it would not be my very own creation anymore.
That's for the content making part. Next is about the content spreading part:
If you ask if I got help with "gaining an audience", it is a yes, of course, I could not have done this myself. I got help by all the people who liked and shared my creations on pmc itself, YouTube, twitter, discord, Pinterest and wherever my creations might be right now. This allowed more and more people to see my content and that's why I now have "an audience" (I feel really weird when saying this xD).
Interview with: CraftyFoxe (Builder & Server owner)
Profile: CraftyFoxe
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- I think just doing what you like to do for fun is the most important part and everything else will follow. I have gotten help from many people, whether it is supporters, critics, or colleagues. Being alone in a bubble would not stimulate as much personal growth as one could in a community. One should also consider the time and effort you invest in the activity is a key factor.
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- For your 2nd question, I would say both, your personality influences what your content is, and it does show. One cannot live without the other. Some people build creative fantasy thing, while others prefer a more realistic approach.
Interview with: DinowCookie (Skin creator & Blogger)
Profile: DinowCookie
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- No method specifically to gain audience. I just try, practice, and create things that seem fun to me, and over time members started engaging with my content more and more.
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- A good balance of both I would say. With my content I like to engage with the community a lot, with tutorials, contests and events, and the event calendar. And I think my personality shows in that content. But I also like to think my submissions of (mob)skins, build, writings, and art attract some audience of their own.
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- All the help! A lot of great skin and pixel artists who helped me with feedback and with learning new skills, exploring creativity, and so forth. But mainly just this vibrant creative community of gamers who are also on this site to create, learn and have fun together.
Interview with: DreamWanderer (Builder)
Profile: DreamWanderer
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- Unsure how to answer this one. I just build things, and post them, and it just kind of happens lol
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- Both. I like building things, and showing them here on pmc, and having my builds to use as "resources" for other player's projects. And I also like being here to just talk about things and share what I think of/ imagine
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- Since I started pmc I have built alone, but have adapted, and have used many building ideas and inspirations.
Interview with: Michiru (Skin creator)
Profile: Michiru
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- I've never used any specific 'method' to become someone notorious here, but I think there are two major reasons to it : my investment in the community, and the quality and diversity of my content.
Indeed, I've noted that I began to be noticed as soon as I started to participate in unofficial events. Then I have really started to interact with the community by commenting on skins and wall posts, but also by sharing my own art. Also, I think that my style evolution and the improvement of my shading skills to finally come up with a unique and recognizable style really boosted my popularity.
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- My content. I've never asked my subscribers the reason why they've subscribed to me, but I'm pretty sure most of them are following me for my high quality skins and my unique style, and maybe my art. Admittedly, some of them also like my sweet personality, my cheerful nature, and my maturity, but I definitely don't think it's the main reason why they've subscribed to me.
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- Actually, I have started to make skins with my boyfriend in late 2016. When he stopped all Minecraft related activities (because of studies) in august 2019, he gave me his PMC account that I had been co-managing with him until then. However, since I was still completely unknown at that time and haven't gotten any further help from anyone else since then, I consider myself as a self-made girl here.
Interview with: Studio-Winthor (Texture pack creator)
Profile: Studio-Winthor
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- I think I went a typical path for many Minecraft players: from builder to creator. In the beginning I started on PMC by offering my large medieval world for download mainly for our small German YouTube community. But at some point you want to contribute more than Minecraft buildings to the fantastic Minecraft community. But you need a personal motivation. In my case, the Texture Pack that I had been used for years became too colorful and unrealistic for me. Other medieval texture packs used a resolution that was too low for me in close distances, even if I really liked the overall effect.
So in 2017 I started working on my own texture pack. It took more than half a year until the first version was available for download as work in progress version. And with every new Minecraft versions, own new improvements and new reported issues the work on the texture pack never ends. I have been spent around 1,500 hours on this so far. Sometimes I wanted to give up, sometimes it was just boring to do some stuff, but in the end every minute was worth it when people write to you that you have created "their" texture pack.
In order to go the way to a complete texture pack, one has to break it down into workable steps. You need small successes in order not to despair of over 2000 textures. I would advise everyone to tackle all frequently visible textures first and to start with doing NPC, mobs, armor or items later. Then an unfinished Texture Pack doesn't deny its Minecraft roots, but a default sheep or a default bucket in the player's hand disturbs the gaming experience less than blocks with Minecraft textures. But that's probably my personal feeling.
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- It is based on my content. PMC is a functional plattform for me. One reason may be that I'm not an English native speaker. For my personality stuff I'm using our YouTube-Channel and my native language in our videos. An other reason is, that it is a kind of amazon for me, just to find Minecraft stuff instead of goods and books. World saves, ideas, texture packs, it is all here ready for discovery and that is wonderful.
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- I don't get any help but I never asked or search for it.
Interview with: Violet (Skin creator)
Profile: LocalToybot
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- There's not really a 'method' I used, more so just throwing my creations at the 'wall' of PMC until something stuck. From what I have seen, if you make something you genuinely enjoy and slowly build up a skill set, people will like it.
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- A mix of both, I suppose? My content is the backbone of it, but all of it is informed by my personality and what I like to make.
As for why, I suppose that giving my personality or 'self' in general a higher focus over my work just never seemed appropriate.
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- Absolutely! I owe no little debt of gratitude to the amount of friends I've had supporting me over the years.
I've almost always had a group of people around to inspire me and give me advice when I felt my things needed to improve.
People such as:
The_Doctor, a good friend of mine for several years now who has always been there with genuine advice and ideas.
Sonic_Daniel, a close friend of several years who has almost always shown me a better way to do what I do.
As well as some others who don't have active accounts here.
Interview with: TomConn (Builder & Blogger)
Profile: Stubbs1
1. Which 'method' did you use to get to where you are now?
- First of all: Yes I am interviewing myself... Not sure if this is sad or helpful :'D
- When I begun creating Minecraft content, especially for PlanetMinecraft, I first off tried making content that I believed that other people would like, and it did work... Sorta. The content didn't gather as much attention as I wanted to see it get, and for quite a long time, I thought that my goal of one day getting a submission to 100 diamonds was impossible, that was, until I released my "How to rename items" tutorial. I combined my love for writing and compiling files into bundles, into creating a tutorial that quickly caught on. Shortly after, I began trying to make more content that wasn't really made for other people, but was simply stuff where I asked myself "What do I want to see made?"
2. Is your PMC based off your content, or your personality? And why?
- I believe I fall in kind of a grey-zone as my most popular content is tutorials and blogs that still have my art-style-touch on them so that my content is easy to recognize. My PMC profile is 100% me though, or, it's my online personality TomConn ;D
3. Did you get any help? If yes: Who and why? If no: Why not?
- No, I've always been a lone creator, however, I would love to reach out to more people with similar styles to try and do collaborations. Not that I expect the collaboration to yield an exceptionally good result, but it's a great way of establishing connections and getting to meet new friends :)
| Credit | Aspirin60, Awhikax, Captain_JEK, CraftyFoxe, DinowCookie, DreamWanderer, Michiru, Studio-Winthor, Violet. |
| Tags |
1 Update Logs
Big Update! : by Stubbs1 03/11/2022 1:29:09 pmMar 11th, 2022
Big update:
- Removed old Step. 3 (Titles), as I deemed it irrelevant and not very useful
- Replaced Step. 3 (Titles) with a new Step. 1 (Basics)
- Updated title, as this guide can both be used for PMC & YouTube - It's a general content guide
- Added new front image
- Added new description banner
- Replaced old title with new one (How to gain an audience -> How to make better content)
- Corrected spelling errors
- Fixed step. 2 (Brain Storm) issue with images not appearing
- Made step. 2 more specific in speaking about Content Ideas, NOT about actual content, as could be understood before
- Re-did the interview with TomConn (myself) as the old stuff I said was just a ramble
- Removed old Step. 3 (Titles), as I deemed it irrelevant and not very useful
- Replaced Step. 3 (Titles) with a new Step. 1 (Basics)
- Updated title, as this guide can both be used for PMC & YouTube - It's a general content guide
- Added new front image
- Added new description banner
- Replaced old title with new one (How to gain an audience -> How to make better content)
- Corrected spelling errors
- Fixed step. 2 (Brain Storm) issue with images not appearing
- Made step. 2 more specific in speaking about Content Ideas, NOT about actual content, as could be understood before
- Re-did the interview with TomConn (myself) as the old stuff I said was just a ramble
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And I'm glad to hear you found it useful :D
Other than that, I'd recommend just being active. This guide more so helps with content, but I am working on another blog that will better describe what I mean when saying "being active" :)