Streaming can often be a minefield of do’s and don’ts, there so many streaming mistakes that you can make and without realising it can actually hamper the growth of your channel. This article will look at addressing some of the most common of those mistakes, why they are bad, and how they can be remedied.

Channel Mistakes

• Only displaying a tip button beneath the stream and failing to include information about you as a caster, your schedule, social media links, or other important information.
• Using greeting bots – Although it may seem harmless, a greeter bot is actually very off-putting for viewers. It’ll scare lurkers away and turn off viewers that decide to chat.
• Using view bots – This is possibly one of the more obvious ones, not only is it against Terms of Service on all streaming websites and you will get banned for it, but, you will also lose the respect of viewers and fellow streamers.
• Streaming at too high bitrate – Whilst streaming at a higher bitrate when unpartnered might seem like a good idea, it can actually have a negative effect. The higher your bitrate, the faster your viewers internet needs to be to watch on source. Now, this may not be a problem for partnered streams, but non-partnered streamers that don’t have transcoding options may end up losing viewers since they are just constantly buffering. Ideally, you don’t want to be going over 2200kbps if you don’t have transcoding. You also shouldn’t be streaming at 720p60 and 1080p30 without the transcoding options available for the same reason.
• Placing content behind a paywall – Whilst it is always great to be able to give that bit more back to those who support you financially, but be careful to not put too much behind that paywall. If everything, or a large portion, of channel perks are behind a paywall it can be a massive turn off for viewers.

On-Stream Mistakes

• Calling out lurkers – There is little harm in generally thanking them for watching, but don’t specifically call them out and ask them to be active in chat. There is a reason they are lurking, just be grateful they are watching.
• Trash talking other streamers/channels – Always remain respectful towards other streamers and channels. Whilst you may not like a channel or stream, it is always bad manners to do so and a negative streamer will result in a negative channel; a negative channel is not somewhere most people want to hang out.
• Complaining about not having viewers – This insults the viewers you do have in your channel. A negative attitude will also affect new visitors coming into your stream.
• Talking about money – A streamer asking for money and talking about finances is a turn off for many viewers and should never become a focal point of a stream. Your viewers will feel pressured and may stop tuning in. For more information on this check out our Streaming for Money article.
• Talking about controversial topics – Any topic that can divide opinion you should try to avoid, since it can create rifts in a community resulting in some people leaving a stream.
• Frequent tech issues – Always take the time to test your stream to avoid running into tech issues, they can be a massive turn off for viewers. Also, if you can continue streaming without the issue affecting your cast, try to do so and not troubleshoot whilst live. It can detract greatly from the quality of your stream.

Networking Mistakes

• Asking another streamer to raid/host you – It’s not that the streamer wouldn’t want to help you, but a streamer isn’t going to support someone they don’t know. Instead, try embedding yourself to the channel and becoming a regular. Once you’re a regular, then you can PM the streamer and just ask them if they can check out your stream sometime. This is more likely to be successful with smaller streamers.
• Slyly plugging your channel in another chat – Going into a stream and saying things like “Oh I’m just getting ready to stream” or “I was thinking about streaming this game what do you think of it?”, is poor etiquette. Even if it’s not your intention to advertise your stream, or maybe you think you’re being clever, it will make you look bad and the streamer will lose respect for you.
• Tagging other streamers in your going live tweets – It just seems like you are asking for promotion without any context or personal message.
• Raiding a channel much bigger than yours – This can seem like you are trying to gain from the raid rather than genuinely trying to support another stream. Try asking the streamer via PM beforehand if they are okay with you raiding them first if you want to raid someone more popular than you.

To conclude, if you avoid these common mistakes, you will give yourself the best possible chance of growth. Also, as a streamer you should try to think how a viewer will perceive your actions and react to them. If you do that, you will go a long way to putting on a product that your viewers will find entertaining and will grow as a result.

If you feel there is a mistake commonly made by streamers missing from this list, please don’t hesitate to contact us and join our Discord server.