Today, I filled out my application for monetization on YouTube for my channel, MyBasicJourney. Getting to this point was not easy and took a lot of hard work, consistency and dedication. I’m here to tell you about the realities of getting monetized on YouTube and some helpful tips to get you started.
In order to be monetized, your YouTube channel must have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within a 12 month span.
I started my channel in late July of 2018 with a short pilot video. The video itself was basically a montage of random clips. I had never edited a video like that before and even though it’s only a minute and so long, I was really proud of it. It was then that I fell in love with the process of creating videos and editing.
I made videos regularly for the first few months on my channel; 9 total between July 29th and Sept 15th of 2018. The next time I uploaded a video after that was April 19, 2019 – so 7 months later. This is when I truly started my channel.
Over the last 21 months, I have learned a lot and I wanted to share a couple tips I’ve learned.
If I would have known these things from the beginning, then I would have been able to monetize my channel a lot sooner. Hopefully, this can help you if you’re trying to start a channel yourself.
Tip #1: Consistency is key!
The truth of the matter is, you’re not going to be able to grow your channel if you’re not consistent. Uploading a couple videos every few months wont retain enough viewers to actually grow your channel. Treat it like a business. There are days that you will feel like not creating, but it’s like every other job. Some days you don’t feel like going, but you have to. I find it easiest to make a schedule for yourself and follow through.
I recommend at least one video a week.
Sometimes, people will assume that if you make a video every single day it will grow your channel faster. However, from my experience, people react better to one or two well done videos a week, than to have 7 videos a week that are poorly produced. Not to mention, filming, editing and uploading daily videos is extremely exhausting. Unless you’re Casey Nistat with an entire film crew and years of previous experience, than daily videos might not be the best route to go.
Tip #2: Choose A Niche. (And stick with it.)
If you’re like me, choosing a niche might be difficult. I wanted to do a bit of everything on my YouTube channel: Veganism, minimalism, travel, vanlife, dog videos, personal development, sobriety, mental health… It’s exhausting just listing them.
When your channel is too broad, people get confused.
Example: If someone watched my veganism video (It’s super cringy.) and then subscribed because they wanted vegan content, but then I come out with a video about dealing with depression, then they’re going to be confused, turned off and possibly unsubscribe. They most likely won’t watch your video and retention will be lost.
YouTube also pays attention to your niche.
The YouTube algorithm is more likely to promote your video if you have narrowed down content. If you post a vegan video one day, they’ll put your video near other vegan videos (Topically). When you change your niche, it changes the entire audience or demographic that YouTube promotes your channel too. They’ll be less inclined to suggest your videos if your content is all over the place.
Once I narrowed my channel to vanlife and travel related content, YouTube promoted my channel more therefore increasing my views and gaining me subscribers. You can actually find this in the YouTube studio after you have a channel created, which is an entire new blog for another time.
Tip #3: Quality Footage.
As you would expect, if you upload videos with bad quality, people aren’t going to want to watch. This is another topic that could have an entire blog for itself. To keep it simple there are a few key elements to keep in mind when creating videos.
Lighting is everything.
Always keep the light in front of you (shining on your face.) Whether that’s natural sunlight, or artificial light setup, you’ll want it to be facing you instead of behind you. This is a huge mistake I see a lot of beginners make. Luckily for me, I had years of photography classes under my belt and understood lighting position. There are many videos and courses on this, but you can change the entire feel of your video just be adjusting the light.
You’ll need some equipment to make good quality videos.
I’m not saying you need to buy a $2,000 camera and a mac book pro, but your 2010 android is probably going to need an upgrade. I currently use a Samsung Galaxy S8 and it works really well. One day, I would love to be able to afford a nice vlogging camera, like the sony RX 1000 mark Vii, but until then, my phone will do.
Don’t get too hung up on having nice equipment. In the end, consistency is key. If all you have is a point and shoot kodak camera from 10 years ago, then use it until you can get something better. Continue to make videos and perfect your craft.
Learn the ins and outs of a video editing software.
Throughout the last 2 years, I have tried multiple free video editing programs. HitFilm, Shot Cut and Lightworks all have a free editing software you can download and you can do pretty much anything you would on an expensive editing program. Currently I’m using Shotcut, but all of them are very similar as far as execution. Once you learn one, it’s easy to learn another. There are videos out there for each program with detailed tutorials of how to edit videos.
Be prepared to be frustrated when first learning to edit videos. My first video, even though it’s only a minute long, took me around 4 hours to make. It was extremely frustrating going into it with no experience whatsoever. I was a complete noob to editing videos. However, it’s a lot easier now, and I’m continuing to learn new tricks every time I edit a video.
Tip #4: Thumbnails.
Thumbnails are the images people see when searching video content. It can either make people click or it can make them pass by without a glance. YouTube pays a great deal of attention to your thumbnails, so utilizing this knowledge can help you significantly. Make sure to use relative key words and a clear image when creating your thumbnail.
Tip #5: Searchable Titles.
No one is going on to YouTube and searching “Vlog 1: Going to grandma’s” Right? So let’s say, hypothetically, that you do have a vlog and your channel niche is VanLife. You’re going to your grandma’s house but it’s your scheduled day to record a video. You can still make a vlog at your granny’s but you’ll need to title it to cater towards your VanLife audience. For example, you could title the video “What My Grandma Thinks of VanLife.” The video itself could be a vlog of you going to grandma’s, but make sure to include content related to your niche. Sit down with gram gram and ask her some questions related to your topic. She’ll be amused, and you’ll get the content you need.
When creating a title, pay attention to keywords.
Keywords are the searchable terms in your title. For example, “VanLife” and “Grandma” are two keywords from the title, “What My Grandma Thinks of VanLife.” YouTube uses these keywords to decipher who to promote your channel to. To increase your searchable content, make sure to add your keywords to other locations like your description box and text on your thumbnail.
Tip #6: Do Research
I still don’t fully understand the YouTube algorithm, but I know way more than when I started. You’ll want to research these things to help your channel grow as well as getting recognition YouTube.
There are tons of helpful YouTube channels that teach you how to build your own channel. Two of my favorites are Cathrin Manning (TheContentBug) and ThinkMedia. I have watched countless hours of their videos learning the ins and outs of YouTube as a business.
You can also take classes. There are websites specifically dedicated to providing classes like MasterClass or SkillShare where you can learn an array of things. They have so many helpful YouTube, Photography and Video Editing classes that will boost your knowledge and confidence on your journey.
Also, keeping up with what is trending and applying that to your content, will also boost views and reach a wider audience. Right now, #Covid19 is highly trending topic. Adding this to your titles, descriptions and thumbnails will drastically increase the amount of people who view your videos. For example, one of my more recent videos what PLANS ON HOLD due to Coronavirus. Doing this allowed me to stay on topic while being “trendy.”
Tip #7: Interact with your audience.
Interacting with your audience is one of the easiest ways to build your channel. People like other people who make them feel seen and make them feel loved. When you show others that you’re grateful for their presence and acknowledge their existence, they’ll stick around. The community that was built through my channel is my favorite part about YouTube.
Something that was a small piece of advice I received in the beginning was to look directly into the lens. This will feel like eye contact to the person on the other side of the screen. Also, to directly talk to your audience in the video: Say hi, ask how they’re doing, ask them to comment about something, ask them to like and subscribe. This might feel weird, but it will feel more personal to your viewer if you include them in the conversation. It helps to treat your camera like an actual human, or multiple humans in the case of the internet.
Tip #8: Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Being on camera was the hardest thing that I personally had to adapt to. It was extremely uncomfortable, embarrassing, and really cringy. Now I get comments about how “natural” I am on camera. It’s a good laugh, really, since it took almost two years and many cringy, awkward videos to get to the point where I’m at now.
Watching yourself on camera is so incredibly uncomfortable. You learn little quirks about yourself you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. In the beginning I would do a lot of things that annoyed me. I would blink a lot, I would look at myself in the camera instead of the lens, I would make this weird clicky noise with my tongue, I would say “um” at least 50 times a video and I would mumble… a lot. It took a long time to not do these things, in fact, some of them I still struggle with.
Uploading a video can also be uncomfortable. Once that upload button is pushed, there’s no stopping anyone from watching it unless it’s deleted. That gives anyone on the internet free range to critique everything you’re doing. It’s definitely nerve wracking to put yourself out there and takes a certain level of confidence. People are going to have opinions about you no matter what you do. My advice is to just do you which brings me to the next tip.
Tip #9: Be Yourself. Be Unique.
Above everything else, stay true to you. It doesn’t hurt to take tips and tricks from other creators, but steer away from mimicing them. The easiest way to truly build an audience that is there to stay, is to be completely yourself. People will notice if you’re trying too hard to be someone you’re not.
No one else in the world is like you, and the world needs more of you. People react better to transparency and humility than they do to someone trying to fit an image. Life is too short to be anyone else but yourself.
Tip #10: Have fun!
If you’re not enjoying yourself, then making YouTube videos isn’t worth it. Getting to the point of monetization is not a quick and easy process. It takes passion, dedication and patience. Have fun with this. Make videos that YOU would want to watch. Cater to your audience in a way that will also cater to you. I hear people lose interest in making videos after they realize they’ve been making videos for other people instead of themselves. Stay true to you, and it will be a blast!
The sky is the limit as far as YouTube goes. You get to make of it what you want. If you want it to be a business, treat it like a business. Otherwise it’s just a fun hobby!
I hope this helped anyone who was thinking about starting their own journey towards a career with YouTube. It really is possible as long as you want it bad enough. There are many other factors that go into making money with YouTube such as monetizing a corresponding website (like this one), brand deals/sponsorships, patreon, creating merch/art, and many others. Check out this blog for a beginners guide to making money online for more tips.
Thank you so much for being here. If you’re currently building a channel, comment below with your URL and we can support each other. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for VanLife and travel related content and sign up for e-mails for updates (NO SPAM). You can do so at the top right of this page. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions! <3
xoxo
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