Hi, my name is Steve and welcome to my channel and my first video.
About me first:
English is not my first language because I speak French on a daily basis so I have an accent "Quebecois" because I'm from Quebec City, Canada. I'm 51 and I've been into the make money online niche since 2008. I've got my blog mcgrath.ca since 2000 and then a little bit earlier than that. At one point, I had 375 domains that I used for SEO and SEO service. I don't have them anymore. I will make a video sometimes about it if you want.
Like most of you, I have a job so I don't intend to make this a full-time job so I will update every two weeks. I expect you'll understand more why later on. Like you, I wanted to start a channel so I took uh many, many hours watching similar videos so you don't have to and combine all the information I found in this video.
Here is the list of the seven subjects in this video:
- Starting a channel
- Settings in your channel
- The equipment
- The reality of making videos
- SEO to bring viewers
- Bad things to expect
- Let's talk about money money money
- Giving back (Bonus)
Starting a channel
What your channel will be about and for that's what you must ask yourself. Focus on a subject that you're passionate about and stick with that because your subscribers and viewers will prefer uh that than a mix of things like I wanted to do. Most YouTubers don't recommend a mix of subjects like I wanted to do at first because on my blog I talk about finance make money online tech reviews cutting the cord that sort of subject so I'm going to start a second channel for those subjects and this one will be about making money online personal finance and retirement everything that is about money. Make it family-friendly so no cursing because advertisers don't like that.
Once you decided about the topics plan 10 or more ideals so you know what you're going to talk about in the weeks ahead in my case I can post those videos on my channel.
Front or back of the camera?
I decided to be in front because I'm not used to and I'm sure with time I will be better and my English will be better too so that's why I decided to be in front but some will use the back of the camera have animation pictures and a voice-over their video or use a voice-over service.
Scripted or bullet points?
Some will use a scripted video because it will be more natural when you watch it but they need to learn their lines or read from a teleprompter. One good point is that it takes less time to record I use bullet points it forced me to practise my English. Besides, I don't like to learn lines so it's the way I prefer. Some will put their cell phones beside them and watch it for points they want to make me I use my laptop I put Open Office or take Word anything and I pick a large size font so it makes it easier for me to read it. The downside, it took me many, many, many, many tries just to record this part of the video.
When picking your channel name, some recommended that you use your own name it's your brand it's how people will recognize you. Some suggested to add the niche in your name so if it could be a Steve money channel something like that but I decided to use my full name.
Before you create your channel, make sure you have a photo of you a header image for the channel since I don't have one already, I had to make one very, very fast for now. Also, there's an optional watermark you can put on your videos for now. I don't use it.
One thing is important to have views on your video is the thumbnail that's what's going to attract people to watch your videos so it must be readable for example from a TV uh four to five words is uh what it's recommended uh put the things at the left side because uh the right it shows the duration of the video so you don't want to have that over your text and in my case I will use a thumbnail software and for me make a review later on
What's going to attract uh your viewers is your title so make sure that the title represents what's in your video so no clickbait besides people don't like that some recommend to have an intro and also an outro to your videos the lengths is between 10 and 20 seconds in my case I don't have neither but the outro is something that I may add later on because it could be something like if you like uh this type of content please subscribe to my channel oh by the way subscribe to my channel if you like more content like this?
In the past, I used Fiverr to outsource some of my work in the case of a video they can edit, they can create an intro and outro they can create an image so it's often little jobs starting at five dollars and can go more than that depending on the job you want them to do for you so I will leave a link in the description below
Microjob (small work)
Upload your videos when your subscribers are awake so take into consideration the time zone
Upload your video in private mode first it will be your last chance before making it available to your channel subscribers
If you don't know, you can have a default description I will talk about that a little bit later in the money part
When you have a few videos in your channel you can start organizing them in my case, it could be for YouTube personal finance retirement make money online so make sure that you create them sub channels so that uh viewers that are more interesting in one of your topics can find them and start watching them easier
When you record watch the lens in my case, it's on the left side of my phone but if I look in the middle of the screen of my phone you'll see that I don't look at you I just uh turn my head to the left and now I'm watching you so it's not very natural at first but if you after a few times uh you get used to it
Equipment:
When you start your channel start with a phone your phone if it gives you a decent quality video and uh audio, you do like me I use my current smartphone and I don't intend to buy a 500 camera I'm not at that point yes it gives you more quality but keep your cost down at first
My only investment is a tripod for my cell phone that I'm using now cost me uh 18 bucks Canadian I will put a link in the description but uh for now that's okay I don't plan to buy uh one that is uh taller my needs are not there for now so keep your cost down like I said
When you watch YouTubers, it looks so easy for them but you know at first they stumble too. They are not perfect even now it takes much time to record a segment of their videos that's the reality and for me I was told I'm perfectionist I need to work on that and making videos is a very, very hard for me because it takes time so don't be perfect with time things will be better at least I hope so for me too.
Expect to take hours uh to make uh one single video I'm learning that the hard way because uh I told myself oh a few hours it will be done uh no it's been more than a few hours but it's part of the learning curve and I more I do my lines from my bullet points the better I get the less I take for creating uh one segment of my video sometimes it takes many times and sometimes 1 or 2 takes I'm glad when it happens so it's long but it's okay you're learning as you do that.
Most YouTubers recommend to be consistent and upload every week at least at first when you're starting and since I'm planning ahead of time I know I have content for many weeks to come but like I mentioned before I'm planning a second channel for the tech side so maybe it will be every two weeks I don't know but if you subscribe to my channel thank you and you won't regret it because that's why I planned ahead I know I have things to say to warn you about in the make money online so uh when it's done it's done and I'll speak a bit uh about that uh later on.
At the other end of the spectrum, some suggested to create videos every day I get the point because you will get the experience faster but it's not possible in every niche unless that's a tip you follow the news in your niche it could be small videos could be just a short review or announcement something that you get experience but you don't spend hours and hours and hours so uh that's something to consider depending on to the niche you decide to do.
Don't expect to have many views at first on your first few videos could be a while so be patient continue to create content as I will do and if it goes viral good if it takes time it takes time. So even seasoned YouTubers that create a second channel see that to they can send those subscribers from their main channel to the second channel that will help them more but since most of us start from nothing patience is a virtue.
Some viewers will watch a few seconds or a few minutes of your video it's normal so look at your analytics and see where the drop begins and watch your video from a point of view of a viewer and see what may stop them from continue watching your video and learn from that.
Everybody is a critic so in your comments you will find a good and bad critics so that's okay but if you have trolls or those that send hate nasty comments don't play their game don't respond don't reply don't waste your time instead use the good and the bad critics and make your next video better that's the goal to learn and create a community that will help you create better content for them.
People will make assumption about you you can't do anything about that it's not because I'm on YouTube that I make a lot of money from my channel hopefully in the future I will and this will make easier for my retirement fund so if you like this kind of content than like my channel please subscribe and like this video but seriously it's mostly uh YouTubers in high school some will leave nasty comments on their locker for example so don't let them put you down start your channel create content that people will want to see and in 10 years you will be better off than those that are jealous so good luck. Start now your channel
You need to ask yourself is it a job or a hobby? because something that's not mentioned enough on in this type of video is the burnout effect of delivering a video uh under pressure that some put on themselves to deliver that content at fixed date fixed days and that's bad that's not mentioned it's too bad but I'm mentioning it because it's not my goal to get a burnout from creating YouTube's videos so you have to find some balance in your life you have work you have your social life you have school so balance everything and if it's work good for you you're a full-time YouTuber that's the decision you made it's okay if you missed a week I want as a subscriber i prefer you to be in health than in burnout and seeing nothing from you for three months so don't put pressure on yourself deliver content when you do if you can get a schedule going great but don't overdo it
SEO for YouTube is a bit like a blog on my blog if I create content about making money online my URL to my post will mention that my tags my description my title everything will mention make money online so Google will know that it's making money online the subject of the page on YouTube uh the description the tags your title the video file must mention make money online for example and uh when YouTube transcribe your content since you will be mentioning making money online they will uh know it's about that so uh stick to those rules for me I'm going to use a software that will go beyond that so i will probably make a review eventually to see if it helped or not driving external traffic to your channel.
One old-fashioned way you are to comments on the blog related to your niche so if I'm on a make money online blog, I will put my name and the URL will link my channel or a specific video if they mentioned the same thing so that's easy to do don't put generic comments just put something that's related to the content from the blogger.
If you have a blog, link to your latest video for a simple SEO uh it's simple as that to drive a traffic to your channel or video.
You can create uh blogs on WordPress Blogger Tumblr and all those kinds of sites mostly free so it costs you nothing but it will take you some time to create backlinks to your video.
Money Money Money
To get paid for the ads, on your videos by YouTube you need to have 1 000 subscribers from the start of your channel and 4 000 hours of watching and that's in the last year.
The revenue share for the ads is 55% for you and 45% for YouTube to get that revenue you must have an Adsense account. So go open one uh today so when you get your 4 000 hours and 1000 subscribers you will be ready.
Once you're enabled, it takes a few days to get started so better uh start now and be ready when the time comes.
When ads are enabled, by default, every video you made so far will have ads at the start so you don't need to do anything but videos above 8 minutes, before it was 10 minutes, you can add a mid role ad to them the advantage is it will increase from what YouTubers are saying your revenue so go at it go edit them when you have ads enabled.
When you don't have ads you can't make your money at the start of your blog, not true, because you can use affiliate marketing so you can make money if you have your own product or service you can promote them and I mentioned that you can have a default description in the channel you can use that and put the links to what you want to promote and everything every time you make a new video that description will be added by default so promote some Amazon product or your service I will probably do that myself so check the description once it's done.
If you do affiliate marketing, I suggest that you add a disclaimer saying that you may earn revenue if people buy uh from the links in your description just to back you up on the legal side.
This one is for those into make money online if you're going to promote an affiliate offer for a service or product sometimes they close it's too bad then you will lose revenue if you use the exact link to that offer in your description I suggest that you use a redirection URL service or your own domain any way you like so that if product A close you can use product B instead I use that method on my own resource page on my blog so in time I may lose less money by doing that it's a step more to do but in time I will make more money doing that
The 80/20 rules: 80% of the money will come from 20% your videos apparently it's like that on YouTube too.
You must be realistic about potential revenues from your channel. some YouTubers took years before they reached a level where they're doing that full time and left their 9 to 5 jobs so if the first year you say I will make one thousand and you do about the more or less than that it's okay just continue to make a great content and people will find you and you will earn more money the next year
In most countries your revenue will be taxable so make sure that you don't take the full amount in your pocket you must leave some for the tax man
When your channel becomes bigger some sponsor may approach you to promote their service or product, it's okay it's another way to make money but stay true to yourself and only do that if you believe in what you're promoting otherwise your viewers will sense it and will leave you.
To increase your visibility, you may upload your videos to other video platform some will pay some will not uh you must check them out but make sure that you keep all the rights for you.
If like me you know a second language, you could create a second channel for that language. Since most of the research about your video has already been done, I'm thinking about it because uh it will be easier because it's in French but think about it it could be a second source maybe less than English but nonetheless another source of revenue for you. Just keep in mind that the rules for their ads is per channel and not for your account so you will need uh 1000 subs and 4 000 hours of watching on that second channel too.
Like I mentioned before use the analytics to know more about your viewers so if most of them watch almost all your videos, you could for example if you want to promote a product or service that you're doing yourself put some screenshot at the first few minutes and say if you stick around you have a special for you and at the end you put the special so they may watch a few minutes more because they may be potential customers.
From time to time I see YouTubers showing how much they made from ads, it's not about bragging it's about showing the possibilities sometimes it's the first check sometimes is one year later and you see the difference so take that as a good thing and not as bragging and start your channel today.
Giving back:
When the revenues from the ads from this channel reach $5 000, I'm going to split it this way:
- 50% for the income tax because i don't have a choice
- 20% for charities or helping family or friends in moments of needs
- 10% for this channel could be products or services that i want to review and to tell you if it's worth it or not. it's going to be for equipment anything that can help grow this channel and help you at the same time and, of course,
- 20% for my retirement fund
As my revenues increase, my intention is to increase the charity part, subscribe and watch it costs you nothing and it helps others.
Oh I forgot i have an offer for you
You need to check out the video.
Thank you for watching my first video even with my bad English accent so if you like the content please subscribe or at least like my video it will help my retirement fund and me and hopefully i will see you in your own channel very soon!