What is a Successful Youtuber? Becoming successful as a Youtuber really means just a couple of things.
One, you have a channel that produces niche content your targeted audience enjoys and interacts with.
And two, you ideally receive monetary compensation for the content you create.
This can sound like a lot to tackle at once, so let’s break this down into three main parts.
Part 1: How to Become a Youtuber
Part 2: How to grow as a Youtuber
Part 3: How to monetize your Youtube channel
Part 1: How to Become a Youtuber Becoming a Youtuber may seem like a very straightforward process, and it is to an extent, but there are steps you may not think of.
Let's cover a couple of things to consider before even opening your channel and the process of creating your account itself.
Choose a niche A niche is the main category or topic you focus on when creating content. Think of your niche as your guide that dictates the videos you are producing.
A quote by Nicholas M. Butler summarizes the importance of a niche "An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less ." You want to be an expert in your niche.
Clear focus on your channel will make your audience more likely to see you as a legit authority on the topic. If they respect your knowledge, they will, at best, be more ready to engage and subscribe and at least know what to expect from you.
When your audience knows you care and have knowledge and passion for your niche, their loyalty skyrockets.
Not sure what niche to choose? Consider a topic you are passionate about and will enjoy talking about for years down the line.
Recognize your target audience After determining your niche, the next thing is to know your target audience. To know your audience, you should ask yourself the following questions:
Who will be watching my videos? How old are they? What do they do? When will they watch my videos? What will they want to gain by watching your videos? Answering questions like these will help you create engaging content. Let’s look at two examples of how knowing your audience will guide your content.
Let’s say you love health and fitness. Your audience will likely be other gym enthusiasts or people who are looking to get into a healthier lifestyle.
They will likely engage well with videos about your journey, fitness routines, and nutritional intake.
If you are not a certified health coach, they are looking to you as a way to stay inspired and on track.
On the other hand, if you are extremely into travel, your audience is either travel lovers or people who are unable to travel but like to live through other people’s experiences. Their age range is unlimited; they could be students, professionals, or retired.
You will likely do well focusing on vlog-type videos of your travels, "storytimes" about experiences you have had, and Q & A’s about the places you have been.
You have no way of knowing exactly what your audience does (outside of asking them), but you know they are curious about the world.
Knowing your audience as deeply as possible and thinking about how they will impact your content is absolutely necessary to jump-start your success.
Be aware of your competitors While your channel will be unique, you will still have "niche competition." This means other people are making videos in the same general niche as you.
Knowing your competition helps you determine what works well in your niche and how to tweak it to stand out.
Since YouTube is so competitive (there are only so many categories you can make videos about), it's essential to know your competition so your content isn’t drowned out.
Knowing your competition can help your content push through the crowd and is an essential step in becoming a successful YouTuber for two reasons:
#1 It helps you know what your competition is doing right Why reinvent the wheel? You need to know what is already working well in your niche. If something is working for other creators in your niche, use it.
Watching top-performing videos in your chosen niche will help you identify video effects (visual effects, sound effects, etc.) or video formats (expert interviews, Q & A, etc.) that work well for your audience.
You can take the analysis further by looking at the tags and meta tags that make your competitor’s videos popular.
#2 It helps you identify how to stand out from the crowd If you know your competition, you can take what is already working and tweak it to create your own style.
This helps you create original content that stands out from the crowd.
Say your travel vlogging is doing incredibly well, and you’ve been living in Germany for several months. Take advantage of the trend, and make your videos unique to you in Germany.
Create a YouTube channel A YouTube channel is your presence on YouTube. Creating a channel is pretty simple, so if you are tech-savvy, you can skip this section and proceed to step # 5 . However, if you want an in-depth description, keep reading the following steps!
Create a Google account Go to Youtube.com. Click the "Sign in" button at the top right corner of the page.
You need a Google account to use YouTube. So, clicking "Sign in" on YouTube.com takes you to a Google sign-in page.
Enter your Google email address (Gmail) in the email field and click "Next." If you do not have a Gmail email address, click "Create an account." It takes you to the Gmail account creation page, where you must follow the prompts.
After signing in (or creating an account and signing in), the "Sign in" button on YouTube.com is replaced by your Google account icon.
Create a YouTube account Click on the account icon at the top right corner of the YouTube.com page. Navigate to "Create a channel" and click it.
Enter your brand name (how you want to appear) in the field and click "Create channel."
Customize your channel After creating your account, you need to customize it. Hit the "Customize Channel" button at the top right of the page.
The "customize channel" link allows you to add your basic information and branding information.
The branding info includes a profile picture and a banner image. The profile picture will appear where your channel is presented on YouTube. The banner image will appear across the top of your channel.
The basic info to add includes a description of your channel and contact details (which let people know how to contact you for business inquiries).
This information appears in your channel's "About" section and will be visible to viewers.
Create and publish videos A YouTube channel is like a storefront; you need videos to "stock" your store.
Go to YouTube.com and sign in. Then click on the video icon at the top right-hand side of the page.
Clicking on the video icon allows you to upload a video or do a live stream.
Clicking on the video icon allows you to upload a video or do a live stream.
If you have already created a video, click on "upload video." It opens a window that allows you to fetch the video content from where it is stored on your computer.
If you want to create a live stream, click the "Go Live" button.
Note, to go live; you have to have a verified phone number connected to your account
Fill out your video details Your video content needs to reach a large audience to be a successful YouTuber.
Creating quality content plays a huge part in your audience reach, but you also need to fill in specific details that increase video visibility once published.
SEO (search engine optimization) is key. You need to search for relevant keywords in your niche and include them in your video title and description.
If you are into beauty, what words are commonly searched for in this niche? Find them, review what your top competitors are doing, and use them.
You can also use annotations to insert links to your other videos. Linking other videos to a current video gives viewers an easy way to see more of your content, maximizing the views you get.
Part 2: Growing Your YouTube Channel So now you have done the upfront research and the creation of the channel itself, it's time to learn how to grow your following.
To succeed as a YouTuber, you need to get two things: views and followers. Let’s look at some strategies to do just that.
Create quality videos Your channel grows when it moves organically; your viewers love your content so much that they share it with others.
So you need to create quality videos that are worth sharing. Here is where your previous research on niches comes into play.
You know who will likely be watching your videos. You know how to attract their attention. Play to that! Create videos that they will connect with and come back for more.
Be consistent You must keep your audience engaged, so you need to consistently create and post. Develop a weekly publishing schedule and stick to it.
You can choose to publish content once or twice a week, really whatever works for you.
Choose which days of the week (and what time of day) you'll post videos. Your fans will begin to wait to receive your next video when they know your schedule.
Use video tags Determine which keywords your target audience may use and include them in your video description when publishing. Using video tags helps your video appear in search results and increase your views. Remember, SEO is key.
Include a playlist of related videos A playlist is simply a collection of videos. You can add a playlist of related videos to a particular video.
This allows your viewers to easily navigate from one video to another, maximizing watch time on your channel.
It pretty much enables them to binge-watch your content, which is what you want.
Use end screens An end screen or an "end card" is a video snippet that you can include in the last 5–20 seconds of a video to promote another video.
At the end of a video, viewers will see your other videos already published and be encouraged to watch them. And again, you guessed it, maximize watch time.
Interact with your viewers One way to build a loyal fan base is to interact with your viewers. Read comments and respond when possible.
This can be useful when coming up with video content as well. If your viewers know you read comments, they will likely mention content they’d like to see.
This gives you even more insight into what you should be producing.
Collaborate Connect with other creators. You can do this by featuring other YouTubers in your videos or getting links from their content to yours. Such collaboration helps you attract the audience of your collaborator.
Use social media Share your YouTube content on social media regularly. Virtually everyone is on social media, so having your video on platforms like Instagram and TikTok is another way for people to see your content.
Since people actively share content on social media, posting your content can help it reach more audiences. Who knows, it could even go viral.
Run paid YouTube advertising campaigns YouTube can help increase the visibility of your channel if you subscribe to its paid ads. There are different types of ads, including:
Skippable and non-skippable ads: these show up before or during a video. Skippable ads can be skipped after 5 seconds, but non-skippable ads must be watched all the way through. Bumper ads: These are non-skippable ads that viewers must watch before they can watch a video. Overlay ads: These are semi-transparent ads that appear at the bottom of videos. Achieving channel growth is not going to happen overnight. Make sure to stay consistent with these tips, and don’t get discouraged.
Part 3: How to monetize your Youtube Channel Finally, the good part! You have researched, set up your account, and have the tools to create high-quality content. How do we turn this into a way to make income?
There’s not just one way!
YPP (YouTube Partner Program) The YouTube Partner Program (YPP) allows creators to monetize their accounts and earn money directly from YouTube. YouTube attaches ads to videos, and the platform pays you when people view your content (and the included ads).
YouTube pays between $0.01 to $0.30 per ad view, but the average is $0.18. So, for every 1,000 ad views, your YouTube channel can earn $18 OR $3-5 per 1,000 video views.
YouTube monetization eligibility criteria Unfortunately, you can’t be in the YPP without meeting a few requirements. To qualify for monetization, your channel needs to have:
At least 1,000 subscribers v 4,000 public watch hours in the previous 12 months. This is why we covered best practices for channel growth FIRST! You already have the tools to meet these requirements.
Selling merchandise You can make money on YouTube by using your channel to sell merchandise directly to your fans.
If your channel qualifies, a merch shelf and related merch features will appear, allowing you to sell branded merch to followers in the same place where they watch your videos. One criterion for selling merchandise is having an Official Artist Channel or a non-music channel with at least 10,000 subscribers.
If you do not have this, you could always sell merchandise privately on a LinkTree link or something of the sort.
Channel membership Channel membership allows some viewers to join your channel as paid monthly members in exchange for exclusive benefits like badges, members-only content, etc.
You get to pick the rewards you offer paid members and decide how much you charge. However, only YouTubers 18+ can monetize their channel using paid membership.
YouTube BrandConnect Brand content campaigns allow you to connect with brands that want to partner with you.
Using Google technology, YouTube matches you with great brands that will pay you for structured marketing campaigns. Only YouTubers aged 18 and up in the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom are eligible for the YouTube BrandConnect.
Paid sponsorships Paid sponsorship is similar to YouTube BrandConnect, except you are the one finding the brand to partner with. If you love a product and know your audience will too, reach out to the product maker.
You will give them your "sales pitch" for why they should pay you to advertise their product. Show them the benefit.
Here you will need to know the statistics on your channel. Having a high engagement rate is very important.
Affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing means recommending products in your videos and getting a commission for their sale.
To monetize your channel using affiliate marketing, sign up for an affiliate program for a product or company you love.
Once you do this, you get a special affiliate link that you can include in your videos.
Every time your viewers click on the links, they are redirected to the third-party site to make a purchase. You then get a commission for every sale made.
Increase the number of visitors to your blog You can also indirectly make money from your YouTube channel by using it to drive traffic to your e-commerce website or blog.
One way of doing this is to add links to your video description, redirecting your viewers to your e-commerce site or blog.
You can 100% become a paid YouTuber It may seem overwhelming, but you really can become a paid Youtuber. Start at the beginning; research your niche, gain knowledge, and plan content. From there, set up your physical channel.
Utilize high-quality tools to make videos as appealing as possible. Focus on engaged growth upfront before trying to monetize. Build your following, get to know your subscribers, and brands are more likely to partner with creators with high conversion rates.
Your channel is not going to grow overnight. You are going to make mistakes and have to tweak things. But, it is all doable!
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