Post: #1

This is my first attempt at a datasheet for you kids.

There was a thread about YouTube marketing from 2013 that got slightly derailed by one particular channel idea ("Any YouTube Marketers out there?", /thread-26637.html) - I figure a new thread with a specific title will benefit the forum.

Details

I can't tell you the channel name because as far as I know, it's against YouTube's Terms of Service to divulge earnings.

There are a few main ways to earn money off of YouTube:

1. Create a channel with regularly-published videos (i.e. "New video every Tuesday")

Most of the big-name channels follow this format. People will wait for the new EpicMealTime video, Michelle Phan video or Lonely Island video. They have subscribed to the channel and each new video appears in their YouTube Homepage feed. This practically guarantees that X people will see each video. You must continue to produce "quality" content, and by that I mean you are creating content your viewers expect and will take time out of their day to watch.

2. Create a channel of videos will appear in searches

This is the format I follow. I have a series of videos that people will watch when they need help with something. I will detail my process below.

3. Create a channel, build a following and then parlay into a Paid Channel

This is a newer method. If you have 10,000 subscribers you can create a new channel of similar content and charge people to view it. You can also simply start requiring subscribers to pay to access the videos that you once offered for free, but that's not an ideal strategy. The best analogy is the Freemium model: Offer people something for free, and if they want even more they can pay to get it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemium)

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My method

I have a couple hundred videos of "How to _____" that will help people if they have trouble doing something. Kind of like an education channel, but people will watch it when they need to do something and have no idea how to.

If you have specialized skills in any area, you can create videos that will help laypeople.

YouTube is the ideal platform to do this on, because:

1. YouTube is more monetizable than text-only webpages.
2. Key: Google puts YouTube videos near the top of its own searches, because YouTube ads are one of Google's main revenue streams.

If you google "How to put on a condom", the first hit is a YouTube video:



1/3 of my traffic comes from YouTube searches
1/3 of my traffic comes from Google searches
1/3 of my traffic is everything else: "Suggested Videos", social media, and views that YouTube can't figure out the source of.

^^ This is completely different from the big-name channels (which are driven by subscriptions+virality) and one-hit-wonder videos (which are social media driven). People are finding me because they need help with something.

IF you create a How-To channel with videos like I have, I recommend UNCHECKING "notify subscribers" each time you publish a video. The big-name channels get lots of views this way, but the guy who viewed your "How to tie a Windsor knot" and subscribed to you, doesn't want a "How to fold your suit for a trip" at 4PM the next day. You can lose subscribers by posting content that doesn't give them an immediate dopamine hit. By being a channel they subscribed to, but without publishing videos to their feed, you'll appear high in their future search results without coming off as irrelevant.

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How to know what videos to create

If you already help people with stuff, you likely know what people need help with. If you don't, there's a few ways to mine the data:

1. Go to a forum on your topic and sort by "Views". The forum threads with the most views (usually double or triple the next-most-viewed threads) are likely getting their traffic from somewhere else (quite possibly Google searches). It's something people are searching for. Steal that thread title, or change it slightly, and create a YouTube video about it. Who's Google going to funnel traffic to - its own site (YouTube) or some forum that only displays text ads?

2. ^^ Do a similar thing for Yahoo Answers (sort by "Most popular"). Clearly Google will prefer to send searchers to YouTube, if there is similar content.

3. If you stumble across a video that seems to generate traffic (for example, "How to tie a Windsor knot"), create a dozen videos, one for each kind of knot.

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How much does YouTube pay?

When I say "$1,000 per month", it's more complicated. I have months of $1500 and months of $300. It will vary with the type of content you have, but here's my earnings for an unspecified time period. It's $1 for every ~250 views.



Best months are November and December because of Christmas advertisers.

You can probably guess how your own videos will vary seasonally: math videos are poor performers in summer because kids aren't studying, how to make margaritas is better on summer weekends, etc.

It really is cyclical, and YouTube traffic continues to grow. Here's the $ from one of my oldest videos. I uploaded it ONCE and it continues to get more and more views. Also note how cyclical this is, year-to-year. I smudged the line so they can't track me.



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Extra tips for boosting traffic

- Create a tag that is specific to your channel, and put this tag on ALL of your videos. For example, Roosh could tag all this videos with "RooshVIDS888", and YouTube will be more likely to put his own videos in the "Suggested Videos" column when people watch any particular video of his

- YouTube is explicitly against "Thumbnail gaming", but only punishes videos when the thumbnail has NOTHING to do with the video. Any single frame from the video is allowed, with text overlay. Take a look at the "Most viewed" videos of Fail Army. It's not a surprise that the video with an attractive girl has the most views, followed by massive cleavage, and even not-hot-girl-in-bikini has a decent showing.



- ^^^ Bonus, but kind of unrelated: Compilation videos and Top Ten are HUGE. People just sit on YouTube apparently and binge-watch videos to waste time. The bonus is that these people generally aren't smart enough to install an AdBlocker haha.

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Feel free to ask questions. Also, feel free to leave feedback on the datasheet and/or how I can improve future ones.

Love this community, wanted to give back.

Post: #2

Interesting data sheet. Lots of us run blogs, so driving traffic is always a welcome topic

Post: #3

Cool, have you calculated your hourly wage?

Post: #4

(07-14-2014 05:21 PM)berserk Wrote:  Cool, have you calculated your hourly wage?

That is an interesting question.

First of Chemistry, thanks for the share.

Can you quantify the hours you have spent?

The cool thing is once you make the video it is there forever. So your return goes for as long as you keep the video up.

Production value matter much? Or more just useful content presented clearly and at least decent sound?

Post: #5

(07-14-2014 04:35 PM)Chemistry Wrote:  I have a couple hundred videos

Much props, but a couple hundred videos?

High quality?
10,000 subscribers?

I'd say this is an "intermediate" technique.

WIA

Post: #6

Great datasheet, thanks for sharing your experience and tips.

+1 from me.

Some questions:
1) How much do 'likes' on youtube videos matter?
2) For people who watch youtube and have adblock, does it basically count as a view but brings you no profit? (Sidenote: I'm surprised that everyone doesn't have adblock already)
3) If you set up a youtube channel, what do you need to do for you to actually monetize it (even if only a tiny amount of money coming in)? Presumably if you set up a random channel with a one-hit wonder video, or a small subscriber-type channel with regular videos nothing will happen. Also, does it depend on the content? For example - if you upload some music tracks which people do a lot and often have a lot of views, is that monetized?
4) For a regular-content type channel, very roughly speaking, how many subscribers do you need to be able to make say $1000/month? I often see channels with about 50,000-200,000 subscribers or thereabouts, would that be in the same ballpark? (from views alone, without sponsorship income).

Thanks.

I've considered setting up a channel, but not sure if it'd be worth it given the time it would take to make quality content.

Post: #7

Your right my most popular videos are how to fix things. I had one on how to fix a drum belt on a stackable washer dryer. Its an older model so you wouldnt think it would get that many hits but it does.

How to fix it videos work great. Heck even something like how to replace a screen in a vaporizer or something like that. Think about how to videos you have looked up in the past to get some ideas.

I find its much easier to rank on youtube than google and videos on youtube rank well on youtube. Many people have caught onto this so its gotten a little tougher but still works great.

To the OP have you noticed earnings down recently? My Adsense earnings on youtube and blogs have gone down alot over the past year or two but especially in the last few months.

If any of you guys ride motorcycles the helmet cam vlogs when your riding around get great hits and has a nice little community where roders like meeting up with vloggers and vloggers meetup with other motorcycle vloggers. I was looking at picking up a new ion air pro and a mic and making videos when Im riding around.

Post: #8

I think with youtube vids you can go two routes quality or quantity. Quality videos takes a lot of time, effort and some skill with editing. Quantity on the other hand is basically just vlogging or ranting on video. If you talk about current events, celebs, popular topics youll actually get some decent traffic and views but if you get a lot of thumbs down or short watch times it hurts your channels overall rank.

If your not wprried about quality its easy to pump out a lot of videos. That's why I like the idea of motorcycle vlogging. You can get the motorcycle crowd as well as people interested whatever given topic your discussing and you give people something visually to watch as opposed to these people who have pictures of palm trees up for the entire 5 min they are talking or have the cam focused on their chest or chin and not their face, people dont want to watch that.

Post: #9

I have dabbled a bit in webseries (helping friends etc). It seems like production value isn't as important as the content. Funny is funny regardless if the setting isn't more than a couch in a living room.

Some people have put in tons of efforts and they don't get any more views than things that took a lot less time to do.

I just think as long as it is understandable and informative, I think that checks most boxes.

When I go and search for how to stuff, I still try to see 2 or 3 to make sure it is the consensus solution if it is something complicated.

Post: #10

I wish youtube was around back when I was in college. I had some buddies interested in film amd doing short skits and funny videos. We used to sit around getting fucked up making little snl like skits. Some for their film classes some just for fun but at that time youtube wasnt around or wad in very early stages.your right funny is funny regardless. I think one of the most important things is your screenshot or preview puc for video. Thats what basically dictates which vid Im gonna watch personally.

Post: #11

Appreciate the post Chemistry.

To me, it sounds like a lot of work for little return. How long are your videos and how long does it take to put one out (ie, research, shooting, editing...).

Post: #12

I was thinking about starting a thread is blogging and video income dead or at the very least is it not a good return on time and effort.

I feel youtube and blogging has value, especially if its to drive traffic to a ecommerce site or your service but blogging or making vids strictly to make adsense or affiliate money I think only a rare few will excel.

Thats why I threw out my scenario of motorcycle vlogging. Im gonna be riding my bike around anyway so why not film my myself riding around ranting about various subject throw them up on youtube and make a few bucks. Requires minimal time and effort and Im riding anyway. In a suburb this wouldnt work but if you live in a cool area with some twisties or cool roads you dont even need to talk people will just watch your ride.

The nice thing about youtube is once you make a video its up there forever so in a sense its a padsive recurring income all be it pretty small unless it goes viral.

I don't make a ton or even have a great channel but I have a few videos like 3 years old that still make me like 15 a month just for being up.

Post: #13

Thanks for the feedback and questions everyone, I don't normally get nervous about first impressions but I did for this one haha. Glad to see you guys felt there was value in it.

(07-14-2014 05:21 PM)berserk Wrote:  Cool, have you calculated your hourly wage?

I hadn't until you asked me. I have about 18 hours of content posted, so let's say that it took 48 hours to record. That is obviously an estimate. I don't like re-recording videos unless there is a massive error in them.

Total revenue: about $12,000
Revenue / Hours = $250/hour

Obviously this hourly wage varies from video to video - 80% of the revenue comes from 20% of the videos (that's also an estimate ha)

(07-14-2014 05:51 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  Production value matter much? Or more just useful content presented clearly and at least decent sound?

Production value is low - I'm shooting videos with a Kodak EasyShare (made in 2010 I believe) point-and-shoot, which is such a low-quality camera that Kodak isn't even in that game anymore. Comments are frequently about how they're "easy to understand" and are rarely about quality of video.

(07-14-2014 08:30 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  Much props, but a couple hundred videos?
[...]
I'd say this is an "intermediate" technique.

Can't argue there, I'm no professional, just an average dude making some passive income.

(07-14-2014 09:48 PM)Espresso Wrote:  1) How much do 'likes' on youtube videos matter?
2) For people who watch youtube and have adblock, does it basically count as a view but brings you no profit? (Sidenote: I'm surprised that everyone doesn't have adblock already)
3) If you set up a youtube channel, what do you need to do for you to actually monetize it (even if only a tiny amount of money coming in)? Presumably if you set up a random channel with a one-hit wonder video, or a small subscriber-type channel with regular videos nothing will happen. Also, does it depend on the content? For example - if you upload some music tracks which people do a lot and often have a lot of views, is that monetized?
4) For a regular-content type channel, very roughly speaking, how many subscribers do you need to be able to make say $1000/month? I often see channels with about 50,000-200,000 subscribers or thereabouts, would that be in the same ballpark? (from views alone, without sponsorship income).

1. I don't think likes matter at all. It's possible that more likes = higher ranking but I haven't noticed this myself.
2. Yes. Adblock does cut into the profits. Overall though, revenue per video is UP from 2 years ago because of the video ads that show up before a video - sometimes it forces you to watch the whole thing. Advertisers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed impression like that, as opposed to the old-school text ads.
3. I was invited to be a partner after just 15,000 views on a video (I think I had about 10 videos at the time, and this was in early 2011 I think). The bar for "Partner" might be higher now, but there is definitely a point at which an auto-invitation is triggered.
4. More subscribers is likely to result in more views, but $$ is related to views only. Stats about how many views you can count on from subscribers are all over the place, but are generally low conversion rates. My personal tack is that it's better to make shareable and findable because searches seem to be the biggest driver of views.

(07-15-2014 11:33 AM)jamaicabound Wrote:  To the OP have you noticed earnings down recently? My Adsense earnings on youtube and blogs have gone down alot over the past year or two but especially in the last few months.

My earnings per view hasn't changed compared to the same month last year. April 2013 and April 2014 were both about $1 per 325 views, for example. Number of views is up, but my "How To" videos aren't with technology so won't go obsolete as quickly as some videos might.

Your total earnings are down? Are your # views down as well?

(07-15-2014 12:18 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  To me, it sounds like a lot of work for little return. How long are your videos and how long does it take to put one out (ie, research, shooting, editing...).

The how-to videos I'm creating aren't researched, it's information I already have in my head - kind of like a knowledge dump. You are correct in that if I was researching for each one, and worried about production value, it would be much more time consuming (and less return per hour).

The average of my last batch of videos is about 5.5 minutes each. I would guess that set-up and uploading (tagging etc) take the same amount of time. I don't edit the videos either. I upload it straight from the digital camera and spend a minute creating the title, description and tags on YouTube.

Post: #14

This is great. I always wondered what the payout was. Seems to remind me of the spun article backlink spam days of adsense. Wonder how long this will last.

Post: #15

Are you partnered directly with youtube? I am and only get about $1/1000 views.

Post: #16

I know a year or two back youtube really changed up the whole partner thing. I believe at one point only partners could monetize. After that they allowed most people who wanted to, to monetize but that doesn't officially make you a partner to the point where you can have your own banner, charge for your channel, and other features of branding. Can anyone explain the difference and pros of being a full partner as well as requirements.

Youtube and adsense kinda scare me. They have these content rules about certain topics be it alcohol, tobacco, sex, drugs, etc. I think they say make it family friendly or office friendly or non offensive but what does that really mean?They are very vague like the adsense TOS so some people get away with some pretty risque stuff while others get banned for nothing.

anyone who were to try to make videos about male issues or pickup or game I feel like would quickly get some femnazi pissed off and reporting all your videos and even if within TOS you will probably have lots of headaches if not shutdown.

A couple years bacl I made a video criticising a shipping company who cost me over 10k due to their blatant violation of their own policies and my account was suspended. I found out it was because of that video. I appealed it and after a lot of bacl and forth my account was reinstated because I hadnt violated any policies but goes to show big companies and really anyone who wants to complain has influence.

It kinda scares me putting all this time and effort into a platform I have no control over and which can be shutdowm on a whim throwing away all my hard work over months or even years.

Post: #17

Thanks for the info Chemistry.

Do you ever point shitty backlink packages at the videos to boost rankings?

Post: #18

Katatonic Im far fr9m am expert in Seo but I think prob know a bit more than the average person. I dont thinl backlinks would do anything within youtube and since the Google update that basically to my knowledge made backlinks less important and garbage backlinks amd bad links actually a penalty I would think if anything its not going to help, worsst case scenario it may even harm.

If your looking to give an artificial boost to your account Id buy video views or comments or thumbs up from legit accounts and not bots. You can also pay to have a video featured as well.

Post: #19

(07-15-2014 04:24 PM)jamaicabound Wrote:  I appealed it and after a lot of bacl and forth my account was reinstated because I hadnt violated any policies but goes to show big companies and really anyone who wants to complain has influence.

It kinda scares me putting all this time and effort into a platform I have no control over and which can be shutdowm on a whim throwing away all my hard work over months or even years.

Yeah, I wondered that too. You could wake up one day and your channel be gone without an explanation.

I remember Stefan Molyneux saying he had that happen to him recently and he had 1500 videos up on his channel of 150,000+ subscribers. He said it was gone without warning and no explanation was given when it was re-instated shortly thereafter after people were like wtf to google.

I recall other youtubers saying that a video of theirs would just disappear without warning based on 'youtube policy violations', probably because a bunch of 'offended' people flagged it.

I guess it's risk but if you're material is not provocative it shouldn't be a problem.

Post: #20

This was in my mind for a long time but I've a very big concern: copyrights. My idea was to make a nostalgic youtube channel with videos and songs with pictures of singers from the 50ies, 60ies, 70ies targeting the senior (and hipster) audience in youtube. Démodé as it may sound, it's not strange to find videos with songs or about Celia Cruz, Jorge Negrete, Carlos Gardel or Raphael with >500K views in less than a year and others with good 6KK in a couple of years and good 200K suscriptions. You can't believe it? Check Hank Williams Sr, Elvis, Aretha Franklin or Sinatra.

How do anonymous users manage to avoid their accounts being suspended while others have seen videos deleted and channels cancelled is a mystery for me. Maybe any of you have experience with copyrights and intellectual property issues and could shed light on the topic?

Post: #21

(07-15-2014 04:54 PM)jamaicabound Wrote:  Katatonic Im far fr9m am expert in Seo but I think prob know a bit more than the average person. I dont thinl backlinks would do anything within youtube and since the Google update that basically to my knowledge made backlinks less important and garbage backlinks amd bad links actually a penalty I would think if anything its not going to help, worsst case scenario it may even harm.

If your looking to give an artificial boost to your account Id buy video views or comments or thumbs up from legit accounts and not bots. You can also pay to have a video featured as well.

Although I haven't done it myself, I've heard that some youtube marketers point non-relevant but high DA and PA links to youtube videos knowing that Google won't penalize its own site. I'm guessing it can be a slippery slope with that many links pointing at the videos on your account, that's why I want confirmation from someone doing it before I try.

I misspoke as well. I didn't necessarily mean 'shitty' link packages, just non-relevant ones. As far as pointing those links to your own site, I know that would be a death sentence.

Post: #22

Relying solely on Google hacking isn't likely to work in the long run. If you're just creating content based on 'how to xxx yyy', then that is basically doing parasite SEO for "how to" longtails, which a lot of sites did prior to Panda updates. Eventually, Youtube will be flooded with sub-quality vids, just like the search results were and then Google will be forced to take some drastic action. As of now, Google clearly manipulates results to show Youtube, so it makes a lot of sense to aggressively pursue this. If you were the opportunistic and entrepreneurial type, you could hire others to do a bunch of videos and just research keywords.

Post: #23

Any of you guys know how this clip (as an example) can exist and generate almost 4 million views. I guess this person doesn't monetize it?

Post: #24

And yet no "how to" video on how to do this?




I kid.

Post: #25

(11-12-2015 03:25 AM)samsamsam Wrote:  Any of you guys know how this clip (as an example) can exist and generate almost 4 million views. I guess this person doesn't monetize it?

I'm pretty sure if it's copyrighted you get nothing, that's why I quit uploading my collection of 45s. All that work digitizing and nothing comes of it.

EDIT: Actually that's not 100% true, looks like it depends on the video and the rights, here's the only one of my videos that earned any cash this year (the rest of them the copyright holder gets the money I'm guessing):

$22.44
29,673 views