YouTube presents a great opportunity for you to make money, but it has to be done the right way. YouTube, as we all know, has become increasingly cluttered with influencers creating content. But what content is best? And what content can ensure views?

Luckily, the folks at YouTube have done that research for you. They aggregated data on millions of videos to determine the most popular video formats. We are now going to see how you can create a video on YouTube, how to make money from your videos and what kind of video will bring the right audience and make you money.

• How to Get Started With YouTube
• What Kind of Videos are Most Popular on YouTube?
• How Can You Make Money From Your YouTube Channel
• Who Are The Highest Earners on YouTube

How to Get Started With YouTube

For some small businesses and organizations, getting started on YouTube might appear as a huge task. But it is encouraging to note that the benefits of being on YouTube greatly outweigh the downfalls. Don’t let your initial nervousness get in the way of giving this powerful channel a try.

The most important thing you’ll need for a successful YouTube channel is something you most likely already have — an understanding of who your audience is, as well as what kinds of things they may find valuable.

Read Also: How to Make Money from Youtube in 10 easy steps

For example, if you run a pet store you know that your audience is mainly comprised of pet owners and that they find animal-related tips and tricks, such as “how to train a dog to sit” or “tips for leash-training a cat,” valuable. Taking note of your audience and their interests will help you determine where to focus your efforts when creating content for YouTube.

Video content can reinforce your branding efforts and show off your business expertise. However, it’s also a great way to entertain, educate, and connect with people. To help you get started on YouTube and take the many earning opportunities on the platform, please pay attention to the 10 tips provided below.

1.  Define your goals

Much like every other endeavors, it’s important to consider what you’re hoping to get out of YouTube. This will help you decide what kind of videos you want to create and define the right audience for your content.

Again, this is likely strongly connected with your small business or organization’s audience. If you run a makeup company, posting tutorials on how to get ready for a night out make sense. However, your subscribers may find it odd if you’re giving tips on unrelated topics, such as gardening or yoga.

It is also important to keep in mind why you want to be on YouTube to begin with. Are you looking to spread the word on your organization’s mission? Do you want to increase sales to your brick-and-mortar store?

Having a goal in mind from the start means you’ll be better able to create content that your audience will want to subscribe to, comment on, and share. If you focus on content that is useful to your audience, particularly if it’s something you are an expert in, your viewers will see you as a trusted resource for information.

2. Create a channel

To create a YouTube channel, you will need a Google account. You can either use an existing Google account or create a new one for your business.

Once you have created your account and navigated to YouTube, you will be asked to name your channel. We suggest using the name of your business, as it will be the most recognizable. You want to make it easy for your target audience to find you!

Remember, YouTube is basically a search engine (and is powered/owned by the world’s largest search engine – Google). Consider specifically how people would search to find what your business offers.

Next, you will answer a couple of questions and agree to the terms. Then that is it, you are the proud owner of a brand new YouTube channel.

It’s important to do a little cleaning up before you start promoting your new page. After all, you want to make sure you make a good first impression.

Here are a few quick things you should focus on:

Your channel art sis at the very top of your profile, while your channel icon is displayed next to your name and alongside every video you post.

Channel Icon

Your channel icon is basically your YouTube profile picture. This image is automatically pulled in from your Google account. In order to make your channel recognizable, it is a best practice to upload your company’s logo as your channel icon. If you don’t have a logo, use a high-quality image that represents your business in a professional manner.

Channel Art

You can help your channel stand out from the crowd by customizing your channel art. YouTube provides a great walkthrough of this process, complete with dimensions and how your artwork will be displayed across a variety of devices including mobile phones and televisions.

Be mindful when choosing your channel art. We suggest using a simple design or pattern that is consistent with your company’s branding, or an image that accurately represents your business, because it gets cropped to a very small portion of a larger image.

Keep in mind that you must have the rights to use any image you choose. Lastly, go check out what these images look like on other devices to make sure everything looks good. Your channel art will appear differently depending on what device your subscribers are viewing it on.

About Section

The about section is an opportunity for you to tell people who you are, what you do, where to find you, and how to get in touch. Be sure to link all of your other social networks here so that people can follow you on multiple channels. You should also link to your company website in your about section so people can connect with you and sign up for your email list.

3. Begin making and uploading videos

This is where the fun begins, where you are to put your creativity to good use.

Gather all the equipment you have and go shoot some video footage. Don’t have a ton of recording equipment lying around? No worries. Even if you’re only working with your smartphone, you can still make a really great video as long as it’s useful to your audience.

Remember to be confident and have fun. Great videos always have good energy; if you’re not having fun making the video, your audience probably won’t have fun watching it!

In addition to any resources you might find on the internet on how to create your videos, how to monetize them and which equipment to use, keep in mind that you are just starting out. You can always upgrade to more advanced equipment later.

When it comes to editing videos, make sure to choose a simple editing software that won’t be too overwhelming. YouTube even offers up some built-in editing tools you can take advantage of after you upload.

4. Create playlists

Once you’ve created a few videos, group them together into playlists on your channel. Even if you only have a few videos, it’s a good idea to put them together on a playlist to help your subscribers easily sort through your content. This is an important step as the title you choose for your playlist can also help you rank higher in Google search results.

Playlists will also encourage people to watch more of your videos because they’ll see a list of the rest of your videos in the series, which makes your content more episodic. Autoplays do a good job of engaging viewers to watch multiple videos, with no effort on their part.

YouTube also allows you to feature playlists on your YouTube channel page. This is a great option because you are able to organize and categorize your content while also highlighting the videos you want to draw the most attention to.

5. Share your videos

While your videos will likely get some traffic through organic search alone, don’t hesitate to promote your videos through your other online channels, such as your website.

The people who have already connected with you on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest are likely to appreciate your new videos as well.

And don’t forget about email! Including a video in your next email is a great way to engage your subscribers and drive traffic to your YouTube page.

6. Analyze your data

Once you’ve started putting your videos out there, it’s important to take note of how people are interacting with them.

Ideally, you want people to watch your video all the way to the end. The audience retention report in YouTube Analytics can show you at what point viewers stopped watching your video. This is a good way to gauge if the length of your videos is right or if there is a particular part of the video that may be turning people away. Typically, shorter and more engaging videos are most effective.

7. Stay engaged with your audience

One of the worst things you could do on YouTube is to upload your video and then forget about it.

Check in every once in a while to see if people are engaging with your video. Responding to people’s questions or comments can create conversations that help your audience learn more about your company and add even more value to your video.

Not only can they learn from you, but you can learn from them! Take feedback into consideration and use it to adjust your videos, better catering to your audience’s needs. Every comment you receive on a video is an opportunity to create a deeper conversation and connection.

8. Make your videos accessible

By adding subtitles and closed captions to your YouTube videos, you can open up your content to a larger audience, including deaf or hard of hearing viewers. This also allows for international viewers to take advantage of your content, as they may speak a different language than the one spoken in your video.

Adding closed captions is simple. In fact, YouTube has a tool that automatically generates them! However, this tool is not perfect and often requires minor edits or tweaks to deliver a good user experience. YouTube’s support page has step-by-step instructions on how to create, edit, or upload subtitles and closed captions.

9. Decide who should have access to your channel

If you are going to be the only person contributing to your YouTube channel, you can go ahead and skip this part.

However, if you are managing a small marketing team or want to give one of your employees access to the account in order to respond to viewer comments or upload videos, you will want to understand how channel owners and managers work on YouTube.

You should always make sure you are the primary owner of the account. This way, if an employee leaves or changes roles, you will be able to remove or edit their access. This also prevents any ex-employees from being able to control the account after they’re gone.

10. Consider going live

Live video is more popular than ever. Going live is a great way to build trust and loyalty as it is an authentic way to communicate with your audience. It’s also a great way to introduce yourself and your brand new YouTube account!

YouTube Live can be enabled on any verified YouTube. However, only accounts with at least 1,000 subscribers are able to live stream on mobile. In order to enable live streaming simply go to YouTube’s Creator Studio tools and click on the Live Streaming tab.

Looking for live streaming tips? We recommend using a network with high-speed internet and setting up in a location where there is minimal background noise or distraction.

Video content can help you become a trusted authority in your industry, as well as a personable source of entertainment.

You don’t have to be a filmmaker or a professional editor to be successful on YouTube. All you need is to figure out how you can offer your audience something of value. This way, they’ll appreciate your effort, engage with your content, and come back to visit your page again and again.

What Kind of Videos are Most Popular on YouTube?

The list below will help to give you an idea of the type of content that is most popular on YouTube so that you can frame your videos with these tips in mind.

1. How-To Videos

How-to videos are a beauty influencer’s bread and butter. Many channels are devoted solely to this video format and have millions of subscribers. How-to videos are the perfect combination of education and utility and viewers can’t get enough of them.

2. Vlogs

Vlog channels get hundreds of millions of views as viewers are addicted to this authentic video format. Many beauty influencers incorporate vlogging into their channels (some even have a totally separate vlogging channel) and see lots of success on their vlogging videos.

3. Product Review Videos

Now more than ever, trusted reviews are paramount to consumers making a purchase. Most people wouldn’t think of making a purchase unless they consulted online reviews first.

Product reviews take online reviews a step further by allowing the viewer to actually see how a product performs while hearing feedback on the product from a creator. No wonder this useful video type is considered #1 most popular video type on YouTube by some influencers.

4. Comedy/Skit Videos

People love to laugh! According to research, comedy videos are the most likely video format to reach ‘viral’ status. Many beauty gurus have incorporated the skit formula in their videos in the form of fun, highly produced intros.

5. Gaming Videos

While this niche doesn’t really apply to beauty creators, gaming is one of the most popular video formats on YouTube. So if you love video games, a gaming channel might be a great idea!

6. Educational Videos

YouTube viewers want value from the videos they watch — so it is no surprise that educational videos are a popular video format. As a beauty and fashion YouTuber, you can easily weave educational videos into your arsenal. Viewers love videos about makeup ingredients, ethical fashion brands, the history of a certain trend or style, and more!

7. Unboxing Videos

Unboxing videos are a favorite amongst YouTubers and it seems like viewers enjoy them just as much. Unboxings have become a key method for viewers to make purchasing decisions. They are also a great way for brands to get the word out about new and existing products.

8. Tag or Challenge Videos

From 10 Facts About Me videos to The Highlighter Challenge, tag videos are hugely popular on YouTube. This video format allows users to watch various creators do the same challenge in their own unique way. Tag videos also encourage users to stay on the site longer and exposes them to new creators.

9. Favorites/Best Of Videos

This is another video format that is widely popular among beauty and fashion creators. Favorites videos give viewers an intimate look at the products a YouTuber really loves and is using. This is critical to the buying decision consumers make.

10. Haul Videos

Haul videos were made famous by beauty creators on YouTube and remain one of the most popular video formats to this day. Haul videos are also incredibly popular among brands who rely on hauls to organically show their newest products.

How Can You Make Money From Your YouTube Channel

Similar to making money on Instagram or via blogging, your audience might unlock your YouTube channel’s earning potential. But when you create multiple revenue streams, through side hustles or businesses, it’s easier to monetize.

YouTube provides several ways to accomplish this let’s examine some of these options.

1. Make Money From Ads Through YouTube Partners Program

The first revenue stream you’ll likely explore is ads. Whether you want to earn money on YouTube without creating videos or as a content creator, joining the YouTube Partners Program and setting up monetization is a vital step. You can apply for monetization once you’ve hit 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year.

How to enable monetization on YouTube

1. Sign in to the YouTube account you want to monetize.
2. Click the icon for your account in the top right corner.
3. Click YouTube Studio.
4. In the left menu, select Other Features > Monetization.
5. Read and agree to the YouTuber Partner Program terms.
6. Create a new AdSense account or connect an existing one to your channel. (You need an AdSense account to get paid.)
7. Set your monetization preferences.

Once that’s done, head back to the dashboard and click the Analytics tab on the left side. From there, you’ll need to choose Revenue from the tabs at the top, then scroll down to the chart Monthly Estimated Revenue to get an idea of your predicted revenue.

How many views do you need to make money?

The number of views you get doesn’t correlate to revenue earned. If your video gets thousands of views but no one watches or clicks the ad, you won’t make any money. This is because of YouTube’s criteria for billing advertisers: a viewer must click an ad or watch the ad in full (10, 15, or 30 seconds) for you to get paid. 

However, with the release of YouTube Premium, you no longer need to rely on advertisers to create engaging or enticing ads to earn revenue.

Check out YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is a paid membership program that allows fans to watch and support their favorite content creators without ads. For creators, not much changes, as they will get paid for content consumed by non-members on YouTube along with content on YouTube Premium. 

Creators are paid for YouTube Premium based on how much members watch their content. Consider revenue earned from YouTube Premium as a secondary revenue stream in addition to what you’re already earning through ads.

While it’s easy to set up, earning money through advertising as a YouTube Partner is far from the most lucrative revenue stream you can create for yourself.

Why you should look beyond ads for revenue

YouTube recently received a lot of backlash due to its decision to be more transparent about advertising on the platform and what qualifies as “advertiser friendly” content. Essentially, many creators feared that, due to the nature of their content, they would lose out on the ad revenue that helps support their channel.

According to YouTube, your content could get excluded from ad revenue if it includes:

• Sexually suggestive content, including partial nudity and sexual humor
• Violence, including displays of serious injury and events related to violent extremism
• Inappropriate language, including harassment, profanity, and vulgar language
• Promotion of drugs and regulated substances, including selling, use, and abuse of such items
• Controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters, and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown

But the reality is that YouTube has been demonetizing content that it doesn’t deem advertiser-friendly since 2012 via an automated process, without warning and without the content creator’s knowledge.

Now, the situation is actually better, as creators are notified when their content is flagged and can contest any time they feel a video was mistakenly excluded from YouTube’s advertising network.

Advertising might be a common means of generating passive income for creators, but the trade-off is that YouTube gets to keep around a 45% share of ad revenue. In short, YouTubers should explore other revenue streams to sustain their creative hobby.

2. Work with brands as an influencer or affiliate

Brands are investing more and more in influencer marketing, spending their typically large advertising budgets on influencers who’ve already won the loyalty of their audiences.

This creates a massive opportunity for you as a creator if you can negotiate the right deals.

Brendan Gahan, a YouTube marketing expert and influencer, recommends establishing your baseline flat fee by looking at the number of views your videos typically get and multiplying it by 5 to fifteen cents per view (which is around what many brands are willing to pay for views via YouTube ads).

Depending on your leverage—your audience demographics, content quality, and how unique and profitable your niche is—you might be able to negotiate a better deal if the brand is a good fit.

Becoming an influencer on YouTube is reported as the highest-paid platform for brand partnerships, according to Aqer. But to give you an idea of what you can potentially charge, a mid-level influencer charges a brand around $20 per 1,000 subscribers, or $2,000 per $100,000 followers, according to one study. 

The key when partnering on brand-sponsored content is to be transparent about it, not endorsing anything you don’t actually like or believe in, and being upfront with your audience about why you’re doing it.

Here are just a handful of the many influencer marketplaces you can add your channel to and get discovered by brands both big and small:

• Grapevine Logic: One of the more popular influencer marketplaces, you only need 1,000 followers to join.
• Famebit: With a wide range of brands to work with, you might find a sponsorship opportunity you’ll be proud to be a part of. You need 5,000 followers to join.
• Channel Pages: Partner with other YouTubers as well as brands.
• Crowdtap: Complete small content creation “tasks” in exchange for money and other rewards. There’s no restriction on how many followers you need to join.

Some influencer marketplaces offer you free products, while others are known for having big brands who are willing to pay more. Capitalize on the opportunities that best suit your needs, but list yourself in as many places as you can to ensure maximum visibility for your channel.

Alternatively, you can also become an affiliate marketer for brands and make residual passive income through commissions from every sale you generate through your channel.

This works especially well if you review products as part of your YouTube channel. Since there’s no risk involved on the brand’s end (they only pay when they make sales), there’s usually a low bar to getting started.

Popular affiliate programs include Click Bank (1% to 75% commission, depending on what the vendor sets) and Amazon’s Affiliate network (earn up to 10% per sale). You can also reach out to brands in your niche that are running their own affiliate programs, which isn’t uncommon in the ecommerce space.

3. Sell products or merchandise

There are plenty of products to sell that can help you make money through your YouTube channel. Selling merchandise—t-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, snapbacks, you name it—has a benefit beyond revenue.

Merchandise increases your exposure by putting your online brand and personality out into the offline world and deepens the relationship between you and your fans as they literally “buy” into what you’re doing.

Roman Atwood sells a variety of merchandise in his store under his Smile More brand. Selling branded swag is easier than it might seem at first.

You can order affordable designs tailored for specific products, like t-shirts, using freelance sites such as Fiverr.

And when it comes to handling orders, you can integrate your store with services such as Oberlo or one of the many print-on-demand providers that take care of shipping, fulfillment, and customer support, letting you reap all of the benefits of a dropshipping business that demands less effort on your part.

4. Let your audience support your work through “fan funding”

Similar to crowdfunding a project, you can also set up “fan funding” streams to source donations from your audience.

As a creator, you’re contributing your voice to the internet without forcing your audience to pay for admission. So, if you’re offering good content, your audience might be inclined to support you on an ongoing basis.

Many fan funding platforms offer creators another place for people to discover their content and a way to engage their most loyal audience and reward them for their support.

Wait But Why creates more long-form written content than YouTube videos, but is a great example of receiving support from the Patreon community. 

If you choose the crowdfunding route, be sure to follow a couple of best practices. First, create transparency around how the money will be spent. This will get your fanbase invested in your story or mission, and they will literally buy into the value of your content.

Read Also: Can a Student on an F-1 Visa Earn Money From Youtube?

Second, offer enticing rewards for better pledges. The more you can make donors feel like they’re getting something exclusive for being a loyal fan, the more likely you are to get donations and higher pledges.

Some popular fan funding options include:

• YouTube’s Super Chat: Super Chat is a feature used when going live on YouTube. It lets you create a tipping jar for your viewers to donate whenever and however much they feel like contributing. You’ll need to set up your YouTube account for advertising as outlined above.
• Patreon: The membership platform that makes it easy for creators to get paid. Fans can subscribe to their favorite creators for as little as a dollar a month and receive exclusive rewards.
• Tipeee: Lets you get a combination of both one-off and recurring donations

5. Crowdfund your next creative project

When money is all that stands between an idea and its execution, crowdfunding is a good way to make it happen.

Whether you need help buying better equipment, hiring actors, or covering other production costs, you can call upon your own audience and the crowdfunding community to pitch in if your idea is compelling enough.

Many successful crowdfunded creative projects tend to offer a sneak peak or “trailer” that gets people excited, so consider shooting a video explaining your project or offering a taste of what it’ll be like, such as this popular Kickstarter for Kung Fury, a short film paying homage to ’80s action movies.

Popular crowdfunding sites with a proven track record of campaigns from YouTubers include:

• Kickstarter: One of the most well-known crowdfunding sites, great for funding cool products and creative projects. Be sure to set an attainable funding goal because you’ll only secure it if you actually meet the goal you set.
• Indiegogo: A Kickstarter alternative that offers more flexible funding options.

Who Are The Highest Earners on YouTube

According to Forbes, these 10 channels were the top earners on YouTube from June 2017 to June 2018:

1. Ryan’s World, $22 million (22.4 million subscribers)
2. Jake Paul, $21.5 million (19.7 million subscribers)
3. Dude Perfect, $20 million (47.1 million subscribers)
4. DanTDM, $18.5 million (22.3 million subscribers)
5. Jeffree Star, $18 million (16.5 million subscribers)
6. Markiplier, $17.5 million (24.5 million subscribers)
7. VanossGaming, $17 million (24.9 million subscribers)
8. Jacksepticeye, $16 million (23 million subscribers
9. PewDiePie, $15.5 million (102 million subscribers)
10. Logan Paul, $14.5 million (19.9 million subscribers)

This list might leave you with a lot of questions about how these YouTube stars earned their fortunes. If you follow the tips provided in these article, you might just be on your way to earning huge like the people on the list.

But keep in mind that this will not happen overnight, a lot of time and efforts has been invested by these individuals to get to this level. What compels most creators to create is rarely money. It’s the thought of making something for the world to enjoy.

But ironically, that puts them in a great position to actually make money in a content-obsessed world.

While the hard part for many businesses is getting and keeping their audience’s attention, YouTubers have already figured that bit out. All that’s left is to get creative—to channel the entrepreneurial drive to explore ideas—with how you choose to monetize your passion.