The Perfect Strategy for $5,000 a Month on YouTube

Being a full-time YouTuber has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid and first discovered the platform. I was hooked instantly and I’ve still been watching YouTube ever since with the same dream in mind.

YouTube was the Netflix for me in my childhood, honestly, I think it’s better especially modern-day YouTube where the content is at an all-time high. I loved watching channels like KSI, Logan Paul, Pewdiepie, etc. About 5 years ago when YouTube was going through an adpocalypse and their creators weren’t getting paid enough with ad revenue, it seemed like it was over for the platform.

I’ve had many channels on YouTube where I’ve tried to go all out and push myself to create content, the most subscribers I’ve had were over 1,000, and that happened a year after I started the channel. After the amount of time and effort I put into my YouTube, I’ve finally come to a conclusion that YouTube is the hardest platform to grow on by far.

I’m currently doing a 30 Day Challenge where I attempt to make $100 on YouTube. Spoiler, it’s been more than halfway through the month and I’d be lucky if I even get 100 subscribers and a dollar. It’s not easy and there are so many people on the platform that’s been doing the same thing as you so the competition is extreme.

How To Optimize Your Channel

If you want to grow and get started with YouTube, start now, and don’t wait. The longer you wait to create a channel and upload your first video the less chance you have at becoming an early success on the platform. It’s never too late to start a channel and make money online via Youtube, you just have to put the work in and try and be more productive than you were the day before.

The first thing to figure out is the niche you want to be in. Once you have that set in your mind now is the time to create and show your ability. Make sure to provide links to your other socials and set a good profile picture and channel banner art.

I used Fiverr and hired a freelancer to make a custom channel profile picture and banner but you could always do it yourself and edit with Canva (if you’re on a budget) or Photoshop.

When you are in the process of uploading a video, provide the audience with end cards, tags, and a valid SEO description with long-tail keywords.

Why Is It So Hard To Grow on YouTube?

One reason only, because nobody knows you or even knows you exist.

There are over a billion channels and 720,000+ hours of video uploaded onto the platform every day. What makes you and your content so special?

Your content could be absolutely fantastic and consistent and still get no recognition. Everybody starts from somewhere and a lot of the big YouTuber’s definitely cringed looking back at their first couple of videos. Just remember you want to get as much watch time as possible. The main goal is to get noticed and promote yourself with the job of entertaining and informing people.

Many people go through burnout and end up quitting the platform but it’s up to you if you want to keep going and learn from your failures. YouTuber’s are entertainers and the more they keep their audience engaged, the longer these people watch their videos.

What I love about Youtube is how your videos will live on forever and it can make your channel into a cash cow passive income source because of your videos and Adsense. Videos still accumulate views as months and years go by so it’s important for you to take advantage of that.

Strategies to Grow

Set small goals first. Don’t start off by setting a goal of having 1 million subscribers. Start for 100 and slowly make your way up. I also recommend setting a content schedule and value your consistency. Try starting out by posting 3–4 videos a week.

Prioritize your brand. Your brand is the most important thing about you and your channel. Your brand is what can potentially lead you to sponsorships or endorsements but you have to make sure not to damage or hurt your brand in any way, shape, or form.

Focus on SEO. If you want to start growing on YouTube faster than others, focus on the SEO that could potentially turn viewers into subscribers. Not to forget, the best way of getting views is by the title and thumbnail but don’t clickbait, it’s just lame.

Share your videos. You have other platforms to share your content just like how you share your content with Medium. Join YouTube Facebook groups, tweet about a video, and share it with other people. No matter how good your content is, if you can’t marketize your work then your lifespan on YouTube is going to be very short.

Change your mindset. If you come in thinking you’re not going to be successful at it, change that mindset. YouTube takes a lot of patience, time, and effort. You see some channels growing at 10,000 subscribers a day but you don’t see the effort and work they had to put in at the start to have results like that.

Takeaway

What are you waiting for? Start your channel now and plan ahead for the future. The main takeaway that I must express is don’t quit your channel or delete any videos you create. My biggest regret is deleting a channel that had around 1200 subscribers I shared with my friend because of other people finding out about it. To this day, I still look back and think what could have potentially happened with that channel today if I hadn’t deleted it and kept posting content.

It could take years for you to get your first 1000 subscribers, if you are just starting off on YouTube, set a goal of 100 subscribers and just keep moving forward. Small growth is still an improvement even though you may not think it is.

What are your thoughts on YouTube?

Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed this and it helped you out let me know by leaving a response below. Connect with me here and subscribe to my weekly newsletter about living life beyond your means.

This story was originally written on my Medium profile