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DEEP DIVE ARTICLE LISTS TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways)

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about videos; I’d say they are worth a trillion words.”

You cannot deny it anymore; videos are now everywhere and video marketing is on the rise. It has grown even more prominently than just a few years ago and is convenient for brands to reach their customers.

You can argue that popular social media sites like Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter, and others are good places to promote your content, but the truth is YouTube reigns supreme. People spend trillions of hours every day looking at videos.

I’m going to share with you 30+ proven tactics, tips, tricks, and hacks that are going to help you grow your YouTube channel.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways)

Know Your Audience

One of the first things to do before you go about making your videos is to know what your audience, viewers, or customers want. You should be asking yourself questions.

Asking questions will help you to understand and make better videos for your audience, customers, consumers, or viewers.

Keywords & Research

Now that you’ve had a chance to know their requirements, you can start with subject / content research and gather keywords. When YouTube is concerned, keyword research is important. I cannot stress this enough.

Choosing the CORRECT keywords skyrockets your videos to the top. Choosing the WRONG keywords buries in heaps of search results.

Engaging Titles

This is another one of the important factors that make-or-break your YouTube video’s popularity. Literally, titles are what makes or breaks your video’s engagement and performance.

You have to craft engaging titles and grab your viewer’s attention without using “clickbait” headlines. People want entertaining content, and not one that says something but delivers something else.

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Trailers, Trailers, Trailers

Before you run off and make your first YouTube video, create a video introducing yourself, your brand, and what your channel is about. This is a mini trailer to show to non-subscribers and persuade them to stick about and even subscribe to your content.

Need help with make a good trailer? I make a video all about that on my YouTube channel – check it here.

Content – Quality, Reformatting, Sustainability, Trending

Rule #1 – Quality, Quality, Quality; Content, Content, Content

Rule #2Read Rule #1 Period.

You know your audience, done your research, and have gotten that optimized video title, but now what? Now, you start to form the content of your videos.

If your video is not what people want, they’ll be lost in the infinite sea of other videos that nobody wants to see.

You have to create content that lures viewers, meaning videos on trending content. You can also repurpose an old article or blog post and create an engaging video your viewers will love.

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Make Eye Catching Thumbnails

YouTube grabs a screenshot of your videos and uses these as thumbnails. Most times the image is blurry or you do not want this. Use specific fonts and styles so that it’s consistent with your brand’s look and feel. Use tools like Canva to create thumbnails.

Also, don’t make thumbnail to clickbait. You’ll lose subscribers in an instant. Thumbnails give a good first impression to your viewers of you and your channel, so make it eye-catching.

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Put Yourself On Camera

Are you running your YouTube channel yourself or as a small business or start-up, then it’s better to put yourself in front of the camera. Putting a face to the brand lets your viewers easily associate with you.

This is particularly true for solo entrepreneurs; business, fitness, or life coaches; and bloggers. Also, use your photo instead of your logo on your YouTube channel if you are one of the above.

Win The Click

If your video is based on a project, show the final result at the start. A stunning result makes people more interested to see how you achieved it. This is a winner for makeover, beauty, home improvement, and DIY videos.

Telling stories is another fabulous way to tempt your viewers’ emotions. We all want to hear stories.

Viewers want to know what happens at the end of a story, so start with one.

Also, a personal story will endear you to your viewers.

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Upload Videos Consistently

Just making videos with great content and then not doing it anymore is not enough. You have to be sustainable, meaning you have to do it regularly.

Doing it once is GOOD, doing it again is GREAT, but doing it again and again is FANTASTIC for you (brand or otherwise) and your viewers.

Stay Focused

AVOID nonsense and ramblings, don’t take long pauses, jump around topics, or be boring. This makes your viewers look at the recommended video section for interesting stuff. Make sure your videos are engaging visually or use stories.

Do not give your audience a chance to click away.

Engage Your Audience

Make sure the content you make is what your viewer wants. Ask your viewers for suggestions. You need to engage your subscribers and reply to their queries and comments on your videos.

Don’t forget to reply to negative comments also. It shows you are listening and active. You can use this to convert your audience into possible leads.

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Brand Yourself and Your Channel

Don’t make your video look fake as this affects your viewers’ perception of your channel and you. Also, make sure your channel is visually appealing. You have to make it look authoritative. Branding a channel helps users to recognize it in a sea of content.

Be sure to match your channel to your website or blog’s look and feel; do not differentiate between them.

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Cross Promote Your Videos

Cross promoting make you look more professional and uniform. You don’t know the subscribers you’ll get just by promoting on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, etc

Use the following tips to cross promote on social media:

  • Make and promote teasers
  • Release behind the scenes videos.
  • Alert your subscribers to new video uploads
  • Links in video description to nudge viewers to take a look (call-to-action)

End Screens and Info Cards

You might be thinking what is a Card? It is nothing but an interactive “panel” that slides in and out as your video is nearing the end. This is to nudge viewers with interesting content that they might like.

You’ll be able to add 5 panels, make the most of this. You can add text, images, or clickable links.

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Subscribers, Subscriptions & Newsletters

Use your site’s email newsletter to grow your channel. Send embedded preview videos or links to new content and bring them back to your channel. You can always ask your audience to subscribe to your channel.

Do not ever pay for subscribers. This brings down the engagement and your authenticity is at risk in the long term.

End Screen Promotions

Use interactive graphics to link to another playlist, video, web page, or channel, or prompt them to subscribe to your channel.

You’ll be able to add them at then end 20 seconds of the videos. Plan this out, and make sure you know where they will appear.

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Chase Trends

Check out your competitors and see which videos are ranking higher with better engagement. Keep checking out and refining the topics and workflow until you have a process that is well-oiled.

There isn’t any replacement for hard work. Always search for patterns like subject, editing style, or delivery system and create videos like those.

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Improve Your “Watch Time”

Make your video as long as your topic requires. Nowadays, longer videos result in more watch time. This boosts your videos in YouTube’s algorithm.

Do not make videos longer just to make them longer. You will lose viewers. Generally, 7-15 minute videos perform better.

Content Mix Strategy

Always try to make videos that serve you channel’s community, perform well in search, and are shareable. You can post regular videos for your product, service, brand, or other things.

You need to mix the types of videos as well.

Along with the regular ones you can have videos that contain responding to comments, answering questions, interacting via live video as well.

Make Bingeable Videos Series

Make a video series so you can convert one time viewers into subscribers. Find specific keywords or topics and optimize your content for search.

These help you in establishing yourself as a thought leader or an influencer.

Creator and Brand Collaborations

Collaborating with another YouTuber will help you grow your channel as it helps in doubling your audience.

You will have two channel’s subscribers seeing your videos meaning more subscribers, viewers, and reach. Collaborate with guests or co-hosts that fit your niche only.

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YouTube Video Optimization

Don’t only do SEO for your site, blogs, or articles. Use it to rank your videos on YouTube.

To get subscribers and growing your channel, you need SEO. YouTube results actually pop-up before other traditional blogs, articles, or websites.

Some fantastic tools for YouTube SEO are TubeBuddy and VidIQ – They help with keyword research, ranking and even your thumbnails – check out my resource page for more tools to help with SEO & Branding.

Search Engine Results Page (SERPs)

YouTube is making a killing when SEO is concerned. You shouldn’t just create videos for search engines and not people.

Do how-to’s, product reviews, and long-form (7-15+ minute) videos covering specific topics to rank higher.

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Giveaways and Contests

Hosting giveaways is a one of the quickest ways to gain subscribers. Base your giveaway on your channel’s niche.

YouTube viewers love giveaways. Host giveaways or contests and encourage people to subscribe and engage with your channel.

Embed Your Videos

YouTube does not give you options to promote videos. This is why you need to have a website. Make a detailed blog or article that coincides with your channel and gives people the ability read, watch, or do both.

Embed your videos in your website or blog post and promote it to your email subscribers. Add a video widget to your blog post or website as well.

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Creating, Organizing, & Promoting Your Playlists

With the increase in videos you’ll create, people will find it more difficult to navigate your channel.

This is why playlists are critical. Playlists allow you categorise and organize your channel. This allows your viewers to binge watch all videos in that category increasing watch time.

Be Interactive – Go Live!

This is a great option to boost engagement without spending much time. Live-streaming does have a learning curve. After you have learned it properly, it is the easiest way of creating video content. On YouTube, live-streaming is called YouTube Live.

It provides splendid engagement opportunities as you can communicate directly with your viewers. You can so some live streams on topics such as Q&A Sessions, Webinars, Tutorials, Product Demonstrations, etc

Should I Try Paid Adverting?

Just using organic growth is good, but you’ll have to add paid promotion at one time or the other to speed things up. Create an ad campaign and help drive subscribers and viewers to your page.

This is similar to Facebook Ads, but is tailored towards YouTube.

Deep Dive Into The Community

Other than promoting your videos to grow your channel, you need to be active in the community. This allows you to get feedback, network, and share interests with people having the same goals.

Attend events like Content Marketing World or VidCon and meet other creators like yourself and promote your videos.

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Analytics, Analytics, Analytics & There’s Data Too

YouTube’s analytics and reports are crucial to your success. Your analytics are tailored to your channel and provides an opportunity for you to improve.

Do not stay away from analytic because it feels overwhelming. If you avoid it, it will not help you to understand it.

Publish to Social Media

Last, but not least is publishing to social media and promoting the hell out of it. This is no secret that video kills it with engagement and boosting performance in terms on social media.

Regularly promote your channel and videos to your followers and encourage them to become subscribers.

As soon as you upload your video, let your followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn know. Create previews or snippets for each social media platform and link it to an accompanying blog post or article on your website.

Conclusion

Driving participation using quality content is what makes up for engaged followers who advocate your brand to others. Always be true to yourself and your brand, and be in constant communication with your viewers.

Develop quality content, make thumbnails to grab viewer’s attention, deliver as promised, start videos using a strong hook, and keep things interesting. Overall, you’re creating an experience to keep your viewers’ engaged.

Did you like my post on “How to grow a YouTube channel?” Did you try any of these in your videos? What results did you get?

Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube

Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.

1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search

I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.

Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!

2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos

I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.

When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.

Big mistake!

I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.

That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.

Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.

3. Rev.com helps people read my videos

You can’t always listen to a video.

Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.

This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.

Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.

A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.

4. PlaceIT can help you STAND OUT on YouTube

I SUCK at making anything flashy or arty.

I have every intention in the world to make something that looks cool but im about as artistic as a dropped ice-cream cone on the web windy day.

That is why I could not live on YouTube without someone like PlaceIT. They offer custom YouTube Banners, Avatars, YouTube Video Intros and YouTube End Screen Templates that are easy to edit with simple click, upload wizard to help you make amazing professional graphics in minutes.

Best of all, some of their templates are FREE! or you can pay a small fee if you want to go for their slightly more premium designs (pst – I always used the free ones).

5. StoryBlocks helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways

I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.

And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.

I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.

I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the StoryBlocks website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.

They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.

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BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online

Revenue from affiliate marketing programs appears to be growing at 10% with no signs of slowing down.

The industry is worth $12 billion and has opportunities for one and all, with over 81% of brands relying on some affiliate marketing program. That is why I have pulled together this affiliate marketing for beginners guide.

Affiliate marketing can help you make money or sell your project alongside traditional marketing. If you haven’t already jumped the bandwagon, consider knowing what affiliate marketing is and how to get started.

We’ll answer all your questions in this affiliate marketing for beginners guide and help you earn money online.

Let’s get started:

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Let’s refer to the affiliate marketing definition. 

It can be defined as getting paid a commission to help other companies sell their products or services. In simple words, you will make money (commission) whenever you succeed in selling an item, including digital goods.

Unlike traditional selling or marketing, affiliate marketing is digital. You advertise online, and all your buyers are on the internet. 

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online, affiliate income tubebuddy

How Much Do Affiliate Marketers Earn?

Affiliate marketing is a rewarding field, and almost everyone makes money here. You must, however, be patient if you want to make a decent amount of money working as an affiliate marketer.

If you search the web, you will find affiliate marketers who make about $100,000 per month by selling affiliate products online. However, not everyone’s lucky; some people only make about $100 monthly.

The truth is that it is a competitive industry. You must invest time if you want to enjoy the benefits. It can make you a millionaire, but this will take time to happen.

Many affiliate marketers lose money when they start. You will make errors initially and may have to spend money to get started. It can take a while to break even. We’ll talk more about it later in this article.

It takes most affiliate marketers 9 to 12 months to break even and make a profit.

Working with a professional and having access to the right help can make this process easier. You’ll know what not to do to make money.

The average affiliate marketer makes about $1,000 per month. It can, however, be challenging to correctly predict how much you will make as an affiliate as it depends on several factors, including your experience, niche, and marketing budget.

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online 1

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing involves buying and selling, but you do not have to purchase a product to participate in affiliate marketing. 

The structure is built on genuine relationships and transparency and not one-off transactions. Here are a few elements to know about if you want to know how affiliate marketing works:

The Product: This term is self-explanatory; the product is what you will sell. It can be a physical item or a digital good. 

Each product comes at a price that may be fixed or variable. 

The Merchant: The term refers to the vendor, brand, seller, or creator. Simply put, the merchant is the party that creates or manufactures the product you sell. The merchant can be a big brand like Adobe or a small firm that produces local soaps. 

The merchant can also be a single seller like Trajan King, who offers online courses

The Publisher: Also called the affiliate, the publisher can be an individual or person (you) who sells a product. Publishers use a variety of techniques to make a sale.

We’ll discuss the techniques publishers can use to sell a product later in this article. 

Affiliate Network: Since manufacturers do not always sell a product directly, you may need to turn to an affiliate network like ClickBank. They work as an intermediary between merchants and publishers.

These networks work with several brands, giving you access to several products and services under one roof. It is imperative to choose the right affiliate network.

The Consumer: The consumer is your target audience, who will purchase the product. Remember that you will only profit when there’s a successful sale. The job of every publisher is to find as many buyers as possible. The more sales you have, the more money you’ll make.

The Commission: This is the amount of money you will make during a successful sale. The commission depends on products and networks or merchants. It can be as low as 1.5% or as high as 40%. 

If a product sells for $40 and the commission is 10%, your profile will be $4. However, the network may charge a small fee for its services.

So, how does affiliate marketing work? You will have to find an affiliate network or brand looking for affiliates. Once approved, you will get a custom link that you will have to market.

Each time a consumer opens a website using your link and makes a purchase, you will earn a specific commission. This commission, however, can take a while to reflect in your account as orders can take weeks to get confirmed. Brands also have to take care of the ‘return’ window.

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How do you get started with Affiliate Marketing?

Now that you know how affiliate marketing works, it is time to become an affiliate.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get started with affiliate marketing:

  • Choose a Niche

The first step is to choose a niche. If you already have a website or virtual presence,, it is best to stick to a niche relevant to your audience. For example, if you have a social media page about health and fitness with 500,000 followers, then it is best to choose health and fitness-related products to market.

If you want to create a new website,, you will have to choose a profitable and easy-to-manage niche. However, remember that it is not only about choosing a niche; you will also have to select suitable products.

Consider the ‘beauty and fashion’ niche; it is a popular option with several products, including beauty products for men, makeup products for women, etc.

We have covered the five best niches for affiliate marketing later in this article with some great tips on choosing an appropriate product. Keep reading for more.

  • Find an Appropriate Affiliate Program

Once you have selected a niche, it is time to decide how you wish to approach it. You can directly work with the manufacturer or choose an affiliate program. Each option has its perks and cons.

Working directly with the seller may offer you more money since you will not have to pay network fees and other charges.

Moreover, networks may also have stringent requirements, such as a specific number of followers, before you can sign up. But, there are various advantages of working with a network.

First of all, you will have access to many products under one roof. Top affiliate networks have thousands of products for partners to select. This makes management more accessible as you will not have multiple accounts to market various products.

Plus, affiliate networks are also known for ease. They offer insights and analytical tools that make marketing easier.

Lastly, affiliate networks offer more security. If you search the web, you will find several brands offering affiliate programs. While some are reliable, others are only out there to rob you.

Working with a reputable network reduces the risk of scams, as networks typically only include brands or companies that are safe and reliable.

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online, create an online presence, alan spicer youtube

  • Create a Site or Utilize Your Online Presence

Since affiliate marketing involves selling online, you will need a solid virtual presence to make money online. 

The first step should be to create a website, or in my case, a YouTube channel, that can help people find what you’re selling. It should be in the same niche as the product you’re trying to sell. You can opt for an e-commerce store but that may not be the most effective option as it can be hard to rank online stores.

We suggest you start a website dedicated to the product and post content like blogs and reviews. Since about 97% of people read reviews before buying a product, posting such content can effectively find buyers.

In addition to a website, consider creating social media pages as well. You have various options including Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Since it can be challenging to be active on all social media platforms, we suggest you stick to one that houses your audience.

LinkedIn, for example, can be a great pick if you offer producers for executives, such as hiring services. Similarly, Instagram can be a great option for selling fashion and beauty products since it’s popular among makeup artists.

  • Market What You’re Trying to Sell

Merely having a social media account or website is not enough; you will have to market what you’re trying to sell. You can have the best product in the world but no one will buy it if they’re not aware of it.

Affiliate marketers use a variety of techniques to market products. Some use paid options, while some stick to free ways to market affiliate products.

The company you’ve joined hands with may have a manual on marketing its products. Affiliate networks are also known to offer marketing materials, including banners that can be placed on your website.

In most cases, you will be given a code or unique link to include in your marketing content so that the website can track your users. Using generic links or product names will not give you any results, as the system cannot link a sale to your account.

Some affiliate networks and companies are very stringent about the marketing techniques used. Could you make sure to go through the terms and conditions so that you do not get into any trouble?

You must know about the product you are trying to market or sell. Buyers may have many questions regarding your product, including its benefits and use. 

Not being able to answer their questions can cause them to look elsewhere; hence, get educated and get your hands on what you’re trying to sell so that you’re fully aware of what it’s capable of.

affiliate marketing, build your audience, youtube subscriber growth

  • Build Your Audience

Now that your site is running, it is time to build your audience. Remember that marketing is a continuous process. If you stop trying to sell and gain more views, someone else will dethrone you.

Competition is tough. Never take things lightly, and continue to put your best foot forward so that you can sell more.

Your website must be user-friendly. Remember to make it easy for people to give you money. Connect with your audiences and work on building relationships. Relationship marketing can help find success as an affiliate marketer.

  • Earn and Withdraw Money

Now that you’ve started selling, you will earn money. It can take new affiliate marketers months before they have enough money to withdraw. Also, some networks will keep your money for security purposes before releasing it.

Since affiliate marketing involves real money, you might be required to submit identity documents such as your driver’s license before you can withdraw cash. Hence, use true and real information to sign up for an account. Using fake information can get your account blocked.

content is king

How Can I Become a Successful Affiliate Marketer?

Everyone wants to be an affiliate marketer and make money, but only some find success in this field. Here are a few things you must keep in mind to become a successful affiliate marketer:

  • Choose the Right Product

This is the most crucial step because you will never be able to find success if you do not choose the right product. 

The term ‘right’ is ambiguous as what works for someone else may not be suitable for you. Here are a few things to consider when selecting a product:

  • The Demand

Technically, there’s a demand for almost every product out there, but some have more buyers than others. It is best to stick to a product that’s heavily in market so that you do not have to work hard to find buyers.

You can look at tools such as Google Trends to know more about what’s in demand and what isn’t. Also, remember that some products are not in demand throughout the air. 

Air conditioners, for example, usually sell well during the hotter months. If you choose a product that only sells a few months of a year, you might be unable to make a decent amount of money throughout the year. 

  • The Price

Since you will only get a small percentage of the selling price, paying attention to this factor is very important.

Expensive products typically offer more money, but there may be better options since it can be hard to sell expensive products.

Think about shoes; a pair that costs $1,000 and pays a 2% commission will earn you $20 per sale. Since the price tag is very high, you might only be able to sell up to 12 units per month, which means you will earn a commission of only $240 per month.

On the other hand, if you choose to sell a pair that costs $100 and pays a 2% commission, you can sell 150 pairs in a month due to high demand.

Your commission will be $300. This example shows that commission for each unit is higher for expensive products but the overall profit is usually higher for more affordable products.

Always choose a product according to your buyers. If you think they can afford expensive shoes,, you can stick to $1,000. Otherwise, work with more reasonable brands. 

  • The Competition

Affiliate marketing networks carried out over 170 million transactions in 2017. This does not only show how big affiliate marketing is but it also highlights how stiff competition can be. Everyone’s fighting for a share of the pie. 

Cutthroat competition can make it difficult for new marketers to make a mark in the field. If you’re still finding a foothold,, try to find a niche or product that is not very competitive. 

  • The Commission 

As mentioned earlier, the commission is variable and can be between 2% to 40%. Big names like Amazon offer low commissions but a vast number of products. It’s also easier to sell Amazon products since the company provides international delivery and buyers also trust the brand.

Do not run after high commissions. A lot of companies that offer very high commissions are either scams or unreliable. It can be hard to convince buyers to purchase a product that has been manufactured by a company that nobody knows of. Hence, be responsible.

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online 3

  • Select the Right Platform

Do not blindly select a platform. The first decision is between the official site or affiliate networks. If you are going for the latter then select options that are reliable.

Not all affiliate networks accept users from all around the world. Also, some may charge a joining fee or commission on every sale. A very important factor to remember when selecting a platform is the cookie period.

Most buyers will not make a purchase right away. They’ll go to multiple sites and compare products for a few days before they finalize a purchase. Affiliate networks take this period into consideration and offer a ‘cookie period’ that is usually between 20 to 60 days.

If a user reaches a product via an affiliate link through your site and makes a purchase within the specified period, it will be considered a sale and get credited to your account. The higher this period the better it is.

  • Make Sure to Market Properly

Do not make the mistake of neglecting this factor. You can use a variety of techniques to market products. Here are some of the most popular choices:

  • SEO, since about 51% of traffic is organic. But, get ready to spend a lot of time on SEO as it can take websites a long time to rank well.
  • Email marketing, after all, it still offers an ROI of up to 4,300%. You will, however, need a solid email list to make use of this method.
  • Social media because it influences about 74% of shoppers. Plus, buyers tend to trust reviews found on third-party sites.
  • YouTube as it is now the second largest search engine and a lot of people love to watch videos about how to use a product before they purchase it.
  • Website because it can help users find you. Post a variety of content on your site including blogs, infographics, podcasts, etc. Make sure to include a search function on your site and have a mobile friendly website since about 5.16 billion users now have mobile phones and most of them use mobile devices to access the web.

You can use all these marketing methods and compare what works for you. Once you find the option that offers the highest return, stick to it.

google analytics for blogs

Do I Need Money to Become an Affiliate Marketer?

Technically speaking, you do not need money to become an affiliate marketer. However, it can be very difficult to be a successful affiliate marketer without spending a penny.

Here are a few expenses you may have to incur:

  • Get a Website –  starts as low as $150 per year

A website is not a must to become an affiliate marketing but it can increase your chances of finding success. Plus, some affiliate networks have it as a prerequisite.

You can get a free website but a .com or paid domain looks better. It will cost you about $10 per month. Avoid cheap or free hosting servers. They have limitations and they’re also insecure. Spend about $100 on hosting per month.

The next step is building a website. You can use WordPress and other such platforms to create a free site. If you want a kickass website then you’ll have to hire developers. This can cost you between $100 to $1,000.

Come up with a unique name and get a logo. You can create free logos online or hire a designer to get the job done for you. It can cost between $5 and $100.

  • Create Content for Your Site –  starts as low as $200 per month

You must post regular content on your site. It can be in the form of blogs, videos, or podcasts or a mix of all these.

You will not have much to worry about if you can create your own content. The articles must be informative, long, and SEO friendly. Consider including graphics as well since posts that contain images tend to get more likes, shares, and engagement.

Post at least twice a month to ensure your visitors have something to come back to. Plus, you can make money blogging if you play it right.

In addition to your website, you will also have to take care of your social media pages. You must post at least once a day so that engagement can be maintained. 

You can use your mobile phone to click photos or make videos. Some marketers also opt to invest in professional cameras to get high quality content for their pages.

You can handle this all on your own but it can take about 10 to 20 hours per week since managing a website and social media is a full-time job. If you’re too busy you can consider hiring a manager or content creator to take care of the job. They’ll charge anywhere between $8 to $20 per hour.

  • Hire an SEO firm –  starts as low as $500 per month

You will have to hire an SEO agency to rank well on search engines. This is important because about 71% of users do not go beyond the first page when they look for a product or service online.

SEO is technical and includes a lot of elements such as backlinks, inner links, keywords, etc. Companies charge between $500 and $5,000 per month for SEO services. 

Look for a provider with experience in the business so you can increase your rate of conversion and sell more.

  • Advertise Your Content – starts as low as $5 per month

Affiliate marketers have the option to advertise on Google, Facebook, and other such platforms. It’s a quick way to reach buyers but such campaigns need to be designed with care because you will not get good returns if you do not target the right audience.

You can hire professionals to manage your accounts. They usually charge a percentage of the total advertising budget. Find an option that offers the best returns.

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online 4

Which Is The Best Affiliate Marketing Niche?

Since there are a lot of niches out there, it can be very difficult to pick the right one. To help you become an affiliate marketer, we have highlighted five of the best niches:

  • Health and Fitness

You can sell supplements, gym equipment, gym memberships, and fitness eBooks. Commissions are in the range of 20 to 40 percent.

  • Wealth and Money

This is a very popular niche. You can work with trading companies, finance gurus, and investment firms. The commission can be up to 50% but competition is very stiff in this niche. 

  • Fashion and Beauty

The industry is worth $2 trillion and has a lot of potential but commission is low – between 3 and 10 percent.

  • Gaming and Software

With a CAGR of 12%, this is one of the fastest growing fields. It offers very high commissions – up to 30% – and gives a chance to sell a variety of software in multiple niches.

  • Hobbies and Survival

This one includes all kinds of hobbies such as fishing, golfing, flying, and painting. Commissions vary based on products but the option is very lucrative due to the huge number of options out there.

These are some of the best affiliate marketing niches. Make sure to pick one that fits you the best.

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: FAQ

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about affiliate marketing:

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online 5

#1 Can an affiliate work with several companies?

Yes, you can, there are no limits on the number of affiliate networks a person works with.

#2 How many followers do I need to become an affiliate?

This depends on the network or website you’re signing up for. Most require at least 5,000 followers but some can be more demanding. 

#3 Shall I tell people if I am an affiliate? 

Yes, the Federal Trade Commission requires affiliates to disclose if they get compensated for promoting a product or service. Not doing so can get you into trouble. 

#4 How much money will I make as an affiliate marketer?

You can make between $100 to $10,000 per month depending on your audience, product, and other such factors.

#5 Which is the best affiliate network?

Some of the best affiliate networks include ClickBank, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Amazon Associates, and Rakuten Marketing. Compare all these options and pick what fits you the best.

#6 Can I sell outside of the internet?

You can market the product outside of the internet but all purchases must be made online.

#7 When will I get paid?

You will get paid when you reach the minimum threshold that can be as low as $50 or as high as $500 depending on the platform you’re working with.

#9 Can affiliate marketing be a substitute for a full time job?

While there are people making a lot of money as an affiliate marketer, the truth is that it may not be a safe substitute for a full-time job because the amount of money you’ll make per month is never guaranteed.

Ready to work as an affiliate marketer? Check our blog section for tips and get in touch with us to find out more about how we can help you.

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DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE MARKETING YOUTUBE

Crazy YouTube Stats : Views, Money, Users, Traffic & more!

I was searching for something on the Internet and I casually saw a video of it on YouTube. It was then that it hit me. YouTube has been around for 15 years, can you actually believe that?

Each day more than a billion hours of content is being watched by people that generates billions of video views. 5 billion of the world’s population has mobile devices and this constitutes about 70% of the website’s watch time.

It was founded on February 14, 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim all ex-PayPal employees. They funded it with the incentives they received when eBay bought PayPal. It was later acquired by Google for a cool $1.65 billion on October 9, 2006.

Let me provide you with a perspective on what this social multimedia platform has unleashed on us within the last 15 years. Below, I’m going to provide you with some of the best figures, facts, and statistics gathered from around the web about YouTube.

youtube stats infographic

General Stats About YouTube

  • There are over 2 billion monthly regular users
  • It is the world’s 2nd biggest Search Engine
  • 37% of mobile global web traffic
  • Mobile constitutes 70% of watch time
  • Localized for 100 countries in 80 languages
  • 60% of people favour watching online videos to live TV
  • 51% people visit the website daily.
  • 600 hours of content uploaded every minute.
  • 1 billion hours worth of content is watched each day.
  • People watch videos for entertainment and relaxation.
  • 79% of internet traffic accounted by online videos.

Summary: By looking at the above information you can see that not only is YouTube a very popular video platform, but it commands 51% of all visitor traffic and 37% of mobile web traffic globally.

In 2019, 600 hours of videos got uploaded every minute. This is a substantial increase in the video content consumption cravings for web users.

Videos tagged as music, entertainment, people and blogs were the ones to collect the greatest view shares in 2018. In recent years user-made content made some of the significant Internet buzzes.

YouTube started as a medium for original videos. It set up a new creative category for content makers drawing huge viewers to their screens and they subsequently became celebrities themselves. The site’s other chief approach is providing corporate media like official music videos that goes viral within hours and reaches 200-300 million views in a few days.

Crazy Stats about YouTube

YouTube Demographics Stats

  • The website’s videos reach to a greater degree 18/19-year-olds than any TV network.
  • For millennials, it makes-up for about 67% of all video online activity.
  • 2/3rd of the millennials use the website to search and find instructional videos on any topic or niche that you can think of.
  • YouTube also appeals across various age groups in US.
    1. 81% for 15-25 years, 71% for 26-35 years, 67% for 36-45 years, 66% for 46-55 years, 58% for 56 and older
  • It reaches 90% of US families earning over $100,000 in income annually.
  • During a normal month, YouTube will reach 95% of web users over the age of 55.
  • More than 50% of the viewers are female

Summary: Looking at these numbers, it is no surprise YouTube is a jumping-off point for influencers. It is also a mighty income-generating machine for Google and parent Alphabet.

In 2019, it produced ad revenues of about $15.15 million globally. This accounts for roughly 9.4% of Google’s annual gross revenues. Brands and companies are devising ways to profit from YouTube’s huge audience, and have now begun to upload videos to their brand channels. In the US alone, Hulu, Target, and Samsung are some of the top advertisers on YouTube with regards to display ads, launching skippable videos, impressions, and other formats.

YouTube advertising is expensive when comparing social media networks, but it pays off. This is why brands and companies expect to see an increase in YouTube usage for ads in the coming years.

google analytics for blogs

YouTube Marketing Stats

  • It is the 2nd most watched website to upload videos for businesses.
  • It is the 3rd most watched network for marketing influencer videos.
  • 2/3 shoppers mention videos as an inspiration of purchase decisions
    • 90% of these consumers discover something new by using YouTube.
  • About 1/2 half of the marketers have invested in YouTube advertising.
  • A YouTube mobile ad will engage viewers 84% more when compared with TV ads.
  • Users have viewed more than 50,000 years worth of product reviews since 2016.
  • Users are 3X more likely to view a video tutorial than read the steps to do it.
  • 80% of customers who viewed video for purchase ideas said they did that at the start of their customer journey.
  • The amount of SMBs promoting on the site has doubled since 2016.
  • Comparing digital channels, YouTube is the 2nd-most influential for purchases.

Summary: You have a lot to grasp here. I’ll start from the top. Regarding businesses, it is the 2nd most watched website to upload videos. Facebook, on the other hand, is still the king. For best results, I’d recommend uploading on both networks.

I would advise you to analyse your audience information. Even if it seems everybody on the Internet uses both platforms, you have a great chance of attracting unique visitors for each. If you are able to optimize your videos on both video-sharing networks, you will draw in a consistent flow of qualified leads.

Crazy Stats about YouTube 1

YouTube Traffic Stats

  • 4 billion videos are seen each day everyday
  • More than 800 million unique visitors every month
  • More than 3 billion hours of video watched every month
  • What the major 3 US broadcasters produced in 60 years is uploaded in a month
  • 70% of website traffic comes from outside the US
  • It is localized in 100+ countries and across 80+ languages

Summary: Looks like a lot of traffic for a video sharing website and still there are no traffic jams. All of this is feasible because of the ease with which videos can be uploaded, tagged, and marketed to people. This is also possible because the uploaded content can be easily searched making it the second biggest search engine after Google.

Data, data, data is the only thing I will say here. Optimize your content based on the latest trends that prevalent online and it will become viral.

YouTube Partner Program Stats

  • YouTube partner program was created in 2007
  • Has over 30,000+ partners from 27 countries globally
  • The company pays millions of dollars every year to its partners
  • Thousands of partners make six figure incomes each year
  • Partner revenues have doubled for four straight years
  • There’s now more than a million YouTube Partner Program members

Crazy Stats about YouTube 2

Summary: YouTube’s Partner Program (YPP) gives creators better access to YouTube’s features and resources. You get access to the Creator Support Teams, Copyright Match Tool, and monetization features.

To be eligible for the YPP, you’ll have live in a region or country where it’s available, have over 4,000 public valid watch hours in the past 12 months, over 1,000 subscribers, and have a linked valid AdSense account. The YPP provides you with the necessary tools and features to monetize and promote your account.

YouTube Money Stats

  • More than 3 billion video views are monetized globally every week
  • AdAge’s Top 98 out of 100 advertisers have run ads on Google’s Display Network and YouTube
  • Thousands of advertisers are using TrueView in-stream ads
  • 60% of TrueView in-stream ads can now be skipped

Summary: The first ads on YouTube appeared in August 2007. Nonetheless, YouTube is secretive about ad revenue. It is crucial to remember that most channels are monetized through AdSense earnings.

The more famous your channel is, you’ll have a wider range of money-making methods available to you. You can command significant sums of money from endorsements, sponsorship, product placements, and other merchandise.

YouTube Product Metrics

  • There is more HD content available than any other online video website
  • You can view thousands of full-length motion pictures on YouTube
  • 10% of all YouTube videos are available in HD
  • YouTube mobile received more than 600 million views each day
  • 70% of the total views comes from mobile devices
  • Mobile ads are more likely to be watched than TV ads by 84%
  • In 2019, content creators posted more than 50,000 videos using “Day in the Life” in their titles
  • Average durations of top viral videos in 2019 compared to 2010 were over 9.5X longer.

Summary: These above stats just prove how powerful the platform really is. Although, you will get all types of videos, more and more videos are being uploaded in HD.

YouTube is ideal to reach a young audience but it also engages viewers across all age groups.

You should add YouTube Live to your content strategy as many people are not looking forward to seeing live videos.

Final Verdict

These are really crazy numbers. If you are just a simple YouTube viewer who wants to know the stats behind these online videos, I hope the above stats have impressed you.

Many of us use YouTube’s app or website daily. From the above data points it is clear that it is an integral part of our lives.

I have covered the basics here, and if you want to add more to these crazy facts just post them in the comments section below. Show us some love and share this article with friends and family so they can also know these crazy YouTube stats.

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DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views

You have a YouTube channel all up and running and you’ve been uploading your new YouTube videos and content to your channel, but the views aren’t coming? Need help with the best places to share YouTube videos for more views?

Sharing your your YouTube videos on social media can be a great way to boost exposure, grow your audience and seed links back to your videos. The more social networks you can post to the more likely you are to figure out what social platform is best suited to your content. Try Instagram, Reddit, Forums, Facebook Groups, Mix and learn what works best for you, then double down.

Time to set the foundations for finding the best places to share YouTube videos for more views.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views

First things first you need to ensure you’ve set your channel up correctly and that you’ve followed my 10 steps to promote your YouTube channel.

Once that’s completed it’s time to share your videos. You can create the content but if you don’t tell people where to find it you may as well be talking to yourself.

Here are the best places you absolutely must share your new YouTube videos after clicking publish:

Utilise your social media channels

Whether you’re a standalone YouTube vlogger, or you’re using videos and blogging separately, you should have all your other social media channels aligned, I recommend having at least a Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

share on social media

Whenever you publish a new video on YouTube make sure you share it across all your channels. It is important you tailor the content, embed the videos but leave your audience wanting more.

Different types of people utilise different social media channels, but the key is to drive them to your YouTube channel so make your content enticing, show clips from the full video, and make clear click-through. These are call to actions will obvious value explained before they click on the,

As your channel grows, your promotion should grow too.

The most important place to share your YouTube videos is on your other social media channels, on a regularly basis. There are hundreds of social media schedulers available to help you with this such as Hootsuite or SocialOomph.

I recommend using a social media scheduler as you can then plan and set how often you would like a specific video to be repromoted on your social media channel. I personally use MeetEdgar to push out 30-40 social media posts every day.

Share YouTube Video in Facebook Groups

I thought Facebook deserved its own section.

share youtube videos to facebook

I personally think Facebook is an excellent tool for increasing your YouTube video views, they have a YouTube uploader which means the views go straight to the video without your audience having to leave Facebook.

One thing you can also do on Facebook is join niche groups and pages, this gives you an opportunity to share your videos and leverage your content.

Make sure what you’re sharing is useful and relevant to your viewers, but lets say for example you’re making a YouTube channel about cleaning, there are hundreds of Cleaning Facebook groups with an active audience who would be  interested in your video.

Make sure you read individual group rules regarding self-promotion, but most are happy for you to share useful content within their groups.

If you need help in making your videos look great, or promoting your videos on social media, check out my resources page, for some great tools and equipment guides.

Guest Posting to Get More Views

Look around your Vlog niche and start making friends.

how and where to host a new blog

Is there anyone who’s open to a guest blog / vlog? Anyone who you could do a promotion exchange with?

By working closely with people in your niche you can access their audience too. There are enough people to go around especially in terms of YouTube views.

If people are watching a video in your niche chances are, they would also be interested in your content. Send people a message and see if you could host a guest video or write a guest blog for them which will in turn promote you and your YouTube Channel.

Mix Your YouTube Videos

Mix used to be known as StumbleUpon, it still has excellent reach and is extremely easy to utilise, just download the add on to your browser and ‘mix’ your content.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 1

This basically adds it to a database of content, if a person has selected interests that coincide with yours whenever they click the mix button, they have a chance of arriving at your content.

If they enjoyed your content, they would then remix this. The more people like your content, the more people the algorithm will push your content too thus increasing your reach and views.

Reddit

Like Facebook groups, reddit is subdivided into lots of different categories and niches, it makes sense for you to create an account and engage with niche groups like the YouTube content you are creating.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 2

There are general video subreddits you can push your video to, but the smaller more niche groups should provide a better audience.

While the users of each forum maybe smaller the value of that audience is higher than someone without a continued interest in your videos, they’re more likely to subscribe and stick around to see other content

YouTube Ad Network – Use YouTube Ads To Get More Video Views

While I would not recommend throwing money at ads in the beginning, it can be an advantage to get the ball rolling with a new video.

YouTube own integrated ad network works out at 2p per view and these are genuine people and real viewers not bots.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 3

This can also trigger a spiral, if the viewers you have promoted to like your content they could share it further and subscribe so play around with the ad network and see if you feel its worthwhile for your business or not.

Most importantly create good high-quality content that people want to talk about, they want to share with friends, and they want to see more of.

You can publish and share a hundred times over but if the content isn’t watchable, interesting or provide ‘something’ for your audience they’re unlikely to return so make sure you hone in on your content skills and the rest should follow accordingly

Where do you share your YouTube videos? I love to embed them into my blogs – Maybe its time for you to start your own blog! – Here is an article I wrote to explain how to start started with blogging.

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BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide)

Are you looking to start your own business? To start a business with no money is hard and is definitely something that takes time.

I don’t mean 7 hours in the bath soaking like a prune “time” – I mean months of foundation and years of grind, reinvestment and research on the job.

So how do you start a business with no money?

Pick a niche that you are going to live in for years to come. A topic you know and can talk about in fine detail in blogs, videos, phone calls and meetings for hours on end. Over time you will build your reputation, leading to long term success. Lead with value and have patience.

As long as you have the love for the business, the passion for its niche and the ability to delay gratification enough to reinvest the money then you will go far.

Here are nine steps that you should follow to get the best startup possible.

pick a business niche, start a business with no money

Make sure that you’re picking your niche.

This is the core focus of anything, whether it’s YouTube, a career, a long-term goal, or in this case a business.

It needs to be something that you truly love. Because something that you have been educated to, that you really hate, can only carry you so far.

Love and passion will get you up at six o’clock in the morning.

Love and passion, and the absolute thirst for that specific business, is what will drive you through when that customer cancels on you, or when you’ve had that hard day, or when you’re scrambling around for that extra bit of money in the early days.

The love and the passion of your niche is what will make you want more. More of that niche, more of that business, more in general just going forwards.

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide), pick a niche

I love business, and I love social media, and I love YouTube, that’s why I’m constantly reading new books. I binge Gary Vaynerchuk and many other entrepreneurs – reading and listening to in audio books.

I use Audible to hunt out all of the best stuff. You can do the same too, they even give away free audiobooks to new people, but it’s that thirst for that knowledge, that love of that thing, which will drive you to read more books, that will drive you to educate yourself more, which will drive you to make that content, which will drive you to share it, or sell it to someone.

Because if you’re not passionate about something that you’re selling, if you don’t care about the thing you are selling, whether it’s your face, your personality, your brand your services or product, if you don’t care people can see straight through you.

You Might Need To Start A Business As A Side Hustle

When I first started my own business I was working in security. 12 to 14 hour days, every day. I’d get up in the morning, travel for an an hour and a half to work, an hour half to travel back.

I was tired, I was exhausted, but I knew that security wasn’t going to be my career, I wanted something at that time in the web development world.

Side Hustle

I wanted computing, I wanted design. So in the hours when I finally got home, or I was very lucky, on the hours that I worked on a night shift, where all that pay attention to was the CCTV cameras, I took my laptop in and I worked on myself, my side hustle, my passion.

This was back in the day, the dark days when Wi-Fi wasn’t free at every coffee shop and a corner shop.

So unless you could hijack somebody’s Wi-Fi network, or connect to a network that gives you Internet via the cable – you were screwed.

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide) 4

So I had to buy that a little mobile data dongle. A pen drive sized usb stick that would give you half a Gigabyte of traffic for the month and cost £40-50 pounds. and it was it was appalling. It never truly connected, the signal was absolute shit. I mean this is the birth of 3G, it was terrible.

However the point is – if you can use that downtime.

If you do a 9am-5pm, and you’ve got kids. Why not start working the 7pm-1am shift on your side hustle?

Yes you’ll be tired! But you’ll have that passion, you’ll know that that drive, those extra hours, are on you, in you, on your business. This is your time to build your brand.

Maybe you really love real estate, and you want to be in real estate, that’s your own business, and you work in real estate, why not start writing blogs about real estate. Do your research!

Go out there and learn some things. Push your reputation outside of the company that you’re in. This will be your parachute when you leave. This is your reputation, this is your proof that you know what you’re talking about. You could blog on LinkedIn, build connections, grow your influence out there.

Do you have your own website to anchor your content?

Share your blogs in multiple places, it builds you as an individual outside of your specific company, and it preps you for the future, because right now you’re starting of your business, could be your side hustle that expands. Maybe you’re lucky and you have enough money or backing behind you to start full-time.

share on social media

Live lean, no silly spending. You might have the money to start, it may have been your parents, it may have been some kind of inheritance, you may have been lucky and been invested in. Don’t be stupid, this is money for you and s good source to start your own business. Don’t go out and buy silly watches, don’t go out and buy a stupid car just to impress people, that’s not how this works.

You need to live lean, think sensibly, spend sensibly, put your nose to the floor and grind that brand.

Working your side hustle is a short term fix to build your brand. If you’re full-time, even better, you’ve got those 16, 18-hour days to really pour in that content, really pouring that brand, really reach out to people. And something that I can’t express enough, if you are full-time straightaway don’t get lazy!

Investing In Yourself

This is paramount, I can’t express it enough.

Over the last 10 years many things have changed within technology in social media. YouTube was a mere fledgling 10 years ago, and now it’s the juggernaut that’s threatening to turn off all of your normal mainstream TV.

10 years ago mobile phones were pointless and dumb, now they rule the world, and you can run a business from a smartphone.

10 years ago many of these social media platforms didn’t exist at all, you was shuffling around MySpace, and promoting yourself on Friendster.

keep learning

Invest in yourself and your future, by learning. Help yourself to start a business with no money by building your knowledge. Constantly listen to the expert, constantly read books, constantly build skills, because it’s that tool kit that will help you in the long run.

When I first started in web design I pretty much a one-trick pony. I could sell, and I’m okay with online social medias through open source software. I was good with forums and networking, keeping my eye what is new. That was the emergence of the social media network.

I could chat I could talk, I had the gift of the gab, and I could show people how to set up forums and blogs, and that was kind of it. I know in the long run if I’d learnt to code, and learn to design and stuff like that, that could build my future, and that can build yours right now.

There’s nothing stopping you going to a library. There’s nothing stopping you googling online, or finding YouTubers that you can listen to, expand your brain, try new things. Or if you are making money, there’s nothing stopping you paying a little bit of money to go on an accredited course.

fake business gurus

I don’t mean these charlatans that are like “Here’s my Merc, here’s my Ferrari, this is how I made it, you can have this giant mansion too.” We know who you are Tai Lopez, calm your shit!

But if you invest in yourself it will pay out in the future, because all of the useless general knowledge that’s in my head, all of the random facts, figures, and skill sets are the things that help me think on the hoof, think on the whim, grab that gut feeling out of midair to win me that sale, or to chat to someone.

It’s that piece of knowledge that you throw into a sales pitch, and it could win you that big boy, that retainer, that thing that makes your side hustle into a long-term thing.

Before You Start Your Own Business – Get Your Own Website!

Yes, they’re not as powerful as they used to be, the whole world used to revolve around one man, his business card, and his website.

Now, it’s kind of all buzzing around social media, but you still need places to host your own content, control the narrative, and to push people. This specifically for people with a side hustle.

I have 2 active websites that I try to update regularly. That’s where I can list my services, my expertise, my testimonials, my case studies.

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide) 1

To start a business with no money, I can write two or three blogs a week to boost it to 150, 200 blogs a year, all that are search friendly. Blogs that help people solve theirs problems, me get found in search, and hopefully convince you that I have enough of expertise to teach you something that you didn’t know.

The plan is if I am helpful then maybe you feel indebted to me, and you share me around, link to me as a creditable source. This helps build my brand, and the stronger the brand the more you can charge in future. Building that brand could also open doors do that big pitch, winning you that customer, and in the long term maybe even securing that lifeline to cement your side hustle as a business with a heartbeat.

QUESTIONS – Should I customize my website? Can I just use templates? How much is this going to cost me?

Website customization can look great and hit the nail on the head branding wise but its not always necessary from day onw.

Customization could get you every fine minor detail, they move buttons they put your design, they hone it in your value proposition, but if you don’t have any pennies

You can build amazing websites without any coding knowledge, with templates and amazing designs from Wix.

The key point is as long as the website looks professional and isnt broken from day one, then you have a starting point!

You just need somewhere to push people. Most custom WordPress templates allow you to pick your color scheme. Many WordPress templates can have distinctive niches or styles and from there you simple start writing. If you have a little income you wish to invest in a premium YouTube template then that might get you a step closer to a unique look – but that isn’t always necessary.

Once you have a site you can establish your own writing style and build up some statistics you can share with potential clients. This is your proof you can attract and audience and could help promote their products or services.

Start A Business with No Money by Creating Content

You need to figure out what you’re good at.

Are you fantastic at writing? Are you brilliant at video? Or maybe you’re a talker? You can create a podcast?

That content is what will carry you forward. That content is what people will get to know you for.

In my case, I’m okay in front of a camera, I could talk about my passion, my love, and those videos are very luckily quite long recently, so I can turn them into podcasts, write them into blogs, and then I can share them out.

Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, Medium, Forums, Facebook Groups, Twitter – The more you share the content the larger the spider web is to catch more “flies” aka affiliate sales, product leads, video views etc

The content is what will build up your reputation.

Nobody knew who I was three years ago (probably nobody knows who I am now lol) but the difference between now and three years ago is that now I’m able to find clients, pay my bills and based on my reputation and establish stats I can build my income streams month on month.

All this from the proof built from my blogs, YouTube channel, Testimonials and leading lead with value.

However, if I DIDN’T start making content 3 years ago… none of this would exist today.

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide) 2

Best of all this content will always be there to send me traffic, leads and clients. You can reuse it, re-share it and it show your passion and knowledge on your topic and niche.

Yes, some things will change, video quality will change, in some of my older videos I’ve got a completely different backdrop, in some way older videos I have problem with frame-rate.

But, they’re still reusable you can re-share them, and you never know, that one thing that could have turned that person’s brain onto business, three years ago in that video that you made, if you’re re-sharing it, it could still find them today!

Win you that client, that click, that money, that income, that thing that makes you full-time on YouTube. The thing that allows you to be a full-time artist, or a full-time creator!

So start creating today.

Business Outreach

Start a business with no money and you will need to reach out to people and let them know you exist.

This is your networking.

If nobody knows you, and you get a chance, go business meetings around you that you can go to in the morning. There will be networking groups that do breakfasts or evenings. Places that you can press flesh and chat.

business outreach

These can help you be found locally. Or you could try it online with chat rooms, forums, Facebook groups.

That outreach is something that gives you that additional thread that you could put in that spider web, that makes it bigger, that catches those flies.

I’m pretty much an introvert, so for me I was reaching out on things like Facebook, and LinkedIn. I reply in forums, I was posting on blogs.

These build up over time – if you are linked via your website and your name, and you leave a very intriguing comment then people might be intrigued and check you out.

This is not me telling you to spam videos and comment sections.

If you truly engage with the post, the blog, the forum, and you help them, they will remember you when they need more advice and maybe even suggest you to others in times of need.

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide), quora for link building

There’s a website I post on from time to time called Quora.

It’s basically Yahoo questions, they post a lot of questions, I answer a load of YouTubey questions, and then I can end up drop in my video, or they click on my name and it drops them back on my website, or my youtube channel.

You can do the same!

These outreach programs could be the way that you get into the DMs of somebody. It could be you reaching out on Instagram answering their question. It could be you tweeting at someone, or replying when they’re asking a question about your specific thing.

Gary Vaynerchuk for example, the world-renown Gary Vaynerchuk, started on twitter by simply replying to everything that had some kind of wine term in it.

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide), gary vaynerchuk, outreach, gary vee replies to wine tweet 2010

When people were worried about a red, or a white, or whether it’s a Rioja, or whether it’s a Grenache, he would jump in, offer them some advice, give them some links, not try and sell, just let them know that his around, over, and over, and over again, and he slowly built reputation.

That is the way that you build your audience on blogs and YouTube – one subscriber, two subscriber, 10 subscribers.

Builds your YouTube channel, build your blog, your websites, your mailing list,  and over time – your business.

Can Working For Free Help You Start A Business with No Money?

Many people see this is some kind of slave labor.

I can’t pay my bills with “exposure”

I totally agree! I’ve been in situations where I was saying to myself

Yeah, well I need to pay my gas and electric bill, and you’re giving me exposure – brilliant, Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom!

 

Oh no I’m gonna get kicked out of my house now, ’cause that was my rent, thank you!

But there are times when exposure truly does help.

I use a website called PeoplePerHour, but there are other ones out there for example UpWork, Fiverr.

They are “gig economy” websites in which you can set up your offerings for next to nothing but slowly build a client base and reputation.

I get peanuts from it!

However, what I do get is a contacts, reviews and a chance to hone my skills in the niche I offer.

As you start a business with no money these successful sales and interactions are your practice – prepare your brain muscle, build a portfolio.

Over time those 20-30 mini sales can help you land those bigger fish. 20-30 clients willing to praise you and give you feedback that you can put into testimonials and justify your pricing.

Over the last 3  years I have landed some of my largest retainer clients through just doing something small.

You impress them, build up trust and up-sell when you get the chance. Now those clients are the vast majority of my monthly income!

Don’t get me wrong, some are dickheads, right? And that’s fine! Just remember at the end of the day if you designed logos for 20 clients, each with 3 different styles… you now have 60 examples you can display in your rapidly growing portfolio!

You could even use tools to make it easier for you to deliver those tasks – I have a load of easy to use tools on my resources page.

Reinvest Your Income – How To Grow A Business with No Money

Okay so you’ve reached out, you’ve started getting sales, started building up reputation – maybe there’s a trickle of income.

Now this is where you have to be very smart, and reinvest that back in you, your business and your skills.

invest in your business

It can be so easy to get your first pay slip, and blow it on something fancy. It can be all too easy to think this ever growing gold mine will produce clients and money forever… but you need to future proof your business.

In the first year, you’re really passionate, you’ve really got that drive, so you’re really going out there, you’re doing a lot, you’re tapping that low-hanging fruit.

Those connections you may have already known that you could pluck quite easily, quite early, but if you don’t invest in your future, if you don’t keep learning to grow your future – spider web that catches your clients disappears over time.

Very soon all that easy traffic and low-hanging fruit will just disappear, and you’ll start to starve, and so will the business.

If you wanna grow in the future, you need to invest in the future.

There’s no point in eating this year’s harvest if you’re not buying seeds to plant for next year, and next year, and next year.

Keep funneling it back into yourself.

I’m not saying don’t take an income. If you can afford to take an income and still invest into the business then do so, just be smart.

Do you really need that wage?
Could you live a little more humble?
Could you live a smaller house?
Could you use a different laptop?

You could learn to start a business with no money – You just need be a little bit more sensible and use that extra bit of money to invest in your business, to get that next customer, and the next customer, that guarantees you a future three years down the line – rather than just assuming next week will be fine!

customer care

Customer Care is Paramount!

You’ve hooked them in, they may even be one of your free clients, if you keep them happy – they will come back.

They might even up-sell or might refer a friend!

Customer care is paramount because if you upset somebody, you’re really desperate in two months time, and you’ve got a fantastic idea that you know that client would really love – you are 100% sure they will buy – if you’ve upset them, you can’t phone them anymore.

They won’t refer you to anyone anymore, and it might leave a nasty taste in their mouth that they spread faster to your potential clients.

Bad news spreads 10x faster, than good news.

Now, for the sake of your small business that you’re starting right now, reset, go back to number five – Create Content – and work your way to Customer care over and over again.

Content
Out Reach
Free Work
Reinvest
Customer Service
REPEAT

Your biggest mistake would be getting lazy – keep building – you can start a business with no money and reap the rewards for years to come!

Why not check out the five biggest mistakes I’ve made in business – so you can avoid them and grow your business faster!

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BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS

5 Essential Time Saving Apps for YouTubers and Video Creation

Content creators upload over 300 hours of video every minute to YouTube. That’s a lot of competition. So, to stand out and grow your channel on YouTube, you need to upload professional videos on a frequent basis with these time saving apps for YouTubers.

But, once you’ve planned the content and shot a video, the work isn’t finished yet. You still need to add graphics, caption it, get the title keywords right, and think about promotion.

There’s lots to do.

This article takes a look at five excellent tools to speed up your content creation process.

Some are free, and some need a subscription. And once you start using them, you’ll find you can reduce the time from recording to upload – leaving you more time to plan and shoot more content.

Let’s begin.

remove.bg – YouTube Image Background Remover

YouTube is a visual platform. Viewers mostly choose what video to watch next based on visual clues from the thumbnail.

Having the right thumbnail then is essential, it can be the difference between success and failure for a video. It’s not enough nowadays to use a boring still from your video.

Take a look at the image below. The thumbnail on the left has the best combination of text and visual, and outperforms the rest of his content combined.

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation

You need to be upfront and centre in your YouTube thumbnail. But making thumbnails takes time, especially if you need to cut-out your portrait from a cluttered background.

Did you know you can turn a 20-minute task into a five-second one with remove.bg?

remove.bg is a free online tool that cleverly removes the background from your image.  Leaving you a perfect cut-out of your picture for you to add the finishing touches.

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation 1

It’s straightforward to use. Drag an image onto the remove.bg’s homepage and they handle the rest.

Here’s an example.

Remove.bg - 5 Time Saving Apps for Youtubers, tools for youtubers, tips for youtubers, free tols for youtubers

As you can see, the image size for the free version isn’t the largest, but you can process it a little to fit the resolution that YouTube requires.

You can get a higher resolution image if you buy credits from remove.bg. For each credit you buy, you get to download 1 high-resolution image. 10 credits cost £8.00, or you can get credits cheaper by taking out a subscription.

rev.com – YouTube Closed Captions and Subtitles Service

Closed Captions and Subtitles – what’s the difference?

Closed Captions. These are a direct transcript of the audio of your video. A viewer can use them if they don’t want to listen to the sound of your video. They are in the same language as the one spoken, and a viewer can turn them off if they don’t need them.

Subtitles. Subtitles assume that the audio of the video is still on. They clarify the speech if the audio is poor or the speaker has a strong accent.  They are also used to provide a translation of speech in another language.

rev.com - 5 Time Saving Apps for Youtubers, tools for youtubers, tips for youtubers, free tools for youtubers

Obviously having closed captions or subtitles on your videos help those hard of hearing or who don’t speak your language. But, there are also other benefits that land this site on the time saving apps for youtubers list.

One of the most important factors of ranking for your video is Audience Retention.  That is, how much of your video a viewer watches. Clearly, having closed captions and subtitles promotes access to your content and will help with this metric.

Another ranking benefit is that your uploaded transcription file also helps with your metadata.

The free AI transcription tool on YouTube is not very good.  And if you don’t have the time to transcribe your own videos, instead use the service provided by rev.com.

The service works on a per-minute basis and will provide the output in the .srt format YouTube prefers.

Get $10 worth of free transcription here.

kapwing.com – YouTube to Social Media Content Creation

If you’ve been a YouTuber for long enough, you know that for best results you need to promote your video after you have uploaded it.

Gary Vee is a master at teasing his content. On Instagram and Facebook, you’ll find video snippets with closed captions for easy consumption over mobile.

Gary Vaynerchuk - Kapwing - 5 Time Saving Apps for Youtubers, tools for youtubers, tips for youtubers, free tools for youtubers

It’s really easy to one of these yourself, head over to kapwing.com.

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation 6

Hit the ‘start editing’ button and select start with a blank canvas. Then, input your YouTube video URL, and it will import it for you.

Next, using the easy controls, you can clip the section of the video you want to use, add subtitles, and then change it into the best size for where you will upload it.

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation 7

A great benefit is that all the processing happens at the server-side, so your laptop won’t feel like a baking tray just out of the oven when you use it.

Kapwing is free to use and even lets you produce media without a watermark by registering for a account. You need a subscription to keep all your work private, get faster processing speeds, and long term storage of your media.

A monthly subscription is $20, or you can make a saving if you buy an annual subscription for $200.

placeit.net – YouTube Intro, Outro, and Logo Maker

One way to stand out from mediocre content and show expertise is to add professional looking intro/outro animations to your videos.

An animated intro/outro that is quick and clear tells your viewer who you are, what you do, and helps with your branding strategy.

To quickly make very professional intro/outro animations, I use placeit.net.

placeit - 5 Time Saving Apps for Youtubers, tools for youtubers, tips for youtubers, free tools for youtubers

There are plenty of templates to choose from; some are image-based and some are text-based, so you should find one to fit your requirements.

Once you have picked a template, you can customise it to fit your needs.   It’s easy to change colours and resize logos, so you get an intro/outro that fits your channel’s branding.

For other elements of your channel, like logo’s and banners, placeit.net works well for these too.

You won’t need to hire a graphic designer to create fantastic looking graphics. Here is a sample of the kind of logos you can use as a starting point.

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation 9

I picked the cupcake above, then changed the text and the central image to end up with the logo below for my new seafood venture. (OK, it’s just an example – I’ve never even eaten lobster!)

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation 10

As you can see, it’s easy to change the colours and text to create a professional-looking logo you can upload to your channel page.

priceit.net – costs $14.95 per month for unlimited videos, logos, and designs, or if you take out an annual subscription $99.95.

A solid gold entry into the time saving apps for youtubers list with so many tasks that you can use placeit.net for, so it is a worthwhile subscription. But if you’re on a budget, you can get all the graphics you need with a single months payment – just cancel your subscription when you have what you need.

photopea – Free Browser-Based Photo Editing Tool

As a visual content producer, you need a photo editing suite. It can be a great time saving app for Youtubers. But, there’s no need to pay for Adobe Photoshop or PaintShop Pro. photopea.com is a browser-based image manipulation tool that is free to use. It works with all the popular image formats, and even handles .psd files.

PhotoPea - 5 Time Saving Apps for Youtubers, tools for youtubers, tips for youtubers, free tools for youtubers

There are lots of reasons a YouTuber might need photo manipulation software – here are two of them:

1 – Outlining Your Thumbnails. You have possibly noticed some YouTubers using a white outline surrounding their picture on their thumbnails, it’s a good technique to make a thumbnail pop out on the page.

Here is an example made using the image we removed the background on earlier. Drag the image onto the project workspace, then add a stroke effect in layer styles.

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation 12

Now it’s ready for your logo, title, and branding.

2 – Making Start and End Screens. If you don’t want to pay for placeit.net to make an animated intro/outro, then you can use photopea instead. Use it to create a professional-looking branding image then edit into your video.

There are lots of templates to choose from. Pick one and edit away.

5 Essential Time-Saving Apps for YouTube Video Creation 13

They even have standard templates for promotional images you can post to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Start using these Time saving apps for youtubers today to speed up your production process and make your YouTube videos look amazing. There is a learning-curve with a few of them. But, in most cases, you will be up and running with them quickly and producing professional-looking video in a shorter amount of time.

If you have any questions, please add them in the comments, and I’ll answer them as soon as I can.

And remember to check out my resources page for more useful tools discounts and links!

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BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE TIPS & TRICKS

How Working For FREE Can Help Grow Your Brand

Working for free. Should I work for free? Should you work for free?

Working for free can be a great way to build up a brand and your personal reputation within your niche. As you work for free you would build up contentions, reviews, a ever increasing portfolio, and most importantly, improving your skills from all the practice as you do so. Working for free might not earn you money in the short term but can be a very valuable investment in your long term future earning power.

It’s become a meme over the years, if you were creative, you’ve seen it. In fact, you’ve probably been approached, and people are like…

“Hi, can you do this, this and this for me?

Great. Sure. Here’s a quote.

“Oh, I wasn’t expected to pay you. I thought you could use the exposure, you know, get out there.”

How Working For FREE Can Help Grow Your Brand

And people are thinking, yeah, there’s exposure where you promote me and exposure where I die, a cold, lonely hungry death in the middle of a field because your exposure, can’t pay my rent. Your exposure, can’t pay my bills. Your exposure is me dying of exposure. I get that. I do. I do. That’s why you need to be sensible about this. Right?

I couldn’t do the whole free thing to start with either. And it’s become much more of a thing now that I can because I have a steady income.

make working for free your side hustle

Make Working For Free Your Side Hustle

Now, working for free can initially be your side hustle. I’m not saying that it has to cost you thousands of pounds to do a project that you hand away for nothing and you have no control over. I mean that you can build upon your future by adding value, leading with value first. Your side hustle has the potential to be the base for your future business success.

When I first started doing YouTube consultancing, I set up a profile on a few freelance websites like PeoplePerHour, on Fiverr. Yes, that does technically mean that I got paid for it, but it was pittance, deliberately pittance because I wanted to attract people to me. So I could pull a few strings and build a few Lego bricks on top of my board. They are good marketplaces that can offer you a chance to practice your skills or build a portfolio. So that aside, on the PeoplePerHour website, or Fiverr for example, I sell really, really cheap logos or really, really cheap Web designs, or really, really cheap channel reviews or video optimizations for say three, four or five dollars.

The money is negligible. But, what it does do, is it gives me a chance to build up 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 examples of me doing the thing that I want to get paid for, to do. If it’s on PeoplePerHour as well then it’s an hour’s worth of work, two hours worth of work depending on how much you’re willing to sacrifice in your time. But let’s say you do 20 logo designs at a $1 each, that’s 20 bucks, that’s not really much for you. It’s a cup of coffee, or that’s your electricity to cover that laptop that made those on, but you now have 20 designs that you can put in your portfolio, 20 designs that you can then show to a new client that is willing to pay you two 300 pounds for a logo and you’ve got 20 examples of stuff that you’ve done in the past.

Yes, it does mean that you sacrifice a bit of your time. Yes, that does mean that you couldn’t have charged 200 pounds for 20 of them each and made four grand. But if people don’t know you, the grand value price of one sale when they don’t want to buy from you is zero, zip, zilch nothing, nada. I would much rather have 20 sales, 20 logo designs at 20 bucks at one buck each, because then I’ve got those examples that I can then go and hunt the next big fish that’s willing to pay maybe a little bit more, 20 bucks each 50 bucks each 100 bucks each.

keep learning, level up your skills

Working For Free is Improving Your Skills

Now, this is one of the things that that doesn’t dawn on people. I’ve been on YouTube for about eight, nine years. I’ve been creating these videos on this channel for about three. That means somewhere out there, there’s thousands of videos that I’ve edited, or I’ve been in, or I’ve uploaded, I’ve downloaded, I’ve deleted and that means that I can do this, I can communicate with a camera, I’ve improved my skill, I’ve improved my lighting, I’ve improved my ability to talk to you, to edit. Improving my skill, improving my speed, improving my skill set that I can sell to somebody else.

Improving my expertise that I can pitch to somebody else. Hi Mr. logo man. Yes, here’s 20 examples from point number one and I can do it much better than I used to because logo number 20 is better than logo number one because I learned how to do graphic and vector work a little bit better. And instead of it taking me four to five hours to render that wonderful piece of artwork, I can do it in half hour to an hour, and I can start tweaking and I can make it bigger.

Skill, improvement, more money.

You’re investing in yourself by doing free stuff – Building your reputation.

You’ve sold 20 logos to 20 people or 20 teddy bears, or 20 stockings or 20 handmade cards, it doesn’t matter what it is, you’ve sold 20 things to 20 people that can leave you 20 reviews. Those 20 reviews, you can then put on mailing list. Those 20 reviews you can put on your website. There’s 20 reviews, or people that hopefully you can refer to. Those are 20 advocates that know who you are and what you can do, that will refer hopefully another friend next time they need a logo, a teddy bear, a T shirt, a sock design, whatever you’re doing.

That reputations stacks on top of the skill that you’ve learned and the portfolio that you’ve gained. All of which has helped me in the past, hook that bigger fish. That’s got my foot in that door. Though I’ve got a couple of people that have come from these platforms, they are constant retainers, they are clients that I consult with. They are people that I directly work with, and they wouldn’t have found me if they hadn’t have used the freelance site to buy something small from me, for me to over deliver value, for them to trust me with my portfolio, the reputation, the reviews, and loving my work for me to then upsell.

working for free how to upsell

I didn’t advertise for these people. I didn’t put ads on Facebook, I didn’t go out there on Google ads and hook people in. I’ve not pulled them in with some kind of skeezy sleazy kind of sales click funnel. I offered them value at a fair price and created quality, for them. And I’ve got my foot in the door, in which I can start talking to, and then I upsell, and I upsell and I upsell which then, supports the ability for me to give cheap, entries at the other end of that one dollar logo, those five dollar logos, those mini cheap reviews.

Leverage your new skill base, the things that you have learnt, your reputation, your portfolio, that foot in the door, you’re not actually doing it for free anymore.

Yes, initially, you do have to do the legwork, build the foundation and build upwards. And all it takes is for you to slowly stack over time. You put in some hard work.

And yes, let’s say you you have some really bad luck, and you sell 400 of these logos at one dollar each. You now have a huge portfolio, you’ve now had a skill based on these things. It may look like you are working for free, but you’re actually investing in yourself. And sometimes someone will help subsidize that by upgrading or by selling or buying or promoting you. And I did a lot of this at the start of my consulting career. I worked my ass off for 12 months, giving away freebies, or very cheap reviews and very cheap this and very cheap that. Why? Because it built those connections.

I’ve got 400, 500 videos on my youtube channel. They’re exactly that. I worked for free. Don’t get it twisted, yeah. YouTube can pay me a little bit of money in advertising but trust me it is pittance compared to what you can make by building that reputation. Building a back catalog. Making those links, putting your foot in the door and building a business from the ground up. All by just initially working for free. It’s one of the very important steps that you have to deal with when building a business and this nine of them here which I’m sure you know.

If you want more advice on how to start and grow your business using YouTube watch this video below.

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BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA

How To Increase YouTube Video CPM – Make More Money On YouTube

– Anyone that’s serious on YouTube and making a business wants to know how to increase YouTube Video CPM income, improve their CPM, improve the adverts that get placed against your content. I’ve got a few tips for you…

How To Increase YouTube Video CPM - Make More Money On YouTube

If you’ve been creating content on YouTube for any length of time, you may now be monetized. The rollercaster that is YouTube CPM Rates can be a wild ride. The CPM rate is based on the things that are on your channel and it can seem frustrating that you have x amount of pounds per thousand views and somebody else gets many, many more. But, there are a few things that you can do to tweak this.

Evaluate The Existing Content On Your YouTube Channel

Have a look at your analytics. There will be some videos that have done much better than other videos. Pick through those. Have a look at your top five, top ten and see what themes may be occurring in those videos. Are those top ten videos mostly how-tos? Are those top ten videos mostly talking about a set product or service or game? Are they a certain length? Do they appeal to a certain demographic? Are they a specific niche? Are they put in a specific playlist?

Once you’ve figured out the clear front runners in your content, make more of that type of video to increase your chances of success.

In my case – I recently started to add business and money to my channel, as it gets a higher Cost Per Mille (CPM) compared to my normal YouTube Tutorials. It would behoove me more to go and make more business stuff, more business themed, more business titled, more business tagged because these are proven winners for my channel that get a proven track record of additional watchtime or a specific types of advert served against it. For example, Tai Lopez, who possibly spends a fortune trying to sell his e-course online (you know those bullshit ads where he’s stood in front of a mansion or in front of a fast car). He might be throwing 20, 30, 40 bucks at an advert that could hit your audience demographic – whilst he’s not gonna spend that kinda money if it’s against toys.

To increase your YouTube Channel CPM rate, make sure that you’re replicating the stuff that you know gets a higher CPM. I don’t mean neglect the ones that have a lower CPM, but understand the difference between the two.

Make Longer YouTube Videos – Double Your Video CPM Rate With Mid Rolls

CPM on YouTube is based on the advert served, how often and the video. Now If you’re lucky, and to increase YouTube Video CPM, adverts can play at the start, at the end and if you have a 10 minute video, they can also be placed in the middle of your YouTube video (YouTube Mid Rolls).

A case in point is Shane Dawson. Last year he dominated with his docu-series format. Each episode was over an hour long – like giant TV show. This gave him the advantage that he could add an advert every 15 minutes and it didn’t seem forced or tacky.

Now, if you imagine for every thousand views of that advert he got $5 – then the video that gets millions of views would do well for him. BUT, if he adds 3-4 mid roll adverts as well instead of $5 per 1000 advertisement displayed he can increase YouTube Video CPM 300-400% simply by adding midrolls into the longer video format. That’s the way to bump that video CPM because not only can you put one at the start, he could put multiple in the middle, he could put one at the end.

You’ll get more watchtime which might be an indicator to advertisers that people watch for longer, are more engaged and that video is very specific ’cause it’s 10 minutes of a very specific topic, so they could put specific adverts in. So, if you’re talking about how to rip apart a laptop and put it back together, advertisers could put adverts in and here, buy this part, here, buy a laptop from here, here’s Dixons, here’s PC World.

Pick Your Niche Carefully to Increase YouTube Video CPM

This is a lesson I learned, in the hardest possible sense, over the years. In the past I have managed channels that have had millions, millions of views. Those videos are in the entertainment sector. The problem with that is the entertainment sector can get thousands of views much more easily if you tweak it properly because you can pander to the topics, you can pander to the trends, the funny news, the weirdness, that kinda thing. But, that also means that you’ll get slightly lower or in some case, rock bottom CPMs.

Why? Because the topic might be inappropriate or the topic might be overexposed. So, therefore, there’s so many people talking about that, that the advertiser can bid less to get more traffic.

On the other side, let’s say you’re creating tutorials on how to create YouTube videos or educating people on business. This is a slightly harder, smaller niche. This kind of direct topic focus can attract a specific audience, an audience that other people may want to tap into, and can increase YouTube Video CPM. I have made video in the past where I talk about how to start a business.

In that video, I talk about how to start your own business. So, if you’re an accountant or if you’re some kind of business guru or some kind of e-book salesmen or anything that’s vaguely business related, insurance, etc etc – you might be tempted to advertise against that video. And, as you can imagine, the difference between someone trying to sell kids toys vs life insurance, real estate, e-learning masterclasses or anything like that – completely different market and potentially much higher CPMs.

Specific niches have better premiums. I’ve noticed with some of my clients that if you talk about money, you have a much higher CPM than over less business focused niches.

How To Increase YouTube Video CPM - Make More Money On YouTube 1

Cut Out The Swearing to Increase YouTube Video CPM

A bit of mild swearing, is not a huge problem. But, if you’re effing and jeffing all of the time, you can either be flagged as inappropriate or the algorithm kind of hears it, kind of sees it and certain advertisers will maybe stir away from you which means that they might be the higher paying ones or that means that you get one or two less adverts per hundred views, per thousand views which means you get less per thousand view CPM.

There is a rumor that if you avoid it in the first three minutes or so, or the first 30% of your video, then maybe, you’re kind of exempt from this, but I would advise that if truly your focus is in maximizing your CPM, either bleep it or avoid it entirely. I understand more than anybody how easy it is to just slip a swear out.

I’m born in Kent. I’m a council estate kid. That’s dragged his way up, effing and jeffing is like a second language to me. It’s ingrained and it’s very hard to stop. Try and curb it and it might help your pocket and you’ll feel a little better for it at the end of the month, at least on camera. Just be wary that swearing in youtube videos might hurt your bank balance.

How To Increase YouTube Video CPM - Make More Money On YouTube 2

Make Money Blogging YouTube Videos

This blog right here is proof that blogging YouTube videos can help raise awareness, bring in more eyeballs and even increase YouTube Video CPM in the long run.

Along side your very long article teaching people how to increase YouTube Video CPM you could place adverts from AdSense. This builds up a picture of behaviour within the mind of Google about your audience and helps them track or suggest your content to more and more relevant people.

I can also give you affiliate options or niche article oportunities you may not have considered before. If you’re talking about real estate, you could link to other articles, videos or affiliate links. People are still buying banner ads. People are still buying pop-ups. Yes, it may be part of the “old web world”, but it’s still equally as relevant. There’s still an audience that would prefer to read articles with visual aid whether it comes through pictures or video then specifically directly only watch your video.

You can always transcribe your videos. Turn them into blogs and then that way people could read three or fours pages of you talking that you fluffed up with nice content, infographics, and then you get double the income.

For more info on boosting your income using affiliate links, I’ve got a video here.

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How To Work From Home for Beginners (10 Life Changing Tips)

Many people are going have to work from home in the coming weeks and months. I’ve been working from home for about eight years, so here are the lessons that I’ve learnt that can help you shortcut the learning curve as you fight the urge to watch crappy morning tv and binging on chocolate for breakfast…

How To Work Home for Beginners

Start Early

You will be amazed by how much stuff you can get done starting earlier than you would have done from your normal clock in at nine o’clock. At the moment, I have a human alarm clock that wakes me up at around about six o’clock anyway and she wants feeding and she wants entertainment and Hey Duggie and anything else on TV. But the advantage there for me is that no matter what, whether she’s going to nursery or whether she’s staying at home, I can wake up at six, seven o’clock in the morning and hit the ground running – making content for my YouTube Channel.

Even before my stepdaughter came into my life, I still got up at six o’clock in the morning, let the world wake up around me, grabbed my life saving massive cup of tea and focused in on that days to-do-list.

I find at that time in the morning, you could be the most motivated, and most rested that you will be all day. Time to hit the floor running, tackle the things that you need to do, organize your day!

The sooner you start, the sooner those creative juices can tackle what you need to tackle.

Now, if you’re like me, it might just be the very first thing you do is tidy up the things around you. I’m one of those people that needs a tidy environment work in. So I’ll get up, I’ll make sure that all of the dishes are done, I have a nice cup of tea, I clean the living room, and then I can sit down and then I’m focused because if I’m setting that at eight, nine o’clock in the morning, my brain would be like, “Whoa, I need to pick that up,” and “Oh, you need toast or whatever,” whilst other people might dive straight into their hardest task and get it out the way, knowing that it’s all easier for the rest of the day.

Pretend You Are Going To An OfficeHow To Work Home for Beginners 1

There’s that mental block for the first two to three months when you’re you get to work from home where you’re like, “Oh yeah, I’m home,” For love for all the Tea and Coffee in the morning, make sure that you’re in the right mindset.

If you can set it in your head a set time, you switch into work mode or there’s a set chair that you sit in or there’s a set area that you go to, as soon as you know that you’re in work mode, you can focus much more. Rather than, Oh, just sit down and I’ll have my cup of tea, I’ll watch GMTV, I’ll flip through the morning news, now it’s 11 o’clock, now you’ve wasted half the morning. Getting the right mindset. This also includes getting dressed. You can’t just sit there in your PJ’s all day, you need to act like you have any other job.

Get up, get wash, get dressed, brush your teeth and then put yourself in your mindset because then that way you’ve prepared your brain to work.

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Structure Your Work Day

Whether you’re in retail, whether you’re in an office, whether you’re in any other job, there will be some form of to do list, whether it’s from your manager or whether it’s from yourself. This structure is the thing you need to inject into your working from home life, that will allow you to accomplish some things throughout the day. For me, I have a to do list that I write on my desktop and they have set days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc etc

I know that that’s the thing that I need to achieve that day. If I want to bleed into other days and get more done than I can do so, and it shuffles stuff up through that list and by the end of the week I have a little bit more free time to myself, but at least I know that as long as I do those three or five things that that same day I’m on top of my workload, for don’t do those five things. I know I’m behind my workload, these are the things that helped structure me.

For you, it might be your Google calendar. You can set tasks in there, like blocking out time to bulk record YouTube videos, you can have set times, you can have recurring things, you can have your computer alert you when you are five, 10, 15, 20 minutes away from it and even remind you to do them. You can even set your own lunch break so you’ve got a pattern and a routine.

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Set A Designated Work From Home Area

This could just be a set work chair or a set place on your dining table or a set room in your house, reset corner of your living room, but a dedicated space helps you click into that mindset, it has everything around you.

I am very lucky that I can work from home and we’re in a three bedroom house. Which gives me the very precious space, the home office! It makes my YouTuber life a little easier as I’ve already got my YouTube filming set set up so I can record in front of it, I can talk in front of it. There is an L shape sofa that I sit on an edits and maybe watch the rolling news, with the TV which is literally just there. But because I have a dedicated efficient workspace, you’ll be amazed how quickly your brain turns on rather than always sitting in the same place on your sofa, whether your Netflix and chilling or whether you’re working.

You need to dedicate a space where you brain can turn on.

Just like they say, if you go to bed and there’s a TV in your bedroom, your brain will associate the TV in staying awake rather than going to bed. You need workplace hygiene, to help you work at home properly, as well as sleep hygiene to help you sleep at night properly.

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“Work From Home” Doesn’t Have To Mean “Staying At Home”

I know this can be hard right now, (early 2020), but in an ideal world you’ll get a chance to go out, make sure that you take your laptop with you! Coffee shops, parks, woodlands… you could be anywhere as long as you have a wifi enabled device!

Or if you don’t have to take your laptop, you can take a notepad and just write things down. Just get out of the bubble.

At this point in time I understand that that may be hard, but if you’ve got a balcony or if you’ve got a back garden, as long as you keep yourself in a reasonable safe distance, then you can still do it. Plus, let’s be honest, social distancing still works when you’re working. I know that I prefer not to have people around me when I’m working because if people talk at me whiles thinking it gets me frustrated and annoyed. if I’m sat out in my backyard and all I can hear is the birds and the wind, it’s fantastic for my mental health.

Take the advantage of strolling to your local corner shop that five, 10 minute break, that fresh air, that mind reset because if you’re frustrated on a task, you’ll be amazed what a little bit of eye distancing can do.

Have you ever heard of the phrase of just like computer blindness or task blindness – where you’ve been staring at the same thing for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour, and no matter how much you look at it, it seems to be doing the same thing or it’s the same trouble. You step away from it and you come back, you’d be amazed how quickly you can find that jigsaw piece that you were missing from the puzzle just two minutes ago.

How To Work Home for Beginners 5

Make It Hard To Muck About On Social Media

Now this has become more and more prevalent in the last few years because everybody can flip through their phone or everybody can just tab over to Facebook or Instagram or take talk or whatever. I know from focusing on editing a video and it hits a hot spot, it can drive me off to Facebook out of frustration, but I’ll come back to it.

But if you can eliminate those entirely and just focus on the thing that you’re doing, maybe even turn off the computer, move your phone away, putting your phone on silent, put it in the up side of the room, whatever, if you can not give yourself the chance to distract yourself, you will get so much more done.

That also means don’t distract yourself with TV of your favorite thing on TV. So don’t sit there and watch Game of Thrones episodes if you really into them because you won’t end up working, you’ll end up watching Joffrey get killed.

How To Work From Home for Beginners - 10 Life Changing Tips

Commit To Doing More Things

You’ll be amazed, working from home, how quickly you can spin through some things that may have taken longer in an office.

When you’re in the office environment and there’s other people around, you might take a little longer to the coffee machine or to the water machine where you might every now and then glance over and see someone in another cubicle or stare at the clock or have a look at the call center, whatever.

I tend to find that you can actually do a couple more tasks than you would have done in a more social setting because you’re much more focused. If you ever hit that, the zone and then just kept piling through work, you’ll be amazed how much additional work you’ll get once you’re in the zone when Billy is not there to pass your chocolate or to ask you this question or to point at something to make you chuckle, that throws you out of the zone entirely.

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Work When You Are Your Most Productive

Nobody turns on the computer at seven o’clock in the morning and it sprints all the way through their work in the zone, in that niche all day.

We all have our ebbs and flows! We all have moments when we know that we work better, maybe you’re a little bit more groggy in the morning, you don’t want to talk to humans in the morning, but you’re happy to edit videos and take your phone calls in the afternoon.

Maybe you’re not a morning person at all and forego a morning start up because you know that if you got up at nine, 10 o’clock you could work till two o’clock at night/in the morning, and you get much more work done.

Be honest with yourself, if you know that you’re lagging about two o’clock and maybe even you need a nap between two and four then allow yourself to do so, as long as you make sure that you allow yourself to work when you know that you’re most focused at eight o’clock in the afternoon.

Set yourself up for success based on what you know about yourself. If you know that you’re going to be wading through your brain fog, avoid that fog.

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Save Phone Call For The Afternoon

I find that in the morning I’m less sociable and so are many others. So what I do is I make sure that I do all my solitary tasks in the morning or after the normal nine to five crowd so therefore, I know at six o’clock in the morning till about 10, 11 o’clock, no one’s really gonna pick up the phone and at 11 o’clock they’re thinking about lunch so I’m gonna start my phone calls at one o’clock in the afternoon.

It also means that it’s seven o’clock in the evening, once again, they’re not going to be there to pick up the phones. So what I do is I allocate that time for around about one o’clock in the afternoon to about five, six o’clock in the afternoon for those phone calls. Not only will my brain be more awake, but I’ll also grind you through so much work in the morning that be ready for a chat.

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Keep Your Brain Busy

How many times have you gone to the gym and once you finally started at the gym, you got there, you finally got on the treadmill, but the entry feeling good and you wanna keep going, but the interstate, you sit down and you give yourself five minutes, you’ve seized up and you’re ready to go home. Oh, that’s it, you’re done for the day. I find that’s the same with working at home.

Keep your brain always on something, anything.

What I do in between my pieces of work is that I’ll do a task and if my work brain needs a rest, I’ll go and do the washing up or I’ll go into the clothes washing or I’ll prep my tea for the evening. The reason for that is because my brain continues to stay busy, it continues to spin and spin. It’s like a perpetual motion machine, but because your brain’s been so active, if you used to sit down and turn your brain off, it might be harder to restart that spinning.

Keep your brain going even if you’re just changing it up to make sure that you’re not bored. Edit your stuff in the morning, go for lunch, plan what your Tea happens to be, do your washing, do your hoovering, look after that kid, make sure you’re playing with their toys.

But that way you’re spinning plus by the time you get to bed, you’ve outbrained yourself and you’ll be more than happy to fall asleep, but don’t stop buzzing because the more your brain’s going, the more I find I get done because I’m not having to re-rev that engine to get started each and every time, I’m not doing a task for 15 minutes and then sitting down for 15 minutes and then having a restart, it’s quite consciously flowing all of the time and that also might be that I listen to podcasts while as I’m doing the washing up, so I’m still businessing, I’m still learning and I’m multitasking all at the same time.

For more tips to work from home, check out the video below.