Category: HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

Videos, blogs and tips on how to make money online. These are business tips, YouTube monetization, facebook monetization and more.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 18 June 2020
2 Comments on How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel?

PewDiePie, Dude Perfect, Whinderssonnunes, and Badabun: what do they have in common? They are the world’s top four YouTubers.

Between them, they have over 50 million subscribers. Their success on YouTube has inspired countless people to want to start their own YouTube channels. Many people, however, stop at the ‘wanting’ stage, and never really get to do it. They’ll give excuses such as “I don’t have time” or “I don’t have money” or “I don’t have the equipment.”

Stories about successful YouTubers only tend to focus on where they are at present and don’t mention how they started out. Nobody starts out successfully in their career. Success comes after years of hard, anonymous and thankless work, until one day that one video that you make goes viral and you become a sensation.

Even so, this doesn’t happen for everybody. Most people will plod along that road to success slowly, but constantly, until one day they look up in surprise and find themselves at the finish line. The key is to start.

In this article, we will look at some basic aspects of YouTube, what you need to start a channel, and how much it costs.

So, How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel? – It can be surprisingly cheap. All you really need is a cheap device to capture video, this can be a smartphone, a webcam or a compact camera. This could start from as little as £30/$40 these days second hand. Video editing apps can be free, and uploading costs nothing!

YouTube – A Brief History

YouTube was started by three former PayPal employees after they were frustrated by their inability to find videos that they were looking for online.

It is a video-hosting platform that enables users to upload, view and share videos. True to YouTube’s mission to give anyone and everyone a voice, anyone could upload a video on YouTube.

YouTube’s popularity was such that Google noticed it and, with laudable foresight, purchased it for $ 1.65 billion. With the rise of terrorism and other hate crimes, this has changed, but only because hate crimes are illegal and no one should have the right to share videos about them anyway.

Why YouTube?

There are many reasons why you should have a YouTube channel. Some of these are:

Large audience- YouTube has a large and diverse audience, and is used by over one billion people all over the world.
Due to the wide-ranging nature of its content, YouTube also reaches a wide demographic of users, from teenagers looking for the latest musical sensation to middle-aged women looking for cooking recipes.
The ease of access of this platform also makes it desirable both as a search engine and a form of entertainment.
Uploading videos to YouTube is a simple process. All you have to worry about is producing the video.
Monetizing- Videos with enough views get monetized. YouTube has thus become a source of livelihood for many creators.
Marketing- Investors have also tapped into the business potential of YouTube. Organizations have started their own channels to market their products and penetrate new markets.

Who Can Start a YouTube Channel?

Anyone, and it’s free. If you have a Google account, you can sign into YouTube using your account details.

With these, you can watch videos, subscribe to them, and save videos to watch later.

However, to upload a video, you need a YouTube channel. You can easily create one while signed in to YouTube. Just attempt an action that requires a channel, like commenting on a video. You will get a prompt to create a channel.

If you need help in starting a YouTube channel and opening an account I wrote a full deep dive tutorial in my blog.

For your viewers to know more about you, complete your profile and description. Market your brand in a simple, attractive manner. You can also include additional links about yourself or your content here. Make sure your profile picture is clear and appealing.

In addition to a cover photo, you can also add cover art as a background for your profile picture. Again, it has to capture attention. Your channel is now ready to use.

So far, all you’ve spent creating your channel is the cost of your internet connection (if any) and time. We will now look at the basic items you need to run your channel.

What You Need To Run A YouTube Channel?

A Camera

Since YouTube is about making videos, you need some form of video recording equipment. If you are starting out, you probably don’t have a lot of money. Due to the growing population of video bloggers, or vloggers, a number of companies now produce cameras specialized for vlogging. This website gives a list of cameras you can get for not more than $100. Not to worry.

Start with what you have. Many YouTubers began their channels with nothing but a smartphone camera. Don’t wait until you can buy a good camera to start creating, because your channel will remain dormant. For your channel to grow, you need views.

If you need help in picking a some good starter equipment check out my resources page where I list my equipment and give you a few tips on tools you may find helpful too.

Tripod Stand

In addition to a camera, you need something to hold it steady while making your videos.

Shaky videos can be quite disconcerting to watch. A tripod stand is a three-legged piece of equipment with a head for mounting a camera. It helps to keep the camera steady during filming and maintains the right angle and height for optimal results. A suitable tripod stand can cost about $170 including shipping.

However, if you don’t have one yet, never fear! You can improvise with a stack of books placed on a desk or a table.

A Microphone

People lose focus when they can’t hear a speaker properly. No matter how good your camera is, without good sound, it will not hold your viewers’ attention.

Aim to own a good external microphone as mobile phones and laptops don’t have very good ones. A good microphone can cost upwards of $150. However, in the meantime, use your phone or laptop microphone. Remember, consistency is key!

I use the Boya BY-MM1 for filming on my camera. Its easy and cheap, great quality sound. I did a deep dive blog into the Boya BY-MM1, its features and how it works, youll be amazed how different microphones work.

Lighting

Lighting can make a great difference to your video. With good lighting, even videos and photos shot from a smartphone can look highly professional. Simple lighting equipment can go for about $110, with the cost rising as the equipment becomes more complex.

If you’re starting out, you probably won’t be able to afford quality lighting. Work on making your videos outside, during the day, as the quality of natural lighting is far better than the lighting in your room.

Video Editing Software

Established YouTubers have professional teams of video editors. Video editing can turn a simple mundane video into a piece of art. You won’t start out with a team of experts, but you can do your video editing yourself using video editing software available online. A good place to start with this is Movavi, an easy to use video editing software that comes with features like color filters, animated transitions, and captions.

I use however use, Adobe Premiere Pro. Its reliable, top of the industry tool with some great, easy to use features. I am not a video editing pro but I can make some great looking videos. The software starts from as little as $10pm and they even offer discounts. Why not check out their website for more details, discounts and deals.

A Screen- Capture Tool

This is software that enables you to take a screenshot of your entire screen or a part of it. If you plan to make how-to videos, this would be a useful investment to make.

A good screen capture tool is Camtasia, which enables you to record an audio as you capture the screen. You can get it at a one-time cost of $249. It also comes as a 30-day free trial. Alternatively, you can use the inbuilt screen-capture feature inn your PC, although the effect won’t quite be the same.

What if I can’t afford to make videos? Or what if I want to have a YouTube channel but I don’t want to use videos of myself? Well, enter Doodly.

Doodly

Depending on the content of your videos, you may not even need a camera, to begin with. For example, if you plan to upload explanatory videos, instead of making a video of yourself talking, you can use video tools.

A good tool you can start with is Doodly. This is a desktop software that allows you to create explainer videos using existing templates that you can suit your needs. It comes with a number of features that can turn you from a YouTube amateur to an expert.

Features that make Doodly an ideal companion for beginners on YouTube include:

Drag and drop- You can add images simply by dragging them onto the application.
Variety- Doodly uses a variety of boards as a background for the function of explaining. You can choose between whiteboard, blackboards, green board, and glass board.
Quality- Doodly offers low to high-quality videos so you don’t have to worry about how your videos look.
User-friendly- Doodly is designed to be used by people with little or no technical knowledge about making videos, so you don’t have to worry about lack of IT or video editing experience.
Voice recording- You can record your own voice while making the video, or upload a pre-recorded voice.
Extensive music and Image Library- Music and images can turn a dull video into a masterpiece. Doodly has a large library of free music and images that you can use to make your video more attractive. You can also add your own images to your video, which Doodly incorporates seamlessly into the presentation.
Different hand styles- Doodly has both right and left-hand styles to cater for everyone.

You can purchase a standard Doodly version for $39 per month with basic features. A yearly plan is cheaper and goes for $20 per month. A more advanced version, Enterprise, goes for $ 69 per month, or $40 per month for a yearly plan.

Reaching Your Audience

You now have basic knowledge of how you can start a YouTube channel. You can make high quality, entertaining and educative videos. How will your audience know about you?

First, you have to link your YouTube channel to all your other social media accounts, so that every time you upload a video it is seen on multiple platforms. As you consistently upload videos, more and more users will see your channel, and YouTube will begin to recommend it frequently.

You can also amplify your visibility on YouTube using Search Engine Optimization Tools. These are tools that increase your chances of getting more views by optimizing your presence online.

Successful YouTubers have made use of these tools to grow their audience and penetrate niches they would never have been able to reach. A good SEO tool you can use for this is TubeBuddy.

TubeBuddy

This is an extension you can add to your browser to help you manage your channel, is used by more than 3 million creators. It enables you to know the trending keywords relevant to your channel and how to maximize their use to amplify your channel visibility. With TubeBuddy you can ‘spy’ on your competitors and learn which keywords they use, search for relevant keywords, and constantly update your channel with the best selection.

Using numerous inbuilt templates and tools, you can also save time spent in publishing your videos. TubeBuddy comes with tools that amplify your channel presence across the web, making you rank higher in search results.

Thumbnails are crucial in getting your video quickly noticed. TubeBuddy has a feature that improves them to make them more appealing. The best thing about TubeBuddy is that it is free.

Conclusion

We have looked at the basic items you need to make a video for YouTube. We’ve seen that you don’t really need much money to start your own channel.

You don’t even need a formal location, like a production studio. You can do this from your basement or any other spare room in the house. We’ve seen why you should have your own channel and even how you can optimize it to increase your views and rank high on search results.

There is no shortage of easy to use tools to help you make professional, appealing videos. If you have your ideas ready and you know who you want to target, there is no reason why you shouldn’t have your own channel.

Investing in the items listed here will only bring you positive results quickly but it’s also possible to start your own channel even if you don’t have these things yet.

Start creating.

Tags how much, how much does youtube cost, income, money, youtube income, youtube money, youtuber

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Do you get paid for YouTube?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 10 June 2020
2 Comments on Do you get paid for YouTube?

YouTube is the kingpin of social media; it remains the leader amongst all social media channels and consistently receives the highest traffic, so it makes sense that everyone now like the idea of having their own YouTube account.

Here is a quick overview of YouTube user stats to help inform your video creation:

2 billion logged in monthly users
Each visitor spends just over 11 minutes a day (so make your videos snappy!)
Over 70% of views are on mobile
70% of videos viewed are determined by YouTube recommended algorithm
50% year on year growth of channels earning over £10k per year

So, looking for a quick answer? Do you get paid for YouTube? – Yes! You can get paid many ways on YouTube. The most direct way is from the YouTuber Partner Program that needs 1000 Subscribers & 4000 Hours of Watch Time to apply. You will then get paid a small fee per 1000 advertisements displayed (CPM). You can also integrate affiliate links and sponsors.

But first you need to set up your channel and find your niche.

The audience is already present on YouTube, you just need to tap into their habits and create exciting and interesting content to capture them and ensure you are the video they’re spending 11 minutes on a day.

It’s clear to see that consumption has turned more mobile, and that YouTube still have a huge say in who’s successful on their channel but there is absolutely no reason why you can’t be the next channel earning over £10k per year.

There is every opportunity to get paid for being a YouTube creator and you don’t really need anything special to begin your journey, many of the most popular YouTube videos returning ad revenue every day were shot on mobile phones you just need to capture your audience and hopefully get your videos viral or a steady returning audience to increase your YouTube growth.

How do I start getting paid for YouTube?

YouTube has various methods for you to start earning money from advertising revenue, channel memberships and more. Each method has differing eligibility requirements whether that is a certain number of subscribers or views.

Before you’re able to apply to monetize your content and join the YouTube Partner Programme you need to have gained 1000 subscribers and have had 4000 public watched hours over the last 12 months.

To achieve this you need to make sure you’re creating high quality content, promoting your YouTube channel and sharing your YouTube videos to bring an audience to your videos.

Hopefully utilizing those tips and tricks you’re at a level where your channel is garnering views and you’re ready to monetize, your first step is to have an active Google AdSense account – Google owns YouTube so this is where your adverts will come from. You can now enable the monetization feature within YouTube and connect your AdSense account, this basically lets YouTube know that you are happy for adverts to be included on your videos.

What Adverts will I get paid for?

If you have joined the Partner Programme you’ve told YouTube that you are looking to make money on their platform and that you’re happy to include adverts on your videos.

These adverts can arrive in a variety of methods, each earning you different amounts. The main two methods are CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per mile). CPC is what it says on the tin, the ads are charged per click meaning that you get paid the more clicks you get on those adverts.

CPM is slightly different; these are usually if a viewer has watched an advert on your video and you will get paid a set amount for every 1000 views of the ad. The amount differs per advertiser so there is not a definitive answer, but it can be anything from 5p upwards. Within the two main advert methods are 4 different formats that become available to you

Pre-roll video ads (CPC) – These videos are shown before your video and can last up to 30 seconds
In Stream ads (CPM) – Very similar to Pre-roll video ads however the viewer can skip the ad after 5 seconds
Bumper ads (CPC) – 6 seconds non skippable clip that will be shown before your video
In Display Ads (CPM) – These adverts are not included on your video they can be found in the sidebar so are a bit more discrete

You can personalise what types of adverts you’d like to be included on your videos as a whole and also on individual videos which is really good for driving the adverts onto your most popular videos and making sure your balance of content / advert is how you’d like it.

Adverts are the most passive method of getting paid for YouTube, once its set up you can pretty much leave it in the background earning you money.

How else can I get paid for YouTube?

There are many other ways you can earn money and get paid for YouTube.

Depending on your content and niche you could reach out to brands within your niche for product placement campaigns, this would involve ticking the ‘paid promotion’ box when uploading your video but you can advertise the product and depending on the agreement you have you could earn a commission for sales via your video

In a similar vain you can use affiliate links throughout your video or in your description to earn via people clicking your links. Let’s say you are creating a recipe video; you could link the equipment you use in the description using an affiliate link. This should generate income via your affiliate network by utilizing your YouTube audience

If you want a deep dive into affiliate marketing and how to get started – check out my monster blog post on affiliate marketing for beginners.

If you have a loyal following and audience and a catchy slogan or name you might even, consider creating your own items and merchandise to sell. This gives your viewers a way to purchase an item you have created and if it’s branded can drive off site traffic to your YouTube channel – win win

When will I start earning?

Becoming a YouTube creator isn’t a get rich quick scheme, I’ve highlighted a couple of ideas for earning, There are a plethora of other ways to get paid for YouTube but don’t run before you can walk, gain your audience, set up your adverts and start building your YouTube empire.

It is important your focus remains on your content and keep a healthy balance of unsponsored content as well as paid advertorial campaigns. Your audience want to see you and followed you for your authentic voice so ensure you maintain that credibility throughout. Your audience are likely to stay longer if they trust you and don’t think you’re selling out for a quick buck.

Let your passive income build while you develop and build your YouTube account. Your AdSense must hit £60 before you can withdraw anyway so expect a slow burn

How close are you to monetizing your YouTube account?

Tags do you get paid for being on youtube, Do you get paid for YouTube?, do youtubers get paid, how do youtuber get paid, making money, making money online, youtube, YouTube Monetization, youtube money

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA YOUTUBE

Can YouTubers Control Which Ads Are Shown?

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 9 June 2020
3 Comments on Can YouTubers Control Which Ads Are Shown?

There is a multitude of ways to monetize a YouTube channel. Still, the most popular method remains YouTube’s built-in monetization features.

You will need to meet several criteria before you can monetize a channel (more on that later), but once you do, YouTube will begin showing ads on your eligible videos, and you will start earning a cut of the profits those ads generate.

There are typically a lot of questions surrounding YouTube’s Partner Program, which you have to become part of if you want to monetize your videos. Many of these questions come from the perspective of branding; a critical ingredient in any online presence.

The question of whether you have control over the ads that YouTube play place on or around your videos is a reasonable one to ask. After all, public perception is not always as nuanced as you might hope.

If an ad for something controversial is played before your video, it can negatively affect your brand. Similarly, most YouTubers aren’t exactly keen on having ads for their rivals playing on their videos, either.

So can YouTubers control which ads are shown on their videos? – The short answer is no. YouTuber’s have no control over which specific ads are shown on or with their videos. However, you can disable specific advert categories in the Google Adsense settings to eliminate some niches you might wish to avoid like Gambling, Health etc

Still, you are not entirely powerless in controlling the branding of your channel.

Let’s dig in a little deeper.

The YouTube Partner Program

Know your enemy, as they say. Before you even consider how to handle YouTube’s built-in monetization, you need to understand what is required for your channel to qualify.

It used to be the case that anyone who followed YouTube’s community guidelines could monetize their channel, but this changed in 2018 when the barrier to entry was significantly increased. The current requirements to become a YouTube partner are as follows;

Reside in a country or region where the YouTube Partner Programme is available.
Have at least 4,000 hours of valid watch time in the past 12 months.
Have at least 1,000 subscribers.
Have a linked AdSense account.

Most of these requirements are self-explanatory with the possible exception of “valid watch time”.

Watch time consists of accumulated watch time across all of your videos by any viewer. So, sixty different viewers could watch one minute of a different video each. That would count for the same amount of watch time as one viewer watching a single sixty-minute video.

The “valid” part refers mainly to the fact that, previously, YouTube’s Partner Program would factor in all views across your channel. That includes private and unlisted videos. Now, for it to be considered valid, it must be a public video.

Once you have met these criteria, and provided there are no issues with your account, you can sign up to be part of the YouTube Partner Program. And, after YouTube approves your channel (usually a few days), you can start monetizing your videos. It’s also worth noting that being accepted into the YouTube Partner Program is a channel by channel process.

If you start a second channel after being accepted to the program, you will have to go through the same process for that new channel.

What Control Do YouTubers Have Over Ads?

Firstly, it should be noted that even though your channel is part of the YouTube Partner Program at this point, any individual videos you intend to monetize must meet their own criteria before they can be monetized.

When monetizing your video, YouTube will ask you to answer a few questions about the content. They will want to know if it has any offensive language, or if it is aimed at children, as well as a host of other things.

For the most part, the answers to these questions will affect the advertising that YouTube will show on your video. In the same way that you might not want certain things advertised with your brand, advertisers often don’t want their ads displayed with certain types of content.

For some types of content, this may mean YouTube won’t show any ads at all. If your content falls into this category, you should look into other ways of monetizing your videos.

Assuming your video is eligible to be monetized and you do decide to put ads on it, the only real control you have is where and how those ads are displayed. There are several options to choose from, and you can select some or all of them. These options are;

Display Ads
Overlay Ads
Sponsored Cards
Skippable Video Ads
Non-Skippable Video Ads

The timing of the in-video ads can also be set as “Before Video”, “During Video”, and “After Video”, with the further option of manually choosing the placement of “During Video” ads.

Overlay ads are those little banner ads you sometimes see in the bottom center of the video. The ones that you can close if you like. Display ads, on the other hand, are the ads that appear above the recommended videos (typically to the side of the video you are watching).

These ads are minimally intrusive and do not stop the viewer from watching the video. That means they are less likely to cost you views, but also less likely to make as much money as the more intrusive ads.

Cards are the little boxes that pop up in the video when you click “more information”, and, as you may have guessed, sponsored cards are ads placed in those boxes.

Finally, skippable and non-skippable ads are video ads that YouTube will play at the times you have allowed. These videos interrupt or delay your viewers from seeing your content.

Because of this, there is a higher risk that they will click away if the content is not grabbing them. That being said, this kind of ad is also worth considerably more money, so it’s a trade-off you will have to weigh up for yourself.

And that, along with not monetizing your video with the YouTube Partner Programme, is the full extent of control you have over YouTube ads on your videos.

Or is it?

Paid Promotions and Product Placements

Your earning potential through YouTube is not limited to the YouTube Partner Program alone. Indeed, some YouTubers do not use the program at all, feeling that the extra revenue does not warrant the added inconvenience to their viewers.

One of the more popular methods of monetizing a YouTube channel without using YouTube’s own methods is paid promotions and product placements.

This can be handled several ways, but typically takes the form of an in-video ad that you place in the video yourself, rather than leaving it for YouTube to do automatically. For this kind of arrangement, you will have to strike up a deal with an advertiser yourself, and so it’s impossible to say what constraints you might face on the content of the ad.

However, you will be in full control of what you do and don’t show.

If an advertiser demands something you are not comfortable with on your channel, you can choose to not work with them. Just be sure agree on the content of the ads before any legal documentation is signed. Failing to do so may result in you being legally obligated to show ads you are not comfortable with.

If you do implement this kind of monetization, there is a simple checkbox you will have to tick when you upload your video. This tells YouTube (and, consequently, your viewers) that your video contains paid promotion. In most cases, this will be an unnecessary precaution, as it is often obvious that there is paid promotion in the video.

For videos with product placement, however, or where it is not immediately clear that the video contains a paid promotion, this notice will act as full disclosure to your viewers.

Whether it is necessary for your content or not, you must make sure to check this box if it applies. Not doing so would constitute a breach of YouTube’s terms if you were ever found out. In extreme cases, you could even lose your channel!

Affiliate Programmes

Affiliate program are not suitable for all types of YouTube channels, but for those they do suit, it’s an excellent way of monetizing your content. To explain how affiliate programs work, we will use Amazon as it is the most popular example of this kind of service. There are many affiliate programs to choose from, however.

To make use of Amazon’s affiliate program, you first sign up with their program. From there you can access special affiliate links to Amazon products. From a customer’s point of view, clicking an affiliate link looks no different from clicking a regular link.

The item is the same, the price is the same, and the process is the same. The difference that we’re interested in, however, is that you get a commission of any products that are bought through your affiliate link.

Now, if your channel has no relevance to anything you can buy on Amazon, then an Amazon affiliate link wouldn’t do you much good.

However, if your channel reviews things, or you do some product spotlights, or even if you have a professional setup and frequently get asked about your gear placing affiliate links to the related products in your video description can be a great way to monetize your content. It is also a great way to add a revenue source if you are already monetizing through some other means.

Leaving the Amazon example behind, there are many affiliate services, and some companies even have their own affiliate program. For instance, Udemy, an online learning platform, has its own affiliate program. There are also affiliate program related to books, entertainment, and a host of digital products.

Crowd Funding

The final alternative to monetizing your channel that we’re going to cover is crowdfunding. Crowdfunding requires you to have a somewhat invested audience but is essentially your viewers choosing to compensate you for your content.

For this to work, you would need to be providing useful content that your audience is willing to pay for. People like to watch funny animal compilations, but they are probably not going to financially support you to make them when they can get that content elsewhere.

There are a few different ways to make this option available to your viewers, the most well-known one being Patreon. With Patreon, you can set different tiers that your patrons can contribute to, with rewards for each tier.

Patreon supports recurring payments, very much like a subscription. Another similar option is Ko-Fi, which is a little better suited to smaller, one-off payments. The theme of Ko-Fi is that your supporters are buying you a cup of coffee. It may help to think of this service as more akin to a tip jar.

For eligible channels, YouTube has an in-house alternative in the form of Memberships, which works in a very similar fashion to Patreon. Using YouTube’s system has the added convenience of not requiring your viewers to leave YouTube to support you.

Of course, you will have to meet YouTube’s requirements before you can use this feature.

Conclusions

While it is unfortunately true that you cannot control the ads that YouTube displays on your videos, you are not powerless in the presentation of your brand. You can choose not to show YouTube ads on your channel, and seek alternative ways of monetizing your channel.

It’s worth noting that YouTube advertising is not the most predictable source of income. In addition to fluctuating viewing figures, the type of video you make can significantly affect your earning potential. While some YouTuber’s have made a respectable income from a relatively small number of subscribers, other YouTubers have had viral hits with millions of views that only made a few hundred dollars.

Things like the length of your video and how long viewers watch for also has a significant impact on the earning potential of any specific video.

However you plan our your monetization strategies, remember that good content should be at the core of whatever you do. You can’t control YouTube’s ads, but you can control your content. Make it count.

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. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare

I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.

Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.

I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.

5. Shutterstock 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 Shutterstock 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.

Tags ads, adsense, adverts, Can YouTubers Control Which Ads Are Shown?, disable adsense ads, making money online, money, youtube, youtube ads, youtube adverts, youtube money, youtube partner program, youtuber ads, ypp

BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 29 May 2020
24 Comments on 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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

#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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BUSINESS TIPS HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE LISTS TIPS & TRICKS

How To Start A Blog with No Money (A Beginners Guide)

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 23 May 2020
No Comments on How To Start A Blog with No Money (A Beginners Guide)

You have decided you want to start a blog with no money but don’t know where to start? Well, you’re in the right place – here is my beginners guide to blogging!

How To Start A Blog with No Money?

You can start a blog for free with companies like WordPress, Blogspot and Medium. WordPress is free to use and can even be free to customize with free themes. They offer free hosting but I was suggest upgrading to shared of dedicated hosting should you want a little more freedom.

Blogging is a wonderful thing; it gives you an opportunity and voice. You can write about anything you want and share it with your readers. If you turn your new blog into a success it can even provide an extra source of income.

I’ve put together a super-easy guide to start a new blog from scratch to turning it into a success. This guide will help you with everything you need to know from getting started, to the correct setup to attracting traffic and building your audience to make this a success

Why do you want to start a blog?

The first step on your journey to start a blog is the ‘why’. Why are you here? Why do you want to start a blog? What are you hopes and dreams of what the blog will do?

It’s important to have a good idea of your why before you start. If your reasoning is to write for fun, without a real business plan then your steps would be different to someone wanting to start a blog as a business venture to make money.

I’m going to assume at some point you want your blog to make money, because everyone would like more money, right?

Your next step once you have a good idea of why you want to start a blog is deciding what to write about. Before you do anything at all you should have decided on a niche and have around 10 – 15 blog post ideas around that niche that you can write straight away.

Deciding on a niche

A mistake a lot of people make is assuming you should write about everything, wear many hats and try and solve all the problems – this is not sustainable, nor will it make your blog a huge success.

You need to define a niche and your ideal reader who you want to write for. Your ideal audience will have their own set of interests, problems and struggles which your posts will help them solve.

By niching down and writing around one topic area you will help your SEO (search engine optimization). This is because when Google crawls your website it will see content around one area, keywords that link together and will therefore see you as an expert in that field and will show your posts higher in search results

It will also keep your readers longer, if there are lots of other similar posts that answer more of their questions then the reader is more likely to click around your blog and spend longer reading rather than leaving after reading one post.

Make sure your niche and topic area are ones you love. If you’re not in love with it then keep thinking, if you start writing on an area you are not passionate about chances are you won’t continue with the blog and you will get bored of the creation process

Deciding on a blog name

By this point you should have decided why you want to start a blog with no money and what niche you’re going to write about, you’re almost ready to start the technical aspect of starting a blog but first you need to decide on a name.

This is important because you will be stuck with this forever, so make sure it’s what you really want. Brainstorm a few ideas, think about keywords and what people might Google to reach your blog.

Try and pick a short catchy name, one that will still resonate in years to come and one that will not age. Once you have a name you need to check the domain is available, you should also check the social handles are free too it’s important you maintain consistency across all platforms.

If your name is available as a domain, and all the key social platforms then you are all set to start your blog and claim them as your own.

Where to host your blog

So, you have your niche, your ideal audience and you have now picked a name. Now you need to decide where to start your blog with no money and where to host it. There are many options out there but two of the more popular options are Blogger and WordPress.

If you’re brand new to blogging, I’d say to open a test account on both to have a look around the interface and system to decide which you prefer.

You will read a lot out there about how you must use WordPress if you plan to monetize, which isn’t strictly true.

There are a lot more options for customization and plugins to help your journey but personally I found the interface on blogger simpler. There isn’t a right or wrong answer on who you should host with, and it doesn’t need to be a final decision.

If you decide to start with a Blogger platform (which is free) there are many tools out there to migrate across to WordPress at a later time.

One thing you absolutely must do if you start with blogger is to buy a vanity URL, this will get rid of the .blogspot.com and make your blog look more professional

Alternatively if you do have a tiny bit of money behind you and want more freedom then check out BlueHost for cheap, reliable, fast hosting from less than $5 per month.

Content is always king

You should now have the bare bones of a blog; you should have a platform where you are running your blog with a name you’ve chosen and an idea on a niche.

As I mentioned earlier before officially launching you should have 10 – 15 blog post ideas in the pipeline, this is so your readers have something to read when they land on your blog.

Your content is the single most important thing to focus on, it’s the reason people are visiting and is the reason whether they stay or bounce straight off your blog.

By already having a minimum of 10 blog posts it gives your readers a good feel for you and your content and what to expect in the future, this gives them a reason to subscribe to your blog and want to come back.

You should also try and have a regular posting schedule and editorial calendar. If you post at the same time / day regularly your readers will come to expect a post and visit your blog at that time thus increasing your traffic.

An editorial calendar helps you plan ahead, it gives you an idea of what you’re going to write so you know what research to do, pictures to take etc.

You can plan evergreen content to keep readers returning and any key holiday dates that may come up, I recommend keeping a month in advance on your calendar so you can plan and publish accordingly

Final step before launch – Google Analytics

Your blog is almost ready, you’ve got your 10 draft posts ready to publish but your last step before going live is making sure you have Google Analytics installed, this is crucial from the start.

It may not seem it as your traffic will be smaller to begin with, but it will provide you with so many insights such as how people are reaching your blog, which posts are doing well, and which search queries people are using to reach your blog.

These are all helpful for further refining your niche and helping you create new blog posts to answer the questions your audience is searching for.

You now have a blog with a clear defined plan and niche, social channels all consistently with the same handles, 10 draft blog posts you can push out and a method to track all your new traffic to help you decide on your next 10 blog posts – you’ve officially started a blog!

Congratulations.

What else would you like to know about starting a new blog?

Tags blog hosting, blog name, blog niche, blogging, hosting, how to start a blog, how to start a blog with no money, how to write a blog, no money, on a budget, start a blog on a budget, start a business from scratch, website hosting

BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

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

Post author By Alan Spicer - YouTube Certified Expert
Post date 16 May 2020
3 Comments on 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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!

Tags business, business growth, business investment, business start up, entrepreneurship, gary vee, how to grow a business, how to start a business, how to start a business with no money, how to start your own business, start a business from scratch, start up