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.

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DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?

Do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads?

As users of the Internet, we have something of a love/hate relationship with advertisements.

Most of us understand that the blogs we read, the videos we watch, the content we consume—is made possible by the revenue generated from ads. At the same time, we see those very same ads as an inconvenience and an annoyance.

Indeed, many people use adblockers to remove them from our screens altogether – and this might harm a YouTuber long term, as discussed in my deep dive article.

For creators of that content, it is a difficult concept to come to terms with. On the one hand, you want your viewers to watch ads on your videos. Still, it’s hard not to empathize with their desire not to be bothered by commercials for Fiverr, Monday.com, or whoever is turning the advertising firehose on your viewers lately.

In the case of YouTube, it’s not as clear cut as getting an ad view or not—YouTube often gives viewers the option to skip ads after the first few seconds. As welcome as this tool may be to viewers, it can leave YouTubers wondering if they get paid for those first few unskippable seconds.

We’re going to get into this subject in-depth, but do YouTubers get paid if you skip ads? Short answer is, no. However, the answer isn’t as clear cut as we might have liked. Generally speaking, no, YouTubers don’t get paid for skipped ads. However, there are situations in which a skipped ad will still result in some earnings for the YouTuber.

Let’s get into the details so you can understand when you are—and when you aren’t—getting paid.

Can YouTubers Control Which Ads Are Shown?

YouTube’s Ad Options

Here, we are talking specifically about YouTube’s in-stream ads. These are ads that show up in your actual video, before (pre-roll), during, or at the end. There are other advertising options for YouTubers to monetise their videos, and we’ll touch on those later, but you can’t “skip” a display ad, so for now, we’re going to stick to the video ads.

YouTube has two options when it comes to in-stream advertising campaigns. The type of ad that gets shown on your video determines whether you get paid anything on skipped ads.

YouTubers may be able to choose what TYPE of adverts to show but there is a debate whether YouTubers can choose the ADVERT itself that is shown – you’ll be surprised with the facts outlined in my blog on choosing adverts.

TrueView for Reach Ads

For YouTubers who have been around for a while, this could be considered the “traditional” YouTube advertising model. In TrueView ads, the advertiser pays per engagement.

The definition of engagement (or “completion”) is watching at least thirty seconds or interacting with the ad. If the ad is shorter than thirty seconds, then the viewer will have to watch the whole thing for it to count as an engagement.

If your viewer doesn’t meet one of these requirements, the advertiser is not charged and you, the YouTuber, don’t receive anything for the ad.

These are the ads that typically allow the viewer to skip after the first few seconds, which tends to be what happens a lot of the time. There is no CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model for these ads. As such, the number of people seeing those first few seconds of an advertisement is of no benefit to the YouTuber whose videos they are being shown on.

Should a viewer click on one of these ads, however, it is typically worth more to the YouTuber than the non-skippable bumper ads that we’re going to cover now.

Non-Skippable Bumper Ads

Like TrueView ads, these can show up before, during, or at the end of your videos. Unlike TrueView ads, these are only ever six seconds long, and cannot be skipped by the viewer.

These ads are charged (and, subsequently, paid) on a CPM basis. That means that, rather than earning you money every time a viewer clicks on the ad, they earn money for every 1,000 views they receive. Bumper ads are designed to gain exposure, rather than encourage the viewer to perform a specific action. That makes the number of people who have seen the advertisement is the more critical metric.

It is still possible for a non-skippable ad to not count, such as if a viewer hits the back button when the ad starts. But YouTube is using the industry standard of two seconds for an impression to count. That means the viewer would have to immediately leave your video for their view to not count.

I you want more in-depth tips on how to increase your earnings and boost YouTube Channel and even blog CPM, I wrote a deep dive into what can positively and negatively effect ad rates and earnings in my blog.

Do YouTubers Get Paid if You Skip Ads?

Hopefully, the answer is a little clearer now.

Technically YouTuber’s get paid almost any time a bumper ad is played, however, these ads are unskippable. Also, as they pay per 1,000 views, the effective amount you earn for one view is tiny compared to engagement on a regular ad.

With the more traditional TrueView ads, a YouTuber will earn money if the ad is watched for at least thirty seconds, assuming the ad is longer than thirty seconds. So, a viewer can skip an ad and still count as an engagement.

For viewers that skip before those thirty seconds are up, however, no money is paid by the advertiser, and so no money is earned by the YouTuber.

Best Places To Share YouTube Videos For More Views 3

Other Types of YouTube Ads

In-stream ads are not the only option for advertisers on YouTube, and, as such, not the only way YouTuber’s can earn money.

There are presently two other ways for advertisers to get their message across, so let’s take a look at them.

Non-Video Ads

Non-video ads are the ads that show up in the form of a small banner overlay in the video or a display ad in the sidebar. These ads are minimally intrusive, which is a double-edged sword in terms of viewer engagement.

On the one hand, they are less irritating to your viewers, meaning they are less likely to click away because of an ad. On the other hand, they are considerably easier to ignore, meaning there is less chance of engagement and, subsequently, less chance of revenue.

As a YouTuber, you can choose which kinds of ads you allow on your monetized videos, though not the content of those ads. So, it may be worth doing research and testing to find which ads work best for you and your audience.

Discovery Ads

Discovery ads, while they are clearly marked as an ad, show up in organic search results and watch feeds in the same style as the regular search results and recommendation videos around them.

This type of advertisement is ideally suited to YouTuber’s themselves, as it is designed to drive traffic to a particular video. The ad will show among related videos as though it were an organic result, meaning the people seeing the ad were already looking for that kind of content to being with. It is worth remembering that, as mentioned, the ads are marked as promoted content.

These ads are unobtrusive and, by their very nature, tailored towards the viewer’s interests because the viewer is already looking for the type of content being promoted in the first place.

Other Options for YouTuber’s to Earn Money

YouTube’s advertising platform has its strengths and weaknesses as a revenue source. Still, it’s not the only option for YouTuber’s to turn their channel into an income generator.

Brand Deals

For channels with enough interest, it is possible to cut out the middle man and go directly to the advertiser. Several brands have been open to making deals directly with content creators. That number continues to grow as the power of platforms like YouTube becomes increasingly evident.

With a brand deal, you will have to work out the details with the advertiser yourself, including price negotiations, but this added work comes with rewards. Namely: revenue.

The earning potential from brand deals is considerably higher than that of YouTube’s monetisation program. Of course, the barrier to entry is higher as well. You only need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours watch time to qualify for YouTube’s Partner Programme, but brands will require a considerably larger audience before they think about offering a channel a deal.

It should be noted that, if you do get a brand deal, you are required to inform YouTube via the “contains paid promotion” checkbox of your video details.

Getting started on YouTube can be hard so I wrote a deep dive step by step guide on how to start a YouTube channel on my blog – I even added pictures!

Crowd Funding

For YouTuber’s with an invested audience, crowdfunding is a great way to earn revenue from a relatively small audience. Traditional advertising does not pay very well with low viewing figures. Often earning pennies per 1,000 impressions, or more per click when only a small percentage of viewers ever click, you need a lot of views to make decent money.

With an engaged audience who like your content and are happy to send you a little cash to support you, you can earn considerably more revenue.

Crowdfunding suits smaller channels particularly well, as viewers are more likely to support a creator they feel connected with. It is easier to maintain that kind of relationship when you don’t have millions of subscribers.

Responding to every comment is feasible when you have a few thousand subscribers, but that’s not the case when you have a few million.

This dynamic extends to YouTube advertising as well. With a small, dedicated audience, you are more likely to receive ad revenue because your viewers are more likely to be interested in the ads. For larger channels with more casual viewers, this is not usually the case. It is this relationship that is why some YouTuber’s can go full time with an audience of around twenty thousand subscribers, while other YouTuber’s with ten times that amount of subscribers still have to work a regular job alongside their channel.

customer care

Affiliates

Affiliate marketing is usually thought of as a supplemental revenue source—rather than a primary earner—when talking about YouTube channels. Affiliate programmes will pay you a commission for actions carried out through your referral—a typical example of this being you sharing an Amazon affiliate link in your description. Amazon then pays you a percentage of the sale when one of your viewers buys something through that link.

Affiliate programmes are particularly useful for channels that feature products, such as unboxing videos and product or service reviews. If a viewer watches your video and decides they want to purchase the product or service being featured, they can click through your link, and you will earn a small commission.

Using affiliate marketing when it doesn’t organically tie into your content is unlikely to generate revenue, however. Worse still, it can sometimes be seen by your viewers as a cynical money grab and may turn some people off. And, on that note, always be upfront with your viewers about affiliates, brand deals, and product placements.

Most viewers won’t care if you are getting paid to talk about a product, but they will care if you aren’t honest with them about it.

Affiliate marketing has made me $1000’s over the last few years. It can be as simple as making content and picking the right links. But to help you get started I have written a Beginners Guide to Affiliate Marketing in this blog – It’s surprisingly simple once you get started!

How To Start A Business with No Money (Step by Step Guide) 3

Eyes on the Prize

At this point, it is worth enforcing the point that content is what matters. If you focus on making the best possible content for your audience, meeting a need they have, the opportunities to generate revenue will come.

If you are concerned over whether you earn money from skipped ads, you may not have your head in the right place for success. Many YouTubers consider the YouTube Partner Programme a poor option for revenue generation, and certainly not a good bet for your primary source of income. Obsessing on details such as whether you get paid for a few seconds of watch time on a skipped advertisement is not the best use of your mental energy.

Put that energy into your content. Find ways to expand your audience, or drill down further into your niche and become an authority. Consider other methods of monetisation when the time is right. There is no point in starting a Patreon with fifty subscribers, for example. Well, unless they are very dedicated subscribers.

YouTube monetisation has long been an unreliable source of income for its creators, with continually changing terms and multiple “adpocalypses”. The best way to approach this is not to think about it. Simply turn monetisation on when suitable, and forget about it. Focus on your content and other revenue sources. That way, any income you do make through YouTube’s Partner Programme will feel like a nice bonus.

And you won’t be caught short the next time YouTube changes their rules, and your revenue takes a hit.

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.

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DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE YOUTUBE

Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes?

Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes? 1

In 2019, the YouTube video with the most likes was Despacito by Luis Fonsi. Although the video was uploaded in 2017, it has ridden the wave of competition and is still at the top of the list, unbeaten, in 2019. Currently, it has 6 billion views and 38 million likes. This is every YouTuber’s dream – to go viral.

When Fonsi wrote Despacito, he never dreamed it would be such a massive hit. He released the song anyway because he believed in it. You, as a creator, never know which of your videos will become a sensation. You just have to keep making videos and putting your best out there.

So, What is the significance of YouTube likes? Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes? – YouTubers do not get paid for likes. However, a like is a form of engagement that can help the video do better in the long term. The more likes, comments, and shares a video gets the higher it can rank. A good rank in search can mean more traffic to the video, more advert views and clicks.

Do YouTubers Get Paid for Likes?

How YouTube Likes Work

Up till 2012, videos on YouTube were ranked according to how many views they got – the view count.

This was a good metric, but if a video had a misleading title, people would only watch a few seconds of it then leave. A marketer who had attached their advertisement to such a video would feel short-changed, as their advert would not get watched. Marketers also objected to some of the content being uploaded.

A lot of the popular videos aired controversial topics like racism and terrorism. Marketers who didn’t want to be associated with such videos pulled out, leading to loss of revenue for YouTube.

This was bad for business. To stop this exodus, YouTube had to police the platform and suppress objectionable channels by not recommending them regardless of how popular they were.

YouTube then changed its metric to how much time viewers spent watching a video. Videos that captured viewer attention for longer time periods now got ranked higher. This was good for marketers as it would ensure that their product was seen by the viewer. This, however, meant that creators now had to spend more resources trying to make their videos longer while still retaining the viewers’ interest. Creators started delaying the core message of their videos for as long as they could without annoying the viewer.

They also had to change the frequency and content of uploads so as to make longer videos. This was not easy. An example of how this changed things for creators can be seen in this video. Longer-duration videos also meant more resources spent on making and editing new videos.

Ultimately, two main factors now determine how often a video will appear in search results and recommendations:

· Behavior

· User Queries

Behaviour

The YouTube algorithm tracks viewer behavior for the purpose of making recommendations based on what they watch.

This is why your YouTube homepage will never be similar to someone else’s homepage. Your activity determines what other videos YouTube recommends to you.

Factors determining how YouTube recommends and ranks videos that you need to know include:

· What people watch

· Consistency in uploading videos

· Time spent on watching a video (retention time)

· How fast a video gains popularity

· What videos don’t get watched

· How new a video is.

· How people engage with a video- likes, dislikes, shares, and comments

· Explicit feedback i.e. not interested.

User Queries

YouTube will rank videos according to how often users search for them. A commonly searched for video is obviously popular, so YouTube will rank it at the top of search results and recommend it as well.

This is because the goal of YouTube is to keep you on that platform for as long as possible because it increases your chances of seeing advertisements.

The goal of YouTube is to ultimately recommend videos that viewers want to watch. Its algorithm will, therefore, use the metrics above to determine whether or not to recommend a video and how often the video will appear in search results.

This means that your video not only has to be good, but it has to match keywords used in searches.

Can YouTubers Make Money from Likes? – Not directly. Likes show how good your video is, measuring its popularity. Depending on their number, the only effect is to increase the frequency of visits to your channel. When a viewer likes your video, they are ‘teaching’ YouTube that your video is good and should be recommended more often.

This is why YouTubers encourage their viewers to like, share, and subscribe to their content. The more the engagement, the higher the rank of the video, the more it will appear in results and the higher the number of viewers will increase.

So don’t underestimate the importance of YouTube likes. If anything, try to get as many as possible. Below you can see a number of things you can do to increase them.

How to Grow a YouTube Channel (30+ Ways) 6

How to Get More Likes on YouTube

Now that you know likes can be fuelling your channel growth, its time to start getting more of them!

Ask for them

At the end of your video, request your viewers to like your video. Don’t assume that they’ll like it anyway. Encourage them by also explaining how the likes will help your channel grow.

Make it easy

In addition to verbally asking for likes, include prompts at various points in your video to remind your viewers. Just be careful not to overdo it as your video will end up looking tacky.

Invite subscribers

Having subscribers means that your content is so good people want to receive more of it. In a way, you are assured that you will have a number of likes because your videos will have a dedicated pool of viewers.

It also teaches YouTube that your channel is popular and should be recommended frequently.

Social media

Promote yourself on other platforms- share your videos on other social media networks. People who may like your work may not be frequent users of YouTube, so go out there and look for them. Don’t wait for them to find you.

If you need help to promote your videos on social media I wrote a huge article on the best places to share your youtube videos for more views on my blog.

Advertise

If you can afford it, advertise. Some creators advertise their new uploads for a short period of time to increase their fan base. Cast your net wide.

Now that we have seen how important likes are and how they increase our chances of getting noticed on youtube, let’s see how we can turn that into money.

How YouTubers Make Money

The more money you make on YouTube the more you can invest back into content, growth and success. Making money on YouTube can be a burning desire but you don’t always have to use the YouTube Ads program.

I make a good chunk on my income from affiliate marketing and I wrote a huge deep dive into Affiliate Marketing for Beginners on my blog – it explains all the jargon and steps you through everything you need to do to get started.

Advertising Revenue

Channel owners can link their channels to advertisers and earn revenue based on how many people view the adverts. An example is Google AdSense.

This is a feature of the YouTube partner program, which enables you to monetize your channel. To make money from AdSense, you have to have at least 1000 subscribers and more than 4000 watch hours in the last 12 months.

This is why consistency in video uploads is important. Few uploads equal few watch hours. Lastly, you have to live in a country where Google AdSense is available. You can choose what ads will come with your video, and where they will appear.

When someone clicks on an ad or watches your video for at least 30 seconds, you earn revenue depending on the advertisers’ bid, the length of the video, and the type of content.

Affiliates

A company could approach you and ask you to endorse their product on your channel. You then talk about it, describe its features, and encourage your viewers to buy the product. You include a link in your video description where people can buy the product. To encourage a purchase and also reward their viewers, a number of YouTubers, in collaboration with the company, offer discounts for viewers who purchase a product through their channel.

Every time a purchase is made a percentage of that revenue goes to you as the owner of the channel.

Still, you don’t have to wait for a company to approach you. You could approach companies whose products are related to your content and make a deal with them. For example, if you have a food channel, you can advertise products for a company that produces spices.

Selling Merchandise

YouTubers with a substantial following and a well-developed brand also make revenue through selling merchandise. Once you have a dedicated base of subscribers, you can begin to make merchandise related to the subject content of your videos.

You can make branded t-shirts and caps or sell products like makeup kits. If you upload how-to videos, you can offer more information through a premium subscription service or sell a how-to manual in text form.

Ensure your products are unique and high quality, as disappointed customers will spread the word about you and this could affect your popularity on YouTube. You want to go viral, but not for controversial reasons.

YouTube Premium

Many people find it annoying to have a video they are watching interrupted by advertisements. Well, this is the price we pay to enjoy YouTube for free.

HOWEVER, if you really cannot stand constant interruptions, why not try YouTube Premium? This is a paid ad-free service offered by YouTube as a response to our grumblings against advertisements. Viewers can watch videos and listen to endless playlists without interruptions.

If you have a channel on YouTube premium, you earn revenue every time your video is watched. Viewers can also download your videos to watch offline, and this will still contribute to your watch times.

Donations

Donations are not necessarily a revenue stream, but they can support up and coming creators until they have enough views to generate their own revenue. When you make really good content, you gain many committed fans who wouldn’t mind supporting you financially so you can continue making more content.

To this end, MANY creators have a Patreon account through which fans make donations. Although Patreon takes 10% of this money, it can still be enough to keep your channel going.

Creators in turn offer their donors (patrons) extra content like behind-the-scenes footage as a reward or thank you for their support. Patreon is also a great platform for creators who need financial support for their work but want to maintain their independence.

So instead of signing contracts with commercial companies that will exploit their talent, they upload content on YouTube and earn revenue through their channel and the support of their Patrons.

Make Long Videos

Make your content as interesting as possible for as long as possible, at least for up to 10 minutes. The longer time people spend on your video, the higher the chances of earning more revenue, and the higher it will rank among search results.

Remember, YouTube wants people to spend time on videos so they can see adverts.

Collaborations

You can reach out to creators who post similar content to yours and suggest a collaboration. Not everything needs to be a competition, and we can also grow together. Collaboration will open up new horizons for your viewership and get your subscribers from a different niche category than the one you cater for.

A good example of collaboration was that of Lindsey Stirling, a violinist who dances while playing the violin and the Piano Guys, a group of men who make original instrumental music and do classical-style covers of popular songs. Their collaboration was actually demanded by fans and was a huge success, opening up new markets for both groups.

Targeted Content

Make your videos with a certain target market in mind. This will establish your niche, and also enable you to propose a brand endorsement to a company that targets that particular group of people. For example, if you have a food channel, you can focus on organic recipes and built viewership based on this.

You can then approach an organic food company and offer to advertise their products.

Use Targeted Keywords

Use top keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and video tags. Specific keywords attract different viewers with different interests. The type of viewer you attract will also determine the type of advertisers you attract.

Keywords that attract advertisers who pay more for adverts will also earn you more money.

Conclusion

In summary, likes will not directly earn you revenue on YouTube, but they will increase your channel’s visibility to raise your chances of earning marketing revenue.

If you need help in making better videos to get you more likes then maybe check out my resources page where I show you all my equipment, secret tools for amazing graphics and youtube seo tools!

You can follow these tips discussed in this article to get more subscribers and more likes. So keep creating!

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.

Categories
DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE YOUTUBE

How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel?

How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel? 2

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.

Do you get paid for YouTube? 2

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.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube 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.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a YouTube Channel? 1

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.

 

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HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE TIPS & TRICKS YOUTUBE

Do you get paid for YouTube?

Do you get paid for YouTube? 2

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

Do you get paid for YouTube?

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.

Can YouTubers Control Which Ads Are Shown?

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?

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BUSINESS TIPS DEEP DIVE ARTICLE HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online

Affiliate Marketing for Beginners: Guide to Make Money Online 2

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.

How To Work Home for Beginners 6

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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BUSINESS TIPS HOW TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE LISTS TIPS & TRICKS

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

How To Start A Blog with No Money 1

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.

How To Start A Blog with No Money

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.

how to pick a blog niche

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

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

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.

how and where to host a new blog

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.

content is king

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.

google analytics for blogs

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?

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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)

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!