Transcription
Let's be real, okay. 100 videos that are really bad quality that nobody watches is still 100 videos that nobody watches. I posted my first video back in 2022. I just did not have the right strategy whatsoever. But once I started seriously being a little bit more intentional and seriously strategizing and trying out different things, I monetized my channel with only two videos.
Hi girlies, welcome or welcome back to my YouTube channel. I'm your host Shirley. I majored in Clinical Psychology and I help women become the very best versions of themselves in every aspect of life. In this video, I'm going to share everything that I have tried that did not work for me and what did work for me throughout my monetization journey. I'm also going to give you a step-by-step tutorial on how to get your monetization done very quickly. If you are a girly or a guy that's trying to get your YouTube channel monetized and if you want a shortcut, then you better keep watching.
One of the most commonly given advice and misconceptions that I hear about starting a YouTube channel and getting the channel monetized is that you have to post weekly. I hear so many YouTubers out there talking about how you should always prioritize quantity over quality when you first start. They always say it doesn't matter; just post frequently. Like the quality doesn't matter as much as your frequency; you just have to post really frequently. Now, this statement, I think it only held me back because at the very beginning I was like, "Oh my God, like if every big YouTuber is giving out this advice, and I must follow it." But like, let's be real, okay. Like 100 videos that are really bad quality that nobody watches is still 100 videos that nobody watches. Posting frequently doesn't mean that you're getting better in any way.
I was so boxed into this notion of like having to post weekly that it was honestly making the quality of my videos really bad. I rush through the video concept; I rush through the editing; I rush through basically everything. It was literally deterring me from making more videos because, honest to God, like I wasn't proud of what I was making. I'm the type of person who—I don't want to do anything half-ass. Like when I do something, you best believe that I'm going to do it really well. Honestly, if someone was posting videos like the videos that I was making, I literally wouldn't watch it. I really felt like I was only posting for the sake of posting when I didn't actually have anything to say, and I also didn't have enough time to actually make the editing good. Being intentional, which led to the content that I was making, felt very misaligned with my values and my standards and my vision overall. The weekly posting—it just wasn't feasible for my schedule at the time.
I basically changed my approach to only posting when I actually had something to say and when I felt that the video and concept and script were actually up to my standards. I gave myself ample time to edit, to script, to think about the concept, do the thumbnails, everything. After I changed my approach, that was when I saw an increase in my views and how long my viewers stayed in each video. We all have one goal, right? And that is to monetize the YouTube channel. It doesn't matter how you get there; there are so many ways to achieve that one goal. Granted, you still have to actually post within like a reasonable amount of time and have some regularity to it, but it absolutely, absolutely doesn't have to be weekly. Your posting schedule has to be sustainable to you, that works with your schedule while allowing you to produce quality content and that you're not burning yourself out. If posting once a week works, then post once a week. And if posting once a month works, or every other week, then you should do that. Avoid the hamster wheel; SLB burnout with your posting schedule.
One thing that I do really recommend is batch writing scripts and batch filming. Back when I was posting weekly for that very brief amount of time, I very much felt like I was in this hamster wheel of writing a script, editing, and then posting, and then doing it over and over and over and over again. I then changed my approach to batch writing two scripts at once so I can have a little bit more of a break between filming videos.
Filming and editing equipment—another really common misconception that I hear is that you don't need good equipment to start a YouTube channel. I agree and disagree with the statement at the same time. Look at the screen real quick. Let me ask you a serious question: would you love watching this video if the quality was this blurry, or is this nicer to watch? I absolutely do not think that you need really expensive equipment to start a YouTube channel, but they sure as hell really help. The sooner you can seem like a really professional YouTuber, the sooner you will get there. It's just manifestation, girl.
I know what you guys are going to say to me, like, "Oh my God, Charlie, but like the wizard Liz has quality, but she gets like millions of views." Girl, that is so different. Like she was already famous because she got famous from TikTok, and then people swarm to her YouTube channel afterward. She is famous before her YouTube channel, but nobody knows you right now. As I said, I'm a person that when I do things, I have to do them really well. Like, and if I don't do them well, like I just don't want to do it. When I was making content with my iPhone, I still wasn't happy with the quality of it. I feel like it was again, like deterring me from making more because I just didn't feel like my own videos were up to my standards at the time. I genuinely felt like my videos could do so much better and have so much more potential if my visuals were clearer, if my audio was more crisp. So I kind of force myself to invest in a camera so that if I don't film, I would like feel extreme guilt that, "Oh my God, my one grand just went to waste."
You probably think I'm so weird for doing this because most people only invest in their camera after they've monetized or after they've been consistently posting. But honestly, for me, it was the opposite because having my camera acted as a driving force for me, and it made me feel so much more motivated to make videos because I know that I now have no excuse not to produce really, really high-quality videos. If you're a person like me and you're like, "I have to do things well; if I don't do them well, I don't want to do it," if you are 10,000% sure, okay, that you want to take YouTube seriously, then yes, I highly recommend investing in a camera if you are in the financial position to do so. If you don't have enough funds, if you're broke, girl, please don't do it.
In terms of editing equipment, I think that iMovie is a great option for beginners. It's very easy; it's very user-friendly to use. But as you get more advanced with your editing, you will find that iMovie might not be enough for you in terms of animations and like the fonts and just general visual effects. And if you don't want to pay £2,000, or however much dollars it translates to, right away for Final Cut Pro, you can try CapCut, which is also very similar, and I think it's like $7.99 or $10 a month. But again, for me, it was the same thing where I just had to invest in Final Cut Pro because I knew that I was capable of editing a really, really good video that I wouldn't have been able to make with iMovie. I do highly recommend getting Final Cut Pro if you're used to using iMovie anyway because it's pretty much the exact same command, so it's going to be really, really easy for you to learn how to use it. Obviously, there might be a few things that you actually have to learn before using it, but I honestly find learning new skills on Final Cut Pro really fun. You just have to go on YouTube, search up some tutorials, and you'll know how to do loads of different tricks that you can incorporate into your content.
Let's talk about topic, niche, and content, which is the key to monetizing fast. People always tell you to film evergreen content. What is evergreen content? Evergreen content is something that will apply to your life no matter what time point you watch it. Yes, you can absolutely monetize your channel by only filming evergreen content, but unless your personality or your editing style is out of the world, or if you're already famous from somewhere else, it's going to take a fair bit of time. Evergreen content also is not usually the content that has the highest search traffic. Before I started seriously strategizing my content, I have filmed a good amount of evergreen content in the past. They have gotten a good amount of views—like I would say 500 to 10K, around that much—and at the time, 400 subscribers, my watch hours were still not sufficient because not enough people were searching up that video at the time, not enough people were searching up that topic, and not enough people were actually watching my videos to reach 4,000 watch hours. Girlies, remember to get monetized, you not only need 1,000 subscribers, you also need 4,000 watch hours in a year. When I started seriously strategizing my content, the small amount of watch hours that I had gained in the past—they were gained more than 365 days ago—they no longer count, and I had to start over. If you were just getting people to subscribe to you, that's good, but it doesn't mean anything because it's still not enough to get you monetized. 4,000 watch hours mean that people actually need to be watching and engaging with your content for a decent amount of time.
Utilize trendy topics for momentum. The fastest shortcut to monetization is to talk about something that is very trendy because when something is very trendy, a lot of people are searching up that keyword. They tend to be very curious about that topic; therefore, they're more likely to watch your videos for longer. You can literally utilize any trendy topics that are talked about on TikTok or on the news. For example, if your niche was finances—if you talk about money—you can talk about the financial impact that banning TikTok could have on the country, and I bet you that video is going to get a lot of views and watch hours because people are searching up, "What's going on with TikTok? Is it going to get banned? Is it not going to get banned? Did Meta buy it? What's going on?" People are searching it up; people are very curious about that topic, and they're naturally going to see your video and see that really attention-grabbing thumbnail, and they're going to click on it and engage.
The two videos that ultimately monetized my channel was my "Decentering Men" video and my Blake Lively video. This is because I utilized the trend of decentering men, which was very, very popular and talked about at the time—obviously combined with my good editing, the good quality of the visuals, the camera, and my unique personality. So the decentering video got me a lot of traction and momentum. My next video that actually got me fully monetized was my Blake Lively video. Girl, you know what happened with the whole Blake Lively thing—the whole drama was so talked about at the time and it was so trendy. So I basically strategically combined what happened with the whole drama with my niche, which was self-improvement. Ultimately, that video gained a lot of traction, and it fully monetized my content.
Now let's talk about picking a niche, right? I always hear big YouTubers say, "Oh, just like pick a niche, pick one niche." While it's easy to pick any niche, you have to be smart about which niche you pick, and I would say don't just pick one niche because it'll start to box you in, and you might, at the start, run out of things to talk about. You could pick multiple niches, right? You never know—your audience might be someone who is interested in fashion and makeup at the same time. You can also be really smart with the wording that you choose to be your niche. So, for example, I'm very into anything that is very feminine, very girly, including like makeup, fashion, lifestyle, self-improvement, recent events that's happening in society, psychology, feminism. I included all of that into one word: Womanhood. And that basically allowed me to make a lot of different videos about many different things and many different niches while still being boxed into this one niche, which is Womanhood. Many YouTubers have more than one niche nowadays. For example, James Charles—everybody knows him. Yes, he is a makeup influencer, but you will also see a lot of different videos of him doing different things, like baking or whatever. And that is because people watch his videos not necessarily for makeup, but for his hilarious personality. Pick something that actually means something to you and that you know you won't run out of topics to talk about.
Video vibe and editing—obviously your personality and your editing style are going to hugely affect the vibe and the mood of your video. If you have a personality, girl, show it. When I first started, just like a lot of people out there, I didn't feel the most natural speaking in front of the camera. English is not my first language, so I sometimes lose my train of thought or go off topic or stutter. Until I discovered scripts and teleprompters—this is like the most useful thing ever—to show my personality and like not stutter and actually have like smooth speech and not go off topic. Literally write out a script word for word; write it out, girl. And then use a teleprompter when you're actually filming. When you're writing out your script, literally say the sentences out loud like how you would naturally phrase that sentence, and then literally word for word write it out. "Wait, what did I say again?" Whenever you are feeling uncomfortable in front of the camera, just imagine speaking to a friend or just imagine nobody's going to see this video, and you're just trolling—like you're just trolling; nobody's going to see it; you're going to delete this video; you're not going to even publish it. I promise you, when you take away the pressure of thinking that loads of people are going to see this video and it's going to be so bad, you're going to act way more naturally. Editing is also a way for you to show your personality. If you don't know where to start with editing, if you don't know what your editing style even is, learn by imitating, learn by copy-being your favorite YouTubers that you think really matches your vibe and your personality. And as time goes on, as you get more familiar with your editing tool, you will naturally develop your own unique editing style.
The last thing that I wanted to talk about is branding. If you have a few good videos that are gaining good traction and people are clicking into your profile, it's always good to have an actual branding strategy that tells the audience what type of content they're going to get in the future. So you literally just need to choose a color scheme, decide on an aesthetic and a font that you're going to consistently use in your banners and in your thumbnails. Also choose a nice profile picture, right, that feels very welcoming, feels very you. You might think that the font that you're choosing to use is something that is so minor—like, "Why am I even thinking about this?" You know, fonts can actually tell a story if your channel and if your personality is a little bit more like, you know, quirky and whimsical, then you would choose a font that matches with that vibe, that is more funky, that is more fun and whimsical. And if your channel has more of an elegant vibe, then obviously you would choose something like Times New Roman to match that vibe, so you can convey that vibe of like elegance and luxury.
A case study here—literally look at my previous video thumbnails. I'm looking at it right now. I just could not decide on an aesthetic, so sometimes I would use one font, and then the other times I would use another one. I'm like looking at this right now; I'm like to myself, "Girl, what is your vibe? Like why do you have multiple personalities?" They were just completely different vibes, and I think that was confusing my audience and also myself. I don't know about your YouTube habits, okay, but when I see a creator that has like maybe one really, really catchy video, if I click into their profile and if I'm convinced by their marketing, even if they don't have a lot of videos, I would still automatically subscribe to them. I had only made two really seriously strategized videos at that point, and I only had like five videos on my profile, and people were still subscribing to me because I had a nice page, had a nice banner, a nice profile picture, and a nice description. And people are invested; they're convinced; they want to see more. So that is how you do your branding. If the audience is convinced by your good branding, they are going to subscribe to you because they see your potential.
So these are what worked and what did not work for me throughout my entire monetization journey. Everyone is so different, so what works for them is going to look very different to what works for someone else. I hope that this video is helpful to you in some capacity, and if you're also starting a YouTube channel, feel free to comment down below so that people can discover your channel, people can subscribe to you and support your channel. And also feel free to comment down below what you personally found did not work for you and what did work for you. Thank you so much for watching, girlies, and if you want to see more content from me, don't forget to hit the subscribe button and like this video and turn on the notification bell. I'll see you next time. Bye.