Transcription
Here are 11 excellent ways I have found to make each view that you are getting, no matter how small or how large, worth more to you as a creator.
Howdy howdy everyone, Nate here.
The first quick win to earn more money from each view you have on your YouTube videos is to create longer YouTube videos. But hold on a moment. You see, the common knowledge here is to have at least 8 minutes of video length on a long form video, which is where YouTube can essentially say, "Hey, this video is long enough I can place a ad or more than one ad depending on the length of the video." and it follows that you make more money per view because there are simply more ads shown to your audience. But I'm focusing on less known ways in this video that you may not have heard of or thought of before. Which is why I take this idea of creating longer long form videos and counteract it with focus on making that video so packed with helpfulness or value or entertainment that they're left wanting more. You end up more on top in the long run. Put simply, I would rather have an audience member watch three 10-minute videos than a single 30-minute video. As long as those three videos were the length that they should be to match the audience expectations. And that makes more sense in the context of this next way to earn more from your videos.
Optimizing ad placement or not. As I was researching for this video, I looked extensively into this idea of placing more ad slots within your videos. You see on YouTube when you upload a long form video, you have the option to add more ad placements into your video with the original idea being placing them at opportune moments that doesn't interrupt too much the viewers experience and leaves them continuing to want to watch the video after the ad is complete. However, as I was researching this, I came across a variety of different forums where creators were talking about optimizing the minutia of placing as many ad placements as possible, even going so far as recommending that you place a potential ad slot every 10 seconds of your video. I don't think this is necessary for most creators. Just like the YouTube algorithms know roughly what is contained in your video based on the actual metadata, the spoken words, and the visuals placed in the video. I'm inclined to think that nine times out of 10, it's in YouTube's best interest to pick optimal ad placement, allowing you as a creator to just simply leave that box checked and let YouTube decide, which based on my own observation is about two placements per 8 minutes of final video. Oh, and another important thing to add here is just because there are ad placements does not mean that an ad will play in every single one of those. Can you imagine if an ad played every 30 seconds? Please no.
Now, while we've spoken about long form up to this point, what about YouTube shorts? You would think that having a longer YouTube short would increase the revenue you make from your YouTube shorts. Nope, that is not the case. In fact, if we're talking in terms of purely optimizing the ad revenue that you make from YouTube shorts, it appears to me that it's actually more beneficial to make your YouTube shorts shorter. And this is because according to YouTube help themselves, how Shorts ad revenue sharing works is this. First, the advertisers contribute their ad placements to a sharable ad revenue pool. And based on the number of YouTube shorts that play, that is the amount of ad revenue that will be distributed among those creators. An interesting thing to me here is if those creators choose to use copyright music or copyright material in their shorts, then a percentage is taken off the top first, leaving the remainder the creator allocation. And then and only then the revenue share rate is applied for the YouTube shorts leading to the final creator payment. And you, the astute viewer, might have noticed that nowhere in there does it mention a length for a YouTube short in relation to the creator pool, the allocated ad revenue for creators. So, it would seem to appear that the two ways to optimize this is to create shorter YouTube shorts and not use copyright music. However, as before, it matters first and foremost that you make an enjoyable YouTube short because that alone will make it spread more than any amount of optimizing or making 5-second long YouTube shorts hoping to get spread. Oftent times, using a copyright music, for example, makes that short spread even better because it's more recognizable. So, it's a balance.
Do you know what's even shorter than a YouTube short? Don't do it, Nate. No. No. You know you don't want to >> pooping the freaking like button. >> Thank you for doing that.
As we move on to the next layering of monetization here, I had to cover this, and you'll pardon the language here, but reposting your own dang content is a very viable strategy. This includes reposting on multiple formats on YouTube and other platforms. There is unfortunately a strategy extolled by other creators on this platform and other platforms in which you essentially rip other people's content and re-upload it with some new music and some slight edits. It's called by many names re-uploading, making money without making your own videos, etc., etc. And this problem only grows as your audience grows. You see, the issue here is it's twofold. A, your audience forgetting your content that you published a while ago, and B, other people taking revenue that could be yours. I found a solution that works remarkably well to counteract both of them. >> You fight fire with freaking fire. >> The best way I found to do that is using a tool called Nexus Clips. NexusClips.com does remarkably well is you upload a video AI prompt it for certain moments for it to pull out from your video, autogenerate a couple of potential moments and you're able to in the app edit those clips and download them to re-upload yourself both to your own channel and to your other social platforms. This is a strategy I have seen larger creators like Jaden Williams use very effectively. Generates revenue directly from the content you're generating with Nexus Clips, but also creates the prime opportunity for you to use those clips to direct to the other longer form content on your channel. So, it's essentially double dipping. And yes, I got you an awesome deal on Nexus Clips using the link in the description and in the pin comment on this video. So, go fight fire with freaking fire.
Next method on platform YouTube affiliate partnership. I have been observing this show up more and more with this example from a YouTube short. This sticker in the upper right corner, if you tap on the sticker, it brings up a list of products. You see, what this is is an integrated into YouTube's user interface, their UI, a way for you to offer affiliate things. What you do is you integrate a third party store into your videos and then it can show up below your videos as a sticker. You can specify how you want these products to show up. It also shows up as a shopping tab on your channel. The eligibility for this option is a bit higher. you have to be part of the YouTube partner program and I believe have at least 10,000 subscribers. Now the major advantage of doing it this way versus having a link in the description is as any good UI designer will tell you if something is emphasized or easy to access on the user interface like on YouTube then it's being emphasized by that platform and YouTube is making it as simple as possible for your audience to do exactly what you want them to do.
Now before we jump off platform here there is one more thing that has been rolling out more and more. I believe it is still in beta access but it's called brand connect. This is again on platform for YouTube and it's beyond super thanks stickers and chats. YouTube has been rolling this out as a way for brands to directly work through the YouTube platform and provide sponsorships for your content. And then YouTube is able to provide a profile of sorts of your channel with the type of audience that brands might want to connect with in a way doing some of your sponsorship marketing directly for you.
Now we get to adjacent value or earning potential things that you can share with your audience. So you don't even have to be part of the YouTube partner program to take advantage of these. First is a tool called Ask Me. And this is not sponsored by them at all. I have spoken with the founders and I have tested the tool a bit and I really like the concept. What you're able to do with Ask Me is essentially have an inbox across your social platforms where when your audience clicks on this link, they are directed to a page where they can essentially ask you a question, attach a video, a photo, or a file, and then they can either provide you a tip or you as a creator can specify a certain dollar amount to ask you a question. So, I want to hear from you. Let me know if you want me to look into something like this further.
Next YouTube monetization method is longer-term partnerships. You've heard of sponsorships. Of course, you have, but I'm going to make a case here. longer-term partnerships instead of thinking of them as one-off sponsorship. You see, depending on your channel size, typically what it looks like is a company will reach out to you and say, "Hey, we want you to do an integration. We want you to say these things. Here's our product. We really like your audience. Here's our rate or what is your rate and what can we arrange to create a single piece of content." Now, contrast that with a long-term partnership. With the clients I work with, we've made a particular emphasis of this. If their channel is the type that they want to monetize with this uh partnership model, it becomes a natural triple win. A win for the creator because they have a more predictable amount of content that they're creating and more predictable income. A win for the company because they get to be more associated with that creator's brand. And a win for the audience because they get multiple opportunities to learn about that thing that you use that you think is really awesome that you want to share with people. In fact, one of the best ways I found or I should say I created in order to make these types of partnerships run smoothly is my template. I'll provide a link to it. It's totally free in the pin comment in the description on this video where if you open the template and you click right here, I built out a handy way for you to input a whole list of potential sponsorships, companies that you think you might want to work with, and then keep track both of the communication you're having as you're building out the agreement with a company and the deliverables required by that company in the future. And yes, I built this out after working with multiple creators uh who are looking for a way to better track this and earn more from each view on their channel. And yes, I think it's pretty darn handy. So, go ahead and use it using the link in the pin comment. Now, if you have any feedback to make it better, please do let me know.
Next huge way to earn income outside of the YouTube partner program is affiliate opportunities, but with residual income. If you're not at the point where you're developing or creating your own products yet, this is one of the best ways to go about doing it. Chances are you're already aware of the idea of an affiliate partnership. Hey, I use this garden trial. Go to gardentravel.com/my channel name and you get an affiliate revenue when someone purchases that thing. But if that's the only way you're doing things, I'm going to strongly encourage you to go next level and look for residual or ongoing affiliate types of things. So, what you're looking for is companies to partner with that have an ongoing revenue model. So, things like software, subscription services, or consumables.
Next, affiliating with adjacent offers or services. This is one that I wish more creators knew about sooner. Because when I experienced this and I've helped others do this very thing, it blew my mind. Here's what it is. Typically, when we're in a niche, let's say it's gardening, we think, hey, I want to provide offers for my audience that is also gardening. Think Pete Moss or soil or garden tels. So, those are things directly related to garden. What about the ethos or the ethos? Ethos. ethos, whatever. What about the broader persona of your audience? What are some adjacent things that really fit them as a person? For example, partnering with a coffee company for people who paint. Or let's say your channel is directly helping people who have ADHD. What about a different kind of kitchen appliance like a blender that doesn't have 50,000 options and it's just much easier to use? Or if your channel is focused on woodworkers, what about a tracking app for those people?
Now, we get to bonuses. I debated including this or not, but in the end, the value won out. I had to include this because it's it's just too good not to mention in this video. There's two things I wanted to talk about with how to place the things you're sharing with your audience. First, pinned comments. The number one location for a link is in the pinned comment on long form videos. YouTube Shorts, unfortunately, they removed links entirely from the comment section. So, a pinned comment still with a link in bio or a link on my profile is the way to go. Second, let's talk about other placements. The best locations I have found. Video descriptions still work. However, they are being slowly deprioritized by the UI developers at YouTube. Don't tell them I said that. Which does give an argument for utilizing more of YouTube's built-in user interface elements that we talked about earlier on in this video. The other location that at first I could not believe is QR codes. I was under the impression that most viewership occurred on mobile phones, and you can't scan a QR code on a mobile phone. But TV viewership is on the rise. In fact, YouTube themselves have stated that TV viewership has been exponentially going up. And the number one way to direct people with TV viewership is yes, in fact, a QR code.
Now, we didn't cover memberships, creating your own offers, or more unique cases. And I do want you to let me know if you would appreciate a more advanced video like that. I did make another video that absolutely deserves more attention. [Music]