YouTube has become a magnet for people who want to start earning money online. Either as a side hustle or a source of full-time income. The pandemic has helped promote this trend because government lockdowns sent most of us to the internet and discovered YouTube’s potential as a full-time source of income.
If you are one of the millions around the world who are struggling to make money, then you might have thought of starting a YouTube channel and create videos as a side hustle. The idea is clear to you, but have you also thought of the investment needed to be successful on YouTube?
Though creating a YouTube channel is basic, growing that channel and start making money would be a different story. There is a lot of work in producing content, editing, and promoting that content to gain views. It is a continuous cycle because a successful creator on YouTube requires consistency. You need to devote a special amount of time to gain a presence.
So how much time should you spend per day on YouTube?
Before we proceed with the article let us establish the assumptions:
- You are a total beginner on YouTube
- You doing something else, like a full-time job or you are studying
- You are just planning to start a YouTube channel
To immediately answer the time needed, you should at least spend 2-hours per day and increase that time as you become more serious with YouTube.
So why the need to spend that much time and why do you need to increase those hours as you go deeper into YouTube?
There are basic skills that you need to learn before starting a YouTube channel, and a little research on topics of video concepts. These are fundamental requirements to equip you with the knowledge and motivation to become a successful YouTuber.
The following are four(4) fundamental steps before starting a YouTube channel:
Research for a niche
Finding the correct niche is important because it will set your direction of being a YouTuber. A niche is a theme for your YouTube channel. To be successful on YouTube, you need to stick with a theme that provides value for users.
A YouTube theme that can produce content which users are searching for.
What you should be considering, is search for niches that have less competition. The first video was uploaded on YouTube in 2005, since then millions of videos have been produced and watched on YouTube.
Sticking to a channel with less competition will provide your videos with a better chance of being searched by users.
To help you with the research,
- think within yourself what are ideas you want to share with the world.
- write those general ideas down.
- branch down to more specific ideas or subcategories to those ideas
- and on YouTube key-in those ideas on the search bar and observe the top 10 results. Analyze each channel that is recommended by YouTube
- write down which of the topics have lesser competition.
The outcome of this exercise is to identify which niche is more effective for you.
You can also visit the video below from Think Media to have a more in-depth discussion on how to find a niche.
Plan and Schedule your YouTube Content
Now that you have a niche, it is now time to plan what are contents you need to produce for YouTube. List down the video topics you are meaning to create and set the targets and deadlines of these videos for your channel.
Setting deadlines will organize your thoughts and the schedule will help prioritize tasks
Prepare a plan and schedule for at least one month, then breakdown this plan and be more specific on the deliverables per day before a YouTube video is uploaded.
The typical target is one (1) video per week. This timeline will provide you more time to think be more creative with your content. But if the one (1) video per week would be too much, then dial down to at least one (1) video every two weeks.
You can also try watching the video below to gain more insights on how to plan for a youtube video
Learn SEO for YouTube
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a strategy that you need to apply on your YouTube videos to be more successful.
The basic Youtube SEO research will involve the following:
- YouTube Keywords
- YouTube Titles
- YouTube Tags
- YouTube Description
The keywords and tags will help the YouTube algorithm understand what your video is about. You are teaching the robot inside YouTube who is your video for.
When the algorithm understands the content, it can recommend your video to specific users on YouTube. These users are the ones that would most likely watch your video and subscribe to your channel.
By helping YouTube understand the value of your content, YouTube will help you grow your channel.
You can also try watching the video below to gain more insights on how to plan for a youtube video.
Learn how to create a quality YouTube video
In YouTube, content is king and quality content above all. Quality content is the number 1 reason why users will watch your videos. The success of a YouTube channel is not measured by the number of subscribers or views. The success of a YouTube channel is measured by the watch hours from active users that liked your video and found value on your content.
When users see value in your content they will subscribe, share on social media, and come back for more on your channel.
Creating a YouTube video may sound easy, but once you dive deeper into YouTube, you will learn that one video is a big production. You have to think about the words you need to speak, the gears you will use, the scenery or background of your video, the lighting, and so on.
The Think Media YouTube channel is very helpful and you can be guided by the video below on how to make a quality YouTube video.
And earlier in this article, I mentioned that the time you spend on YouTube will increase as you become more serious on being a YouTuber. The reason for this is, as you get involve more in being a YouTuber you will get to see the potential of YouTube’s audience for your personal gain. Whether your goal is to help people, grow an online business, or simply to gain fame, the platform is perfect. Millions of users visit YouTube every day and their attention is within your reach.
The fundamentals mentioned above may sound time-consuming, and yes it is but is necessary. You need to be equipped with basic knowledge before setting out to avoid frustrations and misdirection.
Later on, as your channel starts to grow or needs to grow, you will promote your content on different social media platforms. Then aside from the promising Google AdSense, you will start thinking big and find other ways to monetize your channel. The basics are just the tip of the iceberg and there’s a lot of complexities that lie beneath a successful YouTube channel.
Though everything sounds so technical, all resources to learn are available online. Start by spending two hours per day, then give YouTube more time as your career as YouTuber becomes clearer and you have found your purpose and direction as a content creator.
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