Any one got some advice for me? :p
Yea.. don't use any copyrighted music, or rather any music that isn't CC or licensed lol.
Just made a thread about this a few days ago hehe
For monetization, video game footage is usually a hit or miss from what I've seen/read but I haven't heard any problems with CIG doing copyright strikes (maybe due to being crowd funded?) with YouTubers so that's a plus! And for revenue per view, it drastically changes... but an average is $1,000 USD per million views which my friend EpicWildlife told me a few years ago when we talked about it. The only way, unless you're 3rd world (no offense to those who are), to earn more than beer money from YouTube is to have a VERY successful channel where each video (preferably 2+ a week) gets 100,000+ views.. that's IMO the first major milestone as a YouTuber (your first 100,000+ viewed video). Because of the residual nature of the income, the more videos you have getting views every day the more your income. The more videos you have over 100,000 views, the longer your viewers are watching (engagement), the current season (whenever people buy more shit from online), the more diverse or specific your demographic is, CPM, all affects your monthly income as a YouTuber.
So how to get there..... Odds are against us mate, market is over saturated and videos/channels are under performing for SEO and click-ability and user engagement....
#1 Quality / engaging content
people are looking for either information or entertainment usually right?
And if you have/build a fan base, giving them what they want (your personality) + good information + entertainment is a super win.
Doing that isn't easy and takes thought/planning/and just doing it. Expect to spend hours on this.. unless you hire people. Notice the biggest YouTubers usually have "staff" they hire just to manage delivering new content. Linus Tech Tips for example.
#2 DO NOT CLICK BAIT
I know a lot of channels do this to get momentum on growth (view count and watch time)
but it won't get you long term success! Your YouTube seo will suffer with all the unsubs and dislikes and negative comments.
#3 Good thumbnails
Thumbnails that look great, stand out, and physically make people want to click it, is what you want to do.
If you don't have design skills (like me) look at what other channels do or hire a designer to make a template for you.
#4 SPEND LOTS OF TIME on developing your channel
Either you or someone you hire, needs to be constantly seeing what your viewers are doing (watch time, when they leave, where they came from, etc), and adjust what you do to tailor your videos to your growing audience.
#5 Which is actually NUMBER 1.. or should be... BE PASSIONATE about it. If you don't have the passion and the drive to make YouTube content because YOU love it.. and it makes YOU happy... don't do it.. because you'll just end up wasting your valuable time. Trust me.
P.S.
A lot of YouTubers fail here, but READ your comments! Even the bad ones, find merit in negative comments on how you can improve your videos unless it goes against the personality of your channel. AND... RESPOND to comments, engage your viewers who not only watched some (or all) of your video but also spent the time to comment on your video. Do not let people who spend that kind of time for you go unnoticed! Unless of course your channel grows so big that you can't possibly respond to all the comments. I think part of the reason my flashmob video kept getting new views is because I would reply and like to every positive comment and I think it may have helped the video's SEO on the platform. Because 90% of it's views were all from suggested views EG suggested by YouTube
