How do you get monetized on YouTube? It actually has a pretty simple answer which we're going
to show you and give you some examples but I'm also going to dive into the details of how you
can get there. Like how you can get to the point where you're really making money on your channel.
-I'm excited to spend a couple minutes with Nate today to talk about how to get monetized
on YouTube. And I mean, the basics of it like you could google it right now. The answer is very
easy. It's 1,000 subscribers, 4,000 hours. But what I want to know is how do you actually grow
your channel to 1,000 subscribers and then how do you get the 4,000 hours of watch time in a year,
how long should the episodes be and are there any tricks? How can you really make money by
having a YouTube channel? So, let's talk about the basics. You need 1,000 subscribers, you need
4,000 hours of watch time. Is there anything more to it than that? -No. That's it. I mean,
once you're at that point, there's a little dial that you'll see on your analytics that say, "Okay,
finally, you can you can apply." So, you hit the button and then they manually review it to see if
your channel is one that they want to approve. I've never seen a channel not be approved. So,
you shouldn't have to worry about that. If you're a legit person making great
how-to content like we teach on this channel. And some of my channels, because they see some
of the track record of my other clients and the results that they're getting like,
"Oh! So-and-so made $50,000 last month in ad revenue." They're like, "Ooh! When can I have
a piece of that?" The reality is that's not our focus. In fact, it's not our number 2 or number
3 focus. Our focus is to attract your target audience so that you can answer their questions,
you can build a relationship with them. And that they'll become leads in your business.
But I want to answer all your questions though about the monetization side because
it even took me by surprise. I went from not really thinking ad revenue would be significant.
And I might have had as much as $800 in a month to a month later, I had an 18,000-dollar month.
And it's just like, "Okay". So, there is a reason to talk about ad revenue. Yeah, yeah. So,
one thing I want to know is just like does it ever make sense for a channel not to monetize?
Because I've had that conversation with people they've said, "Well, I don't want ads in front
of my YouTube videos." -Well, it does make sense. That concern makes sense because I personally,
I don't like ads. I don't like ads on YouTube. And so, guess what I do? I pay for YouTube premium or
whatever. They keep changing the name of it. But I pay the 10 or 12 bucks a month so that I don't see
ads. As a side note, the ad revenue that people receive is actually more for people that pay for
that YouTube premium than for the ad revenue. So, if that was a side question that you might have.
-Yeah, yeah. And I still don't understand how that works. But I'm going to take your word for it.
-You can actually look and see what percentage of your revenue came from ads and what percentage of
your revenue comes from people paying YouTube premium. And it's a pretty cool balance. So,
the reason that I went into that kind of tangent of saying, "You know, I don't like ads."
Most people that on YouTube, they're used to seeing ads. So, we might think I don't want to
annoy my audience and I don't want to put ads in front of them but they're on youtube all the time
and they see ads all the time. So, it's not going to be different. Now, the other point to consider
is if you have a video and there's an ad that youtube pairs with it and it makes YouTube money,
YouTube is going to promote your video. And you're going to get way more views on your video
by having an ad in front of it then you would otherwise. So, you really want ads turned on
if you want YouTube to promote your videos to bigger audiences. -Yeah, interesting.
So, getting to the nitty-gritty of this topic, how do you grow your channel to 1,000 subscribers.
-Patience. Okay? So, I have an episode out there on my channel called "How to get 1,000 subscribers
on YouTube in a day". Okay, it's a real episode and I really teach how to do that. But guess what?
It doesn't happen on day one. It might happen on day 365 where you're getting 1,000
subscribers in a day. In the beginning, it's gradual. You might get one subscriber today,
one subscriber tomorrow, 2 subscribers the next day. And you're slowly building momentum. So,
really the goal that I shoot for is is the first 4 months,Q just don't pay attention to the numbers
because the numbers are going to be really boring in the first 4 months.
What we're paying attention to is making sure that we're following the formula, that we're
including all 5 ingredients that I teach. That you're launching these leaf topic videos. You're
laying that solid foundation of search and just not worrying about the numbers. -Okay, you better
explain briefly what the leaf topic videos are in case they don't know your strategy. -I'll take a
shortcut. I'll actually link to it right up here that episode where I talk about how to get 1,000
subscribers on YouTube in a day I share all 5 of those ingredients so go ahead and watch that next.
-Is there an effective way to get your other followers that you have maybe on Instagram,
you're big on Instagram, you've got a YouTube group of some kind to get them to come to YouTube
to subscribe to your channel? -So, it's a question that I answer a lot. And in most cases, it's not
worth your time and energy. Now, an exception on Facebook would be if there's a Facebook group.
Okay? In groups, some groups, it's kosher to post a video to share a link saying, "Hey, here's a
video that really addresses this topic or this conversation we're having." And YouTube doesn't
tend to bury those. But in most cases, if you're using another social platform to promote your
YouTube channel, it's just... It's wasted energy. If you're putting content on another platform,
put content there that they want that's going to really nurture and build your audience there.
There's often not a whole lot of overlap between audiences. I'm a fan of Will Smith.
He probably has content on all different platforms --from Tiktok, and Instagram, and Facebook
and YouTube. And guess what? I choose to follow him on YouTube. But there are a lot of people who
probably have no idea he's on YouTube and they follow him elsewhere. But your question is are
there effective ways. Like, are there? Instead of are they bad? So, one way that I've found that you
can grow your YouTube channel is by leveraging your email list. Now, you don't want to annoy
your email list. And the same principle applies that when people are opening up their email inbox,
they want to have an email experience. They're there to read and email right and possibly take
actions. But they're really just sorting through they're coming through really fast.
So, if you send them an email that says, "Hey, I posted a video today." You should check it out,
you should go over to YouTube. That's not what they're there for. They're not there to go and
open up your email so they can then leave and go somewhere else. If they wanted to watch a
YouTube video, they would be on YouTube. So, what you can do to leverage your email is write them
an email on that same topic. You know, several paragraphs and have it be valuable in and of
itself. You know, if they read that email and do nothing else, they'll think, "Ah, that was a good
email. I'll open his next email when I get it." At the end of those few paragraphs, you can say,
"Hey... And I also talked about the same topic in today's episode if you want to check it out.
There's the link." So, if you've got an email list, let's say you've got 5,000 subscribers
and you're launching 5 episodes per week, instead of sending a daily email, I might segment my list
into 5 different groups. It doesn't matter. Just by alphabet or something. So, 1,000 of them will
get an email from me on Monday and I'll write them about a certain topic and reference that video.
Or like me, I'm kind of lazy. I'm not going to write 5 different emails in a week. So,
I might pick out of these 5 episodes I'm launching this week. What one episode do I really want to
push to really get out to my audience? Which video do I think that they're going to appreciate the
most? And of course, the paragraphs I write are about that topic so they have an email
experience. And then it will naturally translate a small percentage but some will come over
and it will boost the video and those are good views to have because it's people who like you.
And they click on it because they know they want to watch this video. So, they'll watch
it all the way to the end. And the algorithm will say, "Ooh! We got to find more people
like this." So, it's a good way to boost your channel. I found that to be the most effective way
compared to any other social post or platform or any other way to kind of promote your channel.
-So, last question about growing the subscribers. I mean, is there an effective way within a video
to get people to subscribe? I'm actually curious on the audience... From the audience comment
below. Does it annoy you when people say, "Hey, go ahead and subscribe to my channel. Click on
this link. Ding the bell because it..." You know, to me, it's kind of overdone and I'm not sure if
it's effective. -You're right. That's actually not what gets people to subscribe the most. What gets
people to subscribe is creating awesome content like giving real value that makes people think,
"I want to watch more content from him or her?" Right? So, then they'll subscribe.
So, the better content you create, the more likely you'll get a subscriber out of it. Now,
if you follow the Leaf Strategy that I teach on this channel. What that does is it makes sure
that you're getting the most ideal people to watch your video. So, even though the volume
of views that I get from that in the beginning... I call it a trickle of traffic. You might get 10
or just 100 views in a month at first. Those views are people that are the most likely to subscribe.
So, that's why I talk about my Leaf Strategy so much on this channel is because it really works.
If you're just creating 5 episodes a week or 20 episodes a month but you don't have a built-in
audience, right? You don't have this audience that's naturally going to find your videos, you
won't get subscribers. And so many people hear me speak they learn all the steps on my strategy but
they kind of pick and choose. And oftentimes that one step they skip that Leaf Strategy approach,
they skip that. And 2 years later, I'll look at their channel and it doesn't have subscribers and
that's exactly why. -So, let's talk now about the 4,000-hour threshold. Because you know,
be impressed by my math here. But 4,000, that's 240,000 minutes if I'm doing the math right.
So, is there an ideal episode length in order to achieve that benchmark more quickly? Because
if you're if you've got 15-second videos, it's going to take a ton of views to ever reach 240,000
minutes, right? -Yeah. So, I talk a lot about this 10 to 12-minute average. And
when you're launching this much content, you're getting the right audience to find your videos
getting them to watch the 10 to 12-minute episode is pretty easy. So, if I'm going to put a timeline
to achieving that benchmark of those 4,000 hours of watch time in a year, really just give
yourself a few months and you'll get there. -So, Nate, you've talked a lot about your strategy.
You linked to a video before. How can people learn more about your strategy? -Yeah. I'll actually
talk right to you because I've got an Influencer Almanac. It's a resource where I put all my tips,
my tricks, my strategies, and how you can grow your YouTube channel. It's a resource that I give
away for free. So, go ahead and I'll link to that below and you can access that influencer almanac.