How To: Start A [[SUCCESSFUL]] YouTube Channel From Scratch With Freedom In A Budget

Starting a YouTube channel can be incredibly overwhelming. With all of the ‘to dos,’ to just begin a channel, it’s easy to tell yourself you will do next month, over and over again.

This is your big, GIANT wake up call to stop putting it off!

YouTube is by far my favorite platform and there is no better time than NOW to start your channel! 

I’m going to break down how monetize, best platform practices, how to grow your channel and YouTube SEO.

How To Monetize Your YouTube Channel 

The age old question: ‘How do I make money on YouTube?’ is being answered today!

I created my channel, Freedom In A Budget, 4 years ago. Throughout those 4 trips around the sun, I’ve learned all of the things NOT to do – as well as hacks to make your channel successful. 

I’ve grown Freedom In A Budget to over 32,000 subscribers while earning over $25,000 in revenue. 

Every year I have doubled my income. 

YouTube is my favorite platform for sharing my passion for personal finance and connecting with my community. 

It’s my goal to help you avoid the mistakes that I fumbled through getting to the growth and popularity my channel enjoys today.

How To Make Money on YouTube

There are a few ways to make money on Youtube. Most people think it’s only through ads, but I’m going to help you make money before you even reach the monetization guidelines. 

Adsense:

YouTube is owned by Google. They are who places ads on the videos that you watch. 

Google Adsense has requirements to place ads on your videos:

You will need to have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time. 

After you have reached both of these thresholds, your channel goes under review to ensure your content is suitable for advertisers and you don’t have any strikes against your channel. For example, Copyright Infringement is a biggie they look for.

Once your channel has been approved, you will be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program.  This means you will be able to receive your first paycheck from Google when you hit the $100 payout minimum. #Huzzuh! 

Adsense is the most widely known way to make money on YouTube – but shouldn’t be what you rely on for income – it’s just icing on the cake.

What if you have just started your channel? 

What if you haven’t even set up your channel yet? 

4,000 hours of watch time will probably be laughable at this point in your YouTube journey.

Have no fear! There are other ways to get paid!

Affiliate Marketing: 

Affiliate marketing is simply earning a commission for recommending a person to purchase a company’s product. 

Since you were the person to send them business, the company returns the favor by “kicking back” a percentage of that sale.

Affiliate marketing my favorite revenue source from YouTube.

When I am passionate about a product or service I can’t help but tell everyone what I love about it and how it has helped me in my day-to-day life.

When you are starting out with affiliate marketing it’s easy to want to promote EVERYTHING. 

Please DON’T!

I can’t stress enough how important it is to do your research on the company and only promote brands and companies that you believe in, works with your brand, and isn’t going to make you sound like a used car salesman. 

If you do not stay true to your brand, your audience will quickly leave and you’ve lost their trust in a matter of seconds.

There are two companies that have user friendly interfaces with HUNDREDS of brands in every category to work with. 

Simply click the links below to create an account and start finding companies that work for you and your brand.

Flex Rewards and Aragon Premium are affiliate networks that help connect you with advertisers and profitable payouts. 

Flex Rewards: In my first month using Flex Rewards I earned $194! 

Aragon Premium: One of my favorite things about Aragon Premium is you get your own personal affiliate marketing manager that is there to answer any questions you have, gives you ideas and helps you make more money! 

Digital Products:

Digital products are a great way to make passive income that you can promote on your YouTube channel. 

I’ve made over $2,000 from my budget templates on my Etsy shop. 

I make them once and they just sell over and over again. 

SEO: 

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In layman’s terms, SEO simply means how your video is ranking on YouTube and Google. 

Many creators will make a video, throw it up on YouTube, and hope it will ‘take off,’ without any planning or keyword research. 

Do not do this. Don’t be this guy. You will not win this way.

TubeBuddy has been a game changer for me in ranking. TubeBuddy has tools that tell you where your video will rank, keyword suggestions, comment canned responses and will even autofill your tags! Hello TIME SAVER! 

Equipment: 

It is a huge myth that you have to invest a ton of money when you start a YouTube channel. I filmed on my iPhone until I hit 20,000 subscribers for 2 years straight. I now film on a Cannon EOS 6D. 

Audio and lighting are very important to video and audio holds more value than lighting especially in the beginning. 

Here is a link to my equipment that I used when I first started my channel and what I currently use. 

Canva: 

Canva is an incredible tool that I use to make my YouTube thumbnails, Instagram images and edit photos in. Canva has a free version and paid version. After a year of using the free version, I decided to upgrade to the paid version, and oh man – GAME CHANGER! 

With the paid Canva version:

• Allows you to make images with transparent backgrounds, or png files
• MORE fonts – and a girl can’t have enough fonts to choose from, y’all
• Over 400,000 free stock photos
• Exclusive illustrations and templates
• Unlimited storage for photos and assets

If you can afford the paid version of Canva, get it, you’ll thank me later!

Final pointers: 

Consistency:

Pick an upload schedule and commit to it, whether that’s one video a week or two. 

Don’t be like me and upload 5 videos a week for 2 years. 

Not only will you get burnt out, but most likely quality won’t be there. 

Recap of my recommended items:

Freedom In A Budget: This is my YouTube channel, I would love for you to come over and say hi!

Flex Rewards: Affiliate network with thousands of brands to work with.

Aragon Premium: Affiliate network with tons of brands to work with and a personal affiliate manager.

TubeBuddy: TubeBuddy helps content creators, brands, and networks save time and grow their channels.

Amazon List of equipment: Here is my Amazon store of the equipment that I used in the beginning and what I currently use.

Canva: Canva is the tool that I use to make my YouTube thumbnails, Instagram images and edit photos in.

YouTube Consulting: 

I offer one on one YouTube consulting and am offering 50% off ($100, now $50) for all virtual summit attendees! 

I am so excited to help you build and grow your YouTube channel. The internet needs more people that have positive messages to share! Please feel free to email me ([email protected]) with any questions you may have!