I enjoy your excellent article on How To Monetize YouTube. I spent over 30 years in the IT industry working with various technologies and lots of interesting people. A few years ago, I retired from IT. In my first year of retirement, I completed my certification to teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). In the last year or so, I have decided to combine my IT and TEFL background and offer IT tutoring and EFL training. I have set up a website with an eLearning platform to deliver my services. I decided to use YouTube to drive traffic to my website and host my training videos. I have an approved YouTube channel, but I have not yet started to use it.
Your step-by-step approach to monetizing YouTube makes a lot of sense to me. You have provided a solid discussion of each step. That discussion has broadened my thoughts on this topic. I have used those steps as a checklist to understand the monetization requirements and approaches for my YouTube channel. The following are the benefits I got from each step. However, before I start that, I wanted to thank you for your excellent audience discussion. My target audience is young IT professionals whose native language is not English. I was not aware of the YouTube channel’s target audience settings. I will definitely pay close attention to those and set them appropriately!
YouTube Ads
I haven’t yet published any YouTube videos. Therefore, I have no subscribers and no viewers. I have reviewed the YouTube Community Guidelines and confirmed that my planned content should be acceptable. Consequently, I will monitor my progress, and when I reach the subscriber and viewer thresholds, I will start the application process.
Selling Goods and Services
Selling goods and services will be my primary method for audience monetization. My public YouTube videos will professionally and enthusiastically explain the benefits of combining EFL instruction and IT tutoring to young IT professionals. These videos should drive traffic to my website. I will then convert that traffic into subscriptions for my services.
Thank you for pointing out the partner trading network. I will keep that in mind, but I don’t think that will apply to me.
Crowdfunding
Thinking about your good discussion of crowdfunding options, I don’t see this applying to me.
YouTube Live Streams
I don’t believe I am the correct type of beast to make live streaming work for me. I prefer my live interactions with viewers to be eLearning classroom tutoring sessions.
Sell Content to Mass Media
I don’t see my planned content having much entertainment value. Therefore, I doubt I will be able to sell effectively into the mass media market.
Become an Influencer
Within the young IT professional community, I hope to influence many people. However, I don’t see my niche as being popular enough for me to be an influencer, so I can’t see an opportunity to profit from this option.
Keep up a Solid Social Media Presence
I agree that a social media presence will drive traffic to YouTube and my website. As well, the different platforms will reinforce each other. As my target is young IT professionals, I will establish and maintain a presence on both Facebook and LinkedIn.
Conclusion
Your thought-provoking article has helped me crystalize my plans for how I can monetize YouTube. I will:
- use the target audience settings to make sure I reach the young IT professionals I hope to help,
- focus on creating public videos to drive traffic to my website,
- use private videos to provide training content on my eLearning platform,
- monitor my subscriber and viewer statistics and apply for YouTube Ads when I meet the thresholds,
- use a social media presence to support both my YouTube channel and my website.
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