- Joined
- Oct 16, 2013
- Messages
- 289
- Reaction score
- 191
- Age
- 43
- Channel Type
- Youtuber
***Disclaimer
Introduction
Part 1-A: How I Started and How I laid the Groundwork to Effectively Promote
During a bleak rainy day, sitting at my computer with the realization I was eating crap for a week, I decided it was time to utilize my channel's secondary income potential. After the normal avenues we all hear about had failed for me, I started going into the 50 or so chat groups for the game I post on in search of a paid promotion. These groups, on the chat app Line Chat, consist of guilds for the game, chat groups for YouTubers posting on it, and so on.
In about 20 minutes, I had found a $50 promotion for a guild, and a $50 promotion for a YouTube channel. That's how it all started, and from there I made it known to my viewers I was doing paid promotions and using a large percentage of the sales to make a cup run in the game. This way the promotions were seen as a way to drum up money for better videos, not a way to earn money for myself.
While there is nothing wrong with earning money for yourself, image is everything on YouTube, so spinning the details to your advantage is where your mindset should always be at.
After exhausting my contacts on that chat app, I finally started utilizing social media for the first time in the form of my Facebook page. That is where I am currently conducting 90% of my business for these promotions, and after getting my page established, I am now earning $500-$1000 a week in sales from not only promotions, but a dozen other business applications that are a result of my image on YouTube.
Part 1-C Plans for Expanding
Part 2: Guide on Buying a Promotion for your Channel
Part 3: How to maximize secondary income selling paid promotions
Summary
In no way am I attempting to increase my own sales with this thread. I am simply trying to share what I have learned, and the way I turned my channel's potential secondary income into enough money to do YouTube full-time. Please do not contact me for a paid promotion. I only do them for channels posting the same content I do, and if you are posting that content, chances are, we already know each other.
However, if you have questions or comments, please feel free to post them below, and I will answer them best I can.
However, if you have questions or comments, please feel free to post them below, and I will answer them best I can.
Introduction
This guide has 3 parts and will cover how I got started doing promotions, my current methods and future plans. Part 2 is if you have a new or small channel should seek a promotion, how to do so, and what to expect for the money you pay. The last part will go into detail for those with established channels on how you might get started earning extra money by selling promotions.
Part 1-A: How I Started and How I laid the Groundwork to Effectively Promote
For my first year of YouTube, I did not do a single paid promotion. I was very aware of branding my image and strengthening my word, so when I suggested something to my viewers, they knew it was valuable information for them. I turned down quite a few offers to promote channels, applications, and guilds for the game I post on since I did not believe in their quality. I instead promoted small channels with talented commentators, applications I actively use, and guilds I knew my viewers would enjoy joining.
This established my branding and my word to the point where my long time subs knew I was offering valid information in any promotion. That is how I had laid the groundwork to start selling promotions, and why I get the results for those who pay for the promotions on my channel.
Part 1-B: My Current MethodsThis established my branding and my word to the point where my long time subs knew I was offering valid information in any promotion. That is how I had laid the groundwork to start selling promotions, and why I get the results for those who pay for the promotions on my channel.
During a bleak rainy day, sitting at my computer with the realization I was eating crap for a week, I decided it was time to utilize my channel's secondary income potential. After the normal avenues we all hear about had failed for me, I started going into the 50 or so chat groups for the game I post on in search of a paid promotion. These groups, on the chat app Line Chat, consist of guilds for the game, chat groups for YouTubers posting on it, and so on.
In about 20 minutes, I had found a $50 promotion for a guild, and a $50 promotion for a YouTube channel. That's how it all started, and from there I made it known to my viewers I was doing paid promotions and using a large percentage of the sales to make a cup run in the game. This way the promotions were seen as a way to drum up money for better videos, not a way to earn money for myself.
While there is nothing wrong with earning money for yourself, image is everything on YouTube, so spinning the details to your advantage is where your mindset should always be at.
After exhausting my contacts on that chat app, I finally started utilizing social media for the first time in the form of my Facebook page. That is where I am currently conducting 90% of my business for these promotions, and after getting my page established, I am now earning $500-$1000 a week in sales from not only promotions, but a dozen other business applications that are a result of my image on YouTube.
Part 1-C Plans for Expanding
The first necessity is a website, and I have one being built right now. I need a way to filter the business related messages from the rest of them since spending 5 hours checking all messages is losing time for creating videos where the more I make, the more promotions I can do, and not to mention it's impossible to see all the offers for these promotions. I miss too many with the flood of messages I get.
After I have my website setup, tested it, and then have promoted it, I will make a video explaining that I do paid promotions. I have not come out and plainly stated that, I have mentioned it briefly and vaguely for this reason. I need to be ready when I do come out, and say to all, "Here's how I promote, how much I charge, and what the results you can expect are."
As of now, I am doing individual paid tutoring for the game I guess you would call it? For $100 I'll log into your account, do a complete analysis, make a video for YouTube, and another full length 1 hour plus video for you alone explaining in detail every aspect of your account and how you need to proceed.
I would also like to do the same for YouTubers starting out. I have helped about a dozen or so grow from start to 1k+ subs and have brought just about all of them to my network. Most of these were not paid promos; however, by setting up a system, I see a huge earning potential there. I also produce results or refund the money, and that goes for any type of promotion I do.
Right now it seems the sky is the limit towards where I can go with this, and at the current growth rate of sales, it will turn into my focus for income.
After I have my website setup, tested it, and then have promoted it, I will make a video explaining that I do paid promotions. I have not come out and plainly stated that, I have mentioned it briefly and vaguely for this reason. I need to be ready when I do come out, and say to all, "Here's how I promote, how much I charge, and what the results you can expect are."
As of now, I am doing individual paid tutoring for the game I guess you would call it? For $100 I'll log into your account, do a complete analysis, make a video for YouTube, and another full length 1 hour plus video for you alone explaining in detail every aspect of your account and how you need to proceed.
I would also like to do the same for YouTubers starting out. I have helped about a dozen or so grow from start to 1k+ subs and have brought just about all of them to my network. Most of these were not paid promos; however, by setting up a system, I see a huge earning potential there. I also produce results or refund the money, and that goes for any type of promotion I do.
Right now it seems the sky is the limit towards where I can go with this, and at the current growth rate of sales, it will turn into my focus for income.
Part 2: Guide on Buying a Promotion for your Channel
Those of you starting out on YouTube have most likely found it a tough place to get recognized, and spamming messages out to larger YouTubers for a shout out is as useful as opening your window screaming, "WILL ANY LARGE YOUTUBER PROMOTE MY CHANNEL IT'S CALLED such and such!!!" I used to get so many messages like this a day that unless the title got my attention making me laugh, I would skip it. Now of course I open all of them, but all of them now have earning potential.
While sending them a message asking them to promote your channel will most likely result in them ignoring you, to get their attention use a good title. Something like, "Promote my Channel for $"x amount" if you find my content worthy of it." This is important by the way. You better make sure the YouTuber promoting you, actually believes you have good content. Otherwise you'll get a terrible promotion resulting in no traffic. Not even the best actors can sell a really bad channel or a channel that has zero to do with the content they post on.
How to find the right YouTuber to promote your channel
The size of a channel is far less important than the type of channel that promotes you; however, the YouTuber doing the promotion and how much traffic he/she gets, is crucial as well. It's far more important to see how active their subs are via the number of views, comments, and read those comments to get an idea of how the viewers see him/her. Also check out socialblade statistics on the 30 day view totals and the daily subscribers gained or lost.
A channel with 100k subs might not be as effective as one with 50k subs. A good marker is how many views a video gets on average, and with that number, you know how many views your promotion will get. Also be sure to research their social media sites. If they are very active on one of them, then you'll want to be sure to ask for a dual promotion. For example, I use Facebook, and those that follow me there, are my most loyal followers, and are the ones that are almost certain to check out a channel I suggest to them. They are also the perfect type of subscriber for your channel too. The type that always like the videos even if they're not as good as you normally make them, and they are generally avid fans of many channels. So if you do have talent and good content, you'll gain not only active subs, but the type of subs that really propel a channel.
So, once you've found the right channel, then it's time to contact them. I suggest finding if they have an email for business related inquiries or a website where they handle aspects such as promotion request. Be sure to be as professional as possible, and make sure to mention you are seeking a paid promotion, not a free one.
How much does it cost and what do you get for your money?
Honestly I can only tell you what I charge, and the results I have seen other channels get from these promotions. To start with you'll probably need to know my stats, so I have 36k subs, get about 800k monthly views, and my average video gets about 20k views. Another important aspect is how many views a video gets a day after it's dropped. That shows the super active subs, and the ones that will be checking your stuff out. I get about 8k-10k views in the first 24 hours.
I charge $50 for a full promotion that opens a video and last 30-45 seconds. I also do a Facebook promotion for that price. On top of that, I do a channel review to give advice on what needs to be improved before I promote the channel. By not being ready for an influx of traffic, you're simply wasting a good promotion. I worked with one channel that had 100 subs when we started 1.5 months ago, and is now just about at 2k subs.
My market is flooded with YouTubers posting on this content, and he moved from 100 to 2k in 1.5 months, not cause I brought him those subs, but because he turned the 400 subs gained from the promotion into 2k subs by consistently putting out good content.
It's hard to track the increases in smaller channels that are not view-able on socialblade, and his channel is the only one I have numbers for of that size; however, for channels ranging from 1k-5k subs, my screenshots showing the first 3 days after the promotion hit show an average of around 800 subs in the first 3 days. The number of views for the first 3 days usually is about double. After that it slowly tapers off as the views from my videos go down as time goes along.
It's not the views that matter from these promotions you buy, it's the subs, and what you do with them when you get them. If you have talent, and you love what you do, people will see that, and the influx of traffic just might be what you need to get the ball rolling.
That's my experience with the promotions I have done for others. I do not know if my promotions don't work well vs channels my same size, or if I'm getting good numbers for these other channels for my current size and traffic, but it's at least an example, so you can start thinking it over and deciding if paying for a promotion is something that could help your channel.
While sending them a message asking them to promote your channel will most likely result in them ignoring you, to get their attention use a good title. Something like, "Promote my Channel for $"x amount" if you find my content worthy of it." This is important by the way. You better make sure the YouTuber promoting you, actually believes you have good content. Otherwise you'll get a terrible promotion resulting in no traffic. Not even the best actors can sell a really bad channel or a channel that has zero to do with the content they post on.
How to find the right YouTuber to promote your channel
The size of a channel is far less important than the type of channel that promotes you; however, the YouTuber doing the promotion and how much traffic he/she gets, is crucial as well. It's far more important to see how active their subs are via the number of views, comments, and read those comments to get an idea of how the viewers see him/her. Also check out socialblade statistics on the 30 day view totals and the daily subscribers gained or lost.
A channel with 100k subs might not be as effective as one with 50k subs. A good marker is how many views a video gets on average, and with that number, you know how many views your promotion will get. Also be sure to research their social media sites. If they are very active on one of them, then you'll want to be sure to ask for a dual promotion. For example, I use Facebook, and those that follow me there, are my most loyal followers, and are the ones that are almost certain to check out a channel I suggest to them. They are also the perfect type of subscriber for your channel too. The type that always like the videos even if they're not as good as you normally make them, and they are generally avid fans of many channels. So if you do have talent and good content, you'll gain not only active subs, but the type of subs that really propel a channel.
So, once you've found the right channel, then it's time to contact them. I suggest finding if they have an email for business related inquiries or a website where they handle aspects such as promotion request. Be sure to be as professional as possible, and make sure to mention you are seeking a paid promotion, not a free one.
How much does it cost and what do you get for your money?
Honestly I can only tell you what I charge, and the results I have seen other channels get from these promotions. To start with you'll probably need to know my stats, so I have 36k subs, get about 800k monthly views, and my average video gets about 20k views. Another important aspect is how many views a video gets a day after it's dropped. That shows the super active subs, and the ones that will be checking your stuff out. I get about 8k-10k views in the first 24 hours.
I charge $50 for a full promotion that opens a video and last 30-45 seconds. I also do a Facebook promotion for that price. On top of that, I do a channel review to give advice on what needs to be improved before I promote the channel. By not being ready for an influx of traffic, you're simply wasting a good promotion. I worked with one channel that had 100 subs when we started 1.5 months ago, and is now just about at 2k subs.
My market is flooded with YouTubers posting on this content, and he moved from 100 to 2k in 1.5 months, not cause I brought him those subs, but because he turned the 400 subs gained from the promotion into 2k subs by consistently putting out good content.
It's hard to track the increases in smaller channels that are not view-able on socialblade, and his channel is the only one I have numbers for of that size; however, for channels ranging from 1k-5k subs, my screenshots showing the first 3 days after the promotion hit show an average of around 800 subs in the first 3 days. The number of views for the first 3 days usually is about double. After that it slowly tapers off as the views from my videos go down as time goes along.
It's not the views that matter from these promotions you buy, it's the subs, and what you do with them when you get them. If you have talent, and you love what you do, people will see that, and the influx of traffic just might be what you need to get the ball rolling.
That's my experience with the promotions I have done for others. I do not know if my promotions don't work well vs channels my same size, or if I'm getting good numbers for these other channels for my current size and traffic, but it's at least an example, so you can start thinking it over and deciding if paying for a promotion is something that could help your channel.
Part 3: How to maximize secondary income selling paid promotions
The first step is find out if there is a market for your channel to sell promotions to not only YouTube channels that are smaller, but to a specific type of advertisement for the content you post on. For me, it is the guilds in the game I play and post on. It's hard to recruit members, and being that this game is a high spenders type of game, $50 to get a bunch of good players, is well worth it. So, that's a win/win for both parties involved.
Next you'll need a way to let your viewers know you're doing promotions without making it seem as if you're simply trying to get rich. By keeping the perspective of a community first person, but still letting it be known that you are willing to do business, you'll start getting a few messages here and there. Then be sure to have a good contact method. That's a pain if you get a ton of messages and comments per day.
I spend 4-6 hours a day in a chat of some kind or another, and I do believe this is a huge reason for my success for my channel and for the promotion sales. I am constantly networking, while helping answer in game questions, YouTube questions, and in return I get not only more business, but great video ideas. Not to mention there is no better way to know what your viewers think and what they really want to see than talking with as many of them as much as possible.
How much should you charge?
Next you'll need a way to let your viewers know you're doing promotions without making it seem as if you're simply trying to get rich. By keeping the perspective of a community first person, but still letting it be known that you are willing to do business, you'll start getting a few messages here and there. Then be sure to have a good contact method. That's a pain if you get a ton of messages and comments per day.
I spend 4-6 hours a day in a chat of some kind or another, and I do believe this is a huge reason for my success for my channel and for the promotion sales. I am constantly networking, while helping answer in game questions, YouTube questions, and in return I get not only more business, but great video ideas. Not to mention there is no better way to know what your viewers think and what they really want to see than talking with as many of them as much as possible.
How much should you charge?
Well it really depends on how much you're going to do for the promotion. Is it simply a shout out that takes 10 seconds with an annotation? If so, then that's $10-$20 for what I charge and my traffic. If I spend the time to do an entire channel review, then go over all the ways to improve that channel, then do a dual promotion via YouTube and Facebook along with adding in "x" number of annotations on future videos, I charge $100.
Basically it comes down to how much time I will spend on it, and how much I know they will gain. The goal is to have both parties walk away feeling like they got a good deal. With that model so far, I'm getting to the point where I can't keep up with the number of promotions I have. I can't find a video in the last month without one, minus the video that was for my guild only and a private video I decided to release to setup another guild video which btw had a $50 promo for another guild
Don't stop at channels and keep and open mind on what you might be able to offer towards advertising to your specific viewers and that demographic.
Basically it comes down to how much time I will spend on it, and how much I know they will gain. The goal is to have both parties walk away feeling like they got a good deal. With that model so far, I'm getting to the point where I can't keep up with the number of promotions I have. I can't find a video in the last month without one, minus the video that was for my guild only and a private video I decided to release to setup another guild video which btw had a $50 promo for another guild
Don't stop at channels and keep and open mind on what you might be able to offer towards advertising to your specific viewers and that demographic.
Summary
There's a lot of additional income sources out there that I don't know of, and please share any that you know of in the comments below. I hope this information helps both new channels grow and established channels earn some extra income. Cause for me, the goal was always to do what I loved for a living, and this got me there.
Best of luck!!!
Best of luck!!!
Thanks for posting this, I haven't taken the plunge yet, but I think about it every day.
