# PTYA Live - Ali on monetizing and growing your empire Speaker: [[Ali Abdaal]] ## Summary There are three main ways to make money from YouTube: Adsense, affiliate programs, sponsorship, and personal products. Of these, Adsense is the only one directly tied to YouTube, and is based on running ads on your videos. However, it's also not a large stream of income and has a big barrier to entry (4,000 public watch hours and 1,000 subscribers). Affiliate programs and sponsorships are probably the easiest way to grow when you're a small YouTuber, because there is no requirement on how big you have to be before you can start promoting affiliate links for products and services you already use. Personal products are the only thing that you perhaps should hold off on until you've provided enough value to your audience. ## Log ![[ptya-week6.png]] Four ways of monetizing on YouTube: - Adsense and CPMs - Affiliate links - Sponsors - Personal products Breakout room: %% - Which monetisation vehicles do you plan to use? - Adsense - CPM - Affiliate - - [[Jonathan Elvidge]] - Jon Gadget: Tech and EDC - Monetized - He monopolized the conversation entirely and speaks really slowly - [[Jayn Steele]] - She has horrible audio - Worst breakout room ever %% ### Adsense and CPMs Requirements: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of public watch time CPM = Cost per mille : the cost an advertiser pays for 1,000 ad impressions Playback-based CPM: how much an advertiser pays for 1,000 video playbacks where an ad is displayed RPM = Revenue per mille: how much money you've earned per 1000 video views after YouTube's cut has been taken, and including views that weren't monetised Ali made about $4,000 in his first 12 months of being monetised. Monetise as soon as you can, because YouTube will play ads on your videos even if you don't monetise. The only difference is that you'll be getting a cut of the proceeds. Niching down improves your revenue if the niche you've chosen has a high CPM. Business-wise, if Ali were to start a YouTube channel today, he would be in the finance niche, specifically cryptocurrency. Longer videos give you more money because you can put more ads in the middle of them. The location of your audience affects your CPM. ### Affiliate Most famous affiliate program: Amazon Associates There's not much money in this, but hey, it's free. Skillshare - Every time a user signs up for a free trial, you get an affiliate link Finding afifliate programs - Google `product + affiliate` - Directly reach out to people/products you want to promote How to increase your chances of getting favourable affiliate programs: - Communicate well and be reliable - Show how the brand and creator fit with the product is really good - Make a clear pitch for why the special arrangement is fair: - Amount of revenue done - Number of views - Mention you genuinely like the product - Finish with "I'm not keen to continue to promote it for such a low rate", which activates loss aversion on the company's side %% Paperlike said that anyone who fits as well as Ali does can also negotiate the same 20% "Dirty Capitalist" tier that he got, without the negotiation. %% If they won't budge, accept a lower offer, but if you do well for them, then reach out to them after a few months and ask for a bump. Ali has also had success with emailing companies directly and asking them to set up an affiliate program. %% Ali's affiliates - iQunix - Shortform - Paperlike - Teachable - Amazon - Ghost - Epidemic Sound - UgMonk - Readwise - TubeBuddy %% Rule of thumb: $15 CPM is the lowest you should accept (broadly) General idea: [[Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook]]. The longer you can jab, the more successful the right hook will be, when it comes. - Delay monetisation for as long as you can. - Build a bank of goodwill before you try to withdraw from it ### Personal Products Selling personal products are really where the money is. Different products you can create: - Courses - Books/ebooks - Digital Downloads - Patreon - Memberships - Consulting - Physical products #### Skillshare The amount you make is proportionate to the watch time for your courses. He spent a day screen recording himself and got it edited. It's been making money for two years. If your audience is big enough, you can do it yourself, but Skillshare is an easy way to get started. #### Book Gumroad is a good place to self-publish. Free ebook to grow email newsletter Print on demand on Amazon for the physical version #### Digital downloads - icon pack for iOS icons #### Memberships - Patreon - Even with a smallish audience, people may want to support you in exchange for some exclusive content - Your own platform - [[CIrcle.so]] #### Consulting/coaching - You can make a lot of money with very few customers. #### Physical products - Actual products that are related to your brand - Merch - It's hard to do well. - Make sure that it's still in keeping with your brand - Physical products are definitely a right hook, so be careful with the timing on them. ## Next Actions