Youtubers on BuSo?

Smith

Smith

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Are there any Youtubers on BuSo?

I know there are plenty of SEOs on here. But, I'm wondering if many people are playing in the video space.

If so, interested in hearing if you are:

1. Building branded or unbranded channels
2. Outsourcing editing or doing it yourselves
3. Mainly monetizing through AdSense, brand deals, sale of products/services, or something else.

Bonus question: I'm trying to find a solid editor with decent intuition and a good eye for transitions. I don't really want to test out 25 different people on UpWork. Any suggestions on how to find good editors?
 
Smith said:
Are there any Youtubers on BuSo?
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I've been doing YouTube-related stuff for half my life (13.5 years).
Smith said:
1. Building branded or unbranded channels
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I build channels for clients. Typically, they're in the medical or real estate niches. I don't pick these niches - they just have the money. If I'm being honest, I'd prefer to work with gaming channels because that's the niche I started in.
Smith said:
2. Outsourcing editing or doing it yourselves
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I do not edit videos for my clients BUT I am going to re-learn how to do so in an attempt at raising prices and improving my offer. I was really into editing for a period of 2 years or so before I got into graphic design.
Smith said:
3. Mainly monetizing through AdSense, brand deals, sale of products/services, or something else.
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Product/service sales for sure. Most people don't stick around long enough to even qualify for AdSense (it's very frustrating).
Smith said:
Bonus question: I'm trying to find a solid editor with decent intuition and a good eye for transitions. I don't really want to test out 25 different people on UpWork. Any suggestions on how to find good editors?
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Tell them to send you their portfolio and if they don't you'll just ignore their application. Once you've viewed their portfolios, select the top 5 (or whatever) and give them a paid trial. Pay attention to turn around time and keep in mind that it's not always the editor with the quickest turn around time that'll be the ideal editor for you (editors always burnout).
 
DanielS said:
I build channels for clients. Typically, they're in the medical or real estate niches. I don't pick these niches - they just have the money. If I'm being honest, I'd prefer to work with gaming channels because that's the niche I started in.
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What exactly are you doing for the clients?

And you said you do not edit, but do you coordinate the editors for them or do you just let them handle that for themselves?

DanielS said:
Tell them to send you their portfolio and if they don't you'll just ignore their application. Once you've viewed their portfolios, select the top 5 (or whatever) and give them a paid trial. Pay attention to turn around time and keep in mind that it's not always the editor with the quickest turn around time that'll be the ideal editor for you (editors always burnout).
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This is a great outline for how to test. Thanks for that.

Do you have any specific platforms that you find are better for sourcing editors than others?

Do you know of any video or editor-specific platforms that are worth checking out that people would only be familiar with if they have hired editors before?
 
SERPWoo has a YouTube channel, although I stopped updating it 12+ months ago.

I've done video on other channels ( TikTok, Instagram, FB, etc ) for other brands, mainly for video ads though.

I think you are mainly asking for "influencers" though, since I noticed your monetization question.

But as far as editing, all done in-house or myself with tools like Divinci, Final Cut Pro, Cap Cut, and some audio programs.
 
Smith said:
What exactly are you doing for the clients?
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Pre-production and post-production work, essentially. Strategy creation and implementation, topic research, script outlining (I don't write entire scripts but I might venture into this area), video SEO, thumbnail designing, general channel management, and analytics monitoring and reporting.
Smith said:
And you said you do not edit, but do you coordinate the editors for them or do you just let them handle that for themselves?
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I let them handle that for themselves but this is definitely one of the biggest roadblocks I've seen with clients over the last year or so. That's why I'm going to re-learn how to edit - I'll be able to charge more and I won't have to sit and wait around for a video to get edited for 2 weeks before I can work.
Smith said:
Do you have any specific platforms that you find are better for sourcing editors than others?
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Upwork, YTJobs, and LinkedIn would probably be the best places to start. It really depends on how intensive the editing is that you need. You could probably even get by on Fiverr if it isn't too technical (I'd still stick to the first 3, though).
Smith said:
Do you know of any video or editor-specific platforms that are worth checking out that people would only be familiar with if they have hired editors before?
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I don't know of any - do any of these exist?
 
DanielS said:
That's why I'm going to re-learn how to edit - I'll be able to charge more and I won't have to sit and wait around for a video to get edited for 2 weeks before I can work.
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Makes sense. And with all of the AI-enabled editing tools out there now it seems like a small step to take that will deliver a ton of value for non-creative clients.

DanielS said:
Upwork, YTJobs, and LinkedIn would probably be the best places to start.
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Thanks, will check these out and follow your suggested approach from above.

DanielS said:
I don't know of any - do any of these exist?
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No idea. I figured you'd know if they did, so thought I would ask.

Thanks again for the feedback and good luck jumping back into the editing game!

eliquid said:
But as far as editing, all done in-house or myself with tools like Divinci, Final Cut Pro, Cap Cut, and some audio programs.
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Some of the new tools like CapCut and Descript seem impressive... or at least more intuitive than PremierPro, which is what I've used in the past for all my editing. I've started testing both CC and Descript but the thought of frequent editing isn't exciting to me anymore.

Maybe I'm just jaded from editing via PP and dealing with laggy functionality and crashes but I'm thinking outsourcing the whole process may be more cost-effective and end up producing a much better result.

Q. Did you ever test outsourcing to video editors? Or did you just always keep editing in-house?

eliquid said:
I think you are mainly asking for "influencers" though, since I noticed your monetization question.
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You're right, the bigger goal is to increase reach/influence. But, my question about monetization was less about how I can monetize this particular channel because I already have products/services in place. Instead, I was just looking to understand how other creators might get started/fund growth for early-stage channels and maybe pull out new revenue streams.

I'm also looking at short-form content for TikTok, Insta, FB, and Shorts - but I have that outsourced to a team and they're doing an okay job for now. This will likely change (or they will improve) as the main channel content starts to improve.
 
Hi @DanielS, wondering if you have any suggestions on how to quickly verify someone's samples/portfolio?

I have a few editors that I'm interested in working with who claim to have experience with creators in similar/parallel niches. I'm going to test before moving forward but was wondering if you have any experience verifying work quickly?
 
Smith said:
Hi @DanielS, wondering if you have any suggestions on how to quickly verify someone's samples/portfolio?

I have a few editors that I'm interested in working with who claim to have experience with creators in similar/parallel niches. I'm going to test before moving forward but was wondering if you have any experience verifying work quickly?
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Do they still have any project files or the DMs from that client?

At the end of the day, the pretenders will get exposed during the trial.
 
I meant to hop in here and forgot because I thought I was going to launch my lab thread by then, which I intend to do.

I started a new Youtube channel in the same niche I had done previously probably 13 years ago or so. I didn't get far because I was already entrenched in SEO. An associate of mine started at the same time as me in the same niche and ended up cranking out about 50 videos and was getting some steady passive income back then, validating the niche. It's a huge one anyways, probably a vertical, and needs little validation. But there's plenty of people doing 500k - 3m views per video with sponsors each time, so it's a go.

I don't have much to share yet. I'm almost done with my 3rd video, which is around 45 minutes long as the others were. I'm filming and editing everything, needing a lot of B-Roll, etc. I'm finding title crafting and thumbnail design and psychology the most fun, as well as research and scripting. Editing is a slog, but I'm no stranger to it. One of my earliest hobbies as a youngster was filming and editing very short movies using my parents VHS camcorder and an analog capture card slapped into their PC.

I'm getting good feedback from comments, and great retention for such long videos, but as expected the views are low until I end up in more and more people's watch histories.

My current concern is optimizing the workflow so the entire process is faster per video. So I'm going to cut the length down to around 25 minutes, collect more and more B-Roll before I start editing, and get away from so much factual information and move into more story-telling where possible (so the B-Roll doesn't take forever to find or create and it doesn't have to be so specific), etc.

Once I have enough videos out and releasing at a decent enough pace to make an interesting thread, I'll make that thread.

My monetization directions and goals are limited because this isn't education, it's "infotainment". So Adsense will be the first piece of the puzzle with sponsors picking up and ultimately dominating the pie chart. There are some product ideas I could produce if I pull together a community, but I don't expect that to be substantial. But I would like to get some Patreon money going. This is all if this becomes "my main gig" over time. I'm looking way into the future with it, but I still have my hands in other pies, too, so I just need to see if I enjoy it enough and if it becomes lucrative enough to start taking a higher position or even pole position in my operations.
 
Ryuzaki said:
I started a new Youtube channel in the same niche I had done previously probably 13 years ago or so.
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Looking forward to hearing more about your progress.

Ryuzaki said:
optimizing the workflow so the entire process is faster per video
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I'm front-loading all of my effort on the idea, scripting, title, and thumbnail... ideally I want to hand off the editing to a pro.

The challenge I'm facing with editors is production quality. I want high-quality production value but I'm finding that job sites like upwork are a mess... it feels like hunting for a wife at a strip club. It's highly unlikely that you'll find a worthy candidate, and if you do she's just saying all the right things to take your money.

I actually know the editor I WANT to work with. But he's one of the biggest in the game. I'm going to contact him anyway. But just in case that doesn't pan out I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how I can get similar quality with less skilled editors by layering in more feedback loops and a higher degree of direction.

Ryuzaki said:
I'm almost done with my 3rd video
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That's awesome... though 45 minutes is insane. Are these talking head videos with B-Roll?

My original goal was to roll out one video per day... I may ramp up to this level later but I've changed my initial plans. After diving deep into YouTube strategy, editing, and analytics I'm feeling better about starting slow and aiming to make hit after hit, which I think I can do (for my audience).

I have the benefit of starting with an audience already and I'll leverage my mailing list and other social channels to drive initial views from a warm audience. I hope that helps get the algo's attention and puts me in front of the right viewers who aren't subscribed.
 
@Smith, yes it’s talking head but B-roll is probably 85% if the screen time. I’m definitely going for quality over quantity. Because I’d rather have a back catalog of all evergreen bangers so that once things pop, each video continues to get watched, rather than creating a scenario where I’m having to grind out daily views or die.

I have considered whether I’d also like a very low production quality channel to run alongside where it’s basically like “MCU news and rumors” or whatever where the work is already done for you. The problem with that is you’re now racing to be the first to post. Everything has a plus or minus.

What’s guiding my general decisions is doing the opposite of what I was doing with websites. I don’t want high volumes of low creativity content. I want to have fun, use my brain, and caress each video. I want my life to be different than what it’s been the past 15 years. Might as well make that change now during a transition phase.
 
Ryuzaki said:
I want my life to be different than what it’s been the past 15 years. Might as well make that change now during a transition phase.
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Really resonated with this sentiment. I was doing all this SEO/digital work to try and make a living as passively as possible, so I could focus on what I really wanted to do.

But as I got older and kept fighting the bad fight, I realized that it was a stupid idea and I should just dive right into what I really want to do and make that work.

Rather than this semi-retarded "retirement-adjascent" idea of "building passive income to fund my passion."
 
I don't pursue this now, but with just about enough subs to get monetized, and primarily American viewers this is what I make in 28 days from a YT channel of mine. Monthly income could be $750-800 for this level of views. almost all pure search traffic. Someone really dedicated could grow this out a lot.
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I'm just posting this here since it may be helpful, but I see a lot of people wanting to get into video without getting in front of a camera or using some cringe AI avatar, and this is a good example of a style of someone doing it in a way that could be borrowed from and applied in many different ways.

https://www.youtube.com/@hoe_math
 
Jesse said:
I'm just posting this here since it may be helpful, but I see a lot of people wanting to get into video without getting in front of a camera or using some cringe AI avatar, and this is a good example of a style of someone doing it in a way that could be borrowed from and applied in many different ways.

https://www.youtube.com/@hoe_math
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Interesting angle, thanks for sharing. This has given me a few ideas about how I could approach a series of faceless (or quasi-faceless) content that would actually be really sticking and useful.

I'm in "test" mode right now, creating content and trying to nail down the editing flow. This is by far the biggest bottleneck for me at the moment. I'm needing to push through and start publishing.
 
I've just made a conscious decision to try and start generating website visitors and ultimately income from YouTube.

Very new to YT but I already like it. I'm a million miles away from getting monetized but I'm already sold on the idea.

I don't want to worry anyone who earns a living via YT, but normally when I try something that seems really good it stops working soon afterwards.

Anyway, I'll be following this thread and any other good YT stuff on here.
 
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Ditso said:
I don't want to worry anyone who earns a living via YT, but normally when I try something that seems really good it stops working soon afterwards.
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Same here i kill every business i join into.
 
Ditso said:
I don't want to worry anyone who earns a living via YT, but normally when I try something that seems really good it stops working soon afterwards.
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.... do you have your sights on anything a few years down the road? lol

I only go into business models that I know work for a fact. That might mean I've seen the inside of a similar business, doing detailed competitor research, or being a customer myself... point is, I don't like taking unnecessary risks so I always try to derisk a venture/step by knowing what works... YouTube works for my niche and I'm going after it hard.

So, @Ditso and @Zoro... while you guys might be right that YouTube isn't on the upward trajectory it once was, I still feel like there is a lot of gas in the tank, especially in my case. But, I'm not looking to make money off AdSense. I'm focused on selling my own products and services, so that might be a big difference in terms of potential.

I'll be dropping an update soon on my (successful) hunt for an editor (I have good insights people can probably use) and sharing some thoughts on the setup, gear, and recording process too. Just need to wrap up the current spam and internal linking initiatives. Stay tuned.
 
Question for anyone.
Thoughts on:
Do tik tok follows correlate to views on future videos?
Closer to news letter or closer to old youtube? (before they turned subs into a vanity metric)
 
Simple Trick to Increase Subscribers

When you have a link to your profile, adding "?sub_confirmation=1" will issue a pop-up prompt to confirm that they want to subscribe to your channel.

esludDw.png

For example:

https://www.youtube.com/@YourUsername

would become

https://www.youtube.com/@YourUsername?sub_confirmation=1
 
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Jesse said:
adding "?sub_confirmation=1" will issue a pop-up prompt to confirm that they want to subscribe to your channel.
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Solid recommendation. IMO this is the only link you should ever use for YouTube... including in your site footer, emails, etc. There's no reason not to.
 
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