My YouTube Income Report August 2020

Note About my YouTube Income Reports: COVID-19 has had an impact on everyone and the YouTube Community is no exception. Going forward information in these income reports will reflect some of the impact COVID-19 has had on the channel and its earnings.

Each Month I Publish a YouTube Income Report showing you how much money I made on YouTube as well as breaking down some lessons I learned that contributed to that success and outcome.

My goal is to give an honest and transparent look at how YouTubers make their money and I give you a common-sense approach to YouTube and being a content creator, what is possible, and more importantly what is practical.

*Combined totals are from YouTube Adsense Earnings, Combined Affiliate Marketing, Brand Deals, and Merchandise Sales. Please reference our Earning Disclaimer if you have questions or concerns.

August 2020 YOUTUBE CHANNEL EARNINGS $24,262.48

In this YouTube Income Report, you will see a detailed breakdown of how the channel earned $24,262.48 in the month of August 2020, through a combination of Merchandise, YouTube Adsense Revenue, Affiliate Marketing, and Sponsorships. For the obvious reasons (NDA’s) individual Sponsorship deals are not broken down in this report and what you will be seeing is the approx combined total rounded down.

Screenshots have been provided where I deem them necessary or appropriate.

Updates to the Channel in August 2020

August was an interesting month that mostly benefitted from the momentum gained in July from posting more content than I had in a good while. A new series of Passive Income Videos in July along with some YouTube help content really boosted the channel as well as interest in Awesome Creator Academy.

Here are the major changes in no particular order:

1. Tried a new thumbnail design strategy using more Blue and Red for YouTube Tips
2. Developed a New Playlist Strategy
3. Developed a Strategy for Expanding into Other Channels
4. Updated Some Graphics
5. Started Utilizing Community Tab almost daily

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED

Average View Duration and Initial View Velocity and Video Topic Longevity are where I am focusing my attention now. I was able to capitalize on videos around TikTok and breaking news, and was even able to break into YouTube’s explore page under the news tab and surface a high level of fast views from that.

As long as it relates to technology or social media if I can get a news commentary video out in under 24 hours of an event I can do very well in terms of reaching a new audience that will binge watch other videos while on my channel or be recommended my videos later by the algorithm.

1. Identified new Thumbnail Style for YouTube Tips Videos
2. News topics can get some strong initial views but will flatline very shortly after, needs a strong followup
3. Maintain Consistent Video Uploads 2-3 times per week (Hiring Part-time Video Editor in September-October)
4. Focus on Topics that generate a combination of high earnings and higher overall traffic, where I can rank in search.
5. Topic balanced of Make Money Online Videos, YouTube Tips Videos, and Software Tutorial or List Videos Each Week
6. Create Evergreen Videos that tie to affiliate products the audience has proven to respond to like Tubebuddy.

NEW AFFILIATE MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES

With the current levels of uncertainty in the world, I’ve been shifting to prioritizing PASSIVE revenue streams, with many of them being RECURRING AFFILIATE commissions. My new Goal Post is to move to about $10,000/mo in recurring affiliate revenue by focusing on content that can serve as tutorials for software as a service product.

For me, the strongest recurring affiliate commission programs are Tubebuddy, Kajabi, and Teachable. Since Kajabi is not something I’ve covered as much on my channel the plan is to lean into this more in May as I attract people who want to start a membership website or they want they want to start a coaching business.

By focusing on people starting businesses (B2B) I can increase affiliate revenue significantly by introducing more of the tools that I use in my business ventures outside of YouTube to my audience.

With regard to the YouTube audience of my main channel itself, putting a focus on tools like Epidemic Sound, Adobe Software like Adobe Spark, and Camera Equipment is going to help increase affiliate opportunities. Recently I started using my Kit.co links more often and promoting them within social media as well as my Youtube channel and it has helped increase Amazon Affiliate revenue.

YouTube Income (Adsense) August 2020

Because some of my revenue came from YouTube Brand Connect I’m measuring my Adsense Revenue separately here. The big take away is that I benefitted from videos I uploaded in JULY that gained a lot of traction. None of the August Video Uploads were particularly high performing videos themselves and I wasn’t consistent in upload frequency.

Top 3 Highest Earning Videos

For top-earning videos in August it’s not surprise that ultimately the best performing videos were in some way related to earning money. I’ve alluded to this before in terms of it being the highest earning type of video overall and that’s proven consistent with anything related to software typically not far behind.

With this in mind my Second Channel Real Talk with Roberto Blake is going to be focusing a bit more around Personal Finance and Personal Development with me telling stories about my journey so far as an entrepreneur and what it was like with me working through different phases of my life and talking about my approach to things.

August YouTube Earnings Breakdown

Total YouTube Income Breakdown

MORE CONTEXT ABOUT BRAND DEALS…

Something I’m eventually planning to do more of is brand deals and I have some pending brand deals for the month of May that I believe will come through despite COVID19.

For me, the emphasis will be on RECURRING brand deals rather than YouTube Adsense. I believe this is the most practical approach especially for creators who have a buying audience.

Currently, I am in the process of setting up multiple recurring relationships that I think will be very lucrative and will dramatically increase the overall earning potential of the channel.

Ideally $100,000 per year in brand deals and is not unreasonable even though it would represent triple what I earned from brand deals last year.

Being able to do a few recurring brand deals for $2000/month or more, through a long term (yearly renewal) relationship is something more content creators should consider, once they have built their brand and a loyal audience.

GOALS FOR September 2020

For September 2020 my main goals around the YouTube channel are to continue to focus on consistency but also reinforce the core themes of the channel being how to build your traffic with social media, make quality content, and monetize your skills.

I don’t want to build an exclusive YouTube tips audience and so I need to make videos around Freelancing and Affiliate Marketing as well as Software Tutorials to Break that up.

This includes everything from updating my YouTube Channel Trailer to make the value of the channel clear to new potential viewers and possibly tapping into a trending topic at least once a month for relevancy.

1. Add the new designs to the YouTube Merch Shelf
2. Try Uploading at least 10 new videos in September
3. Launch My New Masterclass
4. Launch Creator Gear Guide Before October (TechTober)
5. Be More Active in YouTube Stories
6. $10,000 Sponsored Revenue, $10,000 Affiliate Revenue, $4000 Ad Revenue

VIDEO IDEAS PLANNED FOR MONTH OF SEPTEMBER

For the month of September, I have some specific videos planned that I think will do well overall but are designed to align with my overall goals of expanding new subscribership around topics of making money online and entrepreneurship, while still catering to content creators with videos that have predictable outcomes.

• Video about MrBeast and PewdiePie on Quality vs Quantity
• Video Series Targeted at YouTube Creators Getting Started for 2021
• Videos Targeting New Freelancers (Views/ Search Engine Ranking)
• Video Editing Tutorials (Ranking/ Affiliate)
• YouTube Adsense Video About High Paying Niches

YOUTUBE CHANNEL EXPENSES FOR AUGUST 2020

To be honest, something that is overlooked when it comes to YouTube is the cost of doing business. Which means most content creators focus on what they earn without any regard for what they spend. In my case, I actually invest a lot into my production and into having a solid work environment and having FAST tools to work with. I’ve had to upgrade some equipment that was just aging and slowing me down recently.

As a result, I also made some huge investments in just the aesthetic of my home office and it was really important to me to have an inspiring workplace to spend time in.

Also of note is that currently in terms of my team they don’t help with the channel but rather they help with my coaching business, so what I tend to do is keep that separate from the reports, that may change in the future.