6 Comments
User's avatar
Peter H's avatar

Your channel is looking good! Great production quality for your videos.

The 4,000 watch hour requirement for monetisation can be tough. A couple of things that helped me were using Gemini to create SEO-focused titles and descriptions, and actively cross-linking my videos through descriptions and comments.

Optimising for search and keeping viewers engaged within your channel can help boost watch time.

Best of luck with your YouTube channel!

Expand full comment
Dean Stokes's avatar

Cheers Peter - definitely need to do some more work on SEO. Love that you've been quietly chipping away at building your channel over the years - really nice work!

Expand full comment
Chloe's avatar

Interestingly, I happened upon your YouTube account today, which reminded me that your newsletter had dropped into my inbox today, and I thought, "ooh he's posted a few more lately" and "I wonder if I could ever do this for myself?" so it was really cool to come back to this post and see that this has been a considered choice!

How did you find/get involved in the group coaching?

Expand full comment
Dean Stokes's avatar

You could definitely do it, Chloe! Just record something and upload it. Before you make the next one, watch it back and think about how you could improve it, then make that change for the next one.

On the coaching, I've followed a guy called Paddy Galloway for a while and saw he was offering an accelerator programme. It has been helpful but definitely completely optional (and you could find all the help you need on YouTube already)! I've learned a lot but the main thing is I've just consistently uploaded videos.

Expand full comment
Liz C's avatar

Great to hear this, Dean. I'm considering my own set of series, though still in the research phase.

Can I figure out monetisation alone or is it better to join a group like you did?

Expand full comment
Dean Stokes's avatar

Figuring out monetisation is easy - there's a dashboard in YouTube Studio (where you upload and manage your videos) that shows progress towards the metrics you need to hit.

The group coaching has been helpful to think more strategically about what niche to focus on, how to research videos to make within that niche, and learn from people who spend their lives focused on YouTube as a platform and career.

Expand full comment