YouTube is My Business’s Biggest Source of Organic Traffic — Here’s How I’ve Streamlined and Monetized It

When you look at my YouTube channel today, you might think I’ve had this thing figured out from the get-go. With over 13,700 subscribers, a new video every two weeks, and YouTube driving more organic traffic to my search engine optimization (SEO) consultancy than any other channel, you’d think it all came quite easily.

But I promise it wasn’t always this way. 

After starting a YouTube channel in 2017, my posting was sporadic. I lacked strategy, struggled with the technical aspects of video production, and failed to gain traction despite publishing over 35 videos. This led me to burn out, and aside from a couple of random videos here and there, I almost abandoned my YouTube efforts altogether.

Until one of those seemingly random videos saw significant success. It was about setting up Google Analytics 4, a video that I initially created for a client. I uploaded it to YouTube pretty casually so I could easily share it with a few people, then forgot about it.

When I logged in again, I was surprised to find that the YouTube algorithm noticed it. Within six months, it reached 22,000 views. That might not seem like a lot when you compare it to other YouTube channels, but this was huge for me. 

This experience dramatically shifted my mindset around YouTube. First and foremost, this video allowed me to hit the threshold of being monetized on YouTube with ads (meaning I literally get paid to market my business). 

But it also gave me a framework for planning videos that would serve both my audience and the algorithm. It helped me understand the different ways YouTube could benefit my business, ad revenue included. And, most importantly, it showed me that creating successful videos doesn’t have to be as daunting as I initially thought.

Now, I have done everything I can to make the process of running a YouTube channel for marketing as easy and effective as possible, while still keeping it fun and sustainable for me — and I want to share my approach with you. If you’re a business owner struggling to incorporate YouTube into your marketing strategy, here are my tips for streamlining the process. 

Choose topics that will be helpful to your audience and fun for you

Given how much work YouTube videos can take to create, it’s tempting to over-strategize about which topics will maximize search traffic or virality. But, not only can this approach take time, I found worrying too much about the numbers made me lose passion for it.

Now, I have just two questions that help me choose the topics for my videos:

1. What does my audience want to know about? 

First and foremost, I want my videos to be helpful. That, more than anything, means I’m serving a need that people are searching for, I’m providing content that people will want to watch, and I’m showing off expertise that people may want to hire me for. 

I get most of my video inspiration from client questions, DMs on social media, and comments on my other YouTube videos, which I compile into a long list of ideas. 

My clients now joke that if they have a question, I’ve probably got a YouTube video on it. Even if YouTube did nothing else for my business, it’s motivating to know I’m creating a useful resource, so this approach to planning keeps me pushing forward. 

2. What video do I want to create? 

When it’s filming day, I look at my list of potential videos and pick the one that sounds fun for me to create. This allows me to feel truly energetic going into filming, rather than forcing myself to check something off a list, making the whole process way easier. 

Find an easy format (and don’t hesitate to get help)

People are often shocked to hear that I don’t script my videos. But I’m able to do that because of the format I chose.

Most of my videos are tutorials on topics I already help clients with, meaning I’m essentially teaching something that I know inside and out. I don’t have to research or script anything, I can just sit down and let the words flow from my brain. 

Sometimes I vaguely plan the flow in my head so I can stay on track, but otherwise, my “pre-record” task list is pretty minimal.

I also decided early on I didn’t want overly edited videos because my audience would come to expect them from me every time, and I didn’t want to have to do that work. Instead of making me seem less polished, the simplicity builds trust and authentic connection, giving people a peek at what working with me would be like rather than sounding scripted.

That’s not to say there’s no editing on my videos. Someone needs to cut out my awkward pauses, string my clips together (because I usually record in chunks), plug in my intro, outro, and commercials, and add simple graphics to keep things engaging.

I quickly realized if I tried to edit my videos, I would never do it, so I hired someone on Upwork to help me for $35-$80 a video (depending on length and edits needed). 

I also recently discovered a video editing tool called Descript, which has been a game changer because it lets me edit videos directly from the transcript, shortening the amount of work it takes to remove unwanted sections. I’ll usually do this myself before I send it over to my video editor, so there’s little to no confusion on what to clip and what to keep.

If video editing (or any other aspect of making videos) sounds daunting or is holding you back, I highly recommend outsourcing or finding tools to simplify the process.

Take small steps to optimize for SEO

Of course, as an SEO consultant, YouTube SEO research plays into my strategy. YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine after Google — making it another place for users to search for a solution to a problem. And YouTube videos also rank highly in Google search results. To help your videos gain traction, you want to show up as the best solution to that problem.

Rather than using SEO to plan my video topics, I like to use it to set each video up for search success. 

Once I’ve chosen a topic, I run it through TubeBuddy to find related keywords that are high volume and low competition — these are the gaps in the market I can try to fill. This process can help me tailor the framing of my video. 

For example, I wanted to create a video targeting the topic of “Google reviews,” but I wasn’t sure what specifically I wanted to cover. I typed the keyword into TubeBuddy and looked at the “Related Searches” option to give me ideas.

I saw that “create Google review link” had a strong SEO score based on the number of searches that keyword was getting and how competitive the keyword itself was. So that’s the video I created on my channel back in April 2023, and it’s since gotten over 61,000 views and made me $1,300.

Then, I include these keywords in a few places, including:

• Verbally throughout the video: Since YouTube automatically transcribes videos, the algorithm will pick up on words you’re saying.
• In the video title and description: If you can get the keyword towards the front of the title, that’s always helpful. 
• In the video tags: A lot of people think video tags are “outdated” and not helpful. I disagree — they help give the algorithm more context clues about what my video is about. If you use TubeBuddy, you can also check these tags to see if your video is ranking in search results. Below, you can see my “Create a Google Review Link” holds the top spot for “create Google review link” and in the top five for related searches.

Look for multiple ways to use YouTube to benefit your business

So far, I’ve talked a lot about how to create YouTube videos that will gain traction — but how can that actually benefit your business? 

YouTube is generally a strong top-of-funnel marketing strategy, increasing visibility and thought leadership. People often watch my videos, remember how helpful I was, and decide to hire me when they need SEO support.

Another way I drive more direct conversions is by inserting “ads” for my products and freebies into my videos. For example, if someone is searching for how to use a specific keyword research tool, my keyword research planner digital product could be useful for them, so I’ll promote it in the middle of related videos.

I take a similar strategy to drive people to download my freebies, which gets them on my newsletter list so I can continue to nurture them. 

I also like to remind myself that each of these videos is an asset I can use across my business. I send them to clients during my workflow, link them out in my newsletters, and repost them on Instagram — generally squeezing as much juice out of each video as possible. 

Finally, as I mentioned before, when my YouTube channel reached the requirements, I started monetizing it with ads. I currently earn about $950 a month from YouTube ads, but I think of it as the cherry on top and not the goal. The road to monetization isn’t easy, so my advice is to take advantage of it if you can but don’t overly focus on it. 

Instead, focus on creating helpful content for your target customer. That’s ultimately how you will create videos that draw in the right audience, showcase what makes working with you special, and serve as a valuable resource for years to come. 

More resources for YouTube growth

Need help starting and growing your YouTube channel? Bookmark these must-read articles:

• When is the Best Time to Post on YouTube? We Analyzed 1 Million Videos to Find Out
• The 7 Best AI Video Tools for Creators and Marketers, Tried and Tested
• YouTube Community Posts: What They Are and 11+ Ways to Use Them
• YouTube is Our Highest-Converting Channel Thanks to Micro-Influencers: Here’s Our Strategy