Using YouTube As an Affiliate Marketing Traffic Source

Good morning!

It is finally Saturday – yay!

I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long week. I am glad for a break.

We’re having a big family birthday dinner today, so once again, I’m awake at 2 AM, putting the finishing touches on my post.

This week, I’m continuing to catch up on my training. I may move to the next step once I’ve made my first traffic video, so I’ve been working on YouTube training. Today’s post is about why you should consider using YouTube and how to begin.

Since this article includes many directions, I’ve included my personal thoughts in purple so it’s easy to distinguish the directions from my reflections.

Pros and Cons of YouTube

First of all, what are the pros and cons of YouTube?

Pros

• YouTube is the second largest visited website and search engine, following Google.
• You don’t need fancy equipment or a recording studio.
• You can earn very early on. My trainer, Sophie Sion Byde, got her first commission when she had thirty-one subscribers and 800 views. She had her first high-ticket commission at about 430 subscribers. That video only had 50 views, but she made $1000.
• You can monetize with ads, but that’s just the icing on the cake. Your main source of income will be affiliate marketing.
• It’s a search engine- people are looking specifically for what you have to offer. They don’t come across you by accident, so they will likely be responsive to your YouTube video because they searched it out.
• It will continue to work for you in the future. YouTube is evergreen in that it doesn’t disappear from a newsfeed or the TikTok algorithm. It is always there and can make you commissions for years to come.

The last two bullet points convinced me to use YouTube as my primary traffic source. What I mean by primary is that I will focus on learning all I can about YouTube and becoming an expert on that platform. Someday, I’ll begin repurposing my videos for TikTok and other platforms that make sense, but I will zero in on becoming fabulous at YouTube.

 Cons

• YouTube does take time.
• It’s unpredictable.
• There is a learning curve: Shooting videos, optimizing for SEO, and making thumbnails. In time, you will learn to edit. You can start simple, but the better your videos, the better they will perform.
• It’s a long-term game. It is a bare garden. You plant many seeds; some will grow into great, giant oaks, some will be tiny, and some will be in between. You have to have the attitude of nurturing your channel.

How to Begin in Four Steps

I. Create Your Channel

1. You’ll need a Gmail address.
2. Login to your Gmail account.
3. Go to youtube.com; sign in if you still need to log into your Google account.
4. Click on your profile circle, and click Create a channel.
5. Name your channel. Please think about it. You can change it, but only sometimes, so please think it through.
6. Upload a pic of yourself. People relate to people. They will relate to your face much better than a logo, a dog, etc.
7. Click Create Channel in the bottom right corner.

Ta Da! Your YouTube channel has been created!

II. Customize Your Channel

YouTube will show you how to do it all. YouTube wants you to succeed, and it is in its interest that you make money. There’s a YouTube studio video you can watch. There’s also a question icon that is a get help section. And, of course, you can always Google your question if you get stuck. But I don’t think you’ll get stuck at this point. I’ve got a good guide for you.

1. Click on Branding. You can upload a banner image.
2. Use Canva.com to get the dimensions right quickly.
3. Click Create Design and search for the YouTube banner to find the correct dimensions. Then, you can select a template and personalize it. The banner is not very wide, so keep words in the center.
4. Click share, download it to your computer, and upload it on YouTube. (I had a hard time with this. I didn’t use a template. I wanted my YouTube banner to match my blog banner. The “N” in Nakina wouldn’t fit in the narrow space because of my chosen font. I had to change it, and to be consistent, I had to change it on my blog as well. I wouldn’t say I liked that, but it needed to be done. It’s a small, cosmetic thing. I had to step back and know it would be okay.)
5. It will show you how your banner looks online, on mobile phones, and on TV. Check it and make sure it looks nice.

Don’t overthink it. Take 20 minutes and make it look nice.

III. Fill In Basic info. section

This is similar to any About information. Think of a blog, for example.

Focus on telling people what the channel will bring them. It would be best to focus on what value you give the viewer. What are they going to get from you? How are you going to help them? Add the phrase “affiliate marketing” in there.

Always think of the “You” in YouTube. Focus on the viewer.

If you have a link, this is where you put it. You can add up to five links. You could put in your lead magnet and blog, for instance.

Only post a few links because the more choices people have, the less they click on things.

Click Publish to save information.

Voila!

I overthought this part as if I needed to get it perfect the first time. Ultimately, I wrote a few sentences and published my Affiliate System link tree links (more on that in the future) and my opt-in for joining me as an accountability partner. I can always edit it as I find my voice on YouTube. You can view it here.

IV. Verify You’re Human

These are straightforward directions to follow. No personal touches need to be added.

1. Go back to channel customizations, settings (the tool icon), channel, and feature eligibility.
2. Go to intermediate features, verify your phone number, and you’ll get a code to verify your identity. Once you’ve done that, you can make videos longer than 15 minutes, create custom thumbnails, and be eligible to do live streaming.
3. Go back to the channel, feature eligibility, and advanced features, and there is a verification process that enables more features. There are three ways to go about it. You only need to choose one. This process will allow you to appeal content ID claims, create more live streams daily, upload more videos daily, and create more shorts daily.

 

Conclusion

So, this was a lot of work this week. I hope these directions simplify your route if you decide to go this way.

What do you think of my choice to use YouTube? What are you going to use or are you using as your traffic source, and why?

This week, I expect I’ll work on shooting my first video. I’m learning I take time to make progress. That makes sense as I look back on my past school experiences. I slowly comprehend and then pick up pace as I go along.

It’s okay to take your time as long as you do take the time and keep moving forward 🙂

Do you find that’s true for yourself? Or do you allow time for others but always try to push yourself harder than you can comfortably go? I’m trying to be comfortable moving at my own pace and really mean it. And also seeing my progress as fantastic. I don’t need to judge myself by how quickly others learn but going at my own pace is A-okay.

I’m uncomfortable feeling behind my training group and reframing my mind so it doesn’t get me stuck.

How do you think I’m doing? Lol! I think I’m doing splendidly!

Please click on my banner to join me as an accountability partner. I can use all the help and support I can get! And I’d like to support you in our journeys, too.

If you found this article helpful, please share it on social media and comment to let me know.

Ciao for now,

Nakina