Earlier Today I had Posted This: How To Make Money From Youtube! Legit Tricks! it’s different then a Topic I covered below, Continue reading because these are tested ones and the main truths behind the scene…
I see people all over this forum continually asking about monetizing videos with robot voices, and I think it’s time to put something out there to get your minds going elsewhere. Are you still considering using some sort of text-to-speech software? If so, put that thought in the freaking garbage can and here’s why:
LIKE IF YOU THINK THIS METHOD HAS MERIT!
YouTube hates it, and won’t monetize it.
99.9% of everyone else hates it because it has spam and scam written all over it.
It’s mind-numbingly awful sounding no matter how much you’ve convinced yourself otherwise.
OK, we got that out of the way so here we go folks. Me and YouTube go a long way back, and over the years it has sort of become my curse. Most people say it’s a good problem to have, but now I just can’t get away from the damn platform. I’m going to give you the exact steps I took to build one of my channels from the ground up WITHOUT bots, multiple accounts (for spamming), boosting, proxies, stupid robot voices, or anything like that. This can be done on a fully legit level so you never have to worry about getting a ban.
Step 1: Software
I’ve been using Reallusion products for I guess around a decade now. They offer a variety of programs that cover both 2D and 3D animation. I own them all, but let me save you the headache and recommend their 2D animation software. The 3D stuff looks really good, but unless you’re an artist or know one that can JV with you…3D models get really expensive really quick. It also has a much higher learning curve.
Anyway…the most recent version of their 2D software is Cartoon Animator 4, and while I’m still using the previous version it looks great. Feel free to research any other animation software, but I found this to be the only software out there that allows you to get things going pretty quickly while still giving you enough freedom. That’s why I chose it years ago, and it’s why I still use it. It’s great for many niches, but it’s obviously perfect in the kids niche. They offer a trial so give it a go and see what you think for yourself.
Step 2: The Niche
As I said above, it’s great for the kids niche and that’s the niche I chose for one of my channels. I love it because kids like SIMPLE stuff. It doesn’t have to be overly complex, superbly written and directed, filled with stunning works of art, etc… They watch other people open up toys for crying out loud. The younger audience also goes on freaking sprees with playlists. They will watch whatever is next without question, and often times they will start a video and then just put the tablet down. You can get so much watch time out of a single kid lol.
Of course, you can create content for whatever niche you want. In fact, I made little promo videos for websites to fund software upgrades and more content for a good bit because it was quick in-hand money that I could use while the channel was growing. You could use the software for that alone and make decent money. Hell, make a super weird anime for all I care but just know that anything that looks advanced takes advanced knowledge + more time per video. The main thing here is to pick a niche that works without a voice since a lot of you just don’t want to use your voice.
Step 3: No Voice Videos
Again, the kids niche really lends itself to you on a platter if you’re not looking to use your voice. Kids love singing songs and all that, but there’s a classic formula that kids still love today. Let’s take a look at the OG’s of my generation:
These guys didn’t say anything for a very long time. Eventually they made a movie where they actually talked and it was awful. Before this abomination of a movie they only showed emotion through their demeanor, facial expressions, sound effects, and music for chases and what not. This same formula still works, and you don’t need anything close to the animation style of Tom and Jerry.
Here’s an idea for you that is simple and easy to create. Have a kid walking down the beach with some simple music in the background. Every 15 steps or so he stops, the music stops, he digs in the sand and finds something unexpected like a crab or whatever. He looks surprised, shakes his head, and then he starts walking again. As soon as he starts walking again the music starts again. Keep doing this for however long you want, but at the end he finds the toy dump truck he was looking for. He smiles real big and then jumps up and down. Boom. There it is. This simple video has everything a kid needs to enjoy it. It’s really that easy.
Step 4: Where do I get content for the videos themselves?
Regardless of what route you take, the positive side of things is that once you own the content you can use it over and over. After a bit your collection can be quite massive, and you can stop worrying about it unless you have a very specific need for a video. Below you can find how to get various pieces of the puzzle.
Characters, props, backgrounds, etc
With Cartoon Animator you get some basic stuff that comes with the software itself. It’s minimal though, and really only enough to play around with the software and get used to animating things. Most of the time you can get bundles of content packs with the software itself, and this can be very helpful. They also have at least 4 BIG sales a year on their content packs, and you can snag some massive savings during these.
You can also take pictures of things like teddy bears, toys, etc…and animate them as well if you want. I’ve done this with stuffed animals before, but I fear the ban hammer too much to use a popular toy. You will have to do a little photoshop beforehand so animations won’t look weird, and then you’ll have to rig them yourself within the software. It’s not too bad, but does take getting used to.
Design stuff yourself in photoshop or illustrator. You can create very simple characters or very detailed…depends on your own skill level. Obviously, you can outsource everything as well. Costs will vary here depending on who you use and what you need. I tried to outsource as little as possible to be perfectly honest.
Music and SFX
With music, I lucked out a bit in this department because a friend of mine makes music in his spare time for fun. So he helped me a lot with simple music that I could freely use. I’ve also bought some from AudioJungle though, and even made some of my own. It’s not too hard to make your own because everything you need is pretty much as basic as it gets. You’re not trying to be next soundcloud superstar here.
Sound effects are actually VERY easy. You can do the majority of this yourself with a microphone. You’d be absolutely surprised how many sounds and noises you can make for various things. If you need something specific like running water in a sink that’s easy too. Go over to your sink, hit record, and turn on the sink. For anything I can’t accomplish on my own I again use AudioJungle. I will do this for things like audiences clapping because I’m not going through the trouble to do all that when it literally costs me like $3 to have it right now.
Step 5: Brand Yourself
Kids like whimsical, fun, and colorful stuff. With that said, a mixture of fun and professional is the way to go. Take characters you use a lot and pose them in fun ways to make banners for social pages. Come up with a simple name that anyone can remember. You want everything about you to reflect a fun time for kids that parents approve of. To ensure consistency across platforms I always use Namechk. It’s a great site to see if a name is available as a domain, and if it can be registered across all major social networks including YouTube itself. I’ve used this for years, and I use it for any new project I need to brand. It’s very helpful.
Step 6: Traffic
Without getting lucky traffic will be slow at first, but once it starts snowballing it picks up the pace very well. Here’s a few tips to get things rolling:
Thumbnails have always and will always be important. Look at your competitors when in doubt. If you don’t make these appealing, even kids will skip over you.
Try to remember what it was like to be a kid! I could make anything firetruck related and my son would watch it and love it. They like animals, trucks, construction, unicorns, dancing, etc… Use this to your advantage. You can make a video about a bee getting lost in the woods, and I’m sure kids out there will watch it.
Use Facebook groups and forums. Join as a regular user and participate. Basically, you want to “warm up” the account like it’s instagram or something. Once you’ve gained a little bit of rep you can start casually dropping videos when you see the chance. Stacy has problems getting her kid to nap, and yours was the same way but this calming video worked like a charm for some crazy reason. It’s now apart of your routine! Just make sure your video actually relates to the situation and is appropriate for it. Don’t go to hard and wear out your welcome either. You can always pay for posts as well, but do your due diligence here.
Old fashioned SEO. Make toplist style websites with posts like “Top 10 Kids Videos About Skunks”. Sprinkle your videos in these along with some from other creators. You can target tons of random long tail keywords that honestly nobody else really cares about. As the site grows it can funnel a really decent amount of traffic to your videos. Monetize the site as well if you want.
Make Playlists for your videos. This is very important because like I said earlier kids will watch and watch and watch. Once you have them on your channel you can keep them there for a good bit.
Ok, that’s all I have for now, and I might have left some things out. Hope this helps someone actually take action out there though! Good luck!
ENJOY & HAPPY LEARNING!
Remember: Many will read it, but hardly 1% will implement it. You’re never too late, what matters is that you start and don’t stop immediately. Best of Luck!