The Community Guidelines warning strike has been appearing on my YouTube dashboard for the last 4 years. Recently, I received a message on my dashboard that says, “you can now take a short policy training to expire your community guidelines warning”.

In this video, I’m going to show you the process on how I removed the warning.

Discover my top strategies to get your first 1000 subscribers FAST, so you can join the YouTube Partner Program and start generating a passive income from your YouTube Channel
Click here for more info

Here’s the channel violation that has remained on my channel for 4 years…

“Active Community Guidelines Strikes Warning“

If I click on that, it shows my community guidelines strikes. The content was removed and I received the warning on August 14th, which is my birthday in 2019, which is 4 years ago at the time of writing this post.

If I want to take the policy training, I can just click on Take Action.

Alternatively, I can take the training from the message that popped up in my dashboard. It says, you can now take a short policy training to expire your community guidelines warning. I can dismiss it, or I can take the training.

Click take training. Now the same window pops up.
Click take action.

It says… there may be an issue with your content. Something you posted may violate YouTube’s community guidelines. To help keep the community safe, we’ve removed it. Your channel has received a warning. You can take a training to dismiss the warning, appeal our decision, or do nothing. I appealed the decision 4 Years ago, but lost the appeal so the content was removed.

You can only appeal once, within 90 days of receiving the strike. Now I can take the policy training to dismiss the warning.

Click Begin Review.

It says, take a look at your content keeping policies in mind. I can read about the harmful or dangerous content policy, and I can also read the policy.

If I click on that, it shows a video about harmful or dangerous content policy. It includes harmful or dangerous acts, challenges and pranks, weapons, content, digital security, content, illegal or regulated goods or services, and some examples of dangerous content. It also includes educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic content.

What happens if content violates this policy?

It says, if the conduct violates this policy, we will remove the content. If this is your first time violating community guidelines, you’ll likely get a warning with no penalty to your channel. You’ll have the chance to take policy training to allow the warning to expire after 90 days. However, if the same policy is violated within that 90 day window, the warning will not expire, and your channel will be given a strike. If you violate a different policy after completing the warning, you’ll get another warning. If you get 3 strikes within 90 days, your channel will be terminated.

Wow, that’s really harsh. So if you get 3 strikes within 90 days, your channel will be terminated.

Okay, I’ve read the policy, click next.

What do you want to do? 
Take the policy training or appeal the decision?

Well, I’ve already lost the appeal, so I’m going to take the training.

It says, complete a short training of about 7 questions. If you violate this policy again within 90 days, you’ll get a strike. If you violate a different policy, you’ll get a warning. You can still decide to appeal later.

Click take training. 

About the policy training.
7 questions in 15 minutes. We want you to create and share your content confidently in this training, you’ll see scenarios related to the policy you violated. You have unlimited attempts to get it right.

Wow, that’s great. That means if I get the answer wrong, I have unlimited attempts to get it right.

Click next.

Question 1
Here’s the first question on digital security.

Oscar is a  vlogger. He uploads a video on which he pranks his best friend by changing his social media account profile, photo and settings. He shows how to hack into his friends account using an app.

Is this a violation? 
Obviously Yes, it is. Click check. That’s right.

We don’t allow content that demonstrates how to hack into social media accounts, even as a joke or a prank. Click Next,

Question 2
Policy information on Weapons.

Andre has a YouTube channel that’s dedicated to do yourself experiments. He uploads a video showing how to make a homemade pipe bomb using simple supplies. After putting together the pipe bomb, he tested on a field at a safe distance wearing goggles and earplugs.

Is this a violation? 
Obviously it is. So click yes, it is. Click check.

That’s right. We don’t allow content showing viewers how to make pipe bombs. Remember, some content is not allowed, even if it has educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic content, such as instructions on how to make a bomb that’s meant to kill or hurt others.

Click next

Question 3
Policy information on extremely dangerous challenges and pranks.

WBN is a local news station. They run a story about the danger of police pranks in which they show a clip of someone calling a threat to the police to get a police team sent to their friend’s home. WBN talks about how these pranks have resulted in people getting seriously hurt during encounters with police.

Is this a violation? No, it isn’t. Click check.

That’s correct. Although this shows a dangerous prank, the video provides educational and documentary context and discourages the activity by describing its dangers.

Click next.

Question 4
Policy information on digital security

Lee receives instructions on how to edit a photo to make someone look younger using an expensive photo editing software. He mentions that he got a copy of the editing software for free, but doesn’t provide any instructions on how others can get it for free. Lee shows viewers how he users the tools to reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

Is this a violation? 
No, it isn’t. Click check. That’s right..

Lee mentions that he got the software without paying for it, but he doesn’t show users how to do so. 

Click next 

Question 5
Policy information on weapons.

A news channel posts an investigative story about ghost guns, which are unlicensed homemade firearms. The reporter shows images of dozens of 3D printed guns that were seized by local police during a raid.

Is this a violation? 
No, it isn’t. Click check. That’s correct.

The video doesn’t provide instructions for how to make a homemade gun so it doesn’t violate the policy.

Click Next. 

Question 6
Policy information on digital security.

A news reporter uploads a video to a news station’s channel that shows footage of a thief caught in the act of tampering with a parking meter. The clip shows a thief using a tool to adjust a meter settings, then cuts to a clip from the reporter describing rampant parking meter hacks. The clip does not provide instructions for how to replicate the theft.

Select all the correct answers.

• This isn’t a violation because it’s a news story.
• It isn’t a violation because the video doesn’t provide instructions for how to replicate the theft.
• This isn’t a violation because tampering with a parking meter isn’t a crime.

Answer. 2  is incorrect.
Answer 3 is correct
Answer 4 is incorrect.

Click try again.

I’m going to check number 3.
That’s correct.

It is a violation because the video doesn’t provide instructions for how to replicate the theft.

Click next.

Question 7
Policy information on digital security.

Fatima is an exercise blogger. She tells the viewers she wants to make sure they can use her exercises anytime anywhere. Fatima shows them how to use a website you found that helps the viewers download YouTube videos. Downloading YouTube content is against the terms of service unless expressly authorized with prior permission from YouTube, Fatima discourages people from downloading other creators content, but says she gives her subscribed permission to download a content from the platform.

Yes, this is a violation because she encourages people to download YouTube content

Check. That’s right.

We don’t allow content that encourages others to violate YouTube’s terms of service. This includes instructions on downloading YouTube content from any creator.

Click next.

Nice work. You’ve completed training.

What’s next? 
Your warning will expire on January 31st, 2024. If you violate the harmful or dangerous policy again before the warning expires, you’ll get a strike. If you violate a different policy, you’ll get another warning with the opportunity to take another training. Keep in mind, I’ll still see this guidelines warning for the next 90 days.

Click close training.

Now. It says, training completed on November 2nd, 2023. Your warning will expire on January 31st, 2024.

Click close. 

Are sure you want to leave? Click leave.

If I click on my active community guidelines strikes warning in my dashboard.

Under  take action, it says..

Training completed November 2nd, 2023. Your warning will expire January 31st, 2024.

Here’s the policy training flow.
Begin the review > read the policy > then take action.

Is it possible to get your community guideline strike removed after your appeal was rejected? 
Watch this video on how I appealed a community guidelines strike even after the appeal was rejected You’ll be glad you did.

Discover my top strategies to get your first 1000 subscribers FAST, so you can join the YouTube Partner Program and start generating a passive income from your YouTube Channel
Click here for more info

Are you tired of the daily grind and want to turn your dreams into reality? In this video, I’ll show you 3 proven strategies on how I grow my bank account even while I’m sleeping.

Let’s dive in!

Discover my top strategies to get your first 1000 subscribers FAST, so you can join the YouTube Partner Program and start generating a passive income from your YouTube Channel
Click here for more info

1. Run ads to turn views into money.
I’ve generated over $72,000 in passive income from my YouTube channel just by running ads on my videos. For example, this video is received over 1 million views since it was published and has made over $4,500. 

Every day. It generates new income for my channel because the video is ranked on the first page of Google and YouTube. Every time a viewer clicks on the ad in the video or watches it for more than 30 seconds, I get paid.

I’ve got hundreds of videos on my channel that generate a passive income every day just by displaying adsense  ads. This means I’m making money from my channel, even while I’m sleeping on vacation or traveling.

Keep in mind, you have to become a YouTube partner if you want  to monetize your channel and videos. To become eligible for the YouTube partner program, you need 1000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in the past 12 months, or 1000 subscribers and 10 million valid public short views in the last 90 days. If you currently don’t meet those requirements, keep uploading new videos every week to grow your channel and you’ll get there.

Later, I’ll show you how to make money from your channel, even if your channel’s not monetized.

2. Promote affiliate products
This is the passive income I’ve generated from the TubeBuddy affiliate program since I joined in 2011. Every time someone signs up for the TubeBuddy program through my affiliate link, I get paid.

Here’s a couple of videos on my channel that promote TubeBuddy. To, promote TubeBuddy. I’ll talk about the benefits of using TubeBuddy in my video, as well as place an affiliate link at the top of my description and pin that affiliate link to the top of my comments.

Some of these videos I created 5 or 10 years ago, and they still generate an affiliate income because the videos are evergreen. You can do the same by promoting affiliate programs related to the content in your videos.

Another way to sell affiliate products on YouTube channel is to join YouTube’s shopping affiliate program. You’ll be able to recommend the products you love without creating the product yourself. Watch this video to learn how to earn money on YouTube with the YouTube shopping affiliate program.

3. Sell your own Digital Products.
Here’s a digital product I created on mastering YouTube shorts. Here’s the amount of income earned last week from digital entrepreneurs using Gumroad. It’s a free online platform that includes a flexible page builder and it can host your products there for free. It also processes your payments and provides analytics to help improve your products.

All you have to do is open an account, add your product, and start selling. The more digital products you create, the more money you’ll make. You’ll make more promoting your own products because you get a 100% commission, unlike affiliate programs where you might get 40 or 50% commissions, here’s some ideas for the digital products you can sell through your YouTube channel, eBooks and reports, online tutorials, templates, membership sites, and coaching services.

How do you come up with the content to make your product? 
Your product has to fill a need of your target audience, and you can start by asking these questions.
– What are the biggest questions in your niche? 
– What do people ask you for advice about? 
– What is something you or your audience do all the time manually that could be done quicker with a template or automation? 
– What are the pain points of your audience? What frustrates them? 
– What’s something you know how to do that not many other people do? 
– What’s something you could teach others? 
– What’s something that beginners in your niche often need help with? 
– What’s a problem you can help solve? 

The best way to validate an idea is to make it, so make that course, then offer it to your audience to see what kind of responses you get. It might just be a winner.

The great thing about using digital products to turn YouTube views into money is that you can share your experience, knowledge, and passion to generate a passive income.

My Recommendation 
Bundle multiple income streams together to increase your income from YouTube. For example, you could also add sponsorships and brand deals to boost your income.

Keep in mind, you don’t need a huge channel to make thousands of dollars. You just need to target a specific audience.

Watch this video to learn how to identify your target audience and the mistakes you should avoid.

Discover my top strategies to get your first 1000 subscribers FAST, so you can join the YouTube Partner Program and start generating a passive income from your YouTube Channel
Click here for more info

Are you tired of spending endless hours trying to come up with YouTube video ideas, clickable titles, writing video scripts, editing, analyzing your data and managing  your YouTube channel? 

Well, it’s time to supercharge YouTube game with AI technology.

In the video below, I’m going to show you 10 incredible ways to use AI on YouTube so you can work less and earn more.

Blueprint To Create Money-Making Products To Sell Online Quickly and Easily
http://www.drostdesigns.com/infoproductblueprint/

1. I use ChatGPT to quickly come up with future video ideas. For example, if I ask ChatGPT to come up with 10 video ideas on how to make money on YouTube, this is what I get.
   – Create tutorials on how to videos,
   – Gaming videos
   – Product reviews
   – Travel vlogs Cooking and recipe videos
   – Fitness and health channels
   – Comedy entertainment.

So these are all different topics that I can use to come up with YouTube video ideas on how to make money on YouTube.

2. I can also use ChatGPT to generate different video titles. “Write 3 super engaging titles for a video about how to make money on YouTube.” 
– Unlocking YouTube’s hidden Treasure Chest,
– 10 proven Ways to Earn Big. From 0 to YouTube Hero,
– The ultimate guide to monetizing your channel.
– YouTube Moneymaking Secrets revealed, 
– Insider tips from top creators.

3. I can also use ChatGPT to write a script for my video. I can copy this title from 0 to YouTube hero, paste it in the box. I can say, “Write a script using bullet points for a video titled from zero to YouTube Hero, the Ultimate Guide to monetizing your YouTube channel” Let’s see what it says. It writes an introduction and then writes 8 different sections that I can use in my video ending with a conclusion.

I can also regenerate the script if I wish.

Later, I’ll show you how to create 10 viral video clips from one long video in one click using video clipping AI software.

4. AI powered video creation.
If you don’t have time to create a video, you can use InVideo AI to turn any content or idea into a video. Here’s how InVideo AI works, just using text

“Pack a giant bubble wrap suit and roll into the black hole and explore your own private planet.”

InVideo AI can generate the script, add video clips, subtitles, background music, and transitions.

“A giant bubble wrap suit you’ll see will prevent you from Gravity’s gravities glee.”

No learning curve is needed, and you can even create faceless videos. Just keep in mind that if you use an AI generated script, you still want to add facts, figures, and your own story and viewpoint to make it unique.

5. AI video editing software
AI video editing software can edit your videos faster and smarter so you have more time to focus on content creation and YouTube engagement.

Descript is AI powered video editing software that allows you to to automatically transcribe and edit your videos, like a document. You can instantly purge your recordings of filler words like ums, ahs your knows, in one single click. You can also create an ultra realistic voice cloning using overdub.

It’ll create a text to speech model of your voice, or you can choose from one of the ultra realistic stock voices. It also has an AI powered green screen, which allows you to remove your background with a click, then put yourself in any setting You can imagine.

The AI powered software has the ability to make color adjustments, and you can choose from dozens of powerful effects, transitions, and animation presets.

6. Repurpose your video content.
If you want to expose your content to a different audience that’s on YouTube, I highly recommend turning it into multiple pieces of content. I use the online software called Kapwing to create more content in less time. You simply import your video file, then create multiple short clips from your long form video.

Kapwing can also create high quality videos with its AI video generator. You simply enter a prompt and it’ll generate the video for you. It also includes an AI video editor that automatically removes silences and background noise in a single click. If you can’t find the right image, you can use Kapwing’s, AI image generator. For example, you can just enter the prompt…”generate an image of a grizzly beer in a birthday suit riding a scooter”

If you need to generate subtitles for your shorts or Instagram videos, you can use the AI powered subtitle generator. It can also translate your subtitles into 70 different languages, which exposes your content to a wider audience. 

“Hey, Herman. Is there an AI video tool that repurposes a long form video into multiple shorts in one click?”

7. Absolutely! The AI video clipping tool called Opus Clip takes one long video and creates 10 viral clips.

You drop your YouTube video link in here or upload a file, then click “get free clips” Select your preferred clip length. I’m going to select 30 to 60 seconds. Add your keywords…Make money from YouTube. Click “get clips in one click” Within a few minutes, Opus created 10 viral video clips, all with different titles.

Let’s play this one. “In this video, you’ll learn how I work less, but make more from YouTube so I can spend more time doing the activities that I love, such as cycling, spending time with family and traveling.”

It automatically adds captions to the video and creates a transcript. I can auto post it to YouTube or Reels. I can edit it and I can download it.

The free trial gives you 90 minutes free credits, which is developed for seven days. You don’t need a credit card. There’s no watermark, and you get the full range of features except for the fast queue and auto post. After seven days, they’ll automatically switch it to the free plan, if you don’t want to upgrade. 

8. AI insights 
The AI suggested shorts tool from TubeBuddy quickly identifies the most engaging parts of your long form video to make into a Shorts video, saving you a ton of time and guesswork. TubeBuddy also has an AI title generator. Just click on Title Generator, then click generate ideas. Then it will suggest eight different titles for your video. If you don’t like any of them, then you can just click generate Ideas again. It’ll then suggest eight new titles for your video.

9. Thumbnail Analysis and testing.
The TubeBuddy AI Thumbnail Analyzer predicts which thumbnail will get the highest click-through rate. It analyzes the heat maps for each thumbnail and predicts which thumbnail is the most effective. Two buddies thumbnail split testing feature split tests, two different thumbnails to see which thumbnail drives most clicks and views to your videos.

In this example, the variation thumbnail received a 7.5% higher click-through rate than the original thumbnail. I also use to many to uncover what people are searching for on YouTube, optimize my videos and manage my channel.

10. AI powered product creation.
One of the best ways to earn more from YouTube channel without relying on AdSense ads is to sell your own digital products, such as templates, reports, and eBooks, et cetera. Designrr is an AI powered software that can easily transform your videos, blog posts, podcasts into eBooks, PDFs, show notes, and transcripts.

For example, you can use the AI based Word Genie Wizard to help you generate an ebook according to your chosen niche and target audience. Alternatively, you can insert the link for any video on YouTube, and it’ll transcribe the video into English or any other language. After you’ve done that, you can choose a template to create an ebook, which you can offer as a free download from your videos or offer it as a paid product. Here’s an example of an ebook I made titled “Creating a Top Selling Information Product“.

The more products you create for your target audience, the more money you’ll make from your channel.

My Recommendation
Use these 5 AI powered tools that I outlined in this video so you can work less and earn more from your YouTube channel.

If you want to know how to make more money from your YouTube channel with less effort, watch this video on “10 ways to make more and work less“. You’ll be glad you did.

Blueprint To Create Money-Making Products To Sell Online Quickly and Easily
http://www.drostdesigns.com/infoproductblueprint/

Would you like to spend more time doing the things you love while working less and making more from YouTube? 

For many years, I was hustling on YouTube, uploading three videos a week, but now I only upload once a week and have less stress, more time, and make more money.

In the video below, you’ll learn how I work less, but make more from YouTube so I can spend more time doing the activities that I love, such as cycling, spending time with family and traveling.

Blueprint To Create Money-Making Products To Sell Online Quickly and Easily
Create Products Once That You Can Sell Over and Over Again
Click here to learn more

Why I do less to make more from YouTube
Doing less allows me to focus on high impact tasks to get better results. This means creating content for my target audience and not wasting time on content my audience is not interested in. I also have less stress, which leads to a lighter workload and unleashes my creativity By doing less, I can spend more time doing the other things I’m passionate about.

10 ways I do less and make more from YouTube 

1. Plan Ahead
I set yearly a monthly goals on how much I want to make for my YouTube channel and how to do it, which I’ll talk about later. I also keep a running list of new video ideas using the Notes app on my iPhone. Most good ideas usually come to my mind when I go for a walk or a run. Otherwise, I’ll research the ideas in YouTube analytics or answer questions from my video comments. 

2. Batching.
I usually batch script, batch film, and batch edit my videos. Instead of writing one script and filming one video, I’ll write 3 scripts and film 3 videos at once. I can then schedule them to be published on YouTube at different times. This allows me to publish my videos even when I’m not at the computer attending a video conference, going on vacation or when I’m just not feeling well.

For example, when I attended the VidSummit conference in Dallas Texas, I made sure that I had a video already scheduled for that week. It certainly relieves the stress of publishing a video on schedule.

3. Focus on what matters most
f you want to work less and make more money, you’ve got to leverage the power of the 80/20 rule. Perreto’s principle says 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. This means you need to cut out unnecessary things and focus on what matters most. For example, 80% of my YouTube traffic comes from the top 20% of my videos. When I double down on the videos that are generating the most traffic, it helps grow my channel.

4. Use Time Blocks
Have you ever started your day checking your social media sites and emails, then 3 hours later, realize you haven’t got any work done? I use focused time blocks to get my most important stuff done.

For example, if I need to write a video script, I’ll set the timer for one hour and eliminate all distractions. When filming a video, I’ll film it in 30 minute increments, following the bullet points on my script.

Using time blocks keeps me on track for the tasks I need to do for the day. When I’ve finished all the tasks for the day, I usually go for a run or ride the local trails.

5. Work during your most creative time
My most creative and productive time is the first thing in the morning. Usually, I’ll create a list of tasks the night before that I need to accomplish for the next day. When I sit down in front of my computer in the morning, I already know what I need to get done for the day. It might be coming up with new video ideas, writing a script, filming a video, or editing a video.

Editing videos usually takes the longest, so I’ll spread this out over several days. By lunchtime, which is usually around one or two o’clock, I’ll have completed my work for the day,. then usually go for a long bike ride. This helps me to relax, unwind, have fun, as well as come up with new video ideas.

6. Automate As Much As Possible
Instead of doing everything manually, you can save a ton of time using tools and software. For example, you can use the TubeBuddy Keyword Explorer Tool to research keywords that will rank in the search engines. You can also use the TubeBuddy AI title generator to generate a bunch of titles. You can also use TubeBuddy’s suggested shorts tool to repurpose long form content into Shorts. For thumbnails. You can easily modify the templates that are included with the free image editor called Canva.

For script writing, you can use Chat GPT. If you want to create a video from an article, you can use Kapwing.com. It’ll also help you to automatically remove the silences from your video. It’ll also help you repurpose your content to other platforms.

Get The Free Online Video and Image Maker (Kapwing)

If you want to schedule your videos or images to be published on YouTube, you can use the scheduling feature that comes with YouTube. This means you can schedule a video or image several weeks in advance. The more tasks you automate, the more time you have to unleash your creativity. 

7. Repurpose Your Content
When you repurpose your content to other social media platforms, you expose your content to a wider audience. For example, you can repurpose a segment of your longform video into a short, then upload it to YouTube. You can even link that short to your original longform video.

Other places you can share your content include LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Facebook groups, your blog and your email list. I use Kapwing to repurpose my content to share on social media sites. It quickly creates multiple short clips from my long form content.

8. Build A List
The purpose of building a list off YouTube is that you own the list and you can promote your products and services outside YouTube. You don’t have to rely on the income that’s associated with displaying ads on your videos. Instead, you can promote your products and services to the people that have subscribed to your list. You can use YouTube to build your list by offering a free lead magnet, such as a report, ebook, or template that people can download in exchange for their contact information.

I use the software called AWeber to automate my list building.  It stores my contacts, provides landing page templates to collect contact information and automates the sending of emails to my list when I want to promote a product or service.

As your list grows, so will your income. 

9. Create Multiple Income Streams
The revenue I receive from displaying ads on my videos is not enough to pay all my bills or make a living. Therefore, I bundle multiple income streams to boost my income. For example, I also generate income by promoting affiliate products in my videos as well as on my email list.

Here are the amounts I receive from TubeBuddy every month or every year by referring customers to them. I also sell my own digital products, such as the courses on how to grow on YouTube.

I also offer coaching services for video creators that need help to grow their channels. One of the most lucrative ways to make money from YouTube is to do brand deals or sponsorships. This is where you can review a product for a company in exchange for payment. Typically, my brand deals generate thousands of dollars, and as your channel grows, you receive more requests from companies to promote their products.

Watch this video to learn how to get brands to sponsor you on YouTube.

YouTube memberships and YouTube shopping are other ways that I generate income from YouTube.

Click Here to become a member of my channel

You’ll get exclusive members only live streams every month, get your questions answered live, get access to my members only Facebook group, get badges so your name stands out in the comments. You’ll also be supporting my channel, which helps keep it growing. Bundling multiple income streams helps increase the income I can generate from YouTube.

Keep in mind the affiliate products I promoted on my channel several years ago, still generate income every day on autopilot. When I want to scale my income, I just need to create and promote more products.

10. Open A Savings Account
The main benefit of putting your money in a savings account is that you receive compound interest. For example, if you deposit $10,000 in an account that earns 5% annual interest, you’ll earn $500 interest after one year. Thanks to compound interest, in year two, you’ll earn 5% of $10,500, which equals $525. You’ll receive the principle plus the interest. 

If you save some of the money that you earn from YouTube and place it in a savings account,. it’ll earn compound interest and work for you for years to come.

Bonus Tip – Invest In Dividend Paying Stocks.
This is where shares of public companies split the profits with their shareholders by paying cash dividends, and yield 2% and 6% per year.

The dividend you receive is based upon the number of shares that you own from the company. Buying stocks that pay dividends provides a reliable and growing income stream. Obviously, the more money you invest in stocks, the more money you’ll accumulate over the years.

This is how you can work less and make more because the money is working for you 24/7.

If you want to know how to make money from your YouTube channel without being a member of the YouTube partner program, watch this video on “10 Ways to Monetize YouTube channel without 1000 Subscribers” 

Blueprint To Create Money-Making Products To Sell Online Quickly and Easily
Create Products Once That You Can Sell Over and Over Again
Click here to learn more

A cockroach was crawling on my shoulder during my livestream.
I only knew about it because a viewer pointed it out to me on camera.

Keeping your viewers engaged during the first 30 seconds of your video
increases the probability of your viewers watching the rest of the video.

In the video below, I’m going to share the top 7 ways to engage viewers on YouTube.

SECRETS TO INCREASE AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT ON YOUTUBE
Discover how to hook your viewers’ attention, get them to spend more time on each video, and motivate them to watch more videos from your channel, so YouTube will recommend your content to other channels.
Click here to learn more

Use a strong hook
You can make a bold statement like YouTube receives over 50 billion views per day. You can start your video by asking a question like, what is the number one way to engage your viewers on YouTube? You can entertain your viewers by telling a short story like I did at the beginning of this video.

Alternatively, you can go straight into the content without giving an introduction.

Correctly structure your video.
As I mentioned previously, start off with a strong hook. then tell your viewers what to expect by watching the video. After you’ve done that, go straight into the meat of your content and end your video with a strong call to action.

For example, you can invite viewers to watch your next best video by linking to a video or playlist in the end screen. YouTube says “the longer you can keep people watching your videos or successive videos in a row, the higher the probability of a video being suggested by YouTube resulting in more traffic” So if a viewer binge watches multiple videos in a playlist, they’ll stay longer on the YouTube platform.

Instead of just using one hook at the beginning of your video, use multiple hooks throughout your video to reset the attention of your viewers. For example, you can tease viewers about what’s coming up later in the video, so they’ll keep watching to find out what it is.

Some other ways to keep viewers engaged throughout your video is to use jump cuts, transitions, and graphics.

A jump cut is where you jump from one scene to the other, therefore, resetting the attention of your viewer.

Transitions can be as simple as adding text on the screen or adding a motion graphic between the different points you wish to make in your video.

“Hey, Herman, what kind of audience retention should I be shooting for in the first 30 seconds of my video?” 

Aim for 70 to 80% audience retention in the first 30 seconds of your video. The higher the better.

For example, in this video it says 70% of viewers are still watching at around the 30 second mark, which is above typical.

If you want to check the audience retention for any of your videos on YouTube, click on the engagement tab in YouTube analytics and look under key moments for audience retention.

Use the community tab.
Use the community tab to engage with your viewers. between uploads. You can add images, image polls, text polls, quizzes, or even post your latest video. I find that polls and quizzes attract the most responses, so use them frequently.

Reply to comments.
YouTube is a social media platform, so make sure you reply to every comment on your videos. If a viewer makes the time to leave a comment under your video, then respect that viewer by replying to their comment.

Viewers often ask questions in the comments, so it’s a great opportunity to reply to their comment. You can even reply to a comment by making a Short, and that viewer will receive a notification that you’ve made that short.

Here’s a hot tip.
Any question in your comments usually means that other people are asking the same question, so you can make a long form video or a short to reply to that comment. Another way is to keep to keep viewers engaged throughout your video is to ask questions.

For example, answer this question in the comments, what is the number one way you keep viewers engaged on your videos? If you want to get viewers to watch your next best video, pin a link to that video in the top of your comments. When viewers go to leave a comment to your video, they’ll see that link in the pinned comment.

You can also link to the next best video by placing that link within the first three lines of your video description. The first three lines is what viewers see while watching your video.

Another important thing to keep viewers watching is to use high energy in your video. If you’re really tired because you didn’t get much sleep, you’re depressed or not inspired, then it’s very difficult to deliver a high energy message throughout your video. If I’m very tired or uninspired, I’ll usually skip making a video.

Your viewers will know when you’ve forced creativity in your videos. If I don’t feel energized, I’ll leave my office and go outside to film the video. Alternatively, I’ll do some pushups, pull-ups or go for a run to get the heart pumping. If I’m batch filming multiple videos, I usually take a break between each video. This helps me to keep my energy flowing.

Attract different audiences with multiple formats.
Shorts are a great way to attract viewers that are scrolling through their phones using the Shorts feed. YouTube recently introduced the related links feature, which allows you to link from a short to a long form video.

For example, you can cut a segment from your long form video to make into a short. An attribution link will appear at the end of your shorts video, that links back to the original video.

Another format that works well is to go live on YouTube. This is a great way to engage with your viewers in real time because they can ask questions while you’re going through your presentation.

You can also repurpose the content for your live stream for YouTube podcasts, Shorts, long form videos, and even products. Here’s an important point to remember. Engaging viewers is an ongoing effort that requires building relationships and providing content that resonates with your audience.

Pay particular attention to YouTube analytics to see which engagement strategies are working best for your channel, then adjust accordingly.

For example, if you click on the audience tab in YouTube analytics, you’ll see videos growing your audience, channels your audience watches, what your audience watches, formats your viewers watch on YouTube, and when your viewers are on YouTube. 

To view the engagement metrics for individual videos, click on the engagement tab and look under “key moments for audience retention“.

Now you know the top ways to engage viewers on YouTube.

Do you want to reach more audiences so you can get more views and subscribers? 
Watch this video on how to add multi-language audio tracks so you can translate your content into different languages.

SECRETS TO INCREASE AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT ON YOUTUBE
Discover how to hook your viewers’ attention, get them to spend more time on each video, and motivate them to watch more videos from your channel, so YouTube will recommend your content to other channels.
Click here to learn more

Should you create a Brand account or a Regular, Personal account
when starting a YouTube channel from scratch? 

Which is the right one to use? 

In the video below , you’ll learn how brand accounts differ from regular YouTube accounts, how to check if you have a brand account, and if you should migrate a personal account to a brand account if you already have an established YouTube channel. Comment below if you have a brand account or personal account.

Discover my top strategies to get your first 500-1000 subscribers FAST, so you can join the YouTube Partner Program and start generating a passive income from your YouTube Channel
Click here for more info

What is a YouTube brand account? 
A brand account is an account that is specifically used for your brand. If you challenge link to a brand account, it means that more than one Google account can manage it. This means you and others can jointly manage the brand account through your own Google accounts. You don’t need a separate username and password, and you can have multiple owners and managers. One of the great benefits of having a brand account is that it gives your company a unique presence online separated from your personal profile.

For example, my YouTube brand account is drostvideo. If I were to create a personal account, I would use Herman Drost.

PewDiePie is a great example of a very popular personal YouTube channel. It’s run by Felix Kjellberg, a Swedish YouTuber who currently has over 111 million subscribers.

How To Identify a YouTube Brand Account?
For viewers, brand and personal YouTube accounts appear virtually the same. You can typically identify a brand account by how well the channel page identifies the brand itself. This can be found by clicking on the channel name, then go to the about page.

What is the disadvantage of having a Brand account? 
You’ll lose all your comments if you migrate a personal account to a brand account. If you just want to manage your account personally, then choose a personal account. Just keep in mind, if you use your name for a YouTube account, it can still be a brand account.

How do you check If you have a brand account? 
Go to myaccount.google.com/brandaccounts. Make sure you’re signed in first, then check on the brand accounts.

What is a personal YouTube account? 
This means only one person can manage a personal account, which is usually yourself. When you create a personal YouTube channel. It uses the same name and photo as your Google account. With a brand account, you can use a different name and photo from your Google account.

What are the disadvantages of creating a personal YouTube account? 
Only you can manage your channel. You can’t have multiple owners or managers. Your channel name is automatically the same as the one on your Google account. If you connect your YouTube channel to your Google account, only you can access your YouTube channel and you have to use your Google account. Just keep in mind, if you migrate your personal account to a brand account, you’ll lose all the comments you’ve accumulated on your videos.

How do you create a brand account? 
If you’re just starting a YouTube channel from scratch, you can set up your brand account immediately by going to youtube.com/account Click create channel. If you already have a channel, just click create a channel under all channels.

You can now create your channel name and set up your channel details.

My Recommendation
Here’s my recommendation if you’re debating whether to set up a brand account or personal account. Register your YouTube account as a brand account from the beginning even if you don’t plan to have multiple managers for your YouTube channel. It keeps your personal Gmail account safer in case your account is suspended, have an issue with trolls or if you decide to delete or change your account later.

Starting and growing a YouTube channel takes passion, persistence, and perseverance. Watch this video titled “10 Tips I Wish I Knew Before Starting YouTube“.

Discover my top strategies to get your first 500-1000 subscribers FAST, so you can join the YouTube Partner Program and start generating a passive income from your YouTube Channel
Click here for more info

The community guidelines warning below hits me every time I log into my YouTube dashboard, and it’s remained there for several years.

It’s given me some anxiety because if I get 3 community guideline strikes, my channel can be terminated. Fortunately, YouTube is making a big policy change, which will allow me to get rid of this warning for good.

Click here to get my video course. You’ll discover how to hook your viewers, get them to spend more time on each video and motivate them to watch more videos from your channel, so YouTube will recommend your content to a wider audience.

What is a community guideline strike? 
YouTube says this includes or is not limited to instances of nudity or sexual content, violent or graphic content, harmful or dangerous content or spam. For example, if you post a video that is meant to educate people about sexual health and it violates YouTube’s sexual content policy, you may receive a strike from YouTube.

Therefore, I highly recommend studying YouTube’s community guidelines policies, so you don’t have to put up with this hassle. Click here to read YouTube’s community guidelines.

Why is YouTube making this change? 
YouTube believes that most creators don’t want to violate YouTube’s policies. Therefore, they want to give them another chance,

“Despite the fact that they don’t re-offend, they sort of live in fear of re-offending, and we don’t wanna stifle creativity. Yeah, you know, we want creators to be able to express their creativity within the the boundaries of our rules.”

I asked my subscribers, “have you ever received a community guidelines strike on your channel?”
11% said yes, lost appeal, warning remains on my channel.

In the old system, whenever you received a community guidelines strike and didn’t win the appeal, you received a permanent warning on your YouTube channel.

In the new system, you can go through some training and get the warning removed. If you don’t violate the policies again in the next 90 days. YouTube says that 80% of creators who get a warning never go on to get a first strike.

For example, I received this warning on my channel several years ago and never received another strike. Now I can take a training course and have the warning removed.

What happens when you complete the course? 

• If you don’t violate the same policy for 90 days, the warning on your channel will be lifted.
• If you violate the same policy within 90 days, your video will be removed, but you’ll receive a strike on your channel.
• If you violate the same policy after 90 days, your video will be removed, but you’ll receive a warning on your channel. You’ll also have the option of taking a new training course.

Previously creators received one warning throughout the lifetime of their channel. Now they’ll get individual warnings depending on the policy that they violate. This gives you an opportunity to learn why your content may have crossed the line and be able to take multiple training courses at the same time.

Even if you receive a community guidelines warning in the future, you can get it removed by attending the training and then not violating the YouTube’s policies in the next 90 days.

Keep in mind, if you violated YouTube’s policies 3 times in the past, which resulted in your channel being terminated, this is not gonna provide a path to get your channel back.

When will YouTube be making this change? 
This change will be rolling out over the next several weeks.

How can you stop people impersonating your channel and stealing your videos? 
Watch this video on how to report an impersonator so they can stop stealing your videos

Click here to get my video course. You’ll discover how to hook your viewers, get them to spend more time on each video and motivate them to watch more videos from your channel, so YouTube will recommend your content to a wider audience.

The clickable links on all your YouTube shorts are being banned by YouTube from August 31st, 2023. That means Pinned Comments in YouTube Shorts or any other Shorts will no longer be clickable. It also means the clickable link in the shorts description or in the descriptions of any other Shorts videos will no longer be clickable.

What? 

Why is YouTube making this change which will affect millions of shorts videos that are already uploaded to YouTube? 

YouTube says it’s making this change to prevent users from being exposed to malware, phishing scams, and other harmful scam related content. Fortunately, the links in the descriptions and comments of your long form videos will still be clickable and remain unchanged.

In the video below, I’ll show you a solution to this change and how YouTube is introducing a new and safer way for creators to link their Shorts viewers to their other YouTube content.

Get My New Shorts Course: Mastering YouTube Shorts: The Complete Guide
Click here for more info

Which kinds of links are clickable on YouTube? 

• Channel profile links
• links placed in long form video comments and descriptions
• links placed in YouTube live chat mentions
• hashtags in Shorts comments and descriptions
• YouTube shopping affiliate program links
• Shorts green screen
• Rimix attribution links.
  The only links which are non clickable are the links in Shorts comments and descriptions.

Warning from YouTube
You can’t create external links that sends users to websites containing featured content that violates YouTube’s external links policies. Click here to read YouTube’s external link policy..

Here are the current clickable links that you see on a Shorts video.

• I’ve got my channel link…drostvideo
• the subscribe button.
• If I tap share, I can share the Shorts URL on my social media sites or copy the link.
• If I tap remix, I can remix a long form video into a Short. An attribution link will appear
  on the Short that links back to the original video

Here are some ways to direct viewers from your Shorts to other YouTube content.

Reply to comments with a Short.
– Tap on the comments to select a comment to reply to
– Tap on the comment
– Tap on the shorts icon. Now I can read the comment that I wish to reply to.
– Tap record. “Thanks for this comment. I wish you the best of luck with your YouTube video.
– Tap the check mark.
Now you can preview what you said. When viewers watch your short, they can go back to the original video it’s attached to. 

Once a Shorts video reply is posted, it’ll appear as a reply in the comments.

What’s the goal of highlighting comments in Shorts?
“The goal is to provide a way for creators to invite their viewers to participate in their content.”

How To Create Shorts from your own long form videos.

• Select one of the videos on your channel.
• Tap the remix button, so you can edit into a short, use the sound from this video or cut the video by using a segment from the video or use a green screen as a background.
• Keep in mind that the option to edit into a short is only available to you.
• Tap edit into a short.
• You can select 15 or 40 seconds..i selected 15 seconds
• Tap next
• Tap the back arrow.
  Now you can record a Short. So tap the record button. I’m recording a short, 
• Tap the check icon. 
• Tap Next
• Add your title
• Select visibility…public, private or unlisted
• Tap upload short.

Now you’ll notice that if I tap the link on my Short “created from drostvideo”, it redirects to my original long form video.

How to cut a segment from any video on YouTube to make into Short.

• Tap on the video
• Tap remix.
• I can use the sound from the video, cut it by using a segment from the video or use a video as a background. 
• Tap cut.
• I use up to 5 seconds.
• Tap next.
• Now I can record a 15 or 60 second shorts video. If I want  60 seconds Tap 15. I’m just gonna add 15, so I’m gonna tap 60. it goes back 15 seconds. Hey, I’m just adding another segment to this video.” 
• Tap the check mark
• Tap next
• Add a title.
• Select visibility…public
• Tap upload short.
• If I tap on the link “cut from parktool”, it redirects me back to the original video.

How to create content links in Shorts

YouTube is introducing a new and safer way for creators to direct Shorts viewers to other content on YouTube. When a viewer clicks on the content link in the shorts, it redirects them to the longer form content.

How to create channel profile links

Previously I mentioned channel profile links. Now you can showcase up to 14 links on your channel homepage, and the first link will be prominently displayed in the profile section next to the subscribe button. The remaining links will show when the viewer clicks to see more links.

Watch this video to learn how to create channel profile links that’ll replace the links that have been removed from your Channel Banner.

Get My New Shorts Course: Mastering YouTube Shorts: The Complete Guide
Click here for more info