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Plan: One video per day, for 30 days.
- Identify a topic, gather resources, and create the channel.
- Rework the gathered content (images, videos, etc.).
- Convert the reworked content into AI voiceovers.
- Edit the video.
- Create a thumbnail.
- Research keywords to optimize SEO for both the video and the channel.
- Decide on the video upload schedule, description content, community tab, and video promotion strategies.
- Grow the channel by capitalizing on recommendations and activating monetization.
Note: This is just my personal experience, and it might not work for everyone. Those who find it helpful can consider it. I'm still a beginner, so if you're a pro, feel free to skip this. This guide is focused on the Vietnamese market with long-form videos, so it may not suit those targeting international viewers or those working on shorts.
Below are the detailed steps I followed, a bit long, but if you're interested, take the time to read through.
Step 1: Identify a topic and gather resources
Before picking a topic, I carefully reviewed YouTube's community guidelines to avoid wasting time on subjects that might not align with their policies (link in the video description). Choose a topic you're comfortable with or enjoy, but make sure it doesn't violate YouTube's rules. Once I had a topic, I researched similar channels and their most popular videos. For example, if I found 5 competitor channels, I looked at their top 5-10 most-viewed videos. That gave me around 25-50 videos to potentially rework. I aimed to create 30 videos for a full month test, but if you have more resources, you can scale up and create more content across multiple channels.
Once you've identified a topic and gathered resources, create a new YouTube channel, preferably using a new browser or device. Ideally, get a cheap phone dedicated to this YouTube account to avoid risks like hacks or malware from unsafe apps. After creating the channel, spend a few days watching similar content, like a regular viewer, before uploading anything.
Step 2: Reworking the gathered resources
Reworking: Mixing and adjusting various ingredients to create a new dish.
Reworking content: I mostly write the scripts myself since I’m good at typing. But if you don’t enjoy that, you can use AI tools (like VIDEEO.IO, Github) to rewrite content or summarize competitors' videos. Another option is to find the content on Google and rework it. If the search doesn’t return results in Vietnamese, translate it into English and search again. Many big channels often translate content from foreign sources.
Reworking images: This is simpler. You can find images on the internet and insert them into your reworked content. However, be careful with copyrighted material, especially from well-known brands and celebrities. Alternatively, you can use AI (like ChatGPT, Midjourney) to generate new images related to your content.
Reworking videos: Since I mostly use images, I don’t rework videos as much. However, if you’re using video footage, try adding subtitles, adjusting the brightness, or including your commentary or thoughts on the video. I recommend against flipping or distorting videos to trick YouTube’s algorithm, as it could result in demonetization. Instead, focus on adding your own creative elements, like news or reaction channels do. The key is to be original, even if you’re reworking content.
Step 3: Convert the reworked content into AI voiceovers
You can use free tools like ttsfree. If you want more variety or quality, paid options like vbee or ttsopenai are available. Be careful not to distort or speed up voices to trick the algorithm, as it may result in your channel being flagged. It's better to use voiceovers for commentary, analysis, or reviews.
Step 4: Edit the video
I use CapCut for video editing. It’s a comprehensive tool with everything you need to edit videos quickly and efficiently, including auto subtitles. The first 15 seconds of your video (the "hook") are crucial. This is where you should highlight the most interesting parts to grab viewers' attention. You can also add interactive elements like giveaways to encourage comments and subscriptions.
For images, I find alternatives on Google or use AI to create new ones, avoiding straight-up copying others' work.
If you’re making audio-based videos (audiobooks, podcasts, etc.), make sure to add auto-generated subtitles. This gives your content a significant edge in YouTube’s algorithm.
Step 5: Making Thumbnails
For creating video thumbnails, I use Photoshop. If you don’t use a computer, you can download the app "Thumbnail Maker" on your phone to edit thumbnails to the correct 16:9 size.
When editing a thumbnail, remember to use images from the video for the thumbnail. If the thumbnail image doesn’t match the content of the video, it could trigger a violation for misleading viewers. As for the text on the thumbnail, you don’t have to write exactly what the video title says. Instead, find some eye-catching or standout phrases from the video to use as thumbnail text. That way, you have two sources of information to attract viewers to click on your video—this is something I learned from the admin of VidIQ. Make sure to stick to one font style and one color scheme when editing. Don’t make it too random, as it can confuse both viewers and the algorithm.
Step 6: Keyword Research for Video and Channel SEO
I use VidIQ, as I mentioned in the first step, to search for keywords related to the channel's topic that have high search volume, or keywords that competitor channels are using. Alternatively, you can visit keywordtools.io or download apps like HashtagAI to search for related keywords, then note down those relevant keywords.
Go to YouTube Studio, click on “Settings,” then under “Channel,” copy the keywords you noted earlier and paste them into the “Keywords” field under “Basic Info,” and save. Below the “Channel” section, there’s an option for “Upload Defaults.” Click on it, scroll down, and paste the copied keywords into the “Tags” section for the video, then save it.
Step 7: Choosing the Right Time to Upload, Video Description, and Promoting the Video
I refer to a tool on InfluencerMarketingHub that shows the best times to post viral videos across various countries and platforms. If you can’t find it, there’s a link to it in my blog. Of course, this tool is for reference only, not 100% accurate, but it’s still based on statistics. In the beginning, you can use this tool or make your own guess. Once you have an audience, you’ll gradually figure out the best times they watch, and you can then adjust and upload videos consistently at those times.
Once you’ve chosen the best time, go ahead and upload the video. Look at videos from competitor channels that you’ve already analyzed and rework their titles into your own. Make sure to adapt and not just copy-paste! Change things up while keeping the main keywords intact.
For the video description, you should copy the introduction from the video and paste it in. Also, copy the default keywords saved earlier into the tags section. Don’t add any links in the description or pin comment just yet, even if it's a Facebook link. Wait until your channel is monetized, then consider adding them.
Don’t forget to include a call to action, such as asking for help to reach 1k subscribers.
If you didn’t do any giveaways to boost interaction in step 4, you can pin a comment directly. For example: “Leave your email or bank info, and I’ll send (a file or money) for free to the first 20 people, etc.” Remember to actually give away something and not deceive people. This can generate high interaction for the video.
You should also post images or polls in the community tab to increase interaction with your channel. Avoid sharing video links directly in the community tab; just post images to get interactions. Sharing video links generally doesn’t get much engagement. When viewers interact with images, the algorithm will suggest videos from your channel, so don’t worry about not sharing links. Keep posting images related to your channel’s topic regularly to maintain engagement.
Note: Try to make around ten videos or up to thirty before you start scheduling uploads. At the very least, ensure that you have one video uploaded each day at the correct time without any gaps in your schedule. Personally, I create a bunch of videos at once, schedule them, and then leave them alone while I move on to other tasks. When a video starts getting recommended, that’s when I come back to focus on managing and reorienting the channel.
Of course, if after about a month you don’t get any recommendations or views, you should reevaluate your strategy. To save time, if you have the budget to hire people or have a team, aim to run 5-10-50 channels at once. Keep working on the ones that succeed and drop the ones that don’t. Naturally, 30 days isn’t a set standard to know whether a channel will flop or not, but for me, one month is enough time to identify whether I need to rethink the channel’s direction if it isn’t growing.
Step 8: Growing the Channel After Getting Recommended and Monetized
For monetization and how to sign up for AdSense, you can find detailed tutorials on YouTube.
You should view the first few dozen videos as the foundation for the channel's growth, not necessarily as a source of income. (If you make money from them, that’s great, but if not, don’t worry about it too much.) Sometimes, all it takes is for one or two of these videos to get strong recommendations, and you’ll need to adjust the channel’s content to cater to the audience coming from those one or two videos. That’s how you’ll keep viewers engaged with future content.
So, after your channel starts receiving recommendations, you need to analyze which recommended videos are bringing in the most views and subscribers. Use the content of those videos to guide the creation of future ones, with the goal of retaining the audience drawn in by those recommendations.
Many creators get a few videos recommended, activate monetization, but then the views drop, and they end up making only a few dollars a month. This might happen because they didn’t capitalize on this opportunity and just continued making content based on their original plan. As a result, they gain subscribers but don’t get views on new videos. Viewers are what sustain us, so we need to follow the audience’s needs to earn an income. Once you have a steady channel direction and a growing audience, you’ll naturally learn how to build a channel and earn silver and gold play buttons. At this point, it might be a good place to pause my typing!
Conclusion
Alright, everyone. The 8 steps above are the basic process I’ve been using to grow a YouTube channel selling content, leveraging AI, and without showing my face, until it gets monetized. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is just my personal experience—it’s not guaranteed to work for everyone. So, if you find it useful and interesting, give it a try! If you see success, share it with others to motivate them. And if you think I’m just rambling, feel free to skip it. Hehe. Lastly, I wish all of you success!