From Analytics to Hashtags: Here’s What You Should Remember When Making YouTube Shorts

Should you try creating Shorts? What should you start with? How can you earn with Shorts, and what awaits the monetization of short videos in the future? We’ll be answering all these and many other questions here.

Should I start creating YouTube Shorts in the first place?

Absolutely! This new format is trending, and not only among viewers. The platform itself is actively promoting Shorts and recommending them to creators.

Think about this: more than 1.5 billion users interact with Shorts monthly. It’s a great opportunity to draw attention to your channel, quickly grow the number of views on your videos, and attract new subscribers.

For example, our partner,YOLO House, started making Shorts back in April of 2021, when no one even expected the format to succeed. By summer’s start, views on TikTok-house’s channel grew by 10 times. Meanwhile, their first payout from the YouTube Shorts Fund at the end of November was $727. The format proved itself so successful, that the content on their YouTube channel now almost completely consists of Shorts.

And by the way, here’s another point for Shorts! You spend way less time and resources on Shorts than with regular videos.

Will I be able to earn with Shorts?

Sure you will. That’s what the YouTube Shorts Fund, with an impressive $100 million budget, is for. Thanks to this fund, thousands of the most popular Shorts’ creators get a monthly reward for their vids. The size of the bonus depends on the number of views and viewers’ interest in the content only.

Take our creator MacDannyGun who earns more than $700 a month now. We have no doubt that the number will keep growing.

And just so you know, the platform is constantly experimenting with the fund. Recently, it changed the criteria creators must meet in order to earn on Shorts. Now, bloggers who weren’t eligible for bonuses before can get a monthly income of $100 to $10,000.

You can learn more about the criteria creators have to meet to get rewards from the YouTube Shorts Fund here.

For now, the fund is the only way to earn with Shorts (creators can’t get income from ads just yet), but the situation will likely change in the future. The platform plans to create a long-term monetization model for the creators, meaning the potential revenue will keep growing.

Siri, I want to make cool Shorts and receive bonuses. How do I start?

It’s one thing to create Shorts, and another to create compelling Shorts that attract views and subscribers. Here’s what you should remember when making short videos:

• Capture the viewer’s attention from the first shots. Shorts differ from regular videos. There are no thumbnails — and no right for error. If you don’t immediately draw viewers’ attention, they’ll just skip to the next video.
• Loop your videos so viewers can watch them again and again, increasing the average viewing time of your Shorts.
• Turn your existing content into Shorts. Experiment with editing and use the best moments from your videos in the Shorts. It’s a great way to intrigue viewers and attracts more subscribers to the channel.
• Use all that the platform has to offer. Don’t forget about the camera embedded in the YouTube app and music in the platform’s library. Why not make the most of YouTube instruments?
• And don’t forget about hashtags. But not just any hashtags; we’re talking about #shorts here. This way, you’ll help algorithms place your Shorts in the right section where more users will see them.

But creating a Short is just half the work. After all, everyone creates them these days, so you need to be one step ahead of your competitors to stand out. That’ll require:

• Analyze and analyze again. Do you think your Shorts meet your target audience’s requests and interests? It’s time to go to the ‘Analytics’ and find out. Study the comments under your videos, viewership statistics, and your own audience to understand if you’re moving in the right direction.
• Keep up with trends and memes. Okay, so you’re into polar bears, acrostic poems, and street art these days. But how about your viewers? Try finding a balance between your current interests and your audience’s.
• Decide on the frequency of posting. Choose the fitting frequency of posting based on your time, energy, and, most importantly, ideas for Shorts. Don’t choose quantity over quality if you don’t want to drown your viewers in an ocean of similar or meaningless content.

Create a strategy and analyze all factors possible. If you do that, you’ll only need your smartphone and inspiration for Shorts.

Ready to start creating Shorts, growing your channel audience, and receiving bonuses from YouTube? We’ll ensure you succeed — and AIR Creators Ecosystem will be glad to help!

Ask your questions about Shorts in the comments!