How I Quadrupled my YouTube Channel RPM in 1 Month

Key steps to getting a higher RPM on YouTube

Credit: Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay

I was shocked.

I had just gotten my second YouTube channel monetized, and it was starting to pick up.

In the first month, it received over 100,000 views. And I was imagining all of the money that would be rolling in.

No, seriously.

I assumed that this new channel would have the same RPM as my first channel and then grow from there.

But let me backtrack.

If you’re not familiar with YouTube RPM, it’s simply the amount that you get paid for every 1,000 monetized playbacks or views.

For my first channel, which was fitness, lifestyle, and vlogging, my RPM was usually about $7–$8. I was fine with that.

I was just figuring things out, and so, my expectations were pretty low.

For my second channel, I was discussing legal topics. Usually, this is associated with a higher RPM. But of course these things vary.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this for my legal topics channel.

Oh…the shock!!

A whole $1.26 for every thousand views.

So, you’re talking about $214.20 for about 170,000 views.

Immediately came the disappointment followed by the questions. I had finally found a way to talk about topics that related to my profession. I was using my legal education.

But after 20 years as an attorney, I was only worth $1.26 for every thousand views.

It was a good thing I’d already paid off my student loans.

Credit: Image by DonnaSenzaFiato from Pixabay

I knew this was not going to work.

First of all, this was a new channel, and I knew that it was going to take YouTube a while to figure out what my channel was about.

But those numbers told me that I needed to help YouTube along. I needed to tell YouTube who I was and who I wanted my audience to be.

I needed a plan.

FIRST, I LOOKED AT WHERE MY AUDIENCE WAS COMING FROM.

Once I started looking at my analytics and saw how YouTube was suggesting my videos and where my views were coming from, I realized that YouTube had categorized my channel as a gossip channel.

Again…more shock!!!

So, now I’m a gossip attorney. Will the disappointment ever end, I wondered.

This was the first thing I worked on.

I went back to that old trick that I’d heard before. Go to where the audience you want hangs out. For me, that was other YouTubers focusing on legal topics.

Yep…I did that.

I started leaving comments, liking comments, and even asking questions.

I did this on not just specific channels but also specific videos on those channels.

I was very deliberate.

There was an audience that I was looking for, and I was determined to introduce them to my channel.

SECOND, I DOUBLED-DOWN ON TAGS, SEO, AND KEYWORDS.

Now, I know this is nothing new. But here’s how I did that.

Again, I looked at what other successful legal channels were doing.

I used Socialblade to help me see some of this information. I also did Google searches to see what videos came up on YouTube when I used certain keywords.

Once I found keywords that reflected my channel, I added them as default tags and in the general information about my channel.

I also made sure that I did a better job of naming my thumbnail images so that they had keywords in them, either about the subject or law or both.

I was committed to defining my channel and what I wanted it to be.

THIRD, I CLEANED UP MY CHANNEL.

When I first started the channel, I covered a few business law topics, especially topics relating to content creation.

One of those content creation videos has a pretty high RPM too.

But I felt that those videos may have been confusing as they related to what I wanted my channel to be. And even though they were still legal topics, I knew that I didn’t want to do those topics long term.

Additionally, the keywords and tags were very different from the ones that I was now focusing on.

So, I reviewed the analytics of the first few videos that I posted on YouTube, and I learned a few important facts.

Most of those videos were only getting a few views a month. While some of them had brought me subscribers, like most channels that are just starting off, a lot of your views come from non-subscribers.

That was the same for me.

Therefore, I realized that I probably wouldn’t be losing a whole lot if I deleted those videos.

So, that’s what I did, I got rid of most of the videos that weren’t a part of the new plan, and I only heard from one person about those deleted videos.

And here’s the other thing, by getting rid of those videos, I also got rid of tags and keywords that didn’t fit with the new channel image that I wanted to convey.

FOURTH, I ACCEPTED WHAT MY CHANNEL WASN’T GOING TO BE.

Now, here’s a harder concept.

I needed to understand that I was not on the same path as some of those other YouTubers discussing legal topics.

I was never going to be live-streaming a court testimony for hours on end. That was not what I wanted to do.

As a result, I knew that I was not going to grow in the same way, and therefore, I would not find my audience the same way.

I needed to understand that every channel has its own path to follow.

I watched as YouTubers in the legal field doubled-down on the tactic of providing legal commentary during trials.

But did I really want to do that day after day after day?

No, not really.

It’s funny how that works. You think to yourself that you want something until you realize the work that’s involved.

So, I focused on looking at other attorneys on YouTube who were providing content similar to the way that I was providing it.

I looked at what they were doing and tried to pick up tips from them.

So, yes…the next month, things started to improve.

I think that as I continue to post more content on YouTube, and YouTube gets a better understanding of who my audience is, the RPM will continue to change and reflect my topic.

Now, I’m not saying that it will be $50 per thousand views. But I do believe my RPM will eventually reflect the overall legal industry topics that I’m discussing.