AsapSCIENCE is one of the best YouTube channels for educational videos with nearly 10 million subscribers.
Here’s one of their recent videos, highlighting why they have amassed such a huge following:
Interesting video, right?
The channel’s estimated yearly income is $418,200, which is just their ad revenue.
The duo behind AsapSCIENCE also works with sponsors.
They likely have other streams of income as well.
This is all because of their massively popular (and loved) educational YouTube channel.
Such YouTube channels are a great example of how YouTube can help you monetize your video marketing efforts if executed the right way.
Now AsapSCIENCE is just one example.
There are thousands of such channels on the platform that are earning big; much, much higher than the returns from the majority of traditional degrees.
So, it makes sense to consider starting an educational youtube channel.
For a long time, learning and school were synonyms. Not anymore though!
There are now countless online platforms out there that deliver superior quality education.
Many of these platforms are even free, including YouTube, where 500 hours of videos are uploaded every single minute.
In fact, the free video platform from Google is now a go-to for millions of people to learn virtually EVERYTHING, right from how to cook chicken enchiladas to how to write your first novel.
You can learn about artificial intelligence, black holes, world war 2, the green revolution, and just about anything you can think of and are interested in.
And you can learn these from subject experts who have extensive experience.
This level of demand for education on YouTube is itself the biggest reason why you should start an educational YouTube channel.
There are a lot of eyeballs on the platform, craving to learn new and exciting things.
Here's a YouTube Statistic to put things into perspective:
Did you know 86 percent of U.S. viewers say they often use YouTube to learn new things?
There are many more reasons why you might consider starting an educational YouTube channel:
There’s immense demand for educational content on YouTube.
This unlocks excellent opportunities for the creators despite high competition.
You can carve a niche for yourself with distinct educational videos, attracting millions of viewers.
In the YouTube landscape, there’s never a dearth of opportunities.
This is especially true when you realize that online video consumption is only expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.
Love teaching others? Record yourself educating the audience.
Don’t want to be in front of the camera? Leverage custom animated videos to educate.
Want to cover any particular subject with authority? Interview an expert.
The kind of flexibility YouTube creators enjoy is large and broad.
And if you have a creative flair, you can achieve even greater flexibility with newer ideas to try and test.
So you are never limited in options. You can always work around your needs, convenience, and preferences.
The ad revenue from YouTube videos depends on several factors, including the topic you’re making videos on.
Some topics or niches have higher CPM while others don’t.
In any case, provided you have gotten a good number of subscribers, and your educational videos are of high quality, the financial returns would be good.
Besides, you can also channelize your YouTube’s popularity to generate income in different ways.
For example, you can get paid by sponsors and affiliates. You can even sell your merchandise.
In today’s world, attention is the new currency.
The more attention you have, the more opportunities you will discover to monetize it.
There’s no end as to how far you can grow your educational YouTube channel.
Similarly, you will keep on discovering newer topics to create videos on, no matter your niche. The sky's the limit!
You can keep on creating newer videos and amass more subscribers.
You can branch off the main YouTube channel to other secondary channels.
You can grow on social media platforms.
You can start producing content in different languages to reach newer demographics.
You can hire a video animation services provider full-time, as well as onboard more people in your team.
You can even launch your own office and expand your business endeavors with private-label merchandise, educational programs, and new partnerships.
The scope to scale your educational YouTube channel is limitless.
This is one of the biggest perks of launching your YouTube channel – whether it’s educational or any other genre.
If working a 9-5 job isn’t your thing, and you don’t like answering to a “boss”, becoming a YouTube creator could be an ideal option.
You get to call your own shots and steer your career the way you want.
Also, you live a location-independent life, wherein you can work on your YouTube channel from virtually anywhere in the world, as long as you have a good internet connection and a camera.
An independent and passion-driven lifestyle is appealing to many, especially those willing to take risks.
Now, this isn’t to say that starting an educational YouTube channel and scaling it up is easy.
It’s a challenge that demands a lot of hard work and consistency.
But ultimately, if you genuinely enjoy what you’re doing, you will live a better life.
The whole process of starting an educational YouTube channel is relatively simple.
Here are the steps:
This is one of the most important steps. And it can be the toughest if you’re still deciding what to focus your channel on.
Here are some of the factors you need to consider:
In all, take your time to decide on which topic you want to create your YouTube channel.
Once you know which topic you want to explore, time to come up with a good name.
This would be the name of your YouTube channel and the social media profiles of that channel.
You can use your own name if you’re focused on building a personal brand.
However, since you want to educate the audience on a specific topic, you should pick a unique business name.
This is especially important if you don’t have a lot of expertise and experience under your hat.
A unique business name enables you with opportunities to scale and expand.
Moreover, on the back of that business name, you can build your personal brand as you grow and amass more followers; Vsauce is a great example.
Again, take your time to think of an appealing name that suits your niche and growth plans.
This will take only a few minutes.
You need a Google account to create a YouTube channel.
If you already have one, skip ahead to the next step. If not, create a Google account first.
Visit YouTube and ‘sign in’.
Click on the profile icon and choose "Create a channel".
You will get an option to name the channel.
Then you will get several customization options, including uploading a profile picture and adding a description; you can skip these to complete later.
Your YouTube channel’s art is like a Facebook cover picture.
Now, how your channel art should be is a whole different conversation altogether.
Similarly, the profile picture of your YouTube channel, which will appear on your channel’s homepage and next to your videos, will depend on several factors as well.
Other than the recommended size of the images, there are no real rules about what your channel art and profile picture should be.
There are DIY platforms like Canva where you can design both these images yourself.
Alternatively, you can also hire professionals from platforms like Fiverr to design your channel art and profile picture.
You can check out the channel arts and profile pictures of your competitors for inspiration.
Your YouTube channel isn’t just about visuals.
Written content is just as important, which includes the channel’s description.
After watching your video, many people would head over to read your description to learn more about the channel.
A good and engaging description can play a key role in bringing you more subscribers.
Again, there’s no hard rule as to how this description should be.
Different things work differently for different creators.
Some educational channels have formal descriptions like this one from Khan Academy:
Some channels have quirky and very straightforward descriptions like this one from Veritasium:
So, you will have to figure out how the channel’s ‘About’ should read.
Going through the description of your top competitors can provide you some ideas and inspiration.
In the relevant fields, add your social media links.
Make it easier for your audience to find you on platforms like Facebook and Instagram through your channel’s homepage.
Also, include your official email address where people can reach out to you.
This is one of the top ways sponsors and brands reach out to the creators.
You’re ready!!!
With these six simple steps, you can go from wanting to start an educational YouTube channel to having one.
If you know anything about succeeding on YouTube, it is this:
Starting an educational YouTube channel is not a big deal; growing it is what matters.
The process of growing a YouTube channel demands hard work, patience, and resilience.
Because while you may have heard of stories of creators whose videos went viral and they now have millions of subscribers, such examples are very far-fetched.
It takes time and effort.
That said, with smart strategies, you can make the climb faster; you can fuel your YouTube channel’s growth.
Here are 22 tips for growing your educational YouTube channel:
YouTube SEO is a vast subject. It helps if you know the basics of it so that you can optimize your videos to rank higher on YouTube SERP for relevant phrases.
Doing keywords research, including the keywords in titles and descriptions, adding tags to the video, creating transcriptions for the videos, and making long-form videos are a few of the common steps of YouTube SEO.
So take out some time to learn about optimizing videos for YouTube SERP.
Here’s a video by Brian Dean to get you started on this:
Many of the best educational YouTube channels use animation.
While some have their entire videos made in animation, others use animated overlays in their live-action videos.
Animation packs plenty of benefits that position you for faster growth.
For one, animated educational videos are more appealing to the eyes in comparison to other forms of videos; they are more engaging.
In addition, they tell better stories, which is also effective in education.
Animation also has high retention. So whatever you teach, the audience retains more information when animation is used.
You might want to consider prioritizing animation in your YouTube channel as part of your growth strategy, as it promises great returns in the short and long run.
Find a good video animation services provider that has extensive experience. Check out their portfolio of previous work.
Also, ensure they specialize in different types of animation.
Before setting up for a long-term contract, have them first create a custom animated video.
See if it is good and matches your expectations.
If yes, you can partner with them. If not, keep looking till you find a good match for you.
You cannot rely on organic measures alone.
Especially in the early days, to give your YouTube channel a boost, it’s a good strategy to invest in paid ads.
YouTube ads are robust, with very flexible targeting options.
You can reach out to a highly targeted audience in a very short span with like pre-roll ads.
And if the messaging of your ad is good, you can win over those people and convert most of them into subscribers.
Similarly, you can also invest in ads on other social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
With suitable ad campaigns and quality content accompanying them, you can expand your brand on YouTube and across different channels.
Create accounts on all social media platforms with your YouTube channel’s name.
Be very active on them.
Post more interesting content on these platforms to attract, engage and retain the audience.
Share your new videos; regularly share the older videos as well.
In all, have a lively social media presence that’s loud enough for people to hear and pay attention to.
For creators focusing on originality and engagement, utilizing professionally crafted templates for their social media strategy can dramatically streamline the content creation process while maintaining high quality.
This should go without saying.
The quality of your YouTube videos is the most important determinant of the channel’s growth.
Therefore, the videos ought to be of superior quality, packed with high educational value.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to get your videos ‘perfect’; there will always be some gaps.
But quality should be the topmost priority.
Don’t overlook quantity, either.
The amount of content you produce is important too.
You need a consistent level of brand visibility and engagement.
The more content you produce, the more growth opportunities you will discover.
So, in the name of “quality”, don’t take weeks to publish new videos on your channel.
After watching the video, the viewers should feel fulfilled, like they accomplished and learned something.
This motivates them to subscribe to your educational YouTube channel.
And for that, make sure each of your videos has a takeaway.
A simple way to think of this is to ask yourself: What is the one thing my audience will learn from this video that they didn’t know already?
Ask this question before creating any video.
It will make sure you never make a video that doesn’t deliver optimum value to the viewers for their time.
This is a critical part of every YouTube creator’s strategy.
Every video you produce should be part of a long-term plan.
Every topic you choose to create videos on should have a reason behind it, one that you have thought through properly.
So even before you create your first educational YouTube video, create a content calendar.
Collate all the topics you want to cover that would be relevant for your target audience.
You never know what will work for you.
3D animation is great, but what if whiteboard animated videos do better?
You always have to be open to experiment more in terms of what type of videos you produce.
So, for some topics, you can try motion graphics animation; for others, you can sit in front of the camera yourself and educate the audience.
Explore different types of animation and see which ones your audience prefer and respond to.
YouTube offers a robust Analytics dashboard. And there’s a reason why!
Go through all the relevant metrics.
For example, find out the average watch time, which videos are performing better, how many viewers have not subscribed to the channel, and more.
Such critical insights related to how people engage with your videos can help you optimize the overall strategy and navigate the right direction.
So, spend enough time on analytics, check out the data, and turn them into actionable insights.
When you spread the focus across the boards, you risk losing the audience.
For instance, if you’re talking about cryptocurrencies this week, don’t start talking about index funds the following week.
Because the people who came to learn about cryptocurrencies and subscribed might not care about index funds.
You should ideally keep the focus on selected topics.
As your channel grows and amasses a core audience, you can branch out to other topics as well.
But at the beginning, keep the focus concentrated on the targeted main niche – no matter how distracting and appealing other topics look.
When you’re trying to grow your educational YouTube channel, you may feel lost.
After all, there are so many things you can and should do.
You wouldn’t know which one to prioritize, eventually getting overwhelmed and frustrated.
A simple way out of this is to look at your competitors and learn from them.
Foremost, identify who your top competitors are. Then do a thorough analysis on them.
And more...
Find as much as you can about their strategies and overall approach toward growing their educational YouTube channel.
Then, use these details in your own case to boost your channel’s growth.
There’s a big difference between watching a video and engaging with a video.
You want your audience to engage with your videos.
Engagement increases the chances of them subscribing to your channel.
It also helps build a core community of fans who will eventually be the flag-bearers of your YouTube channel’s growth.
As a first step, ensure your videos are engaging.
Avoid technical jargon; speak in the language and style of your audience. Make it sound like a one-on-one conversation.
Ask questions and request viewers to answer in the comment section.
Further, get in the comments section of your YouTube videos and respond to as many comments as you can.
Similarly, focus on engaging with the audience on social media platforms, which will indirectly boost your channel’s growth.
Branding is the key to building a sustainable business.
In fact, your brand name is your biggest asset that attracts audiences, keeps them engaged, wins their trust, and inevitably brings you financial rewards.
The more you spend on this asset, the greater the outcome will be.
So, if you want your YouTube channel to grow and sustain itself in the long run, it’s almost essential to focus on brand building.
Push your brand name forward to improve its visibility.
Tell stories behind the brand.
Explain what this brand stands for, what its visions and goals are.
In the end, you want people to recognize your brand name, know its story, and trust it for the value it brings to them.
In all, define an effective branding strategy for your educational YouTube channel.
This is especially true in the early days when you’re still trying to build a rapport with the audience and win their trust.
You don’t want to be one of those channels that just focus on selling and making money.
So avoid selling products through your videos. Keep the number of sponsors low as well.
Stick to Gary Vaynerchuk’s “jab, jab, jab, right hook” rule, which means give, give, give and then ask.
Provide more value to your audience first, and then think about monetizing their attention.
This is a smart strategy that can bring a significant boost to the number of your subscribers.
Partnering with other YouTube creators will expose your channel to their viewers.
And if this collaborative video is excellent and valuable, it can bring good results for you.
So find out a few names in your industry who you can team up with to create educational videos.
When your channel is still small, it’s unlikely any big creator would collaborate.
So start by approaching small creators who publish quality videos and have an engaging audience.
Talk to them and create a plan on how both can benefit each other and grow while providing high value to the audience.
Sure, you can use several DIY tools to create your video’s thumbnails.
But this may not be sufficient when you realize thumbnails are possibly one of the most important factors influencing the clickability or CTR of a video.
No matter how incredible your videos are, nobody will click on them unless there’s an attention-grabbing and intriguing thumbnail.
This is why it’s best to let experts do this for you.
You can find many designers on freelancing platforms like Fiverr who have extensive experience in creating YouTube thumbnails.
Hire one of them.
Similar to thumbnails, the title of the video is just as important.
There are two things to remember here:
One, titles play one of the key roles in the video’s ranking on YouTube SERP.
Two, titles influence organic CTR in a big way.
So, you will have to keep both these points in mind.
Adding keywords in the YouTube video titles is recommended.
Listicles and how-to format titles get the most clicks.
There are several other best practices you should follow.
Doing some research on the topic you’re covering can be a good starting point.
Search the primary keyword on YouTube and find what titles others have kept and which ones have more views/comments.
You can take inspiration from them.
Casey Neistat is one of the world’s most popular YouTubers.
He daily vlogged for almost 600 days before eventually stopping.
He credits this level of consistency as one of the biggest factors behind his success.
Casey has over 12 million subscribers.
This is just one of the many success stories that are built on the back of consistency.
And this is what you need.
You need to publish high-quality, highly engaging educational videos consistently.
You have to stay consistent on social media as well.
You need to be more disciplined about your career as a YouTube creator (even if you’re doing it just part-time).
In the end, consistency will enable your success, accruing you more subscribers and revenue.
How long people stay on your channel and watch videos is a key metric YouTube uses in its SERP ranking and recommendation.
The longer people engage with your content, the more positive signals it sends to YouTube about your channel.
So you should aim to have people around for as long as possible, consuming more of your videos and leaving more comments.
One of the ways you can do this is by using YouTube cards.
This option can be used to promote your other videos and playlists, as well as external links.
Smartly using YouTube cards can help you increase the average time people spend on your channel.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to create YouTube cards:
Don’t assume people know what to do.
Often, they need to be reminded about the action they should take.
CTAs are very important!
So during the video, as well as in the end, ask the viewers to like that video and subscribe to your channel.
You can also use animation overlays on the video to subtly prompt people to subscribe without hindering their viewing experience.
If you’re working with a video animation services provider, they will take care of this.
A lot of people will voice their opinions and feedback upfront.
They will say things in the video’s comment section.
Some will talk about it on social media.
Consider their constructive feedback and implement their suggestions wherever possible.
For instance, if some of them are saying the video duration was longer than needed, cut the length of your next video.
If they didn’t like the video’s color scheme, try something else in the next one.
Such feedback is a goldmine you can use to improve your videos and overall channel.
So, take them seriously.
In fact, if people aren’t leaving feedback, ask them for it upfront.
At the end of the video, ask viewers to comment on ways you can improve the quality of the video and make it more valuable.
Then listen to what they have to say and work around that.
In this comprehensive guide, we covered not just about starting an educational YouTube channel but also growing it.
The above-mentioned tips will add an edge to your growth strategy, enabling you with great returns.
We hope these tips bring you real value and put you on the path to success.