New To Youtube. Need ALL AROUND Advice. HELP!

Hello!
I am new to the forum and to youtube so any help would be appreciated.

I recently created a new channel and I am looking to provide all original content on the channel. Web-series, etc. I am interested in allowing Youtube to generate money for me but I am not sure exactly how to start.
I have not monetized my channel yet as I have heard that if you are going to buy views; that may not be the smartest thing to do so could someone please explain to me at one point shall I monetize my account?

Also, is there a difference between monetizing your account and signing up for AdSense?
What does Youtube actually pay for? Are channel owners being paid for the amount of viewers or the amount of times viewers click on the ads around or on the video?
I keep hearing a lot about using high retention views so you are placed at the top of your category. What exactly does that mean? "Top of your category" What category?

I am also just curious in which order should I do things. I am trying to do things as seamless as possible and really not trying to get into trouble with Youtube but I do indeed want to be able to make some money by using Youtube so I guess I am looking for the safest way to do that.

Please help. I have sat here for hours and read through so many posts but I am still ultimately confused. I am really looking for someone to say "Listen...this is what you need to do ...."

Thanks so much everyone. I am VERY impressed by this forum and think it's my newest addiction!

Just to basically answer a few questions I will try my best to make it readable for new people to the industry.

Monetizing early without a network or having a partner account means you still make money for that video from Google.

For monetizing while blasting your account, you want to first check with the view provider about how they run their service and if it is safe to run ads during blasting.

For Blasting you only want to use time watched views. Simply put these views have the best link juice for your videos. There is no excuse to NOT buy time watched views at all.

Finally you want to blast your account only if you know that simple YouTube views, or Facebook likes and twitter re Tweets WILL NOT make you money back right away. You need to go ahead and do some research and find out which methods will help you go viral. You need to study your niche, find out everything they like and dislike and then also find out who else is in your niche, what they do right or wrong, and then formulate a plan on that.

Don't soil your channel with PPD and CPA Offers unless you are signing up to a network and you can afford to associate your channel with the "spammers". I don't think people noticed but most of the time when people see that stuff on a channel they think its a scammy piece of garbage. Truth be told, the people that are dishonest about game hacks, game downloads, keygens, scammy clickbank products created this mindset. I know my audience considers anything of the sort trash and they automatically report any videos with such links in it. Lucky for you, your hard work should pay off in you going viral, so no worries about that. If you are really wanting to go viral quickly, you will buy a subscriber base to boost your credibility. Also, it won't hurt to do some Google News Press Releases to help boost your site reach. I really can't say more because then this post will grow insanely long and it will just get buried in the end.

I thank you so much for this and I assure you what you have said has not been lost. VERY helpful. Thank you so much.

I am not even familiar with PPD or CPA offers. I just want to have a successful channel with different original web-series, short films, etc. I am not trying to get involved with gamers and keygens and all that. So as I am currently in the process of purchasing a subscriber base and getting views on videos...Is it best to just wait on the monetization. One of the suppliers for the views said it's best to monetize after...but that makes me think...well...how do I make money if the video isn't monetized until AFTER all of the views are there. I think because I am new to youtube, I don't want to start off with videos getting over 1 million views. I just think that seems a bit strange. So is like 50-100k high retention views good? or is that a waste of my time and money because it's not necessarily making the video go viral?

I guess i am confused because I don't really understand my point in buying the views IF 1. it's not going to make the video instantly viral and 2. i'm not making income off of the views. Does that make sense? I'm just trying to figure out in which order should I do all of this. I am not trying to get RICH from Youtube but a small amount of income would be great. I just want to be sure i'm not doing anything that can get me banned or anything of the sort.

help.

When people see that a video has a lot of views and likes (even if they're fake) then real people will start to watch your video. But the best way to get views is to do whats cool now a days. People like tutorials (youtube is the best place to learn how to build things) so if you're good at something that is hard to other people then make a tutorial and put it on youtube. Also if you're good at making people laugh then make some comedy videos (people love to laugh) those get ALOT of views.

If you have a really solid idea for your channel, like a video series that could attract a solid supporting group of subscribers, I would start off by cranking out some initial videos pretty fast and then having a schedule for the rest of them. Consider using SEO techniques in the title, description, and tags of your video and sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc... and embedding the videos everywhere you can possibly find. Make friends on Youtube with people in the same niche who have a lot of views and try to get them to mention you in their videos. Make a Twitter account and Facebook page for your channel and link to it in your video descriptions. Since these methods are completely legit and residual, I would sign up for a Google partnership to monetize it.

If, however, you have a general niche for your channel but no good idea that would get dedicated subscribers, you could consider going crazy with the blackhat methods in these forums (thumbnail manipulating, view,like, and favorite botting, buying views, and all the other stuff.) Monetize the viral videos by watermarking them with CPA offers, but don't expect the income to be residual because the blackhat stuff could get your video deleted or your account banned.

I'm new on youtube too and i'm trying to get a good reputation by subscribing to others likes and comment