Website/Youtube channel monetization problem

Hi. To give you a bit of a background, I have been writing specialized and technical reviews and analysis of certain products. Imagine something that you find on smallnetbuilder.com, not some AI listicle. I had decent traffic which was monetized to about 5-6K a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. Obviously, last September, the website was deemed unhelpful and replaced by Reddit. I immediately moved to YouTube and ported the content there and at the moment, the traffic is pretty much where the websites was last year. And from here come the problems. While the website made 4-5K a month, the channel makes 100 dollars... Same amount and type of people as the comments suggest, so there is a strong purchase desire. Anyway, the question is what exactly can I do at this point?

It's still a small channel, so I can't really move the needle with patreon or alternatives.
The option to build a product is there, but I have no idea what sort of product. I can't go ahead and become a competitor to ASUS (or can I?).
The website is not dead, but it's barely alive and I haven't really found a way to properly resuscitate it.

The last question would be whether it's worth pursuing this path anymore since it's been quite some time and, while I have been earning more than after the immediate collapse of the traffic, the money are a joke compared to the effort. What would some of you do in this situation, since I assume most of you are far more seasoned than I am.
Thank you for any suggestion.

You can try optimizing your video title or search tags to see if you can get more natural traffic.

You can cooperate with some related companies and promote them in your videos. Then earn a commission on the sales.

Breana said:

You can try optimizing your video title or search tags to see if you can get more natural traffic.

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For YouTube yes, I did work a lot more towards the click-baity-but-still-on-point titles. On the website, the SEO was on point until I essentially gave up on optimization because it made things worse for the search engine. I have no idea what Google wants nowadays.

dghdavidbrown said:

You can cooperate with some related companies and promote them in your videos. Then earn a commission on the sales.

Click to expand...

I do already cooperate with some of the big boys but considering the size of the channel, I can't really ask for more after I get a $1K item... I think I just backed myself in a corner with this niche which while evergreen and still very much searched, it's almost impossible to automate. Then again, the LLMs definitely have a field day every time I post my detailed analysis.

Escehas said:

I do already cooperate with some of the big boys but considering the size of the channel, I can't really ask for more after I get a $1K item... I think I just backed myself in a corner with this niche which while evergreen and still very much searched, it's almost impossible to automate. Then again, the LLMs definitely have a field day every time I post my detailed analysis.

Click to expand...

You can promote it on multiple social media platforms, which may help you get more traffic.

dghdavidbrown said:

You can promote it on multiple social media platforms, which may help you get more traffic.

Click to expand...

I already do and this is my experience:
1. On Reddit: if it's an article, then Google puts it above the website and very few click on the link, most just wonder at the title and fight among themselves in the comments.
2. On X/Twitter: the void.
3. On TikTok: weirdly engaging, but again little to no clicks to the source.
4. On YouTube: I expected more people to click on the links in the description since some complained that it would have been easier to read the content instead of watching it. Alas, still very few clicks.

I want to circle back to the smallnetbuilder.com website. I did mention similarities to my own website, so how would you go about promoting it on social media platforms?

Easier said than done.
Hope you will change it.

nancybennet said:

Easier said than done.
Hope you will change it.

Click to expand...

Yeah. It's a passion project, so I hate that it's no longer performing well. But again, the effort is not worth the money in the current landscape, so either something changes algorithmically (outside my control) or maybe there is something that can be done and I haven't figure it out yet.

Escehas said:

I already do and this is my experience:
1. On Reddit: if it's an article, then Google puts it above the website and very few click on the link, most just wonder at the title and fight among themselves in the comments.
2. On X/Twitter: the void.
3. On TikTok: weirdly engaging, but again little to no clicks to the source.
4. On YouTube: I expected more people to click on the links in the description since some complained that it would have been easier to read the content instead of watching it. Alas, still very few clicks.

I want to circle back to the smallnetbuilder.com website. I did mention similarities to my own website, so how would you go about promoting it on social media platforms?

Click to expand...

You need to make sure your content is high quality and appeals to your specific audience, otherwise it will be useless no matter how much you post.

dghdavidbrown said:

You need to make sure your content is high quality and appeals to your specific audience, otherwise it will be useless no matter how much you post.

Click to expand...

That's pretty much obvious. The problem is not the quality of the writing. What I am asking is how would you promote a post from smallnetbuilder.com which creates specialized content in a very specific niche. This is the dilemma I am having right now because it's not really built for social media due to its heavy technical nature.

Maybe you can consider adding affiliate sponsored content to increase your YouTube revenue

Try building a community with diverse content and using affiliate marketing to increase revenue.

pavelmanole said:

Try building a community with diverse content and using affiliate marketing to increase revenue.

Click to expand...

Sure. But how?

Here’s a streamlined plan for your situation:

1. Monetization: Explore affiliate marketing and sponsored content.
2. Content Diversification: Try live streams, Q&As, and tutorials.
3. SEO & Promotion: Optimize video titles/descriptions and cross-promote on your website and social media.
4. Engage Your Audience: Build community and consider an email newsletter.
5. Website Revamp: Update content for SEO and consider creating digital products.
6. Evaluate Efforts: Set clear goals and assess if it’s worth continuing.

Focus on what aligns best with your interests and goals.
4o mini

Wendecoder said:

Here’s a streamlined plan for your situation:

1. Monetization: Explore affiliate marketing and sponsored content.
2. Content Diversification: Try live streams, Q&As, and tutorials.
3. SEO & Promotion: Optimize video titles/descriptions and cross-promote on your website and social media.
4. Engage Your Audience: Build community and consider an email newsletter.
5. Website Revamp: Update content for SEO and consider creating digital products.
6. Evaluate Efforts: Set clear goals and assess if it’s worth continuing.

Focus on what aligns best with your interests and goals.
4o mini

Click to expand...

While I do appreciate the AI-generated response, I think I got an idea that may actually work.

You can optimize your title or improve the quality of your video to see if there is any natural traffic.